Maine-iac

I have to give the Chiefs credit in that I thought Jalen Carter would be killing them but that said Sweat is owning their right tackle. Chiefs making it easy in some respects by not running at all. Not sure why they are getting so much pressure off the right side when our best (?) player was absolutely invisible off that side.

Yet every KC SB loss is essentially because the defense played well.

Eagles completely overhauled their defense in essentially one off season. Not sure our line is going to be there in one off season but our secondary actually being able to cover would go a long ways toward our line getting to the QB more often.

Bengals (I think)

It wouldn't be a reach to say Jones typically plays 3 quarters or more of the snaps in the playoffs. Pretty much the same for the last 3 regular seasons as well. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/J/JoneCh09.htm#all_snap_counts https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/J/JoneCh09/gamelog/2024/

We should have signed Mooney last year. Middle of the road money, great route runner with very good speed.

For a while I was thinking pass rush was a big problem. Not that I all of a sudden thought our pass rush was perfect but by the end of the season I was more of the mindset that our coverage gave up quick easy throws and often the coverage was bad enough those easy throws went for big gains. I still think we don't have an end that routinely blows by his man and we don't have a DT who is legitimately a problem but our front 4 can bring some pressure. We just don't usually hold up in coverage. At least not in an all 4 downs meaningful way. I'll be the first to admit this is purely from watching the games. I'm not crunching numbers to get this. If there are numbers I'd be interested to see what they say.

I'll weigh in with my own version of "the problem is". The problem is our safeties aged out and we haven't replaced them yet. Against run first teams Rapp and Hamlin can hang on for dear life and know the scheme well enough to do their jobs. The better the passing attack the more Rapp and Hamlin get exposed. The more exotic we try to go the worse it gets. In their day Poyer and Hyde were both capable of covering a wr on most plays since they both played CB at one point or another. Zone maybe but man coverage and Rapp and Hamlin are going to get owned. McD's defenses have always made it hard for even the best QB's but it was hard getting stops all season and I really think coverage was just not tight enough. No coverage sacks and quick easy passes usually available so even a decent pass rush isn't going to hit home. I'm not sold we have any coverage safeties on the roster.

Mark Andrews is saying "hold my beer".

My best attempt at some positive vibes.

Brees didn't go to a SB until something like his 9th year in the league. You need a little luck and before that you need a really good team. With all that said you need to start by being in the playoffs every year. Like I said in another post, many said we weren't even going to make the playoffs this year. You just never know.

Half our starting pass catchers were our first picks in the draft and our best pass catchers were late round picks and free agents who were only supposed to block and play special teams.

I think the problem is we have a garage full of Corvettes and wish we had a Ferrari.

We need to invest "more than we have" in pass catchers like Baltimore needs a new TE. Kincaid dropped the pass and that sucks. Cooper played well. Coleman played like a rookie 2nd round pick and Shakir played well. Hell Hollins played extremely well. Overall pass catchers were not our problem. Haven't been all year.

Or maybe we could just trade for a WR who has multiple 1,000 yard seasons ................ wait we did that!

Playing devil's advocate here but if that argument works for pass catchers how come it doesn't work for pass rushers?

He was averaging over 6 per carry seems worth a shot to me. Crazy thought as well, then you could fake it to him and throw a pass. Can't fake a tush push. About the time Allen was trying to lateral it back to Samuel would have been the last time that play got called in my book.

Probably a rough time to point this out but the guy who dropped the ball was a pass catcher that we invested in. The first pick in our last two drafts have been pass catchers. Investment doesn't always equal fulfillment of need. We have gone down that road with pass rushers as well.

I think the unfortunate part is that I think the coaching staff outperformed expectations so much that people are forgetting that this was supposed to be a rebuild year with us possibly not even making the playoffs. Here we are in the Championship game. No one was expecting anything from this team with no Davis or Diggs and no Hyde or Poyer with Milano out most of the season. While I think Hamlin and Rapp did well for what they are they are both coverage liabilities overall. I know many want their heads but I the coaching staff did exceptional on offense with what it had. The defense needs some safeties that can run and cover and Hamlin and Rapp are not it.

Wasn't Allen's best game. Not that it was a bad game but it wasn't his best either. Spags does that to people. It's unfortunate.

We were running it down their throat. You line up Cook you have the threat of play action and Josh can still run. Tush push you have nothing. That said I still think Josh made that 4th and 1.

All of this being true it was kind of a weird game because I thought the DT's played all right. Groot who is usually our most consistent guy was on the ground or out of position all day long.

Short Benford I'm actually not super disappointed in the defense. They stopped the run and they stopped 2 drives, forced a turnover, and a FG. Kincaid had to make that catch. He was looking at the ball. He didn't need to out jump anyone. He just need to get his hands under it and not let it hit the ground. TBH his big catch in the Broncos game was a drop also they just didn't get it reviewed in time.

Both refs were on the line (one actually a foot beyond) and somehow they both ended up short of it by the time the ball was spotted.

Running the ball down their throats then we go tush push. You can go play action of a run set but you line up tush push and they know whats coming. We should have figured that out after one or two tries.