dave mcbride

You can add in sacks easily enough. Runs are harder, but I’d guess a third are scrambles.

My take: The Niners are 14th best in yards on offense and 6th best in yards given up on defense (the Bills are 11th and 21st, respectively); their pythagorean record is 5.7-5.3 (very close to the Bills 5.9-5.1); they are great at running the ball and the Bills are bad stopping it; they are playing at "home" (or at least in roughly the same time zone and at a place they play at every year); and they are more desperate right now than the Bills. Another thing: the Niners are 6th in rushing TDs and 8th in rushing ypa; the Bills' D is 29th in rushing TDs given up and 27th in rushing ypa allowed. That is, they'e a bad matchup for the Bills. Finally, the Niners are extremely well coached and well-schemed, especially in the running game. I'm not saying SF will win, but there is a logic to the Bills being +1.

I am very worried about this game. Despite their record, the Niners impress me (especially last week). Mullins isn’t good, but the rest of the team is.

There was a reverse angle replay of it about a minute later. I am *certain* of this. It did appear to show the ball hitting the defender; of that I am fairly sure. But regardless, it was a stupid call.

I forgot to include Baylor! Just added it above.

This is quite entertaining: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/02/sports/football/adam-gase-jets-playcalling.html?searchResultPosition=1 The bell tolls for thee, Manish. This has been a long time coming. He's like a character out of a Tom Wolfe novel.

I said Klein had a very good game, so why should I move my post to a thread that was initially quite critical of him?

Among the ignorant, I suppose. That performance by Bosa was among the best games I have ever seen by a defensive player. He was a one-man wrecking crew. Yeah, I know, but that’s a dumb policy. It should go to the best player.

He had a very good game, but this award is a joke. Joey Bosa deserved that award, and it ain’t debatable.

Texas Texas A & M TCU Texas Tech Houston SMU Baylor All have spent time in the top 25 in the past few years. All are in Texas. And then there are places like Rice, which sucks but which is also the best undergraduate academic institution in the state. There is no version of Rice in Ohio, Florida, or Michigan (there is on in Tennessee—Vanderbilt). Bear in mind that the old SWC was one of the very best conferences in the country, and Arkansas was the only team in it that wasn’t from Texas. As for “college towns,” I think a ton of Texas-born and bred college football players love places like College Station, which is the worst college town I have ever been to. Point is, the fact that Austin is a prime touring stop for every good indie/punk/you-name-it band ain’t much of an appeal for the Andy Daltons and Ryan Tannehills of the world.

I hope the next time the Bills play the Chargers Joey Bosa will be wearing a Bills uniform.

'If Lurie wants to enjoy watching his team again, he should look at Howie Roseman and his front office and consider one thing. Apart from one magical season, the last 10 years in Eagles history have been marked by mediocrity and dysfunction. There has been only one constant throughout. It isn't the quarterback. And it isn't the coach." All I can think of: "Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?"

We'll see. I'd like to see him play with a decent cast around him again.

I think people were saying that when they were 5-7, but not when he went 4-0 down the stretch and willed the team to victory despite being surrounded by pretty mediocre offensive talent. He played extremely well and was clutch in that span.

Ertz when healthy is a top-five TE. Kelce and Kittle are better, but I can't really think of anyone else right now who is better. Goedert is a mid-to-low-end NFL starter, but you're right -- he'd definitely start for the Bills. He's not the difference maker that Ertz is, however.

To reiterate, Wentz actually played well last season, two years removed from Reich. The Eagles offense did reasonably well too despite real talent problems at the skill positions (12th in points, 14th in yards).

He has the yips because the line can't block and the receivers can't separate. He's missing his go-to guy in Ertz too, and his cast of pass-catchers right now is a bunch of nobodies. I doubt he has much trust in any of them except for Goeddert, who is clearly inferior to Ertz.

The Eagles offensive line and receiver group are absolutely rock bottom-level right now. Both units have been utterly decimated by injuries. Wentz was good last season, and the offense was solid too (12th in points, 14th in yards). It's the talent this time around. Not that Wentz gets a full pass, but the line simply can't block and the receivers can't separate.

I think that Arians knows how to build a team that can score points, but he also adheres to a philosophy that leads to blowouts vs. good teams. That tends to preclude championships. In the four playoff games he's coached (one in Indy and 3 in AZ), his QBs have thrown 5 TDs and 9 picks, and their collective QB rating is 60.7. In the one game he won - AZ over GB in OT (a fluky game) - Palmer played badly in regulation and then got a little lucky when Fitzgerald took a dumpoff pass 75 yards on the first play of OT. Granted, he did a lot in Pittsburgh, and the team got to the SB twice when he was the OC (winning once). However, when he was OC at Pitt, the team ran the ball a LOT more than now (measured by rushing attempts rankings). Since he went to AZ, they finished 20 or higher most seasons in terms of rushing attempts, and they are 29th this season.

I just don't see Doug Pederson going. Not only did he win a SB, he has been in the playoffs three straight seasons. They won a playoff game in 2018 and got screwed last season because of Clowney's kill shot on Wentz (and Wentz played well down the stretch last season). I have to think a good head coach is allowed one down season by any sensible owner. Re McCarthy, he has been terrible, but on top of the game day stuff, his hiring of a tired retread for DC speaks of an inability to build a good staff. Nolan has been terrible and looks like a guy just cashing a paycheck now. Kinda disagree with the gist of what you are saying here. The Eagles were actually pretty good the last two seasons and this year have suffered a truly crazy number of o-line injuries. Their skill players are bad too, and they've also been decimated by injuries (Ertz, DeSean Jackson, and a hobbled and mostly absent Jeffries). It's such a bad personnel situation that I don't think any coach can fix it. They line can't block and the receivers can't separate.

When is the current set of TV deals going to end?

I don't have a dog in this fight, but the replay showed that the ball that moss threw backward hit the defender in the gut. Weak call, but it did hit the defender.

Gianelli was a TERRIBLE player for the Braves. I remember him well.

Um, no. He was fantastic last season — one of the most efficient qbs in the league. And Mullins is not a starting NFL qb. I know people here are inclined to slag JG because, you know, Pats, but come on. Seriously. He has a lifetime rating of 98.9 over 32 games and is 24-8 as starter. Since 2017–the year he joined SF—the Niners have gone 22-8 when JG started and 6-23 when he didn’t.

The eagles made the playoffs the past two seasons and should have made the 2018 championship game if not for a jefferies drop. Last season, the playoff game was marred by a totally cheap killshot by clowney on wentz. Clowney should have been ejected.