finn

Don't punt! McDermott, you coward!!

Well, at least we don't have to watch the defense for a little while.

Not our year. Do you think McDermott will be back? And do you think Beane will draft another 15 defensive lineman and ignore every other position?

I was wondering why they look so bad then I remembered: they're playing on national TV. Of course.

Brady refuses to throw to him for some reason. Get him in space and let him work. And sit Coleman's butt on the bench and leave him there. He can't even do the one thing he's supposed to be able to do.

Wow, the WR cupboard is even more bare now.

Coleman. What an asset.

At this point, they should all out blitz every down. Can't be worse than this.

He was pulling a Hamlin and playing 20 yards off.

I wonder if Shavers really did hold.

You have to wonder how much slack he has.

Wow. It's hard to be really bad against the run AND really bad against the pass. They look like a college team against a pro team.

Oliver, Strong, Hairston, Sanders, Hamlin, Bass, and Samuel were also hurt in practice. What are they doing in those sessions, throwing anvils at each other?

Cook had 49 yards on 15 carries, a 3.3. ypc. Johnson, Davis, and Shakir managed another 16 yards between them. So, yeah, shut down the run.

I was ok with his run-first approach, especially his use of Hawes. But I expected him to try something new when other teams shut down the run. But in the Patriots game, Cook had no catches, while Kincaid got only 54% or so snaps. Allen's two best weapons in the passing game underused. Meanwhile, Hawes, who can catch and block was pretty much benched. His only "innovations" have been gadget plays like the flea flicker and the handoff to Knox, which reminded me of his cute play in the regular-season against Baltimore last year that stopped a potential comeback in its tracks. I wouldn't say he's over his head (although Babich might be), but he's not showing himself to be anything but ordinary, at least this year. Tell me if I'm dead wrong; I might be.

Should be a hard-fought game. Both teams seem to be in a good place psychologically, Atlanta coming off a win and a bye but also under no illusions after that 30-0 pasting by the Panthers, and the Bills also sober and urgent after the Pats loss but at 4-1 still confident. No blowout, in other words. I'm concerned about their running back against our defense, but I think the team with the better quarterback wins this game.

Sorry about that. So you think it's "extremely negative" to predict a playoff loss if Beane does nothing about CB or WR? You're fine with Tre White starting for the rest of the season?

Yeah, it's not clear yet how good this team is. The 4-2 record might be masking a truly rotten defensive substructure that a one-dimensional offense can't bail out in the long term. OR it could be that the reinforcements will turn around the defense, while Brady will make better use of Kincaid, Cook, Shakir, and Coleman (??) so his HOF quarterback isn't forced to be a Trent Edwards clone. I think the writing is on the wall: Unless Beane does something now, this team WILL (not might) lose again in the playoffs. He gave up a first-round pick and more for Diggs, so we know he has it in him. He can't afford both a CB and a WR, but he probably can swing one and would have to cross his fingers on the other. I'm not optimistic. I think he'll give up a fifth for a meh CB and hold pat on offense. But at least he'll have his top picks for more defensive lineman next year!

Stopping him from scrambling is the way to beat Mahomes. He relies heavily on that, despite his reputation as a passer. Contain him and you can sack him.

Did you see the two injury reports? Nothing but "Full participation" on the Chiefs side and "Did not participate" on the Lions side.

Can you imagine if Bishop gets hurt? Then we'd have Poyer playing next to Tre White. Get out the canes and that old-timey music!

Nah, they're going to win handily and continue to win right up to the Bills game. I'm bracing for all the chatter about how they're back, and they will be. Like Harry Potter and Voldemort, the only team that can stop them is the Bills. It has to be the Bills.

I so wanted Beane to draft Xavier Watts in the second round. I get it that d-line is premium, but he went too far, and I don't say that in hindsight. Three expensive free agents and three of the first four draft picks necessarily means you're neglecting other positions. To me, the most glaring area of neglect was safety, with receiver right behind. Rapp is no more than adequate, better as a backup and mentor (the Poyer role now) to Bishop and someone like Watts. I realize how easy and unfair it is to criticize Beane from an armchair, but I do think he fixated on penetrating linemen to a fault. We're seeing that fault playing out in real time right now. It's a good team with three possibly fatal weaknesses (run defense, the secondary, and wide receiver) that he didn't address well enough in the offseason, largely because he doubled and tripled down on pass rushers. To be fair, maybe Hoecht and Obiwan will be difference makers. We'll see. But I doubt Rapp will suddenly become anything more this year's Hamlin.

I forgot about that! Wow, between that episode and this one, he's not doing so well, is he.

Wonder if it's CTE.