The Andrews, the Defense, and the Blocking

[Grim]

I do want to hear what you guys think about this. This is by definition not a complete picture of his drafting because it's a small subset of positions. There have been more hits at positions like WR. With that being said, his drafting at those positions has been really bad.

Looking at the picks, we've taken hits on guys with production and athletic upside. Also you didn't add the rounds those players were drafted, but that is of some significance since day 3 picks are often done what seems through some coach participation. It also is apart of the coaches & coordinators, too, who are apart of picking the players. A GM won't just pick a guy the coaches don't rate as highly. All of that, I assume, goes into the grading. @Simba knows probably better than me on this, but just my guess from what I heard DeCosta say.

So the question is: were all of these HIS picks, or done through a group think or coach pound the table, etc? Hard to say unless you go back and research it. At the end of the day he is the GM and signs off on the picks

 

[UPennChem]

Looking at the picks, we've taken hits on guys with production and athletic upside. Also you didn't add the rounds those players were drafted, but that is of some significance since day 3 picks are often done what seems through some coach participation. It also is apart of the coaches & coordinators, too, who are apart of picking the players. A GM won't just pick a guy the coaches don't rate as highly. All of that, I assume, goes into the grading. @Simba knows probably better than me on this, but just my guess from what I heard DeCosta say.

So the question is: were all of these HIS picks, or done through a group think or coach pound the table, etc? Hard to say unless you go back and research it. At the end of the day he is the GM and signs off on the picks

100%. Everything you said. But as you said, ultimately he's the one that puts in the picks. According to his process

 

[Truth]

They also had the refs taking care of Taylor's perpetual false starts.

Yes, but he was also the most penalized player in football, and is again this year. So it wasn't all washed away.

 

[JoeyFlex5]

starting to feel that way a little bit
like he was the one that got away (of all of the guys we've lost)

could have sunsetted Harbs into a cushy front office job to save face and had MM take over

He felt like the one coordinator that at the time, felt like he should’ve been the guy. Not once did we have a coordinator and I felt it was a good time to transition, but at the time I wasn’t sold on harbaugh long term but MM felt like a legit candidate.

Would have been nice to bring back that ravens defensive identity long term with a defensive head coach and allegedly a ton of defensive talent.

 

[Truth]

I do want to hear what you guys think about this. This is by definition not a complete picture of his drafting because it's a small subset of positions. There have been more hits at positions like WR. With that being said, his drafting at those positions has been really bad.

Tyler Linderbaum and Nnamdi Madabuike aside, which were homerun selections at their points, decrying late round players like Broderick Washington for turning into starters is a mad house of an assessment. Here's a recent study of the expected hit rates for NFL draftees based on their draft position:

7th rounders, selected at 192 plus that year's compensation totals, are almost surefire bets to not be impactful at less than 5% accuracy rate. On that list, that's OG Andrew Vorhees, C Nick Samac and OG Garrett Dellinger. The hit rate drops to under 20% as soon as the 3rd round. Of the interior defensive linemen that played over 100 snaps at NT, DT Travis Jones was the 5th highest graded players in the NFL. DT Aeneas Peebles is currently the 4th highest graded pass rusher out of a class of 26. There isn't an objective metric to qualify him as a failure for a 6th round selection, not to mention 3 games into the season. I can tell you confidently that none of the drafted edge rushers from 2025 are standouts at the moment. But I'm not willing to write off EDGE Abdul Carter because he's not an immediate star.

Don't get me wrong. Some of those guys absolutely belong on that list, and I personally questioned several from their selection stamps. OT Tyree Phillips, for example. That was one of John Harbaugh's, if I'm not mistaken. Obviously will always hope to be wrong since they're now part of the team. And I've also been critical of multiple Day 3 selections. But even in cases where I'd be right, the criticizing isn't always as simple. I signed DT Adin Huntington in the Forum Mock as a UDFA. He's the 2nd highest graded rookie, albeit in limited time. Did I like his chances? Absolutely. Maybe more hopeful than I should be. But can I pound my chest and tell you that I expected him to look this explosive out of the gate? Not if I'm being completely honest about it. Would've been great if we signed him, sure. But I also didn't see any of CB Keyon Martin, who looks like a potential future gem. And on that note, our UDFA hits always help level out some of the draft misses. That cannot go unnoticed.

A good exercise to help alleviate the expectations is to look at the other successful teams' classes. Watching the Chiefs draft EDGE Felix Anudike-Uzomah in the 1st round to help their pass rush woes and then still win the Super Bowl that year is a solid example of how much good teams can miss but still be contenders despite of those misses if they build the roster well enough.

 

[UPennChem]

Tyler Linderbaum and Nnamdi Madabuike aside, which were homerun selections at their points, decrying late round players like Broderick Washington for turning into starters is a mad house of an assessment. Here's a recent study of the expected hit rates for NFL draftees based on their draft position:

7th rounders, selected at 192 plus that year's compensation totals, are almost surefire bets to not be impactful at less than 5% accuracy rate. On that list, that's OG Andrew Vorhees, C Nick Samac and OG Garrett Dellinger. The hit rate drops to under 20% as soon as the 3rd round. Of the interior defensive linemen that played over 100 snaps at NT, DT Travis Jones was the 5th highest graded players in the NFL. DT Aeneas Peebles is currently the 4th highest graded pass rusher out of a class of 26. There isn't an objective metric to qualify him as a failure for a 6th round selection, not to mention 3 games into the season. I can tell you confidently that none of the drafted edge rushers from 2025 are standouts at the moment. But I'm not willing to write off EDGE Abdul Carter because he's not an immediate star.

Don't get me wrong. Some of those guys absolutely belong on that list, and I personally questioned several from their selection stamps. OT Tyree Phillips, for example. That was one of John Harbaugh's, if I'm not mistaken. Obviously will always hope to be wrong since they're now part of the team. And I've also been critical of multiple Day 3 selections. But even in cases where I'd be right, the criticizing isn't always as simple. I signed DT Adin Huntington in the Forum Mock as a UDFA. He's the 2nd highest graded rookie, albeit in limited time. Did I like his chances? Absolutely. Maybe more hopeful than I should be. But can I pound my chest and tell you that I expected him to look this explosive out of the gate? Not if I'm being completely honest about it. Would've been great if we signed him, sure. But I also didn't see any of CB Keyon Martin, who looks like a potential future gem. And on that note, our UDFA hits always help level out some of the draft misses. That cannot go unnoticed.

A good exercise to help alleviate the expectations is to look at the other successful teams' classes. Watching the Chiefs draft EDGE Felix Anudike-Uzomah in the 1st round to help their pass rush woes and then still win the Super Bowl that year is a solid example of how much good teams can miss but still be contenders despite of those misses if they build the roster well enough.

I completely agree that late round selections are nearly never going to pan out. But thats not a defense for Decosta. In fact, the very fact that it is so well known that they aren't going to work out means you need shots on goal early at premium positions. EDCs philosophy has been directly antithetical to that. And thats why the list is so bad.

And that's the very point im making. Those are premium positions (DL and edge moreseo than iOL but still) and the list of names is very bad.

Imo empirical evidence shows thats not the way to win a SB

 

[Deebo813]

who knew that not only was it mike macdonald's playcalling and play designing that was elite

but it was literally the way he taught pressures and roles in pressures that truly unlocked the pass rush with sim pressures etc.

the fact that we can't replicate that stuff even a little even with the same players (mostly) and some of the same coaches is wild

but also the way the Seattle defence looks compared to the dolphins, titans and ravens maybe shows you just how special mike macdonald really is

I still believe macdonald was the best coordinator we have ever had.. not only scheme was great but most of the time his game planning worked the whole game without any adjustments needed to be made and then when we finally got to see him make adjustments, think it was dolphins game and kc for sure, well that put him over the top for me.

 

[Truth]

I completely agree that late round selections are nearly never going to pan out. But thats not a defense for Decosta. In fact, the very fact that it is so well known that they aren't going to work out means you need shots on goal early at premium positions. EDCs philosophy has been directly antithetical to that. And thats why the list is so bad.

And that's the very point im making. Those are premium positions (DL and edge moreseo than iOL but still) and the list of names is very bad.

Imo empirical evidence shows thats not the way to win a SB

I feel like iOL specifically has been problematic for ages, and I am just not seeing eye-to-eye with the scouting. iDL doesn't even remotely belong on that list. From the initial gathering, the names mentioned were Nnamdi Madabuike (3rd), Travis Jones (3rd), Broderick Washington (5th) and Aeneas Peebles (6th). That is 4 for 4 compared to where they were taken and the list of other available names in those categories. The latter being the most important part. Who else was there? And we've not done well at EDGE, sure. It's a sore spot for a lot of the contenders. In fact, EDGE has the lowest conversion rate of success among all positions for 1st rounders and the second lowest thereafter.

Buffalo, for example. Since 2020, in order, they've drafted:

A.J. Epenesa (2nd)
Gregory Rousseau (1st)
Boogie Basham (2nd)
Javon Solomon (5th)
Landon Jackson (5th)

Rousseau has been a surefire hit despite never having over 8 sacks. Who else stands out for you? Beating a dead horse here, but Kansas City has been looking to solve their edge rushing woes in that same span despite winning titles. They've drafted:

Michael Danna (5th)
Joshua Kaindoh (4th)
George Karlaftis III (1st)
BJ Thompson (5th)
Felix Anudike-Uzomah (1st)
Ashton Gillotte (3rd)

Even with Karlaftis III, they've not had a single edge rusher graded above a 72.0 going into their 6th year. It's been DT Chris Jones and the clean up crew. There's not a single contending roster without holes. It's a pipe dream to have every position group shored up. Could we do better in these departments? Absolutely. We were perhaps too reliant on Green immediately being our best rusher, granted losing Kyle Van Noy has an underappreciated loss. But we're one of the most talented assembled rosters at the moment, and teams have perpetually won with less.

More-so, if you look at the teams that made the jump this decade, the teams finally pushing through to make the party once relied on non-draftee edge rushers to help them make the climb. Los Angeles and Cincinnati met the years that they signed and traded for Trey Hendrickson and Von Miller, respectively. Tom Brady was the obvious X-factor for Tampa Bay. But the fairly recent signing of Shaquil Barrett was responsible for the pressure put on Patrick Mahomes in that victory. If we want to make the argument that we could opt to sign or trade for superstars there, that's fair. I was fully on the Micah Parsons bandwagon. Ran my own calculations to figure out how to fit his contract into the books. But as far as the drafts go, our main competitors have been just as hit-and-miss. Isolating it to just being our own issue does not do the landscape justice.

 

[UPennChem]

I feel like iOL specifically has been problematic for ages, and I am just not seeing eye-to-eye with the scouting. iDL doesn't even remotely belong on that list. From the initial gathering, the names mentioned were Nnamdi Madabuike (3rd), Travis Jones (3rd), Broderick Washington (5th) and Aeneas Peebles (6th). That is 4 for 4 compared to where they were taken and the list of other available names in those categories. The latter being the most important part. Who else was there? And we've not done well at EDGE, sure. It's a sore spot for a lot of the contenders. In fact, EDGE has the lowest conversion rate of success among all positions for 1st rounders and the second lowest thereafter.

Buffalo, for example. Since 2020, in order, they've drafted:

A.J. Epenesa (2nd)
Gregory Rousseau (1st)
Boogie Basham (2nd)
Javon Solomon (5th)
Landon Jackson (5th)

Rousseau has been a surefire hit despite never having over 8 sacks. Who else stands out for you? Beating a dead horse here, but Kansas City has been looking to solve their edge rushing woes in that same span despite winning titles. They've drafted:

Michael Danna (5th)
Joshua Kaindoh (4th)
George Karlaftis III (1st)
BJ Thompson (5th)
Felix Anudike-Uzomah (1st)
Ashton Gillotte (3rd)

Even with Karlaftis III, they've not had a single edge rusher graded above a 72.0 going into their 6th year. It's been DT Chris Jones and the clean up crew. There's not a single contending roster without holes. It's a pipe dream to have every position group shored up. Could we do better in these departments? Absolutely. We were perhaps too reliant on Green immediately being our best rusher, granted losing Kyle Van Noy has an underappreciated loss. But we're one of the most talented assembled rosters at the moment, and teams have perpetually won with less.

More-so, if you look at the teams that made the jump this decade, the teams finally pushing through to make the party once relied on non-draftee edge rushers to help them make the climb. Los Angeles and Cincinnati met the years that they signed and traded for Trey Hendrickson and Von Miller, respectively. Tom Brady was the obvious X-factor for Tampa Bay. But the fairly recent signing of Shaquil Barrett was responsible for the pressure put on Patrick Mahomes in that victory. If we want to make the argument that we could opt to sign or trade for superstars there, that's fair. I was fully on the Micah Parsons bandwagon. Ran my own calculations to figure out how to fit his contract into the books. But as far as the drafts go, our main competitors have been just as hit-and-miss. Isolating it to just being our own issue does not do the landscape justice.

I dont disagree with any of that. These things you've said are all true. But ultimately my point still stands. EDC builds rosters. He has a very particular antithetical strategy. Those are his words not just mine. And along that strategy, he has devalued premium positions. When you then look at his drafting of iOL it's been exclusively late round busts. When you look at EDGE he's actually made some early picks in Oweh. Ojabo, Isaac, and Green. Not a good look. There's hope really for Green only.

No one should ever think that a roster will be without holes. I'm just of the persuasion when youre 8 years in with a SB caliber QB, you shouldn't routinely have shitty OL and pass rush rooms.

 

[Truth]

I dont disagree with any of that. These things you've said are all true. But ultimately my point still stands. EDC builds rosters. He has a very particular antithetical strategy. Those are his words not just mine. And along that strategy, he has devalued premium positions. When you then look at his drafting of iOL it's been exclusively late round busts. When you look at EDGE he's actually made some early picks in Oweh. Ojabo, Isaac, and Green. Not a good look. There's hope really for Green only.

No one should ever think that a roster will be without holes. I'm just of the persuasion when youre 8 years in with a SB caliber QB, you shouldn't routinely have shitty OL and pass rush rooms.

I wouldn't say exclusively as we did spend 1st rounder on an elite center, but I understand your point about the guards. We have tried at the edge rushing spots and have missed a good bit. Oweh is likely a goner, though that's mostly due to the monies due elsewhere. He was Top 3 graded among his draft class mates last year in a 10 sack season, with both players ahead of him drafted before he was taken, Parsons and Rousseau. He was also Top 15 among the 77 drafted from 2020 through 2024. Not a superstar by any stretch, but he's a solid starter. For Green's sake, it's been 3 games. Would be comical to come to any serious assessment to what his future holds.

We just led the league in sacks 2 years ago in 2023. We were 2nd in the NFL with 54, with two double-digit sack getters. Have we had insane pressure rates during this span? No. But what are we doing here if Top 1 and Top 2 is categorized as shitty? The bar should not be on the moon.

 

[Simba]

iOL is probably my biggest draft complaint at this point. We’ve invested a lot of picks in the mid rounds and have gotten jack shit in return. And even when we have gotten a return, it’s been so late in the contract that we’re back to doing the same stuff over and over again

Don’t love the edge picks either but I get it to some extent - it’s hard to find a good one unless you’re picking early. They’ve bet on traits and haven’t gotten the max out of guys. But it feels like they’ve at least gotten contributors there even if it isn’t quite what they had hoped.

I’m mostly annoyed that it’s been awhile since they’ve taken a serious swing on the DL. They know how to draft those guys for sure but they haven’t really done it for a few years now.

Weird Covid years withstanding, we generally do a great job with drafting contributors up and down the draft.

 

[UPennChem]

I wouldn't say exclusively as we did spend 1st rounder on an elite center, but I understand your point about the guards. We have tried at the edge rushing spots and have missed a good bit. Oweh is likely a goner, though that's mostly due to the monies due elsewhere. He was Top 3 graded among his draft class mates last year in a 10 sack season, with both players ahead of him drafted before he was taken, Parsons and Rousseau. He was also Top 15 among the 77 drafted from 2020 through 2024. Not a superstar by any stretch, but he's a solid starter. For Green's sake, it's been 3 games. Would be comical to come to any serious assessment to what his future holds.

We just led the league in sacks 2 years ago in 2023. We were 2nd in the NFL with 54, with two double-digit sack getters. Have we had insane pressure rates during this span? No. But what are we doing here if Top 1 and Top 2 is categorized as shitty? The bar should not be on the moon.

Still agree. The bar should not be the moon. But the goal should be well above what we've seen this year. And unfortunately, for a long while now, its been closer to this year than to the Mike Mac with Clowney year.

And maybe you need to pay externally to get your guy. But EDC hasn't done that. But he sure hasn't been shy with mega safety contracts.

And maybe you can an average edge room if everything else is great. But the OL has been shit for a long time now too.

You may think im being unreasonable, but I just think formula is known and simple. He's had 8 years to get it right with many different paths and options at his disposal. His instance on "money ball" is my primary problem. If you play that game, youre betting on your late round drafting. Plain and simple. And his late round drafting and EDGE and OL have been awful. As we discussed that's unsurprising. So I think his whole ideology to construction is bad.

 

[rossihunter2]

I completely agree that late round selections are nearly never going to pan out. But thats not a defense for Decosta. In fact, the very fact that it is so well known that they aren't going to work out means you need shots on goal early at premium positions. EDCs philosophy has been directly antithetical to that. And thats why the list is so bad.

And that's the very point im making. Those are premium positions (DL and edge moreseo than iOL but still) and the list of names is very bad.

Imo empirical evidence shows thats not the way to win a SB

it's not like EDC's been trading away high picks, in fact he's drafted extra 1st rounders multiple times in his tenure already

what EDC doesn't want to do, is trade away multiple mid-to-late round picks for 1 slightly higher mid-to-late round pick

as you say, it's difficult to draft on day 3, so you need as many bites at the apple as possible to find the 1 or 2 guys who actually are going to contribute

i agree we've spent far too much capital at non-premium positions at the top of the draft, but you could also say that that's directly linked to our success and being consistently at the bottom of the draft order... we've not drafted well at EDGE recently and we've not had the hits at IOL on day 3 recently that we had for a long stint there and we havent drafted a DT in the top 2 rounds since Timmy Jernigan in 2014

back in 2019 i was talking about our lack of success drafting WRs as being a symptom of not drafting enough WRs rather than being bad at it, we've drafted 3 in the 1st round since then and we've finally looked better at it

he's actually drafted well at DL even without expending much capital there, it's EDGE that's been a shitshow in terms of hitting on guys early
Isaac's been injured mostly
Robinson's like a less good version of Courtney Upshaw
Ojabo's been injured and not good
Oweh's been good but not great
Hayes showed promise initially but got injured straight away
Jaylon Ferguson RIP never looked like he'd transition well to the NFL
Tyus Bowser was more of a SAM than a true EDGE but was a good player
Tim Williams had so much talent but not the ability to actually use it
Kamalei Correa was a bust
Matthew Judon was the last of the day 3 EDGE pipeline into comp pick guys
Zadarius Smith was awesome and it's a shame he only ever got to be the 3rd rusher while a Raven

 

[Tank]

Whoah, whoah, slow down on the bench Henry talk. Ya'll gonna regret it.

For me the idea isn't to bench Henry, but to bring Keaton in to share the load a bit, take some of the pressure off. Give him a blow, both physically and mentally. You can always get back on the train.

 

[drjohnnyfever]

I still believe macdonald was the best coordinator we have ever had.. not only scheme was great but most of the time his game planning worked the whole game without any adjustments needed to be made and then when we finally got to see him make adjustments, think it was dolphins game and kc for sure, well that put him over the top for me.

You make a great point. Any DC worth his salt should be able to replicate another's plays, but what many can't replicate is the practice and coaching that goes into those plays. I hated to lose Mcdonald. Orr isn't even Mike-Lite.

 

[Truth]

Still agree. The bar should not be the moon. But the goal should be well above what we've seen this year. And unfortunately, for a long while now, its been closer to this year than to the Mike Mac with Clowney year.

And maybe you need to pay externally to get your guy. But EDC hasn't done that. But he sure hasn't been shy with mega safety contracts.

And maybe you can an average edge room if everything else is great. But the OL has been shit for a long time now too.

You may think im being unreasonable, but I just think formula is known and simple. He's had 8 years to get it right with many different paths and options at his disposal. His instance on "money ball" is my primary problem. If you play that game, youre betting on your late round drafting. Plain and simple. And his late round drafting and EDGE and OL have been awful. As we discussed that's unsurprising. So I think his whole ideology to construction is bad.

I don't necessarily feel like you're being unreasonable in the areas of improvement. In fact, I feel like you and I are very much on the same page about what's hurting the team, at least for the most part. I think where we mainly differ is just the categorizations of the levels they've been. Our pass rush last year and the year prior was objectively above average, perhaps more sack heavy than pressure oriented and I'd prefer the latter. But we have lacked a star in that department. This year not withstanding regarding the recent performances given that we have legitimately lost games because of ether lack of pressure or the offensive line play. And that can't continue if we plan on mounting a comeback on the first half of the year. We just were minus two of our best pressure getters from last year, but I do feel like the scheme and cohesion are the main factors holding us back. At least from what I've seen on film. Based on the turnaround at the end of last season, at least we know that it can be accomplished. Hopefully a lot sooner this time around.

 

[UPennChem]

it's not like EDC's been trading away high picks, in fact he's drafted extra 1st rounders multiple times in his tenure already

what EDC doesn't want to do, is trade away multiple mid-to-late round picks for 1 slightly higher mid-to-late round pick

as you say, it's difficult to draft on day 3, so you need as many bites at the apple as possible to find the 1 or 2 guys who actually are going to contribute

i agree we've spent far too much capital at non-premium positions at the top of the draft, but you could also say that that's directly linked to our success and being consistently at the bottom of the draft order... we've not drafted well at EDGE recently and we've not had the hits at IOL on day 3 recently that we had for a long stint there and we havent drafted a DT in the top 2 rounds since Timmy Jernigan in 2014

back in 2019 i was talking about our lack of success drafting WRs as being a symptom of not drafting enough WRs rather than being bad at it, we've drafted 3 in the 1st round since then and we've finally looked better at it

he's actually drafted well at DL even without expending much capital there, it's EDGE that's been a shitshow in terms of hitting on guys early
Isaac's been injured mostly
Robinson's like a less good version of Courtney Upshaw
Ojabo's been injured and not good
Oweh's been good but not great
Hayes showed promise initially but got injured straight away
Jaylon Ferguson RIP never looked like he'd transition well to the NFL
Tyus Bowser was more of a SAM than a true EDGE but was a good player
Tim Williams had so much talent but not the ability to actually use it
Kamalei Correa was a bust
Matthew Judon was the last of the day 3 EDGE pipeline into comp pick guys
Zadarius Smith was awesome and it's a shame he only ever got to be the 3rd rusher while a Raven

I agree with all of this too. You and Truth are right on in terms of these specifics and contextualizations. No arguments whatsoever.

That being said, we've seen 8 Lamar Jackson rosters and maybe 1 of those years the OL was good but not the lass rush. And one of those years the pass rush was good but the OL sucked.

The empirical results are just not there. We've never come out of a playoff loss saying we dominated the trenches. It's always the exact opposite

 

[UPennChem]

I don't necessarily feel like you're being unreasonable in the areas of improvement. In fact, I feel like you and I are very much on the same page about what's hurting the team, at least for the most part. I think where we mainly differ is just the categorizations of the levels they've been. Our pass rush last year and the year prior was objectively above average, perhaps more sack heavy than pressure oriented and I'd prefer the latter. But we have lacked a star in that department. This year not withstanding regarding the recent performances given that we have legitimately lost games because of ether lack of pressure or the offensive line play. And that can't continue if we plan on mounting a comeback on the first half of the year. We just were minus two of our best pressure getters from last year, but I do feel like the scheme and cohesion are the main factors holding us back. At least from what I've seen on film. Based on the turnaround at the end of last season, at least we know that it can be accomplished. Hopefully a lot sooner this time around.

100%

 

[Sandtown]

You make a great point. Any DC worth his salt should be able to replicate another's plays, but what many can't replicate is the practice and coaching that goes into those plays. I hated to lose Mcdonald. Orr isn't even Mike-Lite.

I think Orr should just be Orr.I think the problem with Ravens fans is that Mike McDonald had such a great year in 2023 to the point the expectation was for Orr to be just as good or better even though honestly I can't give Mike McDonald the full credit when it comes to the 2023 season because I highly think Anthony Weaver and Dennard Wilson played a hand into the success of the defense that year. Maybe Orr might be ask to step down as the defensive coordinator if the defense continue to struggle but it was never realistic to expect him to Mike McDonald or Mike -lite. Hopefully he figures it out because I think he's a smart guy.

 

[Simba]

Finishing up some film review (not as exhaustive as normal) and I really think we need to move to more man coverage. Dudes look lost out there in zone. And the way teams are playing against it, it really looks like they see the same issues on film and are exploiting it. Watched them run a play where they had Roquan in a tornado before the lane they wanted opened up. Decoy routes underneath to open up the intermediate with relative ease.

I said it week 1 as well, and this just furthers my thoughts. I understand the concept of zone and what it theoretically brings, but the man coverage reps seem so much more natural to the personnel (maybe not Marlon this week). Let guys go out there and win or lose battles as opposed to this dink and dunk down the field where we can't stop shit.