colin

its no secret mcd's d is all about a deep and nasty front. the last couple seasons we over paid for jag performance, but we seem to have righted that in one single offseason. diggs allen, and to a lesser extent knox are getting paid hard on O, but so much of our team's resources are on the D. we are one of very few Ds that could take the injuries we have so far this season and performed they way we've seen.

even tho he's a dirt bag i'd take him to put our team over the top. i would be worried someone would transpose the first letters of his first and last name tho.

Wait, are you my long lost friend Rato Snibum?

Ya, i suppose thems the facts, but in the same sense our D was #1 last season, but i really didn't think we had the best d, and it was obvious we lacked some physical power and pass rush up front. now i am convinced our d is the best (which is why i think we win it all this year) hands down. to me, the eye test of our o vs other top o's is the degree of difficulty. our big plays come from way more heroic stuff, which is fun to watch but isn't what the coaches would want. KC has more just great plays inside of their scheme IMO. the gap has shrunk for sure, and it's mad close either way, but until our TE and RB positions can make consistent solid contributions for us scoring and in a variety of situations, i worry that if someone really takes diggs away, allen has to run and gun and throw lesser players open all day to get it done. they did just pass us on the dvoa data as reported in this thread, so some stats support it.

ya, more varied attack, better oline, better red zone, seem to force things/protect the ball a touch better. if we get rb and te and red zone and all that working better, i could see us passing them, and it's pretty close as is.

i think it's fair to say kc has the better O than we do, we just have josh and diggs to perform miracles at times. on D, i think we really are the best this season tho. to get what we have gotten done with all the injuries and vz live opposition is a big thing. on O, blocking could be better, but more fixable in the short term we need to figure out some better red zone stuff, and just be less sloppy w the ball. a couple small changes there and this really could be an all time team.

the two things that i've seen that could lead to the downfall of this team are redzone O and being careless w the ball (i'd say tipped passes are part of that). that's why we lost to miami. kicking FGs on 4th and not getting cute could have lead us to a comfortable win. i get we want to be aggressive and all that, but we have to consider that our D is the best in the nfl, and having a sick point margin is great, but i think we'd happily exchange being + 95 (which is shocking in 6 games, madden on the easy level type stuff) for being 6-0 instead of 5-1

i think it is a few factors. 1, nfl Ds see allen as the number one threat, so they are more prepped and know they have trouble getting to him so they get their hands up 2 our O. all of our short passes are still up field and generally in the middle. we don't run the wheel routes (altho we should w gillium, he's never covered) and wr screens and such that so many other teams do, giving their qb a short pass w no one between them and the target. 3. Allen himself. part of it is as said before he does stare down receivers sometimes. the other part is his quick release. he has (if not the fastest) one of the fastest start of wind up to ball out of hand motions ever measured. because of that he gets more time than anyone else to make a decision. that leads to the super mega awesome plays we love. it also leads to him kinda pushing it to the limit, and on shorter or mid range stuff, that combined w his "arc" of a flat line cuz he throws so hard means linemen can stare at his eyes and just stick their hands up when he shows whatever his tell to them is.

the people touting the revenge factor/beating a childhood idol factor for allen have it right. he was overly tense/star struck in his rookie game, coming off of (or at least close to) a huge upset win in Minni. he had a terrible terrible performance. he will likely never play aaron rogers again, fellow cali qb and a legend of the game. i could see josh forcing a couple things early (sugar high josh) but once he gets it together he will be magic man once again. i expect another blowout home win.

interdasting, how many snaps did he play vs kc and baltimore? i always worry about crazy numbers early in the season when things can get slanted based on who you have played (remember our stats on d last year, and how philly has looked this year). he looks good based on what i've seen of him so far this year tho, ill say that

could it be for a db? they've been banged up in the back end, perhaps some of the injury recovery times have gotten longer?

we are gonna get a really good idea of how the bills stack up vs the nfc shortly, GB is meh, but we play minni too, that is gonna be a good measuring stick.

i will fully admit to being a spaz out bad fan (my kids hate it when i watch bills games!). that said, we totally have a lot of work to do on the red zone O

part is punting, part is qb/ol decline. another part is the nfl is cyclical, and the o was on a big up cycle, but now ds are catching up some. the next big o will be something else too, no idea what. i formation two qbs on the field at once? i hope so!

to me, lemar can do some things no one else can do (allen can do many things no one else can do) but cannot do all things you might want him to do (he's ok in the pocket, awesome when scrambling in the pocket, but not good rolling out when it comes to passing, for example) and in that o at least he's really not made huge strides getting wrs involved. based on who doesn't have a qb but who might have other talent, i think he's worth liek 40mm a year +/-. id presume plus because it always seems to be a ratchet upwards. for example, i don't think dabol would do it, but lamar on the gmen w the rest of the team just as it is now is a problem. the biggest issue to me w lamar is really also a gregg roman issue, his o needs like 3 really good physical RBs, mainly because you know they will go down from time to time. if you put the old ravens RB Jamal Lewis on Lamar's team, you have an all speed quick/power combo lined up but the RPO can also be a trick or a throw. it's NFL blitz type stuff in real life. barclay on a team w lamar could potentially be video games in real life too.

jeez, this guy is a monster. i figured we'd walk him cuz he's older now, but my gosh is he a stud.

He's had some really bad plays this season. He's made a couple, but overall he's not playing like someone who is gonna keep the position. Palmer once said no one does more with more than Brady, and no one does more with less than Allen. Sadly, that still seems true because outside of Davis and diggs (and for a couple games motor, yay!) Our O for being numero uno struggles for stretches. We need knox or our slot guy or someone to step up and be that 3rd weapon.

Even measured criticism of the coaches will get you flack here after a big win, but you are right. To me the upside is that our RedZone o has been so weak that just a moderate improvement means we might have an all time O.

I said it in the game thread and I still do: they are great (all three of them so far) coaches 6 days a week but make too many mental errors on game day. They've improved, and the half time adjustments are getting better and better, but there is a gap between them and the top of the NFL, they can get caught out by coaches w out an answer, sometimes at least. Now, in terms of the other 6 days, no question they are nasty. Guys come out flying and confident and motivated. Just like how mc coach had to let the zero yard dive in the gut to a slow 30+yo rb go, Frazer needs to figure out some situations, Dorsey needs to get the redzons right, and mcb needs to get the time out and challenge stuff down. Have seen improvement at least!

What an insane game, we need a stop so bad. I hope we got a couple looks on d we haven't shown yet

Dang, we need a TD and no time left. Prolly not possible, so a TD and a d stop. Talk about high stress Hollywood type games!!

These refs missed the trip, and then didn't call the block in the back on back to back plays. These refs are killing us

Same man, I need to reexamine my fandom. I really should be able to be happy, not be like only invested in a win, but enjoy it

Low iq and low confidence

We need Josh Allen to be Superman, and we need the d to come up with something big a couple times. I got so amped and irritable during these games. I gotta keep it together!