fergie's ire

Yeah, I feel like it's not just the run game that was abandoned in the second half. This offense works best, becomes scary, when it uses all its weapons. We have a ton, but have to spread it around to them to be effective. It's not like KC in the past years that had Kelce and Hill and would always go to them when they needed to get going. In the first half, the offense used McKenzie effectively, Knox effectively, Davis effectively, in addition to Motor. We were the multi-headed monster. In the second half they didn't seem to be using everyone anymore...and I am not sure. Does Allen start to lock on Diggs? Does the play calling become less creative? It reminds me of the way this team was prior to last year. They would play tight in the second half with a lead rather than continuing to play loose and putting a team away.

15 att for 41 yds, 2.7 avg. Sarcasm?

Yeah, I have been thinking about this a lot because he definitely didn't look right. I can think of two times when Josh just seemed off like this. One was when he hurt his shoulder against Oakland a few years ago. He acted as if it were nothing and it wasn't affecting him, but he didn't look right for about 3 games. The other was the middle of last year. It's been pointed out that something happened at half time of the Tampa Bay game and he and the offense looked much better. Seems like it was a mental/focus problem. So, it could be a physical issue (either the Douglas hit or another hit), or it could be mental. It's hard to tell the difference particularly since he downplays injuries. Certainly I would hope that the coaches weren't calling runs if they knew or even suspected he was hurt. Will just have to wait until Josh gets better and see how he looks then.

Yeah, whatever they did at half time of the Bucs game last year, they need to repeat. Josh needs to get his head (and elbow) right....but also need to get the running game in gear and have Davis and McKenzie get squared away.

I don't know if it's concussion but something doesn't seem right with Allen since about that hit. Uncharacteristic bad throws (both decision and placement). It reminds me of how he was throwing when he hurt his shoulder in the Raiders game a few years back. For about 3 games he was just off.

But I thought our defense sucked and got run over. Very confused.

He can return kicks, line up in the slot, has the speed and elusiveness to run gadget plays.... Seems like he has a lot of the same skill set as McKenzie. Makes me wonder if there is a wide receiver out there on the street we could sign, maybe someone who has been injured, it would allow us to cut him to make room. Sometimes feel as if coaches have lost faith in McKenzie and could move on.

I think some are failing to recognize a difference between scheme and personnel. Yes, we are almost always in nickel personnel but the scheme has actually been very fluid this year. In particular, that KC game was amazing. They threw all kinds of defensive schemes at Mahomes including that crazy man/zone hybrid that accounted for the interception at that the end. In some of the analysis I've seen they've talked about how Fraser is tailoring schemes to each opponent. Now, you may disagree with the scheme they came up with but clearly their thinking was that Rodgers is a 2 time MVP and if they were going to lose it was because he recaptured his old glory. They completely shut Rodgers down until garbage time. Again, maybe they were wrong about that and it's the reason we lost, but it seems like a reasonable plan.

By "media" he meant this guy:

I feel seen.

I definitely want the Jets. If the Jets loose, it will make a difference in their record but no other real difference for their franchise. However, if the Pats lose, particularly if they get crushed like they did against the Bears, then there are going to be a lot of questions about their quarterbacks and their coach. I could see this putting the franchise in a tailspin and completely out of the picture. I like how we match up against the Jets and think we have a good chance to knock them down ourselves in 10 days, so I'd like to see Pats taken completely out of the picture.

Agreed. While I never want a loss, I think being 14-1 may be better than 15-0. If we can win out we could have home field wrapped up with a week or two left in the season. Then we don't have the whole "Do you go for history or rest starters" controversy. We could rest our starters and possibly get almost a month of rest going into the playoffs.

I found the contrast between Bills D/Chiefs and 49ers D/Chiefs to be interesting. The Bills were able to harass Mahomes throughout the game but particularly on the last interception. Late in the49ers game, the commentator mentioned that Mahomes had not been touched. Yes, they did finally get a sack and yes they had a lot of injuries (but so have we). In recent weeks the talk has been about two of the great defenses being 9ers and Bills...but the Bills D looked MUCH more impressive against Chiefs, particularly the D line. Bills have mainly played good QBs and teams. It will be interesting to see what happens when they get to play some struggling D's and quarterbacks. It really could be scary.

Actually, it was.

Agreed. I also think exhaustion caused the missed 4th down pass. Josh didn't step into the pass properly.

But if they can beat the bad Lions, Jaguars, and Bears and split with the Patriots, that will get them to 9 wins. They won't have to do a lot more to make the playoffs.

Yeah, that one really long drive killed off half our offense. I remember when Bates went out and they were tending to him, like half the offense was either kneeling or sitting and taking in water. They looked like they were all about to pass out.

The first bit of football analysis, seeing something that others hadn't pointed out, that I remember doing as a kid was about Joe Ferguson. I noticed that Ferfuson would be playing great and then something bad would happen like a dropped pass or false start, or a call that he didn't like. He would get this look of anger on his face and from that point on his game would be crap. He'd throw reckless interceptions and just make awful mistakes. It got to the point where I could spot it and go "Oh no!!!! He has that look." His ire was not a good thing.

And everyone in the media seems so surprised that his awful, which I don't get. Don't they do ANY homework? The guy was awful as an OC in Buffalo. He was so awful in Jacksonville that they cut him loose mid-season. His offense was good in Green Bay with Aaron Rodgers AND he wasn't the play caller. What would lead people to believe that this guy would be a good coach. I get why Denver hired him. He was Rodgers bait, but it should not be a surprise that he sucks.

Based on his comments about the Rams it seems like OBJ not only wants to be on a winner but also wants to get PAID. Don't think that's us with our cap room.

Jason McCourty on GMFB was absolutely amazed by it. Talking about how great a "play" it was...almost like an offensive play but on defense. One thing I noticed live that is hard to pick up on the replays that I am seeing is that it looked like Dane was signaling Taron to jump the route. Looked like he was waving him forward.

Top Tier: Kansas City alone. Bills and Chiefs played even so they are close, but Buffalo still hasn't shown they can do it against them in the playoffs. There. Now you won't have to watch.

As did the Patriots in 2018.

Yeah, I was just thinking about how disappointed we would be if something happened and we don't make the playoffs. We expect to do more than just make the playoffs...they are almost a given. But the 17 years ended not very long ago. Now the consensus among media is that we have the best roster. At the start of Josh's rookie season not only was the consensus that we had the worst roster but that we had a historically bad roster. The change is pretty amazing.

I agree. Thought this was his best throw of the game. The first throw, yes, he has to anticipate Davis coming open, but on this one Davis never really was open and he drops the ball in perfectly. That was an amazing throw.