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The sad part is Dorian Strong was our insurance for Hairston, like Benford to Elam. He was showing promise. Played well during Week 1 in White's steed and would cycle in for White when they needed a change of pace. And now he's on Injured Reserve as well.

Both Ed Oliver and Deone Walker made more plays then Bernard did tonight. And they stayed on the field. At some point, you have to be honest and say that our starting Middle Linebacker is a major issue. Linebacker as a whole is a bigger problem than DT.

If he's a Playmaker - then he needs to make more plays. A play like the pick in the Ravens game happens and then it's 5 weeks of getting run all over and the second level being wide open in passing and it's like "yeah, but he's a Playmaker".

I still can't believe they extended Bernard early. His 2023 was very good. But he regressed in 2024 and started showing a penchant for getting dinged up. This year is more of the same. I wouldn't have tied up money for next year in Bernard and Rousseau until I saw what they brought us this year. It's so frustrating seeing the Defense performing as it is and knowing that we locked both of them in to those spots and any sort of high cost upgrade seem unlikely bc of their and other's extensions we made.

How can you tell? Maxwell Hairston hasn't played a down because of a Training Camp injury. T.J. Sanders played 4 games and then had to have surgery on his Knee. Dorian Strong showed promise as a Corner, until he was injured and put on IR. It's fair to say that injuries have ravaged our Rookie class. But that doesn't mean they're untalented. We couldn't possibly know that. Just bad luck.

I don't think he'll be fired. And I've been defending him for a while. But over the past couple weeks, that McDermott Tampa 2 has looked worse than ever (and it's looked pretty bad in the past). I hate to say it, but it's starting to feel like Rex Ryan 2.0. A one time Defensive guru, but after a Decade plus of running the same scheme the league has figured out his system and he's too stubborn or incapable of transitioning to a different scheme. I don't think Zone schemes work well against today's NFL offenses. You need an Elite Secondary and perfect play for it to work. We don't have that. It feels like we have a passing game that doesn't work unless our WR's are going against Zone and a Defense that is Swiss cheese because it runs out of Zone.

I'd like to remind you he wasn't picked in the 1st Round. But I get what you're saying.

@GunnerBill - can't reply in the original thread so doing it here. It's the knee hitting the ball. He grabs it, starts pulling it up, hits the knee and starts moving, then hits the turf. If not for the ball being moved, i'd agree. But a moving ball doesn't denote control.

No way. He never had control of that thing. His knee hit it as he was picking it up from hitting the turf, then it started moving, then it touched the turf. Easy call.

He never had control. As he was picking it off the ground, his knee hit the ball and knocked it loose and then it touched the ground.

Was it Josh's throwing hand that got hurt? Bc he's had really bad ball placement since.

The good news is we threw a bunch of money into early extensions for the Defense this off-season. ... oh wait.

Remember when Rex Ryan's D got figured out and he wouldn't budge from it? This is what it's starting to feel like with McDermott and his scheme. The injuries don't help. But it feels like McDermott's D is antiquated for today's game and the book is out on how to dismantle it.

How are we this unlucky with injuries every single year? Every team has injuries. But the magnitude of them with this team over the past few years is insane.

F-ck. We can't afford to lose Palmer. Gabe Davis here we come.

Unless you want to roll with Ja'Marcus Ingram or Cam Lewis - there's no one else to go with.

Tre White is SO bad.

He was. Until teams started to realize that was how we wanted to beat teams and had no one to create separation on the Outside. Now they key in on Cook and force Josh to beat them with his arm. Which he could - but guys getting open is a 50/50 proposition at best.

I wish they'd have gotten to the line just a half second quicker. Almost got that snap off.

Maybe i'm too needy, but I usually like to see what caused a 15 yard personal foul.

Good for you. It won't happen tho.

We simply don't have the talent on this Defense to be running this kind of scheme. Guys are constantly out of position, on the wrong assignment, giving too much cushion - etc. And at the same time, we've been running the same scheme for so long, it feels like teams now how to pick it apart by now.

Oof. Kincaid out is rough. He was the only guy getting open on any sort of consistent basis last week. And our Passing game pretty much exclusively goes through Kincaid, Shakir, and Coleman. If they're able to keep Cook in check, could be rough sledding. Need Palmer and Knox to step up.