Wildcard Gamethread

Cellar-Door

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Of course the only reason that guy got close is that he was way offsides. It was called and declined
 

lars10

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It almost looks as though the ball actually changes direction at his left arm. Did he get some of it but not all?
 

Stitch01

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I will say in spots like that SF 3rd and 7 I don't think defenses play aggressively enough. Getting beat for a TD isn't that much worse than giving up ten yards. Should be bringing lots of blitzes and lots of aggressive man coverage. After that first down happens they should be selling out to shoot gaps and bring inside runs down for losses. I don't think there was a play to let SF score there but you can play uber aggressive
 

radsoxfan

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Stitch01 said:
I will say in spots like that SF 3rd and 7 I don't think defenses play aggressively enough. Getting beat for a TD isn't that much worse than giving up ten yards. Should be bringing lots of blitzes and lots of aggressive man coverage. After that first down happens they should be selling out to shoot gaps and bring inside runs down for losses. I don't think there was a play to let SF score there but you can play uber aggressive
I think that's actually exactly what GB did there. The problem is that with a running QB, when you blitz are in man coverage, if he gets by the first wave, it's basically an automatic 10 yard run.

I agree with the uber aggressive strategy generally in those situations, but selling out on the edge with no one spying Kap may not have been the best way to prevent a 7 yard play in that situation. At minimum, you have to coach the blitzing players to not get stuck inside and lose contain (though maybe they did and Bush just messed up)
 

Kenny F'ing Powers

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SMU_Sox said:
Kfp... how did you see SD over Cin? Cin was my biggest lock.
 
I was picking against the spread. 6.5 is a big spread in a playoff game, especially for a Marvin Lewis/Andy Dalton team. SD has scored 26+ points in 5 of their last 6, so I figured they could certainly score in the low 20's/High teens. At that point, it came down to how much I thought a Lewis/Dalton team would score.
 
My conclusion was obvious.
 
Not much.
 

Deathofthebambino

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Stitch, I wouldn't have had an issue with that either.  Send all 11 men, and if you start knocking them backwards, great.  If you don't and they break through and score, so be it.  Either way, these decisions have to be made at the 2/3 minute mark, and not when the opposing team has already reached the red zone and there is a minute left.  You simply have to know whether or not your team has a chance to stop them from doing what they want, and clearly, GB couldn't.  We have a word for doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, and that's what McCarthy did tonight and Kelly did yesterday.  The result was...the same.
 

Kenny F'ing Powers

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Truthfully, I was pretty confident in all 3 games leading up to the GB/SF game. I flip flopped on the 2.5 point line for a while and was pretty close to taking GB. Seeing the way the game ended, I guess I had a reason to flip flop.
 

radsoxfan

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Deathofthebambino said:
Stitch, I wouldn't have had an issue with that either.  Send all 11 men, and if you start knocking them backwards, great.  If you don't and they break through and score, so be it.  Either way, these decisions have to be made at the 2/3 minute mark, and not when the opposing team has already reached the red zone and there is a minute left.  You simply have to know whether or not your team has a chance to stop them from doing what they want, and clearly, GB couldn't.  We have a word for doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, and that's what McCarthy did tonight and Kelly did yesterday.  The result was...the same.
At the 2/3 minute mark the obvious play was trying to stop the 49ers since they weren't in field goal range. And it almost worked. It's not like SF was scoring at will all night.

Your narrative has merit in some cases, but tonight truthfully is just not a good example. You're trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
 

Stitch01

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radsoxfan said:
I think that's actually exactly what GB did there. The problem is that with a running QB, when you blitz are in man coverage, if he gets by the first wave, it's basically an automatic 10 yard run.
I agree with the uber aggressive strategy generally in those situations, but selling out on the edge with no one spying Kap may not have been the best way to prevent a 7 yard play in that situation. At minimum, you have to coach the blitzing players to not get stuck inside and lose contain (though maybe they did and Bush just messed up)
Yeah CB messed up I think, not a bad play call there.
 

Jnai

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That was one of the top non-Patriots weekends of football that I can remember.
 

E5 Yaz

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Dan to Theo to Ben said:
Your broken sarcasm meter?
 
You must admit, it's difficult to tell whether someone who thinks Seattle still plays in a dome is being sarcastic
 

E5 Yaz

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Jnai said:
That was one of the top non-Patriots weekends of football that I can remember.
 
Agreed. Saturday might be one of the best NFL doubleheaders that didn't include the Pats ever
 

Super Nomario

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RoyHobbs said:
 
 
Florio just posted this. Maybe both those guys should be put to pasture, but especially the former. Kind of like with Reid, at what point is just-not-good-enough just not good enough any longer?
What specifically did Lewis do wrong?
 

Morning Woodhead

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Super Nomario said:
What specifically did Lewis do wrong?
I like Lewis. But he has been the coach for 11 years and never won a playoff game. That's enough right there. Give him the Andy Reid treatment. Wouldn't shock me at all if another team picked him up. Change of scenery may be best for all parties.

There's also enough talent in Cinci to make that an attractive job too.
 

Dollar

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DanoooME said:
 
This is still the creepiest thing ever.
 
You just gave Old Spice an idea for their next ad campaign.
 
edit: damn you mascho!  :buddy:
 

SMU_Sox

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Look, you fire the guy for a lot of reasons not just this game. I think it's time in Cincinnati. That's an amazing team when healthy. Maybe get a QB guy who can work with Dalton? You need a healthier team and a more consistent Dalton and you'd be a top AFC squad.
 

DJnVa

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I can't see an organization which has kept Marvin Lewis for this long getting rid of a QB that, despite today, threw for 4300 yards and 33 TDs. I just can't see it.
 

ShaneTrot

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The biggest shock for me this weekend was how poor the Bengals offensive line played. Besides Ingram who has a very limited pro resume, SD has a weak front seven on defense. Not making excuses for Dalton but his line is good and got whipped by a no name group.
 

RogueSquad22

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They're down by 2 scores relatively late in the 4th quarter and they are just trying to stuff the ball up the middle. Teams like the Bengals don't have one specific problem. You can't blame it on just the coach or just the QB. Some teams play to win and some play to not lose. I think the Bengals play trying not to lose. That's their problem. 
 

Super Nomario

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SMU_Sox said:
Look, you fire the guy for a lot of reasons not just this game. I think it's time in Cincinnati. That's an amazing team when healthy. Maybe get a QB guy who can work with Dalton? You need a healthier team and a more consistent Dalton and you'd be a top AFC squad.
Maybe Lewis' body of work deserves a firing, but I don't think today's loss had much to do with him. I don't think Dalton's salvageable. What is he good at? He's not particularly accurate. He doesn't have a big arm. He throws too many picks. He's a decent runner but not RGIII-level. This year they used their first two picks on weapons for him and he didn't really improve. I think it's time to cut bait. Maybe you pull a Freeman / Glennon next year and use a later pick to give Dalton competition, but they can't just hand him the job again.
 
 
ShaneTrot said:
The biggest shock for me this weekend was how poor the Bengals offensive line played. Besides Ingram who has a very limited pro resume, SD has a weak front seven on defense. Not making excuses for Dalton but his line is good and got whipped by a no name group.
Did you think so? They ran the ball OK (4.5 YPC) and Dalton only got sacked three times. They moved the ball pretty consistently; they just screwed themselves with turnovers.
 
 
RogueSquad22 said:
They're down by 2 scores relatively late in the 4th quarter and they are just trying to stuff the ball up the middle. Teams like the Bengals don't have one specific problem. You can't blame it on just the coach or just the QB. Some teams play to win and some play to not lose. I think the Bengals play trying not to lose. That's their problem. 
Well, if you're trying not to lose, turning the ball over four times is a pretty bad tactic.
 

DanoooME

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Super Nomario said:
Did you think so? They ran the ball OK (4.5 YPC) and Dalton only got sacked three times. They moved the ball pretty consistently; they just screwed themselves with turnovers.
 
 
I'd like to see the pressure counts because I got the impression that the O-line got dominated the entire game.
 

Phragle

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Super Nomario said:
Maybe Lewis' body of work deserves a firing, but I don't think today's loss had much to do with him. I don't think Dalton's salvageable. What is he good at?
He has a hot girlfriend. I saw her on Hard Knocks.
 
Edit: Never mind that was Tannehill's GF
 

dynomite

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Super Nomario said:
 I don't think Dalton's salvageable. What is he good at? He's not particularly accurate. He doesn't have a big arm. He throws too many picks. He's a decent runner but not RGIII-level. This year they used their first two picks on weapons for him and he didn't really improve. I think it's time to cut bait. Maybe you pull a Freeman / Glennon next year and use a later pick to give Dalton competition, but they can't just hand him the job again.
 
 
I'll be interested to see where he goes from here.  I can see both sides of the argument on Dalton.
 
On one hand, some great QBs struggled in their first few seasons.  Peyton Manning threw an average of 20 INT/year over his first 4 seasons and didn't win a playoff game until his 6th season in the league.  Drew Brees didn't throw that many picks, but he was a .500 QB with the Chargers (30-28 W-L) and also didn't win a playoff game until his 6th season. 
 
On the other hand, most QBs who struggle with INTs and lose playoff games in their first few years don't turn into Peyton Manning and Drew Brees.
 
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dynomite said:
 
I'll be interested to see where he goes from here.  I can see both sides of the argument on Dalton.
 
On one hand, some great QBs struggled in their first few seasons.  Peyton Manning threw an average of 20 INT/year over his first 4 seasons and didn't win a playoff game until his 6th season in the league.  Drew Brees didn't throw that many picks, but he was a .500 QB with the Chargers (30-28 W-L) and also didn't win a playoff game until his 6th season. 
 
On the other hand, most QBs who struggle with INTs and lose playoff games in their first few years don't turn into Peyton Manning and Drew Brees.
Manning didn't throw a lot of INT's, but his first 3 playoff games:
 
1999 19-42, 227 YD, 0 TD, (0 INT)
2000 17-32, 194 YD, 1 TD, (0 INT)
2002 (41-0 trouncing), 14-31, 137 YD, 0 TD, 2 INT. QBR 31.2
 
http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MannPe00/gamelog//
 
It should be also noted, that in the year that shall not be mentioned, when he got the ring (thanks, Lovie and Rashad Baker), he went 3 TD, 7 INT that playoff year.
 

Super Nomario

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dynomite said:
 
I'll be interested to see where he goes from here.  I can see both sides of the argument on Dalton.
 
On one hand, some great QBs struggled in their first few seasons.  Peyton Manning threw an average of 20 INT/year over his first 4 seasons and didn't win a playoff game until his 6th season in the league.  Drew Brees didn't throw that many picks, but he was a .500 QB with the Chargers (30-28 W-L) and also didn't win a playoff game until his 6th season. 
 
On the other hand, most QBs who struggle with INTs and lose playoff games in their first few years don't turn into Peyton Manning and Drew Brees.
Manning threw a lot of picks his first and fourth season, but he made the Pro Bowl his second and third. I don't think there's any comparison between him and Dalton.
 
Brees is a reasonable parallel, though as you note, there are probably 50 guys who don't turn into Brees for every one who does. I'm not sure Dalton's one of the 20 best QBs in the league, and he's really holding that team back IMO.