HappyDays

Ugh complete whiff from Poyer

Our receivers just aren't good enough. They're getting taken out of the game in simple man coverage.

Trevor Lawrence is starting today despite his ankle injury. On the other side Denzel Ward is out. Jags winning this game would be big for our playoff chances.

There is nothing authentic about a head coach publicly questioning his franchise QB's mental state. I can't think of a single other example of such a thing. When McDermott says "it starts with me" but then questions every other part of the operation before actually pointing the finger at himself, that is the opposite of authenticity. That is fake, empty accountability; merely projected, not practiced. He pays lip service to growth mindset but when have we ever seen it out of him? Anybody can stand up in the midst of failure and cast blame at people around them. It's the easiest thing in the world to do. People that make a habit out of it are not authentic. Everyone sees right through them.

I think authenticity and accountability go hand in hand. McDermott has not been genuinely accountable. Yeah he uses his stock phrase "it starts with me." But when push comes to shove he deflects blame. After 13 seconds the special teams coach was fired and that was the last word we heard on that. After the Broncos loss this year McDermott's post game presser was seriously unhinged. Instead of taking any blame, he blamed several players one after the other, even dragging Sam Martin's play at one point, and said that 12 men on the field was simply a failure to execute. He later went on WGR and said he did not think Allen's mental state was where he wanted it to be and said that he didn't think Allen was showing enough joy on the field. None of those examples showed accountability which means none of it was authentic. It is all a sign of a control freak feeling defensive and unable to withstand the pressure. Like I said earlier in the thread I believe McDermott is a good man but I don't buy his coaching persona at all. A good counterexample is Joe Brady. As soon as he was hired I thought he oozed authenticity. His demeanor in press conferences and on the field at training camp was for real. After the Eagles game he took genuine accountability for the 3rd down miss in OT. Not a BS "it starts with me" before placing the blame elsewhere. I believe Brady when he said it was his fault and I believe that he will work to make sure it doesn't happen again. I have never gotten that sense from McDermott.

Yeah that article if anything looks worse for McDermott IMO. The team is not rallying around him. Everyone interviewed clearly feels awkward and is trying to find the right words to describe such a bizarre event. I don't think the players on the roster outright hate him at this point, but I do think they are just tolerating him.

This is hilarious overly defensive behavior from MVS:

What's the word on Bolton?

If we go 5-0 to close out the season yes I believe he will be one of the top contenders, especially if Miami loses to the Ravens and Cowboys which means we would win the division. MVP voters are desperate to give the award to a top seeded QB and the only one that IMO is really making a case right now is Dak Prescott. I don't believe the MVP voters will actually give the award to Brock Purdy. Personally I think they should give it to Tyreek Hill if for no other reason than to show that MVP isn't just the "QB of a #1 seed" award.

I'm sure it's all true. I think McDermott is wound way too tight and he's socially awkward, and that combination does not make a great coach. It doesn't mean he deserves to be a national laughingstock though. By far my biggest issue with social media is how quickly lynch mobs form. It isn't enough to just point out a mistake, we need a couple million people to completely tear down a person's character. More than ever in history our worst moments are possibly going to be shared with and mocked by the world, and I don't wish that on anyone but the absolute dregs of society.

Man I have criticized McDermott's coaching but he doesn't deserve this. He's a good man.

FWIW: Where I would question Tim's report is - does Pegula feel publicly embarrassed enough to change his thinking? It's less about the incident itself and more about the stink it leaves on an organization that has experienced several other massive failures this season. I'm having trouble deciding which of the many McDermott threads I should be putting new reports in. I'll put this one here since it's a direct response to Tim Graham's report:

It's crazy because before the season I was of the mind that even another disappointing early playoff exit would be enough cause to fire McDermott. But now? The way this season has turned out, and a trending story more embarrassing than anything Rex Ryan ever did? Pegula would be nuts to bring this guy back next year.

Speak it into existence!

Whelp with Adam Schefter tweeting it out, we are now a national laughingstock. Hello darkness my old friend...

One silver lining about these embarrassing past few days is that it may give Pegula the cover he needs to make a change. The national media has turned against McDermott.

No, journalists cannot just make up a story sourced by 7 people. Because if it was denied by several people that would know, Ty Dunne would lose all credibility forever. And yeah that 9/11 story is incredibly bizarre. What the hell was he thinking?

Yeah, it's weird you felt the need to say this.

Kind of off topic, but can we acknowledge how insane it is that Mahomes spent his first four years with Tyreek Hill AND Travis Kelce in their prime, AND Andy Reid calling plays? I mean that is an all time supporting cast. Arguably the greatest speed WR of all time, arguably the greatest pass catching TE of all time, one of the greatest offensive play callers of all time. Even I didn't fully appreciate how absurdly good that situation was until seeing what Tyreek Hill has done in Miami. And that takes nothing away from Mahomes, his otherworldly talent that defenses simply weren't ready for was the engine of the whole thing. The first year Mahomes had that supporting cast, Allen was throwing the ball to Kelvin Benjamin, Andre Holmes, and Charles Clay 🤣

Sure, that's why I don't focus too much on the details. The problem is on defense they have spent resources on starters and depth, whereas on offense they have spent resources mostly just on depth. This is the first offseason in Allen's career where Beane made a concerted effort to address the OL. He has not even attempted to address WR2 the past two offseasons. It is a legitimate failing of this regime.

Here's the way I see it. On defense we have invested enough into every position. The results haven't all been great but I don't think anyone disagrees that we have invested plenty at every level of the defense. On offense we have not invested nearly enough at WR, and IMO not enough at OL either. Using day three picks and paying the likes of Deonte Harty and Trent Sherfield is not true investment. Looking at just premium positions, we have spent a ton of draft picks and cap space on CBs and DEs, and comparatively very little on WRs and OTs. Parse all the minute details out however you want, the top end investment has clearly weighed much more heavily towards the defense.