Boondoggle

Pittman hasn't been happy for a while with his role in this offense and I think the guy is suffering from some self delusion. Instead of being like many fans and mistakenly thinking he's good in bed, he mistakenly sees himself as an elite gamebreaker. And just like many fans have women who will play along and let us think we're good in bed, he will have some buffoon of a team come along with a bag of money and reinforce that silly elite gamebreaker notion in his head. Tried telling you a while back that he wasn't gonna stick around. Colts aren't going to hoist any Lombardis throwing money at guys like him. This draft is absolutely LOADED with wideout talent. We have his replacement for his role in house. Go get the gamebreaker in the draft. You'll thank me later.

Failure is a group lift in this game. There is sufficient blame to go around. No need to focus in on one bad guy here. Did Steichen have a better option there at RB. Couldn't Minshew have just put the ball on the back. Couldn't the back just run that route better or make the catch. Goodson probably blames himself. But I'm sure Minshew blames himself too. And Steichen probably questions himself with who was in the backfield for a play of that magnitude. They're all gonna have to carry this one though.

Won't be a popular take I realize but this team wasn't going to do anything in the playoffs. So it's probably for the best. I respect the way they played tonight too. Boys left it all on the field. Good first season by Steichen but it's a lot harder to contend than it is to fight for a wildcard. Can he coach a team to a high seed. I like his chances though I think for that to happen he's going to need a much better roster.

Hoping for a full team effort tonight, all three phases. Take charge of your destiny boys.

He's the best rook I've seen in a long time. To the point where I wonder what happens when Slowik gets hired away which is almost surely going to happen. I wonder to what extent things are simplified for him. Will he be expected to take steps forward in year two under another OC, things of that nature. Which would potentially lead to a dip in his play. But just in terms of what he's done on the field I can't say enough about the kid. He's better than I expected him to be, but I do wonder if he can sustain it long term which is no easy thing in this league. This division going forward though at QB is dynamite. Loaded with young and talented signal callers. It's gonna be fun.

Players haha. They have all sorts of motivations in their votes, not all of which are going to be on who actually puts the best defenses on the field. Also re: Gus and "specialized numbers" if you look hard enough at any stats you can find what you want to arrive at a desired destination. But if you keep it simple there are going to be upgrades on the market very soon. So if Gus wants to keep this job the best way to do that is to keep his team in it as long as possible. If they're eliminated this weekend he should be replaced. Because they'll be in on the ground floor from Black Monday on with plenty of good options. For the better DCs you can bet your behind that pairing with Steichen is extremely desirable.

Wink would be a real nice upgrade.

Just to be clear here too I want to say I'm a big fan of what Minshew has done this season. Where the team is right now... Lot of backups wouldn't have been able to pull that off. Watching how the other players respond to him, that leadership he possesses is a powerful thing. I'd love nothing more than to see him take us on a ride here. In a good way.

Yeah. And all this stuff aside most DCs a QB will face are not in MacDonald's class. He is rare in his aggression and flexibility and extremely effective at getting the most from what he has. There's a lot of QBs who get bamboozled by his scheme. Look at what he did to Purdy who has a top group of players around him. Way they varied fronts and rushes vs SF those guys were completely baffled.

Some of that has to be on Minshew. A veteran QB is where the buck stops as it pertains to protections and the LOS reads. There's a lot to it of course, and this is why it is common to have QBs with lesser experience levels relying on the line to make the calls. For example when Richardson was in there they probably told him to not sweat the protections and rely on the pivot. But Minshew has been around long enough to where I would expect him to oversee those calls. And my guess is he was expected to oversee those calls by the staff so in those plays where they were poorly called I am sure he has received an earful during early week film review. What I like about Minshew is he seems like he'll work to correct whatever was missed that led to all that. And maybe he's been told to not sweat those calls. I would just be surprised if that were to be true.

This is true. But scheme does factor in when you start ranking out head coaches. The guys at the top are all innovators on one side of the ball. This is inevitable and has always been true and will always be true because the only way to hold on to an innovator is to place him in that top role. But there's a lot to being a head coach. There's the talent level you're working with. There's your ability to teach and translate scheme from the board to the field by getting players to execute well. There's tying together tons of other elements like how to optimize travel, practice scheduling, medical treatment of players etc. There's also just having the gravitas to you in order to stand up in front of a room of professionals and get them polarized in one direction that you choose. Which is why so many fail. Steichen I am not sure to what extent he's an innovator, meaning leading new trends for the league. Those guys are really rare. But it doesn't matter for now when he's winning in year one. You can go a long ways just being up to speed on trends and being smart enough to incorporate them and adjust them to fit your people. So I'm very happy with him thus far.

He's done a good job for them. I don't know that I agree his upside is very high though. I figure he'll be a mediocre starter level player which is fantastic for where they picked him.

Yeah this Raiders team is physical. Gonna be a tough game hope the trenches are ready.

No idea if he did it or not but he looks like a real winner in that mugshot. I suspect they use bad lighting with those cameras on purpose. Last one I took I looked like Nick Nolte after one of his benders.

Appreciate the morality lesson Mrs Leonard.

Talked down on his name. You'd think a vet like him is aware his name is the film he puts up every week.

Aren't they the same thing.

Ballard is probably preparing another 5 year $100M "ILB" contract.

Ceiling of 8 wins. Hope the Colts are not aware that they have already done their best.

He's doing a good job. Always have liked the kid, and this season is a great opportunity for him to show what he can do. Nice balanced offense, all he has to do is play within the system. Get the team into the right checks and protections, spread that ball around, don't get receivers killed. And keep winning.

8 wins baby.

Oh stop worrying. Gus Bradley's got this.

Kill that clock boys.

There we go. PHEW. I mean I knew it all along. Yes sir I love me a Gus Bradley defense. Ok that's a lie.

Tick tick tick.