Kelly the Dog

McVay has a totally different kind of quarterback in LA than Cousins. It's not the same offense he is running. Plus he is relying on his great RB a lot more. It's same coach but not really comparable. Cousins does certain stuff very well and McVay took advantage of it.

One thing the Rams are not doing is throwing a lot of screens and such. There are a lot of short passes but it seemed to me, and I didn't watch all their games, that the Skins with Cousins threw a lot of quick WR screens and two yard passes and short slants and outs because Cousins is very good at that. Goff is a much different quarterback. They are rarely throwing those balls to Sammy.

I think he is a pretty good part of their offense only because he is the guy the defense moves toward. A lot of passes when they show the replay two guys are on him. Goff is taking the easier play very often because Kupp and Woods are being left to roam free across the middle. The whole thing is working so they don't need to rely on him. If teams change how they play him and the Rams and worry about Woods and Kupp and the middle more, or play eight in the box to stop Gurley, he is going to be the guy that runs free.

That's yet to be determined. I think Sammy would have helped them tremendously even as a decoy or three targets a game. I think Gillislee would have helped them. They have been able to squeak out wins but that is tricky business. The pass defense is likely more like it was the last two not the first four, when everything was going right. Any reasonable person knew we weren't going to go the whole season giving up four total passing TDs.

I've watch d every game. Virtually every single play the opposing team has a guy in press coverage against Watkins. Right at the line. I won't say at all he is double covered every play because he is not. But they almost always move the safeties to his side. That said, the Rams coach, McVay, is very clever with his formations and plays and play calling. And Gurley has been excellent. They have been moving down the field incrementally and making first downs and winning games for the most part. Kupp has been taking advantage of being ignored or allowed to run free in the middle. Woods has been open a lot. There is no need to really change what they are doing much. Goff has missed Sammy deep when he was open a few times but they are not targeting him and they don't really have to.

This is really the crux in micro and macro. A huge portion of the population (and posters here) just don't believe this to be true, and are not willing or able to see that this is how the majority of the players see it. It's pretty clear.

Actually, mostly he is winning with their top three free agents, Hyde and Poyer and Hauschka, their #1 pick Tre White, Brown and Alexander at LB (with help from Humber), Hughes and Kyle up front, Tyrod, Shady and Clay and Incognito and Glenn when healthy on offense. Those have been their performers. The role players have filled in as cogs rather nicely, for sure. But the core players are the ones performing.

Pretty sure you absorb all clauses. A bunch of us expect a reworked contract either soon or after the season.

They didn't get along at Syracuse. They brought him to the Bills. They said we get along great now. Then they quickly didn't get along.

"He played great for me. I can get him to return to form. I challenge McD and Brandon Beane to an IQ test. I have the best words."

While that may be true, the trade deadline is a week or so away I think. Teams could get desperate and offer more. According to Beane, which I don't really believe, the offer just came up and they took it.

While I don't think anyone here, even Dareus apologists and haters of the trade believe that he is worth the money we are paying him right now, IMO in the middle of a season that just doesn't matter. Every year, in general terms, about a third of the players on any team outplay what they are making, a third are about you get what you pay for, and the last third are underperforming. Tre is way outplaying his contract. Humber and Milano were outplaying theirs. Nick OLeary is outplaying. Hyde and Poyer and Gaines are outplaying. Dareus is way underperforming. Zay is underperforming. Miller is underperforming. But it all adds up to the team in total. You can say sure, he's being paid way too much but you're not going to decrease that in the season (outside of trading him) just like you're not going to give Tre a huge raise.

Kind of liberating I would imagine.

And fans can gripe about production and effort and off the field stuff all they want, but other teams worry about Dareus and game plan for him and double team him all the time, and they are now going to be doing this against Jax..

Yep. It's quite obvious. Although, for example, each of the draft picks, plus Matthews and Gaines, plus anyone they have been signing to the PS fits this hard working, no nonsense, no baggage, overachiever, team player character guy. My only worry is that ignoring talent for all those kinds of players may not be a recipe for a championship team. In every sport teams that win have a couple stars on them as we have discussed before. We have one. Shady. We could just as easily be a team that gets to the playoffs all the time but cannot get over the hump because we lack sheer talent. I don't know of any team in any sport any year that has done it this way and won it all. Not saying it's impossible but we have to wait and see. Usually stars can be divas.

His salary is deducted from the dead cap for both years.

Fwiw, raw stats of "tackles" for a DT mean less than zero.

Yup. Dareus is a unique character. I don't think he's the jerk people make him out to be. I do think you can't excuse his behavior anymore. I do think that his teammates like him more than don't. It's possible that we will be better without him with all overachievers. That has yet to be determined. And who knows whether Dareus will perform for Todd Wash, the DC of the Jags. I know nothing about him except they kept him because his D was top ten last year.

I know that to be true and what they are thinking, that doesn't mean I have to believe or agree with it.

We have had him for a decade and no playoffs!* *One of the only other nearly as ridiculous things as TB was a sixth rounder, "We didn't win with Joe Blow so how good could he have been?!,

We better hope to God that Dareus doesn't play well. If this sixth rounder turns into a fifth, we lose our shot at Tom Brady.

Perhaps. But even when he is a tub of goo he is such a big tub that no one runs up the middle on us, and haven't the entire year really. Other guys have surely helped but he's pretty stout even when not making a lot of plays.

Yes!! I watch the games with George, Jr. who is just a great guy.

When I heard of the trade a couple hours ago, I immediately thought we are about to hear a trade, like a sixth round pick for Terrelle Pryor. Similar to the losing Watkins and Darby, gaining Matthews and Gaines idea.

When you put it like that, what a steal!!