The 700 Level - Home of the Ginger Jesus.

[Haffa]

The change in philosophy for the past 3 games has been a breath of fresh air. This team is finally accepting their identity as a run-first team and are running with it and things are starting to click everywhere. They are embracing this identity and seem to be accepting what they do best and working off of that.

Normally when this team falls behind, they abandon the run and go 4 verts nearly every snap.

Today? Stuck with the run and kept chipping away and grinding early on until the floodgates broke open after the defensive turnovers.

 

[Haffa]

The first qtr stuff is really weird, they're the worst offensive team in the league in the first two drives and they're 2nd over all after that

I'll take 10 play 52 yard drive resulting in a FG as progress. By the time we get to the superbowl it'll be a 90 yard bomb to open.

 

[nick87]

I'll take 10 play 52 yard drive resulting in a FG as progress. By the time we get to the superbowl it'll be a 90 yard bomb to open.

Of course we score points on our opening drive but its 40 seconds into the 2nd qtr because of some absurd 10 minute long drive to open the game
That's what i mean... its just weird haha

But yeah some progress at least... Eagles win and Dallas lost so at least my podcast feed is enjoyable this week

 

[Valheru]

I don't think it's a reach to say this was our best total performance since the 2022 NFC championship game.

As you guys mentioned we still didn't score in the first quarter but in this occassion it wasn't through lack of game plan or preparation. What we saw today from the offence is the best version of themselves and should be the game plan going forward. Run first with a top 5 RB behind an elite OT and open up the pass game behind that. Jalen went 16/20 today. That is the perfect amount of times to be throwing the ball. Some game situations will dictate we pass more at times but this should be the goal.

The defence continues to come along. They struggled a bit in the first half but crucially didn't give away big chunk plays and hung in there. They began to make plays in the 2nd half and I was particularly impressed by Cooper DeJean 4th down stop on Chase. It was refreshing to see the secondary anticipate a play and go for it opposed to waiting for it to develop in front of them. Even if Chase makes him miss there it's still a positive sign.

Sirriani has redeemed himself a little by starting out of the way the last 2 weeks. He needs to keep doing the things that work and stay the course and this team might go somewhere.

Big picture time....

I think we are the 2nd best team in the NFC behind Detroit as of right now. SF look battered and I would back us when it matters against MIN and GB. In our division, Washington are no joke with Daniels leading the way and will give us a run all the way until week 18

Lol@Dallas

JAX and DAL the next two before a crunch clash at home on a short week against WAS. There is absolutely no reason to not be 7-2 going in to that one.

 

[Valheru]

The change in philosophy for the past 3 games has been a breath of fresh air. This team is finally accepting their identity as a run-first team and are running with it and things are starting to click everywhere. They are embracing this identity and seem to be accepting what they do best and working off of that.

Normally when this team falls behind, they abandon the run and go 4 verts nearly every snap.

Today? Stuck with the run and kept chipping away and grinding early on until the floodgates broke open after the defensive turnovers.

I think being able to trust the defence to make some plays has helped with that.

 

[nick87]

The key to the improvement of defence has imo been Cooper DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell
The young lads are making plays every week

With Mitchell, we get to have two cbs that the defence can rely on to play soundly man to man or in zone and DeJean is an extremely good slot player already, who is comfortable playing in space or coming down hill, he's a great weapon for Fangio to deploy

I think we have two... not just good NFL starters... but two pro bowl level talents in the back end.
Nakobe Dean and Zach Baun have also given us LB play that im not used to seeing.

Feeling good about the defence and how it's tracking and the offence has some issues that it's working its way though but the talent there should carry the day

Shout out to Fred Johnson today too, going one on one vs Hendricksen and he did the damn thing. Not a lot of OLs go as deep as ours. Stoutland is the best OL coaching in the league and it shows up every time we have to get a back up in and they just do their job at an NFL level when most teams cant even field a competent starting 5

 

[nick87]

I don't think it's a reach to say this was our best total performance since the 2022 NFC championship game.

100% agree. Really encouraging signs. Aside from all i said on the defence above, and the OL, the last few weeks have been really clean stuff from Hurts, coming off a run of turnovers that was not sustainable.

If we get this Hurts, and this defence continues to ascend... I am starting to think we might not embarass ourselves in the play off race at least.

 

[Valheru]

Well Nick Sirriani (almost) strikes again. That was way harder than it needed to be and Sirriani should be thanking Nakobe Dean for maintaining his job after an excellent intercept to seal the victory.

I'm going to concentrate on the coach here and his inability to not make the percentage calls. That's not to say that there wasn't execution issues at times but my point being the Jags should never have had the ball with over 2 minutes remaining and a 5 point deficit.

The half started well with a TD off the back of a muffed punt return and then a FG thereafter. This is where Sirriani brian explosions start...... The next drive results in a 4th and 3 at the JAX 22 and... he goes for it for some reason. What is wrong with 13-0 here? That's 3 points left on the field

We then score another TD to go 16-0 up just before the half and for reasons unknown, Sirriani goes for the 2. Given the Jags are not doing anything at all offensively at this stage, I'm not sure what's wrong with 17-0. That's 4 points left on the field

To drive my point home, we get a 3 and out to start the 2nd half and drive the ball right down field for 70 yards and another TD. He again goes for the 2 because of an unnecessary roughness call on the TD play that moves the attempt to the 1. I get the logic for this one I guess but we fail and it is 22-0 and 5 points left on the field.

Jags then finally get going and score a TD, converting a 2 PAT attempt of their own. Next drive Saquon fumbles and jags return for a TD and another successful 2 PAT. 22-16 Eagles now.

Next drive we results in a 4th and 1 at the JAX 25 and he goes for it again! so instead of 25-16 and a 2 possession game, it remains 22-16. 8 points left on the field.

Our defence again does it's thing and we score another TD to go up 28-16 and they go for the 2 again. This one i'm the most comfortable with as I completely see the logic of going 2 clear TDs up but I would strongly argue we should have been on at least 24 points anyways.

Jags then get another TD (where we allowed a real bad 4th down conversion) and it is now a 5 point game at 28-23 with 4 to go.

We now move the ball to the JAX 39 with 2:16 on the clock and JAX with no timeouts left and this is when Sirianni throws his FG kicker out there for a 57 Yard try, it hits the post and is no good. So he doesn't send him out for the easy 6 points earlier, instead he puts everyone under unnecessary pressure. The smart play here is to punt, hell I'd even be ok with going for it in this situation to try and put the game away.

So that's 8 points left on the field! Even just taking one of those FGs makes it 31-23 during our last drive and taking just one PAT makes it a 2 possession game and stress free.

/rant

Cowboys next. Please don't f**k this up because they are awful.

 

[Haffa]

He’s a mental midget. The pass on 4th and inches was the final straw for me.

 

[Valheru]

Having had a chance to look at the game again, Il give my thoughts in how the players themselves went. I thought it was a solid 8/10 on both sides of the ball.

On offense they were efficient on the ground which opened the big play opportunities. Jalen went 18/24 in the air for 230 yards and 67 yards on the ground. Saquon went 159 yards on 27 carries. That is the formula for this team... So if sirriani could concentrate on letting someone else manage the game that would be great as they should have been on 37 points, not 28.

This is a big play offense and we saw that with two dimes from Jalen for touch downs and two excellent catches by Saquon and Smith. Going forward we do need AJ Brown fit to be successful IMO.

The defence continues to improve and turn up. I have faith in Vic Fangio who has elevated a mid level defence talent wise. They are definitely being helped by the offence keeping the ball longer. They only conceded two TDs this week which is completely fine. DeJean and Mitchell continue to produce and are looking like great draft picks.

A special mention to Baun and Dean in the LB position, these guys are balling. LB play is our single biggest improvement position wise from last year. Last season it was beyond bad and now it is good to very good. They are busting plays, making tackles and committing to decisions quickly.

In terms of the big picture, Detroit are the clear class of the NFC. Last week I said I feel like we are next best and after this week I'm entirely convinced that we are... If the coach stays out of the way. Rest of the schedule is...

@DAL
WAS
@LAR
@BAL
CAR
PIT
@WAS
DAL
NYG

Looking at that, we should have no real issue getting to 12 wins. Going to Baltimore on the road is daunting but that is probably the only game we go in as outsiders but this being the NFL I have allowed for 3 losses in that run.

The 2 seed is there for the taking and the 1 seed is a chance if Detroit gets bogged down in a tough division over the colder months.

 

[nick87]

I used to pray for times like this

 

[nick87]

Regarding the game... i am going to give Sirianni a few breaks here

the going for 2 were the correct calls... you get the penalty, half the distance to the goal, its 1 yard away
Run the sneak, get two points is the right decision. Sometimes you get banged on variance. We could run that sneak 100 times from the 1 and we'll make it 90ish times... that you didnt get it 2 times in a row is an outlier
Also i think on the second one we got hosed on a call, Hurts got that in the end zone imo.

But the process is correct imo

The 4th and 3 early in the game, i get it, the numbers probably say go for it and the play was there and it was just a poor pass from Hurts. But i think just kick the FG. You're beating this team handily, the only way you lose the game is getting on the wrong side of weird variance and silly shit happens. Kick it and keep it moving

The one that annoys me is the 4th and inches... by all means go for it, but run the sneak, i dont care that they've stopped it 2-3 times, run it, its a play that goes at 92% effectiveness. Run it again, and i think he conceded post game that he got scared away from it... cant do that. The play call was bad but also Hurts did have the back up TE open for a first down and didnt hit him

And finally... what in the f**k is happening with the NFL? That saquon barkley fumble was down by contact. Definitively so. He was ankle tapped, hit the ground, ground forces the ball out, thats down by contact. Could not be more clear and obvious. Straight up easy call. And they confirmed the td? Unreal
I thought the call on Smith for offensive PI was a bit bullshit too, not much in that.

All in all, this is the sort of game that if things didnt go against us so much in terms of variance, we win this game something like 38-7.

But you get a couple of unlucky brotherly love stops, miss a FG that Jake Elliott usually bangs home, a couple of bad decisions by the HC and a horseshit call that puts 8 on the board for the Jags and suddenly an easy win is made to look hard.

 

[nick87]

@DAL - No Dak, maybe no Ceedee... gotta win this. 7-2
WAS - Big game, i think we can win this game too. 8-2
@LAR - Another tough away game but i like the way our defence is playing and i think we can get after them offensively. 9-2
@BAL - NFC teams dont beat the Ravens, too difficult to prepare for in 1 week for a team you see once every 4 years. 9-3

CAR - Win. 10-3
PIT - Win. 11-3
@WAS - I think we'll split the series with WAS. 11-4
DAL - Dallas i think could be in absolute free fall mode by this point, im going to say win. 12-4
NYG - If we need it for seeding purposes, it's a win. If they can rest they will and might lose.

Based on that, i think it's a 10-13 win season

 

[Valheru]

Regarding the game... i am going to give Sirianni a few breaks here

the going for 2 were the correct calls... you get the penalty, half the distance to the goal, its 1 yard away
Run the sneak, get two points is the right decision. Sometimes you get banged on variance. We could run that sneak 100 times from the 1 and we'll make it 90ish times... that you didnt get it 2 times in a row is an outlier
Also i think on the second one we got hosed on a call, Hurts got that in the end zone imo.

But the process is correct imo

The 4th and 3 early in the game, i get it, the numbers probably say go for it and the play was there and it was just a poor pass from Hurts. But i think just kick the FG. You're beating this team handily, the only way you lose the game is getting on the wrong side of weird variance and silly shit happens. Kick it and keep it moving

The one that annoys me is the 4th and inches... by all means go for it, but run the sneak, i dont care that they've stopped it 2-3 times, run it, its a play that goes at 92% effectiveness. Run it again, and i think he conceded post game that he got scared away from it... cant do that. The play call was bad but also Hurts did have the back up TE open for a first down and didnt hit him

And finally... what in the f**k is happening with the NFL? That saquon barkley fumble was down by contact. Definitively so. He was ankle tapped, hit the ground, ground forces the ball out, thats down by contact. Could not be more clear and obvious. Straight up easy call. And they confirmed the td? Unreal
I thought the call on Smith for offensive PI was a bit bullshit too, not much in that.

All in all, this is the sort of game that if things didnt go against us so much in terms of variance, we win this game something like 38-7.

But you get a couple of unlucky brotherly love stops, miss a FG that Jake Elliott usually bangs home, a couple of bad decisions by the HC and a horseshit call that puts 8 on the board for the Jags and suddenly an easy win is made to look hard.

Yeah look no doubt the analytics backed his decisions at times but I would argue that was only the case due to dud decisions he made prior.

That 4th and 3 call, no doubt the analytics says to go but I would like the HC to look at the team and the situation in front of him. This was a JAX team that to that point gave no indication that they would be able to run down a 13-0 lead so for me taking the points was the smart option. Had that been Detroit where you aren't confident your defence can stop them then I would get the decision.

I still have no idea why he went for the two on the 2nd TD to end the half. What does 18-0 get that 17-0 doesn't in this situation?

The 3rd TD with the penalty that brought the ball to the 1 line, I'm fine with that one, I think any coach would go for it there.

The 4th and inches call to go was fine, but the play call was horrific. Just do the tush push dude, don't overthink it.

The last decision to go for the 2 to make it a 14 point game was absolutely warranted but wouldn't have been necessary had he made the right choices earlier in the game.

I completely understand your point on the refereeing, That fumble call on Saquon was NRL bunker level of a headscratcher but at the end of the day shit happens and we can't control that. What we can control is managing the game properly, efficiently and logically. IMO we have the 2nd most talented tea in the NFC and possibly most talented the way this defence is trending but I can just see us getting outcoached by the likes of the Packers, 9ers, Rams or Falcons when it counts.

 

[Valheru]

Well that was enjoyable. We haven't thumped the cowboys like that for a while. If it were anyone except the cowboys I'd feel sorry for them, they are pathetic.

My only criticism of the team this week is the lack of killer instinct on offence in the first half. We kept them close through turnovers and taking too many sacks. Jalen had the one intercept, the pass itself was fine as it was there but Diggs made a great play. I'm not in love with the play call there as I'm not sure what was wrong with hammering the rock at that point. The 2nd half we accelerated and made this football game look how it should have looked.

I'm very high up on this defence at the moment, Fangio has them humming along nicely. I completely get our opposition was trash but still, it's refreshing to see a well organised unit read the game well, get to the ball and force turnovers. Our two first draft picks continue to look like home runs. Definitely tougher tests ahead for the unit but I don't see them getting blown out by even the best offences in the NFL.

The best thing that happened to us today however was the Commanders losing and (potentially) the lions also if that current result holds. We now take a half game lead in the division which is important as Washington have a real easy run home. Besides us twice, they've got DAL (twice), TEN, @NO and ATL. It's hard to see them losing any of those except maybe the Atlanta game. That all makes this Friday at home against Commanders all important, if we win and take a 1.5 game lead in the division that will give us some wriggle room with tough games to come against @LAR, @BAL and PIT before we meet Washington again.

 

[nick87]

Hurts was doing my head in that first half
Just holding the ball for an age and eating sack after sack, ultimately then a strip sack too that put them in the red zone
It was the only thing keeping that game close

the first Hurts INT i can actually forgive, ball needs to get out quicker but that's open and should be a TD. Think that was more a great play by the DB than a bad play by Hurts.

But once we had that td drive just before halftime, Hurts just settled into the game and was lights out.

Defensively though, now that;s what starting to get exciting, big tests coming up with WAS, BAL and LAR
All three teams i think finish the season in the top 10 for DVOA in offence, time for this defence to get a true test.

Q and Dejean are the real f**king deal. And Nakobe and Baun are just flat out good NFL linebakers nows.. its amazing to see.

 

[Pippen94]

Hurts was doing my head in that first half
Just holding the ball for an age and eating sack after sack, ultimately then a strip sack too that put them in the red zone
It was the only thing keeping that game close

the first Hurts INT i can actually forgive, ball needs to get out quicker but that's open and should be a TD. Think that was more a great play by the DB than a bad play by Hurts.

But once we had that td drive just before halftime, Hurts just settled into the game and was lights out.

Defensively though, now that;s what starting to get exciting, big tests coming up with WAS, BAL and LAR
All three teams i think finish the season in the top 10 for DVOA in offence, time for this defence to get a true test.

Q and Dejean are the real f**king deal. And Nakobe and Baun are just flat out good NFL linebakers nows.. its amazing to see.

Hurts is not the guy

 

[nick87]

Big sequence in today's game

2nd down Jalen Carter dominates, immedate penetration, tackled no gain
3rd down Graham and Baun get the tackle for a loss
4th down Reed and Baun rally, beat Jayden to the edge, pushed ob no gain

Huge 3 play sequence, highly drafted stud shows up (Carter), legendary vet makes a play (BG) and then undrafted free agent (Reed Blankenship) and a vet signed 1 year 1.6m OLB being converted to ILB make the play

This defence is really good and it's getting contributions up and down the roster. The big hole on defence right now is edge, Bryce Huff hasnt worked out, but they're getting enough by committee for it to be ok... not sure how that'll hold up in the play offs

Quinyon Mitchell had 20 reps on Scary Terry today, not a single target. The only catch that guy made is when they sent him to the other side and he got about 10 on DeJean which was also pretty tight coverage.

 

[Valheru]

I'd add a bit of love for Calcaterra on the other side of that ball to that sequence. In the next drive after the stop, hurts finds goeddart for a huge gain and in a play I could see coming a mile away he gets the ball punched out in broken play and Calcaterra beats 4 commanders to the ball. Saquon puts the game away from there.

Overall thoughts on the game, I thought this was a typical Thursday night short turn around after a road trip effort... A little bit ho hum especially on offence but the formula worked again and they looked the far better team and it would have been out to bed earlier if Elliot could kick straight.

This defence is legit man. The knock on them was during this win streak they hadn't played a good offence which is fair but the completely shut down a good one last night. I'm sure they will have a dip in performance between now and the playoffs which is fine, I'd actually like to see the offence out under a bit of pressure and make them score first half points.

Big picture time, two ahead in the loss column in the division now. During WAS bye week we have Panthers so fair to say that will equate to a full 2 game advantage. They have a more favourable draw than us but we should be able to maintain that advantage.

I think the number 1 seed is well in play too. Only one game behind the lions who still have the Packers, bills, 49ers and Vikings down the stretch.

 

[Haffa]

Quintanimo Bay is elite. This defence is playing incredible football.