Alphadawg7

While I get where you are coming from, this is not really close to a fair analysis really though in regards to his 2 games in TB. And he wasn't let go because he was useless, he was Cole was coming off sitting on his couch, played immediately in 2 games out of desperation due to TB injuries to WR's. He was NOT anywhere close to game ready shape. So to judge him this harsh fresh off his couch after not playing any football or practices in 9 months is a bit extreme. Not to mention, he had only 5 targets (caught 4 of them). He didn't even know the playbook or have any rapport yet with Brady, yet still caught 4 of 5 passes and converted a 4th down. Cole's value here is substantially higher than in TB for a number of reasons: He knows the offense, he knows Allen. He can get into better game shape prior to the playoffs if he came in soon. A big part, and its a really big part, of Allens game is off improvising and extending plays. Cole already has that chemistry with Allen and is a VERY cerebral player and can find those soft spots coming back to help Allen when he is extending plays to convert important 3rd downs. There is NO DOUBT that Cole is NOT the same player he once was. BUT...he can still be a contributor here, especially once he gets more of his game ready legs under him. It's not like we cant win the SB this year without him, but he definitely could contribute some, especially on key plays we need to extend drives. I would trust him 100 times more than I would trust McKenzie on say 3rd and 6 on a key drive. McKenzie is an absolute liability catching in traffic, he can not pick up tough yards consistently. So for me...100% I would be open to Cole coming back. Do I think its a must do move? No, of course not, but I do think he can still have some value to this team this year, and the locker room loves him and his toughness. And this team could use some toughness outside Diggs and Allen in the passing game.

Huh? Manning and Luck had weapons, they were both just choke artists.

Were they proven right? Our biggest issue has been Crowder got hurt and injuries on the OL. How many quarters has the starting OL even played together? Meanwhile, we have been decimated by injuries in our secondary and still field one of the top secondaries in the NFL. So I think the investment has worked out in drafting Elam and Benford. I mean its puzzling to me how you keep grossly over looking that our defense being able to hold itself together and limit the opponents enough for us to keep winning games while our offense has had some struggles. And you still on here trolling that the investment into the defense was a mistake despite it being a big reason we have even won 8 games.

Defense has been the weaker unit. Defense has sent us home 2 years in a row in the playoffs.

I would have LOVED to land Elijah Moore

This is definitely what happened. He ran out on the field thinking the play was dead and didn't realize it was still going. It looked like he was down by contact from the bench on the INT, but it wasn't. Once he was on the field you can tell he didn't know what to do.

Bingo. What’s crazy to me is how obvious this is and yet people unrealistically arguing against it.

Is there anything about this team you like? Asking for a friend...

Oh yes, sorry thanks for the correction on that

Thanks, figured it went down some as I don’t think he had but one drop in last 2 games. It was at 17% heading into the Browns game.

I don’t know what his drop rate is today, but a week or two ago he was dropping 17% of his catchable balls on the season and was third in league in total drops, with a catch rate of 54% for his career. I don’t think he was getting a bum rap, his drops cost us drives in games we lost. He also dropped a critical pass on the late drive in the Vikes game the refs missed and Josh quickly snapped the ball to cover up. I was very high on Gabe all off season, I’m still optimistic about him. But I don’t think it’s a “bum rap” when you’re a professional starting WE and dropping 17% of your passes with a career history of low catch rate. He has also made plenty of good plays, he’s not a lost cause or a disaster. But the concerns have been warranted. He also has struggled to win his routes and most often makes catches after breaking off routes to bail Josh out because no one was initially open. As usual, season total stats don’t begin to paint the whole picture

I get that, but the offensive woes in the second half pre date Allens injury by 3 full games. GB, Jets, Vikings (he got hurt on 3rd to last play of game against Vikings). I think it’s more Dorsey than Allen. Yes Allen has made some poor decisions, he’s also been pressing because we aren’t consistently scheming WRs open enough. Dorsey has relied WAY too much on the receivers winning their individual battles rather than scheming plays to get them open the way Daboll did, KC does, etc. I’m not worried about Allen at all, I am worried about Dorsey until I see it on the field though.

Yeah, and seasoned Daboll figured it out. We have a rookie OC who’s not proven he can yet. Dorsey is a concern until he shows he can adjust, which he hasn’t yet. I hold out hope he does, but I’ve yet to see it and the film shows he’s not adjusting to what the defense is showing him. So until I see him do it, I’m going to remain concerned. If Daboll was here, I’d be less concerned.

Im not saying they won’t figure it out. I’m saying stop trying to mask they are struggling because they clearly are. 5 weeks ago during the bye week, Allen was a runaway MVP candidate, would have been unanimous. 4 weeks ago he was tied with Mahomes. 3 weeks ago, he was second to Mahomes. 2 weeks ago he was 4th behind Mahomes, Tua, and Hill. Now he isn’t even mentioned. Why is that? Because Allen and the offense have been struggling. Allen is a stud, easily my favorite player of all time. But remaining unbiased, it’s fair to say he’s been struggling with consistency and so has the offense, even before Allens injury. And going back to last year, we had a very successful and seasoned OC who was here to “figure it out”. Now we have a rookie OC who has not been able to adapt to opposing defense getting film on his offense and figuring out how to disrupt it. He has been terrible in both scheme and play calling in the second half of games as well. There is a lot of professional analysis out there showing the issues with Dorsey’s offense. His inability to find consistency is concerning, especially in his inability to scheme guys open. In fact, that is the absolute biggest issue with this offense right now is getting our receivers open consistently. And that starts with his offense design and scheme. More puzzling is the fast start Devin and the run game get off too frequently, just to see him go away from it in the 2nd half.

You say things “even while struggling” while arguing with anyone suggesting the offense is struggling in multiple threads. The offense is very much struggling, and your cherry picking of stats to mask that won’t change that. I mean it’s not even up for debate. You again are using general stats with no context to make an incorrect conclusion, just like your injury thread you created. Feels like your new favorite thing to do is to use totals without context. For example, while you want to say what we average over a full game, you fail to realize a lot of those points and production have come in the first half the past 5 games with the one exception of the Browns game. We ONLY have 2 TDs in the second half of the past 5 games. We were first in the league in point differential in the second half up through the bye week. We have been one of the worst since then. You dont win football games in the first half or staring at game totals to make the picture look more rosey. You win football games getting the job done to close out games. And we have 1 million percent been struggling in the second half and there is literally no stat you can type to change that. Our offense has not put up a good complete game since Pitt and KC. They either start strong and struggle second half, or they start terrible and move then move the ball second half and get a lot of FGs. So sorry, no disrespect, but just like in your completely off base “injuries are not an excuse thread”, you are again poorly using stat totals with no context to make an incorrect point.

Injuries.

This. This too.

Well said. However, I think Dorsey criticism is warranted. We had a lot of early offensive success under him, and once teams got tape, defenses have found ways to disrupt the offense, especially in the 2nd half after first half adjustments. His tendency to use Devin early with great success then go away from him as the game goes on is also frustrating. I get Dorsey is learning on the job, but that doesn’t change the fact he needs to be better if we are going to beat KC when it matters…in the post season. Not to mention, we still have several tough games on our schedule ahead of us, including 4 challenging divisional games we need to win. If Dorsey can’t find a way to scheme guys open more, our offense isn’t going to return to its efficiency we saw the first part of the season. And he desperately needs to figure out how to be better in the 2nd half of games.

Guess you haven’t watched the past 5 games.

Careful what you wish for...heard a lot of people say the same thing about Daboll...now look, Dorsey sucks and the offense is no where near what it was the first half the season before teams got tape on Dorsey and figured him out. No disrespect, but you couldn't have listed a more irrelevant point with this one. History has no significance what so ever in regards to what McD and Allen do or don't do together. Any correlation would merely be a coincidence.

I’ve never seen a sack turn into an interception either. See you can play that coin on both sides. You want to fixate on what 5 or 6 more single plays a year, literally that’s what you’re complaining about, because if he had 4.5 sacks but got 6 more it would be 10.5 and you’d be begging to keep him. Yet there are lots of people who get a few more sacks than Hughes but no where near the amount of pressures he had. I will take the guy who more frequently impacts the game over some guy who had a few more sacks but did very little else. Sack numbers are grossly over rated. Yes there are guys who pile them up and Frequently disrupt the game, but there a lot more who 7-10 sacks and suck outside of those few sacks. Hughes was for us, and still is, a VERY good and disruptive DE that all opposing teams are forced to game plan for. It’s not really even open for debate.

I cant even believe this thread is still going. So many nails in the coffin in it like this one.

Oliver had a sensational game...no doubt. I think the emotion of the last second comeback is what they gravitated to, but he 100% played his tail off Thursday and totally agree he was worthy of a Turkey dinner.

Whoa...Whoa...Whoa... Don't you know that logic and reason are frowned upon around here. Get on the real bandwagon already...McD and Beane should be fired, Allen is trash and we should bench him for Keenum, and the Roster is trash overall. Shame on you. You're a seasoned vet here. Do better. 😜

As someone who disagrees with the general negativity McD has gotten around here, its post like yours here that give me hope for this board. Sincere Kudos for acknowledging him when you feel he has done a good job despite your previous criticism of him. Most people around here just continue to bash him or players they dislike even after good performances. It is why I started a thread on Edmunds earlier in the season to acknowledge how well he was playing. Because the same people were bashing him after very good games by him for no reason. One of my biggest pet peeves around here is the people who will go against facts to just push their biased agenda and can't even admit when someone they dislike plays well or does something good. As a die hard fan of this team, I am happy when people play well even if it is someone I am not high on long term. For example, I have been of the opinion McKenzie is not a feature slot WR, but is a guy we can scheme plays for and use what he does best, his speed, to create opportunities. But yesterday, he made some big plays for us and had a strong first half and was happy to see that and happy for him. But so many others just want to trash their favorite whipping boy no matter how good of a job they do on a given Sunday. So again, sincere Kudos for acknowledging something positive from someone you've previously had criticism for. I wish more of the board was like this. There is a definitely people who do this as well, just wish it was more posters.