Man oh man Coles should have had that pass. The fact is Chad CAN throw the ball down the field. The question is what's the deal with our play calling sometimes.
What about them? The Coles pass didn't exactly go through his hands. He had to turn his head all the way around and make a last minute adjustment and missed it, it was a decent pass but nothing more than what 45 year old guys are putting up in the park every Saturday. The Cotch pass was awfull, the nose of the ball was up like a punt. Cotch made a great play on a ball that was a dead duck INT, if the CB makes any kind of break on it.
Listen you! A win over the Pats isn't enough! It's Monday morning. Iv'e had no coffee and it's time to bitch. :grin:
Most of those yards came: 1. on the first TD pass 2. in the fourth quarter. The team did not play perfect but they pretty much controlled the game from halfway into the first quarter until halfway through the fourth quarter. McGahee got his yards, but the D played better than the stats indicate. But whatever, have it your way, the Bills outplayed them. Where's the talent? Where our pass rusher? Where's our run stuffer ala Jason Ferguson? We have Kimo von Oelhoffen starting. I guarantee he gets cut after the year and retires. Who are we playing at corner this week? Look at our RBs. Look at the right side of the O-line. If anything, I could argue that they're getting more out of our guys than before. Look at how many rookies they're getting production from. Bryan Thomas finally looks like a NFL player. They had the smarts to play Cotchery ahead of McCareins, a thought last year's regime wouldn't even entertain. Hobson has even been more active than in the past. Erik Coleman is having a better year. That you can't credit the coaching staff for any of that shows how pathetic you are. You're quick to criticize the team, yet praise Herm unconditionally. I guess you don't remember Herm's first season. I recall a similar win in Buffalo where the D played horribly but created turnovers (Abraham, Lewis) to win, just like this year. I remember getting blown out by Indy. I remember the 49ers running all over us with, you guessed it, Kevan Barlow. I remember barely surviving a hapless 1-win Carolina team. I remember not being able to put away a sad Buffalo team in a game that would have put us in the playoffs. How's that for motivation? Of course they recovered against Oakland (thank you John Hall), but then got drilled a week later. And before you tell me that team had no talent, remember that defense was ranked 10th in the league the year before Herm got there, and that was with Al Groh as coach. I'm not even that big of a Herm hater, but the way you portray him as a saint who could do no wrong is making me physically ill.
It's hard to tell if it was off target, Coles just misread it or the wind blew it away. But the ball didn't go through his hands it was well off to the sideline side of the field. Most of Chad's deep passes do tend to end up right at the sideline(or out of bounds) though, it looked to me like Coles couldn't twist himself around fast enough. The Cotchery pass was absolutely miserable. On another note this may be the first time a champ thread has been successfully hijacked. I know he's not around but still. He's going to have his work cut out for him outdoing Buttle.
I wouldn't say the coles pass was "well off to the sidelines". On the Cotchery throw he basically put up a jump ball between a big, tall WR and a 5'11" CB...I have no problem with that. I like the aggressiveness and allowing his WR to make a play. Overall, I think Chad executed the game plan well. His throws were more on target than previous weeks with the exception of the INT which just seemed to sail on him. Sure he didn't have "the stats" but obviously the gameplan was to pound Barlow and eat up clock with the short passing game.
This threads about champ? Anyway Chad's had his good games and his bad this season. I'm looking for things to heat up as we are at the mid season. The Playoff push should bring out the best in him.
Based on prior performance Coles has to get the benefit of the doubt on that one. If he had his hands on it it would be a different story. Chad is usually afraid to throw deep down the field anywhere other then the sidelines and this pass ended up right at the sideline. I thought Pennington played pretty crappy but so did Brady so maybe he can get a pass with the weather and the fact that they won, but I'm certainly not jumping up and down over his performance.
No doubt, Pennington managed the game...something he is very capable of. I don't think Chad is afraid to throw deep. He went for Coles in the middle of the field last game and McCareins down the hash versus the Lions on the fourth down play. I agree on Coles. I wasn't even miffed about him not getting a hand on it as his hands are typically stellar.
I don't think he's been online and it wouldn't matter if he did. I don't think the answers would be satisfactory to our standards.
So you're saying that the "I'm unpopular, don't care, but demand results" is no longer a philosophy in the NFL? Try telling that to the Patriot Dynasty and their coach...
This is not a knock on Chad the fact is what he is doing is remarkable. The guy doesn't have the physical skills to start on most High School Football teams yet he consistently manages the game and performs in the NFL. Although you have to ask yourself how many times do we get away with sending guys on 5 yard patterns on third and 6, 7 and 8's and consistently ask them to fight for the first and get it?
near the end of the 1st qtr i was FURIOUS with pennington. it almost looked like his streak of horrible play was continuing. hes a avg arm, accurate, cerebral qb. but as of late he hasnt even been accurate or making good reads. that finally picked up. but yes winston, I agree completely. hes going to get credit for passes I could complete while our WR's do the work afterwards. then again, Cotchery and Coles are both VERY tough after the catch, and with penny's play as of late, i think it was better to rely on our recievers rather than relying on penny to hit a deeper route. i know your saying this is what he generally does and I agree, but thanks to the toughness of our recievers it still worked out.
Bad QB's can win in today's NFL especially with talent around them. What bugs me about Pennington is the lack of physical skill. He's got 11 turnovers in 9 games this year and just 10 TD passes. Does that even qualify as a "game manager"?
For what it's worth, in the game thread at the time I said that the pass to Coles was definitely not a perfect one, in that it faded to the right. Given that Coles couldn't even actually get a finger on it, I still think that that is an accurate assessment. The Cotchery pass was certainly *not* just a jump ball to a taller receiver. First of all, he's only 6', so there's no big advantage compared to a 5'11" cornerback. More to the point, Cotchery was clearly expecting the ball to the inside, and twisted completely around so that the ball was coming directly over his head in order to catch it. It was a remarkable effort on his part, aided by poor play by the cornerback in not going after the ball more aggressively. I've been going to a lot of high school football over the past 5 years, as both of my kids were/are in the marching band (you didn't think I'd be crazy enough to let my son play football, did you?). I think winston's assessment of Chad's abilities as being those of a high school QB (or less) is a little harsh (a bit of hyperbole, winston?). IMO, there is no question, however, that he is among the least physically gifted QBs in the NFL, if not the least gifted. For all of his ability to manage a game, if it wasn't for Coles and Cotchery being terrific at catching the ball, and getting yards after the catch, this team might not have 3 wins. Back in 2002 Chad seemed to always put the ball in exactly the right place, but that is not remotely true any more. If for no other reason, the emergence of Cotchery gives this coaching staff an extra 2 or 3 wins that would have never happened under the previous regime.
I'm betting if the high school QB's your watching don't have arms as good as Chad's they have more of a chance at getting a scholarship to play in the band than to play at a big time program. I wasn't kidding at all.
