Beck Water

I reluctantly agree. On first pass - -I thought Beane and McDermott sounded out of step. -McD isn’t ready to commit to his staff. Beane defends Dorsey and talks about how he’ll improve in year 2. -McD talks about needing to improve the lines. Beane defends Brown and talks about needing to find bargain FA -McD talks about being beaten by a better team, Beane talks about not overreacting to one game and our team being worn down. It was like Beane didn’t acknowledge any team weaknesses -The part that grated on me most was talking about how we didn’t want to suck badly enough to draft Chase, we sucked about as badly Allen’s Rookie season and went Defense with our top pick. Now maybe he’s saying we don’t want to suck enough NOW. But it came across to me as excuse making (at best) and a salty shot at the Bengals, which does not look good on Beane to make. Anyway I shared your disappointment and impression That was kind of my interpretation

Well, whatever it is, the Colts think it's enough to qualify him for HC consideration I'll go further. FIX THE OL. The DL had its infusion of FA $$$$ and high draft picks. Two of the key ones were out/IR; two others playing injured. There's reason to believe that as those guys come back, it will improve. The OL was the starters. FIX THE OL.

I think you might want to look at the coaching experience there. 2013: Pete Carrol 8 year as HC (2nd HC stint with 2nd team) 2016: Ron Rivera 5th year as HC. LOST Superbowl; 2 previous years lost division 2019: Sean McVay 5th year as HC. LOST Superbowl, Goff had 2 more meh seasons then got thrown in the trash. Took McVay 8 seasons as HC to win 2020: Andy Reid 20th year as HC (2nd HC stint with 2nd team). LOST superbowl in his 6th season as HC I grant you Zac Taylor. Went to the Superbowl in his 3rd year as HC, directly off 2-14 and 4-11-1 seasons, after 2 years as a coaching assistant with the Rams and a handful of this and that. He's apparently the real Boy Genius.

Apple still trolling on Twitter but also walking that part back (He then goes on to troll Diggs and Lawson some more)

I think if you compared Brown on Arizona this season to Davis, you might be surprised - and he was the #1 guy for a lot of it. But that's a disagreement on one player, and really doesn't detract from your overall point where we agree: Beane was rationalizing Cincinnati's choices to prioritize offense, when he prioritized defense or whiffed on a pick.

I actually thought the reporters asked a number of hard questions, and even reiterated questions as follow-ons. But they got the "go not to BB for counsel he will say both no and yes"

I'm not sure I see Marquise Brown as a prize, but fair points on Josh Jacobs, Deebo Samuel, AJ Brown, and Terry McLaurin.

I wasn't expecting to hear Beane divulge his salary cap strategy and his FA prioritization. But the talk about Spencer Brown was actually the most depressing part of Beane's presser for me, because it reminded me of how he spoke about Cody Ford, excuse excuse excuse excuse.

It's a good question. On the other hand, Brian Callahan (Bengals OC) was announced to have the Colts request an interview last Weds and to have completed his HC interview by Friday. So it's not as though Dorsey was prepping for an interview while Callahan wasn't. Maybe the timing was a factor.

thanks, brain fart on my part although re: size similar to Kyle Williams and Harrison Phillips. I think it’s less a size than a mindset thing, just like Jordan Phillips is huge but plays 3T

Barkley on his 2nd contract and having been injured so much in his first, is well aware that an RB's career is short in the NFL He's going to go for as many $$, as big guarantees, and as long years as he can get - and why shouldn't he?

Thanks for pointing at this.

Again - 5th year option fully guaranteed

Kudos to you for having someone in mind and suggesting him - a guy who is a FA, moreover. I think he's 1TDT? whereas Oliver is a 1TDT, but it still puts you on most folks here to have a FA target playing the correct position in mind Do you know what the injury was which placed him on IR?

Eli Apple may have a nasty streak, but he's essentially a "weak link" on the Cincinnati DB. He leads the Bengals DBs in yards completed against him, etc. Cam Taylor Britt has a higher passer rating against him but he's a rookie. He got mercilessly mocked (and for good reason) after last year's Superbowl, where he sucked - see article I linked Don't confuse a guy being a ***** the field with superior play on it.

Where do you have in mind?

It's his 5th year option. They are now fully guaranteed when signed. I think Oliver would probably be one of the guys McDermott has in mind when he says he thought the play of the DL was "inconsistent" especially after Von Miller went down

I Hear That I had similar thoughts when I heard Hyde talking about how it was hard to get up and go to work when it's cold and snowing out. Like "dude, cash a reality check, you are talking to an audience of people who do that day in and day out for years, just to pay rent and put food on the table, get paid a fraction of what you get paid for it." Some of the jobs I had, I didn't have a choice to be "out of gas", people's health or even lives were at stake. I'm sure playing football all season is draining in a way I can't even imagine, but if they can't find some inner fuel when it's "win or go home" maybe they need to seek a different profession. Or just take their pile of money and go sit on the beach.

Oh hell to the No's, I would have, but Eli Apple Jumped the Shark for me with that tweet.

It was a fair source of trying to stir up motivation. Didn't Zac Taylor say you have to gather up every scrap of motivation to stir up energy this time of year? Maybe McDermott should have been riling the team up about how the Bengals were selling AFCCG tickets for Cincinnatti.

I'd love to see them get their asses whupped by a one-legged Patty Mahomes, actually. And that's something I did not see myself saying on Sunday at noon.

It's Eli Apple. It'd be a repeat award for him. https://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2022/2/17/22939174/eli-apple-jokes-nfl-ravens-chiefs-super-bowl-cooper-kupp Basically, Apple can talk his talk now, but his fingers may be writing a check his coverage skills can't cash. He's done it before. PS read the link, it's pretty funny - like Mecole Hardman tweeting a picture of his own Superbowl ring at Apple after the loss.

If nothing else, maybe that will be a lesson to Diggs to STFU on the Twitters

I agree on Crowder. I don't entirely agree that McKenzie is a "neat gadget player"; he ran some good routes and made some good plays for us. The thing is, he's a man-beater and I think you are right that he never learned to read the D and find the open spots in the zone. So Crowder was supposed to be the zone beater slot, and McKenzie the man beater slot (and continue to learn from Crowder). So we lost that when Crowder went out. I'm not entirely sure Shakir failing to "get the chance" is on McD and Dorsey more than on a receiver from a lower level of college competition needing time to learn his craft in the NFL. He was getting a steady number of snaps and not doing a lot with them. I kind of wonder if with Beasley, our offense evolved around his ability to read the D and find the hole, AND be on the same page with Josh about it - and we kept trying to replicate it with guys who just didn't have his ability and needed to have routes better defined for them. Sort of like Rex Ryan's defense depending upon Jim Leonhard to decode it and get everyone into position, even when he was gimping around himself. There was just some kind of weird disconnect a lot of the season where we would see guys open underneath, including Cook, Singletary, Knox, and McKenzie, and Josh simply wouldn't throw to them. It was like he didn't trust our offense to be able to sustain long drives and mentally, to him, it was quick strikes or nothing. That was his mindset in college, but I thought he'd evolved. We have learned how to change it up to handle, for example, the Chiefs. How to cover and limit their personnel. Part of what happened vs the Bengals seemed to be that we ran out of healthy horses. No Von Miller, then no DaQuan Jones, Oliver and Phillips dinged, playing Jaquan Johnson almost half the game and Johnson and Lewis at safety almost 1/5 of the game. But, what you say rings true to me. Frazier's D for sure depends on the secondary holding up long enough to get home with 4, and if the passes come out quick and hit gaps in the zone, that doesn't work. Is part of the issue just that Frazier doesn't make in-game adjustments? I heard an interview with him once where he made it sound almost like a matter of principle to him, said something to the effect of "you don't like to throw out what you've practiced all week and have the players think that the coaches don't have faith in it", which seemed strange to me - if it's not working, wouldn't the players have more faith in the coaching if the coaches adjust?

Agreed That would just be a bridge-burning dickish kind of question IMHO. What would you expect a HC to say to that? It would be like Sullivan stating (not asking) to Josh Allen "this offense isn't playing at a Superbowl winning level right now" instead of asking "What changes do you feel need to be made to raise the level of offensive play and make sure you're playing at a Championship level?" or something like that. You get a chance to ask a question, why not ask something where you might get an interesting answer. ??