dave mcbride

Tyrod is now available and is ten times better than Trubisky as a backup. Just sayin' ...

Achilles tears are not the injuries they used to be — at all. I won’t be shocked if he’s fine by camp. We shall see.

I'll just point out that he had a pretty good third season - the year the Browns went 11-5 (95.9 passer rating and 65.5 QBR plus a 14 AV rating via PFR). Brady was actually very good last season. They couldn't run the ball at all because of line issues, and that killed their play action game. In the run game, they were literally 32nd in rushing yards, 32nd in rushing TDs, and 32nd in yards per attempt.

Mayfield has proven he's a pretty good QB. Why the Browns got rid of him remains a mystery to me. He was playing with a significant injury his final year there and gutted it out. The year before, he was good. And he was good this year. Almost rallied to beat the Bills after being down by a lot.

I am assuming no trade, which is the real issue because they lost a first round pick in the process. Not good.

Just to clarify, Mike Evans was gone by the time the Bills would have picked (at #9). Beckham was still on the board, however. He went at #11. I will say this about Sammy Watkins: before the injuries began to chronically diminish his game, Watkins looked as good as any of those other receivers. People forget how Watkins could at times utterly dominate opponents in his first couple of seasons.

I'd also add that in 14 non-Bills playoff games since Mahomes became QB, KC has averaged 29.1 points per game. And that includes a 9-point Super Bowl game when they were missing both of their starting OTs (take out that game and they've averaged 31 points over 13 playoff games against teams other than the Bills). Maybe, just maybe, they're a really good playoff offense.

Ugh! I was stupidly looking at the wrong column (first downs!). Thanks for the correction. The point about the yardage in the final five games stands, though.

The offense got worse over the season, though. In their final five games, they didn't get to 300 yards even once. And they had 10 turnovers in those five games.

He had bad numbers THIS YEAR and not because he’s bad at it. He’s had tons of great throws in that area over the years. But if you are 0-15, that’s not marginal, and it’s a big part of the field to surrender.

I get the design, but 0 for 15 is still pretty ugly.

It's now starting to make sense why the Steelers didn't cover Kincaid on his TD in the playoff game and why Shakir ran free on the second-down play on the Bills final possession in the divisional round game. The Bills proved all season that they're terrible at connecting on deep middle throws. The only success they had was the Kincaid catch in the playoff game! In the regular season, they were an unbelievable 0 for 15. https://www.buffalorumblings.com/2024/1/31/24055184/2023-bills-season-analysis-buffalos-deep-middle-passing-game

"The Jets lost five games by 20 or more points and extended the longest playoff drought in the four major North American professional sports to 13 years." The Sabres saw this and want their streak back.

He is.

Huh? Badgley is 37-48 lifetime between 40 and 49 and made 9 of his last 11 (and also 2 of 3 from 50+) going back to last season. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/B/BadgMi00.htm

I see the argument, but I just don't see how you don't trust your kicker to make a 45-yard FG in moderate conditions that puts you up 3 scores. in a game where you're facing a defense that's perennially top 5. As for the drop, it was a moderately tough catch and Goff was pressured (and Goff was 0-8 under pressure last night). And as for the analytics argument (not saying you're making that, btw), I'll repeat what analytics OG Billy Beane famously said: "My sh*t don't work in the playoffs."

Thank you! I saw the White Stripes on a tiny stage many moons ago and they blew me away. (One of my wife's best friends produced their first two records too.)

Meh ... you gotta include the playoff games here.

Yes, the three score lead vs. two score lead is definitely a huge factor. It's not like they were trying to go from 17-14 to 20-14.

I'm very sorry to hear this. My thoughts are with you.

The other issue I always raise with regard to the situation is the opponent. The 49ers are not the Commanders. They finished first in defense last season and 3rd this season.

Well, situationally it seemed pretty wrong to me. Here’s why: first, going up by 3 scores is huge in a game, and if you’re presented with the opportunity to do it, you don’t gamble it away. The Lions’ kicker is decent enough, and you have to assume he’ll likely make that kick in not-terrible weather. Second, you have to consider the opponent: an elite defense that ranked first last year and third this year. In other words, they weren’t playing the Commanders. Success on a fourth down try is less likely against a great defense than an average one, which goes without saying. It seems obvious to me that the you have to kick in those situations. Maybe he misses, but it’s the sounder strategy in terms of probability. I also thought the Chiefs were unwise to go for it against Baltimore on 4th and 1 from the 13 because failure meant giving up a chance to go ahead by two scores. The ravens D was #1 overall.

Thuney had a 99.1 percent win rate this season, so I can’t really fault Ed. Thuney was off-the-charts good this season. The bigger question posed by a very close friend who is a diehard Pats fan (going back to the Grogan/Sam Bam Cunningham days) is why Belichick let him go. Yet another terrible personnel decision by BB.

Sending positive thoughts right now.

The NFL coaching system is lot more like the medieval guild system than the modern workplace. In the 15th century, a master craftsman would train his son for the profession, ensure he got into the guild, hand down the business to him at the appropriate moment, and the system would perpetuate itself through generations. The wild card in all of this is whether the son deserves it irrespective of whether he had outsized advantages in training/mentorship along the way. Kyle Shanahan is a great coach, and he is where he is because of who his father is. But perhaps he was exposed to learning that no one else gets given who his father was. But of course there's Hackett, Steve Belichick, the Reid kids, Gregg Williams's son, the Shulas, etc. etc. I'm sure I'm forgetting some. It can be infuriating, but once when understands that it has always operated like a medieval craftsmen's guild, it becomes less mystifying. The Rooney Rule cuts against that, which is a good thing.