The Frankish Reich

Agree. Just like Mahomes last year, Allen got a little tired of just taking what the D was giving him. In the first few games it looked like McKenzie was making strides in finding those open spots the really good slot receivers (remember Beasley?) specialize in, but then Josh got a little Diggs/Gabe obsessed.

Agreed. I remember when McKenzie first arrived here. A lot of his early touches were on plays that were easy reads for the defense with predictable results. It took a while for Daboll to figure out how to use him. I think that by the end of the regular season Dorsey will find ways to get Hines into space, and I'm looking forward to seeing that. He is a McKenzie type, but with more flat-out open field speed.

Dawkins: very good Morse: average in his decline phase Rest of O Line: replacement level Knox: someday potential may translate to actual play. Now? Average Davis: better than average, not clear how much room for improvement there RBs: average So …. he’s not wrong. EDIT: I checked PFF just for fun. More or less agrees with me other than Singletary and Cook rate quite well (above average) and Davis rates as purely average at best

Hackett is horrible in any year and with any team, and Russ has been horrible in Denver. But the idea that Russ was horrible last year and that Geno is that much better simply doesn't reflect the facts. Wilson's passer ratings last year, game by game: 152.3 128.8 111.2 116.0 93.7 [he got hurt in this one and missed the next 3 games] 39.7 [first game back post-injury, probably rushed it] 80.1 110.6 99.4 115.2 55.3 [Rams; his only real dud, discounting the first post-injury game] 104.1 133.0 110.7 In short: he started great, he got hurt, he came back too soon, and apart from one awful start against the Rams (they had a way of doing that to opponents last year), was really good in the last 7 games. In total: 9 out of 14 starts with a QB rating of 100+. Compare Josh Allen this year: 5 out of 11. [Yes, I know QB rating is flawed, but check any other metric and you'll see something very similar]. If he wasn't "elite" last year, he was still very good, and outside of the Holy Trinity (Rodgers, Mahomes, Allen; I refuse to include Brady] you could make a case that he was right there with the rest of the next tier. This is what's so shocking about exactly how bad he's been this year. This kind of drop-off really doesn't happen. Cam Newton and Peyton Manning are the only recent examples I can think of who've just fallen off a cliff year-to-year like Russ has this season. The Broncos were perfectly rational in trading for him based on what they saw from him last season. Watching him this year, I do think he's just done as a good NFL QB. I think he'll rebound, but never be what he was, even in the supposedly "down" year of 2021. But can he be that much worse than he was last year without some kind of significant injury explaining it? Answer: we won't know until Hackett is fired and an entirely new offense is put in place. My best guess: he won't actually be good next year, but he won't be horrible like he is this year.

That would seem to be the strategy here. Maybe he’ll come out a winner like Kirk Cousins. Or maybe he’ll miss that huge contract entirely. By that time he’s a 27.5 year old run-first QB looking for one of those 6 year deals ….

Who was this strong-armed mad bomber QB we had c. 2008? Where were they hiding him?

That's "doesn't work outside the home" Julie to you, please.

I see no reason why he can't be Trevor Siemien. Yeah, that's not good, but it's a perfectly acceptable backup. I don't know why (maybe I'm just too nice a person?), but I want him to have a tiny bit of success before he hangs up the cleats.

Tucker Carlson advertiser update (I'm watching right now ... I've missed some of these new ones): - The New Believer's Bible - My Slippers from My Pillow - Recti Care Advanced - Tommy Copper Shoulder Support Shirt If I didn't know better I would guess that the median Tucker viewer is a 78 year old man with a bad shoulder and hemorrhoids who shuffles around the house in oversized slippers and worries about whether there's still time to repent for his egregious past behavior. Like I said, Elon: new advertisers!

Other places you won't see Apple ads: - The Socialist Worker newspaper - Pr0nhub - Taiwan is a Real Country Times - Two Bills Drive/PPP pop-ups Funny, it's almost as if major corporations avoid platforms/media that may alienate a significant portion of their potential customers! Meanwhile, Musk should check out Tucker Carlson's advertisers: - My Pillow - Some kind of gold knee brace that apparently cures arthritis - the chair lift thing that takes you upstairs when you can't do stairs anymore - Gold Bond Medicated Powder - Colonial Penn Burial Cost Insurance Plan I hear there's real revenue there!

Poor Elon apparently doesn’t understand that if he wants to run Twitter as a business and not as his public service gift to the world, he needs to keep advertisers and partners happy. Now look who’s turning into the whiny little …

Well, it’s a pretty different situation. Yes, the Broncos have a huge problem on their hands. But trading for Wilson and then re-signing him (and really, one couldn’t happen without the other) was a calculated risk. There aren’t many 33 year old QBs who have fallen off a cliff like Wilson. Even his subpar partial 2021 with the Seahawks produced a 100+ QB rating (I know, far from a perfect metric, but check the others and they’ll be in line with that). And this came after a remarkably consistent run in which even his bad seasons were mid-90s QB ratings. I can’t think of a similar sudden decline like that. Surely Peyton Manning was one - pretty much the same Peyton Manning up until his last year, then total garbage in his last season (paradoxically, the only one in which he won a Super Bowl for the Broncos). But he was already 39 and had a history of very serious injury. You just won’t find many examples like Wilson in recent NFL memory. They threw the dice on Manning; they won (and that was a much bigger risk at the time). They tried it again with Wilson; they lost.

Musk has looked at the books, and he seems to believe that a Twitter bankruptcy is inevitable. I guess he thinks he might as well make as big a splash as he can before it goes down and its assets (really nothing but it’s branding, which he is also in a hurry to diminish) are sold off to some social media competitor. Twitter is not some marvelous thing we can’t live without.

Glad to see Barstool Sports, as it enters its 20th year, is finally acting like a grown-up.

His naked running was never of a predatory or sexual nature. Who among us hasn't run naked through a hotel at 2 a.m.?

Sometimes a team decides it's out of the playoff run, or that if it somehow manages to sneak into the playoffs, it'll surely be one and done. Sometimes that team changes QBs as a not-so-subtle way of tanking. Sometimes that new QB plays the role perfectly. It's not as easy as it seems! You have to be marginally acceptable as an NFL QB or the fans (and in turn the players, coaches and ownership) will revolt. But you can't be good enough that the team actually is better with you than it was with the guy you replaced; that ruins everything. Nate Peterman is that first guy - the guy who was so bad that the tank was immediately called off and the status quo mediocrity (Tyrod) was reinistated. We saw the same thing this year with Indy going with the utterly unprepared Sam Ehlinger. You can do this in Game 17 (think "Cardale Jones gets the start") because that fan revolt doesn't matter anymore. But you can't do it in Game 11. So my theory of "tank but don't look like you're actually trying to lose" means Peterman gets activated and then gets the Week 17 start when Fields sits out with a phantom injury. Meanwhile, guys like Taylor Heinecke and Gardner Minshew screw up your tank-and-get-better-draft-position strategy by actually being an improvement over the incumbent. You do not want these guys anywhere near your non-playoff team!

That was some horrid clock management. They had one timeout and Prater has the leg to hit from 60. 2 really slow developing plays and nothing ... Something makes me think he'd enjoy that more.

Damn ... Wanted the Chargers out of the playoff picture. They are - at least in theory - dangerous if they make it.

Yeah, not impressive given that the Cards really have nothing to play for anymore.

The next Miami game has me concerned. Dec 18, so there's 3 weeks to get maybe a little bit healthier and more in sync. And maybe for Miami to have their own critical injuries, etc. (not wishing for it, just saying it happens)

Umm, 30-0 at halftime ... I didn't watch it, but really ...

This is an outrage! They were only up 30-0 at halftime. Tua should be required to drop back to pass until he has either 300 yards passing (the wimp stopped at a gentlemanly 299 today) or a concussion. Preferably both. (Seriously ... Bills fans seem to be getting more than a little worried that the Dolphins may be legit. What else explains a comment like this?)

Well, there aren't that many future Hall of Famers playing QB today. There's Brady, Rodgers, Mahomes and Allen if they maintain this level for another decade or so ... and then other Super Bowl Hall of the Very Good QBs like Matthew Stafford.

Mike White is not scared out there. Which is the opposite of Zach Wilson. He’s also not a 37 year old larger than kid statue like Joe Flacco. So…I’m sorry the Jets finally figured out it’s time to give him a shot.

Too young to have experienced the Leodis McKelvin era?