ctk232

Might be; but if Floyd and Groot are doing just fine to keep us in lead of the division or well within wildcard range for whatever reason, there's no need to accelerate any timeline for Von beyond getting him full stride right for the start of the playoffs

Exactly this. At this point I’d rather him not see the field until at least halfway through the season, preferably even three quarters if it means he’ll be hitting the playoffs full stride and 100% healthy. At that age, even with his incredible athleticism, timing a return that keeps him fresh for the postseason is the kind of edge that makes all the difference at that point in the year. Assuming Floyd can perform consistently, no reason to see why he wouldn’t, and Groot steps up on the other side - we have the depth and options to contend throughout the season, as well as let Von recover fully and permit us to strategically time the return.

Fwiw Dorsey was the reason we tried the OJ Howard FA experiment, as he wanted to run more 2TE sets. Never got that chance this year b/c Howard was garbage. Not saying it’d be worth the round 1 pick, but Mayer (if he’s even there, yes) would be a nice added weapon for both Josh and Dorsey. Personally I wanna see OL, and early, lots of it.

Soft - excuse me "SOFT" - is the exact word that was in my mind all day yesterday. The defense, the offense, the coaches, everyone, just soft. Fwiw that has not been the moniker for this team the whole season, but certainly since the bye it has regressed to this point. Even hearing the numerous guys saying "there was no juice" "no motivation" "no energy" I just have to keep wondering, why? You can point to any number of variables why that would be the case but out of all the issues for a team in the middle of their window to compete for an SB to have, that's arguably the biggest cancer. I don't disagree with any of your personnel takes either; yesterday the words soft came to mind immediately due to line play, both sides of the ball. You have a top three QB and fail to provide him with protection; something that not only elevates Josh but also the floor of every other offensive position by letting routes develop, establishing a stout run game, and simply letting Josh feel comfortable enough to get momentum. None of that was there yesterday, from anyone. Defensively, man, you'd have thought we were the team missing 3 starting OL and fielding a one-legged Center given how they dominated our entire defense. When the entire defensive scheme is predicated on four guys pressuring the QB and you can't get any from seven guys blitzing, there's something abhorrently wrong with your defense. I need to check but I think I heard Romo say with Von our D was top 5 in pressures, and after losing him we were 27th? Need to confirm but the eye test holds. One guy can but frankly shouldn't make THAT big of a difference in a good holistic scheme. When you play soft zone coverage, safeties often 10-15 yards off the first down, and your DL cannot pressure something is horribly wrong. The offense is certainly not without all the issues you mention, but feel like this defense is almost in a worse place - if you can't pressure the QB this whole hybrid nickel zone scheme completely falls apart. Guys are having to cover for 7+ seconds on most snaps, and have zero contain on the QB regardless. Then there's tackling, omfg. The number of missed tackles this whole season is bush league. Guys can't wrap and tackle anymore. Watched the Bengals make open field flat tackles, TFL behind the line of scrimmage, or just simply tackling a guy 101, all with extreme ease. If you're going to have a defensive minded HC, at least have a defense that can do the only thing it's out there to do. Excited isn't the right word, but extreme interest would be more apt to describe how I view this offseason. Beane has a list of questions, players and coaches, offense and defense, to address before next season comes around. Injuries are another, Von won't be back til when, next November at the earliest? What will Von's timeline be like given his age and injury, 2024? What about Josh's UCL? Hyde's neck? Milano's leg? Will Tre improve after his ACL recovery? Need more than IOL in the first round to address this line. And the DL needs an answer for when Von isn't there. Why is Frasier still here? What are the coaches doing to prepare this team for a divisional playoff game at home that they "have nothing" and play that soft? So many questions man. This team in my mind will compete for the playoffs next year no question, I think a few teams will regress and others will continue to rise, including our own division. Thanks to Josh we will almost always be among them but next year needs to be different in a lot of ways. They accomplished so much this season, but never addressed the cracks we saw the entire way - yesterday they just burst and we had no plan.

Curious why Brady over Dorsey? I don’t think Dorsey has been great but in his first year I feel more of the offensive issues belong to the OL and decisions by Josh. Related, keep Diggs. Don’t remove options for Josh. Rather than resign Bease I’d hope we find room to sign a second receiver to mirror Diggs. OBJ comes to mind but injury questions and price tag are relevant and other similar top receivers should absolutely be considered. Lastly, I wish we could just improve the OL in the draft but man we are BAD there. Gonna need to save purse for this in FA as well. Give me IOL early and often in the draft, round one preferable if the talent is there, at least one if not two G/C. I honestly don’t know whether Morse will last, and certainly need interior OL help desperately. Brown is a question mark - absolute physical potential just needs to put it together. Dion is regressed since his covid bout but hard to replace, especially with what else is arguably needed on defense. But improving the OL improves the floor of every other position on offense. Protect the big guy and give him time to throw and a LOT opens up.

100% - wish we could’ve sent this D to a rugby camp for tackling. Though it’s also worth noting Rugby teaches the fallback tackle for the guy making first contact to grapple and then fall with the momentum backward, slowing progress, and letting teammates complete the tackle. More common strategy overall given they don’t need to defend first downs, etc. Most every other time they are running with the carrier and tackle with momentum. But on the occasion they need an open field tackle against momentum this is what you’ll see, and rarely tackle with contact above the ribs.

Great games for them, though the Jets OL isn’t a great measuring stick and don’t really have any pass pro. Biggest key was the run defense though with DaQuan (for the most part, Knight seemed to have a much easier time than Carter on a few drives). Need that hunger all around Saturday though; hope it carries over

Agreed. I have to believe that, being up 17, we made the calculated choice to stay in Nickel and invite the run to let them kill their own clock. There was one defensive series in the second half where GB drove to our 35ish and ran it on 4th where we ended up stacking the box and stuffing it for a two yard loss. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the defensive scheme overall, but they did more than enough throughout the game to get the W.

Still waiting to see who showed up today

Well that’s a take and a half. When you want to look at why your run game isn’t as prolific, there are several reasons but usually starts with your OL. Second, when you have Allen you’re doing something wrong when you’re running more often than not. But if you’re looking for more consistently higher yards/carry numbers look no further than your front 5. Singletary is a damn fine RB; not irreplaceable but very much not the “problem.” The blocking schemes also very much matter, zone v man, and what each lineman is familiar with. On that note, we’re sorely overdue for a first round OL pick, especially IOL/C. Would really like to see us go that way this year and in FA. Edit: To add in reference to Daboll, I felt his knock wasn’t so much his lack of a developed run scheme/book, but was instead with the use of it and poor playcall timing that took us out of certain key drives, and hurt us in situations where we needed to better control pace and clock management.

Dodson having a rough first series

Shame on Miami; they full well knew Tua was concussed to the point of barely standing on Sunday, then send him out there on a short week. Tua deserves better than that, anyone does. Hope he comes through and heals up 🤞

Yep. You assume he’d transition without issue and perform at an expected level that he might not even have anymore. And speaking of insane, on what basis would you call our defensive scheme “easier” than NE or CAR? He disappeared while on the latter team fwiw. For the money spent a young talented DB would be the more prudent investment, especially when you consider this staff’s ability to scout DBs. Insane’s a stretch my dude, but to each their own.

Among several other reasons like attitude and cost, his biggest obstacle here was that he was a man coverage corner with next to no zone experience or skill. McD’s entire defensive scheme is based on a fluid zone/match concept with very little man coverage. Tre being the exception when facing a WR1 like Hopkins, et al. and when matchups dictate, but Gilmore was never going to be the corner he was looking for and for what he’d cost. Why we dodged a bullet here now is along these same lines, but also that he’s now older and can’t cover the fastest WRs in the game. He had issues with this even while in NE. Whether he’d be an upgrade over our DB2 situation depends on the draft, but I’d much rather have a round 1/2 DB on a rookie deal than Gilmore at a vet min much less what he wanted.

Difference between faith and superstition - making a choice based on the color shorts you’re wearing at the time falls to the latter, not the former. He’s just using faith to find confidence in the decision itself, but hey to each their own.