AKC

We were on the Dolphins 35 on the 4th down play, defending the end zone behind us. The end zone in front of us was the Dolphins end zone. Shakir took a pass on our end of the field into Dolphins territory on the second play of the drive. You're getting the Bills 35 and the Dolphins 35 reversed.

Happens every week of the season. Punting from the opponents 35 is going to be a rare situational choice.

It’s fair to question the coaching, the QB play and/or the decision to intercept either pass. My criticism is really with the 4th and 2 game call about it being “as good as a punt” and the continuing use of that phrase in recaps and discussion. It wasn’t as good as a punt. Of course there were possibilities that could have resulted in better outcomes than a punt but they did not happen. A forced throw on 4th and 2 against your inertia bailed out by a defensive error is just two (or 3) errors that don’t add up to a positive.

We’ve now heard it said many times that a 4th down play with a throw and pick in the end zone is “just like a punt”. This contradicts every coach who has taught his DBs to situationally knock the ball to the ground on 4th if there’s no clear lane to return past the 20. Just this past Sunday Allen throws a 4th down pick to DaShon Elliot in the EZ. For sake of example I’d use another division team- if Elliot had cost a Belichick team 15 yards with a blunder like that he’d probably be sitting for the rest of the game. The reality is you can’t count on the other side to be stupid. A punt in the same situation could easily yield an inside the 10 yard line starting point versus the 20 the Fish got on this play- a play they could have had the ball at the 35 if Elliot played it right.

To Brady's credit the timing of his promotion (for him) was awful, taking over an early season fave reeling and looking like they had already played their way out of the post-season. He has gotten past that gauntlet to now face a FAR bigger test in the playoffs, where better defenses and better defensive coaching is the bane of pretenders. Dorsey was so awful at situational football that Brady has a chance to take the product he was given and improve after the few games he now has under his belt, but the odds are not in his favor. We are entering the "second season" of the NFL when the best in the business exacerbate even smaller flaws in opponent strategy. The one thing it's safe to say about Brady is that we are in better hands than we were with Dorsey. It will be much to his credit to see our O start playing up to their potential right now since he's already been able to reel in the slide Dorsey dragged us into.

As long as the top answer to "How do you keep Ed Oliver under 5 sacks a year" is having Leslie Frazier coach his D, the challenges for Leslie would seem far too steep for even boneheads like the Spanos family to seriously consider hiring him.

I always think of Allen as one of the hugely underrated players in the league. You're right Stick will know his B team guys well, I would just imagine having one of the surest handed guys in the game out there for my first start would be attractive if I were in his cleats?

There is no universe in which the Chargers replacing Keenan Allen with anyone else on their roster is a plus for them.

He has been a career long liability against the run, not for lack of enthusiasm but due to his high center of gravity. Reminds me of John McCargo- sort of a Weebles Wobble body type. When he's healthy he has good feet and it allows him at his size to be effective as a pass rusher. He's an asset as a #3DT and he gives some flexibility against some offenses but he just can't make up for that playing high/tackling high in the run game. His emotional side has some yin and yeng to it too- he sometimes is so fast to celebrate that he misses the end of plays.

The only tell I see is that they are already leaving him unblocked early in that first series. I didn't even notice it during the game but now looking back- and what couldn't have been missed by our D team in the box- is that Parsons is getting a breather by the 5th or 6th play of that drive. Maybe going in they thought he was on his heels, and as you point out it would have surely been confirmed during that first drive.

We'd be wise not to take too big a lesson from the Dallas game. We’re highly unlikely to see that soft a run defense the rest of the season. They were down their only real run stopper in the middle. Due to horrible personnel management they had no backup to bring it to cover injuries to their starting LB corps. Most importantly we were able to implement a running game that left the backside of most plays unblocked only because Micah Parsons was clearly degraded by the bug he had been fighting. Good luck to any team who leaves that guy unblocked behind their run game when he has his normal explosive initial steps back. It’s a TFL strategy. The Dallas game was fun and it exemplifies how we benefit when our run game is clicking but it was an outlier for more reasons than just Dorsey’s awful play call instincts. It was an exception we can use to help diversify our offense and not a model to rely on as a strength.

I haven't watched him this year and I don't know why his numbers are down- I know he had pissed off the organization with his holdout before the season. The Chargers added some incentives to make him happy and it would not be out of character for the Spanos to shoot themselves in the foot by seeking suppression of his carries. In any case he is a tough runner to bring down- very low center of gravity on an already short frame and lots of tackle attempts that would bring down a full-size running back will just slip off of him. I can't tell where the stat comes from on Rotowire "His 3.8 yards after contact per carry ranked second in the league to Nick Chubb's 4.3" so that may be last season, but make no mistake if he's on his game he's a type of runner we have had trouble with. Quicker than fast but difficult to bring to the ground without a focused tackle on the low side.

Simpson was gracefully powerful with extra gears- he wouldn’t even appear to be accelerating but he would be putting space between himself and defenders. A top 5 back all-time IMO. Thurman had a supernatural ability to sense and utilize other players- and not just his own teammates- as blockers. His feet shuffled more than they chopped and he was an excellent back in his era. He just didn’t have the physical gifts of OJ., he was more of an instinct/intangibles back who was otherworldly at picking angles/position/speed.

Hopefully Wednesday or Thursday we don’t start hearing about a stomach bug, especially along the OL where there was a lot of close quarters breathing with the Boys D. It seems Parsons has been fighting it for over a week?

I thought McDaniels completely failed in having this team ready to get punched in the face, which seemed like the only real chance Vrabel had. And that's how I saw it play out. Considering the Titans gave the Fish 21 points between their offense and ST, the Fish weren't really in this game at all and their Offense earned nothing. The Fish weren't going to beat the Titans last night but the Titans sure gave it a good try. Miami was awful- Tua lived all the way down to the most skeptical opinions of his limitations; that he can perfect the repetitions of a video game console but he has no chance if he is asked to play football. There is real reason for Fish fan meltdown and if Tyreek Hill's ankle continues to get worse the AFC East is in play.

I am trying to find the film of Mahomes demanding they "let us play" after this play a week ago: Mahomes Not A Late Hit Flag

Since the scaletipper for the league has for some time been nonfootball issues, Mahomes may simply have been trying to emphasize how happy ignoring an obvious penalty would have made the biggest celebrity in the stadium.

It’s a common football dilemma. McDermott is the Dak Prescott of NFL coaching. Some weeks you believe and others not so much but there are plenty of fair arguments to go around.

As many have pointed out, the Sharp column could cut more ways than simply Sharp’s opinion of McDermott killing off the Offense. Seems like he let his opinion run the story even when the stats had other interpretations. Dorsey has been the agent of horrible playcalling while he also failed at adopting his concepts completely to a talent level at QB Dorsey may not get to work with again. Allen has his handicaps, the biggest being his short range touch that will never allow him to have a deadly screen/short game like some of his peers, but at the same time his ability to extend plays and laser throwing through tight lanes are best in the league. Allen wants to see himself as a Peyton Manning scanning the field and making decisions on the fly but that’s not ever going to be his strength and his OC must control that. There are a number of ways to limit that, not the least of which is to call more plays under center, where statistically Allen is at his best. Seeing us on the 1 yard line in the red zone with Allen in shotgun over this despicable stretch of ball this season showed me Dorsey does not have the understanding to work with Josh Allen. Dorsey earned his firing in the worst way. The frustration with McDermott that may end up being his undoing is his inability to improve on his worst impulses. It’s surprising from a martial arts guy- those are disciplines where you do not move forward in your art until you have learned to overcome your weakest skill. Maybe he just can’t get enough reps in a sport with only 17 chances every season? Instead of getting better at his disastrous end of game coaching McDermott can’t keep from falling all over himself. Between that and the indications he may be losing the players he is definitely skating on the swift edge of the river. I’d been thinking for the past few weeks if he didn’t get to 11 wins this year the owners would move on. There will be lots of former coaches chomping at the bit to come in, but the pain of the roster makeover might be as brutal as the horrible product we are putting out there these last 6 games. Good time to be a drinker if you’re on our side.

Your posts apparently are not arriving at OBD in a timely manner.

Watching the Miami postgame was interesting. Tua went first with a bunch of “communication problems” excuses followed by McDaniels talking about players not being where they were supposed to be. I realize it’s just week 4 but if the whipping you just took is based upon your offense being too complicated, you appear to be forecasting a lot more bad weather.

It appears Jones did land on the perfect roster. His response to questions about that play was “things can get really physical out there…”. Among my coconspirators in life the idea that the purposeful handling of another guys junk was some type of “physical activity” wouldn’t find any takers, but then again I would have turned in a scumbag neighbor like Whitey Bulger but I know many Pats fans in LA who were pissed at the guy that gave him up.

Replaced by a player who is more mobile and more physical for 17 million a year less. Looking for the downside, maybe "doesn't know the D as well" or "doesn't have the same impact in children's shadow theater". I'm good with the tradeoff.

Dorsey did the right thing letting Spencer Brown hit Crosby again and again with runs to that side early. It should be the formula whenever Brown is going up against a good pass rusher. Crosby is good against the run too but it really took him out of his rushing game by getting worked regularly by a bigger player. We have tools to punish opponents and on O we really benefit when we use them. Hopefully we keep getting more each game from our TEs who can make secondaries pay for deep zone coverages.

Top of my wish list for tomorrow is for our running game to be heavily focused on the right side allowing Spencer Brown to punish Crosby early and often. It’s a sport about punishment and if you’re not punishing them……