NFL Open Thread: Experience Nate Peterman Edition
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As it happens, I will be watching the early games in Buffalo, NY — I hope the airport isn’t sold out of Nate Peterman jerseys! I’ll let Dom deliver the preemptive eulogy for Sean McDermott’s coaching career:
Anyone who still thinks the Bills were correct to bench Tyrod Taylor for the Nathan Peterman Turnover Loop yesterday need only look around the league. Jared Goff, Deshaun Watson, Carson Wentz, Alex Smith: all have either benefitted or improved this season because they play in offenses tailored to their strengths as quick-read or dual-threat quarterbacks.
Read-options, run-pass options, zone-reads, play-action, pre-snap motion—these are the tools smart coaches are using to overcome the traditional deficiencies that have crept into the NFL because of the proliferation of spread offenses at the game’s lower levels. Then there is the paleozoic stubbornness of Bills head coach Sean McDermott and offensive coordinator Rick Dennison, who have insisted on making Taylor something he’s not, only to fault Taylor the moment things began to go south after a surprising 5-2 start.
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Read-options, run-pass options, zone-reads, play-action, pre-snap motion—these are the tools smart coaches are using to overcome the traditional deficiencies that have crept into the NFL because of the proliferation of spread offenses at the game’s lower levels. Then there is the paleozoic stubbornness of Bills head coach Sean McDermott and offensive coordinator Rick Dennison, who have insisted on making Taylor something he’s not, only to fault Taylor the moment things began to go south after a surprising 5-2 start.
Hey, but Rick Dennison has Super Bowl credentials! For a team that totally won with its innovative offense!
Meanwhile, via Magary uberhack Andy Benoit has once again WATCHED THE TAPE and shown that it is unpossible that an NFL decisionmaker could have done something dumb:
“You know, this is far from the best ribeye I’ve ever had. So I have NO CHOICE but to eat stale Twinkies covered in dog feces instead.”
While McDermott cleared the worst coaching decision of the year field, it must be said that Pete Carroll had a real Thank You For Not Coaching week this week too. I’m all for coaches treating their players professionally, but letting a player talk you into a 0% challenge in the second half a close game with major playoff implications carries this a rather too far.
And yet, Carroll’s decision wasn’t even the second worst by a North American football coach last week. I present you Edmonton Eskimos coach Jason Maas, who definitely wins the Quinn-Shanahan for massively screwing up an elimination game by kicking a field goal 3rd-and-4 from the Calgary 13 down 7 with less than two minutes left. Glad to see the Browns have found their next coach!