PBF81

That is insane. Achane's got 10 however, and he's only played half the season and started 3 games.

Seriously. If we end up 10-7, that's only half-game better than the 9-7 we were in 2017 with Taylor and otherwise with Orton and Bledsoe.

Lawrence is starting. Not sure how bad he is.

What else has changed? Seems as if everything else was in our favor. There are obviously reasons and things to discuss, just not in the mood for something that's been discussed ad nauseum to date. As well, it's not as if us arguing about it is going to change even the slightest thing about it. So what's the point. Enjoy the game this evening. If we make the playoffs, perhaps that will, once again, shed some more light on the topic. ... and reading the last few comments, you wonder why I don't want to discuss it. LOL

Mrs. Riley, and only Mrs. Riley ...

We have been through it and to be honest, not sure I feel like wrangling on this again right now. But, consider, as mentioned ... The best OL we've had in years with absolutely no starting OL missing any significant time. Allen Add Kincaid Shakir in his second season Easiest schedule on the defensive side that we've had since Allen's matured. Cook playing better than any RB on McD's watch. TOs and Drops as you cited are on par with the past three seasons, two of which we went 13-3. Yet, our performance lags. We're struggling to hit 11 wins and may not. What's the one primary thing missing from the above mix?

Agree with you there, particularly the no-excuse bit. Achane is a different type of RB. I'd rather have him out than Mostert as in our first game against them. When Achane's gotten double-digit carries he's averaged nearly 9 ypc. He's a huge shifty big play threat every time he logs a touch.

Come on now, we've been through this. But the drops and TOs haven't been off of what they've been that past three seasons, and we went 13-3 with a more difficult schedule twice.

Be that as it may, he's at bat and swinging with a 28th ranked offense, an OL that's ranked DFL now according to PFF, and a washed-up 35-year old QB playing his last game for them and that was never better than average to begin with. We'll see how it plays out. Well, OK, but given that, and given the narrow margins that we've lost games by, including as mentioned two games going to OT, where if we had simply scored one more point at any time, we'd have won, in the mind of many anyway it's not a stretch in any way that we could or even should be 13-3 if not at least 12-4 at this point. You view it differently, but your statements don't seem to back your viewpoint other than via text, i.e. in light of your admission of an underperforming offense. The question is why is our offense underperforming, and that we vehemently disagree on. There are no good or valid reasons.

BTW, the perspective that I'm looking at that argument from is one of diminished offensive production, down from the last three seasons since Allen's become elite. Through 16-game comps, we're down Yards-per-Play, Total Yards, Scoring, 1st-Down generation, and more. Yet, we have the best OL we've had in years, arguably since the Levy days. We have Allen now in his fourth season as an elite QB. We have Cook playing at a level that matches Shady's performance in his best season here in terms of workload and yardage, and RB production otherwise not seen on McD's watch. As mentioned, we haven't had a single injury to our starting OL, which is beyond remarkable, and therefore incalculable chemistry. Our five OL-men lead the team in snap percentages, individually. We have Shakir in his second season to join Diggs & Davis who contributed to the prior year totals, and we added arguably the most prolific pass-catching TE in the Draft who's posting, albeit an less-could-be, yet exceptional season. Cook is an outstanding receiving RB as well. The schedule certainly hasn't been difficult from an offensive standpoint, averaging 18th with teams that we've played ranking 3rd, 5th, 7th, 10th, 14th, 16th (twice), 17th (twice), 21st, 22nd, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, and 32nd. We had no trouble lighting up the 5th and 7th. Miami has the 22nd ranked Scoring D, and given our history of domination against them I'm having difficulty reconciling why our offense can't outperform the offenses from the past three seasons, or at least match them. Our YPP should be at 6.5, not 5.7. Miami's is at 6.5 and we had 6.1 in '20 and '22. Either way, we have more this season, not less on offense, and our offense can't even match our overall performances of the past three seasons. It's bewildering. I'm not sure, given how we pour resources into our D, and given our free-agent departures this coming season, that we'll ever have a more favorable path to 14-3. An injury-free OL is all but a fantasy. Again, having difficulty envisioning any rational and reasonable excuses for the above. And if we had improved as we could have, if not should have, won the 6 games that we lost by 5, 4, 6, and 2 points respectively, with two other games needlessly going to OT. Even splitting those we'd be at 13-3.

LOL, no doubt, but still, Tennessee's not too far off of that baseline either. Again, other than for Miami, the other four teams that they've beaten are unimpressive and a combined 22-44. Also, what are they playing for? Nothing besides spoiler perhaps. On the flip side, it could be the difference between the 5th and 7th overall picks in the Draft.

We'll find out soon. 🙂

Like you said, they're not very good, all they have to do is come in not caring. Beathard played well enough against Carolina as well.

Great, agree to disagree then. But honestly, if McD can't do significantly better than three of our teams with 9-7 records during our drought era, with WBs half, at best,, of what allen is, ... 🙂 Tennessee has no incentive to win. They do have disincentive though. Just sayin'.

Apart from Miami who a lot of people are down on for not beating good teams, the Titans have beaten four other teams wit a combined record of 22-42. If w have to rely on 2017 type luck ...

Who cares what Miami is, we're 10-6 and should be better than that. Miami is not a better team than we are. And this discussion is hardly complete without that comparison of injuries to both teams' offensive players. How many seasons are we going to get through with zero significant injuries on offense? None is a safe wager.

It's ridiculous if we can't beat Miami out for the division given that our offense was essentially injury-free this season given our roster. How many times is that going to happen. Factor in Cook's play, our vastly improved OL, and it's not good that we haven't clinched the division by now.

Call me crazy, but third OC in as many seasons, a defensive-minded head coach with zero practical knowledge on the offensive side of offense, "complimentary football" which for us translates to everything revolves around McD's D, ... all with a generational talent at QB. Gee, I wonder why Allen's not more effective. We'll figure it out when he's in his mid-30s. It'll be a no-brainer spotting it then, everyone will be a genius. No wonder Allen's at least a little ph'd up.

Yeah, presumably if he's not in danger of missing a game.

If he's injured but not on the injury report, then it'll be problems for us. The league friends upon that.

Wouldn't it be FUBAR if we tied.

Well, there were two ties league-wide last season, one in 2021. None this season. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The odds of a tie are probably about the same as they were for a Dalton-to-Boyd 49-yard TD pass on 4th-and-12 with under a minute to play against the Ravens' D. Should be a great game.

Shades of 2004 when all we had to do was beat the Steelers' JV team to make the playoffs at 9-6. Let's hope this isn't a repeat.