I hope I don't get beaten up over this, but I have been thinking about this a lot. I like to study "the mind", specifically, the power of the subconscious. I think on all of the INTs, Darnold had some kind of outlet/check down, but he did not have the situational awareness to see these other options right next to him. Anyone would be a fool to think that his previous game against the Rams was not "on his mind" - how could it not be? People have been talking about it for almost a year: the Darnold "narrative". I am sure that on the conscious level, he was confident and told himself that this certainly would not happen again, but at the *subconscious* level, there was this script written that his conscious mind could not override. Some might call it a mental block, or the narrative, or whatever, but what happens is the mind goes into overdrive and the subconscious takes over the conscious (because it's more powerful) - that's why he wasn't aware of the much simpler solutions right next to him - he simply could not see them. Have you ever heard the saying, "so angry you couldn't see?". This is kind of what happens - this subconscious theme takes over, and he literally is not aware/conscious of the situation and the other options at hand. Now, the subconscious can be trained, but it's not as easy as saying, I'm not going to do that again. He needs to change the subconscious script and create a new one. Identifying it is the first step, but for some people, this is difficult because they don't THINK it exists (pride, disbelief in anything too "woo-woo or "I'm a big strong athlete", etc.). But truly, the subconscious is a powerful thing and is the creative source of all things, good or bad. The flip side of this is when you hear, "the game slows down" for some athletes and they are in "the zone". Their subconscious script is one of performance at the highest level. I hope Sam has the opportunity to dig deeper into his psyche and write a new story! He is truly respected and loved by his teammates in his new home. Apologies for waxing psychological/spiritual. :)
I also thought that Darnold threw to many passes into double coverage (tight windows)when he had available check down options. He has, until this game, gotten away with it but the Rams are way to good on D to get away with it...and it cost them. The coaches and players will watch the film and, I'm sure, there will be some changes made. I'm disappointed in the loss and believe we will beat them next time. Go Hawks!!!
Zabel will both get a rest after a grueling 10 games and let his body heal back to 100%. It is good we'll get a measure of what the Ready Guys bring. Take the week, Big Guy.
Hard to say about Zabel. Seems more positive today but Coach Mac also said “still looking through fog of the game”. A positive is that Haynes, like Olu, was ready. Negative, Haynes pushing AB may be delayed.
I just gotta say...twice Sam gets picked this year while CK is getting interfered with. One defender will take CK out and another will swoop in for the pick. I understand the officials eyes are distracted but come on...
Spoon got two bullshit calls against him that any other player would not have gotten, IMO and it seems the refs are looking for Spoon's number way too often. There were so many PI calls that were missed, or let go, on the Rams.
I save my comments until Monday because space to process is always good.
This Defense is L-E-G-I-T! They gave the Rams nothing, only being let down by too many short fields. Stafford again didn't throw a pick, because we just gave him so few hints at a big pass play, the Rams just went 'nope, not gonna get suckered into that' and played some pretty insipid football out of necessity. We're long past expecting Mafe/Hall/whoever to emerge as a powerful threat, but Nuwosu is doing his damndest!
The Offense is A-R-G-H! Too many of Darnolds picks were just plain awful, off-base off-balance throws to nothing. Get your sh*t together Sam, as you did on basically every other throw in the game. Sacks are not necessarily worse than Interceptions, sometimes you gotta know when to take the hit (or at least throw the ball where it can't be caught by anyone). Outside of the picks, it was mostly there. Still issues completing drives, to really push for a Superbowl we need to turn at least one more drive per game into a TD, and two or three into clock eating, territorial drives forcing exits from inside the 20. But it's so almost there. The Run is there, the WR's are there, the TE's are there and the Line is basically there. Just got to get over the final hurdles.
To lose by a missed 61yd FG against "the best team in the NFC" when you throw 4-picks. FTR, they cannot be the best team in the NFC if they allow a 4-pick opponent to be ontop all over the field all game long - outside of those picks. Hopefully everyone is having a painful sitdown today and stern talking to. Come back next week, dunk on the Titans, and regroup down the stretch when the sh*t gets serious. From here on out there is no margin for error so I want to see the 'Hawks go from mostly-good to just good.
My guess before the game was that we'd get punched in the face. I just didn't think the blows would be self-inflicted.
So it goes.
Darnold had a bad game and we still almost won.
It's a three-game series if we're going to the Super Bowl, and if we're not, then maybe it's just a measuring stick. At a minimum we're now beating the teams we're supposed to beat and hanging with the big dogs. I can live with that progress.
I like our odds the next time we play, in our crib. And I still think both coaches were strategizing for that whole series. No idea what either one of them held back, but it'll be interesting to see (if I'm right).
Also, Mina Kimes noted that the Rams defense was in dime 51% of the time, above even their norm. I would've thought we had an answer for that, because they're in dime a ton, anyway. Let's remember Horton is out, and Shaheed is new to Darnold. I'm not surprised they let JSN get his and stopped everything else. (Except Barner.) We can assume every other team that plays us and can pretend to have the personnel to stay in dime will do so. Kubiak will have to adapt to that, and I remain a believer in his adaptability.
I think the fact we were down big (14-3) very early in this game had a big influence on their use of Dime - light box. We were in the lead more than almost any team in the league going into this game, and that probably influenced more heavy box use by our opponents. I had them losing this game unless they won the turnover battle. It turns out we most likely would have won this game if they turned the ball over only three times instead of four. As long as it wasn’t the INT that was immediately followed by the Bryant punch out. Also, if the ball had hit the pylon on that punt at the end of the game, that would have been for a touchback, and that would have likely been a 45 yard field goal and a Seahawk win instead of a 61 yard miss. Everyone is talking about how great the Rams are, but the difference between these teams is razor thin, and an argument could easily be made the Seahawks are the better team. MM admitted making some bad calls in the 1st quarter that led to spotting them an 11 point lead, look at how the Rams offense looked in quarter 2, 3 and 4. Stafford had 130 yards passing for the entire game and 4.5 yards per attempt. That’s some poor play.
I guess we count on Darnold to see what’s happening out there, but clearly the Rams were going to challenge us to dink and dime and 3 yds and a cloud of dust. And then bait us to keep going for the explosive plays. Is why the running game was reasonably effective and why Barner had double digit catches.
Think we maybe should have taken what they were giving us. Wondering if we just got impatient, and by that I mean Kubiak not just Darnold.
Two more field goals instead of two of the int’s wouldn’t have been pretty, but that’s the game the Rams were dictating and we could have done exactly that I think, with a little more patience.
I still think this could be a special year for the Seahawks. I love how Earnest Jones and the team leadership has Darnold's back. I believe that respect has also been earned by Darnold and is a great sign of things to come. The Rams aren't just a Darnold problem. They are a problem for every team in the league.
The Rams have beaten two of the "good" teams this year, the Colts and the 'Hawks. They lost to the Eagles and they have the Lions coming up. Beat the Lions and I say they are the SB favorites. Or maybe only if they beat us again.
The same outstanding newsletter/post as always and once again thanks for including me.
Great responses to all the comments but a great big thanks for the Brady chart. I have a friend who thinks Sam is a mistake because of this game and now I can tell him about Brady.
Somewhat good news on Grey, thanks for that. Good point about Larry also.
As you said, the other picks were not as bad as this game. Maybe if some had been he would have learned from them and this game would not have been so bad. Hopefully this was a massive learning lesson going forward like it seems like those other games were for Tom.
I’m not a QB coach. I’m pretty sure, though, that QBs are taught from Day 1 not to throw off their back foot and not to leave their feet to pass. While it’s conceivable that there are designed plays for the latter, in general it’s ill-advised for a QB under pressure to turn into Bryce Young. As for the pass to Arroyo, a Greg Olsen hangnail has more knowledge about playing TE than I will accrue in my life, so I will take his word for it that the route was sloppy. Which doesn’t explain throwing into double coverage on first down.
Darnold’s play cost the team a win. Hopefully it was just a bad day a not a signifier of his response to a good defense. To me, he’s shown enough throughout the season to merit the benefit of the doubt. But I can’t blame skeptics for remaining skeptical.
P.S. The RB “rotation” completely baffles me. Why not give the ball to Walker 18-20 times a game? He’s better and more talented than Charbonnet.
Paul Mike Sando noted in The Athletic today. They stopped coaching the jump pass after Staubach to Golden Richards retired. Yes some QBs may do it, but at Pro level now, it’s usually not good (3 things can happen on pass plays, and 2 aren’t good…).
How much difference would 5 more carries per game make in avoiding injuries? I don't know. But I do know that Walker hasn't missed any time yet this season (knocking on wood right now). If K9's first 22 carry, 150+ yard game comes against the Rams in the playoffs, it'll all make sense.
The RB rotation is baffling to me as well. The coaches and Walker spoke about a plan for his use this year. My guess is they are trying to keep him healthy and fresh for the entire year. I'd love to be a fly on the wall for some of the conversations.
Seahawks lost to maybe the best team in the league yesterday, only by 2 points. With the gift of 4 interceptions handed to the Rams, and none received by the Hawks, that’s an unbelievably close score! Hats off to the Rams coaching staff for playing so many defenders off the line of scrimmage, that was very effective in taking away our passing game. Big learning lesson here and we’re still very much alive in our goal to go to and win the Superbowl!
I can only imagine how the fan base would react if the prior QB had this game. This game was significantly worse than any game the previous QB had. And you know what? I love it. Support the QB. I think the coaches, the fans, the front office, the Middle Linebacker have all taken a step forward. Don't undermine the QB, give the guy some grace and hopefully he can help lead to the championship. Nothing about yesterday's game changed my opinion about SD. He can win a Super Bowl(s).
Mike Mac talked about doing a better job in year 2 supporting his guys (presumably after losing Geno). He has walked the walk. From the first practice response to Salk to after a horrible game. He is sticking by his QB. Last year he didn't realize this until half way through the season when there was a markedly different response to all the QB questions. But that was too late. This time? It is right from the start.
The Seahawks head coach and GM were caught blindsided last year around the negativity towards the QB. That QB ended up not responding to a contract offer which led the GM looking like his first born son didn't want to follow in his footsteps. The head coach, saying things like I need to do better understanding my players.
Mission accomplished to me. Support the QB.
However, be realistic. Sam Darnold is pretty much exactly what people thought he was coming into this year. He is great at certain things and struggles at others.
Kubiak has done an incredible job for most of the year highlighting his strengths and minimizing his weaknesses. That is, play action pass and deep shots is what SD does best. Where he struggles? Straight drop back game. The numbers are what they are. Take out the play action early down passing and Darnold is bottom half even with good protection and the best WR.
So two things I would do moving forward:
- Keep working on SDs weaknesses. Just because this is who is he right now and the last year. He can get better. Keep trying. Maybe dumb it down a little and tell him more body shots. More dump offs. Then take a couple shots here and there
- Kubiak needs to figure out what to do in these games. Advanced teams know the Hawks want to play action deep. I would've ran the ball even more in this game. I would've told Darnold more checkdowns. Keep taking body shots. These guys are way smarter than me ... So hopefully Kubiak has some stuff up his sleave. But lets not forget, Darek Carr started last year the same as Sam Darnold started this year ... Lets hope that Kubiak can also take a step forward as the going may get tougher.
Overall, I love the response and support for the QB. He is a good player but he is not a great player (yet). So keep supporting, keep working with him, keep trying to maximize strengths and minimize weakness while also working on the weaknesses.
I am more encouraged by the response than anything. This is by far the best shot Darnold has had in his career. Last year the Vikings and their fans turned on him any chance they got, similar to our previous QB. Now? Darnold is getting a huge platform of support.
I hate the loss, especially to the Rams, but I am glad in a way this game happened and the response. Huge opportunity to grow and get ready for the playoffs.
It's these damn contracts. GMs and coaches seem to be much more supportive right after a big investment than they are right before having to make a new one.
I totally agree with your take on SDs game. Banner's receiving numbers are a good indication that Sam did check it down more often than usual, but it wasn't enough. He needed to look at K9 a few more times (actually four very specific times).
Thought K9 looked very good. I would've ran the ball more and/or more dumpoffs to him. He had a TD called back and a couple others that were very close to breaking long runs.
I can still remember Tom Brady coming out in certain games and dumping the ball off for 2 straight quarters. Then, boom, a couple darts deep and the game is over.
Keep hitting the body blows, it will loosen something up later.
Sure, but Sam Darnold can learn and get better. I don't think SD is done growing. And I don't think Kubiak is done tinkering the offense to fit his QB.
SSJ I have been kick out of paid membership again. What’s the issue and is there anything I can do from my end?
I hope I don't get beaten up over this, but I have been thinking about this a lot. I like to study "the mind", specifically, the power of the subconscious. I think on all of the INTs, Darnold had some kind of outlet/check down, but he did not have the situational awareness to see these other options right next to him. Anyone would be a fool to think that his previous game against the Rams was not "on his mind" - how could it not be? People have been talking about it for almost a year: the Darnold "narrative". I am sure that on the conscious level, he was confident and told himself that this certainly would not happen again, but at the *subconscious* level, there was this script written that his conscious mind could not override. Some might call it a mental block, or the narrative, or whatever, but what happens is the mind goes into overdrive and the subconscious takes over the conscious (because it's more powerful) - that's why he wasn't aware of the much simpler solutions right next to him - he simply could not see them. Have you ever heard the saying, "so angry you couldn't see?". This is kind of what happens - this subconscious theme takes over, and he literally is not aware/conscious of the situation and the other options at hand. Now, the subconscious can be trained, but it's not as easy as saying, I'm not going to do that again. He needs to change the subconscious script and create a new one. Identifying it is the first step, but for some people, this is difficult because they don't THINK it exists (pride, disbelief in anything too "woo-woo or "I'm a big strong athlete", etc.). But truly, the subconscious is a powerful thing and is the creative source of all things, good or bad. The flip side of this is when you hear, "the game slows down" for some athletes and they are in "the zone". Their subconscious script is one of performance at the highest level. I hope Sam has the opportunity to dig deeper into his psyche and write a new story! He is truly respected and loved by his teammates in his new home. Apologies for waxing psychological/spiritual. :)
I also thought that Darnold threw to many passes into double coverage (tight windows)when he had available check down options. He has, until this game, gotten away with it but the Rams are way to good on D to get away with it...and it cost them. The coaches and players will watch the film and, I'm sure, there will be some changes made. I'm disappointed in the loss and believe we will beat them next time. Go Hawks!!!
Zabel will both get a rest after a grueling 10 games and let his body heal back to 100%. It is good we'll get a measure of what the Ready Guys bring. Take the week, Big Guy.
Take two, it's a long season for a rookie. Rest up for our super bowl run.
Hard to say about Zabel. Seems more positive today but Coach Mac also said “still looking through fog of the game”. A positive is that Haynes, like Olu, was ready. Negative, Haynes pushing AB may be delayed.
I just gotta say...twice Sam gets picked this year while CK is getting interfered with. One defender will take CK out and another will swoop in for the pick. I understand the officials eyes are distracted but come on...
Spoon got two bullshit calls against him that any other player would not have gotten, IMO and it seems the refs are looking for Spoon's number way too often. There were so many PI calls that were missed, or let go, on the Rams.
I save my comments until Monday because space to process is always good.
This Defense is L-E-G-I-T! They gave the Rams nothing, only being let down by too many short fields. Stafford again didn't throw a pick, because we just gave him so few hints at a big pass play, the Rams just went 'nope, not gonna get suckered into that' and played some pretty insipid football out of necessity. We're long past expecting Mafe/Hall/whoever to emerge as a powerful threat, but Nuwosu is doing his damndest!
The Offense is A-R-G-H! Too many of Darnolds picks were just plain awful, off-base off-balance throws to nothing. Get your sh*t together Sam, as you did on basically every other throw in the game. Sacks are not necessarily worse than Interceptions, sometimes you gotta know when to take the hit (or at least throw the ball where it can't be caught by anyone). Outside of the picks, it was mostly there. Still issues completing drives, to really push for a Superbowl we need to turn at least one more drive per game into a TD, and two or three into clock eating, territorial drives forcing exits from inside the 20. But it's so almost there. The Run is there, the WR's are there, the TE's are there and the Line is basically there. Just got to get over the final hurdles.
To lose by a missed 61yd FG against "the best team in the NFC" when you throw 4-picks. FTR, they cannot be the best team in the NFC if they allow a 4-pick opponent to be ontop all over the field all game long - outside of those picks. Hopefully everyone is having a painful sitdown today and stern talking to. Come back next week, dunk on the Titans, and regroup down the stretch when the sh*t gets serious. From here on out there is no margin for error so I want to see the 'Hawks go from mostly-good to just good.
My guess before the game was that we'd get punched in the face. I just didn't think the blows would be self-inflicted.
So it goes.
Darnold had a bad game and we still almost won.
It's a three-game series if we're going to the Super Bowl, and if we're not, then maybe it's just a measuring stick. At a minimum we're now beating the teams we're supposed to beat and hanging with the big dogs. I can live with that progress.
I like our odds the next time we play, in our crib. And I still think both coaches were strategizing for that whole series. No idea what either one of them held back, but it'll be interesting to see (if I'm right).
Also, Mina Kimes noted that the Rams defense was in dime 51% of the time, above even their norm. I would've thought we had an answer for that, because they're in dime a ton, anyway. Let's remember Horton is out, and Shaheed is new to Darnold. I'm not surprised they let JSN get his and stopped everything else. (Except Barner.) We can assume every other team that plays us and can pretend to have the personnel to stay in dime will do so. Kubiak will have to adapt to that, and I remain a believer in his adaptability.
We'll be fine.
I think the fact we were down big (14-3) very early in this game had a big influence on their use of Dime - light box. We were in the lead more than almost any team in the league going into this game, and that probably influenced more heavy box use by our opponents. I had them losing this game unless they won the turnover battle. It turns out we most likely would have won this game if they turned the ball over only three times instead of four. As long as it wasn’t the INT that was immediately followed by the Bryant punch out. Also, if the ball had hit the pylon on that punt at the end of the game, that would have been for a touchback, and that would have likely been a 45 yard field goal and a Seahawk win instead of a 61 yard miss. Everyone is talking about how great the Rams are, but the difference between these teams is razor thin, and an argument could easily be made the Seahawks are the better team. MM admitted making some bad calls in the 1st quarter that led to spotting them an 11 point lead, look at how the Rams offense looked in quarter 2, 3 and 4. Stafford had 130 yards passing for the entire game and 4.5 yards per attempt. That’s some poor play.
Not that I want Geno back but the 4 picks put Sam at number 3 for the most picks.
I guess we count on Darnold to see what’s happening out there, but clearly the Rams were going to challenge us to dink and dime and 3 yds and a cloud of dust. And then bait us to keep going for the explosive plays. Is why the running game was reasonably effective and why Barner had double digit catches.
Think we maybe should have taken what they were giving us. Wondering if we just got impatient, and by that I mean Kubiak not just Darnold.
Two more field goals instead of two of the int’s wouldn’t have been pretty, but that’s the game the Rams were dictating and we could have done exactly that I think, with a little more patience.
I still think this could be a special year for the Seahawks. I love how Earnest Jones and the team leadership has Darnold's back. I believe that respect has also been earned by Darnold and is a great sign of things to come. The Rams aren't just a Darnold problem. They are a problem for every team in the league.
Great to see how everyone had Sam's back.
The Rams have beaten two of the "good" teams this year, the Colts and the 'Hawks. They lost to the Eagles and they have the Lions coming up. Beat the Lions and I say they are the SB favorites. Or maybe only if they beat us again.
We shall have our vengeance!
Penix is out on IR, we get Cousins. Drake London also out.
Yea, and the Rams are going to get a top draft pick. Ugh
The same outstanding newsletter/post as always and once again thanks for including me.
Great responses to all the comments but a great big thanks for the Brady chart. I have a friend who thinks Sam is a mistake because of this game and now I can tell him about Brady.
Somewhat good news on Grey, thanks for that. Good point about Larry also.
As you said, the other picks were not as bad as this game. Maybe if some had been he would have learned from them and this game would not have been so bad. Hopefully this was a massive learning lesson going forward like it seems like those other games were for Tom.
I’m not a QB coach. I’m pretty sure, though, that QBs are taught from Day 1 not to throw off their back foot and not to leave their feet to pass. While it’s conceivable that there are designed plays for the latter, in general it’s ill-advised for a QB under pressure to turn into Bryce Young. As for the pass to Arroyo, a Greg Olsen hangnail has more knowledge about playing TE than I will accrue in my life, so I will take his word for it that the route was sloppy. Which doesn’t explain throwing into double coverage on first down.
Darnold’s play cost the team a win. Hopefully it was just a bad day a not a signifier of his response to a good defense. To me, he’s shown enough throughout the season to merit the benefit of the doubt. But I can’t blame skeptics for remaining skeptical.
P.S. The RB “rotation” completely baffles me. Why not give the ball to Walker 18-20 times a game? He’s better and more talented than Charbonnet.
Paul Mike Sando noted in The Athletic today. They stopped coaching the jump pass after Staubach to Golden Richards retired. Yes some QBs may do it, but at Pro level now, it’s usually not good (3 things can happen on pass plays, and 2 aren’t good…).
How much difference would 5 more carries per game make in avoiding injuries? I don't know. But I do know that Walker hasn't missed any time yet this season (knocking on wood right now). If K9's first 22 carry, 150+ yard game comes against the Rams in the playoffs, it'll all make sense.
The RB rotation is baffling to me as well. The coaches and Walker spoke about a plan for his use this year. My guess is they are trying to keep him healthy and fresh for the entire year. I'd love to be a fly on the wall for some of the conversations.
Then you watch Mahomes.
Thing is, there’s only one of him
It’s like the English major who got an F for using bad grammar and called foul because “Hemingway does it.” Sure, but you’re no Hemingway!
🫣
Seahawks lost to maybe the best team in the league yesterday, only by 2 points. With the gift of 4 interceptions handed to the Rams, and none received by the Hawks, that’s an unbelievably close score! Hats off to the Rams coaching staff for playing so many defenders off the line of scrimmage, that was very effective in taking away our passing game. Big learning lesson here and we’re still very much alive in our goal to go to and win the Superbowl!
What a difference a year makes.
I can only imagine how the fan base would react if the prior QB had this game. This game was significantly worse than any game the previous QB had. And you know what? I love it. Support the QB. I think the coaches, the fans, the front office, the Middle Linebacker have all taken a step forward. Don't undermine the QB, give the guy some grace and hopefully he can help lead to the championship. Nothing about yesterday's game changed my opinion about SD. He can win a Super Bowl(s).
Mike Mac talked about doing a better job in year 2 supporting his guys (presumably after losing Geno). He has walked the walk. From the first practice response to Salk to after a horrible game. He is sticking by his QB. Last year he didn't realize this until half way through the season when there was a markedly different response to all the QB questions. But that was too late. This time? It is right from the start.
The Seahawks head coach and GM were caught blindsided last year around the negativity towards the QB. That QB ended up not responding to a contract offer which led the GM looking like his first born son didn't want to follow in his footsteps. The head coach, saying things like I need to do better understanding my players.
Mission accomplished to me. Support the QB.
However, be realistic. Sam Darnold is pretty much exactly what people thought he was coming into this year. He is great at certain things and struggles at others.
Kubiak has done an incredible job for most of the year highlighting his strengths and minimizing his weaknesses. That is, play action pass and deep shots is what SD does best. Where he struggles? Straight drop back game. The numbers are what they are. Take out the play action early down passing and Darnold is bottom half even with good protection and the best WR.
So two things I would do moving forward:
- Keep working on SDs weaknesses. Just because this is who is he right now and the last year. He can get better. Keep trying. Maybe dumb it down a little and tell him more body shots. More dump offs. Then take a couple shots here and there
- Kubiak needs to figure out what to do in these games. Advanced teams know the Hawks want to play action deep. I would've ran the ball even more in this game. I would've told Darnold more checkdowns. Keep taking body shots. These guys are way smarter than me ... So hopefully Kubiak has some stuff up his sleave. But lets not forget, Darek Carr started last year the same as Sam Darnold started this year ... Lets hope that Kubiak can also take a step forward as the going may get tougher.
Overall, I love the response and support for the QB. He is a good player but he is not a great player (yet). So keep supporting, keep working with him, keep trying to maximize strengths and minimize weakness while also working on the weaknesses.
I am more encouraged by the response than anything. This is by far the best shot Darnold has had in his career. Last year the Vikings and their fans turned on him any chance they got, similar to our previous QB. Now? Darnold is getting a huge platform of support.
I hate the loss, especially to the Rams, but I am glad in a way this game happened and the response. Huge opportunity to grow and get ready for the playoffs.
More excited than ever.
Go Hawks.
It's these damn contracts. GMs and coaches seem to be much more supportive right after a big investment than they are right before having to make a new one.
I totally agree with your take on SDs game. Banner's receiving numbers are a good indication that Sam did check it down more often than usual, but it wasn't enough. He needed to look at K9 a few more times (actually four very specific times).
That's a good point.
Thought K9 looked very good. I would've ran the ball more and/or more dumpoffs to him. He had a TD called back and a couple others that were very close to breaking long runs.
I can still remember Tom Brady coming out in certain games and dumping the ball off for 2 straight quarters. Then, boom, a couple darts deep and the game is over.
Keep hitting the body blows, it will loosen something up later.
I had not heard the bits about MM and his work on his people skills. Love the self reflection, courage to change and transparency from Coach.
Completely agree.
MM has been awesome. Very impressive person. Authentic.
"Man at this point I feel too sorry for Darnold to even point out that Geno would've been the better option for these types of games.
Darnold is great when the play action works all game and the reads are easy. Not going to happen against real defenses.
Not a coincidence his worst games come against the teams who know the Shanahan offense better than anyone (49ers, Texans, Rams)." - Timo Riske
Source: https://x.com/PFF_Moo/status/1990201318196277444?s=20
Sure, but Sam Darnold can learn and get better. I don't think SD is done growing. And I don't think Kubiak is done tinkering the offense to fit his QB.