“We’re at the point in our team where guys are firmly aware of the expectations, and if your actions continually lead to finable offenses that you’re telling me without words that you don’t want to be here. I think it’s very clear,” McDaniel said. Awesome...unsurprisingly discipline had been an issue all season long and post-season he makes it "very clear".
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Yeah, I've often said that McD seems to get less out his talent than his predecessors. I think he's had MUCH better talent to work with than Flores, for instance. But his record against Flores' last 2 yrs (not holding 2019 against him with the tank) is only marginally better. It's a good opportunity for clarification. My discontentedness with Grier's performance doesn't imply happiness with
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I agree with a lot of what you said, but the first paragraph is where we differ. I don't think an 11-6 record and 1st round disaster exit from the playoffs is proving we can win...at least not anywhere close to a 'consistently competing for championships' level. He's been GM since 2016 but his real evaluation, in my opinion, is what he has done since the rebuild. GOOD - trades for draft
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That's a great point. According to overthecap dot com it was $53M in dead money for 2024 and $32M for 2025 but, to your point, an incredibly high number. For 2024, their total dead cap charge was $91M or nearly 40% the salary cap. Though they apparently went about it the wrong way and were punished for it, they weren't wrong for pursuing Sean Payton.
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As far as I can tell, cutting Tua in 2025 would incur a negative cap savings of $44M (pre-June 1) or $19M (post June 1). I think we'd be better off cap-wise if we kept him on the roster irrespective of whether he plays or not.
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My guess is McD is pretty much perfectly safe going into 2025 and may have actually strengthened his case based upon the team not falling apart with Tua gone for 4 games and competing for a playoff spot in week 17. I'm not saying I think he's anywhere near the best coach nor even necessarily the best coach available (as Vrabel was mentioned above). And, he's probably the coach most tightly tied
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agreed...hence the inclusion of the qualifier "technically"
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Cincy wins and we're still technically alive. Tua played last week even tho the hip was apparently injured against HOU 2 weeks ago.
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We'd almost certainly be in position to make the playoffs (i.e. one of the top 7 teams right now) if Tua hadn't been hurt for those 4 games earlier this season. Referencing 'he is not the reason we are where we are'. For me, though, that's not the point. I don't think any of us need the full details behind these, but: - 2020 last game against BUF. Win & in...Buffalo has nothing to play
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Unfortunately today he did nothing to dissuade me from my 'gun to the head' perspective.
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Read where Tua said he put himself "in harm's way...basically leaving my guys out to dry". It is 100% true. His decision to run directly head-first into Hamlin was probably the most idiotic thing he could have done. But, we are where we are and I think it present him with an opportunity to both play within himself and somewhat put the team on his back. To be clear, if a gun was to
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Yep - as we look back, the Lions are what we wanted our rebuild to result in. Strong coach-led culture...really good drafting (Okudah excepted). They're unbelievably better than when they had Stafford & Calvin Johnson. We are marginally better than when we were when Flores was apparently toxic and we had 2 OCs and another guy calling the plays...and Tua missed time early in the season du
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I'm impressed by how the Lions have arisen over the past few years. It's pretty obvious they've sustainably improved more than us in a shorter time. They spent 1st rounders on RT Penei (#7 in 2021), C Ragnow (#20 in 2018) and LT Decker (#16 in 2016). LG Graham Glasgow was picked by the Lions in the 3rd round in 2016. To round out this year's starting 5, the Bengals picked RG Zeitler in the
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Yeah, that's a kick to the goods. I'm probably not alone in not having forgotten that we were projected to have picked Brees in the draft (but took Jamar Fletcher) and then 4 yrs later Brees basically begged us to take him as a free agent and we "went another direction" with Culpepper. The domino effect of that decision(s) was probably the most significant of anything that's happene
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The 2020 draft was screwed up for us when we beat Cincy in 2019. We'd have picked Burrow. I believe we were on record as having tried to trade up to #1. Love or Herbert (who I don't think is any more clutch than Tua) wouldn't have been considerations. And, if we want to squeeze add'l lemon juice onto that paper cut, we could have had: - Justin Jefferson instead of Austin Jackson. If we'd
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JJ and Shula have, if I'm not mistaken, 4 SB wins between them. McD has 0. You don't necessarily have to be exactly like them to win, but it can’t be the inmates running the asylum. Given his recent moves, I think McD has tightened up in this area from where he was. He basically said, in response to moves like reducing Mostert’s touches, “if I don’t do what it takes to win it could be
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Skylar and #89 Hill ought to both be handed their walking papers as they exit the locker room.
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It's tough to stack any team's situation up against teams with probably the 2 best QBs ever. The Pats could probably afford to opt out of the 1st round because they had a huge security blanket in Brady...and he was willing to take less than his colleagues to help the team cap-wise to boot. At the time, I thought it would have been self-aware and team-first if Tua had taken a bit below market.
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Honestly, in terms of free agency it looks like Grier did a decent job. Granted we're only a bit over 1/2 way thru the season. - Brewer instead of Williams - Jonnu Smith - Fuller has been really steady across from Ramsey - Calais (man, perhaps we got lucky that Shaq Barrett retired suddenly...plus Calais owes us for taking out Tannehill's knee several years ago) - a couple of LBs who
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The point was made by a couple of podcasters after yesterday's win that it was the 2nd most points per drive this season (after Detroit's crazy high scoring against JAX yesterday, as well). Ours was done in the style of long, grinding drives. Lower point output, but with fewer drives to produce. Although I'm still thinking through this, I think that it's a much more repeatable/sustainable of
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Regarding sub-par .500 teams, I'd probably classify the Rams as better than their overall record and entering the game on something of a win streak. But, the headline ain't wrong given our history :-). Both teams had sloppiness, but I feel like if both cleaned it up and basically played around their potential we would have still won. Ramsey, Campbell and Armstead are the reason I have some ho
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Yeah, I'm with you in terms of not getting excited about our chances (sort of assuming you mean chances of making the playoffs). I can, of course, be persuaded to get excited if their play merits it over the course of the next several weeks. And, as a fan, I'll give them more benefit of the doubt than they probably deserve if they give me a little hope That said, I am really interested to se
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Offense decent and overcame mistakes. Defense did a really good job of keeping Stafford and 2 really good WR from really getting going.
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Or possibly stuck. The talent we have that might fit another team's need for instant injection of performance for a playoff run is largely either injured or has significant money issues. I'm not (wasn't) necessarily suggesting any of these, but as possibilities: - Armstead: playing well...just had money moved around that another team would be on the hook for after this season (I think) -
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Proud of the effort today, and wasn't anticipating being able to say that. Mostert's fumble was a huge momentum shifter. And the Poyer call was one that - when he's on the Bills against us - gets called "the kind of game changing play a physical safety like Poyer makes".
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Back to the point of the original post - Tua was pretty good Sunday. Not nearly amazing, but had a couple of drops and on the Tyreek pass I thought there was a decent chance for Tyreek to adjust better than he did, so his passing day could have been better if receivers played better. That said, his general inability to rise to the occasion struck again on his last pass of the game - the scree
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Honestly, should have won both this week and last against average teams. Unfortunately, I'd have to say that McDaniel is the coach who I think has done the least with the talent he's been provided.
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I wish I could identify anything to get excited about in terms of potential/momentum for next year. Our premium (or premium potential) talent is either injured or massively underperforming. - Chubb hurt - Phillips hurt - Holland hurt and not really impactful anyway - Hill & Waddle making almost no impact on games Related to Hill & Waddle not making an impact, our offensive c
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Literally anyone could have done a better job on the last play than Boyle. He freakin' threw the ball 5 yards out of bounds...on 4th down. What an idiot.
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It's a win for us fans. McD finally did what we've all been calling for the whole season: - ran the ball, stayed committed - threw to Jonnu Smith - used a QB who's at least somewhat competent...and played a bit to his strengths with running. He didn't get a ton of rush yards, but moved a bit to throw...and the threat of running seemed to open up a couple things in the pass game But, al
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