dave mcbride

Say what you will about Aaron Rogers, but he might be the best pure thrower in NFL history. So accurate, and such a quick release along with elite velocity.

Um, isn’t this because they led the league in 3rd-down conversion percentage in 2022 and 2023, finished 2nd in 2021, and 4th in 2020? The math seems pretty simple here. https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/third-down-conversion-pct?date=2021-02-08

They do it for a very good and very simple reason: opposing teams target wounded players. The NFL is a rough business.

Yeah, I was thinking of the first five years of his career when he didn't do much. If a player isnn't doing much in the first five years, I don't think the future bodes well for them, production wise, going forward. He was a gadget player who was a good quick-twitch return guy, but he was never more than a slot receiver and was hardly a great route runner (which you need to be at the position). Not a terrible player, but also a player who was a just a guy in the end.

I don't think Parrish ever actually suffered anything even approaching a season ending injury. He was a mediocre player without much in the way of size or long speed but did possess good short area quickness. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/P/ParrRo00.htm

Jake Moody is my fantasy kicker. Just sayin’.

And the FG was the right move there.

I saw that live and said, wtf?!? No flag???

Drops happen to all receivers. He’s an excellent player.

I thought second down was more egregious. That was perfect for play action and the Cardinals had been shutting down the run all second half. Cook had 26 yards on his final 13 carries.

I do actually get it in the sense when it came to third and fourth and short plays, it's always Josh's ball. They can't hand the ball off and expect success like some other teams in those situations. Either he runs it or throws it. Goff and Purdy, in contrast, can just hand it off. And when they get near the goal line, the default now is to have Josh punch it in. It's not necessarily a bad thing, though, given how successful he is.

According to this, Miller finished in the top for opening day games with 5 pressures. More than Rousseau, actually:

He played every snap on defense last night plus seven snaps on ST. I don't know how well he played outside of that one busted coverage. Goff had only an 85 rating and a QBR of 38.4. Outside of that one big play, not much happened in the passing game. So I'd be hesitant to jump to conclusions based on one play. The Rams did hold an explosive offense to only 20 points, which is the most you can ask for given that they were also playing in Detroit.

Don't get me wrong - I hate the rule. But it usually does get called.

The Taylor Rapp play where he plowed into the receiver on a back shoulder throw (3rd quarter, near midfield) was clearly PI that wasn't called.

I think you might be confusing runs with very short swing passes in the first half, where receivers got to the edge and did damage. The run game was basically a no-show for AZ early on.

On the Cardinals' first two possessions, the RBs had 8 carries for 15 yards (1.8 ypc). On their third possession - their final one of the first half -- the RBs had 4 carries for 14 yards. In total in the first half, the RBs had 12 carries for 29 yards (2.45 ypc). They had a couple of gash running plays in the second half but all told, the RBs had 20 carries for 67 yards (3.35 ypc).

But literally neither of those play outcomes can be attributed to coaching. Coaches can't kick short of the end zone or miss tackles. There was nothing wrong with the schemes on those plays.

6 positive yardage plays, not 4. Always, always, always factor in the penalties a WR draws.

I thought the EXACT same thing while watching that transpire. I yelled at my wife Leah about the decision, and she was like, “yeah, yeah, Dave.”

He had a couple of excellent passes after the left hand injury though. Not buying that. Also, on the third down play on the penultimate possession where it was a designed run, he was FAR more likely to hurt his hand further by running rather than throwing.

That’s kind of my point. You have a great qb. Try play action there.

Yes, 6 positive plays, not 4.

Not saying it’s his fault at all and he was hurt by penalty calls on good runs. But: first 6 runs: 45 yards final 13 runs: 26 yards The bigger takeaway is that AZ figured out the Bills running game and the Bills still stuck with it. They had some good run blitzes. Incidentally, I hated the second and 3 call on the Bills last possession (from AZ’s 21 yard line or so). Do play action and end the game. Instead, it was Cook up the middle for zilch. And then an entirely predictable Josh run. It’s as if they were afraid to pass and sacrifice clock eating, but AZ had 3 timeouts.

Did Miller even touch him? It seemed to me that Murray tripped over his own guy trying to climb the pocket. From my view it looked like no one touched him and Miller was credited with the vulture sack. But maybe I didn’t have a good angle on it.