KSpan

Eddy made the kicks and the games turned out how they did, so that is what it is. It is not speculation though to recognize how defensive decisions accommodated those final drives, and while the offense can only play against the defenses on the field it always confuses me when teams stray from defensive strategies that have worked for an entire game in favor of the prevent. At least find a middle-ground or something, but don't suddenly just let a QB hang out, especially with how bad the Panthers receivers are. It's about the only fomrula that would allow them to score and yet Arthur Smith did it anyway.

The first 50 minutes were atrocious - that is certainly eligible for critique. Prior to that last drive the team was something like 2-12 on third down and Bryce had barely over 100 yards passing. As I said before, most of those throws on the last drive were NFL minimum at best and were still low quality, and had Atlanta not inexplicably gone into prevent and turned off the pressure (DL clearly went into contain mode) this isn't even a discussion. It took a team reverting to playing no actual defense for this to happen... I just don't understand the praise. He and the offense have been so bad this year that the bar has fallen so far to make this level of play seem impressive. Hell, Ridder only three for 15 fewer yards but had a TD. If not for that awful interception he had a better day than Bryce, or at least as good, but folks seems happy to roast him.

And in the early 2000s before the rule changes really benefitted the offense - I think that's something that really gets lost when people atrtempt to compare rookie years from guys that played 20+ years ago. Bryce has all of those benefits and still looks as poor as he does.

Brees did not look 'awful' his first years, and with respect to this discussion about Bryce you could still tell that the physicla tools were there regardles of how he was playing. That is Bryce's biggest issue - the tools aren't there, and it's a very, very slim chance that his physical traits like arm strength appreciably increase from where they are now. Bryce's arm looks exactly how it did in college, but the NFL is faster than things were in college. I'm open to being shown a QB whose arm strength increased notably form college to the NFL, as I can't think of one. Unless that somehow Bryce's ceiling will always be capped and based on what he's showing this year the 'processing' and other intangible items are not as advertised either.

I still somewhat disagree with Tabor's approach to leave all TOs in their pocket and wait until 1 second left on 4th down to kick that. For exactly the reasons you mentioned I would have liked to see them still run the clock down but instead kick on 3rd down. There would have been maybe 15 seconds left on the clock when Atlanta got the ball back. They were behind, not tied, so if anything goes wrong there they lose. On the flip side though, if you can't execute that kick in that situation then you deserve to lose. That said, I also understand the K balls are kept protected on the sideline. Perhaps the ball itself was nearly dry.

Amen. The takes around this drive are just crazy. Like, what game did people watch? This was barely NFL competence, if even that.

Why would there be? The Falcons gifted this game, Bryce and the offense were pathetic for 50 minutes of the day, and one win doesn't change nearly a decade of crap team management nor the brutally dim prospects of the very near future. There is no agenda - this is truly a reflection of where even maybe hardcore fans are at.

The int was a good pass that went off of Ginn's stone hands, and as if the fumble strip-sacks were his fault, and again, historic defense with Philly Brown out after Talib literally headhunted him. Not sure what your angle is here but you're very objectively wrong.

Cam was about the only one that showed up to play in that Super Bowl... 265 passing yards before sacks and also the team rushing leader against a historic-level defense with deep level game planning and coaching. What game did you watch?

No chance unless/until Lamar gets over this allergy to performing in the playoffs.

Nowhere have I suggested the win shouldn't be enjoyed. I'm just not down with celebrating average-at-best QB performance after a day of awful QB performance as something great.

Right back at you regarding Bryce and The Drive.

There is no irony. You felt the need to respond to me with the tidbit, not the other way around. The NFL is a business and it's in their interest to prop up high draft picks. Means nothing, especially when one actually watched it and the season on the whole.

And yet here you are, responding yet again. What elicited such a response? Awfully touchy.

Well crap, I guess I'm wrong. If Red Zone says it, it must be true. Pretty sure the HoF has already asked for Bryce's uniform as well.

And I disagree that it was an amazing drive. It wasn't. Those were mostly throws to wide open receivers and he still struggled to make them, with his arm weakness turning what should be gimmes into situations where a defender darn near closed the gap (e.g. the Tremble throw). It worked out, but it was neither pretty nor special. We have just been so starved of WB play, and Bryce has been so awful and the cost to get him so high, that the bar is set real low.

It looks the same to me, but with the NFL being faster on the whole the ball looks slower. I don't understand how the team watched that same film and thought it would improve enough to be NFL level on a consistent basis. On topic, the defense and OL get game balls from me.

Who is miserable? I just don't get caught up in rose-colored nonsense like this, and being as apathetic about the team as Tepper has made many makes it quite easy to objectively evaluate what we're seeing without any emotional impact. Carolina was lucky that Atlanta didn't care to win today and that Ridder went completely braindead.

Y'all are really grasping at anything at this point. That was not a "#1 overall pick" drive. Good? Certainly. But Bryce made terrible short and slow throws and got bailed out a couple of times. You want to see a game-winning, game-changing QB performance on a late-game drive? Go check out Flacco's TD pass to Amari Cooper today.

Except his throws look like that in good weather too, as I said. And who said I'm not happy? As I've said time and time again, recognizing the objective reality doesn't equate to unhappiness. The offense played like absolute ass for nearly the entire game, Bryce looked pathetic until he quacked him a few throws to inexplicably wide open receivers on the final drive (great catch by Chark), and thanks to Ridder being the biggest bonehead of the days Carolina pulled one out. A W in the column, same story on the field just with an opponent who was even more inept today. Ultimately though, makes no difference to me.

Not sure I would even call them 'good' on the whole. It was one of the best drives for sure but damn did those balls travel slowly. The reads were good and I'd be more inclined to give leeway for the weather of his throws didn't look like that when it was dry too. His arm is just not good at this point.

I mena, Ridder's interception thrown directly to Xavier Woods at the goal line is pretty ire-worthy.

The confounding factors IMO are that they were behind, not tied, the rain, and the Falcons offensive ineptitude. No disagreement that the kick has a high probability, but IMO the situation was as appropriate as it might be for going for the TD and having more downs to still kick if it doesn't work. Not that it's better, not that the kick was a bad decision, but just that the situation might make it a viable and reasonable option. Really minor thing though. Tabor made a conventionally-wise decision and it worked out.

I don't know how you watch this game today and not recognize that an alternate strategy may have also been a good one in this outlier scenario. Your problem, not anyone else's.

Hey idiot, not like Ridder is a threat. It is sometimes how it works.