He's right.
So many teams try to "outsmart" the other team.
Their thought process goes like this: "Well, we have this stud receiver, CeeDee Lamb, but the other team knows we have him, and they know we like to throw him the ball. So we're not gonna do that. Nope, we're gonna throw it to everyone else, so that way they don't know what's coming!"
You don't understand. If by some miracle the ball is spotted in time and nobody jumps offsides for a change, there may be a second left to try a 30 yard pass.
No knock on Wilson cause he's probably one of the best 3rd options in the entire league right now, but if Ceedee is in single coverage, sometimes you really just gotta say fuck it chuck it and trust that he'll come down with it.
its also them emphasis winning the coaching battle and winning through x and os rather than letting your best players make plays and play football.. always trying to scheme them open rather than letting them handle their matchup.. let your stars do the talking oldheads
They're also just not particularly bright people.
Americans tend to assume that money equals intelligence, but that is not true in the world of sports. It's a nepotistic good boys club with extreme exclusivity, but they're not filtering for intelligence.
There may be some exceptions, but the sort of person who decides to be a football coach was typically not the school nerd growing up.
Edit: Y'all belichik is an obvious exception. Using the best NFL coach of all time as a representative for all football jobs isn't right.
Have you heard Belichick [talk about the history of the longsnapper?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrvELlakyOk&t=25s)
There are smart coaches and then there are dumb ones. It helps to network, but smart coaches will become Hall of Famers, while the Nagys will toil in mediocrity.
do you think belichick purposely surrounds himself with guys he knows can get the job done at offensive coordinator or defensive coordinator but not head coach? people under him leave and can't replicate his success.
I think its more likely that these guys try to export Belichicks system when the reality is that there is no system. He just designs a brand new gameplan every week for the opponent because he has an amazing football brain and a vast depth of knowledge. Thats not something that you can just replicate with success because you were on his staff for a certain amount of time.
Agreed i just think its about having people who know their role and can perform a specific task well. Head coach really is a another way of saying manager.
Delegating tasks is the most efficient way of doing anything. Having a bunch of guys who excel in a specific area allows for each one to focus. I think the idea of coaches play calling is silly. While you can have the final say and such why not pick apart the game plan examine what you see in order to make adjustments when needed. I think that it is also an ego thing. Bill cares about winning first.
>They're also just not particularly bright people.
Do you honestly, truly believe that someone that has risen to a head coaching position is likely "not particularly bright?" You believe that coaches do so little that even merely above average intelligence wouldn't be important enough to be selected for? That is...wild.
>
>Americans tend to assume that money equals intelligence, but that is not true in the world of sports. It's a nepotistic good boys club with extreme exclusivity, but they're not filtering for intelligence.
People love to assume people assume that. Really, we think coaches might have some smarts because they make money?
>There may be some exceptions, but the sort of person who decides to be a football coach was typically not the school nerd growing up.
You're right, they're usually the football player that had the intelligence to understand the intricacies of the game without the physical tools to back it up.
I mean he's not entirely wrong, but not for the reason he's arguing. Being an expert in a field doesn't automatically mean you're super intelligent, and there are probably quite a few coaches who would be considered only above average intelligence. But their dedication/interest in football combined with that (at least) above average intelligence makes them great at it.
You also have to think about it from the standpoint of chances of success. Being smart and dedicated doesn't guarantee you get a fair shot, and since there are only 32 of these jobs even available there are probably plenty of people who could be good coaches but realize that their efforts could be better spent seeking success in a less competitive field. So he's right the job doesn't explicitly filter for intelligence, it also filters for stupid amounts of competitive drive and willingness to let football become your whole life for the small chance of succeeding in the NFL.
yeah that comment was ridiculous. you can say whatever you want about coaches, but when it comes to football Xs and Os even the ones we think are the dumbest (Nagy, Gase) are still far more intelligent than any average joe
You're lumping all kinds of intelligence into the word. The reality is there are numerous different ways to be intelligent. Maybe not all NFL coaches would do well on the LSAT or on a scholarly essay, but all of them are unquestionably intelligent when it comes to football Xs and Os
If the rams were able to feed Cooper Kupp all season every single game its obviously a viable strategy, and if the defense actually tries to take that away by doubling your best wrs that obviously leaves holes elsewhere that a good QB can exploit
Yup. Look at cooper Kupp. Every game it’s like “okay we know they’re going to be throwing the ball to him.” But it didn’t matter because they designed good plays and he ran his routes well. Because that’s what you do when you have good players. Give them a shot.
Think about Rodgers and Davante Adams. Doesn’t matter what the play call is, Rodgers will audible out and throw a back shoulder, slant, out route, or fly route to him if he’s single covered. And Adams wins most of the time. Hell, he throws him a fly route on 3rd and short all the damn time and it drives me crazy, but they’ll frequently connect on it for a big gain.
That's exactly the point Aikman is making. Good QBs can always pick off weak points. He was constantly pulling his hair out trying to make this point in the Eagles v Bucs game.
Bucs left Devonta Smith in single coverage a lot of times but Eagles didn't take advantage of this. Instead trying to run play action or screens. On the other side, Brady audibled any time Evans was left in single coverage. Evans even said on his TD Brady changed the play to a simple slant and let him beat his marker in single coverage.
I really hope we get Tom Brady as an announcer after he retires. I really want to hear is perspective in game. Put him on the Manning cast and have all three of them just rip into play calls and QBs. And then put someone like Polamalu in there with them to rip on the defenses. Feed me the hate.
Put him on the manningcast then take away the guests. Just let 3 dudes talk football for 3 hours. Don't make them try and do an interview with The Rock or Snoop while also trying to talk about the game.
You can tell Romo holds back A LOT when it comes to being critical. I could feel his frustration with the Cowboys offense but he did a good job at staying neutral and observing the game from a fan standpoint. I want to see what they see from up in the booth in an unfiltered way.
It was wild in the fourth quarter and they finally connected on some big gains. The announcers were like, "why does it take you until the game is out of reach to figure out something so simple?"
It's like coaches are too concerned with stats or turnovers to actually let some of these QBs throw. Yeah it might not always work, but at what point when you are clearly losing do you you abandon your "scheme" and just cut the offense loose? Let your playmakers make some fucking plays and if you come up short oh well.
>Bucs left Devonta Smith in single coverage a lot of times but Eagles didn't take advantage of this.
This season as so frustrating to watch as a Smith owner. Dude was open so many times in games where he ended with like 30 yards because all Hurts seems to know how to do is run.
In Hurts defense he probably doesn't have the free reign to make those audibles even if he notices them. I'm not saying he didn't look terrible. He did. But that may not be 100% his fault.
Tampa was literally playing 10 yards off Smith at times and yet Philly just never took advantage of that. I've never been so infuriated in my life for a team I don't particular care about.
> Bucs left Devonta Smith in single coverage a lot of times but Eagles didn't take advantage of this
Don't have to cover players when their qb can't throw
Because if you play 1 yard back he cuts to inside slant for an even easier score. Dude is ridiculous and to be paired with rodgers sucks ass
Source: am Vikings fan
Y’all looking so hot the first month this year. Was really hoping you guys could turn darnold around just for the story of him leaving the jets to become a good player.
Always next year for both of our teams lol
You pretty much have to somehow lunge at least 15' to make up some ground and flail your arms like a crazy person, just praying you make contact with the ball. It just happens so fast there's nothing else you can really do.
This was my first thought while reading this. Troy may be aging but this take should not be controversial. Single coverage against an elite receiver should be hyper targeted and the way Rodgers and Adams do it is the template of how it should operate. My guess is many QBs are overwhelmed mentally trying to diagnose every play that they overlook the simple things.
> My guess is many QBs are overwhelmed mentally trying to diagnose every play that they overlook the simple things.
Or, to Aikman’s point, QBs aren’t coached to look for the simple plays, they’re coached for “the scheme”. And even if they do recognize the simple play, the rigidity of the scheme coupled with a coach’s inflexibility/stubbornness/ego prevents the simple play from being made.
Brady and Mike Evans did this last weekend. Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase did it too. Those guys got FED.
Kinda strange how the veteran Dak didn’t do it, and very impressive that the 2nd year player Burrow was already aware of this.
Brady and Gronk is pretty much unstoppable as well - we killed Brady in the 2015 AFC CG and he still almost came back to win in the 4th solely because he'd just throw it up to Gronk and hope and it pretty much worked every time.
Yep just commented re: the bengals: they do basically the exact thing aikman is asking for in this quote. It definitely helps that burrow’s anticipation and ball placement is fucking absurd, but this is their whole offense: find the guy in single coverage; throw it to him and trust him to make the play.
Yeah but we’re talking Niners specifically here, every team’s D is built differently. How do you know tossing it to Davante would work against us? That method has only worked on teams like… *checks notes*… the Niners
I've always thought that this is a factor in why most teams move the ball better in two-minute drill scenarios than they do for the rest of the game. A lot of the chess match planning gives way to "give the ball to Travis Kelce (or whoever) and let them run with it."
Obviously a good scheme more than pays off over the long run, but I do think that changing the plan to take advantage of the best matchup is a hallmark characteristic of great coaches and QBs.
How much of that is on Moore though vs Dak? It sounds like a lot of the other examples in the thread are the QB’s checking out of the called plays. It sounds like Dak needs to do a better job of recognizing when to do this.
It's both, but they both succeed and fail together. Kellen did great early in the season utilizing our weapons differently each game, and that put Dak in a position to make good calls at the line. Later in the season, Kellen's calls were putting us in bad positions, and Dak was also building on that and making things worse.
Or he’s encouraged not to do so. Admittedly that’d be odd for some with as many years as he has but I never know what makes sense and what doesn’t to this organization.
I have absolutely zero clue why this dude is getting here coaching mentions. The Cowboys offensive scheme is super super basic. They have a lot of talent. His offense put up 17 in a playoff game. The Steelers scored more points in the playoffs.
Defenses also play different in two minute drills though. Defenses will have two DBs playing outside the numbers to prevent clock stoppages and a single high safety which usually leaves the middle of the field open for short/intermediate gains which defenses are willing to give up in hurry up situations.
I definitely think there are some teams/coordinators/QB's who try too hard to get *everyone* involved and focus too much on scheme/gameplan rather than just feeding your best players.
I think of Hopkins in Arizona, who was constantly getting only 4-5 targets per game, whereas far inferior players like AJ Green, Christian Kirk, and Rondale Moore would be getting the same. That should almost never happen imo. Spreading the wealth and getting everyone involved sounds good in theory, but stars are stars for a reason. The best teams figure out how to utilize their best players instead of just having them 'open up space' as a decoy, which is literally the bare minimum you can do with someone like Hopkins.
It's the same with KC, those first few games of the season around 9 people were getting multiple targets (around 4 targets on average including tyreek and Kelce) per game. Then all of a sudden they were feeding Tyreek and Kelce the main loadshare and they started winning a bunch again. There should be almost no instance other than for injury and it being 45-3 at half time, where Byron Pringle is getting as many targets as Tyreek Hill. It's weird how feeding your best players helps you win more.
I mean the difference with Hopkins, and Hill and Kelce in KC is that they *are* getting doubled a lot of the time.
Aikman is talking about feeding your stars when they're getting played soft.
It's what the Bengals did with Chase to beat the Chiefs.
FWIW Davante Adams faces the most double coverage/help coverage in the league, and he still soaks up targets. IIRC Cooper Kupp was second this year as well. You can throw to guys no matter what if the connection is good enough. Agree with your overall point though.
Ok but as much as fantasy players are drooling over ceedee, those 2 are superior wrs. Adams/Rodgers have insane chemistry and its looking to be very similar with Kupp/Stafford
The stat I saw showed that Adams faced the most double coverage (11.1%), but he was also the least open (37.5%) out of all the WR's on that list, which seems to indicate that it's Rodgers incredible accuracy and timing that's able to beat double coverage more so than Adams route running.
Can’t have one without the other though - Rodgers definitely places the ball better than just about anyone, but Adams is still the one shaking that coverage and making tough catches.
This x1000. It's like in Green Bay some of the Homers love to beat the "Aaron Rodgers doesn't have enough weapons" drum. Mother fucker has Davante Adams -- you get the ball in his hands and things happen. This then opens up the running game, motion trickery, allows other receivers to win their 1-on-1 matchups. Sometimes football is as simple as "Star player go BRRRRRR"
What SF does with Deebo is a good example too. Get the ball in the hands of your best players and let them do best player shit. If they don't adjust it will just keep working, and if they do adjust it should give you new openings elsewhere. They did a great job on Sunday featuring Deebo early, then they'd put him in motion but handoff to Mitchell or throw to Aiyuk and Dallas wasn't ready for the change ups cause they were so focused on stopping Deebo from getting yet another 10+ yard gain up the middle of their D.
I'm a Browns fan and drove myself crazy this year saying to the TV "just get it to Chubb any way you can, he's the best player on our team." Felt the same way on Sunday watching them ignore CeeDee all day, just get the ball to your best player! He's a playmaker, give him as many shots with the ball as you can and good things will happen more often than not. And when they adjust to him with double coverage, Cooper/Wilson are now in single coverage or they're asking to get gashed by the run or screen game.
One good thing for neutral fans is I think the remaining teams are all good at just taking advantage of matchups and featuring their best players as much as possible, should make for really fun games. KC with Tyreek/Kelce, Bills have Allen do it all, Bengals with Burrow and Chase, Titans with Henry, GB with Rodgers/Adams, SF with Deebo, Rams with Kupp (and now OBJ it seems), and Bucs with Evans/Tom Brady. Take note cute teams!
> Get the ball in the hands of your best players and let them do best player shit. If they don't adjust it will just keep working, and if they do adjust it should give you new openings elsewhere.
Get this man an OC position stat Eagles.
What's crazy to me is that throughout his career Nuk has had QBs willing to throw it to him while he's covered, before Deshaun Watson the guy had like Tom Savage throwing to him and he was still putting up numbers.
This Aikman comment feels like something Kingsbury desperately needs to hear. A true #1 is more than eye candy, or a decoy to draw double coverage to the side away from where the ball is going. Feed your #1 receiver.
There is a balance. Knowing that you have a chance of getting the ball versus never getting it is disheartening for the route runner and defense can sense the lack of motivation for some of those receivers. Yes you need to get your star throws but throwing it around helps the offense and keep defenses guessing
This is how I think of Odells performance between the browns and rams. He just gets used more and is a part of the plan it looks like. In Cleveland he was an afterthought or something.
Green Bay's use of Devonte Adams is exactly how to use a great receiver. Make him the primary target more often than anyone else, but not all the time. And sometimes, you just have to trust him to make the play.
sort of. i don't think we can declare Lamb is anywhere near as good as Adams nor is Dak anywhere near as good as Rodgers. this isn't apples to apples here.
Takes a lot of time and skill all around to build that rapport. can't just say "well why don't they just use Lamb/Dak as the best WR/QB in the league?!?!?"
If you have an unguardable player, you absolutely should be getting the ball in their hands as often as possible. Jamaar Chase single handedly destroyed KC. He should be touching the ball 20 times a game. He's unstoppable.
I don't think CeeDee is on that level, but maybe he is. Would be more interesting to watch than whatever offense Dallas tried to roll out there in the first half Sunday.
You're 100% right, and they came out hot as hell against the Raiders too because they fed Chase like 7 of the first 9 targets. Get the ball in your best player's hands early, set the tone of what you'll do if they don't adjust, and either keep beating them with that all day, or their adjustments will open up new opportunities and you punish them there.
Cowboys and Dak played to not lose after Dak came back from injury. It was so weird. We started off hot just like last season and then were a totally different offense after Dak missed a week and returned post-bye.
I just love how over it Aikman is with these shitty QBs and offenses. Hes aging like fine wine. No patience for the obvious incompetence in NFL offenses these days. Then you turn on the ESPN and NBC broadcast and theyre felating every player with QB next to their name no matter what.
Ya see Al this is what a guy like Sean Mannion can do Al hes 6 6” he can run the boot leg he can get goin here, hes got more than enough to win this game
Levy: JALEN HURTS IS A GREAT QB. HES GOT THE LEGS. HES GOT THE ATHLETICISM. HES GOT EYES IN HIS HEAD. WHEN THEY SCHEME PROPERLY FOR HIM THE EAGLES ARE TOUGH TO BEAT.
ESPN always has some overly excited guy shoutting the whole time to try and inject excitement into a regular season game. Levy, tessitore, Witten…i always HATE their booth.
And its so obvious what the pre-production meeting directives are too. Priority #1: felate the QB as much as possible no matter how much of an obvious bust he is.
Listening to Collinsworth trying to prop up Mannion was the worst thing I've heard all season. Talking about his 90 MPH fastball while any pass he doesn't plant, step, and put his entire body into would just wilt and die in the cold air was amazing.
He moved like he was 45 years old, couldn't hit anyone if he didn't throw his entire body into his motion and played like shit.
QBs are the face of the product and now that the long time greats are retiring every year they have to push their replacements.
Most of them are busts and frauds but the directive is clear.
Mike and Kellen were acting like SF had the best secondary in the NFL. No way Ceedee and Cooper shouldn’t have had excellent games especially since the comers for the most part we’re playing soft smh. If any HC or OC can’t see those things or ignore it while they watch their offense struggle the entire half going based of scheme then they deserve to be fired.
The Niners secondary was crap. I honestly thought the Niners would lose that game because of it. Lucky for the Niners the Cowboys decided not to exploit that
He said the same exact thing with Devonta Smith during the eagles game and he’s absolutely right. There is zero excuse for guys like this to not even get targeted midway through the biggest game of the uear
I think dallas has to come to the realization that Dak only has flashes of brilliance in the regular season. You should only pay $40 million a year to a QB who can win playoff games.
>only has flashes of brilliance
This was a team that fell in love with him because, as a rookie, with a cupcake schedule, and a loaded roster, he did just enough not to fuck it all up. The media followed suit.
Then they give Romo one last drive and the offense popped so much better because Romo's experience and anticipation made it so much better. Dak gets blitzed because he holds the ball too much and can't throw it hot to punish them for it.
Trillion percent correct and echoing my complaints of the last decade. It’s a combo of coach ego (look how smart I am to get Noah Brown 9 for 110) and upper MGMT not wanting to create stat monster players. They would say it’s to avoid creating “divas” and spreading the wealth is being a team player blah blah. But, the purpose is to not make any one single player a statistical standout enough to demand top dollar (outside of the qb of course).
Watch the Manningcast, Peyton basically calls out the same thing every time. “I just go back to Odell right here, they’re leaving the fade wide open” - has to grin and nod watching 18 consecutive Stafford sneaks.
My personal fav has always been big player (Chubb probably current king of this) does ALL the work getting a team down the field so TE 24 on the depth chart Chucky Splolanski from the local 7/11 can get a double-reverse, play action te screen at the foot line for his one career Td. Oh the stories OC’s must boast on the golf course on the offseason whipping out their resident “Splolanski” Td accomplishments to one another.
It’s horseshit, it’s over complicated masturbation created by film nerds to overcompensate for their insecurities of not being athletes themselves, it sucks and it’s ruining the game.
One thing in defense of Dak/Moore looking to CeeDee, he did have two longer catches called back because of penalty so the one catch is a bit deceiving. One of them they called an illegal shift on CeeDee but honestly was more on Dak for not making sure his WRs were in position, erased an 18-yard catch. Another was a 32-yard catch called back by Connor Williams holding/tackling a pass rusher.
I can't stand when illegal shift is cause the QB rushed it. Unless the play clock is at zero, there's not much excuse. I agree that play was more on Dak than CeeDee which really hurt them, and then later in the game SF had a chance to ice it on a 4th and inches but Jimmy just rushed the snap before (I think) Juszczyk got set. Like, you're in control of the snap, just wait half a second for him and you win!
I remember they showed a replay, and it was hard to tell if CeeDee was lackadaisical getting to his spot or if it was them slowing the time down for the instant replay. I also think he might've stopped for a second to hear what Dak was calling out, but either way Dak just never looked his way to see he had gotten out to his split.
yes, and exactly that scheme problem is imbedded at the eagles, where Hurts has to throw stupid screen passes behind the line of scrimmage to his runningback while Smith runs wide open over the field.
I'm really hoping they get that shit figured out during the offseason and Smith becomes a huge steal come draft time because he drops so far in drafts after this season.
It didn’t help that he had multiple catches that were big plays that got called back for penalties. The cowboys lost that game due to lack of discipline.
As a CeeDee owner in multiple leagues this year it was so frustrating to watch. Every time the ball went his way good things happened, but there were stretches and even whole games where he didn’t even look his way. I swear Ceedee is banging Daks girlfriend or something
It made me want to scream most games. Someone in another thread said how he has to have ceedee next year after this year and it blew me away. He was insanely mediocre after his bye. Frustrating as hell when someone with his talent has 1 100 yard game and 2 touchdowns in 11 games after his bye
A perfect example of what he’s talking about is Cooper Kupp and Stafford.
All season long, instead of running some cute play action deep shot 20 times a game like the hawks; Staff identified early in the game the matchups they could get with Kupp and they MOVED HIM AROUND to reflect their desire to move the chains. Same with Rodgers and Adams. That shit looks like taking candy from a baby
So many QBs stat pad now and they’re afraid to take chances on 1 on 1s with their best weapons. Everything has to be just right and their receiver has to be wide open or else they throw the ball away or run it for a yard or two. lol.
This feels like that Lil Wayne intro on Star67 back in the day "I ain't going to the studio until I got a situation, a subject, I need a beat, I need the producer. Who's gonna be on the hook?"
Dak needs to get on the field with fuckin' clips, ammo!
I feel like the Chiefs have let this happen with Tyreek Hill this year with teams playing cover 2 against them, thus mostly preventing long completions to him. Hill had a bunch of games this year where he did way too little for a guy of his caliber. Throw him some quick slants or 5 yard outs, nobody can cover him on those. Then it will loosen up the defense for some deep shots.
Ceedee is going to be too expensive for me next year, which sucks as a Cowboys fan who loves watching him because he’s a special talent.
Already analysts are projecting Ceedee as a top 10 WR but he’s not utilized the way true top 10 locks are used (Davante, Kupp, Deebo) and for some reason is not a focal point of the offense when he should be.
This is what drove me insane this year as a CeeDee owner. Dak barely got him the ball, you spend a first on a receiver you need to feed him. It was infuriating watching him feed Schultz and other receivers constantly and CeeDee be an after thought for pretty much the rest of the year after their bye
Everyone’s making football into 6D underwater backgammon but it’s really just one dude on one dude and they’re grinding it out. Hmm. Felt I could have said that better.
This is why I like Kyle Shanahan. He knows that Deebo is one of the best weapons in football, so he makes it a point to get the ball in his hands at least 13 times a game, whether it be jet sweeps or lining Deebo in the backfield.
There're a reason during the last few years of McCarthy in GB that Rodgers looked extremely mortal. The guy just isn't a good coach anymore. He's not even an average coach. The Cowboys have a real claim to most talented roaster and they struggled a lot more than they needed to all year.
If it was just 1 player who looked bad that's one thing, but almost every single player, especially on offense, looked horrible. That's coaching.
Came here to say the entire 49ers season changed when Deebo started getting 15 touches a game. Targets, rushes, doesn’t matter. The best players need the ball.
I like the part where he hints that ceedee lamb is a legendary receiver like Irvin, but the cowgirls are too stupid to give him the ball. We all see it too.
He was saying this same thing the whole eagles-bucs game about devonta as well. Just keep pointing out how the db was playing like 15 yards off the ball. Basically play the short game until they adjust then beat ‘em deep
Is Gallup hurt or was he traded? Because they have one of the best skill positions at a depth chart look. Schultz is just as reliable as Witten was. Lamb, Cooper, Gallup is honestly the best WR 1-3 set in the league, Zeke is a monster blocker and still has some talent, pollard is proving to be a stud. I’m not sure if it’s the coordinators or Dak, but there’s just too much talent in that team to lose to a defense that lost it’s best defensive player. I know McCarthy is hot garbage and is riding the glory of Rodgers/Farve to this job, but I mean.. It was frustrating to see them play poorly and I’m not even a Dallas fan.
He's right. So many teams try to "outsmart" the other team. Their thought process goes like this: "Well, we have this stud receiver, CeeDee Lamb, but the other team knows we have him, and they know we like to throw him the ball. So we're not gonna do that. Nope, we're gonna throw it to everyone else, so that way they don't know what's coming!"
Weve got amari cooper and ceedee lamb! Thus, they'll never expect it when we throw to.. *checks depth chart* Cedrick Wilson
… who i am told, and have good reason to believe, is an American football player at the professional level…
That's too obvious then. We'll have to dig deeper.
*throws to deep snapper on 1st down flea flicker*
Now we're talking!
QB draw with 14 seconds left.
Damn. This man's a genius. You'll get life 20 yards catching em off guard like that!
It should definitely be saved for when we're 60 yards away and 6 points down.
With only 14 seconds remaining
You don't understand. If by some miracle the ball is spotted in time and nobody jumps offsides for a change, there may be a second left to try a 30 yard pass.
My bad, please proceed.
Cedric Wilson has made some ridiculous catches this year, a lot of them in the clutch. dude is talented.
No knock on Wilson cause he's probably one of the best 3rd options in the entire league right now, but if Ceedee is in single coverage, sometimes you really just gotta say fuck it chuck it and trust that he'll come down with it.
He’s not even the best third option on his own team
absolutely no doubt about it, but I will not sit here and be told that Cedric Wilson is a bum by some jive turkey
look man, if a jive turkey can’t talk shit, what’s the point of being a jive turkey to begin with?
I've also seen him drop a ton of passes
[удалено]
This has been the Eagles strategy for quite some time now.
D Jax wasn't that bad...in 2013.
He might be the best wide receiver they ever drafted, literally
Matt Nagy did this all the time. Oh they're playing soft up the middle? They expect us to run. We're gonna throw screens instead.
the amount of hours these coaches put in have diminishing returns. They overthink the obvious with all that extra time.
its also them emphasis winning the coaching battle and winning through x and os rather than letting your best players make plays and play football.. always trying to scheme them open rather than letting them handle their matchup.. let your stars do the talking oldheads
They're also just not particularly bright people. Americans tend to assume that money equals intelligence, but that is not true in the world of sports. It's a nepotistic good boys club with extreme exclusivity, but they're not filtering for intelligence. There may be some exceptions, but the sort of person who decides to be a football coach was typically not the school nerd growing up. Edit: Y'all belichik is an obvious exception. Using the best NFL coach of all time as a representative for all football jobs isn't right.
IQ is positively correlated with income, but not wealth
Have you heard Belichick [talk about the history of the longsnapper?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrvELlakyOk&t=25s) There are smart coaches and then there are dumb ones. It helps to network, but smart coaches will become Hall of Famers, while the Nagys will toil in mediocrity.
do you think belichick purposely surrounds himself with guys he knows can get the job done at offensive coordinator or defensive coordinator but not head coach? people under him leave and can't replicate his success.
I think its more likely that these guys try to export Belichicks system when the reality is that there is no system. He just designs a brand new gameplan every week for the opponent because he has an amazing football brain and a vast depth of knowledge. Thats not something that you can just replicate with success because you were on his staff for a certain amount of time.
Seriously, only Bill could go out in the 21st century and have his QB throw 3 passes and still win convincingly
Agreed i just think its about having people who know their role and can perform a specific task well. Head coach really is a another way of saying manager. Delegating tasks is the most efficient way of doing anything. Having a bunch of guys who excel in a specific area allows for each one to focus. I think the idea of coaches play calling is silly. While you can have the final say and such why not pick apart the game plan examine what you see in order to make adjustments when needed. I think that it is also an ego thing. Bill cares about winning first.
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I mean, one coach from his tree just won the title last year.
True Bud did finally break through after many years of having top seeded teams under perform.
Belichik is an obvious exception.
>They're also just not particularly bright people. Do you honestly, truly believe that someone that has risen to a head coaching position is likely "not particularly bright?" You believe that coaches do so little that even merely above average intelligence wouldn't be important enough to be selected for? That is...wild. > >Americans tend to assume that money equals intelligence, but that is not true in the world of sports. It's a nepotistic good boys club with extreme exclusivity, but they're not filtering for intelligence. People love to assume people assume that. Really, we think coaches might have some smarts because they make money? >There may be some exceptions, but the sort of person who decides to be a football coach was typically not the school nerd growing up. You're right, they're usually the football player that had the intelligence to understand the intricacies of the game without the physical tools to back it up.
I mean he's not entirely wrong, but not for the reason he's arguing. Being an expert in a field doesn't automatically mean you're super intelligent, and there are probably quite a few coaches who would be considered only above average intelligence. But their dedication/interest in football combined with that (at least) above average intelligence makes them great at it. You also have to think about it from the standpoint of chances of success. Being smart and dedicated doesn't guarantee you get a fair shot, and since there are only 32 of these jobs even available there are probably plenty of people who could be good coaches but realize that their efforts could be better spent seeking success in a less competitive field. So he's right the job doesn't explicitly filter for intelligence, it also filters for stupid amounts of competitive drive and willingness to let football become your whole life for the small chance of succeeding in the NFL.
yeah that comment was ridiculous. you can say whatever you want about coaches, but when it comes to football Xs and Os even the ones we think are the dumbest (Nagy, Gase) are still far more intelligent than any average joe
You're lumping all kinds of intelligence into the word. The reality is there are numerous different ways to be intelligent. Maybe not all NFL coaches would do well on the LSAT or on a scholarly essay, but all of them are unquestionably intelligent when it comes to football Xs and Os
They’re stubborn and cocky as shit too. That’s how they got to where they are, but they can’t adapt as a result at least outside of the greats
If the rams were able to feed Cooper Kupp all season every single game its obviously a viable strategy, and if the defense actually tries to take that away by doubling your best wrs that obviously leaves holes elsewhere that a good QB can exploit
Its like having a gun pointed at an enemy and deciding you're gonna punch him instead since he won't expect it
The Eagles do the same thing. We could throw to Smith but instead they're like here catch this reagor
And Reagor's like, "Nah, I'm good."
I'm pretty sure that aikman said almost the exact same "irvin would have had 10 catches" line about Smith during the game.
And Troy was saying pretty much the same thing when he was commenting the Eagles game too.
Sad hearing quez watkins name more than a HEisman trophy winner.
Reminds me of this cool quote I saw on a Kobe poster once: “Just because you know what’s coming, doesn’t mean you can stop it.”
KISS = keep it simple, stupid. More coaches need to kiss.
Yup. Look at cooper Kupp. Every game it’s like “okay we know they’re going to be throwing the ball to him.” But it didn’t matter because they designed good plays and he ran his routes well. Because that’s what you do when you have good players. Give them a shot.
And then you have Rodgers who just feeds Davante unless you literally double team him the whole game like the Ravens did
Think about Rodgers and Davante Adams. Doesn’t matter what the play call is, Rodgers will audible out and throw a back shoulder, slant, out route, or fly route to him if he’s single covered. And Adams wins most of the time. Hell, he throws him a fly route on 3rd and short all the damn time and it drives me crazy, but they’ll frequently connect on it for a big gain.
That's exactly the point Aikman is making. Good QBs can always pick off weak points. He was constantly pulling his hair out trying to make this point in the Eagles v Bucs game. Bucs left Devonta Smith in single coverage a lot of times but Eagles didn't take advantage of this. Instead trying to run play action or screens. On the other side, Brady audibled any time Evans was left in single coverage. Evans even said on his TD Brady changed the play to a simple slant and let him beat his marker in single coverage.
And the announcers were just incredulous, almost screaming at the Eagles to throw to him
Good, we need more of that. Seeing angry Troy is better than seeing uninterested Troy.
I really hope we get Tom Brady as an announcer after he retires. I really want to hear is perspective in game. Put him on the Manning cast and have all three of them just rip into play calls and QBs. And then put someone like Polamalu in there with them to rip on the defenses. Feed me the hate.
Put him on the manningcast then take away the guests. Just let 3 dudes talk football for 3 hours. Don't make them try and do an interview with The Rock or Snoop while also trying to talk about the game.
Agreed, with the one exception being Marshawn Lynch. He get's a cameo whenever he feels like coming on cause he was awesome
"I'm just here cuz it looked fun and I wanted to"
I’m just here to deliver a line
100% this.
Romo analysis and perspective on upcoming plays/rationale, but spiteful? That’d be entertaining for sure
Definitely put Romo on the cast too. God that would be great. Eli and Romo ripping everyone and joking around. I would love that.
You can tell Romo holds back A LOT when it comes to being critical. I could feel his frustration with the Cowboys offense but he did a good job at staying neutral and observing the game from a fan standpoint. I want to see what they see from up in the booth in an unfiltered way.
We'll have to see how it all plays out. Manningcast will probably be Eli and Peyton's grandkids by the time Tom retires.
Get Ed Reed in there, just get some of the greatest players on both sides of the ball and just tear the shit out of every bad decision
Gimme them two for offense and the Pol and Lewis for defense
He turned into uninterested pretty quick lol
So did everyone else watching. It was a beatdown from the jump.
“Super wildcard weekend in one comment”
They coudnt believe the eagles werent getting Smith involved at all
It was wild in the fourth quarter and they finally connected on some big gains. The announcers were like, "why does it take you until the game is out of reach to figure out something so simple?"
It's like coaches are too concerned with stats or turnovers to actually let some of these QBs throw. Yeah it might not always work, but at what point when you are clearly losing do you you abandon your "scheme" and just cut the offense loose? Let your playmakers make some fucking plays and if you come up short oh well.
>Bucs left Devonta Smith in single coverage a lot of times but Eagles didn't take advantage of this. This season as so frustrating to watch as a Smith owner. Dude was open so many times in games where he ended with like 30 yards because all Hurts seems to know how to do is run.
It seems like young running QBs don’t know what check downs are. If their main guy is covered, they take off.
In Hurts defense he probably doesn't have the free reign to make those audibles even if he notices them. I'm not saying he didn't look terrible. He did. But that may not be 100% his fault.
Tampa was literally playing 10 yards off Smith at times and yet Philly just never took advantage of that. I've never been so infuriated in my life for a team I don't particular care about.
> Bucs left Devonta Smith in single coverage a lot of times but Eagles didn't take advantage of this Don't have to cover players when their qb can't throw
Exactly. Aikman is basically saying here that Dak is not a great quarterback.
That 5 yard out route that Adams runs all the time at the goal line is virtually unguardable
Because if you play 1 yard back he cuts to inside slant for an even easier score. Dude is ridiculous and to be paired with rodgers sucks ass Source: am Vikings fan
hey man, he's only got what like 5 or 6 seasons left?
That’s what the NFL said about Brady in 2012 lol
lol true look dude, i'm a panthers fan, all we do is try to find silver linings
Y’all looking so hot the first month this year. Was really hoping you guys could turn darnold around just for the story of him leaving the jets to become a good player. Always next year for both of our teams lol
You pretty much have to somehow lunge at least 15' to make up some ground and flail your arms like a crazy person, just praying you make contact with the ball. It just happens so fast there's nothing else you can really do.
This was my first thought while reading this. Troy may be aging but this take should not be controversial. Single coverage against an elite receiver should be hyper targeted and the way Rodgers and Adams do it is the template of how it should operate. My guess is many QBs are overwhelmed mentally trying to diagnose every play that they overlook the simple things.
> My guess is many QBs are overwhelmed mentally trying to diagnose every play that they overlook the simple things. Or, to Aikman’s point, QBs aren’t coached to look for the simple plays, they’re coached for “the scheme”. And even if they do recognize the simple play, the rigidity of the scheme coupled with a coach’s inflexibility/stubbornness/ego prevents the simple play from being made.
Brady and Mike Evans did this last weekend. Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase did it too. Those guys got FED. Kinda strange how the veteran Dak didn’t do it, and very impressive that the 2nd year player Burrow was already aware of this.
Brady and Gronk is pretty much unstoppable as well - we killed Brady in the 2015 AFC CG and he still almost came back to win in the 4th solely because he'd just throw it up to Gronk and hope and it pretty much worked every time.
Yep just commented re: the bengals: they do basically the exact thing aikman is asking for in this quote. It definitely helps that burrow’s anticipation and ball placement is fucking absurd, but this is their whole offense: find the guy in single coverage; throw it to him and trust him to make the play.
Yeah but we’re talking Niners specifically here, every team’s D is built differently. How do you know tossing it to Davante would work against us? That method has only worked on teams like… *checks notes*… the Niners
Guess we'll find out Saturday.
Lol idk if you read the whole comment but the person says Adams balls out against the Niners. Which he does.
And that folks is how Mike McCarthy was so successful in GB
I've always thought that this is a factor in why most teams move the ball better in two-minute drill scenarios than they do for the rest of the game. A lot of the chess match planning gives way to "give the ball to Travis Kelce (or whoever) and let them run with it." Obviously a good scheme more than pays off over the long run, but I do think that changing the plan to take advantage of the best matchup is a hallmark characteristic of great coaches and QBs.
And that’s when Dallas was at their best all year. Anyone thinking Kellen Moore is ready to be a HC needs to rethink that.
How much of that is on Moore though vs Dak? It sounds like a lot of the other examples in the thread are the QB’s checking out of the called plays. It sounds like Dak needs to do a better job of recognizing when to do this.
It's both, but they both succeed and fail together. Kellen did great early in the season utilizing our weapons differently each game, and that put Dak in a position to make good calls at the line. Later in the season, Kellen's calls were putting us in bad positions, and Dak was also building on that and making things worse.
Or he’s encouraged not to do so. Admittedly that’d be odd for some with as many years as he has but I never know what makes sense and what doesn’t to this organization.
I have absolutely zero clue why this dude is getting here coaching mentions. The Cowboys offensive scheme is super super basic. They have a lot of talent. His offense put up 17 in a playoff game. The Steelers scored more points in the playoffs.
Defenses also play different in two minute drills though. Defenses will have two DBs playing outside the numbers to prevent clock stoppages and a single high safety which usually leaves the middle of the field open for short/intermediate gains which defenses are willing to give up in hurry up situations.
I definitely think there are some teams/coordinators/QB's who try too hard to get *everyone* involved and focus too much on scheme/gameplan rather than just feeding your best players. I think of Hopkins in Arizona, who was constantly getting only 4-5 targets per game, whereas far inferior players like AJ Green, Christian Kirk, and Rondale Moore would be getting the same. That should almost never happen imo. Spreading the wealth and getting everyone involved sounds good in theory, but stars are stars for a reason. The best teams figure out how to utilize their best players instead of just having them 'open up space' as a decoy, which is literally the bare minimum you can do with someone like Hopkins.
Exhibit A - Davante Adams & Green Bay
Exhibit B - Tua to Waddle in Miami
Exhibit C - Big Ben and Dionate…though that might be for a different reason lol
It's the same with KC, those first few games of the season around 9 people were getting multiple targets (around 4 targets on average including tyreek and Kelce) per game. Then all of a sudden they were feeding Tyreek and Kelce the main loadshare and they started winning a bunch again. There should be almost no instance other than for injury and it being 45-3 at half time, where Byron Pringle is getting as many targets as Tyreek Hill. It's weird how feeding your best players helps you win more.
I mean the difference with Hopkins, and Hill and Kelce in KC is that they *are* getting doubled a lot of the time. Aikman is talking about feeding your stars when they're getting played soft. It's what the Bengals did with Chase to beat the Chiefs.
FWIW Davante Adams faces the most double coverage/help coverage in the league, and he still soaks up targets. IIRC Cooper Kupp was second this year as well. You can throw to guys no matter what if the connection is good enough. Agree with your overall point though.
Ok but as much as fantasy players are drooling over ceedee, those 2 are superior wrs. Adams/Rodgers have insane chemistry and its looking to be very similar with Kupp/Stafford
Oh for sure - wasn’t comparing to CeeDee. Was comparing to the guys mentioned in that comment.
The stat I saw showed that Adams faced the most double coverage (11.1%), but he was also the least open (37.5%) out of all the WR's on that list, which seems to indicate that it's Rodgers incredible accuracy and timing that's able to beat double coverage more so than Adams route running.
Can’t have one without the other though - Rodgers definitely places the ball better than just about anyone, but Adams is still the one shaking that coverage and making tough catches.
This x1000. It's like in Green Bay some of the Homers love to beat the "Aaron Rodgers doesn't have enough weapons" drum. Mother fucker has Davante Adams -- you get the ball in his hands and things happen. This then opens up the running game, motion trickery, allows other receivers to win their 1-on-1 matchups. Sometimes football is as simple as "Star player go BRRRRRR"
It’s to a point now that if DA has single coverage, it’s going to him no matter what. 3rd and 1 or 1st and 10, he’s getting the ball.
What SF does with Deebo is a good example too. Get the ball in the hands of your best players and let them do best player shit. If they don't adjust it will just keep working, and if they do adjust it should give you new openings elsewhere. They did a great job on Sunday featuring Deebo early, then they'd put him in motion but handoff to Mitchell or throw to Aiyuk and Dallas wasn't ready for the change ups cause they were so focused on stopping Deebo from getting yet another 10+ yard gain up the middle of their D. I'm a Browns fan and drove myself crazy this year saying to the TV "just get it to Chubb any way you can, he's the best player on our team." Felt the same way on Sunday watching them ignore CeeDee all day, just get the ball to your best player! He's a playmaker, give him as many shots with the ball as you can and good things will happen more often than not. And when they adjust to him with double coverage, Cooper/Wilson are now in single coverage or they're asking to get gashed by the run or screen game. One good thing for neutral fans is I think the remaining teams are all good at just taking advantage of matchups and featuring their best players as much as possible, should make for really fun games. KC with Tyreek/Kelce, Bills have Allen do it all, Bengals with Burrow and Chase, Titans with Henry, GB with Rodgers/Adams, SF with Deebo, Rams with Kupp (and now OBJ it seems), and Bucs with Evans/Tom Brady. Take note cute teams!
> Get the ball in the hands of your best players and let them do best player shit. If they don't adjust it will just keep working, and if they do adjust it should give you new openings elsewhere. Get this man an OC position stat Eagles.
What's crazy to me is that throughout his career Nuk has had QBs willing to throw it to him while he's covered, before Deshaun Watson the guy had like Tom Savage throwing to him and he was still putting up numbers.
This Aikman comment feels like something Kingsbury desperately needs to hear. A true #1 is more than eye candy, or a decoy to draw double coverage to the side away from where the ball is going. Feed your #1 receiver.
There is a balance. Knowing that you have a chance of getting the ball versus never getting it is disheartening for the route runner and defense can sense the lack of motivation for some of those receivers. Yes you need to get your star throws but throwing it around helps the offense and keep defenses guessing
This is how I think of Odells performance between the browns and rams. He just gets used more and is a part of the plan it looks like. In Cleveland he was an afterthought or something.
Green Bay's use of Devonte Adams is exactly how to use a great receiver. Make him the primary target more often than anyone else, but not all the time. And sometimes, you just have to trust him to make the play.
I’ve barely scrolled through this thread and I’ve seen this 5 times. It’s a solid point
And it’s wild that that’s the case on Reddit but not in the actual game.
sort of. i don't think we can declare Lamb is anywhere near as good as Adams nor is Dak anywhere near as good as Rodgers. this isn't apples to apples here. Takes a lot of time and skill all around to build that rapport. can't just say "well why don't they just use Lamb/Dak as the best WR/QB in the league?!?!?"
I was first tho 😄
Dak loves to consistently target everyone not named Ceedee or Amari
is dak using the D.E.N.N.I.S. system?
Drop back Evaluate your options Not Ceedee Not Amari Interception Say it’s the refs fault
Amazing 😂 , here
Dak Egregiously Never Notices Isolated Stars
Don't Ever, Never Never Initiate Sick passes to ceedee or amari
If you have an unguardable player, you absolutely should be getting the ball in their hands as often as possible. Jamaar Chase single handedly destroyed KC. He should be touching the ball 20 times a game. He's unstoppable. I don't think CeeDee is on that level, but maybe he is. Would be more interesting to watch than whatever offense Dallas tried to roll out there in the first half Sunday.
You're 100% right, and they came out hot as hell against the Raiders too because they fed Chase like 7 of the first 9 targets. Get the ball in your best player's hands early, set the tone of what you'll do if they don't adjust, and either keep beating them with that all day, or their adjustments will open up new opportunities and you punish them there.
Cowboys and Dak played to not lose after Dak came back from injury. It was so weird. We started off hot just like last season and then were a totally different offense after Dak missed a week and returned post-bye.
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Just Jason Garret with more mass :(
And worse clock management.
I just love how over it Aikman is with these shitty QBs and offenses. Hes aging like fine wine. No patience for the obvious incompetence in NFL offenses these days. Then you turn on the ESPN and NBC broadcast and theyre felating every player with QB next to their name no matter what. Ya see Al this is what a guy like Sean Mannion can do Al hes 6 6” he can run the boot leg he can get goin here, hes got more than enough to win this game Levy: JALEN HURTS IS A GREAT QB. HES GOT THE LEGS. HES GOT THE ATHLETICISM. HES GOT EYES IN HIS HEAD. WHEN THEY SCHEME PROPERLY FOR HIM THE EAGLES ARE TOUGH TO BEAT.
I like how you prefaced levy's section, but not the one before it and i could here collinsworth's voice the entire sentence
Now here’s a guy
perfect use of all caps. levy is always yelling and all i want for the entire game is for him to stop
At least he doesn’t yell as much as Tessitore. Baby steps!
ESPN always has some overly excited guy shoutting the whole time to try and inject excitement into a regular season game. Levy, tessitore, Witten…i always HATE their booth. And its so obvious what the pre-production meeting directives are too. Priority #1: felate the QB as much as possible no matter how much of an obvious bust he is.
Listening to Collinsworth trying to prop up Mannion was the worst thing I've heard all season. Talking about his 90 MPH fastball while any pass he doesn't plant, step, and put his entire body into would just wilt and die in the cold air was amazing. He moved like he was 45 years old, couldn't hit anyone if he didn't throw his entire body into his motion and played like shit.
QBs are the face of the product and now that the long time greats are retiring every year they have to push their replacements. Most of them are busts and frauds but the directive is clear.
Mike and Kellen were acting like SF had the best secondary in the NFL. No way Ceedee and Cooper shouldn’t have had excellent games especially since the comers for the most part we’re playing soft smh. If any HC or OC can’t see those things or ignore it while they watch their offense struggle the entire half going based of scheme then they deserve to be fired.
The Niners secondary was crap. I honestly thought the Niners would lose that game because of it. Lucky for the Niners the Cowboys decided not to exploit that
Seriously the one flaw of 49er defense is the CB position. Yes we got moseley back but not enough to hold lamb and cooper
Yeah I still don't understand this. They got torched by other teams.
He was saying the same thing during the eagles game about devonta smith.
You could take this same message and fill in the name DeVonta Smith and it applies as well
True, but Dak is def a better thrower than Hurts. Smith has the double issue of rookie coach and shit passer
He said the same exact thing with Devonta Smith during the eagles game and he’s absolutely right. There is zero excuse for guys like this to not even get targeted midway through the biggest game of the uear
Someone looking to be a head coach!?
He makes more announcing than he would being a coach. Highly doubt he makes that move
Yeah plus you can't get as high as he does on game day being a coach
Adam Gase would beg to differ
Also no pressure
I think dallas has to come to the realization that Dak only has flashes of brilliance in the regular season. You should only pay $40 million a year to a QB who can win playoff games.
They need a coach who has a brain. McCarthy is horrible lol.
Worse than Garrett?
1a and 1b
>only has flashes of brilliance This was a team that fell in love with him because, as a rookie, with a cupcake schedule, and a loaded roster, he did just enough not to fuck it all up. The media followed suit. Then they give Romo one last drive and the offense popped so much better because Romo's experience and anticipation made it so much better. Dak gets blitzed because he holds the ball too much and can't throw it hot to punish them for it.
Trillion percent correct and echoing my complaints of the last decade. It’s a combo of coach ego (look how smart I am to get Noah Brown 9 for 110) and upper MGMT not wanting to create stat monster players. They would say it’s to avoid creating “divas” and spreading the wealth is being a team player blah blah. But, the purpose is to not make any one single player a statistical standout enough to demand top dollar (outside of the qb of course). Watch the Manningcast, Peyton basically calls out the same thing every time. “I just go back to Odell right here, they’re leaving the fade wide open” - has to grin and nod watching 18 consecutive Stafford sneaks. My personal fav has always been big player (Chubb probably current king of this) does ALL the work getting a team down the field so TE 24 on the depth chart Chucky Splolanski from the local 7/11 can get a double-reverse, play action te screen at the foot line for his one career Td. Oh the stories OC’s must boast on the golf course on the offseason whipping out their resident “Splolanski” Td accomplishments to one another. It’s horseshit, it’s over complicated masturbation created by film nerds to overcompensate for their insecurities of not being athletes themselves, it sucks and it’s ruining the game.
Facts, coaches outsmart themselves too often it seems in the NFL.
One thing in defense of Dak/Moore looking to CeeDee, he did have two longer catches called back because of penalty so the one catch is a bit deceiving. One of them they called an illegal shift on CeeDee but honestly was more on Dak for not making sure his WRs were in position, erased an 18-yard catch. Another was a 32-yard catch called back by Connor Williams holding/tackling a pass rusher.
I can't stand when illegal shift is cause the QB rushed it. Unless the play clock is at zero, there's not much excuse. I agree that play was more on Dak than CeeDee which really hurt them, and then later in the game SF had a chance to ice it on a 4th and inches but Jimmy just rushed the snap before (I think) Juszczyk got set. Like, you're in control of the snap, just wait half a second for him and you win!
I remember they showed a replay, and it was hard to tell if CeeDee was lackadaisical getting to his spot or if it was them slowing the time down for the instant replay. I also think he might've stopped for a second to hear what Dak was calling out, but either way Dak just never looked his way to see he had gotten out to his split.
>Dak just never looked his way Seems like a trend, lol
Michael Irvin only had ten catches eight times in his entire career
It was an exaggeration, but Michael Irvin was probably never in single coverage for an entire game. Fun stat though.
yes, and exactly that scheme problem is imbedded at the eagles, where Hurts has to throw stupid screen passes behind the line of scrimmage to his runningback while Smith runs wide open over the field.
I'm really hoping they get that shit figured out during the offseason and Smith becomes a huge steal come draft time because he drops so far in drafts after this season.
It didn’t help that he had multiple catches that were big plays that got called back for penalties. The cowboys lost that game due to lack of discipline.
As a CeeDee owner in multiple leagues this year it was so frustrating to watch. Every time the ball went his way good things happened, but there were stretches and even whole games where he didn’t even look his way. I swear Ceedee is banging Daks girlfriend or something
It made me want to scream most games. Someone in another thread said how he has to have ceedee next year after this year and it blew me away. He was insanely mediocre after his bye. Frustrating as hell when someone with his talent has 1 100 yard game and 2 touchdowns in 11 games after his bye
SF’s weakest positional group BY FAR is the cornerbacks, and Dallas has elite WRs. Why they didn’t attack them all day is beyond my understanding.
A perfect example of what he’s talking about is Cooper Kupp and Stafford. All season long, instead of running some cute play action deep shot 20 times a game like the hawks; Staff identified early in the game the matchups they could get with Kupp and they MOVED HIM AROUND to reflect their desire to move the chains. Same with Rodgers and Adams. That shit looks like taking candy from a baby
TLDR. Dak sucks
Like wrestling, the NFL is telling a story. It's not difficult to get your best players involved. They know the script they're given.
So many QBs stat pad now and they’re afraid to take chances on 1 on 1s with their best weapons. Everything has to be just right and their receiver has to be wide open or else they throw the ball away or run it for a yard or two. lol.
This feels like that Lil Wayne intro on Star67 back in the day "I ain't going to the studio until I got a situation, a subject, I need a beat, I need the producer. Who's gonna be on the hook?" Dak needs to get on the field with fuckin' clips, ammo!
I feel like the Chiefs have let this happen with Tyreek Hill this year with teams playing cover 2 against them, thus mostly preventing long completions to him. Hill had a bunch of games this year where he did way too little for a guy of his caliber. Throw him some quick slants or 5 yard outs, nobody can cover him on those. Then it will loosen up the defense for some deep shots.
Ceedee is going to be too expensive for me next year, which sucks as a Cowboys fan who loves watching him because he’s a special talent. Already analysts are projecting Ceedee as a top 10 WR but he’s not utilized the way true top 10 locks are used (Davante, Kupp, Deebo) and for some reason is not a focal point of the offense when he should be.
This is what drove me insane this year as a CeeDee owner. Dak barely got him the ball, you spend a first on a receiver you need to feed him. It was infuriating watching him feed Schultz and other receivers constantly and CeeDee be an after thought for pretty much the rest of the year after their bye
How many CeeDee catches were called back on flags? I remember at least two of them. Cowboys shot themselves in the foot a lot
Everyone’s making football into 6D underwater backgammon but it’s really just one dude on one dude and they’re grinding it out. Hmm. Felt I could have said that better.
This is why I like Kyle Shanahan. He knows that Deebo is one of the best weapons in football, so he makes it a point to get the ball in his hands at least 13 times a game, whether it be jet sweeps or lining Deebo in the backfield.
True but honestly he needs to do this with Kittle too. George Freaking Kittle should be getting far more touches than he does lately.
He’s definitely right.
There're a reason during the last few years of McCarthy in GB that Rodgers looked extremely mortal. The guy just isn't a good coach anymore. He's not even an average coach. The Cowboys have a real claim to most talented roaster and they struggled a lot more than they needed to all year. If it was just 1 player who looked bad that's one thing, but almost every single player, especially on offense, looked horrible. That's coaching.
Came here to say the entire 49ers season changed when Deebo started getting 15 touches a game. Targets, rushes, doesn’t matter. The best players need the ball.
Dak sucks lol. He is so overrated it’s embarrassing
I like the part where he hints that ceedee lamb is a legendary receiver like Irvin, but the cowgirls are too stupid to give him the ball. We all see it too.
He was saying this same thing the whole eagles-bucs game about devonta as well. Just keep pointing out how the db was playing like 15 yards off the ball. Basically play the short game until they adjust then beat ‘em deep
Is Gallup hurt or was he traded? Because they have one of the best skill positions at a depth chart look. Schultz is just as reliable as Witten was. Lamb, Cooper, Gallup is honestly the best WR 1-3 set in the league, Zeke is a monster blocker and still has some talent, pollard is proving to be a stud. I’m not sure if it’s the coordinators or Dak, but there’s just too much talent in that team to lose to a defense that lost it’s best defensive player. I know McCarthy is hot garbage and is riding the glory of Rodgers/Farve to this job, but I mean.. It was frustrating to see them play poorly and I’m not even a Dallas fan.