NFL - Random Opinions

I think that TD just broke there hearts Buccaneers 25 Eagles 9

 

A TD set up by a Safety.

Yep, the refs are really screwing the Eagles tonight.

 

With the way eagles and chefs offenses went backwards this season will more teams increase the pay of their offensive coordinators to try and keep them?

 

Never take the points off the board

 

Kelce looks.outmatched a lot tonight has the look on the sideline that maybe this.is it

 

You mean like the refs screwed over the Steelers today?

 

I Really Hope So Its Important To Having a Strong and Dominant Offensive Line

 

Everyone needs to be fired. This core shouldn't shit the bed this much with the talent they have. As teams adjusted through the season, the coaches couldn't. Keeping the staff intact is essentially wasting next year in success and player growth.

 

He's retiring. He only returned to try and get back. The coaches are uninspiring. As soon as other teams figured them out, they couldn't adjust. 7 weeks to adjust after failure and they couldn't at all. That is fireable and none of them should have play calling duties ever again.

 

Stuff doesn't have to be mutually exclusive. Eagles sucked and deserved to lose badly but they 100% were screwed by the refs in the first half.

 

I still have at least one week for the Bills, but man I worry about these Eagles if they keep their coaches.

 

Buccaneers 32 Eagles 9 never expected this kind of beatdown

 

Got to be tough for the old warriors to hang it up.

 

He seems like a great and fun guy.

 

EXIT INTERVIEWS

Running down the teams that are out of the playoffs and some opinion on them, in the order that the games were played...

BROWNS

The biggest question mark will continue to be the situation at passer. Flacco made the offense hum for a stretch and solidified the reality that Deshaun Watson most likely is not the answer in Cleveland. Unable to stay healthy, unable to be consistent and seemingly unable to operate Stefanski's offense at the same level as one of the rumored founding members of the Jurassic 5. The Browns should approach this offseason with the mentality of acquiring a young passer with upside and resigning Joe, just in case a verdict on Watson comes down that makes it clear he is never going to be the guy for this offense. I'd consider biting the bullet and over-drafting an arm in the second round if necessary, because getting off of the Watson rollercoaster before 2026 is going to be tricky. Developing a passer over that stretch may be the better approach, especially if you end up running it back with Joe at some point over next season.

As for the rest of the roster - The Browns are very close to being a deep playoff team. They have to find a weapon on offense that can flip the field quickly in order to create more breathing space for the ground game, but the ability to move the chains through fundamental football is readily available with this roster. Cooper, Njoku and Chubb give them the core 3 pieces. If Bell develops it will help to offset the possibility of limited upside with Moore, not due to ability but potentially availability (that concussion this season was a bit unnerving).

On defense, I would look to continue adding to the defensive line as much as possible through FA and try not to spend early draft capital on that side of the ball unless it's obvious that it's the better buy when you're on the clock. Cleveland needs to find a way to generate pressure from multiple spots to increase the value of Myles Garrett as much as possible. When you have a player like that on your roster, you need to find ways to make his path to the passer as easy as possible.

All in all, some Browns fans are going to look at this season as a letdown. I see it as a pretty large step in the right direction.

DOLPHINS

Miami needs to develop a base for their offense to operate out of whenever the rest of McDaniels flash plays cannot be called upon. They have enough talent on that side of the ball to do some damage on any given Sunday, but they need to develop some ability to have reliable options on 3rd down to snag 6 yards here, 8 yards there and not have to scheme up something dramatic to make it happen. An upgrade at TE would be a good starting point, but it also relies on the coach remembering that he has that option in the passing game... They should look to add to the offensive line as well, and Cedric Wilson should be utilized more in advantageous situations where simply taking an 8-yard gain instead of looking to force the ball to Hill or Waddle makes more sense.

Some of this is probably a bit of the learning curve that comes with a young head coach, but basic football can be the better option on days where everything from the weather, the stadium you're playing in or the color of the jersey across from you has the advantage.

This was a good season for the fish from Miami, but I need to see some stability with the entire offense before I consider their recent success a probable norm.

COWBOYS

Dan Quinn must have already been house shopping in Seattle, because that performance from his defense on Sunday was vacant. I can't recall a playoff game where so many pass catchers were that wide open, repeatedly. Just an unbelievable letdown for Dallas.

However, there's no denying that the defense has a ton of talent. They need to get healthy to start next season, add some more depth at certain areas (LB sticks out) and figure out who their new DC will be, but this is going to likely be one of the best defenses in the NFL again in 2025.

On offense - There will be some people that put this all on Dak. There are always people that put everything the Cowboys struggle with on Dak. However, Prescott played extremely well for most of the season and easily justified the payday Jerry gave him. CeeDee Lamb is phenomenal, and the rest of the receiving group (including TEs) is adequate, but Pollard cannot be the feature back in 2024. If anything, he has to be in a timeshare with another capable back, or else the ground game in Dallas will be at the mercy of the passing attack, because the ability to create on its own was not there enough this past season.

Rounding things out and looking at next season, it's pretty obvious that Dallas is far more talented than two other teams in the East, and arguably more talented than the third. They'll be back in the mix next season, but it will be interesting to see how Jerry handles McCarthy over the next few weeks...

RAMS

Gotta admit, I enjoyed watching the Goff led Lions defeat the McVay coached Rams...

Los Angeles is going to be a strong candidate to be an 11 win team next season. They figured out a lot of their early season issues as the year wore on, but having players like Williams and Nacua step up in the fashion they did was obviously a huge part of it. I would like to see LA sign a backup passer that can be relied upon to simply run the ship in a stable fashion (Wentz should not be retained into next season) or draft another arm to develop. The core pieces for offensive skill positions are there, so getting more on the OL might become a priority.

On defense, the Rams are going to need to work on bringing some talent on that DL, they need to add at EDR and the gotta work on bringing some more talent into the backfield, because this feels like a unit that is too complacent.

McVay should have the Rams ready to fight for a playoff spot again in 2024, but the rest of the West is shaping up in a manner that may make this division the toughest in football for the next couple of seasons, and that's not including the obvious juggernaut in SF.

STEELERS

Something that Pittsburgh fans may find hard to reckon with this week - Pittsburgh is closer to a deep playoff run than what they think. Is Tomlin the coach that can make that happen? I think it's a legitimate question to ask, considering how his playoff history is starting to shape up. However, the roster is a lot more competitive than what some believe.

First, they need to go into 2024 with either Rudolph as the starter, or they need to sign a starter in FA. Pickett is not the guy. Second, they need to bring in an OC that has some autonomy from Tomlin. Basically, they need to let an OC come in and rebuild the identity of the offense. What Pittsburgh was trying to do for the majority of the season was borderline insanity on that side of the ball, and it's clear that they were either putting their own opinion of approach over the obvious, or else their ability to evaluate positionally (specifically passer) is woefully inadequate.

Pittsburgh should continue to look to improve the offensive line and add at receiver. I haven't been shy on my opinion of Rudolph since before he was drafted and seeing him play over the past 4 weeks has convinced me that if you put him in a solid pocket and give him options, the Steelers offense is going to roll along.

I'm not sure what I was looking at on defense during the Bills game. The Allen run for a TD doesn't happen if they simply don't give up early, so that seems more like an issue with playing through the whistle. For a team that gets their identity more from that side of the ball, the playoff history and points given up over the past 5(?) games are a real issue that needs to be addressed, and that would appear to a coaching problem more than a personnel problem.

That said, if you look at the roster and what they need to improve, the Steelers are in the same ship as the Browns and sailing in the right direction.

EAGLES

It's tough to gauge exactly what the fuck is going on in Philly, but it looks like a combination of things all came together in a slow rolling manner to cripple them down the stretch.

For starters, they have to get back to finding ways to help Jalen Hurts with as many clean, easy looks as possible. What makes Jalen deadly is his dual threat ability and processing speed. What hinders him is when they force him to throw into tight windows repeatedly. It's simply not his strength. The Eagles need to be a ground-based offense that creates large windows by forcing defenses to bite on the constant threat of a downhill rusher. When the ground game evaporates, the passing attack dries up with it in Philly. Unfortunately, the same coaching staff that seemed to make this the standard in 2022 found a way to slowly turn this offense into a predictable, plodding attack that drowned at its own feet.

It's tough to understand how quickly they let this become what it has...

On defense, the pass coverage has to be improved. It was a liability all season and completely reliant on the pass rush in front of it to be effective. The duo of LB and S failure produced plays in the middle of the field at will for more than one opposition offense, and that will not be changing if they do not address the lack of talent in that area of the field.

Is it all doom and gloom for Philly? I wanna say 'no', but I'm not as confident as I probably should be, because I'm not sure how I feel about the current coaching staff. I think the roster is talented enough that you can have a quick bounce back next season, but are they willing to play the game in the manner that it has to be played for them to duplicate 2022?

 

I've been saying this.

 

I have to think the coaching has been a large contributor to the downward spiral of the Eagles, they have had key injuries as of late, but the reports of locker-room descension and miffs between Hurts and Sirianni might be the smoke that will lead to the fire (no pun intended).

Last night's play calling was sub-par to be polite. 37 yards gained on the ground with only 14 rush attempts outside of Hurts attempts, blew my mind. I even commented about that when the Eagles just had only 6 rushing attempts well into the game. Sirianni and Steichen really messed things up, in my humble opinion and observation.

Fixable indeed, but it sure was surprising to see the cream fall to the bottom as the season wore on.

 

Is this Joe?

 

Joes not allowed in the USA