The Dowdle Mirage - Play Calling Problems

[TheSpecialJuan]

12 minutes ago, tukafan21 said:

And THIS, this right here is what I can't stand about this fan base.

Stop being happy at things that good franchises don't get happy about, just because of how bad we have been the last decade, it's loser mentality to be happy for those reasons.

Be happy when we actually show improvement and win games because we played a good game, not because we won a game because the other team was shittier than we were.

I'll never apologize for wanting to see actual improvement, not going nuts over a handful of good plays in a game where we barely squeaked by one of the worst teams in the league.

Excellent points 

[strato]

I think you can be pleased that we won, and still understand the reality. 
Taking out draft position, I like winning. 

Edited October 7, 2025 by strato

[Jon Snow]

2 minutes ago, TheSpecialJuan said:

Excellent points 

You haven't read anything he's posted in this thread since day 1 and you know it you silly goose.

[TN05]

34 minutes ago, tukafan21 said:

And THIS, this right here is what I can't stand about this fan base.

Stop being happy at things that good franchises don't get happy about, just because of how bad we have been the last decade, it's loser mentality to be happy for those reasons.

Be happy when we actually show improvement and win games because we played a good game, not because we won a game because the other team was shittier than we were.

I'll never apologize for wanting to see actual improvement, not going nuts over a handful of good plays in a game where we barely squeaked by one of the worst teams in the league.

Normal fanbases don't insist 200+ yard rushing games were actually not good

[tukafan21]

5 minutes ago, TN05 said:

Normal fanbases don't insist 200+ yard rushing games were actually not good

I've literally never one time said having a 200 yard rusher wasn't good.

There is a monumental difference between saying that and saying "don't excuse Canales' continued poor play calling because our RB did something special"

Having a 200 yard game because you had 160 yards on 6 of your carries is because of the RB, not the play calling.  Again, look at the literal title of this thread, it's about the play calling problems, not anything else.

This is basically the same thing as everyone going all googoo gaga over Bryce's last few games last year and thinking he turned some corner.  No, he didn't, he had a handful of good to great plays but on the whole still wasn't very good, and people fell for that Mirage.

Same thing, just about something else this time instead of Bryce.

Edited October 7, 2025 by tukafan21

[CRA]

The offense is 3 of 13 with an INT when throwing downfield (20 yards) this season.   We aren’t a passing offense.  

[jfra78]

3 minutes ago, CRA said:

The offense is 3 of 13 with an INT when throwing downfield (20 yards) this season.   We aren’t a passing offense.  

The sad thing is we have the recievers to do it

[tukafan21]

16 minutes ago, CRA said:

The offense is 3 of 13 with an INT when throwing downfield (20 yards) this season.   We aren’t a passing offense.  

 

13 minutes ago, jfra78 said:

The sad thing is we have the recievers to do it

We're not a downfield passing offense because Bryce can't make those throws consistently.

But I see no reason we can't be a solid possession passing game with consistent 10-15 yard passes, as we very well do have the WRs to do that between T-Mac, Renfrow, and now hopefully Coker coming back.  Unfortunately that's not XL's specialty as you need good hands for those usually, he's more of the deep shot for his speed or short passes to let him run with it.

That stat when throwing downfield is kinda crazy when you combine it with T-Mac being tied for 2nd in the league with 9 catches of 20 yards or more.

[jfra78]

Just now, tukafan21 said:

 

We're not a downfield passing offense because Bryce can't make those throws consistently.

But I see no reason we can't be a solid possession passing game with consistent 10-15 yard passes, as we very well do have the WRs to do that between T-Mac, Renfrow, and now hopefully Coker coming back.  Unfortunately that's not XL's specialty as you need good hands for those usually, he's more of the deep shot for his speed or short passes to let him run with it.

That stat when throwing downfield is kinda crazy when you combine it with T-Mac being tied for 2nd in the league with 9 catches of 20 yards or more.

Tmacs hands are just as questionable right now 

[Khaki Lackey]

1 hour ago, tukafan21 said:

And THIS, this right here is what I can't stand about this fan base.

Stop being happy at things that good franchises don't get happy about, just because of how bad we have been the last decade, it's loser mentality to be happy for those reasons.

Be happy when we actually show improvement and win games because we played a good game, not because we won a game because the other team was shittier than we were.

I'll never apologize for wanting to see actual improvement, not going nuts over a handful of good plays in a game where we barely squeaked by one of the worst teams in the league.

Do good franchises get excited over trying to force feed a single WR resulting in fumbles, drops, and INTs, because it might result in said WRs super fan thinking it’s improvement?

[tukafan21]

5 minutes ago, jfra78 said:

Tmacs hands are just as questionable right now 

Just a ridiculously absurd statement

[tukafan21]

7 minutes ago, Khaki Lackey said:

Do good franchises get excited over trying to force feed a single WR resulting in fumbles, drops, and INTs, because it might result in said WRs super fan thinking it’s improvement?

Has a single pass to T-Mac resulted in a fumble or INT?  I don't think so.

And yes, he has a couple drops, but that's it, it's only 2 actual drops so far.  

Too many idiot fans chalking up non catches to drops, just because they know how absurd of catches he is capable of making already.  Be frustrated he couldn't make a difficult catch, that's fair, but stop calling them drops or like the above post, trying to insinuate his hands are remotely in the same realm as XL, just lunacy.

And no, I'll never say we're improving based solely on T-Mac's stats over a game or full season.  I can objectively see and say if I see improvement on the team as a whole, something I'm not at all seeing right now.

Edited October 7, 2025 by tukafan21

[Khaki Lackey]

1 minute ago, tukafan21 said:

Has a single pass to T-Mac resulted in a fumble or INT?  I don't think so.

And yes, he has a couple drops, but that's it, it's only 2 actual drops so far.  

Too many idiot fans chalking up non catches to drops, just because they know how absurd of catches he is capable of making already.  Be frustrated he couldn't make a difficult catch, that's fair, but stop calling them drops or like the above post, trying to insinuate his hands are remotely in the same realm as XL, just lunacy 

I’m not saying anything bad about T-Mac, I’m saying you saw what happened in the first quarter when the ball was in Bryce’s hands. You should have just made a thread saying T-Mac should be Bryce’s first read when he’s in single man coverage instead of criticizing a game plan and RB that resulted in a win.

[ProcessBlue2]

1 hour ago, tukafan21 said:

And THIS, this right here is what I can't stand about this fan base.

Stop being happy at things that good franchises don't get happy about, just because of how bad we have been the last decade, it's loser mentality to be happy for those reasons.

Be happy when we actually show improvement and win games because we played a good game, not because we won a game because the other team was shittier than we were.

I'll never apologize for wanting to see actual improvement, not going nuts over a handful of good plays in a game where we barely squeaked by one of the worst teams in the league.

I don’t know where you have been but we have been garbage for going on a decade now. We rock bottomed in 2023 and last year clawed back up to 5 wins. This year maybe 1 or 2 more. Going for the big season when you’re a 5 win team is how we got in this mess. It’s going to take time and little things like this along the way are good things.

Literally everything has improved from 23 to 24 to 25. Evero’s defense is in the top half in all categories, we are top half of league in rushing yards, the only thing that hasn’t gotten better is the passing game and my guess is that gets resolved at the end of the season if not before.

Yeah we did show improvement, the team from the last 5-7 years would have quit and lost that game Sunday.