Zim’s Grades For The Game: Wild Card Edition

[FanMarino]

No need to be sorry. You could indeed see it coming. Phillips injury really gutted me - I was at that game and we lost Holland too. Then the Chubb injury was the nail in the coffin where I felt any hope of a SB run go out the window. Last night they put a graphic up that showed our defensive starters who were out:

Howard
Phillips
Baker
Chubb
Van Ginkel
Holland

And they circled the edge guys and said “that’s 25 sacks not on the field” - basically half of our sack total. That’s also 4 pro bowl or near-pro bowl level players. And Baker - as we saw in the bit he played vs Buffalo - is a lot better than his backups.

Crazy thing is, even w the injuries, Fangio ran his mash unit well - the last two weeks the guys played well enough to win had our offense not regressed to the state that it did.

That killed it for me on Defense. Most legit NFL Defenses thrive off pass rushing and having good DBs. We lost the pass rush and Holland and then Howard. That's not something you can come back from especially in playoffs. Long was only LB to stay healthy. Its not realistic to expect them to suddenly play lights out in playoffs.

 

[royalshank]

That killed it for me on Defense. Most legit NFL Defenses thrive off pass rushing and having good DBs. We lost the pass rush and Holland and then Howard. That's not something you can come back from especially in playoffs. Long was only LB to stay healthy. Its not realistic to expect them to suddenly play lights out in playoffs.

100%. I think even McD knew he was screwed when we lost Chubb

 

[mandal24]

Coach of the year? He is as much to blame as Tua is. The only non negative is the that the adjustments he needs to make are a lot easier than the adjustments Tuas needs to make. McDaniel needs to revamp his offense entirely and stop thinking he's a genius.


THIS

lol Mcdaniel is handicapped by Tua. He is catering to Tua's limitations.