Thinking Skins

Just as a follow up. I think this is called graph paper programming. I've been doing it with my kids the past few nights, not book related, just random images and trying to recreate them (like a smiley face or something pixel art) but the main thing is the limitation of being able to go up down left or right and doing everything before being done. So these are dune if the images I did with them.

We play a bad team Thursday

I appreciate that. You @Bang and maybe a few others have told me that and I do appreciate it. I have been here for a long LONG time and its gotten me through some hard times. I'm not talking about the team right now, I'm talking about this message board. For the most part I've enjoyed watching the team my whole life. I'm old enough to have lived through the three SBs (although I can't remember the first), but my childhood is filled with those memories and those stories and those debates and those arguments about Gary Clary vs Art Monk or Gary Clark vs Jerry Rice or whoever you wanted to debate from the 80s. I hated the team then because we didn't have enough big name players and we're seeing it now in the HOF debates. Thing about it was that the message board seemed to bring that back. There are times when it becomes maybe too much, or I have nothing to add. Maybe after the Buffalo loss and its hard to be positive. Sometimes people in these threads aren't as positive, especially when I'm taking a contrary to the public opinion (like defending Bruce). And sometimes (unlike when I was younger), life just gets in the way. But yeah, I do make an extra effort to make sure I'm positive or at least not offending the person I'm communicating with. And I appreciate you acknowledging that, Onto the topic at hand though. You're doing a good thing in calling Ron the inexpensive wine, but I think what you may be doing is selling him short. I'm not a Ron guy or a anti-Ron guy. I posted somewhere back that I had a philosophy that I thought coaches should get 3 years to prove themselves. Ron has gotten that, so his time is pretty much up looking at it that way. But we seem to have found a QB and OC who are gelling right now. So the question I have and its kinda ties into the analogy, supposing that EB/Howell can lead this train to 11/12 wins (I know impossible), you'd have to give Rom the keys to the train again for next year right? But what about an extension? What if he wins 9 or 10 wins? The only thing that I don't want is Howell learning a third offense in three years and having the Campbell/Alex Smith thing going on where he can't get comfortable in an offense. One thing I think he's doing (not saying he has to but he is doing it) is taking the bullets for EB (and JDR but JRD can take them himself). Lets get this clear, Ron is NOT GOOD at press conferences. But he is doing them instead of EB and JDR so that they can focus on doing the real work of getting ready for the next opponent.

That's the problem with this place. There is the obvious takes stuff that everybody will agree with like "we need more first round picks to hit" well duh. But I was in a disucssion with Craig Hoffman on Twitter this morning about just that (talking about a segment on his radio show last night) saying that it was an argument looking for a point because we may have hit on a 5th rounder, at QB. I'm not going to go into the details of that discussion here because i don't want to derail this thread but I feel like we get into too much of an ecochamber as @KDawg kinda called it. And while I have the rep as the "low round QB" guy its its not a hill I'm going to die on (see Dwayne Haskins/Ramsey/Campbell). Thing is many of us DC sports fans are hurt and broken by losing franchises and seeing owners like Abe Pollin who won't fire a coach seemingly ever, seems to have broken us to ALWAYS want to call for firing everybody at every occasion. So at every occasion there seems to be a discussion on who to fire next (there were calls to fire JDR on BMitch and JP's show on Monday). He had a top 10 defense last year. Its not that I don't believe the positions I post. Its more that I try to find the elements that I believe. Going back to BMitch and JP, where they have the Blame Pie, suppose we have a "believe pie". 50-75% Would be stuff that people on here seem to agree on most of the time. 10-15% are some answers that will be wrong in hindsight, and fans should see right now but still preach because they want to believe. And I'm looking for those last 20-40 % of things to discuss that are potentially factually true, can lead to discussion, and are not just me preaching the same old song. Its not easy and sometimes leads me to defending guys like CJ Beathard more than I should, but I thought he had potential. Same with Brett Rypien and Nick Mullens.

I want 11 wins this year.

So Sheehan was in his podcast defending Daniel Jones today. Said he'd still pick him over Howell today. I almost choked on my lunch. Dude had what 3 bad years and one ok year supplanted by a great RB and looked good in a few games but horrible in a lot but wow. He really takes his points to the grave.

Am I wrong to fear Foster on Moore?

I just realized I put this in the wrong thread So here I wanted to do the drive by drive analysis of the offense. Drive 1: RPPRPPSPRRPPRR (6 Runs, 7 Passes 1 Scramble) - Terry x2, Samuel, Dotson x2, Robinson, Drive 2: RRPPPPPR (3 Runs, 5 Passes) - Terry x2, Brown, Thomas, Dotson Drive 3: RPP (1 Run, 2 Passes) - Samuel (sack) Drive 4: PRPPPRPPPRP (3 Runs, 8 Passes) - Dotson x3, Thomas, Terry, Brown, Robinson, (sack) Drive 5: RPRPP (2 Runs, 3 Passes) - Terry x2, Dotson Drive 6: PRRPPP (2 Runs, 4 Passes) - Thomas, Bates, Brown, (sack) Drive 7: PPPSPSPPPRR (2 Runs, 7 Passes, 2 Scrambles) - Terry, Samuel x4, Gibson, Dotson Drive 8: RPSRPS (2 Runs, 2 Passes, 2 Scrambles) - Pringle, (sack), Drive 9: PPPPPPPPPP (10 Passes) - Samuel x2, (sack), Pringle, Brown, Terry x2, Dotson

I wish we didn't have to hear the same stories over and over and over and over again. We know about the Kirk trade stuff and the meddling stuff. Tell me more about how you scouted Matt I. or some of the other low round guys. Talk about some other game strategy like why 2 minute offense is not used more, or what goes into a 2 minute offense.

So here I wanted to do the drive by drive analysis of the offense. Drive 1: RPPRPPSPRRPPRR (6 Runs, 7 Passes 1 Scramble) - Terry x2, Samuel, Dotson x2, Robinson, Drive 2: RRPPPPPR (3 Runs, 5 Passes) - Terry x2, Brown, Thomas, Dotson Drive 3: RPP (1 Run, 2 Passes) - Samuel (sack) Drive 4: PRPPPRPPPRP (3 Runs, 8 Passes) - Dotson x3, Thomas, Terry, Brown, Robinson, (sack) Drive 5: RPRPP (2 Runs, 3 Passes) - Terry x2, Dotson Drive 6: PRRPPP (2 Runs, 4 Passes) - Thomas, Bates, Brown, (sack) Drive 7: PPPSPSPPPRR (2 Runs, 7 Passes, 2 Scrambles) - Terry, Samuel x4, Gibson, Dotson Drive 8: RPSRPS (2 Runs, 2 Passes, 2 Scrambles) - Pringle, (sack), Drive 9: PPPPPPPPPP (10 Passes) - Samuel x2, (sack), Pringle, Brown, Terry x2, Dotson

Yeah I listen to his shows and his podcasts, but not live. i listen (download) and listen at 2x. I have listened to him today and he seems more positive so he's an easy listen today. Some days he's a difficult listen. Honestly, during the summer I have to fast forward through some parts of those shows and just listen to an audo books later because he is so negative. Its just not my cup of tea. Its the same as when he would have weeks and weeks worth of shows devoted towards the name. I'd just fast forward because I'm not interested. Same with all the gambling stuff now. He says he's back and forth but his words don't match his actions. 1) He goes and cites that a 5th rounder can't make it (or the number of 5th rounders who are starting in the league right now or since 2000 or whatever the stat Ben Standig quoted was) - that's being negative. But he never quoted anything to try to balance that. That's no being balanced. 2) The stuff about this team being a defense led team and having a top ten defense and all that being what we were what we were going to lean on. That's a negative shot at Howell. So when callers pointed out comps and similarities and things he did in college and in his Dallas game film and even in the preseason, he was quick to dismiss them and act as if it was nothing. So what can we use? his opinion? It was frustrating? 3) This was a QB who was highly scouted and dropped to the 5th round and anytime a caller brings that up, he dismisses it and talks about other QBs that either dropped or were highly scouted. Thats being negative. See a pattern? It was so frustrating in the summer time before training camp before games were played because he is probably the most knowledgable guy on radio but he was so dismissive of Howell. I'm glad he's not the coach of the team though. It doesn't matter though. He's just a fan like you or me. Given he has a radio show, but you and I are on this message board. I just hope Howell continues to win games and inspire fans.

That's a good note.

I listen to most of the Sheehan stuff too and I one of my most positive people on Twitter told me that I am negative on Sheehan based on how unwilling to be positive Sheehan will be. Like the entire offseason, Sheehan REFUSED to allow callers to talk about this exact scenario. Where the defense was having problems coming together, problems with moble QBs, problems with the big plays, and big runs, etc. And we're kept alive by our young QB. He kept going to the stats - 5th round QB, number of times its happened, how many of them in the league right now are starting. The Dallas game didnt mean anything? You guys are really convinved after a meaningless game? So occasionally I'll poke him on Twitter and say "are you on the bandwagon yet" "these aren't Kirk-like numbers against prevent defense" "You gonna start calling him the comeback kid" and others are saying that he wasn't as negative as I heard, but it seemed like - not that he was wishing for Howell to fail - (and I do think it was a good get for him to interview Howell) but that anytime a caller calls in with hope and optimism for Howell he's like calm down sonny this is a defensive team thats gonna carry us this year. We're seeing right now that's not true. We're going as far as Howell can carry us. And I listen to Sheehan's podcasts so I haven't heard it yet but if he finally agrees then good, if not then he's gonna keep barking up the wrong tree.

Here's an interesting stat. The two most sacked QBs in the league: Sam Howell - 24 Justin Fields - 17 We've already talked about playing Arizona Denver Buffalo and Philadelphia Chicago has played GB (4), TB (6), KC (3), DEN (4) So this dude can get got. Lets have a race to the QB.

The metrics say it's not even a 50/50 chance to convert a 2-point conversion. So you're being a bit bullish on the odds there. Also, I don't think THIS offense has figured out short yardage yet. They tried the Logan Thomas thing twice, they've tried to run it, pass it, and none of it has been especially effective or repeatable. Maybe in a few weeks, but I get the distinct feeling EB is still trying to figure out short yardage. I would have been fine if they went for it, but I'm fine with them not going for it also. This is why i wasn't too big on going for the 2. We didn't get the 4th and goal at the 2 against Buffalo last week and it haunts me. Not bad dreams wise, but just like you say, we haven't figured it out yet. Our line is not in cohesion yet. We tried Thomas. We tried BRob. It would be different if we had more success but I wasn't mad. That said. I think Sam is the man and you never take it out of the man's hands. So the fact that the man got the ball to start overtime says something and so he was dealing to start overtime and then the catch / no catch was there. I can honestly understand the punt decision because I'm thinking of a Gruden quote and its about playing a field position game and using Way as a weapon and pinning them deep and thats what I was honestly thinking. So the shank was the LAST think I was expecting. Then we lost.

That's kinda true but its what they say as long as there is no tape on a QB. QBs evolve and learn schemes and defenses and to read defenses. That doesn't change. A guy like Mac Jones whose mistakes were covered up by a coach and a running game and good team is more likely to be found out than a playmaker.

But does Smith think Atlanta is terrible?

Yeah. I started to credit it to Cooley but thought that Cooley and EB probably aren't talking this stuff over so it's probably credit due to EB.

He was decisive today. It's simple. One decision he made was to use his legs more as a check down. We see that time and time again throughout the game. And it was a quick decision and he picked up yards. They left the middle of the field open.