MRW

One game at a time. I don't see any reason to look ahead to the end of the year at this point.

Oh I think it's pretty clear that the Dolphins are really trying to pin this all on Incognito. I don't see how they can succeed though, after they gave him a leadership position and made him one of the faces of their franchise. The simple fact that Incognito was a locker room leader points to a deeper dysfunction on the team. I'm not going to waste any sympathy on Incognito, though. He was enabled by the ineptitude of Dolphins management, but he was still the one taking the actions that hurt Martin (at least as far as we can tell at this point).

Is it ok to pass from the 10? I'm really struggling to understand why getting the ball to the goal line means you go into a shell. You're not the only one I've seen saying this, but far from being common sense it seems nonsensical to me.

But again, it doesn't seem like team management agrees with that. If it were a salary thing, I think we'd be hearing about them meeting with guys and nothing coming of it.

Maybe they don't think the benefits outweigh the cost of undercutting Marrone's authority when he is trying to establish himself as HC. Or maybe they don't think that the coaches are doing a bad job under the circumstances and don't see a reason to bring in an outsider. Do you really think that it's because they want to save on the relatively small salary for a consultant?

But that is completely, 100%, totally irrelevant when talking about this hire. It's not a lack of money that is keeping them from bringing in a consultant.

Granted that it comes down to Marrone and what he makes of the info, but who are you arguing against by saying that? I think everyone would agree that all the best info in the world is useless if you don't apply it intelligently. You seem to be approaching this as if the organization has hired this guy to overrule Marrone and start making in-game decisions for him based on computer models.

So... your recommended alternative to an analytics guy is to clone Peyton Manning and hire top NFL coaches? It's a wonder no one else has ever thought of this approach!

I tend to agree. What it really all comes back to is they blew it with their handling of Tarvaris Jackson. Keep him on the roster a bit longer, let things shake themselves out in preseason, and we'd probably be looking at a roster to start the season of EJ/Jackson/Tuel. Now, maybe you'd still have injuries and be left scrambling, but from a durability standpoint Jackson has always seemed like a better bet than Kolb.

Just wanted to say that I thought this was a really great post and it didn't come off as a rant at all. Glad to hear you got the help you needed and I hope if Martin is going through anything like this he gets support as well.

You might want to double-check that.

You have browsed this forum, haven't you?

I don't think it would have counted in that case either, much like if a runner rolls over a defender who is on the ground, they're not down until the relevant parts of their body touch the ground directly.

If you're trying to turn this into a pun thread you're barking up the wrong tree.

If he gets offered a head coaching gig, he's gone. Everything I've seen from him leads me to believe that he wants to prove himself, right now as a DC out of Rex's shadow, but next as a HC. I don't see him passing up an opportunity. Having said that, I don't see him leaving after one year. And there's no guarantee that after next year he's going to be one of the top HC candidates.

Clearly we need to do it now, so we have time to evaluate Chan's performance before the bye week and determine if a change should be made.

I dunno man, they just met each other a few months ago. I don't think they should rush into anything.

I'm in favor of it.

If that's not saying "give up hope", then I'd hate to see what is. Not that I disagree with you, I'm not expecting this game to be pretty based on the Bills' performances so far, even though I do think Baltimore is significantly diminished from the SB team of a year ago.

It's almost like completely different people are making different arguments.

The culture of failure has failed. We must make it successful again!

I hate the Pats, but even since they stopped winning Super Bowls, year in and year out they are in contention. The Jets have all the swagger but not even a tiny bit of the accomplishment.

Yeah, considering that the Patriots got the ball back with 4:30 left on the clock I'm wondering just how much extra time some of these posters think a slowdown approach would've eaten. Not to mention - suddenly a 1-point lead means it's time to go conservative and milk the clock?

And the Bills have beaten the Pats only once in that timeframe! Coincidence?

I want to see the team win. If the Bills lose, sure Johnson will look foolish, but really that's his problem not mine. The past 13 years of suckitude have never been made any better by the Bills players being quietly respectful of their opponents.