DrDawkinstein

Not interested in Belichick, but in that mold I AM very interested in Mike Vrabel. edit: And if Daboll gets fired in NY, I am SUPER INTERESTED in bringing Vrabel in as HC and Daboll back as OC. Easy transition for Josh, an upgrade at game managing HC. And I believe the 2 know each other from New England.

And what a line that bolded statement is from a Head Coach. Oh really, Sean? You asked for our "best play"? How genius of you. Thanks for not asking for our 4th best play. Or our worst play. ANYONE could do that. How about YOU tell your staff what our best play is in that situation!?!

All good, you werent really "wrong". It is the OC's call, and it is rare for coaches to step in and change play calls most of the time. But it does happen, and it is on the HC to have his staff prepared for what he wants to do in situations, and be communicating it more when they get into tight spots where the game is on the line.

All of those types of decisions go through the HC. It's the HC's job to own the situational football and be instructing his staff on what he wants to do. They are discussing it in the headsets and he hears the play calls. It's ultimately on him. That is why he gets the title and pay of Head Coach. This isnt about execution (dropped pass), it's about decision making.

Fair and appreciated. And in that same vein, I'm trying hard not to pile on too much considering it was just 1 game while we are already 10-2 and have the Division locked up, and we have seen an overall improvement in his coaching this season up to yesterday. But man, it's frustrating when those same bone-headed moments keep popping back up. While yesterday's coaching debacle doesnt cost us our season, it does likely end our running for the #1 seed. Nothing we can do except get ready for the playoffs and hope (against history) that he has finally learned (not holding my breath).

McD is not responsible for the rest of the Division having 3 wins.

Campbell's 4th down decision is the exact opposite of what we just saw out of McD. Campbell was aware of all the scenarios and possible outcomes, and made a risky decision based on confidence, aggressiveness, and playing to win. If it backfired, every player and Lions fan would have supported him. Similar to our 4th down decision in the Chiefs game. The continued brain farts out of McDermott are something completely different. This isnt knowing all the scenarios and options and taking risks, this is straight up freezing in the moment. No one is perfect, there are simply too many decisions to make to get them all correct. But please show me which breakdowns directly cost Reid/Harbaugh/Tomlin/Campbell any games? This is more inline with Eberfleus and interim HC mistakes.

The only thing we can really do is chalk it up to "one bad day". Considering we are 10-3, have the Division locked up, and are now just trying to cruise into the playoffs at full health, it isnt the end of the world. However, when discussing in the context of McDefense's career, it is a bit maddening. I'm just hoping we make it off of that Detroit turf with no major injuries next week, then cruise through 3 divisional cupcake games, likely resting our guys week 18.

"McD's horrible in-game decisions will be the scapegoat to hide the real problem: McD's soft defense!" lol

Allen is ALWAYS in Superman mode, it's just a matter of whether or not the D can get stops. And yesterday they couldnt get a stop to save their lives.

JUST when I think I'm out of the McD Hater club, he goes and pushes me back in!

You're wrong, and incredibly over-sensitive. The vast majority of us who are willing to discuss issues and provide criticisms are nothing like what you perceive if you'd actually read posts instead of writing people off immediately and then calling them names. I do agree that it is sad to see your type of posting devolve this forum.

There are worse ways to die

It's by design, and I'm not even mad about because it works and we keep winning. The 9ers ran all over us... and scored 3 points off it. We let teams run all the time, and we're 10-2 and have a +131 point differential! We're good.

We also had Reggie Bush and Vince Young on the roster, meaning we got the #1, #2, and #3 picks of the 2006 draft

I hope you got out in time last night.

Good point, good point. Credit to McD. Good illustration of some of the growth and learning McD has shown this year now that he is back to full-time HC.

I know McD is #2 on 4th down aggressiveness only behind Dan Campbell... But does anyone think McD pulls off what Campbell and the Lions did last night, going for it on 4th down and sealing the game as opposed to kicking the FG with 50sec left and hoping to play defense? I appreciate McD's usual aggressiveness, but I'm betting he chooses to play defense (playing not to lose instead of playing to win), and then it's 50/50 from there whether his defense gets a stop (history not in his favor).

And they've been to how many Super Bowls with the likes of Jimmy G and Brock Purdy? Compared to how many Super Bowls we have made it to with Josh.

WRT Hamlin and Bishop, I'll refer you to your own statement in bold. Poyer couldnt even crack the starting line-up on Cleveland teams that were going 0-16 and 2-14. Hyde had a bit of a better showing in Green Bay, but was still being bounced around between Nickel and Safety, and couldnt lock down a spot. It took Poyer 5 full seasons in the NFL (1 of those with the Bills even) before he became "All-Pro Po". Hyde needed those 4-5 seasons too. Hamlin is just wrapping up year 4 and has shown major steps in development this year. Bishop still has a lot of time to develop according to these other timelines.

Not sure. They'll definitely protect him if he is in the pocket, or even scrambling while still trying to throw. But I think he had ONE opportunity to pull that fake-out-of-bounds move, and now the refs will treat it a little more as FAFO if he is a runner and downfield. Josh better be ready to protect himself against Detroit next week as well. I hate going into that stadium. It's cursed with injuries.

I excused the Cincy game as being emotionally drained and physically exhausted after a long, hard season capped off by the Hamlin incident. What I didn't like was how often that same lethargy showed up in games in 2023. It felt like every week for 2 seasons we were saying "THIS is the game the team needed to light a fire under their butts", and McD was never able to get that fire lit. It's definitely lit this year.

Word. For me, my issue was with him being DC last year and letting his HC duties decline. He was too busy being DC, and our gameday preparation and his situational decisions took a major hit. Now that he is back to being a full time HC, I've seen improvement in those areas.

ALL good teams are lucky. It's part of what ultimately makes good teams good. That's just a standard rule in sports. But you also make your own luck by being prepared and executing.

I feel like it was around the Chargers game, and then it really clicked in the final game of the season against Miami when he single-handedly ended the game with back-to-back plays on Hill. I'd have to go back and look, but believe he injured a couple of our guys with friendly fire in that Cowboys game, and coaches mustve got on him because it was a pretty big improvement after that.