UKBillFan

As much as I unreasonably exploded over last week's defeat, a loss in week nine against the Vikings is manageable. Even losing to Cleveland is. I think we have to forget about the number one seed now with the injuries we have and just aim for the play offs. At that point, anything can happen.

If we can't beat the Lions without Josh then there's something wrong (unless half the roster is missing alongside him). Minnesota and Cleveland concern me because of their strength at running back.

We're missing half a team, they're missing two players. I don't like this trade off. 😂 I think White could suit up.

McDermott's been trying to keep Minnesota guessing who will be at QB. Think it looks pretty certain it will be Keenum. I'd say Cleveland is 50/50 and, if he misses that and Keenum looks alright, Josh will miss the trip to Detroit too.

It feels like that's what we were doing behind the bye - mixing things up and taking what the defense gave us. Return to that and I think the offense could be unstoppable, mistakes aside.

A running game opens up the field for passing as defense have to stop the run plays, and also takes pressure off Josh if he's having a bit of a slump. And we've seen before this season the run game work in the first half and we, for some reason, abandon it in the second. For contenders, it is always an option to keep defenses guessing.

The support for Dorsey will obviously be in correlation to how the offense looks. We started well but, since the bye, have become more reliant on big plays and avoiding the dink and dunk. I'm not sure why but it's been to the detriment of the offense.

If purely Josh is missing, and we look a mess on offense, then it will not reflect brilliantly on building that side of the ball. The defense looks like it will be missing a few key personnel so will be difficult to judge.

Perhaps we should dress Josh as a running back? 😄

Agreed. Forget about the number one seed - if we get it, fantastic. If we don’t, the important thing is to get to the post season. And hopefully we’re going through the injuries now so we have a clean slate in January.

I’d be surprised if any of the DNP’s from today play on Sunday. Wouldn’t be shocked if White appeared, though. We have another Thursday game after the Lions, against the Pats. The ten day break is after that.

Could a nerve issue still be a grade 1 strain?

The defense was weakened with injuries and kept them to two touchdowns - on both occasions they were not solely at fault for them. The last drive was gut wrenchig, yet, but even then they stopped them with a field goal. I agree we cannot afford to defend in that manner against stronger sides than the Jets. But. purely reflecting on Sunday, the defeat was not down to the defense. The offense had far more issues, especially considering they had less injury problems on the day.

We could do with the bye now, rather than in week seven.

My concern with the Browns game is Hunt and Chubb unless we tighten up on execution with the run defense. If it becomes a shoot out a lack of Josh might cost us. And Minnesota have Cook. We shut Henry down brilliantly earlier in the season and have to get back to that.

In fairness, only the past five quarters. Josh's ceiling is massively higher than Keenum so clearly he'll be a huge loss.

That’s one of the silver linings. The other silver lining, as said before, could be Josh gets to shake his head and work through the funk he’s in by watching the game. I’m not much less confident in winning on Sunday with Keenum than I was with Josh, considering his plays over the past five quarters.

The Falcons game is probably the closest in similarity to whatever happened against the Jets. Know I’m stuck in a loop but it’s annoying as I thought he’d got over those kinds of errors.

Josh’s pass completion percentage on Sunday was 52.9%. If he had managed 72% we would have won. ETA - He’s only been above 72% once all season.

We gave him options for a short passing game in the second half against the Packers and the Jets. For the most part he didn't take them and it cost us. Just like defense, the issue is execution over play calling. We could arguably let off the defense considering how it's decimated but a high calibre QB who had shown he'd developed his game away from that? I'm interested to know what happened in training between the Packers and the Jets considerirng the warning signs were present during the former.

Straw clutching but we can hope it will help. That, and Dorsey will have to try and create a running game as Keenum won't be able to do it all with his arm.

I agree regarding the lack of check downs and what really bugs is pre-bye he was doing this. I guess that’s why the Josh who appeared since the second half against Green Bay is so annoying - he seemed to have learned the lesson but has now regressed.

My only hope would be it’ll push McDermott and Dorsey to try and utilise the whole offense rather than putting a load on the QB’s back, which could the be continued after Josh returns. And Keenum may protect the ball better than Josh has over the last five quarters.

I have a feeling that Josh trusts Diggs but that’s it. He’ll throw to the likes of Davis, McKenzie, Shakir and Knox if they’re there but they’re not his preferred option. Maybe the interceptions have re-enforced that in his mind.

Makes sense. I wish Josh wasn't missing off the back of a poor passing performance though. It's a bit like losing before a bye - it's horrible having to wait to try and shake it off.