dave mcbride

I think Stafford delivers a LOT, but then the Lions D will give up some crazy play to Aaron Rodgers on the last play of the game (it's happened more than once!). Did you see the end of the first Lions game this season? Stafford delivered a perfect strike for a TD in the last seconds against Chicago ... but the RB dropped it despite it hitting him right in the freaking hands! And don't forget that Calvin Johnson play that was ruled an incompletion! It would have been a last second victory for Detroit. Stafford is a snakebitten QB but a good one, and he plays clutch when the game is on the line. He is simply cursed because he plays for the Lions.

Yes, good piece. Re: the Singletary play, it looked to me like he actually could have caught the ball; he was on a clear path to beating Peterson to the ball but seemed to flat-out alligator-arm it. Not a good game for him given the PF and the dropped screen pass. Of course, his one really good play was called back because of that boneheaded block in the back by Knox.

Agreed, it doesn't get anymore crazy clutch than this. What a throw and catch! Losman did have a cannon ... That said, I'll raise you one because this was a fourth down play: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/201109180buf.htm. As for the Allen play, yes, it was a great throw, but it was first down and the Bills only needed a FG to tie the game. It wasn't do or die yet. In fact, that throw wasn't even the most clutch throw of the season. There were a couple of plays in that Rams game that surpassed it.

I thought you were saying that Morse was benched because Feliciano brings more nastiness to the run game. I think I misinterpreted. The team is better with both out there.

Every QB plays well against the Chargers in the fourth quarter!

I wouldn't say inconsistent; I'd say terrible. 66.5 rating; 55 percent completion rate; and 7 Tds to 10 INTs. 5 fumbles too. The only positive is his sack rate (4.4 percent), which is decent. PS - the Broncos passer rating differential is an abysmal -24.6. That is awful. It explains why they've suffered three blowout losses. Just look at the line reading "league rank offense" - https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/den/2020.htm. That is really, really bad.

Exactly, and it ain't even close. The Lions have been bad for a while, but they are a historic franchise (90 years old), with 5 championships including 3 straight in the 50s. The problem with the Chargers is that they left the city that made them kinda famous and our now in a city that is populated entirely by non-fans of the Chargers. No one cares about them anymore. They are more of an incorporated but deterritorialized football team-like entity than a team rooted in a place with a history and lots of memories associated with them.

I have been chalking up the Broncos game as a win, but Denver was in fact 5-3 last season at home but really 6-2 if not for a terrible, terrible roughing the passer call vs. Chicago that cost them a game that they had won. That said, they are 1-3 at home this year and were totally lucky to beat SD 31-30 in the game that they did win (i.e., a really shaky PI call on fourth down in the end zone that gave them one more play).

Really? The run game was terrible the last two games.

Could it simply be that the Bills had to field 8 o-linemen to get to 48 (as opposed to 47), and that Morse is the eighth and last guy they have? It's not a good look for McDermott to come out and say "he is recovering from a concussion but we would have played him if we had to." That said, he could be an emergency substitution if need be even though the coaches wanted to hold him back. Think about how many went down vs. Seattle. The last thing you want is Dawson Knox playing left tackle or guard in the fourth quarter.

His deep throws have had less and less air under them as the season has gone on, and it means his receivers can't adjust/catch up because it's getting there too fast. Basically, he's reverting to bad habits. Gotta get that fixed over the bye week. If he doesn't, teams won't fear the Bills deep game, just like last season.

change in latitude, change in attitude!

I didn't think that one was questionable! Definitely a penalty by the book and totally unnecessary. You think that would have been drilled into the team after the Cody Ford penalty last season that potentially cost them the playoff victory.

I think they have a line set up to pass block. It's almost like it's a college line out there in from the Big 12. They are pretty good at pass blocking (important!), but just compare them to SF's, Baltimore's, or NE's line when they're healthy. Feliciano is a good run blocker, to be sure. But the rest ...

They don’t run because they can’t run. That NE game was a mirage. The Bills’ running game is awful.

As I said elsewhere, Kenyon Drake was on the field and scored a final second td on the most miraculous play (vs NE) two before. And it wasn’t a hail mary. You can’t ignore that as a coach. That worked so well vs. Kenyon Drake two years ago, who was literally the RB on the field for AZ on that play yesterday!

But he’s literally a lot taller than any of them when everything is factored in. Think about it this way: does anyone really think Tyreek Hill is a small player when it comes to jump balls? He’s 5’10” but has a frigging 40.5” vertical. That’s 8.5” more than Tre’s, and it’s why he soars above taller defenders.

Read some of the other threads. Measured height is only one piece of the puzzle. Wingspan, vertical, and hand size — all features that Hopkins excels at — are just as important. It’s why Hakeem Olajuwon was functionally taller than 7-footers despite being 6’10.” Hopkins has a 36” vertical to Tre’s 32” inch one. His arms are longer. His hands are enormous and the strongest in the league. It basically makes him 7-8 inches taller than White.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/11/16/fmia-week-10-inside-the-hail-murray-and-how-the-cardinals-got-it-done/

From Peter King’s column today: “The game’s on the line,” Murray said. “I can’t get tackled here. There was no chance he was tackling me. No chance. The angle he took at me, I’m fortunate he took that angle,” Murray said. Addison touched Murray but didn’t have a good shot at him really, and flew past. Murray took another step, then turned upfield, maybe eight yards from the Cardinal sideline at about the Arizona 48-yard line.

Look at that close-up of the catch and read this: https://www.si.com/nfl/cardinals/news/deandre-hopkins-hands-separates-him

Bear in mind that this guy was on the field during that play. You can’t leave this sort of thing uncovered and put a bunch of guys who don’t play defense in the end zone.

Assuming for a second the Pats wins this one, you could argue that they could easily be 7-2. The rest of their schedule ain’t that hard, and 10-6 is a real possibility. There’s your answer.

4 times, not 3.

Disagree. Allen is awesome. Elite player. But today was not a good day. He should have thrown 4 easy picks. Peterson dropped two. And that throw to singletary was ridiculous. He looked lost for much of the second half. He still picked himself up from the mat and had a great final drive (with some help from beasley). But it was not his finest effort.