Week 16
- Thread starter staz
- Start date
I know you want to preserve clock, but, like, maybe try to score the TD then figure out the rest? The CMC decoy plays sure didn’t work.
Shanahan with an absurdly dumb call throwing with a backup quarterback on the one yard line.
Shades of the 28-3 “We’re doing what got us here” stupidity.
Shades of the 28-3 “We’re doing what got us here” stupidity.
The more they talk up Jackson’s MVP prospects; the more I think about the @Deathofthebambino Hypothesis and Lamar wearing, like, a wool balaclava with a coat around his shoulders when on the bench in San Francisco.
It's just as much about hitting gold with Lamar (late 1st) than anything.
True, but the bad stretch was from 2015-2017 (you could argue from 2013-2017 with one "Red Sox 2021 it all went right in the midst of years of bleh" season in there in 2014), and Lamar didn't arrive in the NFL until 2018.
Plus, IMO the Ravens deserve credit for handing the keys to Lamar, tailoring their offense to his strengths, etc.
Totally agree. When they went with him, they realized that to maximize his talents, they needed to change how they approached offense.
My larger point in all this is that Harbaugh was a successful coach who went through a rough period with a lot of mediocrity and one outright horrific season, and Baltimore didn't fire him. And I'm 100% sure they're very, very glad they didn't.
He will benefit immensely by having home field advantage throughout, provided the weather in Baltimore is ok during their games, IMO. If he had to go to Buffalo or KC in January, it would be a very, very different story.
Why?
I see the age thing thrown around a lot, and short of making a case for neurocognitive decline or making an evidenced-based case that the BB's offish, unbending public persona (a) matches what he thinks and does behind the scenes and (b) is age-related, it's pretty much nonsense.
Guys don't coach into their seventies? Sure. It's demanding job, and it's easy to see why no one would want it. But inevitably because of cognitive incapacity? Bullshit.
Because yes, you lose some cognitive ability and energy when you're older. I don't think that's really a controversial take (see note below). Bill could be an exception (and he seems perfectly intact to me), but he's going to be well into his 70s, as opposed to Harbaugh, who was 20 years younger than BB is now at the time period where Baltimore could have let him go for poor performance.
Note: From this study: Aartsen MJ, Smiths CHM, van Tilburg T, Knopscheer KCPM, Deeg DJH. Activity in older adults: Cause or consequence of cognitive functioning? A longitudinal study on everyday activities and cognitive performance in older adults. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Science. 2002;57B: P153–P162.
"Cognitive decline may begin after midlife, but most often occurs at higher ages (70 or higher)."
Guys coach into their 70s but historically they don't coach very well.
Unless you're suggesting people don't age. That is definitely a take. Bill has done an incredible job over the years managing the team but it is clear he can't handle things on the offensive side, especially when it comes to talent evaluation and draft picks.
That's a sign of a guy slowing down. He can't do it all anymore.
I'm familiar with the study. I'm a clinical neuropsychologist. Still waiting for evidence that cognitive decline is specifically applicable in BB's case, because if you brought that argument to a Grand Rounds about BB's capacity absent any evidence about his specific profile, you'd be laughed out of the room.
Oh, please. We've been hearing about BB's terrible offensive picks for the better part of a decade now. He might not be as good (or, more importantly, as interested in) the offensive side of things, but the assumption of cognitive decline, absent any understanding of how he's arrived at his decisions, is straight up ageism.
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Well you know much more about this stuff than I do, and I don't know what a Grand Rounds is. Neither of us actually knows Belichick personally (that's an assumption on my part; maybe you do know him personally). All we can go on is what we see via the media. He looks the same to me, as I said. I haven't noticed any mental decline. But I don't think it's unreasonable to think, if you're thinking about the guy who you may want to coach the team for the next 8 years, that it might be better to go with a younger guy.
Apologies for the Marshall McLuhan moment; that was unfair. But I've long had a big-ass bee in my bonnet about popular conceptions of aging. They are, by and large, valid generalizations, but one thing you learn very quickly is that some folks--how old is the Leader of the Free World, exactly?--are going to knock your generalizations on their ass, and you'd best not judge based on preconceptions.
I don't have any particular argument about bringing in someone else; I don't actually know where I stand about cutting him loose. But if you're going to dump the GOAT, you'd best have your ducks in a row and not rely on bullshit. This site has always been better than that.
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I kind of doubt that 82 year old Robert Kraft is thinking that Bill's age is a problem, or if we're being honest that Kraft is more worried about 8 or 9 year plans than the next 2-3 years.
Honestly I'd be more worried about the decisions from an aging Kraft and his never had a real job son than Bill's mental faculties.
Honestly I'd be more worried about the decisions from an aging Kraft and his never had a real job son than Bill's mental faculties.
I have very little if any concerns over Bill's cognitive skills. His age to me is a factor in the way he might not view offensive football in a way that's conducive to success given what's on the cutting edge on that side of the ball and also the fact that I don't really love the prospects of him picking the next guy at QB and then the Pats having to find a new HC in 2/3 years even if it works out.
