Alphadawg7

Although, we fall out of playoffs when we win this week, it will because Pats lost meaning the rematch in NE will be for the divisional lead. So in that case, it means we would have won the AFC East by winning out and gotten a playoff spot. So in a situation of “winning out” we still make the playoffs in the scenario you posted because that scenario involves the Colts beating the Pats giving us the AFC East when we win out.

You just linked this thread into this thread hahaha How do you say "doh" in Italian? Come on paisan... I already explained it in the thread I linked in the OP

I have a hard time taking anyone serious who actually thinks McD or Beane needs to be fired. It’s one of the most illogical rants I’ve seen around here since last year. I mean we went 13-3 last year and after losses some people were foolishly saying the same thing. It’s hilarious…we win, they are great. If we don’t go undefeated then they should be fired.

Agree all day about the 3rd down call. But given how well our offense and defense were playing, I stand by McD taking the FG there after both Daboll and the Refs blew the 3rd down play. We dominated both sides of the ball in the 2nd half. Honestly, if he goes for it there on 4th and we did not score the TD, everyone would have been yelling for McD to be fired for going for it there when our O and D dominated the 2nd half. It was a lose lose for McD, no matter what he chose there fans were going to hate the decision if we ultimately lost, and praised the decision if we won. But the football fundamental correct call was take the points given our dominance and momentum in the 2nd half. I think just about any and every coach takes the 3 points there given the circumstances.

The issue wasn't the 4th down decision (McD made the correct based on how dominant our D had been playing the second half), it was the once again awful call by Daboll on 3rd down. You have Diggs, Cole, Knox, Allens legs and Davis...all excellent Redzone weapons. So what does Daboll do? Call a 50/50 ball where the ball has to be thrown before even knowing if the WR will win the fade route. You want to call that on first down, fine...but come on, everyone in the world knows 3rd and 2 you MUST call your BEST play period. Thats NOT our best play. Daboll continues to make unbelievably stupid calls in the Redzone and takes points off the board for us so many times. Granted, there was blatant PI on that play and refs screwed us...but still was a terrible call to begin with. As far as 4th down goes, when your defense is shutting down the opponent for an entire half you ALWAYS take the 3 points and force OT. We did NOT lose this game because we kicked a FG. We got the ball first in OT and another missed PI cost us our drive. So really, it was two bad PI misses by the refs that lost us that game...however, it was DABOLLS fault for putting us in that position in the first place with such a stupid call. The moment the fade was apparent I yelled NOOOOOO STUPID CALL before the play even completed.

Let me tell you why you are wrong. Bucs were 7-5 last year before going on to win the SB. So that alone disproves your unwavering negativity

We got run on hard in TWO games. Titans, with a RB who runs over all defenses and also we were missing Star and Edmunds, and Star is especially important to our run D. More importantly, we got run on so much because we would hold them on 3rd down and then give them free first downs with penalties shooting ourselves in the foot and allowing Henry to keep wearing the D down. Colts, with a RB who runs over most defenses too, again missing Star who is key to our run defense. And once again, we contributed to Taylors production by giving them free first downs on third down holds and also gave Taylor even a free TD thanks to McKenzie fumble. Not to mention, the bone head offensive penalties that would quickly kill drives and give them the ball right back. Im sure you will FALSELY bring up the Pats game like so many others mistakenly do. Pats game yardage total looks bad because they ran the ball almost FIFTY times...any team is going to compile a lot of TOTAL yards on 50 runs. We had one really bad play where our safety Poyer left one side of the field wide open and they broke off a 48 yard TD run. However, for the most part we kept them in check...allowed just 50 total yards in the 2nd half, and held them to 240 total yards on the day. We forced 6 punts in 9 drives and only had 2 drives we gave up over 5 plays long. We struggled in the first half against the Bucs but then shut them down in the 2nd half as well after McD got on Frazier toward the end of the first half and we made adjustments. Again, missing Star. Sorry, but some of you...and you are one of the notorious ones...grossly over exaggerate our run defense struggles. And you people also LOVE to overlook that in the games we struggled, we were both missing Star and also hurting ourselves on 3rd stops by giving them free first downs to extend drives that shouldn't have happened.

In every loss but one, you can point to literally a single play that was the difference in losing or winning. The other common theme, is the tendency to leave points on the field through out the game thanks to holding or other offensive penalties. We have managed to shoot ourselves in the foot from #1 seed down to 7-6. If we can reduce this we can beat anyone. Its hard enough to beat one opponent...and this year, at times its like we have 2 opponents...them and our selves. Add in the wildcard 3rd opponent, the refs, makes it pretty hard to win close games. Only solution, eliminate ourselves as one of those opponents. Feels like the 2nd half they found their identity again. I said before and I will say it again...McD inserted himself before the half into the defensive plan over Frazier. And everything changed. Second half they made major offensive adjustments too, and having Sanders leave the game allowing Beasley to be more involved is also something that was needed for the offense. I think its finally something we can build on and carry over the final 4 games and be fine tuned come playoff time. Then, we wont be a team anyone will want to face like you said

So the DL pressuring Brady had nothing do it? Got it.

What? We traded first rounder for WR, drafted multiple RBs, TE’s, signed OL and other WRs, drafted Allen, drafted more OL… We have one of the most potent offenses in the NFL 2 years in a row with an MVP runner up at QB whose again in contention for MVP this year. But you’re suggesting we haven’t made a push previously to build the offense? This makes no sense on any level. OL will be a point of focus for sure this off-season, but to suggest we “finally make a push” to address the offense is just way over the top. And mind you, we did all that while also having to build up the defense as well.

As I said in another chain...we are a better offense without Sanders. And its not because of Sanders, hes a good player. But we need to layer our passing game better and making Cole a bigger focal point and mixing in more Davis who can do a lot of what sanders does but brings more size is a good thing for this offense. This was more than evident in the Bucs game after Sanders left the game and we started getting Cole involved. Our OL isn't consistent enough for the down field passing game to work if we dont make them fear the run and short strike passing game. I wish Sanders all the best health, but I do feel like our offense will look better this week with Cole a bigger part of the offense.

Well honestly, this is a tale of 2 halves. We pressured Brady a lot into bad throws in the second half, so I would say they did a MUCH better job and was part of the reason why we dominated the Bucs for the most part the second half.

I want to point something out though...I mean think about what you are talking about right now. People are criticizing a GM who in one draft found a starting DE and a starting RT, 2 players who have been some of our better players on their respective units as rookies in the first 3 rounds of the draft. Let that sink in...take in how late we were picking too. Both guys appear to have tremendous upside. But all anyone can focus on is what he did or didnt do in the 2nd round? Do you guys realize how hard it is for a team coming off an AFCCG, picking late, with a strong roster already to find 2 quality rookie starters in its first 3 picks at important positions? Yet the complaint is that somehow Beane didn't bat a thousand on those first 3 picks now? And we don't even know if Basham was a bad pick, he wont get time in the rotation until after some of the older DE's are gone, likely next year. He has shown promise at times too, so its way too early to criticize the pick IMO given his chances to show what he can do are in front of him still. I think we can agree that hindsight is 20/20 on nit picking the draft. But we don't know how we had our draft board graded when Basham was on the clock, but what we do know is that he was their top targe based on the videos from the draft room confirming that. They clearly had him atop their board, and Beane has always stay true to his board...and that method allowed Beane to clear out a bad roster and bad cap situation in no time and take a bottom feeder team for 20 years to the AFCCG in basically 2 years of building the team back up. I also heard this complaint before...about our WR's. And I kept saying, it would be addressed, couldn't do it all in one offseason. And then the next offseason we fixed it in one swoop. And this next offseason, I am sure the OL (both coaching and personnel) will be a top priority this offseason, like WR was the year before, and DE was last year. PS: Also fans grossly undervalue mid range picks despite the fact the vast majority of NFL starters come from the mid rounds or later, even undrafted guys, all across the league. So to disregard we drafted 2 OL in 3rd and 5th is something that doesn't make a lot of sense, especially when one of them is already one of our best OL.

I think you are completely missing the point here based on your replies. You still get called for PI if you "mug the receiver". What about the OP would give you the impression of that in the first place? What he is saying, and he is correct, that it should NOT be PI when the defender does not actually commit any actions to intentionally interfere with the pass. In other words, like on the Evans play and the Claypool play week 1...if the defender does NOT initiate the contact or commit any other type of interference, it should not be PI just because the QB put the ball in a place his WR could not get to. In both those plays, Levi had perfect coverage, did NOT grab the receiver in any way. In fact, in both cases, Claypool and Evans both mauled him. That should NOT be at the fault of the defender that the QB did NOT get the ball to the proper spot of the WR. Honestly, it should be offensive PI when the receiver mauls the defender on an under thrown pass. If the QB puts the ball in place that is behind the WR, that is on the QB and should not penalize the DB. Now if the DB grabs the receiver or commits any normal kind of PI, then the PI should be called as usual. Also, these judgement plays should be reviewable.

Honestly, its a major issue. Levi had perfect coverage in the Steelers game on Claypool and got flagged for a PI because the ball was under thrown and Claypool initiated and made all the contact. Fast forward to last Bucs game, same thing, perfect coverage on Evans and once again Evans mauled Levi and we get the flag. Evans mauled Levi so much, for a moment I thought it could be offensive PI. Both these plays significantly impacted the result of the game. Better solution is this: If the offensive player initiates the contact while in motion that is still taking him away from the ball, its not PI on the defender. That would solve this problem IMO, and its a problem that needs solving. Alternate solution: Similar to above, but call offensive PI in the case where the receiver initiates the contact and mauls the defender like Claypool and Evans both did. If the refs started calling the receivers for offensive PI (and believe me, its something that already needs to be called more as receivers get away with pushing off all the time across the league while defenders constantly draw ticky tack PI or illegal contact flags) then it would reduce the effectiveness of this bail out play by the QB. Additional alternate solution: At the very least, substantially reduce the penalty of this flag. Instead of a first down at the spot of the foul, make the foul incidental contact given the DB did not initiate it, and make it like a 5 yard penalty and replay the down...or even just replay the down. Giving teams the ball 40-50 yards down field on something like this is just way too impactful, especially given when the DB didn't commit any actual PI. End of the day, its just unreasonable for the DB to be in coverage and running in a sprint down field with the WR and know the ball is under-thrown. You are talking about all out sprints down field usually with fast receivers...a DB cant be expected to stay toe to toe with someone like Evans and also be looking back at the ball to know its under thrown. They usually don't know until the last second when the receiver is trying to reach back for the ball.

But it doesn't count if it doesn't start with "Calling it now:" 😂😎

So is every team fighting to make the playoffs with us.

Might be the worst thread and post yet by anyone since the loss...and thats saying a lot.

No disrespect to the OP, but that was premature. We had 3 tough games remaining and had not really shown we can play to our potential yet against top tier opponents. In previous losses that were popularly called here by many of us as potential "wake up" games, we had not actually bounced back in any of those games the way we did with the Bucs. Our struggles were throughout those games, and we hoped they would figure out in practice and film study. Bucs game, we flipped a switch and mostly dominated the second half on both sides of the ball until the refs stole the game from us at end of regulation. This feels different given how we fought back and seemed to figure some things out in that second half. Hence my reason for optimism...this reminds me of the Cardinals loss last year.

I agree and made reference to all that too in the linked post I put here in my OP. I didnt want to retype all the same stuff here, so just linked it. But I definitely see this the same way

Daboll is the #1 achilles heal on this team, and I think its pretty clear. Agree with the OP...Fade pass on 3rd and 2? Come on, even Romo said it...this is where you call your BEST play PERIOD. And a Fade pass, requiring a QB to float a ball before the WR has even run his route or knows he is open is a gamble every time. First down, sure, go ahead and throw...2nd down, dont love it, but dont hate it. 3rd down, no F-ING way. We have...ALLENS LEGS. KNOX SIZE. COLE SHIFTYNESS. DAVIS SIZE AND HANDS. AND DIGGS ROUTE RUNNING AND HANDS. So what does Daboll due, take all fo that away and choose to throw a coin toss ball to Diggs on a MUST have play. Everyone knew we could not under any circumstance give Brady a chance to win that game. You can not try that play figuring we still get OT on the FG. We needed to know we must run our best play using everything at our disposal to get that TD. DABOLL needs to go. He is holding this team back with poor red zone coaching and his allergy to running the football.

Geezus...people still obsessive over McD clapping? Talk about something people need to let go and move on from lol

I think the OP point is that we have shown we can consistently stop the run most the game. And yes, the big runs COUNT, always, they put points on the board and points decide games. But I don't think that is the OP point here, and I agree with him. We are capable of stopping the run, and I think our bigger issue is not the players ability to stop the run, but defensive play calling at times opens us up for big runs. Look at the Pats game, the big TD run had just ONE player in Poyer in that formation to prevent a TD if a RB got out of the box. And Poyer over committed to one side leaving a free path to the end zone. This is the danger to put us in a formation where we leave ourself exposed on the other side of the field. Same thing happened in the Bucs OT loss on the pass play. Terrible defensive formation that put all our second level help on the one side of the field, leaving a speedy WR just needing a couple yards of separation on a short strike to have a free path to the end zone. I will also point out, in most the games where we were gashed for big plays in the run game, Star was not playing who is a big part of our run defense and why we need to get younger there this offseason given his struggles to stay on the field this year.

To have something positive on this board...the doom and gloom is over the top, and the reality is we probably will actually win out. Yet most this board has given up on the season. Predicting a win out before was not rooted in reality. We still had 3 tough games on the schedule in 2 Pats games and the Bucs game. That was just people talking with optimism. And right now, there is a reason to think we will actually win out...and now its also more important that we do given the situation the team finds itself in right now. So, that is the point...not about being BOLD...about actually posting something here that isn't some over the top hot take of panic and misery and actually a more realistic view of what is possible this year still. So that is the point...

Well I just did...we will see how it plays out