Thurman#1

I thought he was fine.

They won't forget but it won't be a big deal for them. Assuming he doesn't stay many years in NE, the next guy who wants him will just demand a signed contract. I suspect other owners will understand well why he was concerned about going to Indy. Their ownership is not top-notch. Could be. Alternately, the owner may have promised him he'll succeed Belichick. Or at least be a leading candidate with an inside track. If he doesn't get hired there, I think he'll be hired somewhere else the first year. If not, though, yeah, a good chance we'll see a window effect. Fair point. But I still don't think he would have any trouble getting hired elsewhere even if he's not in NE for the long-term. Whoever hired him would just do a better job of saying, "This offer lasts XX hours. Sign the contract or we move on."

Ah, spacing out. Sorry. Yeah, it makes a pass more possible for the Eagles.

You don't need an elite QB. It's sure nice if you do get one, but you don't need one. (Elite as generally defined is top three, four, maybe stretching it to five. But not more.) You need a QB who's top ten or twelve. Russell Wilson isn't elite. Never has been. Flacco was never elite. But he played like a top ten guy for a lot of that year and especially the playoffs. Eli's not elite. Flacco had a top three defense that year but they weren't winning the SB without him playing the way he did. Roethlisberger's probably never been elite. Really really close, top 6 or 7 for most of his career, but not elite, I'd argue.

Both, please, Coach McD. I don't mind a stifling defense. And I don't remember Coach McD being against offense.

Yup, it does make a run on that play a possibility.

Agreed. But at this point I don't think there was any way Cousins was staying. He'd become fed up with the organization. They had their chance to keep him, but didn't. Smith may well have been their best alternative. But yeah, I agree that they should have paid Cousins and kept the CB, though the salary cap hit would indeed have been large. But that's pro football and the market in top ten QBs reaching their second contracts.

Hunh? No, that's a standard move. You don't lose anything by it, and you gain three seconds or so. If you call it before the two minute warning, you have two clock stoppages and it's third down with 1:56 left. Here's the play-by-play. 1-10-NE 31(2:09) 29-L.Blount left guard to NE 29 for 2 yards (93-L.Guy; 37-J.Richards). Timeout #3 by NE at 02:03. 2-8-NE 29(2:03) 29-L.Blount right tackle to NE 26 for 3 yards (93-L.Guy). Two-Minute Warning 3-5-NE 26(1:56) 73-I.Seumalo reported in as eligible. 29-L.Blount right tackle to NE 27 for -1 yards (70-A.Butler, 90-M.Brown). If you don't call it, the two minute comes at 2:00, and it's 2nd and 8. Actually they ran the ball and got 3 yards on 2nd and 8. Assume they do the same thing. That play takes, what? Six seconds? And you call timeout. Now you have the same amount of timeouts, it's 1:54 instead of 1:56. And the same situation, 3rd and 5, but with two extra seconds gone. So if they call it after the 2:00 warning you've now had two clock stoppages, there's 1:54 left. And you have the same number of timeouts, as you only used one.

Yeah, Brady and Belichick, but it's precisely Belichick who uses that draft system. I hate Belichick but he's smart and he drafts that way for a reason. And again, Brady was a comp pick. Extra picks mean extra chances.

Yeah, but you are leaving out the other part of what Donald Jones said. Which was that as the two of them learn to play with each other, that Zay will learn to head more up the field and Tyrod will learn to make the quick adjustment and throw to where Zay is heading. He actually said that both guys could have done better on the play, and that if Tyrod had made the quick adjustment they would have had the ball on the one rather than a TD. Interesting how you only mentioned the part about Zay.

He did throw into tight windows. The skinny on Foles has been that with time to throw he will be excellent, but if he gets disrupted he has major problems. Nobody likes disruptions but Foles has bad problems with it. The Philly OL did a terrific job there, terrific. The Pats couldn't rush him.

QBs don't have win-loss records. Teams do. That stat is called "TEAM record in games started by this QB (Regular Season)" Foles' third year in Philly - his second year under Shurmur - he was much worse than he'd been in his second year. Look at his TD/INT ratios, his yards per attempt, his yards per game, his INT percentages (insanely good 0.6% to bad 3.2%) No question he played well the last three weeks. How well would he have played if teams had seen him all year? Dunno, but I'd guess not nearly as well. It'll be interesting going forward to see what he becomes.

His floor is very good backup, IMHO. I'm still not convinced that's not what he is. Great game tonight, but the Eagles really used him well. They then switched how they used him as the playoffs began. Very smart as defenses can't count on tendencies to help them predict opponent moves. Very smart. It'll be interesting to see what he does in the future.

Didn't know the Eagles were big on analytics. But it isn't a big surprise. The best teams take an advantage where they can get one. Exactly how you use this stuff is up in the air, it should be a bit different for each team. But every team ought to look carefully at where analytics can fit into their plans and help them achieve their goals.

I don't see it as being about stubbornness. It's about having principles and living with them. Not just living with them when it's convenient. And yeah, I can see it bothering players. Belichick's never worried about that, and for good reason. Yup. Hope one of them calls it quits, but if neither does, this won't even be remembered.

I just don't see what either of you two do. The whole foot has to get down inbounds. He's not sliding that foot, he's stepping. If any part of the foot hits out, it's out. And it's out. As for "moving the ball," yeah, you can move the ball but when he initially catches it he appears to have control but not be sure of it. More than half of the ball is out but he's got what appears to be a good grip and both feet down. But then his left foot comes off the ground and he lets go with both hands to move them to a surer grip. He gets the better grip but his left foot having been in the air lands half in and half out. Incompletion. A virtually impossible play to call at game speed but if there was a conspiracy, they'd have gone the Pats way initially and that might have been tough or even impossible to overturn. Yeah, or guys in motion coming to a stop but not holding it for the second they're supposed to. The play starts milliseconds after they were moving. Never gets called.

Come on, that's not three yards. The WR's foot is slightly inside the three yard-line and the LOS is the one and a half. As folks say, it wasn't a worry if he confirmed it with the ref, but that's no three yards. There was another play much earlier where it was clear a play went against the Pats. Can't remember what it was. But it happened. Oh, yeah, the Philly TD that was out of the end zone and the guy never had possession. That was pretty clear. But the "it's a conspiracy for the Pats group will conveniently ignore that, as it doesn't fit their preconceptions. Nice.

That was Wade's papa, talking about Shula. And the Pats draft extremely well for the fact that they draft late with great regularity. They have a system ... collect comp picks, trade down and collect more picks, trade a 3rd this year and get a 2nd next year, get higher value. They don't convert picks to great players any more than anyone else. Maybe less, as they're drafting so very low. It's harder down there. But they have more chances because of their system and that has brought them a lot of terrific drafted players over the years. Including Brady, a comp pick. That's really stretching it. They didn't put in a new system when Roman was fired in week three. They basically simplified Roman's system under Lynn. You can hardly call that a new system.

Agreed. If nothing else, this should be a very interesting offseason with so many guys in play.

I suppose it's possible, but yeah, you're right, do both and you radically cut your chances of success. Good point.

Highly agree with you here. Never been a big Grigson fan at all.

Well, of course it's for their benefit. But me, if I'm asked to take a pay cut, I coldly look at the situation and take the best option for me at the time. Which sometimes might be accepting the pay cut. If the lower salary is still likely to be higher than you get elsewhere, or as high, I might be better off staying. I'd have to look at it from all angles. IMHO for Tyrod the key angle is less the money than finding the right situation. I think turning down a pay cut might well put him in a situation that's better for his long-term interests than accepting it, even if it does mean less money in the short term. I'm not sure it would mean less money, but even if it does it might be better for him to give up on the team that doesn't want him enough to pay his contract. But on the other hand, a $23.6 mill cap hit for the Bills for one year of Tyrod is really more than market value. A cold look would show him that, but if I were him, I wouldn't care. I'd be more interested in getting into a good situation as quickly as possible. McDermott has shown what he thinks.

You're welcome. The problem for people on your side is that after seeing that headline people can watch the video which shows Zay open by five yards or more and Tyrod putting the ball in an absolutely horrible position. And if Zay was supposed to run to the pylon then the ball was thrown poorly because the ball was thrown three or four yards inside the pylon. Jones' route was closer to the pylon on the right than Tyrod's throw was to the left of it. You only have to see where Zay is laying on the ground after the play. He's not in line with the pylon, he's well inside of it. You're right, it would have hit him in the bread basket if the bread basket were held far above his head and behind him. With that huge cushion, Tyrod should have thrown the ball to the outside. Which he didn't. The drive you copied there isn't the winning drive. Winning drives are what people have - correctly - noted that Tyrod seems able to provide only extremely rarely. Did the actual final drive, from the Carolina 32 to the Carolina 11, contribute to the win? In one way, it burnt clock and forced Carolina to burn timeouts. But no, it didn't contribute to the points. You could say it made the field goal a bit easier but Hauschka was money this year. He'd have nailed it. The Bills would have gone ahead without the offense running a single play. And yeah a seven point difference there would have made a huge difference in terms of making things much more difficult for Carolina. The Panthers got the ball back with 0:46 left. They still had a pretty decent shot at getting into field goal territory, though the defense - again - proved too good. But if Tyrod and the offense had scored a touchdown, Carolina would have been forced to do the same for the tie. It would have been a huge impact. But the offense couldn't do it. Just weren't good enough. The defense had the crucial last-minute impact. Not the offense. Unlikely to happen till the league year opens and they try to trade him. His roster bonus is due 3/16. That's the key day.

I doubt anybody pays anything like two firsts for the "chance" to sign him for a long-term deal. Without an actual agreement, not even close. And you can bet Cousins would make it clear he wouldn't be signing any agreements, even if down the road with the right team he actually might. But he'd say he wouldn't, and then nobody would give the two firsts.

Yeah, they could consider it, but if I'm Cousins, I make it clear ... do it. I'll sign the tag, take your $34 mill, turn down any trades and spend the season getting in shape and preparing for everything to start next year. I signed the tag the last two years, and I'll do it again. But I won't do it till as late as possible so you won't be able to plan or actually work the trade. "Considering" is the right word. They might think about it, but they won't do it.