dave mcbride

My understanding is that they tried very hard to trade up.

No, just giving credit where credit is due. He's been wrong about his fair share of things. Taking Barkley over Allen, Lamar, and Darnold (who I believe would have been fine in a non-dysfunctional organization, which is what the Jets were and are) was one of the worst draft decisions in recent times. I realize that predated Daboll/Schoen by a long ways. Lawrence is fantastic. But why would the Giants trade an elite cornerstone player at an important position who has three years left on his contract?

People are focusing on Barkley carving the Giants up yesterday, but my god is their offense terrible. I know they lost their starting LT (Thomas), but 119 yards vs the Eagles D is just unacceptable. Before the season I thought that their d-line would make them a playoff contender (Thibadoux, Lawrence, Burns), and while the d-line has played well (and the defense overall has been pretty good), they look like a 4-13 team. I now think both Daboll and Schoen will be gone at the end of the season. I've long defended Daboll, who I think is a creative play caller (at least with the Bills), and I've excused his poor offenses because the QBs he has rolled out there before Josh Allen were all really bad. But while Daniel Jones isn't good, he's hardly Brady Quinn level. I see him as slightly to moderately below league average, but the team is now 30th in points, 27th in yards, and 29th in passing ypa. And they have a stud in Nabers, who is frankly more valuable already than Barkley would have been. I have to hand it to @BADOLBILZ for his resolute contempt for Daboll. Aside from his years with Allen and one OK season in 2022 with the Giants (and even in that season the passing offense was bad - 26th in yards, 24th in TDs, and 27th in ypa), the offenses he's overseen have been depressingly unproductive (https://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/DaboBr0.htm). I still give him leeway given the terrible QBs he's had to field, but again, I really don't think Jones is that bad and the results aren't getting any better. And he and Schoen chose to pay Jones, which says something too. This will certainly be Jones's last season starting for NY, but I can see him having a decent career as a backup. Reminds me a little bit Trubisky in terms of total productivity and career trajectory.

The Rams have been competitive in every game except AZ, and they're going to have both Nacua and Kupp back for the Miami game, which is a home game for the Rams. I definitely like the Rams in that one.

I think if they started calling IGs on screens (and those dirtings by QBs happen all the time), I think it might end up eliminating the screen pass game for many teams. IGs are terrible penalties to suffer and screens are very high-risk throws if a defense has sniffed it out. You're throwing into mass of aware defenders on such plays, so turnovers are a threat, and it'll also result in a big loss if caught.

In a way, it's kinda what Dion Dawkins said about them last season when he attacked their defensive players.

There's no emoji that covers both "laugh" and "agree."

I find this all hilarious, especially given who is delivering the criticisms. Dancing on the Jets grave is almost as enjoyable as savoring a Bills blowout win.

17.41 mark here:

Were they beefing during that GB/Bills Monday night game in 2022? I know Alexander had a really impressive INT near the goal line in that game (after it was essentially out of reach). He was targeted 4 times in that game and gave up zero receptions.

Listening to Sal and Bove, he was wearing his helmet late in the game and they surmised he would have come back in if it had been a close game. No need to risk it, though. They also said that he wasn't in a walking boot in the locker room after the game, which is a positive.

This team stat line is ridiculous: https://www.espn.com/nfl/matchup/_/gameId/401671616

Their defensive line is bad.

That and the playcalling is stone age level.

Ask the Ravens about how they feel in retrospect and come back to me.

The best safety in the league right now is Kyle Hamilton. Indeed, he’s one of the best defensive players in the NFL. He had 4 starts in his rookie season (2022) and was the 14th overall pick.

Pretty sure the Ravens would disagree -- they picked Kyle Hamilton 14th overall and he’s the best player on their defense (@HappyDays).

Going back to the playoffs from last year, Bass is 11 of 17 in FGs from that point on. That's pretty yikes.

I don't believe that safety is a low impact position in today's NFL.

I forgot who it was (Buscaglia? Matt Bove?) who wrote/said in his all 22 analysis of the Texans game that Bishop settled down and played well after the first half miscues.

I fully expect that Bishop will be a good player in time.

I agree, and this makes me believe that anyone who tells you that teams shouldn’t spend first or second round picks on elite safety prospects doesn’t understand the state of the NFL today.

Joe B watched every Browns snap and here's his take on Cooper's drops this year: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5846503/2024/10/16/amari-cooper-trade-bills-analysis-receiver/ (There are some good screen shots in the piece, which is worth reading in full.) 'Through six games, Cooper has not had quite the impact that most are accustomed to during his career. He’s on pace for only 68 receptions and 708 yards, which would easily be the worst non-injury year of his career. His drops have also been widely publicized. But this is why watching the film is so beneficial: you can see the how, what, and why. And the film shows that the evaluation goes well beyond all of those issues as Cooper-only problems. There seem to be pretty distinct reasons for both his lack of production and the drops “issue.” The primary thing evident when watching Cooper is that he is still getting open at a good rate. The Browns’ passing attack is so bad that it is sucking the life out of Cooper’s weekly chances to be an impactful receiver. They badly need a quarterback change, and their stubbornness against doing so has led to the offensive situation eroding with each game. Cooper looks like he’s been on a different page with his quarterback for most of the year. The ball placement to Cooper has been horrible, and several of the drops assigned to him resulted from an off-body throw that could have been prevented with either a quicker decision, better throwing mechanics or a combination of the two. Cooper does deserve a pair of the drops because they hit him right in the hands, but it’s not as overwhelming of a problem as you might expect, and it likely gets better with an upgrade at quarterback. Through six games, Cooper has six drops. His yearly average in the previous four seasons is five drops, so there is likely some positive regression coming, especially with a massive quarterback upgrade. You can even sense a hint of frustration in Cooper’s body language on film, too, when he knows he read the defense correctly and popped open, only to see the throw sail over his head to a different area that was not as open. He’s not overly demonstrative to the point of being an issue, but target earning and separation is a skill, and for it to go without success as often as it has this season can wear thin on a player. It’s as if Cooper and the quarterback are speaking two different languages at times.'

It was a hard balancing and then he had to swivel and go. Many receivers would simply have gone out of bounds or gone down. It was a great play. Let's not diminish it.

Understood.