Mr. Scot

These days, I understand the impact of health scares way better than I used to. (for both good reasons and bad)

Garoppolo's salary demands are affected about as much by this as mine are.

Statement from Metchie himself...

It makes sense. I'd add I've seen more than one Bears analyst say the same or similar about Justin fields

I don't plan to change But the two reasons I made the challenge are 1) You're trying to use a single example to ignore the larger picture, thus when asked to expand your focus the "cop out" is on your part because you know once you look at other games, the argument is going to fall flat. And 2) I'm currently following Lady Cowboy Fan around Sam's Club, so not in a position to do anything in-depth, but maybe later Of course, that depends on your answer

Hate to see stories like this...

I'll actually turn the challenge back your way. As mentioned, the Giants are just one example. If your argument that the defense was actually good is true, you should be able to show multiple examples of why it wasn't their fault they gave up nearly 300 points to both bad and good teams over the last 12 games or so. If you can accomplish that, then I'll review the Giants game as you wish. Up for the challenge?

That the Giants are one of several I could have chosen shows how much you're reaching to try to defend this argument.

No problem at all, if the defense was actually good. It wasn't...at all. As others have said, good players, lousy coaching. Snow's schemes got figured out about three games in after he'd feasted on some lousy offenses. From that point on, even sh-t offenses like the Giants could put up big points on us.

Panthers allowed almost 30 points a game to some of the worst teams in the league. "Man, what a dominant defense"

As well thought out a response as I'd expect from you. Let me know the next time people are up for celebrating a 5-12 season because "Hey, we had damn good stats!"

Stats and rankings don't mean sh-t when you're losing games. And yes, poor offense is a factor (never denied that) but using that to say the defense was good is just invalid. The defense sucked from early on in the game, way too soon to blame fatigue. As mentioned, if you can't consistently get through one half of football or come back from halftime looking at least somewhat effective, you've got no claim to being a good defense no matter how bad the offense is. Hell, the Ravens Super Bowl team got through an entire year, playoffs and a championship game despite an offense that was barely functional. That's a unit that can claim to be great. Ours can't even credibly claim to be good.

And gave up a ridiculous amount of points to some of those terrible teams. But hey, #2 defense, right?

No, it wasn't built to stop the run...which is why teams ran at us. And our DC had no schematic adjustments or other responses to fix the issue.

Don't think so...

What takes "mental gymnastics" is suggesting that the defense was actually good. And no, it isn't all because of the offense. Yes, they were terrible and put us in bad situations, but the defense got run over even when they didn't. The "tired" excuse doesn't work either, not when your defense is getting their ass kicked from early on in the game. Even with a bad offense, your defense should be able to last through at least the first half and come back refreshed after halftime. We didn't. As has been said, we had good (in some cases very good) personnel, but lousy coaching, planning and scheming with nearly non-existent adjustments. Unless someone like Wilks steps in and helps, I don't see much reason to expect improvement.

The league figured Snow out and he couldn't counter. Good players, especially since we concentrated our draft and free agency on defense the first two seasons. That's all that kept us even mildly competitive.

I've seen the narrative that the defense was only bad because the offense left them on the field. If the defense was only bad in the second half or the 4th quarter, then maybe I could see that. They were bad from early on in the game.

To the people still trying to sell that "#2 in the league" narrative...

As if on cue, and acting exactly as described,,,

He uses his Twitter to seek attention from "important" people in an effort to convince others that he's important and deserving of respect. Unfortunately, his primary MO is to disparage those people, which in his mind he interprets as making himself their equal. It doesn't really work that way of course, but that's how he sees it. Heck, he does the same thing on the Huddle, going after guys like Ellis, trying to talk down reporters and such, even going so far as lying about his father and then getting caught in the lie. It's all about making himself look important. Bottom Line: He wants to be a big deal, but he's got a piss poor method for trying to gain that kind of status.

Athletic talent? He's off the charts. Quarterback talent? That's where the questions come in. His first two seasons, he's faded down the stretch. For his rookie year, you can attribute that to pro transition. Second year? Not so much. And that playoff performance? Yikes Throw in the chatter about him thinking he doesn't need to study and there's plenty of reason to wonder.

I expect this to be the most popular lineup option.

Some years back, I had to work July 4th. One of my colleagues who was also there took a call from a British guy. After the guy hung up, my coworker complained. "Man, why is this British guy calling in today? Doesn't he know it's July 4th?" I gently said, "They don't really celebrate that in England. It's... actually kind of a sore spot."

It's real. I disagree with him though. I think the best free agent addition from this offseason is Denzel Perryman