NoCalMike

This defense is good, but I am done calling them great or elite. They are still the strength of this team, but from the eye test, they don't do a lot of the dominant things you see out of the Top elite defenses. They don't look the same. I am assuming being soft in the middle of the field is a big reason why. On the D-line, Sweat is probably the odd man out. Look, we are yet to see Young's ceiling, but just in his short time back from injury, you can see the huge difference between a guy with blue chip talent who can do it all, and Sweat who is good and can be a solid contributor, but unless he is coming to the table to sign something team/cap friendly, I don't think his value matches the kind of contract he is likely to find in free agency. I think finding a stout middle of a D-line is tougher, so I am doing whatever i can to keep the Allen-Payne combo, building the line from inside out.

The season was effectively over as soon as they drove to midfield in the OT againt the Giants and then bumbled their way backwards out of FG range. When I saw that, I just had a bad omen about the rest of the season. Then coming off the bye we get the 2nd Giants game and they looked even worse and I pretty much knew it was a wrap. This team hasn't looked good in over a month. I'll say now, I was a start Wentz guy, and for as much crap as I gave Heinicke, most of which I still think are valid criticisms.....Wentz should have never seen the field. If the defense gives up 24 to the Browns regardless of our QB, then I don't think we win yesterday, but I also don't think Heinicke is throwing 3 picks, because Turner is likely sticking with running the ball more which for some odd reason he went away from immediately after it was shown to work. I don't trust anyone on this coaching staff to evaluate talent, let alone QB talent. Get rid of them all as soon as the season is over, and either start Howell with a vet backup in 2023 or figure out how to get a QB1 on the roster by then.

They lost to a team that just sort of hung around on the field waiting for every 5th play or so to gain yards. It was pathetic. The only good drive of the game by the offense was to end the half and surprise surprise it is when Scott Turner actually went back to the run heavy play calling. Wentz sucked, period. Maaaaan was I wrong about his ceiling, however I couldn't believe I was actually watching them throw Wentz out there without the run-centric offense. I feel like the coaching staff was all but promising that putting Wentz in would not totally change the play calling and emphasis back to what it was prior to the Heinicke run, but they did exactly that sanz for one drive, in which they scored a TD. Fire them all, today.

Oh no argument there really, I was just more making assumptions based on the current coaching staff still being in place through this offseason. I think they would want Heinicke back on the roster for another round or two of "just in case...." It's like.....bits & pieces of potential are flashed every single game is certain parts of the field when you see the film afterwards it's just too many holes and injuries to make everything work in unison to produce points or much of anything lately..

If Ron & Co has to go is it a help or hinderance for Snyder to do it on his way out or wait to allow the new ownership make the decision? As in, would new ownership prefer to avoid having to make that decision if possible and come in with a clean slate?

Yep, not to mention, if he isn't that guy, then the sooner we know the better as well, even if it means he'd make a long term quality back up.

Ok as a counter to my last reply. What do the coaches do......(assuming Ron is still the coach) if they see Howell's ceiling as a quality back up? What do we do at QB for time being? Wentz is doneso......Heinicke is a FA I believe yeah? If Heinicke negotiates knowing Wentz failed, and they don't view Howell as the answer either, his leverage might go up out of always needing him as a last resort option. EDIT: And no I am not saying I want Heinicke as the starter, not at all, but Heinicke might know he will be needed by the team at least to be the backup just in case because they don't want Howell going in.

I don't think any coach is safe at this point, nor should they be.

There's no way Sam Howell, with another offseason, running with the ones.....can't be better at QB than what we've seen this season. I know he is young and maybe a bit raw, but it's a pretty low bar ahead of him right now. This is even assuming too much about who the other 2 QB's on the roster will be at that time, so this could all be moot soon anyway...but just sayin' Edit: To clarify the above statement. What I meant to say is that IF....of course it's an IF.....so if Howell is to be seen as any kind of legit threat to be a franchise starting QB....like if the coaches legitimately think his talent ceiling is that high eventually? THen yes the original paragraph applies. He should be ready.

*siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh*' We've reached this part of the season...... https://twitter.com/reesejackson14/status/1609651374354042883?s=20&t=v0T4agBigk_SI7NIrLyRbw

I was intrigued with Carr one of the previous 3-4 times he was supposedly being moved from by the Raiders. I always felt that while he wasn't in the top tier, he definitely had the "it" factor gene in his play. I think he is definitely an upgrade over any QB on the roster currently (Sam Howell development potential aside) but I also am not sure how big of a contract I am offering him at this stage of his career to find out. I do think if Carr and Wentz both hit the market Carr would be significantly more expensive to bring in than getting Wentz back, but the coaches may like enough about Carr to deem it worth it?

I wish Curl and BSJ were both able to play but if I had to prioritize one over the other it's Curl. I just feel the secondary plays different when Curl is out there. I'd rather give up pedestrian receptions than get beat by the big plays which I think Curl & DFo can lock down for the most part. I think Curl missing the 49ers game made a huge impact in the secondary being lost trying to cover Kittle.

The Eagles beating the Saints on Sunday officially eliminates the Cowboys chances to improve their playoff seeding in Week 18. I think it could effect who plays Week 18 and for how long. I don't think the "send the other team home" aspect comes into play as much when that team itself is already in the playoffs. Usually it's the mediocre teams who are already eliminated that get all hyped up at the chance to send another team to the post season observer couch.

Cowboys starting C was carted off the field and Dak got up pretty gimpy after a couple of hits, I don't think it is beyond reasonable to think that even if Dallas starts Week 18 with their starters in, if the game is close and Dak is taking hits etc etc....McCarthy might start pulling them.

If Curl & BSJ are both out Sunday, I will officially be worried.

For all the talk of a trap game or let down or whatever. I just don't see it. Now that said, the team could still lose for other reasons, but they are 7-7-1, there should be no such thing as a trap game when you are .500. Not to mention, technically they haven't won a game in about a month so it's not like there is anything to be riding high about going into this game. They screwed the pooch against the NYG and it has a good chance of costing them the playoffs, but as of now they control their own destiny and if that isn't enough motivation to go out there and win against a team that likely has one foot into the offseason, then they simply don't deserve to be in the playoffs either.

I feel like a broken record but basically don't let the game come down to Watson being allowed to win the game on one big throw or "magic moment that reminds us of who he was and can be again" The Browns are a team with little to play for, so go out there and make sure they are thinking about their offseason plans by halftime. If this game gets deep into the 3rd quarter with the game in doubt, I will be officially worried.

This team is officially out of mulligans. It is do or die at least for this week. If they win, we will see where the chips lie by the end of the weekend, but for sure they have to win this game. A Wentz redemption game would be nice, but the O-line isn't going to do him many favors. The Browns don't stop the run which should be a welcome change from the 49ers game. I see zero reason to go out there and immediately change the offense that has been decent driving from the 30 to 30, Wentz is in there because this team isn't scoring once they get into the red zone and that has costs us games. My guess is that Wentz gets at least 1 week of glory while a huge NFC East rivalry showdown looms for the final week of the season. Commanders 31 Browns 17

So for some reason I had a horrible habit of never looking at the jumbo tron between plays to watch replays. There were two seemingly would-be INTs that ended up 49ers receptions. One was I think....Davis maybe diving for one close to the ground and everyone in the crowd thought for sure it was an INT but it wasn't. Then there was on by I think Reeves where he came up to press and had a 50/50 looking play where it ended up a reception. From watching it on TV and how many angles you probably got, how close were those to INTs? Did they look more like missed opportunities by our players or just spectacular plays on the other side of the ball?

To me the Browns game is another Giants (game #2) situation. Win the game or you don't deserve to go to the playoffs regardless of what scenarios suggest it could still happen.

I just hope something happens next week that makes Week 18 not important for the Cowboys. I don't think they are unbeatable, but I also don't trust this team to win a game like that yet. The O-line against Dallas's defense would be a depressing way for the season to come to a close. I've said in this thread and others and I will say it again. The Giants are a team this team should have swept. They blew tons of chances in the first game, and just played mediocre, flat, & uninspired in a game that was supposed to be their statement game and coming out party to the world. (You can make the argument the Eagles MNF game was that, but they weren't getting the praise and love from the media the way they had been in the last month) This season has had a lot of ups & downs, you can make the valid case for other games earlier in the season that they also let slip by, but the main difference for me between those games and the Giants games, were the early season we were a mess of a team for many different reasons, some of those reasons persist to this day, but some were fixed, reduced, & minimized. Tie/Losing to the Giants with relatively the same roster that I just saw go toe to toe with the 49ers for even just a half of football? INEXCUSABLE.

Took me 4hrs to get home from the game, only just under 2 to get there. I was pretty happy with the performance in the first half. They had to play about as close to perfect as possible and outside of giving up the 70 yard rush to (not) Deebo Samuel, it was a good half of football. I didn't like not taking the 3 points early, and I think there were missed opportunities that could have had us up at the half. Then the 2nd half started. Look, I know it looked rough out there, but the 49ers are a championship level roster right now. This is what those teams do. If you aren't on that level, sure you can hang for awhile, but they gave us a good look at the difference between a good defense that is still in the process of growing and upgrading the weaker spots and an elite defense that not only doesn't have any "weak" spots, but who's depth can come into the game and not miss a beat. One big issue with our defense right now outside of the D-line itself, is that it seems like any time a starter is not out on the field, whether it is an injury, a breather, a rotation, whatever....the drop off in play is dramatic. I think for the first of the game, it looked like watching a mirror image of two teams built in a very similar way, however one of those teams is a couple offseasons ahead of us in their build. When I was sitting in my seats watching the team in the first half, the main thought in my head was frustration over how they looked against the Giants in the second game. I still say, regardless of how these last 2 weeks play out, that loss to the Giants on SNF is ultimately what dooms this team should they fail to make the playoffs. That was another prove it game for this franchise, and they reverted back to the same type of team we have seen too many times over the last 20 years which is a team that can crawl their way out of a hole with scrappy play, but as soon as they get a few eyeballs on the, and praise thrown their way, they fail to keep it going and fall right back into that familiar .500 team pack. Was very enthused with what I saw out of Chase on the field. He was actually a lot faster than I expected in his first game back. If these extra weeks are the reason he looked pretty good, then those extra weeks were well served for him. Can't wait to see what he can try to put together for these next two huge games, and especially in his home debut and then against a division rival. Dotson is a stud, not only did he make big catches, but he was open a ton more. On the goal line stand where we failed to get in. BRob took a bad angle and cut inside when if he bounced to the outside he is walking into the endzone or at the least he might meet some contact right at the goal line but it would have been one on one with a defender and I am betting on BRob in that scenario every time. I thought Wentz looked fine when he came in, definitely flashed some of why he can potentially provide a spark to the offense in ways Heinicke can't, but he was put into the game so late that it is hard to make a full evaluation on what Wentz can or can't do with the current make up of the offense. All in all, by the time the game kicked off I saw the results of the morning games and knew we' retained the 7th seed no matter what, so it took a lot of that fan-stress I likely would have had, and I was able to enjoy the game for what it was, a title contender educating everyone on the differences between them and a wildcard hopeful.

I don't view Wentz as any kind of savior of the offense (assuming he is being named the starter sometime this week) but I do think there were some immediate small differences you see with a QB1 talent vs QB2. When I say QB1 I don't mean Top 10 QB in the NFL, just someone with the physical attributes. A lot of the short passing game, you can see the difference with your eyes the difference between Heinicke throwing to the sideline and Wentz. Wentz is able to throw lasers that gives the receiver time to catch the ball and make a move with it to try and juke the defender where as Heinicke usually lofts a ball where it feels like they are waiting forever and the defender has time to come up and meet the receiver. Arm talent isn't just about who can heave the ball downfield the furtherst. I think Heinicke had a pretty good 1st half against SF for the most part, but I also think the O-line played much more clean in that first half then they have in awhile considering the 49ers front 7, however once they made their halftime adjustments the O-line went right back to who we thought they were.

Oh for sure. I am ready to move on from Heinicke because I feel like his ability ceiling is not good enough for the last stretch of games. To be fair, the 49ers game is a mountain of a task regardless of the QB so I would assume a 7-7-1 record regardless of QB. My fear is that because Heinicke has such a low ceiling, this is the time of the season it is going to be the most glaring and there isn't any film studying that is going to change it. Would the team still lose these games with Wentz and perhaps Howell? Sure, I can easily see it, but Heinicke isn't the best QB on the roster right now and his supposed attributes that are supposed to be making him the best QB for the situation have also evaporated slowly over the past month of games.

There's a difference between saying Heinicke has been good vs due to the circumstances I believe Heinicke is still the best option.