NFL - Random Opinions

Mathew Stafford is still a good QB, but too old to start rebuilding with

 

Its an interesting situation in Detroit for sure. I think Patricia lost that team a couple seasons ago and over time its kinda snowballing.

Just looking at the offense, Stafford is still a good QB, they are loaded at running back, Hockenson at TE, if they get half-way decent play out of the o-line (Jonah Jackson, Taylor Decker and Frank Ragnow), how do they not score points? Leads me to believe the coaching and play calling is sub-par.

 

If the sight I looked at is right the lions 3 main wrs are all free agents next year.

 

In last nights game, the play calling coming out of that 2min warning in the 1st half, was utter trash from Bruce Arians. Starts with a deep shot that was closer to a pick than a completion. Then follows it up with a one step quick pass out to Godwin which they'd already done at least twice before and the Rams were clamping down on it more each time. And boom before you know it you're in 3rd & 9. Incompletion, punt, opponent gets the ball and scores.

With the ball at midfield and 2mins + 3 TOs, you have your entire playbook open and Arians first thought should've been "im not letting the opponent get a chance to score points before the half". You could run the ball if you want but given what had worked so far im spreading it all out and making a safe high % throw inside the numbers. Hitch if its zone, little crosser if its man, whatever. Arians playbook is full of plays like that and he had forever to consider the situation and make the right move. 5-8 yard completion, 2nd & short, 1min 20ish left. Game management. With 3 TOs left there was plenty of time for them to turn up the volume and go for a TD after the Rams O had been removed from the equation.

Hight degree of probability that was at least a 6point swing there, possibly more. Arians let them down.


Brady however was total dogshit for almost the entire 2nd half. The sacks form holding it too long, the easy missed throws, the bad picks. Yeah the rush was a problem but Brady should've done better. 3 point game they could've won.

 

I'm putting the plays on Brady, too. We're not talking about some rookie QB who hasn't been given permission to audible - this is Tom Brady. So much of what has made him successful is taking what the defense gives him, and identifying / audibling into that pre-snap. I cannot believe he would see something he didn't like and just stick with it because that's what was called.

So that means Tom got out there and thought, "I've got this" on the deep ball, then thought the horizontal toss was going to be a success. In both cases, Tom shoulders responsibility. My personal feelings against him aside, it's going to be an interesting discussion to look back and ask how much of his present / future struggles are due to not having Bill and the Pats, and how much is due to his wanting talent.

 

You know me im far from an excuse maker for Brady, and i do think you could put some blame his way based on both the 1st & 2nd down play maybe. On 1st down in particular the Rams were showing a cover 3 look which immediately should've looked unfavourable to Brady, especially since he knew the route concepts ie 2 deep boundary routes. Unless he was prepared all along to look off the Safety and go into the now vacated deep middle on the over route to Brown, that may have had a shot. But he never did any of this, he locked in and heaved it.

So yes, i do agree Brady could've done a lot more to get them out of these situations.

But i feel the fundamental issue here is a game management one and that trumps an audible imo. When you factor in the time on the clock, 3 TOs, where the ball was... it was the wrong time for Arians to call that play. The only real motive to call it then was the reasoning of "they won't expect it". Well i guess they did expect it to some degree cos they were in cover 3 and thats a very solid D to be in against a deep pass, that alone makes this a fail. Plus even if that play had gone for a TD, you've now given the ball to an Offense that was moving the ball well, your D is struggling to contain them...there could quite feasibly have been a TD the other way and your net outcome is zero. Just a badly managed situation imo.

Also i do want to try and show some consistency here buddy. When Nagy makes a shitty play call we flame his ass for making a shitty play call, we don't say it was the QBs fault for not audibling out of it(Foles is more than experienced enough to remove the rookie excuse from this scenario).

 

I think we may be looking at the closing of the window for the Eagles to return to the Super bowl for an extended period of time.

The impact of letting Andrew Berry go to the Browns won't be known for a couple seasons, but I do expect it to be an issue long term.

In the present, the roster has several issues and the coaching staff seem completely overwhelmed by those problems. Carson Wentz is showing the signs of a quarterback that is losing the ability to understand how the play is developing in front of him, cannot see what the defense is presenting and missing opportunities because of it. It's an indictment on the coaching staff that they have not been able to rework the game in an effort to correct the issues occurring after the break of the huddle.

The offensive line has been an issue all season, but there are too many plays where they maintain their assignment that do not get capitalized on by the quarterback.

For the defense - I know there are some holes in the roster that have to be addressed before they become a consistent, high level unit, but the lack of the current roster meshing together feels like the type of slide into the abyss that Schwartz commanded during his tenure in Detroit. It's just slowly unravelling into something that should perform better than it does, and when they do play up to their potential it just feels like there is not enough splash happening from key players.

Philadelphia will probably be projected as a bounce back candidate to win the East in 2021, considering how bad that division is and how many skill position players generate some buzz on that roster. However, unless there are changes to the coaching staff, and by changes I mean firing the lot and bringing in an entirely new group, the Eagles are going to continue to trend in the wrong direction.

The record may look better next season with some healthy bodies and an actual off-season, but there will be no Super bowl run coming for several years.

 

I tend to agree with your Eagles assessment. Wentz seems lost on and off the field in interviews and blames himself and talks down about things quite a bit. Seems as if he's trying to shoulder all the blame himself.

I was wondering, though, would it have been a different story if the offensive line would have been/stayed healthy... I just dont know. Some teams are fortunate enough to plug-n-play guys and survive, but the Eagles were hit pretty hard.

Defensively, I dont know much, but one thing id comment on is Jim Schwartz himself... not a fan at all. Seen a lot of him in Detroit and kinda was left un-impressed. When I heard he was going to Philly I thought to myself, uh oh, this is not going to be good.

 

Was that a fluke in Seattle yesterday or is the NYG getting something going at the right time and just might become a real viable threat to win come playoffs?

 

* Quietly comes along, raises white flag and skulks off.

 

Tyreek Hill has got to be the first WR ever to say I didn’t catch it when coming off the field only to have caught it. Good thing that didn’t cost them the game.

 

To be fair, I still see the possibility of the Chargers keeping Lynn into 2021.

But it’s getting easier and easier to see him not surviving past the end of the season.

 

My early money is on the Giants to take another step forward in 2021.

 

I'd probably take the Redskins based on the overall roster and what I think the defense could become next season, but they have a huge question mark to be answered at the most important position on the roster.

 

This looks like it may have been posted up at just the right time...

Now that the news has broken of Wentz going to the bench and Hurts being named the starter for the next game, the Eagles find themselves pushing further towards being in limbo.

If Hurts plays well enough for ownership/management to view him as a potential starter they then are forced into basing their assessment of Pederson in 2020 off the combination of his own ineptitude and the poor play of Carson Wentz. It could be just enough for them to hold off of canning Doug for another year (which ultimately hurts this franchise, IMO). If Hurts struggles, it makes it easier for the front office to dump Pederson and move on.

The question of what to do with Wentz will also be compounded by Hurts' play. If Jalen plays well, do they look to move on from Carson? Some would suggest it's impossible, but in actuality the Eagles could trade Wentz post June 1 of 2021 and save just over $25mil. I could easily see a scenario where Philadelphia negotiates a deal earlier for a 2nd and a player (or possibly still a first, but I highly doubt it at this point) and close it on that date. We'd probably all now about it a couple months in advance but it wouldn't finalize till then, so any draft capital wouldn't be recouped until 2022. They would likely have to eat some of his salary to get full value on the return, but even if they were to cut that savings in half it's a move that doesn't cripple the books.

To add to that possibility, there is no more guaranteed money on Carson's deal following the 2021 season, so whichever team makes the move for Carson wouldn't be hamstrung by the remainder of his contract if they decided they wanted out. It opens up avenues for immediate discussion on a new contract with the new franchise that would likely lower Wentz's overall number for the remaining years.

If Philly felt confident in Hurts being a good enough starter to move them through a transition in the coaching staff (adequate enough to serve as a bridge or potential long term solution) then the Eagles could clean house, including Carson, and come into 2021 with an entirely different direction.

 

Im not a dollars and cents kinda guy (over my head), but it probably would bode well for the Eagles to work out a trade and eat a bunch of cash, because if they retain him its going to be even more millions, north of $30M , IIRC.

Just for kicks I also saw a scenario by Jay Glazer, that it might be a good fit for Wentz to go to the Colts and be reunited with Frank Reich as Rivers contract was just a 1 year deal on a QB that just turned 39.

 

That's a pretty solid move for both Wentz and Indy, plus for the Eagles it would move Carson to the other conference.

 

The Bears would be insane to not at least consider Wentz if they decide to try to repair the team on the fly versus going into rebuild mode.

But a place that makes the most sense to me for a landing spot next season is Denver.

 

I can see that and while Smith isnt sexy at QB he is a lot better than some out there. He is rarely going to hurt you and if you can put a solid Defense out there with him at QB you can get into the playoffs where anything can happen.

 

I’ve been thinking about this since you posted it but I haven’t had the extra couple minutes to type up the full response I want to.

I’ll post it up later today.