K-9

And Taiwan Jones is a team captain to boot.

That's what I was aiming for. C'mon, not even a chuckle?

Then he shouldn't be wearing the C, which Housley had a voice in awarding. There's a leadership void anyway, as evidenced by Okposo's admission that he should have said something at practice last week, but didn't. If this team is so mentally fragile, then changing coaches is even more of an emergency. I'm not sure who is out there to replace him. If we are more than four points out at the end of the month, it won't matter, historically. But we can't just keep him for the sake of keeping him, either. He's not a good coach. Why subject these young players to more of his ineptitude during a lost cause of a season, anyway?

And as Dunkirk Don would say, "Don't forget to connect the dots."

Why aren't they held accountable now, then? Scandella has sucked all season. WTF is Housley waiting for? And Okposo continuing to screw up PP 1? Housley, that's why. I submit it's either because Housley is blind to the obvious or is afraid to exert pressure on (presumed) team leadership. Nothing he has shown to date suggests to me he is a qualified NHL head coach.

Well, that's one player that's better. That's a start.

The Learnin' and Observin' school of quarterbacking.

Weeks ago, I suggested that Rosen's supporting cast might be worse than ours. Never got a good reason why it wasn't, either.

107 out of 110. Ouch.

No, coaches can't play. But as a life long believer in "you play like you practice" I have to wonder about Housley's attention to detail. Last week, after getting their ***** handed to them by the Rockies, Okposo said something was "off" in practice and that he should have said something. Housley said practice went well. What gives? While many of their mistakes are of the glaring variety, it's the consistently stupid, little mistakes they make that often leads to disaster. It's mind boggling how stupid these players are on the ice at times. These happen regularly and, again, that points to preparation and coaching in my book. Here's a concerning thing for me as well: our top line D pair consists of a 2nd pair talent (Risto) and a 3rd pair talent (Scandella). That spells disaster in my book. Now Housley can't do much about acquiring the talent to compensate and that will have to wait, but he's got to stop acting like he has the group he had in Nashville and make necessary adjustments in the meantime. So far, he has shown NO propensity for doing so. Yet another coaching failure on his part, imo. Anyway, the clock is ticking towards 10/31. Teams that are out of a playoff spot by four or more points on Halloween, miss the playoffs 87% of the time. If I had ANY more faith in Housley's ability to get his finger on the pulse of this team and make the right corrections, like removing Okposo from the PP and having Scandella sit a game or two, I'd have more faith that we would be in that rare 13% segment that do make the playoffs. But I don't.

Awesome that you had that experience. Thanks for sharing that. No doubt Leftwich could sling it, but that advantage is lost with a long delivery time. Back in the day, down on the sidelines at practices, etc, I remember James Harris's ball making that noise. Strongest arm I've ever witnessed personally. It's even more impressive to a wide-eyed kid, too. So I'm sure my memory tends to embellish.

Can't argue that.

Amen.

If it takes Leftwich less time to get a good play in than it did for him to wind up and throw a football, the Cards just may have something.

Damn, Peterman was thisclose!

Good luck in having that removed. Here's something to help:

I appreciate the insight here. But there is a segment of the fan base that delights in Rosen's failures because that somehow shows he's worse than our guy. And that is an entirely illogical approach.

This idea that McDermott doesn't "understand offense" is absurd when you think about it. As a life long defensive coach/DC, he has spent his career breaking down thousands of hours worth of offense. It's inconceivable that he doesn't understand offense, especially when he's had some success in devising schemes to stop them.

Strike up the band!

This will set Rosen's development back minutes, if not hours.

Luckily for Anderson, the bar for "signs of life" with this offense has been set at a level that even Tryion Lannister cannot limbo under. This offense is in a vegetative state as far as signs of life go and if Anderson can just get it to grow moss on its north side, he will have succeeded.

Not sure I fully understand the Rosen infatuation, one way or the other. Nothing Rosen does or doesn't do lends itself to the decision to trade up and select Josh Allen. Allen will rise or fall on his own merits, whether Rosen craps the bed like last night or has a great game, regardless. It says a lot about us as fans if we need to celebrate the failure of Rosen because it somehow validates drafting Allen; it simply doesn't. No matter how much we wish it did. People judge these games like a sprint when it's a marathon barely off the starting line.

That is a GREAT name for a dog. With this team, it's less a question of working hard than it is of working smart. It's uncanny how often so many of these players don't make the smart, simple play. Effort can overcome many shortcomings sometimes, but stupidity is seldom one of them. Bad decision after bad decision and by guys (I'm looking at you Scandella and Okposo) who are team leaders and expected to know better. If that's not a reflection on the coaching, what is?

Scandella needs to watch a few games from the box. His season has been absolute crap and he's playing his worst game tonight. Pathetic.