GaryPinC

Great discussion I am late for! The thing for me is creativity in the playoffs on both sides of the ball and in the big games. Josh, to me, purposefully seems to avoid his scramble runs at this point. There have been multiple plays I see on TV where he's got space to run but he holds longer to throw the pass. I do wonder and hope that we will become more diverse and creative in the playoffs. Like Josh scrambling more for yardage, or hitting more of those deeper midrange throws. Plays are there downfield but we seem locked into this short yardage balanced attack with a few mid-range throws. I'm willing to be patient and see if things change when the games really count. I do wonder how much Brady is hemmed in by McDermott's risk averse edicts? Babich certainly was and arguably Leslie Frazier. McDermott had to step in both times and the defense immediately became more creative.

Maybe, but Soloman wasn't running it as effectively as Hoecht was. Of course the change of coaching oversight may be the difference also. It seems clear to me McDermott doesn't like to stunt his DL much and so the marauder role is critical in keeping the offense off balance. Hoecht's aggressiveness and effectiveness empowered and energized the entire defensive along with the secondary finally getting on the same page. They need to figure out SOMEBODY who can fill that role even half as well as Hoecht.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/it-s-time-for-penn-state-fans-to-stop-being-afraid-of-their-own-shadows/ar-AA1PWX3K?cvid=690dd191d76649dba4828289108a19e3&ocid=hpmsn Just a fantastic take on the situation: stick to your guns PSU for firing a good coach because you expect greatness.

Well, now they can fight over who gets the cloned version in the divorce. Is this an improvement?

Yeah, I would think that will be Bass. In all fairness, I wasn't very familiar with Prater's career so I did some research. Held longest field goal 64 yards in 2013 until last week. Best career FG % over 50 yards and most from that range in NFL history. Most 50+ in a season (2023). Meniscus tear cut short his season last year after 4 games but he had hit a 57 yarder. So given all this, I was wrong and you are right, he should have hit the 52. Had the leg for it. OTOH to your other point, I don't think we are moving on from him anytime soon given his pedigree. Who knows, maybe his calf injury is having a small effect? He certainly didn't miss the kick by much.

The kid's going to make some mistakes but hopefully we keep risking those in hopes the game will slow down for him by the playoffs. Happy McDermott wasn't afraid to get him in there yesterday!

Prater was sitting at home because his ability to connect from 50-55 probably hovers around a coin flip at best. But he's so experienced I believe the FO chose to give up some long distance range/reliability for being able to consistently make shorter and high pressure kicks. He's 1/3 so far on kicks over 50. I think the FO would be foolish to expect him to make those. Maybe 5-8 years ago.

I agree in principle if this was Tyler Bass, but he's our stopgap 41 year old semi-retired kicker. You can't trust him 50-55 and I wouldn't even put him out there over 55 yards. Let's hope the coaches don't share your opinion and game plan(ned) accordingly.

My biggest gripe was not being a little more aggressive with the playcalling to get another first down. Run one play-action out of that formation. Game over and you get Prater a better range.

I think it's been critical in Bishop's development. You could see him coming on last week and I think Poyer helping set the defense and in-game decisions have buoyed Bishop's confidence. Kudos to McDermott for making it happen. It settled the entire secondary. Now utilize Poyer to get Hancock up to speed and hopefully we can roll into the playoffs with Bishop/Hancock.

McDermott will always have my undying respect for turning the culture around as a classy individual and good coach. After 8 seasons though, him and this FO are treading water with Allen aging. He needs to show more continuous improvement to get us to the next level. A good many of us are saying this. Tune out the name callers and focus on the earnest discussion. We lost our last Superbowl after the players gave up when Dallas tied it up on the turnover. You could see it in their faces. Why? Because nothing much had changed from the years before. I don't want to see that mistake repeated. But there's still hope this season, so let's see.

I can't say what tilted his final decision, but I do know he's very involved in Cleveland outreach and charity work and a part owner of the Cavs. I do think a part of his decision to take the payout and sell job was not to ruin his off-field work. I'm not saying it was a huge part, but he's a fixture here in Cleveland. If Josh Allen decided to leave in frustration, once he cooled down he would have to consider all his off field work, Oishei, and what burning all those community bridges would mean to his legacy post-retirement. Edit: He also had no real leverage to force a trade, lol.

He just doesn't strike me as the brightest bulb and/or a short attention span so getting him to incorporate those small details into his game might take a long coaching haul, if ever.

Yeah, concussions can be weird. My daughter could pass her concussion test but had light sensitivity and intermittent brain fog for weeks. I kind of suspect that is what's going on with Josh, and he can't tell anyone or he'll have to sit. Yesterday's second tush push TD, he ran it standing straight up which I found odd and made me wonder if he was protecting his head? He's definitely not thinking the game as well the last two games, at least. One other odd thing is that the last two games he's been trying to mostly roll left to escape the pocket which I have no idea what that's about?

The Cleveland game showed they are very well coached, creative and aggressive. They really did a number on the CLE defense. That may be the difference for them against us this year.