First- I get that the outside run is a very unpopular call. However, when you're up by more than three and have the ball with a bit over two minutes to play, it's a tough call to make. If you have a line that will get you tough yards up the middle when the other team knows that's what you're going to do, you'll win a lot of games. It tried to exploit the expectation that it was likely we'd run up the gut. It also kept the clock going.
Second- As far as Dennison being ultra conservative, that's what McDermott wants. And I agree with that philosophy. We don't have enough talent on either side of the ball to get after people without exposing major weaknesses.
If the front office is as desperate to draft a QB as the people on this board, we never will be good. We need to get better on both lines and at linebacker. Tyrod Taylor is at least as good as Case Keenum and no I won't compare stats as they are different players.