jhh9327

Could not agree more with you on this. They needed to get a first down at that point. 3 straight runs and a punt and the final outcome is most likely the same for the reasons you stated. So I also don't have a problem with throwing the ball on that last drive once it got to that point. The inexcusable error to me was on the Texans drive prior to that when McDermott gave the Texans the complete control of the clock by taking our final two timeouts the first two plays after the 2 minute warning on a 1st and 2nd down play. There is still a lot game and plays left at that point so you don't take your final TO there when it's only going to be 3rd down. We ended up out of TO's, let the Texans keep all of theirs and it's still the Texans ball at that point in a tie game. That's 100% advantage Texans at that point. You don't give up having any more control over the clock just to stop it from running with 1:50 to play when you haven't even forced them to give up the ball yet. This is what we really should all be focused on, imo. McDermott created the situation where the Texans could have two possessions to our one possession. I was screaming that was a mistake in real time and that is what forced us into needing to get a first down once we got it back.

They scored on 5 of the first 6 drives (and that is being generous and counting the end of half possession that was 2 plays as the 1 stop) and were 1 yard away from another TD on the 7th drive. We forced a punt on their 8th drive which was a positive. That isn't good.

I'm not sure why this came as much of a surprise. You have to discount the regular season to a certain degree when a team has had so much success like the Chiefs. It's all about the playoffs for them (similar to us to at this point too). And the media and our team/fans didn't do ourselves any favors by giving them even extra motivation all week in regards to playing on the road for the first time and playing in front of Bills Mafia.

My fault. You are correct.

And while it didn't end up hurting us on the scoreboard, he made another clock management error in the first half when he took our first TO immediately after the play that got us down to the 13. You don't need or want 44 seconds left at that point when you still have 2 TO's remaining and only have a handful of plays left at most. Should have let it run a down more before he took the first TO. Gave the ball back to Mahomes with 28 seconds left.

Except that isn't true. The Dolphins lost 3 linebackers for the season in week 18 against us. The Dolphins were truly decimated on D outside of Ramsay.

Fully agree. The first 5 offensive drives we score 24 points without the benefit of any short fields against a healthy top 3 defense that only gave up 24 points or more in an entire game twice the whole year. Yet when the offense comes back out for drive number 6 we are behind by 3. The D simply had to do better and that is on McDermott. Yes, they were important injuries, but the Dolphins defense was decimated even more than ours and did a better job last week.

Why do you have to punt on 4th and 5? At half field it's almost a guarantee you stay out and go for it, but 20 yards back it isn't an option? I agree that we needed to keep the ball, but there is no way a called fake punt (versus an audible based on coverage) is a better option than just keeping Josh out on the field.

I missed out on training camp tickets, but was able to get tickets to the blue and red game. I'm Rochester based so going to camp is much preferred if anyone wants to swap.

I believe Diggs frustration wasn't just in the amount of throws, but the quality of them. On the TD drive while the game was still in reach, Josh gave him a low pass that he had to go to the ground to catch and Diggs seemed to give a frustrated hand signal to get the ball up after the play was over. And then Josh gives him a hand signal later on in the game back after they don't connect on a deep pass. This is complete conjecture on my part, but Stefon comes completely across like a perfectionist and what his actions during and after the game are saying to me is he feels like others aren't dedicating themselves the way he feels is needed to be the best. He was on board with an improving Josh (and offense). If he sees signs of regression while also not feeling like the work is being put in 110%, he's going to act out. The offense has been sloppy all year even when they have been good and that isn't ever going to be good enough for Stefon's personality. He just wants everyone to do the work to be better and have that be the outcome, not just talk week after week of needing to be better which is what we heard all year from players and coaches.

You really think this team beats Cinci if this game happened two months ago? I honestly don't. I'm not saying the emotional toll didn't play any factor yesterday, but this was a flawed team that has been showing those flaws for quite a while and Cinci is designed well to take advantage of those.

This is dead on about our D. Good QB's will carve us up because they don't make the mistakes our D style is banking on. That was not an off day yesterday for the defense. Burrow would do that to them over and over again. Only thing I'll add is this team missed Hyde (and a healthy Poyer) in a big way. Glad Hamlin is doing well, but he and everyone else that played for Hyde this season were a big drop off.

I think it is a convenient excuse and there may be some truth to it, but when you look back this has been a sloppy team all year whose talent usually could overcome it. It finally caught up to them in a big way yesterday against a really good team who played a precision game while we didn't (again).

I'm not one who normally defends the diva WR's, but I'm fully on Diggs side with him being upset. Love the team and love Josh, but the team has been too full of themselves the whole season and I include Josh in that. Even though they mostly got away with it, they have played sloppy and undisciplined basically all year. Say what else you want about Diggs, but he works as hard and prepares as hard as anyone and pays attention to the details. I feel the team as a whole has lost their way in regards to that this season and that is what I think has Diggs bothered more than simply getting him the ball more. Too much media attention and talk about playing better and cleaning up the details rather than simply focusing and putting in the work to actually do it. There was a throw to him yesterday that he caught that was low and couldn't do anything else with than catch it and motioned to Josh to get the ball up higher. Diggs is a perfectionist and that is not a word you could describe the rest of the team this year.

I want the Steelers to lose. Only way they make it in is as the #7 seed and I give them almost no shot at beating the Chiefs. Let a team that could beat the Chiefs get the final spot.