VW82

min and a half before the half. Expect the softest McD zone you ever saw.

*****

Is it just me or has there been several horrible, game changing calls that have gone against us this half?

Lions going kitchen sink

This is a big defensive series. We hold them here and I don't think Lions will recover.

Anyone notice we didn't just come out in a cover 2 shell? Eight guys in the box on at least one of those runs, Benford inside corner blitz, five or more rushers on most downs so far.

On Ed Oliver Romo says, "and he's been playing really well Jim..."

Lol Elam. That's one way to tackle.

I'm sure he's using it as that but no way McD holds out Hamlin unless he's actually too hurt to play.

Wow. Glad those three are finally getting their shots but all at the same time could be interesting.

Bet we see revenge of our D and a convincing Bills W. Come at me.

Agree with a lot of this though my point about saving bullets was speaking more to the idea of Dline stunts, using a spy or stacking the box vs. certain teams, creative blitz packages, etc. I like your All-DE rush concept if we could ever generate a 3rd and long. McD would try this stuff in the RS in prior years, and it would lead to wins. Now it feels like he's banking on the talent to win games, and we just don't have much of that on the defensive side of the ball anymore. My theory is McD wants everything to look the same pre-snap. Give them as few different looks as possible, and save the best stuff for the playoffs. The problem is you still have all that tape from prior years, and you may wind up having to use your best stuff on the road because you lost winnable games trying not to show your cards. I've often heard coaches talk about not using your best stuff out of the gate because if it doesn't work you're screwed - you've already made your adjustment. But there's something to be said about not letting them get a rhythm to begin with. You know Stafford excels vs. zone. You know Lamar/Henry present added challenges in the run game. You know healthy Kyler can beat you with his legs once he gets out of the pocket. You know Tua makes quick decisions if you give him space. Why let these people do what they do best and gain confidence before making any adjustments? You're just playing with fire, needlessly. I'll happily eat my words if McD's theoretical plan works in the postseason, but I'm not holding my beath.

NFL offenses have been much more run oriented this season as a league-wide strategy to counter all the defensive coverages used to slow down passing attacks the last few years. Ed has been a casualty of that imo. Also, it feels like we're practically daring teams to run more. In season's past, McD would sell out to stop the run vs. certain opponents. That's not happening this year.

Yeah, you can definitely see him trying to avoid it. I'm trying not to get too attached with Rapp given the theoretical upside with Bishop, but he's been one of our more consistent defenders/tacklers this year. Ingram is yet another example of why we shouldn't draft DBs day 1/2 ever as long as McD is here. I still like Elam for his man coverage but Ingram probably gets the starting nod next week. He's just solid all over the field, a lot like Benford in that way.

I'd love to see the official figure because you're probably not that far off. But who cares about facts when we can just blame the pass rush every week.

Have to wonder if we'll get to see Elam next week given Douglas is likely out for a while on the friendly fire (cracked ribs??). Also, it might be time to have the hard conversation about TJ this offseason. We have an out in his deal after 2025. Proactively planning for that makes a lot of sense given his age and slight decline we've seen throughout this season.

Literally every single defender on this team except Elam is best suited for nickle/dime zone. If we're going to switch coaches, then presumably we'd bring in someone with a similar scheme, otherwise it's a total tear down defensively and 1-2 years of Josh's prime down the drain.

This game is why we drafted Elam but McD is so in love with his zone concepts that there just isn't room for a man specialist (unless he's also a ST ace), and so we get caught in games like this without viable coverage answers and a coach who'd rather go down with his scheme than make an adjustment.

Some similar rhetoric itt as other threads about how we don't get any pressure or sacks. Did you guys not watch the game?? Our main issues were our inability to stop the run early, then play action, then all the misdirection (i.e. jet sweeps, etc.), and the fact we hardly made any adjustments (double Puka, anyone?) to stop the quick hitters. You actually have to slow down that stuff before you even have the opportunity to pressure a QB. Carter had a rough first half. Ouch. Dline had a tough day across the board. Milano and Bernard were just as culpable imo. But at some point you have to give your defense a chance with scheme. We tried to selectively blitz on a couple of tries in the 2nd half and couldn't get home. That's not enough. I've been wondering for weeks whether McD is essentially saving his bullets for the postseason. We've seen him adjust scheme to opponents before, just not this year. Has he truly embraced the bend but don't break defense at all costs? We've made small adjustments like Bernard/Kelce on scrambles. No real scheme adjustments. If we really are holding cards, who's to say we'll be any good at executing a primarily man scheme or heavy blitz packages when the time comes given we've hardly done that in game settings this year? Rams easily picked up six rushers on that long Stafford to Cupp connection over the middle that was flagged anyway. Bernard and Taron Johnson are keys to this defense. They are both undersized and have looked outmatched a surprising amount this season, yesterday most of all. Milano might be washed. Arguably our best man corner doesn't even dress anymore. I bring all this up to point out that there's more going on here than just "Dline didn't get any pressure."

Does McD know that you can double cover Puka? No? Ok, well he's still a big reason we lost.

Amazing this finished only a 2 point game given how badly we got outcoached.

Can someone please explain why we onside kicked? Now they're in FG range so even if we hold them they might make it a 5 point game.

Good thing we still have three timeouts

Bass-o-matic

Tom rubbing our noses in our own bad play calling