dave mcbride

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?

Minnesota was playing for a long FG attempt there, not a TD. That was just gravy because the Saints' DB, who was in position, choked and whiffed on Diggs. The players were there; they just failed and Diggs made a play. I disagree with you here. Well, he lost one chance because of arguably the worst non-call in NFL history. If that call is made, he is in the SB. Don't forget that.

Yup, and I would not be surprised if Stafford throws multiple picks. He has it in him, deep.

Um ... https://bleacherreport.com/articles/685062-ryan-mallett-five-reasons-hes-new-englands-future-at-quarterback

As I said elsewhere, Mahomes' performance in from the last five seconds of the first half onward to the end was one of the most baffling performances I've ever seen by a genuinely elite player. It was like he had the yips -- just a total meltdown in all areas of his game: decision making (including internal clock management), physical movement, and accuracy. The sequence at the very end of regulation (the two sacks and the fumble) was just ridiculous. His play over that 30-plus minute stretch really wasn't any better than Nathan Peterman, and I'm not trying to be funny. Just bizarre.

Well, Michigan has the 8th ranked recruiting class for 2022, although they're a fair bit behind the leaders in terms of 5-stars (the usual crew and Texas A & M). College recruiting has come to resemble the tech industry -- with the nationalization of recruiting, a small group of 4-5 schools just suck up a hugely disproportionate share of the top talent. 8th may sound good -- and it is -- but it doesn't reveal how huge the disparity is between the top dogs and the rest.

Totally. Maybe he relies on them for interviews too frequently? Mahomes performance in from the last five seconds of the first half onward to the end was one of the most baffling performances I've ever seen by a genuinely elite player. It was like he had the yips -- just a total meltdown in all areas of his game: decision making (including internal clock management), physical movement, and accuracy. Where I fault Reed is in the first down play from the 5 yard line with less than two minutes to go. Cincy had a TO left, and they were expecting a run because they assumed KC wanted to bleed clock. That is exactly when you should be throwing the ball. Playing the clock game instead of scoring to go up by 4 at the earliest possible opportunity was terrible game management. If I'm coaching KC, I don't care if they get it with 1:50 left if I can go up by 4. (Notably, both Hardiman and Mahomes ran out of bounds on plays just before that stopped the clock too). Sure, it'd be nicer if they had less time, but by wasting a play you're now in two obvious passing-play situations, and if you fail, you can only tie it. Reid totally outsmarted himself there. Score a TD ASAP and don't waste plays in order to play clock games.

I agree with you. He has tools.

They went 12-13 in the two years before he got there. By Michigan standards, that's terrible. And the Rodriguez years were bad too. They had one good season under Hoke -- his first one -- and that's it. I know you're a Michigan hater but let's be accurate here. Harbaugh was reasonably successful there overall, and performed better than his two predecessors. Also, the "rival" has basically been one of a super trio of recruiting schools over the last decade plus (OSU/Bama/Clemson). I'd add Georgia to this mix now. They just recruit better than anyone else and they're hard to compete with.

That's a fair point. I was simply referring to his track record of success. Regarding Miami, they did have winning seasons the last two years, and they've occasionally made the playoffs in the last two decades. However, they're never upper echelon and haven't won a playoff game since 2000. Regarding expectations, I don't know. There aren't many Tua believers out there, which puts a damper on expectations.

He has turned things around everywhere he has gone: U of San Diego, Stanford (1-11 the year before he got there and 12-1 four years later), SF, and Michigan (5-7 the year before he got there, and he went 59-19 there not including the covid 2020 season when half the team didn't play). The track record is good.

Way too many people are forgetting what he did at Stanford. He took over a weak program and within 4 seasons got them to 12-1 and won a blowout in the Orange Bowl (against Tyrod Taylor, actually). He was an incredible coach at the University of San Diego (D2) as well, taking over a moribund program and going 11-1 in both of his final two years there. Finally, it’s as if people don’t realize he was good at Michigan. Excluding the covid season, he went 10-3, 10-3, 8-5, 10-3, 9-4, and 12-2 (59-19 overall). Yes, he lost to Ohio State, but that was a function of talent. Ohio State has more than anyone else outside of Alabama.

Peter King interviews Sean Payton: ‘Situational football: Buffalo up three on Kansas City with 13 seconds left and kicking off “A lot of it depends on my kicker. If I’ve got a young kicker I’m not sure I can trust, I will not squib kick. You can’t risk the kick going out of bounds, or being recovered at the 40. I also don’t like trying a pop-up kick to land at the eight- or 10-yard line. I’m not asking a kicker to use a technique, seldom-used, to place a kick somewhere that might determine whether you go to the championship game. I’m probably just kicking the ball deep into the end zone and giving them the ball at the 25, like Buffalo did. “The crime that is committed comes after that. We are playing football still—you can’t be defending the sidelines at all costs, like Buffalo was. You see when Travis Kelce catches that long pass to put them in field-goal range, a cornerback is defending an area of the field near the sidelines he doesn’t need to defend. Kansas City’s got two timeouts left—they don’t need to get out of bounds. Everything about what Buffalo did defensively is flawed. We would play outside man technique with a three-man rush, funneling balls to the middle of the field and contesting outside technique.”’ https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2022/01/31/rams-bengals-super-bowl-nfl-fmia-peter-king/

He also "died well," as they say -- that comeback vs the Rams was pretty epic.

The Bills not being in the championship game has literally zero to do with YAC given the offensive performance the last couple of games. They should be in the game but choked on defense.

I've actually been thinking the same.

Home field in that game meant something -- the Texans weren't called for one penalty that wasn't pre-snap. And they held all game.

He's available given that he was a second rounder. Plus he's a Panther ... PS - He definitely played with White at LSU. He came out one year after him.

Disagree about Houston. Allen threw three passes that should have been easy picks but were dropped. He did not play well and the Bills were lucky to get to OT.

This is a great post. I agree that this defense needs that CB who can play press and coverage. Otherwise, when you're up against a team like KC, Mahomes and co. will bleed you to death on crossers and the like. Which is what happened. Not having Tre was huge, although of course losing Honey Badger was huge for KC. Their pass D was a sieve without him.

??? You have to subscribe to read it in the first place. I actually read it (a friend emailed me the full text) and it's pretty interesting. They talk to a lot of people at all levels about the three QBs.

Denver went out and got good corners this past offseason and their D gave KC a ton of trouble. I'm down with a CB at 25 IF of course it's a player they believe and have a high grade on. If they're tied at WR and CB in their evaluation for BPA, I'm taking CB.

They're all good. The thing about Herbert is that he was elite from the get-go. Burrow is really, really good too. It's nice to have four elite QBs in the AFC. One comment: Allen was shaky in year one, but his skill set was still visible. He was also a LOT better in year two than his qb rating shows. Herbert was great in year one. Mahomes was great from the first game he played (finale of his rookie season). And Burrow was very good in year one. With regard to last year's picks, I'd say that Lawrence was shaky but also that his skill set was very visible. He's going to be a good QB. Zach Wilson ... looks like he might not pan out. He had a couple of decent outings, but a lot of terrible ones. Davis Mills may end up being very good; he played extremely well down the stretch. Anyway, for the near-term future, I think those four (Allen, Burrow, Mahomes, and Herbert) will dominate, with Lamar Jackson being a wild card. I don't know what the future holds for Jackson, but he has obviously proven he can play at an elite level. This season was rough for him not just because of his own injuries, but because he was dealing with street FAs at the RB position all season. Under normal circumstances, I expect him to be good enough to compete regularly with Burrow. I also think Mayfield is better than what he showed this season because of the injury. That gives you basically six teams plus some combo of the Colts/Browns/Jags (because of Lawrence) fighting for the last spot in the playoffs. It's not clickbait if you have to pay for a subscription.

Always injured though. That's the sort of thing you can't account for.

I will say this, Zero -- if the Bills had won that game, a lot of critics would have targeted KC's terrible CB play in that game. The final TD to Davis was ridiculous -- no WR who is having that kind of game should be able to exploit a seam that's parted like the Red Sea in a must-pass and must-score situation. The CBs just about cost them that game. Mahomes, Hill, and Kelce baled them out.