Quick thoughts - Titans
 

1. Again -- if you view Brissett as a high-end QB2, you won't get your hopes up. He's still better than Hasselbeck ever was, but he's too inconsistent and indecisive. His receivers did him no favors, of course.

2. Among the many things Dam will ignore because Pagano can do no wrong: Marlon Mack had a monster first carry. He had one carry after that. For some reason, the coaching staff thought he was much more effective as a decoy and split out wide. Dumb, dumb, dumb. But it's Ballard's fault somehow, I'm sure.

3. I'm more or less done with Donte Moncrief and Jack Doyle. Both can still have good plays and series, but I think we've seen who they really are by now. Doyle got paid and has lost the edge he played with. Moncrief just continues to be OK with being OK. You can't really bench either because the talent behind them is still worse, but long-term? Pass.

4. TY Hilton took a lot of heat last night. Maybe it's deserved, but I always think that's dumb without seeing the tape first. I would guess Titans bracketed him and Chudzinski drew up nothing for him because his offense has speed options and keepers but no creative use of its best player, of course.

5. (I would mostly guess that Hilton was bracketed because the seam was wide open, but chucklefuck Jack Doyle made a mess of that all night long. If he doesn't fumble that first catch in the second half, it's probably a different game.)

6. Another dumb thing Dam will insist wasn't dumb: Quincy Wilson being inactive. Melvin goes down and Pierre Desir has to step in. Desir passes off coverage way too early and Colts get beat for the backbreaker TD. Yes, Hooker is ultimately the most responsible for the play, but it started with Desir not challenging/occupying the receiver long enough. It would be nice if that was Wilson in instead. Oh, right, but Wilson can't play special teams, right? Because a free agent you brought in three weeks ago and some guy named Chris Milton can, and Pagano's failed project TJ Green can be converted to a special-teamer overnight, but clearly Wilson can't be taught the intricacies of a coverage unit over the course of several month. FOH, coaching staff.

7. Maybe Le'Raven Clark isn't that bad and this coaching staff just doesn't know how to evaluate players whatsoever. Just maybe.

8. This team's ILBs are so bad that I'm half-convinced they could be replaced overnight and you wouldn't see any further drop-off in play. I don't get the point of Antonio Morrison at all. He's abjectly the worst LB I have ever seen in space. And as a thumper? He's great at taking out his own players, but Titans RBs carried him for a ride all day. The only reason Morrison is on the roster over Edwin Jackson is because Morrison was drafted. Probably at Pagano's insistence.

9. Pagano still has no sense of timeout strategy and clock management. Which is the GM's job, probably, according to Dam.

10. Look, we could go player-for-player, and even guys like Malik Hooker don't escape the shit list last night. But let's talk about the real issue: this franchise doesn't look to offer any redemption any time soon.

Yeah, Luck will come back. At some point. Maybe not until mid-late November at this point. Who knows? Great.

They'll still have the most lame duck coach in the history of lame duck coaches. They'll still blow coverages left and right because this defensive coaching staff is atrocious. They'll still commit a billion penalties because this team is utterly undisciplined. They'll still blow blocking assignments, drop passes, fumble balls and miss tackles because this team plays with zero refined technique (again -- coaches).

I just don't get what Jim Irsay is trying to sell long-term. I think he believes he is retaining your money by misinforming so much around Luck, but that ship has sailed, so now he has what we're seeing each week. And we're seeing the same bad movie each week, which is roughly the same bad movie we've seen for two years now.

I don't get how Irsay believes this status quo keeps fans engaged whatsoever. His logic seems to be "I can't make a move unless it's a big move!" Putting aside my fear that his definition of a big move is a big in name value only (NO JON GRUDEN!), it's beyond frustrating how he continues to commit to the same flawed logic path over and over again out of ... what? Some desire to be the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers, or show loyalty?

Pagano and these coaches are jokes. Everyone knows that. But the larger issue is that we just can't trust Irsay to make sound football decisions. He needs a Bill Polian type to make those decisions so he can dress up like Willy Wonka and dry-hump million dollar guitars or whatever.

Short of finding an actual responsible adult to run this ship and empowering him to do so, I only see further disconnect between HC-GM ahead, and more of this team in the SportsCenter Not Top Ten.

Dam would change this site to Chuckfreaks.com

No pressure the second half even though it was obvious Marriota could not move.

The stupid decision on Marlon Mack and two carries

Why the HELL was quincy Wilson not on the field?

I have to hand it to Gruden, most announcers just pussy foot around with their comments, he pretty much has the colts nailed. Now idea how much he watches them, but accurate on many counts.

How many double digit blown 4th quarter leads do we have to watch before Pagano gets fired? Its ridiculous. Week after week, same thing.

The game is 60 minutes long and they play about 45 good to decent minutes, then they suck.

The LBers could not cover my 95 year old grandmother.

Jack Doyle, horrible game.

As an OC you HAVE to find a way to get TY Hilton the ball, even if he is double covered. DO something to get the ball in his hands.

Same with Marlon Mack. Even on the one good run he did have, it was up the middle when really he is more of an outside runner.

I have little hope of them getting that 4th down conversion

Stupid penalties to extend drives.

Moncrief with another dropped TD.

The Jags D is just going to beat this team bad.

Actual Chuck Pagano postgame quote: “Yeah, we’ve got to figure out a way to probably get [Marlon Mack] the ball more.”

Ballard is the gm. He doesn't need anyone over him. I don't see irsay really interjecting too much.

really? You think so CHuck?

Especially now that Turbin is hurt.

I think something in the power dynamic has to change. Clearly, there's still disconnect between HC and GM. Unless Irsay says "no, this is totally Ballard's show and the HC has to run it", there needs to be someone who gets both guys on the same page.

There is an easy way to do this

Fire Pagano and find someone Ballard works well with

Irsay insisted that Ballard keep Pagano for this season.

That’s a less than ideal start and an interjection to begin with.

What a moron. I wish someone would just walk up and punch him in the face every time he says something stupid like that. It would make watching his press conferences so much better.

Did I miss it or were there any designed outside runs or tosses? Or even RB screens? I don't remember any. Even when TN was blitzing the A gaps hard and the space was there. Seems like a way they could've "gotten Mack the ball more".

There are many ways they could have gotten Mack the ball more. They didn't bother doing any of them.

Gruden made a comment about how we had a great screen coach and had been running a lot of screens. At that point I could recall two screens max. Mack tried to get a run outside, but he wasn't in the game much. he supposedly doesn't block well enough to be used in the screen game that we barely ever run.

Shout out to John Simon... Yes, the pick six was a gift, but he executed (see that Donte?) and managed to outrun DeMarco Murray. That god he didn't have that far to go. I thought he had a great game all around, was always near the ball.

And I don't pretend to know a ton about football, but if they are bracketing TY Hilton, it seems we could have made an adjustment at halftime that would burn them for doing that. Yes, we have to get the ball to our best player, but if they are taking that away there SHOULD be some level of cost for committing personnel to take away Hilton.

I am pissed I was so high on Jack Doyle and he is sucking so badly now.

In all, I thought our defense played well, but I don't think we can expect them to survive 3 consecutive 3 and outs. They almost kept us in the game. By the fourth quarter I knew the defense would not be able to keep us in it. It's sad because I thought they had one of their better games.

Like I said a post or two ago, I don't know much about football, but it seems like having Mack on the field when you snap the ball is a good first step.

I figured that was due more to the late firing of grigson. Regardless, it is ballards show now. Do all other teams have a team president? Seems very unnecessary

Good stuff as usual GBB. I would add:

- Time and again I watch terrible angles and missed tackles
- Looked like the play call was late getting to the QB that caused use to burn 2 TO's
- If I can read the number on the back of the pass defender when the ball arrives - he got burned
- D got a sack because the QB with a bad hammy slid while SCRAMBLING - nice pass rush.

One thing I forgot to mention, because unlike Dam I can admit when I'm wrong about things: I was wrong to advocate for this team to make re-signing Darius Butler a priority. There's a reason they took their sweet time to do so and no one else was making a strong play for him. He's looked really, really bad this season.

I thought he could transition to a third safety role and help out there. Whoops.

You really like getting pissed off over irrelevant shit, like when a timeout was taken when the defense can't get you the ball back anyway.

Should they have used Mack more? Probably, but they also tried a few times to use him in the passing game, which were unsuccessful due to bad throws. Mack should've been getting all of Turbin's time, hopefully he will now that Turbin is hurt. You seem to think this is a fireable offense, which means you'd go through pretty much every coach in the NFL.

Also, not playing a rookie who is coming off an injury is not the absolute worst thing a coach could do. Vontae Davis didn't exactly look sharp in his first week back from injury, and he's a talented veteran leader. If Quincy Wilson had gone out and gotten burned up and down the field, you'd be just as critical of Pagano for playing him. Just like with the decision to start Tolzien Week 1. Sure, in hindsight it looks dumb, but if Brissett had gone out and performed poorly, Pagano would've been awful for putting someone out there with no understanding of the offense or playbook.

I guess that's the odd thing about all of this to me. Everyone on this board calls me pointing out the flaws in their arguments or blatant hypocrisy "defending Pagano" when the reality is I haven't cared what happened with Pagano for over 2 seasons now. Make valid points.

No Damold. Stop your fake news


The odd thing is you put no responsibilities on the head coach. Everything is either the gm or players. You think the coach does nothing. Problem is, the issues with this team are the same and span many assistants, 2 gms, and many different players. There is a common denominator and that is pagano.

To be fair, with this coach, he's not wrong.

No, he is. Pagano doing nothing would be a net gain for this team.

The "issues" you reference all coincide with acknowledged roster weaknesses. The 1958 New York Giants coaching staff couldn't have coached a bottom 5 roster in the league to postseason prominence, even in today's postseason format. Without a healthy Andrew Luck, that's what this roster appears to be, especially defensively. Average OLBs and bad ILBs just don't cut it in a 3-4, where LBs are supposed to be the strength of the defense. With little pass rush ability and ILBs that can't cover, of course the passing game is going to be problematic game in and game out. Ballard couldn't fix it all in one offseason, I'm certainly willing to give him time considering the mess he inherited outside of the QB position. Hooker and Mack look very promising, as does Wilson when healthy. Given his pedigree and acquisitions to date, I trust him to be able to find the pass rushers and ILBs this team desperately needs.

[QUOTE=Dam8610;34603]You really like getting pissed off over irrelevant shit, like when a timeout was taken when the defense can't get you the ball back anyway.

Should they have used Mack more? Probably, but they also tried a few times to use him in the passing game, which were unsuccessful due to bad throws. Mack should've been getting all of Turbin's time, hopefully he will now that Turbin is hurt. You seem to think this is a fireable offense, which means you'd go through pretty much every coach in the NFL.

Also, not playing a rookie who is coming off an injury is not the absolute worst thing a coach could do. Vontae Davis didn't exactly look sharp in his first week back from injury, and he's a talented veteran leader. If Quincy Wilson had gone out and gotten burned up and down the field, you'd be just as critical of Pagano for playing him. Just like with the decision to start Tolzien Week 1. Sure, in hindsight it looks dumb, but if Brissett had gone out and performed poorly, Pagano would've been awful for putting someone out there with no understanding of the offense or playbook.

I guess that's the odd thing about all of this to me. Everyone on this board calls me pointing out the flaws in their arguments or blatant hypocrisy "defending Pagano" when the reality is I haven't cared what happened with Pagano for over 2 seasons now. Make valid points.[/QUOTE]

The valid point is that two things can and are true simultaneously. You can hold players accountable for their successes and failures AND you can hold coaches accountable for their successes and failures. The key word is "And".

Our players are held to account by their inclusion on the team, by the size of their contracts, and by their playing time. But you cannot say a team that has sufficient talent to play like they keep playing in the first half of these games is losing due to a talent deficit. They have sufficient talent to compete. They are dealing with a coaching and leadership deficit. Chud, Monachino, And Pagano are not putting their talent in the best position to succeed AND they can and should be held to account for this just as they should be credited for getting the team off to a fast start. If you can't see that this leadership team is failing to lead this team I don't think there are any other points that can be made.

Why is it we can be leading in 5 of 6 games at the half and continue to have these melts downs ending in us being 2-4? The talent is there for us to play well enough in the first half but somehow changes in the second half? Its true we have roster weakness but you cant blame everything on that.

Other coaching staff changes can turn around terrible teams in an offseason with out much roster turn over - See harbaugh in SF, see mcvay with the rams.

Coaching matters Adjustments matters. Attitude matters. Accountability matters.

We are 0-4 on those. It makes me wonder what the coaches actually do all week.

"Because talent catches up to you over the course of 60 minutes." - Dam

"Because this coaching staff goes into half time with shit for brains." - Everyone else on this board

"I exist." - Apballin

Chop some mythical wood???

According to damold, nothing

Doesn't this team lead the league in 3 and outs? Has some of that been playcalling? Definitely, there have been some far too predictable series from this team in the second half of games. However, a lot of it has been execution of the players. Key drops on crucial third down plays. Inability to open running lanes. Overthrows. Inability to execute the counters clearly called. That last one was a huge factor in last night's game. The playcall mix was appropriate in the second half, and the play designs were clearly blitz beaters, things like screens, short passes to the flat and over the middle, checkdowns built into nearly every play. Brissett just struggled to execute all of it in the second half. That's been a theme for him as well, and as offense dependent as this team appears to be, it's little surprise that when he performs well, the team performs well, and when he performs poorly, so does the team. Not all of it is on Brissett, but if you want to know why the halftime leads turn into losses, look to the performance of the offense, and if the coaching staff is making the right calls to counter the opponent's strategy, you can't exactly blame them for the players' inability to execute it.

1. What percentage of first down plays are run plays? It is so obvious that the defenses do not even try to stop the pass, because we are not passing on first down.

2. Mack is the most dynamic RB that we have, but he was almost always put in motion in the second half and the play was designed elsewhere. That is moronic playcalling.

3. Aiken gets tons of looks most games. Yesterday, it was Doyle. TY was not targeted but once. Is that not playcalling?

4. Doyle was not getting it done, but plays were called for him. Maybe RB screens would work instead, but we don't call those plays.

5. Defensively, we do not call for pressure on a gimpy QB. Even our pass rush should have been able, but no plays called to do so.

6. I am sure there are more, but I know it will fall of deaf ears.

Mentioned before, why was Quincy Wilson not out there last night? Would have been a much better replacement once Melvin went down.

p-a-g-a-n-o!

1) In the second half last night, 33%, which illustrates my point that the playcalling in the second half wasn't the problem.

2) If you're planning on using Mack in the passing game anyway, motioning him gives Brissett a better idea of if he's facing man or zone coverage, which should help him to make the appropriate read.

3) Not necessarily, that could be any number of things. Could be the Titans bracketed Hilton all game and challenged Brissett to make tougher throws to worse players. Could be Brissett not making the right reads.

4) You mean like the screens to Mack that Brissett overthrew?

5) They called several blitzes, they were ineffective because the Colts ILBs suck and the Titans OL doesn't.

6) Please continue.

I don't recall see a single bubble screen or slant all night. Those in my mind are blitz beaters.

In fact, you could probably count on one hand how often you've seen those concepts called all season.

Let's just fukn face it, running the schemes from THE U of the late 90's ain't getting it done.

If Quincy Wilson had played last night and gotten burned in coverage several times, who would you have blamed for that?

You didn't see the bubble screens because they were overthrown.

The players are the only problem you see? There is none so blind as the one who refuses to see.

Doyle Issue
 

Do you think Doyle's catch issues could be linked to his prior concussion issues? Just sayin!

Just another 4th quarter meltdown. Well at least we'll be number 1 in something!