dbair1967

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Seemed like a game that both teams tried as hard as they could to give away, and in the end the Lions ultimately gave it away. There's some possibility the two could be playing each other again in a few weeks, but not sure either of these teams is a lock to advance past the WC Round, especially us.

1) Defense played about as well as we could have all hoped for 58 and 1/2 minutes, and then turned back into a fucking pumpkin and tried to give away a game that should have been over. While the run defense was hardly Doomsday-esque, they at least slowed them down enough to get them into passing situations. They "only" yielded 125 yds and 4.0 yds per carry, which against a team like Detroit is pretty good for what we've shown. Two picks in a game for the first time since week 4 v New England. On the downside, this is the 5th consecutive game we've gotten either one or zero sacks. While they got some decent pressure again last night, they just can't get these QB's on the ground.

2) Donovan Wilson played by far his best game of the year last night, v the run and v the pass. His sensational pick late should have been the clincher. Jourdan Lewis also played extremely well again and along with Wilson, DLaw and Parsons was our best player on the field. On the flipside, Damone Clark was awful (again) and DaRon Bland couldnt cover anyone.

3) CeeDee Lamb had an other worldly type game, and if it weren't not for the careless fumble that cost us a TD it would have been one of the best performances in the history of the franchise probably. He's definitely established himself as one of the best players, regardless of position in all the league though. Capped a 13 reception, 227 yd, 1 TD night by breaking Michael Irvin's single season records for receptions and yards. And it won't need an * next to it since he did it in 16 games.

4) When Prescott threw the awful pick on our 1st drive, I really thought he was on his way to maybe having an Arizona or San Fran type performance. Instead, he rebounded well and along with Lamb was the offense by himself. He did throw one other bad pass when he tried to force a deep ball to Cooks into essentially triple coverage, but other than that it was a pretty damn good performance. Team has no run game whatsoever and the pass blocking was extremely shoddy last night. I still don't know how it happened, but avoiding that safety and the subsequent 92 yd throw/catch/run to Lamb was ultimate the game winner, it was a 9pt play. The one thing I did wonder about is why did Prescott seem so hesitant to run again last night, he had several opps to do so (incl the play that picked off I think) but didnt want to. Perhaps he is hurting from two weeks ago in Buffalo still, he did take a beating that day.

5) All we'll hear about for eternity is that damn 2pt penalty play. But they had 3 chances at it and the last one the guy was wide open for an easy conversion and Goff threw a poor ball. No question had Prescott done that he'd have been eviscerated for it and its all we'd have heard about. Goff also threw two picks and was close on one or two others. I really hate that media hasn't even spent one second talking about the more egregious mistake by the refs, which was calling Payton Hendershot for the 15yr tripping call on 1st and 10 from the Lions 29. Pollard gained 7 yards and the play was wiped out into a 1st and 25. I kind of doubt we'd have even thrown another pass if we wouldn't have gotten the penalty. At WORST, it should have been an offsetting penalty (Hendershot may have held, but Hutchinson definitely was guilty of the tripping/leg whip attempt), but if tripping was the intended call by the ref, then it should have been 1st down and 10 for us at the 15, not 1st and 25 from the 44.

6) 2nd time now that Jalen Tolbert has fell asleep on a punt and it turned into a fake punt pass conversion for a 1st down. Cowboys special teams also gave up a long punt return of their own, and Kavonte Turpin had another of those brainfart fair catches with basically nobody near him. It was not a good night for the special teams, save Brandon Aubrey who nailed FG's from 51 and 43 and every KO was a touchback (again). He's closing in on 100 touchbacks for the season now (NFL record already) in addition to no misses on FG's. Who knows how his career will pan out but so far he looks like one of the great finds of this organization.

7) I don't understand why the team continues to play Michael Gallup at this point. He's hardly targeted in any games (and had zero official targets last night) and he does not play on any special teams. Seems like a complete waste of an active roster spot to me. Terrence Steele appeared to have yet another exceedingly poor game last night, he gave up an awful sack on a 3rd and 5 play late in the game that actually forced a fumble (he recovered I think, the only good thing he did all night), that play also knocked us out of potential FG range. Steele also failed miserably over and over in run blocking too. Like Gallup, he should not be on the field any more if they are serious about winning. Contract be damned, play your fucking best people. Let Steele heal up and be 100% next yr when maybe he can stay at RT or move inside to G (which seems like the smarter move at this point). Pollard has to play, but he has been a major disappointment this yr and last night didn't run well again, and even worse dropped what appeared to be a potential huge gain (if not a TD) himself on a 2nd and 12 play.

8) We have seen too much of the gross game mis-management from McCarthy over the years. We had the "coach in training" do this same garbage during his near decade of failure here, and McCarthy is almost as bad if not worse. They were damn lucky to win last night and IMO barring a fluke run into the Super Bowl, this should be it for him now. Same goes for most of the rest of the staff (incl Quinn). We are never winning anything with these guys leading the team. In addition, I thought it was possibly the worst play-calling we have seen from him this year as he just repeatedly slammed Pollard in the Detroit front on 1st down with almost no positive results. Pollards 1st down runs last night: -3, 5, 1, 3, -2, -1, 10, -1, 0, 7 (wiped out by bogus tripping call on Hendershot so this didnt count). In total, that's ten first down rushes for only 19 yards (12 since the other one doesn't count, but even with it, that's awful). They only "won" those plays 4 out of 10 times (run play over 3 yds).

9) There is still actually a potential route to HFA, but we'd need to beat Washington next week, Philly would need to lose once (AZ today or at NYG next week) and San Fran would have to lose today (at Washington) and next week (v Rams). Longshot at best. However winning the division and having the 2nd seed is realistic as I can definitely see Philly losing once (if not twice) with the way they are playing. If that happens our likely first game would be Seattle. If Philly wins the division then we likely will end up playing at Tampa.

10) Have to wait for the news on Tyler Smith, but the radio guys were saying he suffered some sort of plantar fascia injury. If it is just bruised or sprained, he can probably play in a week or two. If it's torn, then he's done for the year and we may be lucky if he's 100% by training camp.

11) The Jimmy RoH thing was awesome. Obviously eons overdue, but it was great seeing all his former greats show up and then the speech itself was classic Jimmy. There's no way we can't sit and wonder might have been if the idiot owner could have figured out a way to keep Jimmy happy and kept him for 10+ years (even though Jimmy himself is on record saying he would have never stayed that long anyway)

12) For the record, it's now 42 quarters since the last time one of the best pass rushers in the NFL has seen a holding call. And while the refs did call a holding last night on Detroit, it was actually on a TE or a WR, not on an opposing OL. parsons was held pretty badly on several occasions and on one play nearly had his helmet removed from contact to the face mask.

This is too much of a mistake prone team to be taken seriously to win a championship. They are the anti-Jimmy/Aikman Cowboys for sure. Prescott had a bad pick, Lamb had a really bad fumble. We lost 10 to 14 pts there alone. The defense played about as good as they could for 58 and 1/2 mins and then completely folded like a cheap tent. I expected us to get blown out last night and we won, which I guess I should be happy with. But between the mistakes, the bad coaching and game mismanagement it just doesn't seem all that gratifying. Seems like a 1 and done team to me
 
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Maveric

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5) All we'll hear about for eternity is that damn 2pt penalty play. But they had 3 chances at it and the last one the guy was wide open for an easy conversion and Goff threw a poor ball.
Even if the receiver had managed to catch it, he was a full yard from the goal with a defender closing in. I don't think he'd have gotten across the line anyways.
 

dbair1967

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Even if the receiver had managed to catch it, he was a full yard from the goal with a defender closing in. I don't think he'd have gotten across the line anyways.
I think he'd have definitely have crossed the plane with it with a good throw leading him.

I really don't care one way or another. Both teams deserved to lose and both teams head coaches made mistakes that most GOOD coaches would not have made.
 
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Doomsday

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And beyond. You know full well it won't get properly addressed in the offseason.
I can't imagine that level of incompetence. Worse yet, we pick one with our first draft pick!
 

Doomsday

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We don't have a good HC either, that'll be the real downfall.
I'm fine with Fat Mike. Installed a completely (to our players) new offense and fine tuned it on the fly and has Dak playing at an all-pro level. Makes mostly great play calls. But he's not an administrator he's a offensive coordinator and we just have to acknowledge that. He's got a fuckin super bowl ring and is after another one. I wouldn't mind seeing him coming back next year. He's better than Ginger by miles. He knows we have to have a great run game to make his offense really pop. Hopefully he'll be listened to this offseason.
 

dbair1967

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I'm fine with Fat Mike. Installed a completely (to our players) new offense and fine tuned it on the fly and has Dak playing at an all-pro level. Makes mostly great play calls. But he's not an administrator he's a offensive coordinator and we just have to acknowledge that. He's got a fuckin super bowl ring and is after another one. I wouldn't mind seeing him coming back next year. He's better than Ginger by miles. He knows we have to have a great run game to make his offense really pop. Hopefully he'll be listened to this offseason.
Poor game manager buddy, he's done it basically every yr he's been here. He's a vet HC that coaches like the Clapper sometimes.

Then there's the personnel decisions. Continuing to hurt the team by force feeding us Steele, Gallup, Hendershot and a few others. Jimmy would have these guys on the bench or maybe even released. And then there's the ultra conservative (and ineffective) 1st down play calling.

I don't have any faith in him at all. He may be good enough to get the team to the playoffs most yrs, but he isn't good enough to win us a championship.

Time to move on.
 

bbgun

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Run blocking is abysmal, due to either age (Martin, Tyron), injury (Steele) or ability (puny Wisconsin boy). Several of Pollard's decent runs were of the "second effort" variety as opposed to speeding through gaping holes.

We hired several "analytics" people last summer but their influence is negated by Fat Mike's serial mismanagement. No one in the booth or on the sideline told him it was a bad idea to pass?
 

Scot

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Seemed like a game that both teams tried as hard as they could to give away, and in the end the Lions ultimately gave it away. There's some possibility the two could be playing each other again in a few weeks, but not sure either of these teams is a lock to advance past the WC Round, especially us.

1) Defense played about as well as we could have all hoped for 58 and 1/2 minutes, and then turned back into a fucking pumpkin and tried to give away a game that should have been over. While the run defense was hardly Doomsday-esque, they at least slowed them down enough to get them into passing situations. They "only" yielded 125 yds and 4.0 yds per carry, which against a team like Detroit is pretty good for what we've shown. Two picks in a game for the first time since week 4 v New England. On the downside, this is the 5th consecutive game we've gotten either one or zero sacks. While they got some decent pressure again last night, they just can't get these QB's on the ground.

2) Donovan Wilson played by far his best game of the year last night, v the run and v the pass. His sensational pick late should have been the clincher. Jourdan Lewis also played extremely well again and along with Wilson, DLaw and Parsons was our best player on the field. On the flipside, Damone Clark was awful (again) and DaRon Bland couldnt cover anyone.

3) CeeDee Lamb had an other worldly type game, and if it weren't not for the careless fumble that cost us a TD it would have been one of the best performances in the history of the franchise probably. He's definitely established himself as one of the best players, regardless of position in all the league though. Capped a 13 reception, 227 yd, 1 TD night by breaking Michael Irvin's single season records for receptions and yards. And it won't need an * next to it since he did it in 16 games.

4) When Prescott threw the awful pick on our 1st drive, I really thought he was on his way to maybe having an Arizona or San Fran type performance. Instead, he rebounded well and along with Lamb was the offense by himself. He did throw one other bad pass when he tried to force a deep ball to Cooks into essentially triple coverage, but other than that it was a pretty damn good performance. Team has no run game whatsoever and the pass blocking was extremely shoddy last night. I still don't know how it happened, but avoiding that safety and the subsequent 92 yd throw/catch/run to Lamb was ultimate the game winner, it was a 9pt play. The one thing I did wonder about is why did Prescott seem so hesitant to run again last night, he had several opps to do so (incl the play that picked off I think) but didnt want to. Perhaps he is hurting from two weeks ago in Buffalo still, he did take a beating that day.

5) All we'll hear about for eternity is that damn 2pt penalty play. But they had 3 chances at it and the last one the guy was wide open for an easy conversion and Goff threw a poor ball. No question had Prescott done that he'd have been eviscerated for it and its all we'd have heard about. Goff also threw two picks and was close on one or two others. I really hate that media hasn't even spent one second talking about the more egregious mistake by the refs, which was calling Payton Hendershot for the 15yr tripping call on 1st and 10 from the Lions 29. Pollard gained 7 yards and the play was wiped out into a 1st and 25. I kind of doubt we'd have even thrown another pass if we wouldn't have gotten the penalty. At WORST, it should have been an offsetting penalty (Hendershot may have held, but Hutchinson definitely was guilty of the tripping/leg whip attempt), but if tripping was the intended call by the ref, then it should have been 1st down and 10 for us at the 15, not 1st and 25 from the 44.

6) 2nd time now that Jalen Tolbert has fell asleep on a punt and it turned into a fake punt pass conversion for a 1st down. Cowboys special teams also gave up a long punt return of their own, and Kavonte Turpin had another of those brainfart fair catches with basically nobody near him. It was not a good night for the special teams, save Brandon Aubrey who nailed FG's from 51 and 43 and every KO was a touchback (again). He's closing in on 100 touchbacks for the season now (NFL record already) in addition to no misses on FG's. Who knows how his career will pan out but so far he looks like one of the great finds of this organization.

7) I don't understand why the team continues to play Michael Gallup at this point. He's hardly targeted in any games (and had zero official targets last night) and he does not play on any special teams. Seems like a complete waste of an active roster spot to me. Terrence Steele appeared to have yet another exceedingly poor game last night, he gave up an awful sack on a 3rd and 5 play late in the game that actually forced a fumble (he recovered I think, the only good thing he did all night), that play also knocked us out of potential FG range. Steele also failed miserably over and over in run blocking too. Like Gallup, he should not be on the field any more if they are serious about winning. Contract be damned, play your fucking best people. Let Steele heal up and be 100% next yr when maybe he can stay at RT or move inside to G (which seems like the smarter move at this point). Pollard has to play, but he has been a major disappointment this yr and last night didn't run well again, and even worse dropped what appeared to be a potential huge gain (if not a TD) himself on a 2nd and 12 play.

8) We have seen too much of the gross game mis-management from McCarthy over the years. We had the "coach in training" do this same garbage during his near decade of failure here, and McCarthy is almost as bad if not worse. They were damn lucky to win last night and IMO barring a fluke run into the Super Bowl, this should be it for him now. Same goes for most of the rest of the staff (incl Quinn). We are never winning anything with these guys leading the team. In addition, I thought it was possibly the worst play-calling we have seen from him this year as he just repeatedly slammed Pollard in the Detroit front on 1st down with almost no positive results. Pollards 1st down runs last night: -3, 5, 1, 3, -2, -1, 10, -1, 0, 7 (wiped out by bogus tripping call on Hendershot so this didnt count). In total, that's ten first down rushes for only 19 yards (12 since the other one doesn't count, but even with it, that's awful). They only "won" those plays 4 out of 10 times (run play over 3 yds).

9) There is still actually a potential route to HFA, but we'd need to beat Washington next week, Philly would need to lose once (AZ today or at NYG next week) and San Fran would have to lose today (at Washington) and next week (v Rams). Longshot at best. However winning the division and having the 2nd seed is realistic as I can definitely see Philly losing once (if not twice) with the way they are playing. If that happens our likely first game would be Seattle. If Philly wins the division then we likely will end up playing at Tampa.

10) Have to wait for the news on Tyler Smith, but the radio guys were saying he suffered some sort of plantar fascia injury. If it is just bruised or sprained, he can probably play in a week or two. If it's torn, then he's done for the year and we may be lucky if he's 100% by training camp.

11) The Jimmy RoH thing was awesome. Obviously eons overdue, but it was great seeing all his former greats show up and then the speech itself was classic Jimmy. There's no way we can't sit and wonder might have been if the idiot owner could have figured out a way to keep Jimmy happy and kept him for 10+ years (even though Jimmy himself is on record saying he would have never stayed that long anyway)

12) For the record, it's now 42 quarters since the last time one of the best pass rushers in the NFL has seen a holding call. And while the refs did call a holding last night on Detroit, it was actually on a TE or a WR, not on an opposing OL. parsons was held pretty badly on several occasions and on one play nearly had his helmet removed from contact to the face mask.

This is too much of a mistake prone team to be taken seriously to win a championship. They are the anti-Jimmy/Aikman Cowboys for sure. Prescott had a bad pick, Lamb had a really bad fumble. We lost 10 to 14 pts there alone. The defense played about as good as they could for 58 and 1/2 mins and then completely folded like a cheap tent. I expected us to get blown out last night and we won, which I guess I should be happy with. But between the mistakes, the bad coaching and game mismanagement it just doesn't seem all that gratifying. Seems like a 1 and done team to me

Tyler Smith has a torn planter facia

And as for Parson, apparently the team has filed a formal complaint with the league and provided plenty of video proof of him being repeatedly held

So we shall see if anything comes from that
 

Maveric

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I can't imagine that level of incompetence. Worse yet, we pick one with our first draft pick!
I can totallly see it. You don't think the lunatic that gave us the Quincy Carter/Chad Hutchinson years wouldn't at least consider going into a season with Rico Dowdle backed up by a fourth round rookie?
 

dbair1967

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And as for Parson, apparently the team has filed a formal complaint with the league and provided plenty of video proof of him being repeatedly held

So we shall see if anything comes from that
Didnt make any difference yesterday.
 

theoneandonly

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The team desperately needs whatever home games it can get in the playoffs. One of my favorite big picture offensive stats is yards per play. The team averages one more yard per play at home 6.1 vs 5.1 road. When you multiply that by 65 offensive plays that is a big difference. But like others have said penalties and no running game will ultimately doom them anyway.
 
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