Its really not all about points allowed. Not if you are trying to isolate defensive performance from the performance of other units. Raw yardage stats are probably worse, so OK I guess?
Although Smith, Carr, and Ben are dangerous, they are probably more likely to see Brock and Trevor in the divisional round and championship games if they secure the #1 seed. Houston will most likely win the division and have a home playoff game against an AFC west team, and Denver should get the other bye.
Right and then looking all the way down the road - SB could be Dak, Bradford, Wilson. Don't see GB getting there. Don't see Arizona getting there. Don't see Carolina getting there. I mean it's entirely possible they don't plan an elite QB all year aside from DangeRuss
Plus just about whenever they lose in the playoffs it's the offense's fault. 2006 AFCCG is basically the only exception.
I wont argue that they are a top 5 team (despite giving up top 5 Pts).
Aside from Stitch's note, there's also the reality that it's hard to score 30 week after week, especially against playoff defenses. Is the D good enough to win a 17-14 game or a 20-18 game? If the answer is no, can you really expect to put up 25+ points every week?
This seems exactly the case. The days of the Iron Curtain or LT and the boys, or the 86 Bears are gone. Fans didn't like 10-7 games, so the rule shave changed, salary cap included to make a dominant D hard to build. The offences are so good you can't simply roll out a group of superior athletes and stop people. A plan is needed each week, and it looks like Collins was not working out in those plans.
Eh they scored what 35 against Baltimore, 45 against the Colts and 28 against Seattle in 2014, right? And I don't think the 2014 offense was some crazy juggernaut. If the offense plays within their 80% range it should be good enough to win with an average D. I would say scoring 20 or 17 is not within that 80% range. Now if they lose say 27-24 then yeah the D would be at fault but if they give up 20 or less and lose, it's on the offense, no matter how many drives there are.
Exactly. Lombardi is marketing himself as someone who understands the inner workings of the league's best and least transparent franchise. BB is at best indifferent; more likely, he's unhappy about it -- but assuming he's not interested in bringing Lombardi back in some capacity, there's not much he can do about it.
I think your expectations are unrealistic. They've had 13 playoff runs in the B/B era and 2014 is the only time they put up 28 points in each game. That includes the '07, '10, '11, and '12 teams, all of whom put up 500 points in a season. That tells me it's really, really hard to put up points in the playoffs. Many of the other top offensive teams of all time hit a speed bump in the playoff as well - the '13 Broncos, the '11 Packers, the '04 Colts, the '01 Rams, the '84 Dolphins. The '99 Greatest Show on Turf Rams had to win an 11-6 game on their way to the Super Bowl. There are exceptions - the '94 49ers, some Saints teams - but in general, you have to win ugly once or twice to win the Super Bowl.
The KC game is another example of a small number of drives leading to a misleading final score. The O had 27 points on 8 real drives (10 drives total but 2 were end-of-half), which is awesome. The D allowed 20 points on 9 drives, which isn't very good. They got dominated on TOP largely because the D couldn't get off the field (four drives of 11+ plays).
The Pats aren't such a vet team but, in any case, vet or rook, "do your job" is just a slogan unless not doing your job has consequences.
Except that DMAC publicly stated that Collins is arguably their best defensive player. That's not just any defensive player, but the defensive QB. I'm generally in the give the benefit of the doubt camp because, let's face it, that camp has been right 99% of the time. But that comment gave me pause -- if anyone would note a guy missing his assignments because he's freelancing, it'd be DMac.
Right, but this slant ignores the organizational philosophy of not saying anything to the press. I highly doubt that we could ever expect to hear a player say something negative about an exiting player to the press. None of the guys that have famously been jettisoned have had it happen. It's part of the brain wash. Always praise anyone who is not a member of the 53. He's not on the 53 anymore. And above and beyond that they forge personal relationships ships. I didn't see that interview, so maybe DMac had a look on his face that he truly believed that, but I don't expect any player to say anything different on his team.
Field position has some pretty direct correlations to points, so it's definitely not just points.
Given Kyed's usual sense of humor, I think he's mocking Lombardi's willingness to talk to anyone
Take this with an enormous grain of salt but my friend's dad is a medical specialist who runs in certain circles and was told that Collins' illness was caused by some dental work (specifically a grill) that got infected.
Jesus Christ. What a goddamn idiot if true. He and Chandler had the stupidest medical issues ever. No wonder both guys got traded.
It would be hilarious if after everything we debated about choosing Chandler/Collins/Hightower BB ended up letting all three go.
And I wonder if BB learned from this and just decided after 2009 that he was done with dealing with these types of situations and instead of waiting to cut guys, just trade them or cut them earlier. Like Moss in early 2010.
If this is true, holy shit is he stupid. You want to get a grill, do it in the offseason. Add in his penchant for flying solo without regard to gameplan and wow. Like SJH said, both Chandler and Collins are not bright individuals and it is not a surprise they are gone. Both instances are pretty telling about who they are as individuals.
They can wine him and dine him an extra 9 weeks and tell him he's the star.
So? Was he getting a grill put in or did he need a root canal? Do you not see the difference?
Maybe this was part of an evil scheme to force the Browns to use the franchise tag on Collins so that New England could sign Terrelle Pryor? (Only half kidding.)
Didn't Collins have gold grills in during 2014? I'm not a grills expert so i'm not sure on what dental work is required for grills
I have no idea on the former. To the latter, I believe they are just over the top of the teeth, but that's kind of not the point, right?
