HappyDays

The problem is that whether there's a conspiracy or not, the results are identical to if there was one.

I'm real close to 100% buying into the conspiracy thing. It defies any other explanation

But I was told the Chiefs opponents have more penalties than them. Never mind the timing of when they're called

Nice work NFL

I think this is going to be a big focus of the offseason. I know everyone is focused on the DL. But it almost doesn't matter when the QB is able to get the ball out in >2 seconds because his receivers are winning immediately. Elam is officially a bust so they need to make another significant investment there IMO. If the goal is to play more man as recent moves would indicate they need to upgrade 3/4 of their secondary. I know the man/zone splits against Mahomes were in favor of zone, but the splits against Lamar the week before were the exact opposite. From the Athletic: Also to my eyes it wasn't going more zone-heavy that affected Mahomes in the 2nd half, it was being more disciplined in our contain rush. In the 1st half we were getting burned in zone and man, it really didn't matter. So personally I don't care if it's a man or zone heavy approach. Either can be successful or not. The coaches and players simply have to perform better in either case. In man we can't have massive mistakes like Hamlin ending up 1v1 against Worthy in the slot. We can't have all of our CBs at equal depth creating easy rub opportunities. In zone we can't line both CBs 7 yards off their man and then pointlessly blitz off such a soft look. More important than any specific scheme is that McDermott and Babich and Beane need to figure out exactly what kind of defense they want to run and plan accordingly this offseason. By the end of this past season they were reeling and seemingly just calling the defense at random, likely because they had no confidence they could do any particular thing well. Compare that to the offense where at times it may have felt like a slog, but at least it had an identity and a package of plays they knew they could call successfully, and it came into every game with an intent. I couldn't tell you what the defense's intent was against KC. I guess pray and hold on for dear life.

I'm desperate for WR upgrades but even I say pass on this. Not what the room needs and way too expensive for a declining player. I can't see any team taking on that salary. Maybe the Pats just because they're loaded with cap space and need any weapon they can get.

Something that's dawned on me is that the MVP discussion is emblematic of the terrible shape this country is in. It's downright shocking when you really think about it. 50 randomly selected journalists vote on a completely subjective award, and it's devolved into shouting matches over race, literal death threats, grown men having an online meltdown for days on end. Social media I think has ruined the social fabric of the country, maybe permanently.

It's an incentive which goes on our cap next year.

Yes, in fact he's the only MVP voter I will never question because he's consistent and he explains his reasoning.

Scott Kacsmar is melting down on Twitter lol

Sweet looks like I called it. Lamar and Allen both had MVP type years so the voters decided to honor each of them. Lamar the all-pro for having historically good stats, Allen the MVP for carrying a talent deficient offense to historic production. Individual production vs individual value. The voters nailed it IMO.

Does that mean everyone who wants to keep McDermott is guaranteeing we will win a Super Bowl with him?

I'm not impressed with Philly's coaching. I think they will lose for that reason despite the talent gap. I think San Fran lost last year because Purdy is a marginal QB talent that has been elevated by an elite system, and he just couldn't hang against a dynasty. If our defense performed as well against KC in the playoffs as our offense does, we would be the dynasty.

This would be the easy answer but unfortunately no. Other teams' offenses have much more trouble scoring against KC's defense than we do, but other teams' defenses have a much easier time slowing down their offense. @Mikie2times has the data tattooed somewhere on his body if you want to see it.

I of course wish we had a game wrecker like Chris Jones but by and large I don't think the personnel differences are as stark as people on here say. KC just gets the most out of their players. Sneed was an all-pro caliber player for them, he went to Tennessee and became a nobody. Meanwhile we have Poona Ford and Tim Settle having legitimately good to great seasons with their new teams. I think most people on here would say Karlaftis is a superior player to Rousseau based on their production. My take is that if Karlaftis goes to another team he'll fade away into obscurity. Bryan Cook their starting safety is a perfectly mediocre player, I would put him around the same level as Hamlin honestly (PFF for what it's worth does as well). Yet on here you'd think Hamlin is an unplayable player that gives us no chance, while Cook just fits in and nobody talks about him because KC doesn't give us a reason to talk about him. You think if we had Xavier Worthy, Spags would let him end up 1v1 against Cook in the red zone? No chance. Blitz packages are just part of it. The overall coaching details from player development to player usage to game planning to play calling, etc. just aren't at the level of KC. Not even close. That's why our defense is regularly giving up historic production in our playoff losses while KC's is stepping up its level of play.

I don't know I've kind of run out of hope that he's going to get better. In every playoff loss to the Chiefs we've allowed basically their best offensive production of the season including playoffs. The Bengals loss was the same except they took their foot off the gas pedal early because our offense stunk. I genuinely did have hope coming into this last game... but once again KC's offense performed like they haven't all season and I just can't expect that to change until I see it happen. It's not just about the number of blitzes, it's the packages. Spags has the most unpredictable blitz packages in the league. Ours are easy to diagnose and as a result don't have as much success. It just sucks that our coaching is severely lagging behind in all three phases against our rival. Every time we face KC everything looks so easy for them and so hard for us. I'm really just sick of it. I'm sick of saying if this if that, I want our coaches to just get it done.

That final blitz Spags threw at us. I can't imagine McDermott ever doing something like that. On a critical 4th down to maybe end the game, no way. It's frustrating that our rival has the best defensive coach in the NFL as a coordinator, while our head coach is defense-minded and never has an amazing play call like that in the playoffs.

It's a tough question to answer because both Diggs and Cooper showed signs of decline before they ended up with Brady. We haven't seen him coach a Bills offense with a true #1 WR so it's hard to say what that would look like. I am more perplexed by Cooper's underwhelming production than Diggs'. We weirdly used him more in his first game here than we did in almost any other game. We tried to feed him in the Rams game too but he only caught 6 of 14 targets in that one. Did that dissuade us from making him a focal point in other games? He had two big completions downfield against KC but both were against a replacement level CB. I know PFF (for whatever that's worth) did not grade Cooper favorably in his time here. On the year they graded him 68.3 which ranked 61st out of 98 WRs and I can tell you having seen the week to week grades they were even worse than that with the Bills. For example he was our 2nd worst graded player against Baltimore with a paltry 53.2. And I know there were several times in that game where we dialed up a shot but Cooper didn't separate so Josh checked it down. So is that Brady's fault for not giving him good looks or did Cooper just not perform well? All of this is a long winded way of saying I don't know. I think we need to make it a point to significantly upgrade both outside WR spots and then we will know for sure what Brady is capable of.

One other move Joe didnt mention - David Edwards could be cut for just $875K in dead cap which would be $4M in cap savings. I think this is very possible. Edwards was steady for us but also the weak link on the line (or maybe Torrence). Supposedly they were trying Grable out at guard, and they still have Alec Anderson. I could see us going to one of those younger cheaper options.

I'm sure we'll have a vet in the room. A name I floated is Jonathan Jones from NE. Spotrac projects him at 1 year $2.8M. Something like that plus a draft pick is the ideal scenario.

Revel really intrigues me because we get an opportunity to draft a top 12 prospect with elite physical traits. Like when the Titans got Jeffrey Simmons later than he should have gone because of his ACL tear. I know it hasn't been this regime's M.O. but I feel like they can afford to take the risk. Data shows ACL tears are not at high risk of re-injury. If they can be patient and live with him missing most of his rookie training camp, it could be a major hit at a premium position for a franchise that hasn't had one in a while.

The move we should all be scared of is KC trading for him. They came close at the deadline and WR is still a need for them. Kupp would be lethal in Reid's offense with Mahomes throwing him the ball.

Presumably LA would agree to retain some of the salary, or a contract rework would be needed.