NFL Week 18 -- Motown Showdown

Ok oop
I’ll add Cousins to that list…….you still taking Darnold?

 

Darnold had been great this season and had a bad game last night — albeit in the biggest game of the season.

Let’s see how he does in the playoffs before we send him off to die in Nashville … or some other wonderful quarterback desert.

 

As enticing as those league-leading 16 interceptions are, I would pass on Cousins. Remember, a team in the heat of a race for a playoff berth benched him in favor of a rookie. Maybe he bounces back once he is farther removed from the Achilles injury, but he is 36. The only possible advantage with Cousins is he might have to settle for a cheap deal.

It's not as if I have overwhelming confidence in Darnold. I simply don't think these other options are good ones.

 

From the glimpses I saw Darnold seemed to have about 0.7 seconds to do anything before turning to his left to escape one defender before scrambling to his right to avoid others and then chucking the ball into the turf on the run. How much did the Lions' suddenly fierce defense have to do with this terrible game by Darnold?

 

A lot, but it wasn't as though he had no chance to make any throws, and when he did have time, he was astoundingly inaccurate - it didn't look like the same guy I watched all year. In particular, the one early on to Hockenson up the middle that would have extended a drive was just brutal.

 

Getting Shitty in Music City, as the bachelorette shirts say.

 

As someone mentioned earlier in this thread, there were a number of occasions last night when it appeared he was seeing ghosts again.

 

Yeah, I am loath to psychoanalyze athletes from a distance or accuse guys of choking, but Darnold's body language last night was not that of someone who felt comfortable in the moment.

 

I'm late to the party, but I am glad I was wrong on the total Broncos collapse. They played pretty well yesterday, and it was certainly a fun game, although I don't think I have ever seen a more disinterested team as the Chiefs, sitting their starters or not. I am sure someone somewhere with all the analytics these days has studied if that kind of move pays off.

An interesting thing I have seen is it seems that the social media "hot take" is that the Chiefs didn't want to play the Bengals. Such a weird thought to me. Why would the Chiefs care if it was the Broncos or Bengals (or Dolphins for that matter)? Both probably should have beaten them in the regular season and neither would have a great chance to beat the Bills. I'd say the Chiefs more would want the Broncos to lose because of the rivalry element, but even that is weak. Most likely the Chiefs are going to play the Chargers or Texans. But I guess that's why we are all fans.

I am thrilled the Broncos are in the playoffs again and it was a fun season overall. An incredible bounceback after a crap decade and something that was completely unexpected. I hope it is just the start, but you never know.

 

This is obviously the first window they’ve had in, like, a while. Can the rookie take them further than Darnold next year with whatever roster they have? Nobody knows. I’m thinking their best chance is right now, in this one- or two-year window. Thinking you’ll get back is a fool’s wager.

I think it’s ride or die time with Darnold. For a couple of years, anyway.

 

One of the good reasons I've heard for letting Darnold go is that having him as a one-year stopgap was part of a long-term plan that is threatened if they give him a big starting QB contract. Basically, they were able to somehow get out from under Cousins' contract and the plan was to ride J.J. McCarthy for a couple of years while using the saved money to plug other holes. Now, if they pay Darnold, they might be right back where they started.

Of course, the big problems for them are: 1) You'd better be damn sure about McCarthy, who is an unproven rookie coming off a bad knee injury; and 2) You'd better be sure that Darnold's career renaissance is more Case Keenum than Kurt Warner or Jim Plunkett. It's hard to know the answer to either one.