BarleyNY

You definitely want to go for it on 4th & 2 from the opponent's 35. IIRC Allen would have had to run over a couple defenders to run for it so that was not the best option. So he had to throw it. I'd have to look at the play again to see if he missed a better option - and judging by how covered the receiver in the EZ was that is a definite possibility - but that is about the only place I would look for fault on this play. And it's worth noting that Allen was scrambling at the time. The throw across his body is something he has had success with so I don't fault him for that either. As for the "it was as good as a punt" argument, I agree that it is a poor one. That's just fans justifying the result of a play with a bad outcome. I'm more in the "the defense gets paid too and sometimes they win" crowd.

I was actually a lot more critical of Miami on the two EZ INTs. They cost themselves 17 yards on the one they returned the to 3 and 15 yards by actually intercepting the ball on 4th down rather than knocking it down. They got that one on the 20 instead of the 35. That’s 42 yards on those two mistakes. As for Allen heaving one on 4th down. Why wouldn’t he? He can’t throw it away, take a sack or run it (okay MAYBE HE CAN RUN IT). He pretty much had to throw it somewhere.

While Rudolph isn’t a great QB, he has plenty of arm strength. That won’t be what holds him back in this game.

I wish this would’ve happened 15 years ago or 15 years from now

Once substance use/abuse changes the brain chemistry to the point that there is chronic brain disorder then the medical community classifies addiction as a disease. At that point the medical realities are physical and in the same realm as other diseases so they must be addressed as such. But I think that the reason people often take issue with that classification is because a person's choices are (generally speaking) what leads them down the path where they get to that point. It isn't difficult to understand that someone who was born with or watched a loved one suffer/die from something like Cystic Fibrosis or cancer (despite living a healthy lifestyle) would take issue being classified the same as someone who chose to drink heavily until they got to a point of alcohol addiction. It isn't the same situation. Not remotely. That doesn't mean that one should not have sympathy for addicts, that they shouldn't be supportive or that addicts deserve to be mocked. I'm not saying that at all. But let's not pretend there are no differences in the process either.

Thats not what I got out of the article. The people he interviewed gave a wide range of opinions on McDermott. Some were harsh, but certainly not all.

I think a lot of people had a hard time separating the axe grinding from the legitimate criticisms. Dunne could have done that himself, but I’m guessing that would have kept sales down.

The legitimate criticism in Dunne’s article was aimed at McDermott’s decisions in high pressure situations (i.e. 13 seconds, etc.). One of the facets of that criticism was that he would rely on his defense rather than Allen and the offense. At the end of the Dolphins game McDermott relied on Allen and the offense to convert two 4th&1s, including one on our own 35. That is a huge departure from his previous tactics. So it is possible that he took some of the criticism to heart and is now a much better in-game coach for it. If so, then the Bills are a legitimate contender.

Wouldn’t be a bad idea to add a second bye week with the 17 game season. It could be used to help with travel to international games. 8 home, 8 away, 1 neutral seems fair. That would give the NFL 16 neutral site games a year. They all would not have to be in foreign countries.

The Shanahan system absolutely destroys the Fangio defensive scheme, which is the most prevalent one in the NFL. It was developed to do exactly that and is fantastic at it. But it often has very big problems when going against some of the other defensive schemes in the league that bear little resemblance to Fangio’s. You see the same thing with SF and the Rams.

Miami is soft. I’ll take them over KC. KC isn’t that good this year, but if the WRs decide to catch the ball for a game it could be trouble.

I was pleasantly surprised to see McDermott go for it twice on fourth and short on that last drive. It shows real growth.

I think that Miami would’ve been very happy with a tie. It was likely the best outcome for them. That said, if the game had gone to overtime they’d have played for the win initially.

Thank you for saving me the time of typing that.

Notably Diggs has been in on every 3rd down play in the first quarter.

I don’t much care if there are divisions or not. At least not today because there are eight divisions with four teams each. So I would not do anything now. But I believe that the NFL will try to expand the number of teams at some point. If they go with four more then I could see them going to 4 divisions with nine teams each.

Thank you. That’s what’s so difficult about this situation. I never would have thought Diggs would do something like pull himself out of games in high leverage situations. It’s not like him. Likewise it’s career suicide for coaches to pull him. Unless Diggs feels that things just gotten to a breaking point nothing really makes much sense. Regardless I guess we just have to see how it plays out.

So that’s the multi-million dollar question. Why is he taking himself out? Injury? I just can’t see that. Why would he choose to take himself out in the highest leverage situations if it were that? Also his usage on the field makes little sense if he’s injured. An upset Diggs acting out because he’s upset with the coaches? Possibly. But if this is it, then it is highly likely that the crap will hit the fan this off-season. Until then they’re still married. It is worth watching his usage tomorrow and in the playoffs. I’d think he’d ball out and try to win a championship this season since he has to be here anyways. Coaches decision? This would mean it’s not Diggs taking himself off the field and the tweet is incorrect. I doubt this is the case unless the coaches are trying to piss off Diggs or his play has severely declined. The former doesn’t seem likely and the latter certainly seems a huge stretch. Diggs is still the best WR on the roster by a wide margin. I don’t know the answer, but it’s a concerning situation. Not much to do but see how things play out.

Agree on PRWR. I’ll add that another impact of a pass rusher winning quickly is that it will force an offense to scheme quick throws. That makes life on the secondary a lot easier. That results in short throws, interceptions and incompletions, but not sacks.

Okay, but then what is the point of the divisions? The NBA divisions are much less meaningful than in the NFL. They play: - 4 games each against division opponents - 4 games each against 6 same conference different division opponents - 3 games each against the remaining 4 same conference different division opponents and - 2 games each against all of the teams from the other conference There is virtually no scheduling difference between the in-division and out-of-division conference opponents. In the NFL two games against same division opponents is 6/17th of the schedule. It’s huge if you’re in, say, the AFCN vs NFCS. The NFL could change their schedule to one game each against every conference team plus two games against out of conference teams, but that seems a little wonky. Would it be better than the current system? How would you schedule seasons?

RUSHING YARDS OVER EXPECTED (RYOE) Short Description RYOE uses down, distance, yard line, defensive alignment and offensive line grades to determine the number of yards an average running back would gain in a given situation. https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-plays-over-expectation-pff-research-stats-grades#:~:text=Short Description,gain in a given situation.

Then you have to get rid of divisions and no team should have to play the same opponent twice during the regular season. That would be boring.

No. Quality of play in his two SB winning playoff runs. My assumption is that he’d have to play that well again for the Browns to win it this year. Combine that with a long, solid career. That would be similar to Eli Manning’s resume and he will get in.