On one hand, I understand the logic of illegal contact / holding preventing a wide receiver from catching the ball, and you don't know what he'd do with it to get a first down. But on the other hand, offensive holding often is done to prevent a sack, and therefore would be a loss of down. Since having loss of down on offensive holding calls would be too much, I'd rather eliminate automatic first downs on the 5 yard defensive calls.

Four decades later, Coryell’s fingerprints are all over the offenses that define the NFL’s modern era. The move tight end? The three-digit passing system? Using pre-snap shifts and motions to identify the defense? Coryell’s Chargers were the pioneers.

His system sought to exploit defenses in ways no offense did at the time. If Bill Walsh’s famed West Coast scheme leaned on short, quick passes designed to stress opponents sideline-to-sideline, Coryell’s vertical attack would stress them pylon-to-pylon, primarily with punishing deep shots down the seams.

[...] In those days, tight ends were hand-in-dirt blockers, seldom used for anything more than a few catches over the middle. Coryell flexed Winslow out wide, then targeted him all game long, turning him into one of the most lethal weapons in league history.

[...] Coryell inserted a handful of pre-snap shifts and motions to help his QB sniff out the defensive coverage he was about to see. Coryell loved how fast Fouts’ mind worked. It typically only took him a second after the snap to confirm his initial read. He’d take his five- or seven-step drop and sling it.

[...] As Coryell continued to innovate — with Winslow, with pre-snap movement, with personnel groupings no one had seen before (two tight ends on the field at the same time, four receivers out wide) — defenses were forced to respond, football evolution happening in real time. Winslow was such a mismatch for safeties and linebackers that teams had to bring another cornerback on the field to cover him, the birth of the nickel defense. The dime would soon follow.

Now that was wild!

A little too wild.

The Eagles’ secondary is just ravaged with injuries, inconsistency, ineptitude and ill-timed penalties (I used a lot of “I” words).

And yet, they pulled off a huge win over Dallas 28-23.

Hurts is clearly injured and hobbled but still had 3 TDs.

AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith both had TD catches again, but the running game hasn’t been very good.

But the team makes big plays every game aside from that Jets travesty.

8-1, baby!

Yeah, but winless vs The Jets

Following the 27-6 loss to the Chargers, Robert Saleh made his weekly radio appearance on The Michael Kay Show and was straight up asked why the New York Jets can’t bench Zach Wilson and give Trevor Siemian a try?

Saleh’s answer seems to indicate that the decision is out of his hands, telling Michael Kay “I don’t know” while also coming off as being flustered by the question, only to respond by saying, “I don’t know.. you got me. I’m going to plead the 5th on this one.”

While a lot has had to go right for Houston to get to this spot so quickly, it doesn’t take a football expert to figure out the primary catalyst: Stroud. The rookie quarterback followed up a record-setting performance against the Buccaneers last week by outplaying Joe Burrow in his own stadium and leading the Texans on a game-winning drive. Stroud is now second in the NFL in passing yards and ranks in the top 10 in almost every efficiency metric, including expected points added and QBR. That’s how Houston has stuck around in the playoff chase despite featuring a bad running game and an exciting but mediocre defense.

This is what the great quarterbacks do. They accelerate a team’s timeline. Stroud has been so good, so early, that it’s no longer a question whether he should be the offensive rookie of the year, or whether the Panthers erred in passing on him to take Bryce Young with the top pick in April. Those conversations have already moved on. Stroud’s points of comparison aren’t Young, Anthony Richardson, and Will Levis. They’re Dan Marino, Andrew Luck, and Justin Herbert—at least among all-time NFL rookie seasons. If you didn’t know anything about the second pick from the 2023 draft, I’d forgive you for thinking “the first rookie QB since” was part of his legal name. It’s all you heard after Stroud led Houston to a second game-winning drive in as many weeks on Sunday.

[...] We don’t even need the “rookie” caveat to talk about Stroud anymore. He ranks seventh in the NFL in EPA per play after 10 weeks. He’s slotted in right behind Tua Tagovailoa, who’s throwing to Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle and backed by the league’s most efficient run game, and Jalen Hurts, who is pulling in $51 million a year to throw to A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith while playing behind the best offensive line in football. The Texans have provided Stroud with a good (not great) supporting cast, and he’s keeping pace with two guys who have been in the MVP discussion the past two years. He’s been more efficient than Herbert, Burrow, Matthew Stafford, Geno Smith, Trevor Lawrence, Jared Goff, and Kirk Cousins. He is leading a passing game that ranks third in DVOA. We aren’t just watching a great rookie season; this would be a great season for any quarterback in the league, regardless of experience level.

Houston looks like geniuses dumping Watson and ending up with Stroud. Sometimes these guys make it look so easy and Stroud has been one of those guys. Look at all of them that struggle including Zach Wilson, Mac Jones and Justin Fields and this guy comes in and lights it up.
Sometimes it ain’t fair.

deshaun watson out for the season.......

fucking browns, fucking browns, fucking browns........mayfield played when he couldn't even walk or lift his arm.

yep that’s two seasons wasted, maybe try again next year? He certainly hasn’t looked like the generational player he was hyped to be when he came out.

Was he? I know he was projected to be good, but usually QBs considered to be "generational" are taken in the top five of the draft (often #1 overall), not the 12th overall selection. For example, there was no way Andrew Luck was going to be available at the 12th pick. Caleb Williams won't be available at the 12th pick in the next draft.

Watson is as tough of a prospect to evaluate as there is coming out of college. While he shows flashes with his arm, he is wildly inconsistent and lacks the key traits (pocket instincts/poise and field vision). He will need to play in an offense specifically built around him with a quarterback run game and pass-game scheme creativity. There will be games when the coverage structures will be simple and the route concepts will match up with the route combinations, and he will have success. Then there will be games where the defensive movement will give him problems or the pass rush will force him to move within the pocket and get through progressions, and he will struggle mightily. Watson is not a pure progression passer, with his limited pocket feel and vision, and whenever that's the case, there will be a huge risk involved when hoping to land a franchise quarterback. The former Clemson quarterback's work ethic and intangibles will make him an attractive option, but there will be some risk involved.

"Watson is the most experienced, and he has more good tape than the other quarterbacks," one of the executives told Jeremiah. "None of these guys are franchise-type, no-brainer picks, but he's the closest to what you'd want at the position."

There are others, however, who believe Watson shouldn’t even be selected in the first round. DraftAnalyst.com’s Tony Pauline surveyed two NFL teams about the top 32 players on their draft boards, and neither one of them included Watson.

"While dynamic as a runner, Watson’s simply not as physically gifted as the other quarterbacks in this class; his velocity and hot-and-cold accuracy don’t match up with that of (North Carolina quarterback Mitchell) Trubisky, (Texas Tech’s) Patrick Mahomes II or (Notre Dame’s) DeShone Kizer, and his 30 interceptions over the past two seasons call into question his decision-making and ability to read defenses," Kelly said. "It’s not going to get any easier going against faster, more complex NFL defenses."

Always thought their was a buzz about him but the 2017 Draft was loaded and Mitch Trubisky ended up being picked #2 over Mahomes #10 and Watson #12, so I guess Watson wasn’t a sure deal that day but showed he did have the talent to play in the NFL once he got going. Mahomes at #10 is the real head scratcher, even the Jets passed on him as did 9 other teams. Now that is a once in a lifetime talent.

2017 included Myles Garrett, Jamal Adams, Christian McCaffrey, TJ Watt, Marshon Lattimore, Jonathan Allen, Dalvin Cook, George Kittle and Cooper Kupp.

Trubisky really did end up being the bust of the draft, now it seems another top pick by Chicago, Justin Fields won’t make it and now Chicago once again is on the clock.

Was he? I know he was projected to be good, but usually QBs considered to be "generational" are taken in the top five of the draft (often #1 overall), not the 12th overall selection. For example, there was no way Andrew Luck was going to be available at the 12th pick. Caleb Williams won't be available at the 12th pick in the next draft.