NFL Talk

Yes but why is he making bad decisions? Is it just pressure because of the losses? Is it an injury causing an unwillingness to get hit? Is it the loss of some of the assistant coaches?

An unwillingness to get hit goes out the window, because he's getting hit plenty. Maybe pressure because of losses. As for the assistants, Tom Moore is still with the team, so the only assistant that's gone is Howard Mudd, and they weren't talking about his decision making when he was there. I think his absence has had an effect along the offensive line, for sure, but as I said, that doesn't mean that you throw bad balls.

I also think that it's necessary to take the SD game out of the picture, because I don't think any of his three meaningful interceptions were the result of bad throws. He got hit on two of them right as he was releasing (not trying to throw as he's being dragged to the ground), and the other his receiver was interfered with. But against the Pats, all three of those are squarely on his shoulders. The last one it looked like the ball died halfway there, so I don't know if that's a bad decision as much as the ball slipping or him being under pressure and not following through as he normally would. But the other two were bad decisions. And all four against the Cowboys were bad decisions.

The question being why? I don't know. I think it's primarily lack of chemistry with his receiver corps: he has never been in a a groove with Garcon this season; Blair White and Tamme are brand new to the rotation; the backs are all new and/or inexperienced right now; along with poor offensive line play. And as it pertains to his decision-making, an unwillingness to take sacks on crucial downs. This is the lesson he learned when Dungy took over, that sometimes sacks are good, by comparison. A punt is always better than a TAINT (shout out to Simmons). There was a maturity that he gained, where he lost a bit of that gunslinger mentality and started checking down and throwing the ball away more, and while he's certainly checking down now, it's more of a designed check down, not a traditional "last resort" check down. And he's never throwing the ball away and hardly ever tucking it and running. One sack in the last three games, 11 interceptions. (If we go back to 2005, we're talking about how he struggles against 3-4 defenses, so maybe that's an issue against the last three teams.)

He's got to stop trying to carry the offense on his arm, and trust the defense (hard to do) and wait on the next possession. Something he did a great job of against the Jets in the playoffs last year, when they said "we're gonna get him, we're gonna hurt him, we're gonna force him to make mistakes," and they sacked him twice but never really hit him, and he cracked the code in the second quarter and never looked back. Now, he's trying to get it all right now, and it's costing his team possessions, field position, points, etc.
 
I've been saying for weeks now that the Jets eeking out wins against awful teams that defeat themselves is going to result in disaster when they play a real team but I still expected them to at least show up tonight. I still was going to pick them against the Steelers but no way no how after tonight, I think the Bears beat them too.

Sorry to see McDaniels fired but it was inevitable. Hope he lands in the NFC somewhere as a coordinator.
 
Regarding McDaniels, he's better off being a OC Coordinator. He isn't a head coach in this league, atleast not yet.
 
He's pretty good. Not sure how I feel about him being the male spokesmodel for UGG though.
 
Rex Ryan now has the audacity to compare his Jets team to the 85 Bears and chalk it up to a disappointing Monday night game. I was only 11 but I seem to recall the Bears being in that game until the 4th quarter. The Bears were also a hell of a lot more impressive in their wins over mediocre opposition and I'm pretty sure they were better than 1-3 against teams with winning records but I can't be bothered to look that one up.:cool:

Some interesting stuff coming out about McDaniels. I still think he basically never had the fans in Denver on his side because the Pats and Denver have never really been fond of one another (though Denver usually beat the Pats even in the Brady era) and also because Shanny was so beloved. The deals he made were necessary when the "stars" he had turned out to be a bunch of divas. The worst deal was probably Hillis for Quinn but at the time you had to consider that Hillis was a fumbleholic and still lead the league in fumbles for half the season, not sure where he is now and that Quinn seemed like a good fit with McDaniels - until Tebow gets brought in.

Now some are saying that Tebow is on the outs and that the only reason he was drafted was because of McDaniels while I have always believed that Tebow was more about pandering to the political and religious beliefs of the Colorado Springs crowd in the same way the Rockies had reinvented their clubhouse. Pure speculation on my part of course. But Tebow is one of the highest selling names in the NFL despite the fact that he barely plays and even took home Rookie of the Week honors over a much more deserving field (Gronkowsi's 3 TDs) a few weeks ago so I suspect we will see a lot more of him.

Other fishy stuff I have heard about McD in the past week was that the reason he traded Hillis was because he hit on McDaniels's wife (unbelievable) and that McDaniels runs around the NFL telling everyone that he made Tom Brady (if true this one would really make me think a lot less of him).

Also, who is this new coach that was apparently hired as the RBs coach in January - was he brought in because Bowlen was already second guessing himself after the collapse last year? It seems very odd that a largely uknown RBs coach gets the promotion after a move like this.
 
Other fishy stuff I have heard about McD in the past week was that the reason he traded Hillis was because he hit on McDaniels's wife (unbelievable) and that McDaniels runs around the NFL telling everyone that he made Tom Brady (if true this one would really make me think a lot less of him).

Also, who is this new coach that was apparently hired as the RBs coach in January - was he brought in because Bowlen was already second guessing himself after the collapse last year? It seems very odd that a largely uknown RBs coach gets the promotion after a move like this.

I heard that about Hillis and McD's wife also, not sure what to think.

As for this RB coach situation, I think Bowlen is drawing back into a shell, only going to trust people that are "his people," and will be very conservative with his next head coaching hire. It will either be a veteran guy (think Brian Billick), or someone in the organization that he is already established with. I don't think he liked how McD came in and immediately butted heads with the two best players on the team, and then starting making moves that have gradually hurt the future of the franchise. All of a sudden Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall aren't looking like they absolutely had to be traded.

I don't think McD was to blame for the poor season this year, because that defense has been badly hit by injuries, but I think Bowlen was fed up with him.
 
I got the impression that Bowlen was on board with moving Cutler because his behavior was insulting. Its interesting to see a guy who was hands off for years suddenly becoming more meddlesome in the daily affairs but the franchise has pretty much been in limbo since Elway left the game.
 
Whether Cutler deserved to get shipped outta Denver or not, they raped the Bears in that deal. Orton himself is playing better than Cutler, plus 2 (3?) 1st round picks? Wow. Of course then they go and do a trade equally as lopsided for the other team by trading Hillis for their current 3rd string QB
 
What I want to know is did they really blow it on Quinn or was the decision to elevate Tebow to 2nd string for the sole purpose of running him as a direct snap FB on goalline plays someone other than McD's?
 
I got the impression that Bowlen was on board with moving Cutler because his behavior was insulting. Its interesting to see a guy who was hands off for years suddenly becoming more meddlesome in the daily affairs but the franchise has pretty much been in limbo since Elway left the game.

Yeah I agree that Bowlen was on board, but at the end of the day, McDaniels lit that fire and then mishandled the situation til the very end. I'm not defending Cutler; I think I made my thoughts clear on his attitude/behavior at the time, but McDaniels didn't handle it right either. And then the Brandon Marshall situation, and then Peyton Hillis, and other run-ins with players, and an 11-17 record, and it's hard to defend him after all that. You start wondering whether he's the main source of the problem.
 
Just to be clear, I thought his firing was deserved at this point. Just sorry to see it all go down that way. By all accounts BB had pronounced him "ready" and given his blessing on the gig and it appeared to be a good gig when he got there. I am sure he'll land on his feet. I don't have any interest in him coming back to the Pats, that's for sure.
 
Just to be clear, I thought his firing was deserved at this point. Just sorry to see it all go down that way. By all accounts BB had pronounced him "ready" and given his blessing on the gig and it appeared to be a good gig when he got there. I am sure he'll land on his feet. I don't have any interest in him coming back to the Pats, that's for sure.

The team had more talent when he got there, and had he been able to coexist with Cutler and Marshall and started to build a consistent rushing attack, the offense would have been phenomenal. I don't really think he's not ready to be a head coach. I just think he mismanaged some situations and never won the allegiance of Pat Bowlen. Now he's unemployed. And rich.
 
That Titans vs Colts game was so boring. Titans are out for sure, I hope the Colts join them as well. I wouldn't want to watch a playoff series including either teams, atleast based on who they have and how their playing this year. Hell, the Jaguars are even worse than those two teams, who knows how their winning their games.
 
So let me be the first to say this...how embarrassed must you be to be a Redskins fan right now? I'm embarrassed enough to have dropped Torain from my fantasy team last week (but for Westbrook who had a better game fantasy-wise) but wow. Graham Gano pulled his best playoff-Kaeding/Vanderjagt impression on 2 missed FG's, and then Hunter Smith mishandles the game-tying snap? It was a bad snap but it wasn't THAT bad of a snap.
 
That was a pretty sad end for Houston last night. And they do it every week... come back and then blow it. Wild.

Can I just reiterate two things that were proven again this weekend? The Jets suck and Cutler can not play in bad weather. I wonder if that game had been 2 weeks ago if it would have helped Josh McDaniels last the season in Denver? Lord knows they aren't any better with this new coach. If there was any time to just dump Tebow into a game and see if he could do anything it was this last game.
 
That was a pretty sad end for Houston last night. And they do it every week... come back and then blow it. Wild.

Can I just reiterate two things that were proven again this weekend? The Jets suck and Cutler can not play in bad weather. I wonder if that game had been 2 weeks ago if it would have helped Josh McDaniels last the season in Denver? Lord knows they aren't any better with this new coach. If there was any time to just dump Tebow into a game and see if he could do anything it was this last game.

I've been saying something to myself since last season. The only thing holding the Jets back from winning a Superbowl is Mark Sanchez, he is just not very good right now. They made him more of a passer this season and it shows that you can't rely on him to do that. They stopped running the ball effectively and even their defense went down a notch, maybe two notches actually. I don't believe what so ever in the Bears, they just have a good regular season record. If they do make the playoffs, most likely they will, their one and done. Based on match ups of course.
 
So let me be the first to say this...how embarrassed must you be to be a Redskins fan right now? I'm embarrassed enough to have dropped Torain from my fantasy team last week (but for Westbrook who had a better game fantasy-wise) but wow. Graham Gano pulled his best playoff-Kaeding/Vanderjagt impression on 2 missed FG's, and then Hunter Smith mishandles the game-tying snap? It was a bad snap but it wasn't THAT bad of a snap.

Is this aimed at me? :( :( :?
 
Is this aimed at me? :( :( :?

Haha didn't think we had any Redskins fans on the board, so no, it wasn't. Gotta admit, that was a hell of a way to lose a game though. I don't think they had a 1st down the entire 2nd half until they drove the length of the field with 3 minutes left, only for them to botch the snap on the point after.

But hey, I'm a Chargers fan. I know all about embarrassing ways to lose games this season :p
 
Statistically speaking he was like 30th out of 32, but I'm not sure that tells the whole story. Seems like the long snapper is equally to blame and it would be easier to just give holding duties to a backup QB or receiver if he was worth keeping? Silly to do with 3 games left in the season though.
 
Statistically speaking he was like 30th out of 32, but I'm not sure that tells the whole story. Seems like the long snapper is equally to blame and it would be easier to just give holding duties to a backup QB or receiver if he was worth keeping? Silly to do with 3 games left in the season though.

Very silly. I don't know if this had been an issue before last Sunday, but I don't think you cut a punter just because he blows a hold. Sorry. As for his punting, his best days were certainly behind him. He used to get great hangtime, if not great distance, but I don't know what he's done the past two years. I'm definitely more happy with McAfee. But if you're gonna cut your punter, you don't do it with three games left when you're already basically out of the playoffs. Seems petty.
 
they are really high on the young kicker, Gano... and he SUCKED that game (and to some extent this whole season). I think the punter took a bullet for the kicker, a misdirection to feed the blood lust of the masses and allow them to keep the guy that they wanted until the offseason, and then let him earn his way back on to the team
 
they are really high on the young kicker, Gano... and he SUCKED that game (and to some extent this whole season). I think the punter took a bullet for the kicker, a misdirection to feed the blood lust of the masses and allow them to keep the guy that they wanted until the offseason, and then let him earn his way back on to the team

Or they have just cut no one and revisited both punter and kicker in the offseason and training camp, rather than making a snap decision in the heat of the moment. At the end of the day it doesn't really matter, it just says something about the management of that team. Especially when you put this on top of all the other questionable decisions they've made this season.
 
An important game for both the Chargers and the 49ers. Should be a good one, I won't expect it though. The Niners tend to not show up just out of the blue so we will see.
 
Good challenge by Norv, I knew that wasn't a touchdown. Makes Singletary's decision to take points off the board look HORRIBLE right now
 
Back
Top