MRW

What will it take for this guy to get fired? If he keeps his job this year I will really be wondering. Horrible drafts, no thought to anything but offense (and really only skill positions there), and ridiculous clock management. If he keeps his job I will really wonder what is going on. He would make a good wide receivers coach, I think.

You don't think Clements is worth a big contract?

Actually more absurd to me was watching the Rams try to mount a drive, down by 30, with a minute left, when Bulger looked half-dead. Especially when they spiked it with 15 seconds left. What possible purpose does that serve?

For all the love that Brady gets, what I noticed is the same thing that I've noticed whenever I see the Patriots offense: the receivers just do not drop the ball. Whether it's their first receiver, their fifth receiver, or the third tight end, they catch the ball. I don't know what they are doing differently, but week to week you see other teams drop passes that Patsy scrubs would catch.

Of course he won't. And based on that we know...absolutely nothing. Why should TD address every rumor that comes up?

Yeah, but odds are they'll have the first pick next year too.

That looks to me like one neither side was right about. Griese is, after all, still playing in this league and had some ok performances for TB this year. So I don't know where you get "total flop" from.

And the round hole isn't interested...

And I also agree with this. If JP makes strides over the offseason and is close even to Drew's current level I will be ready to see what he can do. My only objection is to those (not you or Mark VI based on these posts) who seem to think that we should put JP out there even if he does not show that he has settled down enough to play at the NFL level. To the posters who ask how much worse it could be than Drew, I think the answer is much, much worse. Look at QB play around the league. I don't think Drew is capable of carrying this team, but there are guys out there who are walking disasters.

That's the basic divide on this issue, ain't it? At this point a playoff appearance would make me damn happy after the last few years. While I agree that the ultimate goal is a Super Bowl win, I won't be too disappointed if we don't win one as long as we're in the hunt.

I thought this was actually one of Madden's pet topics. He seems to bring it up any time there's a close game.

Blade Runner is a real movie, you know.

Two chief annoyances for me: 1. Madden would make definitive statements but then add so many qualifiers that it became meaningless. For example, he commented on how 2nd and 1 was a great down for a play-caller. He said something like "You can call any play in the playbook and be guaranteed that it will work most of the time." What does that even mean? 2. When the Jets downed a punt at the 3 at the end of the first half and it was reviewed because there was illegal touching, for some reason Michaels got it into his head that the Chargers could just take a touchback. He wouldn't get off it. It's like he was thinking since the player could not legally touch the ball, they could pretend he wasn't there and the ball had bounced into the end zone. I don't what rulebook he was looking at.

For a prominent recent example, how about last year's Super Bowl. Carolina went for 2 early in the 4th (not quite what was being talked about, but I don't think you should go for 2 until halfway through the 4th) and then had to try again. If they'd just kicked, they would have been up by 3 when the Patriots made their drive at the end of the game, and who knows what might have happened.

Why why why is clock management so horrible at the pro level? Guys like Parcells and Belichick stand out, quite honestly, not because they're geniuses about this stuff, but because they just make common sense decisions. Case in point yesterday, the Chargers driving for that tying touchdown, why didn't the Jets use their time outs and give themselves time to try for a win in regulation? I don't think you need to be a Mensa member to figure it out.

If we can keep Madden in there too, then sure.

I was watching the game with a friend, and when Seattle got the ball for the first time, I guessed the play would be a pass to Jackson which he dropped. He did not disappoint and even threw in the added bonus of an interception.

Don't be embarrassed, wave that geek flag high. Hell, I'll admit it, I've been playing since a couple of days after release. Fun game.

That is IMO a really excellent realistic analysis of what Drew brings to the table. I wouldn't be sorry to see the team go in another direction, but for better or worse given what our other options are Drew might be the best for next year. And I think, as others have pointed out (Simon?), TD and Mularkey are working toward a team where you can win with even an average QB.

While I don't share this POV, I can respect it. I think we've gotten as far as we can expect with this debate.

I think this right here is the key to my difference of opinion with you. I don't think you can look at the game and say "This is THE reason we lost." Who had the most to do with the loss? Drew. A bit more awareness on that blitz/fumble/TD and maybe we're looking at overcoming a 5-point lead at the end of the game. That said, if Lindell makes that kick, maybe we keep some momentum. If the defense stops Pitt's backups with a few more minutes left, maybe we have time to kick deep and not have to rely on an onside. There's plenty of blame to go around after a game like that.

I think part of the problem is people assume opinions about the team/game come all bundled together, so if you criticize the defense, you're trying to deflect blame from Bledsoe. After the game I was arguing with my brother a bit because I was trying to make the point that we need a better O-line to really take the next step, to be able to run the ball the way Pittsburgh did when we knew it was coming. He took that to mean that I thought the bad game was the fault of the O-line more than Drew. It gets annoying to have to constantly include disclaimers saying that Drew did play poorly and I don't think he's the answer at QB.

Did the defense play well enough for the offense to win? For most of the game, they did. But they failed when the team needed them most. Are they more to blame than the offense, and specifically Drew's horrific performance? No, but the fact remains, for what should be the backbone of this team, they did not do their job. I'm probably coming across as faulting the defense more than I actually do, I just don't think what happened should be ignored. A top-notch defense stops that drive. Period.

I can't understand those who seem to want to absolve the defense of all blame. Should the offense have performed better? Of course. But let's not pretend that we have a dominant defense if we can't rely on them to stop a team of backups from executing a 9-minute drive consisting solely of running plays. You're probably never going to have a situation where your offense, defense, and special teams are all awesome, and I don't think it's unreasonable to expect the supposed strength of this team to give the ball back to the offense with time to do something.

All drives are not the same. Context is everything. In that situation, knowing that the other team is going to pound the ball, a top-flight defense cannot and does not allow them to chew up all but two minutes of the clock. The points at the end of it were, honestly, irrelevant.