fergie's ire

Oldmanfan actually creating the game day thread?! Is this the TBD version of leading the charge? I LIKE it.

The conference championships are scheduled for Jan. 29th. The Super Bowl is Feb. 12th. That's two weeks. The only thing scheduled for Feb. 5th is the Pro Bowl Skills competition in Vegas.

Yeah, fortunately I have missed those. In these days I have come to expect the worst from people but I was pleasantly surprised last night at well everyone (with the exception of the NFL) reacted. The announcers, the studio team, the coaches, players, fans (Bills and Bengals) were all supportive and thoughtful.

Yeah, if you go in thinking it is chili and judge it on those terms, you probably won't like it. Cincinnati Chili is its own thing...a kind of sauce on spaghetti not a tex-mex chili.

But do you trust the Ravens to beat the Bengals?

Seeing how much better the Raiders looked with Stidham makes me suspicious that Carr might be washed....so Colts have dibs.

Chase missed 4 games. That probably had a lot to do with it. Yes, Davis also missed time, too...but missing a number one for four games really cuts into the number of snaps.

I remember that game...and it wasn't quite working. After about the third time he called the same play Thurman Thomas stepped out of the huddle, looked at the sideline and waved his index finger in a circle next to his head in the universal symbol for "he's crazy." Kelly was then called out of the game.

Herbert is an odd one. He looks good. His statistics are great. But he loses a lot of big games and when I watch said big games something seems missing...and I can't put my finger on just what. It doesn't just seem to be the talent around him. As others have pointed out they seem to have a lot of talent. He also had similar problems at Oregon. The only other quarterback I can remember feeling this way about is Philip Rivers.

If I'm reading it right his dead money hit is 107 million if they cut him after this season. More knowledgeable capologists on here could tell us if that money can be spread out at all, but even so that is a LOT of money to be spending on someone not on the team.

No. Barricade the doors if he even comes near the place.

And rushing yards?

I think that the biggest issue in the division is that now all three other teams have serious questions at QB. Makes it so much easier when you know you have THE guy.

Yeah, he got pushed back, but slipped away from the group pushing him back and moves forward a few feet and then fumbles. We see backs pushed back but just break free and run forward and that is allowed. If he had just fallen back and just allowed himself to go backwards the play would've been dead even if he fumbled. By moving forward his forward progress was no longer stopped and it was a fumble.

Yeah, some of the historic Bears QB stats are unreal. They have never had great (and rarely even good) QB play.

Yes, and someone else mentioned the word regression. That is what is a bit maddening and gets lost. Last year, at then end of the year when he was great, Josh took what the defense gave him very well, and read the defense pre-snap very well. It's why they picked apart the Patriots in the second game they played. Patriots tried to take away everything deep and Josh picked them apart. There were a lot of throws to Singletary and Know about 5 to 7 yards downfield that they often took for an extra 5 or 6 yards. So, we were getting a lot of yards just taking the short stuff quickly. Then when the Patriots switched it up to take that away THEN Josh hit them deep. I haven't been seeing the same quick reads and decisive throws lately...but hope we will see it when the pressure is on against the Bengals and in the playoffs.

I know it's been mentioned on this board before, but it bears repeating. Since Josh Allen joined the NFL he has 3 AFC East championships. Since joining the NFL, the Jets have 2.

I've had an a/c injury like his and that's the thing. Even when it is healed to the point where you can do anything you want when the arm is below the shoulders, trying to raise above the shoulders can remain very painful.

Pats gonna pat.

And McDaniel mentioned the different formations. He said that in the first quarter we had two high safeties so they ran it and then when we brought one down, they went to the pass.

Sorry if this came off as grouchy. It's been gnawing at me for a while and for some reason I just feel in the mood to air grievances today.

Is it just me or is the "we don't adjust and always stay in the same nickel defense" the new "Josh is inaccurate." It is a statement that I hear over and over again that is, well, inaccurate. Every time we have a team run on us (Green Bay, Miami), we hear "power running teams are going to destroy us." Yeah...that's why teams like Cleveland with Chub, or Tennessee with Henry, or the Patriots with Stevenson, or Jets with Zonovan Knight have each racked up like 500 yards rushing against us. Wait...they haven't? But if a poor rushing team like Miami can rush for 200 yards, then what happened? Could it be that we played different differences against these different teams even if we used the same personnel? If anything we over scheme (which may be necessary when missing someone like Hyde). Zach Wilson, was hitting wide open receivers against us. Granted his stats weren't great but they were better than his 50% for 90 yards that we saw last night. Meanwhile, Green Bay ran the ball because Rodgers couldn't find open receivers. This defense actually does a good job of taking away what they perceive to be the opposing offense's strength, but make themselves vulnerable to the other team's weakness. Much has been made about the Dolphins running against us. Yes, Mostert had 101 yards rushing against us in the first quarter...but that means he only had 37 yards in the other three, which is not great. Our defense changed!! Of course, that left us exposed to Waddle getting open. My point is we need to stop claiming our defense doesn't adjust. It does...even if you seem the same players (including Taron Johnson) out there.

The zoo's festival of lights can be nice this time of year: https://www.visitcincy.com/event/pnc-festival-of-lights/1993/?utm_term=pnc festival of lights&utm_campaign=&gclid=CjwKCAiAnZCdBhBmEiwA8nDQxVUJzEnmor_igG_oys2UIFntotMGknTzo0G6RW190B4fuGCKrOsaWhoCUAAQAvD_BwE

As easily as they handled Houston?

Not as much as 3rd and 1 on offense scares me, but yeah.