Mloe68

Saints only scored 9 points against Sutton’s defense. At home!

They’ve lost 3 of their last 9 at home including.to the 49ers. Good, not great. As good as Brees is he has thrown 5 INTs in his last 4 playoff games.

I believe that just like Andy Reid has done two other times since he got here some coaches bench many starters for a meaningless week 17 game and basically treat it as a bye week. Actually I don't believe that. Its a simple fact. I'm sure the backups play hard. I'm sure the backups, backups play hard in the preseason too. I'm sure they want to win. But the second a coach benches a bunch of the regulars he sends a clear message "this aint that important!" Different coaches have different philosophies because of that very message measured against injury risk in a meaningless game. This isn't hard.

Right on cue Hardman hurt his glute today and was listed as a limited participant. Doesn't sound serious at all but it'll be interesting to see but we should get an instant glimpse at who Toub plans to use next on returns.

Edelman and two thirds of the starting cornerbacks are out for New England. I know the Bills aren't much of a passing team, but that has to help.

Steelers are one of those teams that could lose to about anyone if Hodges plays poorly. But that D is legit and it probably won't happen. Plus the Ravens will have zero to play for week 17, so Ill bet you see a bunch of backups including RGIII

Yards per return. Reflected in our average starting field position which is 5th best in the NFL. On point he's been pretty good but not Pro Bowl worthy. But when you add in his monster 20.3 yards per catch number and the most 40 plus yard TDs in the NFL; you get a lot of ESPN exposure and hence the Pro Bowl votes. He's not there yet. Fortunately he's only 21 years old and we don't have to worry about paying him for at least 2 more years so it really doesn't matter.

He's 4th in the AFC in both punt and kickoff returns.

Tyreek led the NFL in average punt return by s large margin in 2016. 4th in kick returns under the old rules. To me it seems relevant he hasn’t returned a kickoff in three years and that teams don’t use elite WRs as kick returners for a reason. Dave Toub said he’s open to using Tyreek late in any close game as a punt returner and did so in the Vikings game. And on point with the initial post he had a major impact as the punter shanked the punt trying to avoid Tyreek which helped set up game winning FG. Anything should be considered with everything on the line though. But even there it was Tremon Smith returning the kick late in the AFC Title game.

That was pretty awesome. But also in Miami where the Pats have a history of struggling. I don't think they've won in New England in at least a decade and already lost like 50-0 or something earlier this year. We can pray for a miracle but I think most players know its probably Buffalo or bust.

Tyreek hasn't returned a kickoff since his rookie season.

That's why I say basically nothing. Yes the Patriots would still have to beat the Dolphins at home in week 17. Not impossible. But close.

If the Patriots beat the Bills the #2 seed will be all but gone on Saturday night. Either way I don't think players or coaches are likely all that motivated by who our potential opponent would be if we can't get the bye. That said I personally prefer to play Baltimore in the division round. I don't see a ton of difference betweent the Bills and Steelers. Both are going to run the ball and play physical defense. Try to make it an ugly game at Arrowhead. Neither a great matchup so no doubt getting that 2 and avoiding it all together is ideal.

Just another game I think Chiefs Kingdom should have at least 10-20k fans. Amazing how well this franchise travels even during Christmas. That said if the Patriots win on Saturday, the game means basically nothing. Go BILLS!

Amazing thing is he is the best of the three interior guys. And LDT at an 8 million dollar CAP hit is the worst. At this point if I can pick one group most likely to cost us the Super Bowl. Its them.

Toub is adamant Hardman is going to be an elite kick returner and is sitting on breaking one soon. He's also 2nd in the NFL in punt return average and 8th in kick returns. So he's the guy I'd go with and have Tyreek focused on WR. That said if it its the second half in a crucial situation I think Dave Toub has already said he'd go to Hill. He did it in the Vikings game.

Veach has been good at flipping players we are going to release (as we were with Hyde) into a more talented better fit. Ogbah for Murray last year was a good move. Getting our best starting corner for Parker freaking Ehringer was brilliant. Hyde for Rankins hasn’t worked out in our favor yet but I like the potential and again I’m not Hyde is any better than what Shady gives us. But production wise this is one Veach has lost so far. I like his aggressiveness though. We ultimately win because of it.

Not gonna lie. I had to look it up as well. As a follow up I also looked up the pen name of the author to see if the O Henry bar was named after him. It wasn’t. You’re welcome. 😂.

The last 6 games the Honey Badger has been the highest graded safety in football. With his name recognition and this basically being a popularity contest I’m surprised he didn’t make it. Hardman has had a really nice rookie year but a Pro Bowler even as a returner? Hopefully as D Toub says he’s gonna break a few real soon and earn that but to date it’s surprising.

Once Spags benched Lee he tried to use Neiman as an every down player which proved to be a disaster because he’s a major liability vs the run. Seems to have settled in playing about a third of the snaps now. Again credit to Spags for learning how to use this group on the fly and making it harder for teams to exploit some clear flaws the group still has.

Good point about DOD. The guy was a really good LB in college but without the size to realistically hold up at this level. More of a hybrid safety type. It’s surprising however he hasn’t gotten a shot in sub packages with our LBs struggling to cover RBs and TEs. Then again I’m sure this goes back to what they see on the practice field.

We have a real shot this year and Andy needs to create that sense of urgency. While I actually think we will be better in 2020, you never know what the injury bug could bring. Heck teams don’t know what they may look like 3 weeks from now.

All good points. But even right now Andy should be analyzing what went wrong on blown leads trying to stave it off in January if it’s within his ability. I really don’t think Carlos Hyde would have helped much honestly. He’s had a solid season but he’s average overall. And i think our bad interior oline would have limited him. Ironically we traded him for just that.

It’s actually an important question Andy and Brett need to ask themselves going forward no matter what happens in 2019. Obviously last year a historically bad defense was the biggest contributor. I’d suggest the lack of any sustainable running game is likely the biggest culprit this year. And I think this is another reason for the clear red zone regression which keeps teams in games From a play calling and time management standpoint Andy’s gotta look at himself too. He gets way to much blame when we lose IMO, but there are ways he can help.

When you sign a free agent to a big contract I think two things other than talent are absolutely crucial..Competitivenss/toughness to battle through injuries and a history which doesn't include serious injuries which weve been burned by...From what I'm reading below it says alot about Clark and actually makes me optimistic we haven't seen the best of him by a long shot. "When I started the season off, I was probably at 20% [effectiveness]," he said. "I had a lot of doctors tell me I shouldn't even start the season, I shouldn't even have been playing. "I just wanted to go out there ... from the start of the season and just show my teammates and prove to Chiefs [fans] that I'm here to stay and that they know what type of player they're getting in me." Clark has five sacks in six games since, though he did miss Weeks 8 and 9 because of the pinched nerve. "There was a lot going on that was slowing me down that wasn't allowing me to be myself," he said. "The type of player I am, I like to play wild. I like to play with a lot of aggression. I play with a lot of flash. Everything comes with confidence with me. That's how it starts. I feel like I'm the best player on the field when I'm on the field. I've got a lot of things to prove. I feel I'm one of the best defensive ends in the league, and I feel I want to be the best when it's all said and done.