Quick ALL-22 review this week, not as much free time this week and next so will not start own thread as not as in depth.
Is it players or coaches? Both. Many plays in this game showed it is both.
Positives:
-Layden Robinson played his best game. I thought he was pretty bad every other game so not as great as it sounds but this is the first game he played I thought he might actually end up an NFL starter. He had the holding call, kind of a weird hold IMO but was called and can see why ref did but kind of questionable. He totally whiffed in the red zone on 3rd and 1, totally whiffed a 2nd level block early in the game. However, was one of the few guys getting actual push on the line (Onwenu the other) and his pass blocking was solid. Arizona is not great on the line but major step forward IMO.
-Gonzalez and Maye continue to show they are stars.
-Marcus Jones is a player, is sad to see he has more YAC ability than any receiver on the team. You can see what a Travis Hunter at WR could do.
-Dell Pettus got beat a couple times but they had him on McBride 1 on 1 quite a bit and he should have had help. The few times McBride was covered by Dugger or Peppers they couldn't stay within 5 yards.
-I thought Barmore had his best game, not back to last year but a step forward.
-They have some players that can help moving forward.
-Lowe had his worst game in a long time, Ben Brown was terrible also. Onwenu was good, Jacobs was solid and Robinson was Ok but for him that's actually a big step up.
-In terms of coaching, if you are going to see what the younger players can do, why don't you play them?
-Alex Austin 25 snaps but J Jones gets 42? Austin was OK in this game, got beat a few times but wasn't thrown to, still shows some closing speed but, again, seems to need it too often as he has trouble sticking with receivers. Would like to see him get more snaps and see what happens.
-Pettus gets 18 snaps yet Dugger and Peppers are 70 and 69. Peppers took bad angles all game long. Dugger looked the best he has but still lacks coverage skills and took a bad angle on the big Dortch play.
Reviewing some of the important/interesting plays in the game
-The play call that caused the Kraft's to look miffed: Lowe missed his bock right away, at the same time Henry AND Robinson both whiffed on their second level blocks. 3 missed blocks on the play. So not sure the play call was the issue, that 1 was on the players.
-The big play to Dortch was a sample of bad players and bad coaching. They had M. Jones and Pettus covering 2 guys. It was a WR screen and because it was thrown behind the line the TE was legally allowed to block Jones as ball was in the air. Pettus probably should have seen that and switched, but the coaching on that was poor as they were in man and neither CB looked to switch. Peppers then took a bad angle and Dugger then missed an open field tackle. It was a good play call but poorly defended which was the fault of the defensive coaching and the players.
-Final TD run at the goal line for the Cards the alignment made it easy, Card had basically 4 blockers on 2 guys in the hole they ran thru. Terrible defensive alignment, that was on the coaches.
-On the Pats 3rd and 1 Robinson blew a block and then on the 4th and 1 Lowe missed a block causing Sow at FB to have to block his guy, leaving the LB unblocked to fill the hole.
Here are some off-season moves:
1-Sign Cam Robinson, he's not great but he's solid and a step up and probably the best that will actually be available.
2-Sign Higgins, if he gets to free agency he's easily the #1 target, overpay f you must
3-If you do those 2 things then draft Hunter. He's by far the best prospect so just do it.
4-If you do all the above I'd then go after Chase Young, yeah he's been disappointing, but he is probably the best edge rusher FA, Reddick might be a sneaky other option.
Alternative:
The other option is to trade down, if you can find someone to give you enough capital that you can trade back up to the end of the first, take Carter and trade back up for someone like Emeka Egbuka
Carter is the best edge rush prospect in the draft but not sure he's a 3 down player but in a weak draft he'd be the best option. I'm 100% in on Hunter but I'm not going to ignore all trade possibilities or ignore the fact he might not be there when they pick.