thebandit27

Like I said: with Matthews and Clay working the inside, Zay will have his fair share of opportunities on the boundary. I also think this is a game where you want to work Shady in the passing game early and often. If you can force the Panthers to match Davis (or Kuechly) on Shady, you'll open up those larger throwing windows in their zones for Clay/Matthews. The matchup I worry about with their front is when they move Short over Miller's outside shoulder--he's quick and stout enough to cause major disruption working from the 3-tech spot. Defensively, they'll need to stay disciplined, and they'll need to generate pass rush with their front 4 when Cam takes his deep drops.

Hey, if a team that thinks that Ereck Flowers and Bobby Hart are legitimate NFL OLmen thinks that Greco isn't, then I'm all-in on Greco! Irrespective of the rest of the NFL, many of us have been saying since his signing that Ducasse is a train wreck and doesn't belong on an NFL roster. I'm 100% certain that they can find a better option on someone's practice squad right now.

Bringing in Greco and Lelito would seem to indicate that, yeah. Let's hope...

Sign Lelito and cut Ducasse...now

Not sure if this got posted already, but here's a good read on Carolina's D: https://www.catscratchreader.com/2017/9/13/16297568/csr-film-room-analyzing-the-panthers-defensive-performance-against-the-49ers

Possibly, but my problem was more that McCown did, in fact, have time when he chose to hold the ball longer. Now, that could certainly change...I'd like to think that this front 4 can generate pressure somewhat reliably.

They must feel good about Gaines' health if they cut Mabin.

Let me see if I understand this... You're essentially saying that unless I'm going to commit to doing an All-22 breakdown of every throw from every NFL QB every single week, that I cannot make a comment about Tyrod's missed opportunities? Sorry, but that's just slightly unreasonable IMO. I think, on the other hand, that for me to say that I've watched enough NFL QBs both live and on All-22 to say that guys like Alex Smith, Kirk Cousins, and Sam Bradford don't miss those opportunities is hardly going out on a limb. For example, here's a breakdown of Alex Smith from Thursday night: https://www.arrowheadpride.com/2017/9/11/16286126/alex-smiths-all-22-vs-the-patriots-so-that-was-pretty-good You're welcome to disagree with me if you like, but I find the measuring stick that you're asking for to be a bit much.

I think you want to put Matthews in the slot in '11' sets. He's got the best catch radius of the 3 (at least until Zay proves otherwise) and probably has the best feel for where to settle between the LBs and safeties in Carolina's zone looks. Plus I think having both Matthews and Clay inside forces Carolina to commit more to the interior than they'd like, which should give one-on-one opportunities for Zay and Shady out of the backfield.

Agreed...it's not as simple as it is for a team like Cleveland last year, where literally anyone would be an upgrade over what they had. If nothing else, Tyrod has proven himself as a competent starter; a guy that's capable of putting a team in position to be competitive throughout the season. To expect any rookie--even a high draft pick--to come in and match his level of competence as a veteran with over a half-decade of NFL coaching under his belt would be asking a lot.

I don't see anyone that isn't accepting of it; it's okay to accept that he's the best we've got right now while also believing that the team will need to upgrade at the position next offseason if they want to build toward long-term success.

Up through this past week, I would've called it the "Alex Smith" standard; throws that I expect Alex Smith to see and make (then Smith went ahead and played the game of his life against NE and blew up my baseline ). It's arbitrary of course, but that's kind of my measuring stick. Maybe it's a mental thing; sometimes he shows a willingness to step up, but it's not often enough IMO. Were I to characterize it in platitudes, I'd say he lacks a feel for the pocket.

My statement was more meant as a cautionary note than a defense. My main beef with Tyrod's play has been that he bails from clean pockets too soon and too often fails to see the open man. My comment about leaving plays on the field is more symptomatic of these two traits, and like I said, we saw it again on Sunday (along with the things that he routinely does well, like extending plays with his legs and being willing to take the easy checkdown yardage on early downs).

Don't attribute an agenda where there isn't one. When I say that he left throws on the field, I refer only to those that I could reasonably expect a higher tier of passer to make. You folks will find that I always call 'em like I see 'em. I don't think Tyrod should be replaced by anyone on this roster, and I also don't think that the team can responsibly go into next season without drafting a QB in the 1st round in 2018.

FWIW, that deep throw to Matthews was there if Tyrod threw it to the back-shoulder. Come to think of it, I don't remember a Bills' QB throwing a back-shoulder stop-route anytime in the last 5 years. John, you think everyone can go deep.

I would only expect it if we see the same lack of consistent pressure from 4-man rush packages moving forward. I agree, however, that LorAx and--to a lesser extent--Davis have earned the benefit of the doubt in those situations. Still, it'd be nice to see if Shaq can be productive as a pass rusher. Watching him cave the play-side TE repeatedly was fun though

Check out YPP's twitter breakdown of the All-22...Tyrod was, well, Tyrod. Did some good things, but also left quite a few throws on the field: https://twitter.com/YardsPerPass?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

He was noticeably good against the run on Sunday; I'd like to see him get more opportunities to rush the passer in the upcoming weeks.

Meh, so were Pronger and Niedermayer; I may be in the minority, but that LHD vs. RHD issue is overplayed IMO

No surprise there at all. I would love to see him play his way into the lineup this year. I know they want to pair Scandella with Risto, but Guhle's style would be the perfect complement to Scandella, plus he'll be a huge asset to the power play.

Two things: 1) that penalty NEVER gets called 2) he's maybe a half-yard further downfield than is legal when the pass is thrown, so they probably wouldn't call it even if they saw it Doesn't matter where the pass is thrown so long as it's a legal forward pass.

I'll tell you the same thing I said when I saw it in real-time at the game: what unbelievable effort/execution by Eric Wood.

Carolina has a very good defensive interior, so the middle three of Richie-Wood-Miller are going to need to be up to the task. Also, the pass rush is going to have to perform better than they did against McCown. They need to be able to make Cam pay for his 5/7-step drops.

Then what are they doing calling timeouts on the ensuing drive? Also, I could believe that if Bowles hadn't been so heinously bad at managing the clock in previous seasons. His blunders with the game clock at the end of the half in Week 17 of the 2015 season, when they were playing for their playoff lives against a dead-to-rights Bills team, were legendary.

No way...I think that 75% of NFL coaches would recognize that--down 9 points with less than 5 minutes to do--you need to go for it in that situation. Absolutely. Though I will say that the WRs did a pretty solid job of getting open yesterday. There were more than a few occasions where someone was open for a big-gainer and Tyrod simply didn't see him.