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NFL Playoffs running thread

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by John B. Foster, Dec 31, 2018.

  1. micropolitan guy

    micropolitan guy Well-Known Member

    Marone didn't have a four-touchdown lead, either. Tough to bleed the clock when you're up 7-10 points. Much easier to bleed the clock when you're ahead 29-3 or whatever the Falcons led by.
     
  2. dirtybird

    dirtybird Well-Known Member

    He's the counter argument if Marone keeps passing. Keep in mind, we're talking about like three series, all with short first-down runs and passes from 2nd and 8 or longer.

    In the biggest game, with a lead, you keep letting Blake Bortles throw? Where was the running game? I know Fournette wasn't having a great day, but someone had to be able to carry the ball at some point. You're up late on New England, and you let Bortles throw nearly 40 times? Of course you deserve to lose.
     
  3. micropolitan guy

    micropolitan guy Well-Known Member

    Looking at the play-by-play, they tried to run on first down in two of their last three possessions but got stuffed into 2-9 and 2-11 situations.
     
  4. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    There's the rub. They needed Bortles to pass more on downs where the kind of passes he can make (real easy ones) have a better chance of success. He isn't, to be kind, a third=and-eight kind of quarterback.
     
  5. John B. Foster

    John B. Foster Well-Known Member

    Laurent Duvernay-Tardif will play on Sunday.

    Right now, I am leaning towards the Chiefs and Saints.
     
  6. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    My favorite French-Canadian offensive lineman-ER doctor in the league.
     
    John B. Foster likes this.
  7. dirtybird

    dirtybird Well-Known Member

    The thing is, he's also not a throw it 40 times to get you to the Super Bowl kind of quarterback.

    Now, there's probably some good analysis about why to throw. It looked like their offensive success came when he threw early. I imagine someone could go on film and tell me about good box numbers (or bad ones).

    But we're more dealing in the realm of Monday Morning QBing. And if you led and didn't hold on, whether you threw or ran it, it was wrong.

    (Also interesting with the get the QB good throws early thing. This sometimes works, as does everything. But it sometimes doesn't, and we're more dealing in the realm of what doesn't. I've covered a bad team team that liked to throw on first downs. The downside is you run on second downs. When that works, cool. When it doesn't, it's incomplete on first down, run on 2nd and 10, and people get complain-y real fast)
     
  8. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    The throwing more on first down plan worked in the first half when the Jags grabbed the lead. That's why abandoning it in crunch time was so criticized. There are really only two ways to beat the Pats. 1. A pass rush that can consistently knock Brady on his ass from start to finish. Not many teams capable of that. 2. Go balls out on offense from start to finish. Yes, you could lose by 30 if that doesn't work. But slow the game, ball control offense is guaranteed to fail.
     
  9. JimmyHoward33

    JimmyHoward33 Well-Known Member

    Also def. Doug Marrone’s fault the would-be defensive TD by Myles Jack in the fourth quarter didnt count
     
  10. HappyCurmudgeon

    HappyCurmudgeon Well-Known Member

    Bortles was....I think 13-of-15 for 155 and a touchdown in the first half of that game. He was playing exceptionally well. They were calling good passes, it was opening up the running game and more importantly, the Patriots defensively weren't prepared for Jacksonville's passing game.

    Plus a week after beating Pittsburgh 45-42 (a little misleading, Pittsburgh scored a late late touchdown), it should have been clear that maybe six points in the second half probably wasn't going to get it done.

    FWIW I didn't have a problem with Shanahan staying aggressive in the second half. Matt Ryan was on fire, the Patriots couldn't keep up and it was working. Down the stretch he didn't play the situational football that probably would have iced the game. That's was his mistake.
     
  11. Chef2

    Chef2 Well-Known Member

    The brilliance of the freek.

    [​IMG]
     
    John B. Foster likes this.
  12. Regan MacNeil

    Regan MacNeil Well-Known Member

    That gif is like four years old.
     
    Donny in his element likes this.
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