HappyDays

Former 1st round pick of the Packers. He requested a release from Washington and was waived this week. Let's see what NFC team we pissed off this time.

Yeah I get it. I'm under no illusions about how players feel about Buffalo. Regardless of our current status as a championship contender, there will be always be a few players that don't have the willpower to deal with the cold and the boring nightlife. I made my peace with that a long time ago. But that isn't Beane's fault. His job is to make moves that improve the roster. If that move is undercut by a player that wants to turn down life changing money because they can't handle the cold for a couple months, so be it. The Hoecht/Ogunjobi circus did bother me quite a bit but that was a different situation. I'll criticize Beane when warranted and he's given us no shortage of such scenarios these past couple years. I just don't think there is anything to criticize in this case.

But this raises the obvious question - how much of a say does McDermott have in roster construction? I understand that Beane scouts the players and runs the draft. I do not however believe that he is going renegade signing players that McDermott doesn't believe in. McDermott sets the direction, Beane steers the ship. That's always been my understanding of their roles. Remember, McDermott hired Beane not the other way around. As an example Seattle traded for Rashid Shaheed at the deadline. I am very confident that was at the request of Klint Kubiak who had previously coached him in New Orleans. I have no doubt if we had an offensive coach here we would place more of an emphasis on skill players. I don't believe McDermott is secretly seething behind the scenes because his GM doesn't give his offense enough weapons or brings back old defensive players that know the system. I believe McDermott is ultimately responsible for the overarching philosophy that guides these decisions.

Ingram just wasn't very good. He got his most snaps against KC and at times looked completely lost in those snaps. He got a few snaps the following week against Miami and since then he's been inactive in every game. He wasn't very good in run support either. The long Bijan Robinson TD run happened in part because Ingram couldn't get any kind of leverage against his blocking WR to make Bijan slow his feet. I get that he's been in our system but to me Dane Jackson and Ingram are identical in terms of impact on the field. Hopefully we never have to find out what it looks like if 2 of Benford, White, and Hairston get injured.

Epenesa being able to play is big. That gives us at least a modicum of pass rush opposite of Rousseau.

IMO our problem against Miami wasn't that they stacked the box, it's that it was one of the only games all year where our blockers were losing their 1v1s. I think we came into the game a bit lazy thinking we could cruise to an easy win, and weren't prepared for a Miami team that was ready for a dogfight. I welcome stacked boxes honestly. If Cook finds a crease and gets through the box that's where you see those 40+ yard TD runs. Cincy has a bad front 7 so I expect us to win our 1v1s. I'm not expecting Kincaid or Palmer to play so this will need to be another Pittsburgh type game plan.

My honest take on this is that you shouldn't be relying on washed up vets to force themselves onto your team, and washed up vets shouldn't act like they can skirt the rules. We claimed him, he decided he didn't want to play anymore, so be it. We tried to upgrade the backup to the backup and it didn't work out. I really don't get all the drama over it. Ja'Marcus Ingram and Dane Jackson are the same player as far as I'm concerned. I don't want to see either of them getting real snaps for this team. I wish Slay had worked out but it has zero real impact on our season. And no I wouldn't release him just to let him go to Philly where he might start against us in two weeks. He made his choice and that's that. Slay's contract made it easy, we would have been on the hook for only $300K. Every veteran is different. Brandin Cooks for example would have cost I think at least a couple million this year and the team that claimed him would have absorbed his salary and cap hit for 2026 too. Adam Thielen was just claimed by Pittsburgh. Would that have been his first choice? Probably not but that's the rule.

I think it's gotten to an Andy Reid in Philadelphia level where it is best for both sides to part ways. I agree Tomlin will get a job elsewhere right away - my bet is on the Giants who have some young talent and need someone to steer the ship more than they need someone to blow it all up. Pittsburgh has just gotten too stale and they need a fresh direction to energize the locker room and the fanbase. They're stuck in a weird sort of purgatory where Tomlin is too good a coach to have a flat out bad season which is probably what they need to reset the talent in the organization. New England fired the GOAT, had one awful year, and now look to be set up for the next decade. It didn't mean Belichick couldn't coach anymore. It was just time to move onto the next chapter.

This is a whole lot of drama over a guy that we were trying to bring here as our CB4. He wasn't going to get a chance to "leave everything on the field" because he was barely going to play. He was replacing Ingram who has been a mainstay on the inactive list. What a waste of media attention this whole saga has been.

Since losing Hoecht and Oliver it actually has been close to the bottom of the league: Without Bosa we don't have a prayer of getting consistent pass rush, unfortunately. Might be without Epenesa too which puts Shaq Lawson or Morgan Fox in line to play a significant role. Bad week for this to happen. We'll have to beat Cincy by sustaining drives on offense and blitzing a lot while maintaining coverage on the back end. Tough needle to thread but their defense is so bad I think our offense can out pace them. Cook should have 30 touches in this game.

Wow I really did not expect Ingram to get claimed. I guess Kamari Lassiter is injured so they need the depth? Oh well. Ingram is a marginal NFL player, I'm not losing sleep over it.

We actually don't. If we win out we just need New England to lose to Miami or NY. I'll be rooting for them against the Ravens in fact. We want Baltimore out of the playoffs.

Ingram was definitely going to make it through waivers and back onto our PS. So yeah I'm guessing we'll just re-sign him to the active roster. No harm no foul.

Why are people thinking Ingram will be claimed? He's a PS caliber CB that we keep around because he's been in our system for a few years. Whenever he actually gets on the field he looks lost.

Another mystery injury that pops up out of nowhere and likely keeps an important player out of an important game.