stats

Birds aren’t real! Here’s a hypothetical: what if we had a GM who presided over six winning seasons and one deep playoff run (among others), with a potential #1 seed for the current playoffs? However, the team wasn’t “built” the “right way,” which of course is how every Super Bowl winner was built — through 53 first round picks, each with a letter of authenticity indicating uninjured status at draft day. They had to trade for a QB (puke), sign other teams players that had less shine (loser!), and get everyone to agree on the new DH/PA rule. Plus, they have fewer and fewer players incoming every year! Eventually the team will have to pull in people from the street! The is how you end up being the Jags. Give it a few years! you’ll see. We’ll have fewer wins, which means we need to clear house and then we’ll get those coveted top draft spots again.

Ditto. Casey was talented and appeared to take his role/health/job very seriously (leadership!?!) -- consummate professional that got the best out of himself while his body would abide. Great hands and leverage. Wouldn't buy his cookbook, though. I'm not sure we really know yet just how good Simmons is. He physically is significantly smaller than prime Haynesworth (who isn't?) and doesn't have the sheer violence that (engaged) AH had (again, who does?). Watching the A22 breakdowns, I do get the same vibe -- complete disruption -- watching him diagnosis the play, completely out-leverage guard/double-team to set back the LOS, shrug off the blocker, and get something (arm, etc.) on the ball carrier to tackle/redirect. Dude probably isn't as big/strong/savvy as he is going to get, either. I think he's physically more talented than Casey -- not just larger. Shame we never got prime Casey and Simmons on the field for an appreciable amount of time, though.

This take is retarded. You fuckers killed my fucking uncle.

Was at this game. Been on hand at some stinkers over the years, but this one made me reconsider going to games. Great seats, shitty food, shitty beer, shitty Titans fans, shitty Ravens fans, city wok... and a shitload of quit in the team that day. Shit.

The best professional organization I worked with did this. We could not offer the best salary or the best opportunity for career advancement, but we did believe that picking and growing the right folks, while celebrating their success even if it they moved on to better things outside our org, created a culture where 'next person up' actually meant something. Miss that feeling ('we all arrive together') and hope the Titans can capture it.

Most raw talent at DT since AH. Going to be a problem for olineman for years to come.

I think the zone running scheme timing finally got to within margin of error for OL and Henry has really blossomed in both decision making and vision within the scheme. We dont see plays getting blown up as often in backfield, both due to better assignment execution/blocker assignment handoff and legit deep passing threat, but also because Henry now anticipates the running lanes and commits to that plant and cut. Big credit to Arthur Smith and running game coaches for recognizing how Henry could succeed in this scheme and coaching him up. Also, I dont put a lot of stuff in the "he wanted it more," rah-rah stuff, but cant you just tell that Henry seems more dialed in? He's enjoying playing -- winning makes anything fun, but its like youre seeing someone enjoying their job because they feel like they understand how to succeed. Its good to be the king. Edit: Actually on topic: Yes, this DL is among the most talented, but more so than prior years (KVB, AH, Babin, etc.), extremely sound. No gimmicks, just smart players making smart plays.

Need the continuity, as well as the performance. Still not sold on OL coach, but seems like mental errors have trended downward throughout the season. Let's face it, the era of obvious OT draft picks (3-5 first round guys) is over (if it ever actually existed). Can't let him walk...

You joke, but knowing how much of a cheerleader McConaughey is for UT (my father's an alum and season ticket holder), you better believe some of that bad rom-com money will be adding to his Longhorn spank-bank.

We're taking advantage of opponents' mistakes and keeping the long TD plays allowed to a minimum -- bend don't break. While I think we tend to go overly conservative on offense (during the late third quarter and on), we have the ability to convert TOs to points and/or make quick strikes for points. Special teams, aside from the placekicking game, playing very well. I think the team knows, at this point, it can't contain the opponent's passing game without major adjustments -- I'd be very interested to see if/how the scheme has changed since the early weeks of the season. In years past, losing this many impact players on one unit would have TEs eating us up in zone seams, and it's just not happening this year. I'm not knowledgeable to know why/how, but they're doing something very right on defense, despite the stats.

Are we sure they're not just hiking to a jugs machine in Chicago? A mannequin? We've had our fair share of grass-is-greener schtick on this board, but if this take is truly what the Bears fanbase is on about, I can't even begin to imagine the oncoming cognitive dissonance, should MM land in Chi.

There's been all this media chatter about how Vrabel is involved in every part of the team -- showing his face at all the meetings (e.g. position groups, etc.) and being hands on with practice, etc. We bring in a young, presumably talented OC (Lafleur), and he certainly doesn't wow us fans. We see Mariota as a limitation (which he is/was), because he's the common factor (and LaFleur seems to be a much better playcaller at GB, albeit with Rodgers). I'm beginning to believe what was spun as a positive (touching all aspects of team) is actually symptomatic micro-management. A guy like Pees is respected enough (and has nothing to prove), but guys like Smith and LaFleur are going to be under the thumb of Vrabel on game day. Vrabel coaches like the defense is the centerpiece and the offense is an afterthought - that the game is ready to won, once we have more points than the opponent and all we need to do is avoid mistakes. He manages risk (and micro-manages the game) until he sees a way to deliver a knock-out punch (even if it's high risk) and this makes sense to him, because this is how he sees the offense winning games. Not by executing a good strategy, but by letting the defense keep the game close, and looking for a moment to catch the opposition off guard near the end of the game. I just don't think he gets modern offensive football, IMHO.

Vrabel is influencing the offensive playcalling. He's clearly trying to leverage the part of the game he understands more, the defense. I don;t think he understands, beyond typical football platitudes (protect the ball, wear down the defense, etc) how modern offenses succeed (identifying and attacking opponent's weaknesses is more important that protecting your own weakness, in the long run), and is trying to mitigate his lack of understanding by treating the symptoms obvious at a given time during the game: - defense on field too much, need to run the ball to eat up time - opposing offense making mistakes, we need to take fewer chances to increase likelihood of winning - we have the lead, we only need to play good defense to win the game etc.

Video of PK and LR leaving the studio:

Good take -- it's a zero sum game. We're so close to being playoff contender -- can't keep throwing draft picks at the same issue and neglect other areas. If Conklin came back worse than average (for RT), I think Robinson would move on, but I still think we need to invest in interior linemen (DT and OG/C), another TE, and (gasp) a QB in the early rounds.

Yeah, no doubt. His situation is an outlier in just about every respect (HOF coach, HOF QB, massage-parlor-frequenting owner, etc.).

I would be interested in an analysis of this, looking back 10 years or so. I wonder if the rule changes have had a marked effect on coaching tenures based on defensive versus offensive background (controlling for bad front office/rebuilding). Probably more complicated picture, but I wonder if you’re on to something...

Santos is 50/50 at 50+ yard kicks and had missed three field goals in the game. Even if Santos hadn't shown he'd lost his nerve (and the score was the same), it was arguably a poor decision. I would argue that a punt would have been smarter, given the field could have been flipped. Should have gone for it....

I saw him, as well.

I agree with you on Conklin -- he's a RT. The calls for Kelly at RT seem to be based on the perception that Conklin has underperformed since he returned from his injury. However, I wonder if (in addition to getting over the mental aspect of the injury), his performance is more a reflection of the instability of the RG position than a regression in performance (as the whole Kelly-to-RT argument seems to allude).

If the RG position wasn’t such a liability (thus far this season), I wonder if anyone would even suggest moving Conklin.

The couple plays I noticed with Davis, he appeared to be quick off the snap and had good initial leverage - got his hands up quickly on the defender and got decent push. Could really be an asset to the interior run game.

The optics are pretty bad. The fan base will turn on this team if this continues (playing poorly and being coy about changes). I'm really hoping that there is a plan and it relates to Lewan's return. I don't think there's enough goodwill left to pitch this season as a mulligan. Another egg or two and I'd wager the city will move on to hockey season.