This is a good take IMO. That loss hurt for a lot of reasons. Wins have been scarce (to say the least), we haven’t won a division game in almost 2 seasons, we had victory in our grasp and let it slip away, etc. But we are seeing a developing team develop. JF looked really good in his return. Not flawless, but more than good enough to beat a very good team. Our defense was playing really well too (until the last 5 mins). The Sweat trade looks like a great move so far, and we have a solid defensive backfield when healthy. They weren’t flawless either - JJ missed a couple of picks; Edmunds missed some key tackles - but (until the final 5 mins), they played well enough to beat a very good team. I see progress everywhere, except coaching. As many others have pointed out, running Herbert up the middle repeatedly in Q4 was chicken-shit. Yes, you want to eat clock, but you also have to protect your lead by adding to it. Those play calls gave us very little chance of putting more points on the board. As for the defensive coaching, the shift to prevent D let Goff off the hook - on two consecutive drives, which also happened to be the pivotal drives of the game. Where did our pass rush go? Our D should have been rested and ready, given the time of possession disparity. Why did Goff suddenly look so comfortable, after having been shaken and wobbly most of the game? Because we let him off the hook. The D played aggressively for the entire game, but now we shift to “bend not break” and open the door for Goff to march his team downfield using very little clock? Either the strategy was wrong (my opinion) or the execution was poor. Either way, it is a coaching failure. Fluss seems like a good guy (Getsey - who knows?), but he can’t close a game with this team. I hate the idea of bringing in a third coaching regime/system for Fields (and yes, I’m assuming we ride with him), but that might be necessary.
This is a good take IMO. That loss hurt for a lot of reasons. Wins have been scarce (to say the least), we haven’t won a division game in almost 2 seasons, we had victory in our grasp and let it slip away, etc. But we are seeing a developing team develop. JF looked really good in his return. Not flawless, but more than good enough to beat a very good team. Our defense was playing really well too (until the last 5 mins). The Sweat trade looks like a great move so far, and we have a solid defensive backfield when healthy. They weren’t flawless either - JJ missed a couple of picks; Edmunds missed some key tackles - but (until the final 5 mins), they played well enough to beat a very good team. I see progress everywhere, except coaching. As many others have pointed out, running Herbert up the middle repeatedly in Q4 was chicken-shit. Yes, you want to eat clock, but you also have to protect your lead by adding to it. Those play calls gave us very little chance of putting more points on the board. As for the defensive coaching, the shift to prevent D let Goff off the hook - on two consecutive drives, which also happened to be the pivotal drives of the game. Where did our pass rush go? Our D should have been rested and ready, given the time of possession disparity. Why did Goff suddenly look so comfortable, after having been shaken and wobbly most of the game? Because we let him off the hook. The D played aggressively for the entire game, but now we shift to “bend not break” and open the door for Goff to march his team downfield using very little clock? Either the strategy was wrong (my opinion) or the execution was poor. Either way, it is a coaching failure. Fluss seems like a good guy (Getsey - who knows?), but he can’t close a game with this team. I hate the idea of bringing in a third coaching regime/system for Fields (and yes, I’m assuming we ride with him), but that might be necessary.