GaryPinC

It's more of what I want him NOT to say. He ties up a good part of his full response comments around "it's not about one guy" and "team is most important". It comes off to me he's imagining and lecturing about a problem that isn't there. I simply feel his need to emphasize this as petty, small minded and inappropriate. If I'm Cooper reading this I'm wondering what I did to p*ss in his corn flakes? Cooper has been a good soldier through a bad situation with the Browns, he is the opposite of Diggs. Him fitting in with the team will not be a problem. So McD should support the receivers in the room, say he's looking forward to have a player like Coop join the room and see how his skills will fit in and more or less keep it at that. I agree with you about Cooper being a good player and also that he's not some massive superstar or only solution to what ails the team. You are the one being ridiculous imagining I'm thinking all those other things you mention.

No, I don't think he should do anything of the sort, stop being stupid. He should express confidence in what we have. But his "I don't know, we'll see when he gets here. It's never about one guy... It's not about one guy" is middle-school level garbage. He could actually welcome the guy and his talents a little more warmly while not harping on a non-existent problem. Cooper will fit in with our culture, I think McD implies otherwise and that's a bad move for a first impression.

This is what might get McDermott fired. Small thinking. Instead of welcoming Cooper he's lecturing about how he's just a small cog in the machine. That's what is first on his mind. Coop's been fine as a cog in Cleveland, nothing to indicate it would be a problem here. Some cogs are bigger than others, McDermott. And that's ok, it's part of every team's dynamics at every age. Players accept that. You need to fit the right cogs, not obsess over having them equal.

Sadly, you're probably right knowing how conservative McDermott is but we would be better served with Coleman's skill set over Samuel. You can't develop fully without snaps.

I understand, and we just don't know if that side of him could re-emerge. All I am saying is Cooper's been a beast for Cleveland the last two seasons, the opposite of soft. This year he's had more drops, but Watson and the offense are a complete sh*t show. Cooper has probably checked put mentally to some degree, but he's kept his mouth shut. I would say to you he's older and wiser than his Dallas days but you could be right. We've got to take that chance though, he doesn't cost a lot and is better than any other receiver on the team right now.

I live in Cleveland and the last 2 seasons Cooper has been a beast and total pro, not a bad word from him. He's getting older though and this year being stuck on that team has affected his attitude. Speaking as a lifelong Bills fan, the reality of the Browns in their reincarnated era is the most depressing thing I've seen in sports. I feel for my son and all the Browns fans. Haslam has an excellent FO and he still continues to blow it with his stubborness about the Watson deal. Coop may be a problem here but I doubt it. I think he picks up previous seasons' form. We'll see, but really a perfect fit for our needs on paper.

You're not wrong with your thought processes if we're thinking beyond this season. But many of us are not. We have Josh, we have to put our best foot forward to contend for SuperBowls every year. Many years we're going to have to swing a deal like this to fill a hole and try and win it all. Great chance Cooper moves on for money after this season but we need him now and will figure out the rest later. Looking to next year, Diggs' dead money will come off, so that will come into play.

Yep, my bad. Thanks for catching it.

Well, let's look at the situation: For us: -seventh season as head coach -Former college safety -Current starting safeties are weak in that they have little diagnosing and anticipating in the passing game -We've been burned in the past by bombs, especially Fitzgerald and Arizona come to mind For them: Coach just fired and defensive coach now head coach Aaron Rodgers, gunslinger Aaron Rodgers, gunslinger and proficient at Hail Marys Lousy season so far for the jets What McD did wrong, ie, I expect a head coach of his caliber and experience to account for it. -99% chance in this particular situation it will be a Hail Mary, covering the sidelines should be at best a temporary look. -We rushed two and had five guys in the endzone to their three. That left four guys out of the play when everyone pretty much knew what it would be. -All 5 players down there were even with or behind the receivers, no one in front of them. You've got to have a defender just out of the endzone spying the throw and able to put himself in front of where it will come down. -Our best diagnoser and anticipator, Cole Bishop was on the sideline. He was being punished for last game's rookie mistakes but he needs to be in there for this one play. -All a bunch of shortie defenders trying to defend, we need some height. Coleman should practice and be pulled in for these situations given he also specializes in catching the ball under pressure. May even help him if he's in the same situation but on offense. I expect more from McD. We're trying to win a superbowl and this guy's still coaching small. Love him and his strengths but if he can't improve in critical situations we need to move on.

Maybe. My view is that you had the Biden (White House) team hiding his decline and you had the rest of the Dem power brokers (Pelosi, Obamas, Clintons) with various levels of awareness but still mostly on the outside. You also had Jill Biden covering and you have Biden's ego, which still regrets stepping down. Last year, team Biden convinced the outside powers to let him stand as the candidate, aided by the fact that he's one of them, in political terms. Somewhere along the spring and summer, the power brokers finally realized this guy is not fit to serve another term. Think about it, every technique the WH used to hide his decline was agreeably taken away for that Trump debate. How does that make sense? It makes sense if you're testing him, and if he passes you push forward, if not, emergency plan B. And in the wake of the failure, the power brokers became very visible in the press until Biden stepped down. WRT hypocrisy, when I was a Republican 15 years ago I used to believe we were more intellectual and capable of integrity then the Dems. Sadly, that has pretty much flipped which is why I'm independent. I don't share your opinion and it's tough to say how fast Trump will progress but he is and will probably accelerate like Biden did.

I've had no problem realizing and discussing Biden's cognitive progressing decline going back years. I am an independent, I believe Democratic leadership set him up with the Trump debate stipulations knowing he would fail so they could push him aside. Too bad Republicans aren't as wise. Trump is absolutely slowing mentally, go watch his ramblings from some of his rallies. You want to criticize Dems then lead by way of example now that the ball's in your court. Your turn to not be hypocrites. Good luck.

This is a really stupid question. He got beat by her once already, speaks in vague euphamisms instead of facts, and is getting old and clearly slipping mentally at times, just like Biden. Wonder if anyone on the right has the integrity to admit that after seeing it so clearly with Biden? Yep, Trump's maybe a year to 18 months behind Biden in this regard. Anyways, the smart thing to do is avoid a debate like the plague, which they are doing. Makes you wonder why Biden's team was so willing to toss him into it? I think your effort would be better served posting Trump's increasing flow of word salad nonsense at his appearances.

Allen probably throws that ball as Hollins makes that inside step move to freeze the safety. In making that move, Hollins has to push off that left foot to get by the safety and that shifts his body momentum on a slight slant to the sideline and that's why Allen put the ball over the outside shoulder. If Allen had another second to see Hollins holding a straight vertical line then I think he puts the throw to the inside. But he didn't. I'm no football expert, only played TE in high school and when I made a move like that it was always outside shoulder ball because the momentum shift made it easier and it's fractions of a second getting around the guy and looking for the ball so you can't be sure if the safety could make a play on an underthrown ball to the inside. Outside shoulder was your cleanest and most convenient window in that moment.

Well, I'd do run, play-action to short/mid pattern, then figure out third down from there, just running it if it's third and long.

The only thing that makes sense to me is either an Allen keeper to that side or Dawson Knox sheds his seal block and gets the short throw from Allen. What you have with this play: -D is in pass protect, 3/5 receivers go far left of the field, both tight ends execute backside "seal" blocks. -O-lineman stay at the line of scrimmage to keep a potential pass in play. -pocket forms on the right side of the formation. -everyone on Baltimore's D gets sucked left except Josh's spy and the 2 weak side pass rushers. -Josh bails because of Van Noy, hoping to complete to his receivers he knows are on the left -Hollins with the deep route????? Possibly coming back right to try and make a downfield block? -Coleman with the sit-down route. Because of Josh staying left or just a decoy to pull coverage? So if Josh comes right and audibles the O-line for the run, they're able to get upfield seal, and try and get to the spy. Or Josh audibles Knox to release in the flats and he has the entire sideline all to himself. It's actually not a bad play in that context, sure worked on pulling the D. Two biggest problems were bad timing on the call (we were already grabbing the momentum) and not having a better bail out plan if Josh can't get right.

Actually, as I look at the play again I think the intent of the play was for Allen to run a keeper to the right. Tough to say for sure but both receiver patterns were far left of the field and we had hats on the only two guys remaining on the right. If needed, he could fake the throw to freeze the DBs and might have worked if he could have gotten around Van Noy. Instead he may have audibled to the left and should have thrown it away. Yep, or switch up the blocking or Josh just throw it out of bounds.

That would make the most sense, but I think they never practiced it enough because Coleman never looked back on his route and just sat down. No indication of a dig and when he hit that point he didn't know where Josh was. The other thing I see is Edwards' first look is left, none of the linemen ever look right to see where Josh is. Also, Kincaid pulling out of the left TE slot inhibited Dawkins from even having a chance at his block. Kincaid needed to pick up that block and let Dawkins go do the kickout. Which would be totally unnecessary if Josh wasn't coming back to that space.😂 But definitely your explanation makes the most sense because Brady should lose his job if he actually planned to have Samuel bring Josh the ball and occupy the same space.😂

I think the problem is he was always going to command a premium salary and so you're not just going to bury him on the lower rungs and make him climb. I'll wait until next year to decide how good he is. When he gets excited, his voice gets squeaky, which I find irritating but we'll see how he progresses. I remember when Beth Mowins started announcing and she was unlistenable. Trying to manufacture enthusiasm on every play with her super-irritating voice. Overall, she does a pretty good job now.

I was actually p*ssed when they ditched all but 2 register lines for self-checkouts. I'm the kind of guy that hates grocery shopping lines and prioritizes self checkout first, but not at Aldi. No way I can scan faster than the employees do. One of the genius things about Aldi. Almost everything (including produce) packaged for fast scanning and checkout. What a novel concept, trying to save customers time!😂

I'm certainly not suggesting Elam just suddenly gets the nod over Benford. But I also think it's counterproductive to continue to relegate him to garbage time unless he really is so much worse than Benford. He can be worked in for a series or two in the context where we have a two score lead and I don't think that's foolish. Give him the opportunity to gain some confidence. And players notice which of the younger guys have unique talents, so I would counter that even if teammates are unhappy short term I would bet they understand why it is being done. I would also argue the players could be unhappy with coach languishing a talented guy on the bench they know could be a difference maker on the field. We are contending for a super bowl, coach owes it to the players to develop and put the best team of playmakers out there for the playoffs. I can't say for sure this is the case for Elam, but I watch Bishop's instincts and Coleman height, size and work ethics and feel that these two need all the playing time they can get because they will both be important for success in the playoffs. I just don't think McDermott can afford to take the Terrel Bernard pathway. And who knows if Bernard would have been able to contribute his rookie year if gotten more playing time?

If I remember right, I think it took him weeks longer than expected to come back from his first one and regain confidence, so maybe again....

You're right, but I wish he would learn to change a bit sometimes. They want to hold onto Elam but not put him on the field. It's just insane to me for a first round pick. This year I also feel he really doesn't have the luxury to helicopter-parent Bishop and Coleman along. At least he's finally realizing this defense needs a big body in the middle!

Looks like DT will be the winner! https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/report-bills-to-sign-mammoth-rookie-dt-off-falcons-practice-squad/ar-AA1rwRVp?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=7d8ef9d4ae34400a988731cefb332088&ei=28 I like it, about time to shift our philosophy on our underperforming Dline.

Great write-up and thoughts as usual. I also appreciate that you picked up this interaction with Coleman. My question is do you really chalk this behavior up to a toxic prima donna? Coleman is struggling right now to adjust and make an impact in NFL games. He just starts to get cooking and McDermott pulls him. I get the whole 1/11 thing, but we need Keon being productive ASAP because he promises to be a playmaker. Why not leave him in to keep growing his game against a tough D? I know we're still stinging from the Diggs drama, but how many other #1s around the league are trying to hijack their offense? I know Amari Cooper in Cleveland wants the ball but he's being a good soldier with Watson behind center. And that is just not easy. Just one example. I like the "everyone eats" philosophy but at the same time want a receiver that's going to take it on himself to be a playmaker in tough games against elite talent like this. We're going to need that.

The other reason we did that in the past was because Lamar would only see the downfield in front of him and he was quick to take off running under pressure. Unfortunately McD didn't account for the fact that Lamar has improved in two years and a different strategy is needed.