2024 Season Notes wks 11-13

[JuggernautJ]

Incredibly, despite a great season from Purdy last season, there is some speculation that the 49ers might try to make a play for Cousins next year rather than give Purdy the huge contract. I could see possibly 2026--the Falcons might go with Penix if Cousins cant win a playoff game--but next year? I dunno, you cant blame Purdy with all the injuries this season. Still, if the Cardinals could beat out this talented team for the division, Shanahan might feel more determined to shake things up.

“The fault, dear Shanny, is not in our stars, but in ourselves..."

Purdy has been excellent since the day he took over the job.
Considering the success of the current brain trust in evaluating QBs (3 first round picks for Trey Lance. Arg.) I think it best they stay with Brock.
His 2023 season was extraordinary and a 9.6 yards per pass attempt is unheard of.
If the Niners can't win with a healthy Purdy I don't see how they could with an ancient Cousins.
And if they can't they should look in the mirror for the reasons why and not at anyone else.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/ ... rdBr00.htm

[Brian wolf]

Sheesh! What a brainfreeze by Williams and HC Eflubus ! How do you not use your last timeout or spike the ball to stop the clock?? This game could have kept going ... did Lions players get away with delay of game?

Big win for the Packers as well, with Love having his second consecutive winning season in a row, stopping the Dolphins three game winning streak. The Dolphins are simply too soft in colder weather which doesnt bode well for future playoff hopes.
Will McDaniel last long enough by then?

[CSKreager]

The Packers are last year's Dolphins- who have they REALLY beaten?

Texans was a good win but like you mentioned earlier, dangerously close to being .500. I didn't think they'd make the playoffs before the season started. They are in position to make it as the bottom seed again with the new format. But overall, sometimes games are lost rather than won - meaning with the Bears game for example, the Bears coaching staff helped lose that game more than the Packers won it. The Packers coaching staff - I've critiqued them enough that I think most people on this board know how I feel. But Lafleur just doesn't ever seem to have a plan for game situations.

I think the Packers will likely get the last seed if Jacobs stays healthy. They do play a few games against what I consider to be similar teams during the rest of the season - SF, Miami, and Seattle. I think those games will show if the Packers are better at being lucky or just a bit better than the average teams.

Josh Jacobs never played a meaningful game with the Raiders. What makes me think he’s going to be the missing piece?

[CSKreager]

Big win for the Packers as well, with Love having his second consecutive winning season in a row, stopping the Dolphins three game winning streak. The Dolphins are simply too soft in colder weather which doesnt bode well for future playoff hopes.
Will McDaniel last long enough by then?

GB is a soft team. Sure they have some decent talent but IMO this team lacks heart and toughness

They are the most overrated team in football from their HC (the Marty Schottenheimer of GB) to their overpaid QB

Take out the 2010 fluke run, three decades of choking when it matters

[SeahawkFever]

Big win for the Packers as well, with Love having his second consecutive winning season in a row, stopping the Dolphins three game winning streak. The Dolphins are simply too soft in colder weather which doesnt bode well for future playoff hopes.
Will McDaniel last long enough by then?

GB is a soft team. Sure they have some decent talent but IMO this team lacks heart and toughness

They are the most overrated team in football from their HC (the Marty Schottenheimer of GB) to their overpaid QB

Take out the 2010 fluke run, three decades of choking when it matters

Does Matt LeFleur run too much for your liking? Can’t help but ask if you are comparing him to Schottenheimer (who was also criticized for that from what I can tell).

[SeahawkFever]

Sheesh! What a brainfreeze by Williams and HC Eflubus ! How do you not use your last timeout or spike the ball to stop the clock?? This game could have kept going ... did Lions players get away with delay of game?

Big win for the Packers as well, with Love having his second consecutive winning season in a row, stopping the Dolphins three game winning streak. The Dolphins are simply too soft in colder weather which doesnt bode well for future playoff hopes.
Will McDaniel last long enough by then?

I wondered why the ball wasn’t spiked at that point myself.

[Brian wolf]

Admittedly, they couldnt have spiked it because it would have been out of FG range but they should have either ran the play quicker, for a sideline pass or called time-out. Taking that sack was big but the Lions may have gotten away with a delay of game as well ... I still laugh watching the one Bears TD pass from Williams where their RT was neck-tying ZD Smith right in front of the official ...

By bad on Love and the Packers, Willis at backup helped this team win three games, so it wasnt all on Love as starter but can he get his team back to the divisional round?

Can the Commanders get back to winning football and be the final wild card? Still alot of football and we cant count out the Bucs, Cards or Rams. I feel the 49ers could upset Buffalo but if not, the Bills clinch their division.

[CSKreager]

Big win for the Packers as well, with Love having his second consecutive winning season in a row, stopping the Dolphins three game winning streak. The Dolphins are simply too soft in colder weather which doesnt bode well for future playoff hopes.
Will McDaniel last long enough by then?

GB is a soft team. Sure they have some decent talent but IMO this team lacks heart and toughness

They are the most overrated team in football from their HC (the Marty Schottenheimer of GB) to their overpaid QB

Take out the 2010 fluke run, three decades of choking when it matters

Does Matt LeFleur run too much for your liking? Can’t help but ask if you are comparing him to Schottenheimer (who was also criticized for that from what I can tell).

LaFleur is a coach who looks great in the regular season but shrinks in the postseason

GB gets tight in January every year

[Jay Z]

Admittedly, they couldnt have spiked it because it would have been out of FG range but they should have either ran the play quicker, for a sideline pass or called time-out. Taking that sack was big but the Lions may have gotten away with a delay of game as well ... I still laugh watching the one Bears TD pass from Williams where their RT was neck-tying ZD Smith right in front of the official ...

The play before, they took a sack on a play I have no idea what the point was. The commentators speculated a QB draw. The Bears offensive line is awful, who knows what the actual plan was.

They felt they needed more yards when looking at a 58-59 yard FG. So having the QB try to run a yard gaining play with the clock running down like that, then take a TO if needed... asking too much. The sack shouldn't have happened anyway, if it does just take the TO and try to run an out or an upfield play and a spike. The coach should have walked through the scenarios. Coach is fired now.

[JWL]

The Bears faced 3rd down with a half minute remaining and one timeout. They did not have to rush. The goal should have been to complete a pass anywhere on the field and then let the clock go down to 3, 2, or 1 second and call a timeout to then attempt a field goal to send the game into overtime.

The likelihood of converting 3rd-down-and-26 for a first down is low so my opinion on what the Bears should have done is exponentially better than any other option. Terry Bradshaw said he could run eight plays in 32 seconds. Okay, but it was 3rd-down-and-26, Mr. Bradshaw. If the Bears converted for a first down, then they maybe could have run two or three more pass plays with the ball thrown into the end zone. Realistically, one pass play, then a timeout, and then a field goal attempt was the way this was supposed to go.

What we saw instead was Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams in a rushed, frantic state. When the clock was at 24 seconds I said to myself, “Okay, let’s go here.” At 19 seconds, “This is about to be a problem.” At 15 seconds, “This is a problem.” At 11 seconds, “This is a real big problem.” When the ball was snapped at the 6 or 7 second mark, “This is the final play of the game.”

The pass fell incomplete. The clock showed 0:00. The camera caught Eberflus standing there like he saw a ghost.

When I thought, “This is a real big problem”, Eberflus should have used the final timeout. With 11 seconds and the clock stopped, then the instructions would have been for Williams to throw a sideline route. If nobody were to get open, then just throw the ball out of bounds. If the receiver caught the pass and got out of bounds or the pass was incomplete, the next play would have been the field goal attempt.

Williams needs to take some of the blame for this gaffe but he is a rookie. The head coach should have handled this better. He made a mistake by not calling a timeout at around the 11-second mark.