Seriously, we're just not that good. I think there is a lot to be said about how the last Super Bowl ended. I honestly don't think we recovered from that. Here's a few indicators:
Sherman just isn't on his game. He's had a few good games here and there, but the ONE axiom you live by in the defensive backfield is: Don't let your guy get behind you. Sherman let Floyd get behind him for an easy TD, against a team that loves to go for the kill.
Wagner. Sorry, but he was much better last year. In a contract year. Shocker. He's been around the football (as in evidence tonight with the TD), but he rarely has made any impact plays. We're honestly not getting 10 million/year value out of him. Kuechly has been paid more, but he's producing just like he did last year.
Wilson. He's just been off. He managed to pull off a "butt fumble" that even Anthony! can't defend him on, then threw a terrible INT this game as well. He's shown pretty poor accuracy, and even when he's hit a deep ball, it's almost always underthrown. Look at Baldwin's catch tonight....he had to wait 2 steps to get the ball, but he did still score. Am I being nitpicky? Maybe, but looking at how RUss has been so off this year, it's an indicator of how bad he's off. His pocket presence is actually worse this year than last year, although I can't blame him for that with our OL.
Our offense. We literally had triple the amount of penalty yards in the first half that we had offensive yards gained. Arizona didn't do anything special, they played solid base defense and blitzed exactly twice in the first half, and waited for us to f*** up, which we gladly obliged.
Coaching: Arians vs. Richard is about like me fighting a 5th grader. It was a total mismatch. Arians had a great game plan that shredded our defense. We couldn't respond.
Red zone offense. It's the last in the league. This is a combination of play calling and QB play. Things are condensed with a short field and the QB has to make quicker decisions. Ours can't. Look at both of our 2 pt. conversions. We had 2 plays from the 3 yard line and neither was even close. It wa pathetic, and that is a sick mirror of our red zone offense.
I'm still a die hard fan. I'll still watch every game. But this game was a death knell. Actually, it's almost cathartic for me. It's better to lose all expectations this early (for me) than to drag this out.
Sherman just isn't on his game. He's had a few good games here and there, but the ONE axiom you live by in the defensive backfield is: Don't let your guy get behind you. Sherman let Floyd get behind him for an easy TD, against a team that loves to go for the kill.
Wagner. Sorry, but he was much better last year. In a contract year. Shocker. He's been around the football (as in evidence tonight with the TD), but he rarely has made any impact plays. We're honestly not getting 10 million/year value out of him. Kuechly has been paid more, but he's producing just like he did last year.
Wilson. He's just been off. He managed to pull off a "butt fumble" that even Anthony! can't defend him on, then threw a terrible INT this game as well. He's shown pretty poor accuracy, and even when he's hit a deep ball, it's almost always underthrown. Look at Baldwin's catch tonight....he had to wait 2 steps to get the ball, but he did still score. Am I being nitpicky? Maybe, but looking at how RUss has been so off this year, it's an indicator of how bad he's off. His pocket presence is actually worse this year than last year, although I can't blame him for that with our OL.
Our offense. We literally had triple the amount of penalty yards in the first half that we had offensive yards gained. Arizona didn't do anything special, they played solid base defense and blitzed exactly twice in the first half, and waited for us to f*** up, which we gladly obliged.
Coaching: Arians vs. Richard is about like me fighting a 5th grader. It was a total mismatch. Arians had a great game plan that shredded our defense. We couldn't respond.
Red zone offense. It's the last in the league. This is a combination of play calling and QB play. Things are condensed with a short field and the QB has to make quicker decisions. Ours can't. Look at both of our 2 pt. conversions. We had 2 plays from the 3 yard line and neither was even close. It wa pathetic, and that is a sick mirror of our red zone offense.
I'm still a die hard fan. I'll still watch every game. But this game was a death knell. Actually, it's almost cathartic for me. It's better to lose all expectations this early (for me) than to drag this out.
