VW82

Have to wonder if we'll get to see Elam next week given Douglas is likely out for a while on the friendly fire (cracked ribs??). Also, it might be time to have the hard conversation about TJ this offseason. We have an out in his deal after 2025. Proactively planning for that makes a lot of sense given his age and slight decline we've seen throughout this season.

Literally every single defender on this team except Elam is best suited for nickle/dime zone. If we're going to switch coaches, then presumably we'd bring in someone with a similar scheme, otherwise it's a total tear down defensively and 1-2 years of Josh's prime down the drain.

This game is why we drafted Elam but McD is so in love with his zone concepts that there just isn't room for a man specialist (unless he's also a ST ace), and so we get caught in games like this without viable coverage answers and a coach who'd rather go down with his scheme than make an adjustment.

Some similar rhetoric itt as other threads about how we don't get any pressure or sacks. Did you guys not watch the game?? Our main issues were our inability to stop the run early, then play action, then all the misdirection (i.e. jet sweeps, etc.), and the fact we hardly made any adjustments (double Puka, anyone?) to stop the quick hitters. You actually have to slow down that stuff before you even have the opportunity to pressure a QB. Carter had a rough first half. Ouch. Dline had a tough day across the board. Milano and Bernard were just as culpable imo. But at some point you have to give your defense a chance with scheme. We tried to selectively blitz on a couple of tries in the 2nd half and couldn't get home. That's not enough. I've been wondering for weeks whether McD is essentially saving his bullets for the postseason. We've seen him adjust scheme to opponents before, just not this year. Has he truly embraced the bend but don't break defense at all costs? We've made small adjustments like Bernard/Kelce on scrambles. No real scheme adjustments. If we really are holding cards, who's to say we'll be any good at executing a primarily man scheme or heavy blitz packages when the time comes given we've hardly done that in game settings this year? Rams easily picked up six rushers on that long Stafford to Cupp connection over the middle that was flagged anyway. Bernard and Taron Johnson are keys to this defense. They are both undersized and have looked outmatched a surprising amount this season, yesterday most of all. Milano might be washed. Arguably our best man corner doesn't even dress anymore. I bring all this up to point out that there's more going on here than just "Dline didn't get any pressure."

Does McD know that you can double cover Puka? No? Ok, well he's still a big reason we lost.

Amazing this finished only a 2 point game given how badly we got outcoached.

Can someone please explain why we onside kicked? Now they're in FG range so even if we hold them they might make it a 5 point game.

Good thing we still have three timeouts

Bass-o-matic

Tom rubbing our noses in our own bad play calling

Rams D is almost as bad as our D haha

Which time? Which game?

might as well statpad i guess

Stafford just killed McD today. Time after time after time.

RT false start

That takes them out of easy FG range

We stopped a jet sweep. I'll be damned.

3rd down and we single coverage Nakua and give up the 1st. We are trying to lose, I swear.

I agree but there's something about come from behind wins that stick with people. He'll have the narrative of overcoming adversity on top of everything else.

If we pull this off, Josh has the MVP in the bag.

Mack attack. What a throw, what a catch

I love Cook but it'd be cool if just for once he could not immediately go down when someone breathes on him

OMG it's a stop.

Wish we had him in this game where we desperately need someone who can man cover

Not all of them are. As great asJosh is, he throws harder than anyone in the league and his precision average at best. Shakir is a very good slot receiver. Comparing him to Puka, the best slot in the league, is just dumb.