SectionC3

My view is that he wouldn’t be as valuable as a man corner or a bigger RB. Allen would be the worst player for us to lose, but if Gore it one of our outside corners gets hurt we will have a real problem. ** and I realize that we’re primarily a zone team. But we may need to press to win in the playoffs. That seems to be the formula to beat KC, for example.

I thought they needed a receiver, but I didn’t think Sanu would be the target.

Well said. We now have a modern offense. I’d go a bit higher, personally, because I think he deserves credit for smoothly assimilating a lot of new parts into a cohesive unit very quickly.

I thought it was forward watching it live. Didn’t even care about the return - I was thinking that the titans should run a lot and get nice and tired so they were gassed on the re-kick. I couldn’t believe it when the play stood. Darryl Porter was the sinner on that coverage. Didn’t stay in his lane. And Ronnie Jones was a horrible ST coach. Chris Mohr would run meetings to go over coverages bc Jones did t know what he was doing.

Kind of stunning they got as much as a 5th for him, even if it is in 2021. Good luck to the kid. I hope he turns his career around and finds success with the Raiders.

I hate to say it but I had the same thought knowing the risks involved. His talk this morning was powerful and heartbreaking. His strength is also incredibly impressive. To do what he and his wife did once is more than anyone can bear. To do it four times in succession is torturous. I wanted to vomit when I listened to him because I hurt so badly for them. I have two young kids, and there’s a lot about life that didn’t understand until we had them. I have a hard time relating to what I’ll characterize as the WGR listeners now. I don’t gamble on sports, I think fantasy football is a waste of time, and I don’t have time to drink or to play golf. A young family and providing for that family take precedent. I cannot imagine what it would be like to see the “other” side — That is, to have a child and then to lose that child — and go back to the trivialities of arguing about what is the best beer, the most favorable betting line, or which defense to start in fantasy this week. It would be beyond awful. My heart breaks for them and everyone who has been through it. If he reads this, maybe the one small consolation is that he obviously was one hell of a dad to those kids in their short time on the planet and he will be an amazing father to child #5 and beyond.

Its a much lower percentage throw that, if IIRC, was disrupted by pressure. Should have taken the easy money all day long in that circumstance. I stand by what I said. We agree to disagree on this one.

Thanks. I knew it was low, but was focused more on the huge amount of green and blue paint in front of Brown. That one hurt.

This isn’t an all-22 perspective. It’s lower bowl stadium visitors sideline view. Gore was, to quote John Murphy, wide-a** open b/c his man fell down at the top of his route open. Allen HAS to see that, and it would have been an easy, enormous gain.

No. And it’s not just Ford who struggled yesterday. Dawkins did not have a good day. Lee Smith (essentially an extra OL) was flat out awful. From my perch in the stadium (well away from this play) it looked like Feliciano was blown up on the 3rd and goal in which Gore was stopped for a loss. Morse took a penalty and was steamrolled into Allen’s lap at least one IIRC, too. Bad day at the office for the OL, but things will get better.

That wasn’t even the “worst” missed connection to me yesterday. The quick slant from Barkley to Brown that Brown seemingly dropped might have gone for a touchdown. From my vantage point in the stadium it looked like Brown tried to stay on his feet to catch the ball because he recognized the acres of room around him. Irrespective of whether the ball was catchable a better throw there might have changed the game.

Gores man fell down on the play. Saw it live. Would have been a huge gain.

I think his time is short, too. Not impressive at all yesterday. The wheel route to White (where defender had to turn his back) was the only impressive throw. He might be nearing a point where he holds that team back, and he knows it. Along those lines, I can see why they took a swing at AB. I’m not impressed with their offensive weapons at all. I’m frustrated after yesterday but VERY optimistic. Bottom line: our offense was horrible in the first half, and if we got a few small breaks/better officiating that game goes to overtime and we stand a good chance of winning. Their D is stellar, but ours is every bit as good. The guard is starting to change, and it might happen faster than a lot of people think.

I’ll answer. Nothing. Aside from training well in the offseason. No situational awareness on the picks, looked like a tough but makeable catch in the end zone, otherwise no impact on the game. To draw a baseball analogy, he’s a .250 hitter with no power and no speed. It’s time to get some more speed on the field.

The one thing that concerns me is Allen’s ineffectiveness on the deep ball, which Belichick exploited yesterday. It occurred to me on the drive in this morning that a good amount of our deep shots last year came off of play action. Think the deep, Kubiak-style, throwback crosses to to Foster. I suspect Allen likes throwing that type of ball - it’s probably why we see the deep shots on the post this year, which have been begging to be intercepted the last couple of weeks. So, if Allen hits one or two of the 9/corner throws yesterday, it’s a different game. New England played a muddle of 10 men within five yards of the LOS for a good part of the game. It’s hard to run effectively and consistently against that front, so I don’t blame Daboll for not getting Gore another 10 carries. Bottom line, we had to threaten the deep ball yesterday to win, and Allen couldn’t do that. Hopefully this doesn’t become a trend. Three other points. 1. Zay Jones has to be on borrowed time. If Allen can’t go this week, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Thompson to IR, Jones to waivers, and Williams and Webb elevated. Barkley doesn’t have the arm strength to throw the outs and comebacks that Allen hits so well, so we’re going to have to hit a few slants (which will be bracketed all day long) and bucket throws next week. Barkley should have some chemistry with Williams if Barkley is running scout team in practice, and it might be a nice time to get the big body into the mix if Barkley has to play next week. 2. Normally I think this kind of conversation to be useless speculation, but I’m coming around to the idea of adding a higher end WR to the roster. Part of this is that I’m done with Zay Jones. But part of it is that it probably wouldn’t hurt to have a bit more speed to help with the deep shots. If Cincinnati loses tonight, then I would call about AJ Green. We have a championship-caliber defense and we just need a little more from the offense to potentially make this year a very interesting one. 3. It’s time for NFL teams to hire a rules coach. If FOX/CBS/etc. can have a retired referee in the booth, so can we. I’m not blaming McDermott for the challenges yesterday - for what it’s worth, I agreed with the challenges, and I thought he should have won at least the second one. What really aggravated me was interception where Jones touched the ball while out of bounds and before the interceptor established possession in bounds. I was in the stadium yesterday, and I haven’t seen the game, but I wonder if McDermott could have educated the referee on the issue with a little help from “upstairs.”

Not in the least. We lost the game because he was atrocious in the first half. And we couldn’t come back to win it because he got hurt.

How would he know about the freedom issue?

Short of calling a timeout dimarco couldn’t have done anything. Gunner has to follow his man in or bojo has to throw the uncovered gunner the ball.

Yes. Gunners were uncovered. They either have to collapse or punter has to throw the ball.

The bet here is that Bojo can’t throw the ball and that Belichick knows it.

This is what I think will happen. They’re going to rush their ends straight up the field and mix in some peculiar blitzes. Deep drop backs should be in our game plan this week to allow Allen the chance to get under the ends and use his feet. Agree w this too. Would also like to see some four wide with speed in the slot. We had a lot of luck with that late last year, and we haven’t seen it much yet this year. Should have two games plans this week - one for first half and one for second half. Mangini used that approach to beat the Pats a couple of times IIRC.

Under the circumstances it would have been the smart play to go for it on fourth and goal from inside the 1. Ample time/time outs to get the ball back following a three and out with relatively decent field position given the wind. Getting into field goal range following a punt would not have been a sure thing, but with that wind it would have been worth the risk. On a side note, one area where I think we could improve in the next wind game would be to use both intermediate and deep returners on punts into the wind. I believe Roberts couldn’t catch at least one punt into the wind that an intermediate returner easily would have fielded (and preserved field position).

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I don’t dispute that yesterday’s fiasco was the result of the new means of entry. In general, though, I wouldn’t complain about a long wait at security because sometimes that is a fact of life post-9/11 and convenience is secondary to safety.

Arrived at 12:28. Did not have that experience at gate 7. Not sure where you had a five minute line, but I’d like to go to that gate next time. We normally use gate 6, but lately (namely, last year) we found gate 7 to be a smoother entry. Not the case yesterday, and 6 looked like it was pretty clogged from what I could see, too.