Man, it seems like forever ago since the combo of Skylar Thompson, Snoop Huntley, and Tim Boyle were out there averaging 11 points a game for us. Sadly, the unheralded Boyle was the best of the 3, and he was the first one cast aside. And now with Huntley hurt, we’re stuck with Skyloser again as our backup. Let’s home he never gets into a game.

After putting up 27 points the last 2 weeks–only to have our defense collapse and lose both games for us late–we “only” scored 23 on Monday Night, but that was enough. The defense kept the Rams out of the endzone and was looking good. I don’t think that’s sustainable of both CBs Fuller and Kahou have to miss time. Cam Smith is a bust, and Sirhan Neal is a special teamer 5th-string CB. I don’t know why CB Ethan Bonner keeps getting benched and not given a chance, but they may change this weekend if the others remain hurt.

But back to the offense. Against the Cards and Bills, the biggest thing I noticed was that Tua was finding his secondary targets quickly. Defenses nowadays easily take away the long ball threats to Hill and Waddle. This is nothing new. But for months, when Hill and Waddle were covered, Tua took forever to find someone else. Lately, he’s been much much better, finding Jonnu Smith or even Odell Beckham for huge, important gains. I’ll give Mike McDaniel credit there. He’s gotten the NON-Hill/Waddle receivers more active, and that was sorely missed.

We are heading into an “easy” portion of our schedule, with the likes of the Raiders, Patriots, Packers and Jets upcoming. Getting to 7-6 and salvaging a respectable season heading into December is feasible.

It will be hard to make the playoffs, even if we win out and get to 11-6. But I like the way the offense is going, and it makes it very apparent that the whole scheme is built around Tua. The other QBs couldn’t get near 27 points in all their games combined!

5 Comments

  1. Sorry but lately Tua is just holding on to the ball too long when he is not able to find his receivers. He has been taking sacks for doing so and he is just one more concussion from being out for the season. My heart stopped when he took that knee to the helmet after that interception. Also, I have no confidence we’ll make the playoffs this season. Unfortunately.

    1. Author

      On Monday night, he definitely held the ball too long. That’s because the Rams did a good job of taking away the secondary receivers who had been open in the prior two games. He wasn’t holding it too long vs. the Bills and Cards, but the Rams played it differently and it baffled Tua. He’s a 4-year pro, and he shouldn’t need Troy Aikman scolding him (correctly so) about not understanding the situation. I say this a lot with Tua. In many scenarios, it’s fine to take a sack. Take a knee and move on. When you face a third and long from midfield, and everyone is covered, throwing the ball away to prevent a sack doesn’t matter. you punt from the 50 instead of the 45. The reward isn’t there for the risk. That’s what happened on Tua’s fumble. Trying to do too much

  2. It baffles me why the team benched him for four games and decided so early to blow the season up and throw it away. Unfortunately there is no victory we can take away from this year because just making the playoffs wasn’t going to be a victory, we needed to win at lest one playoff game and be competitive in the second to call this season a success but apparently letting our starting defense from last year go hasn’t turned out to be such a great idea. Anyhow, this team is definitely clicking with Tua in there and the use of TE has been refreshing as has been the occasional three or four runs in a row! Maybe next year will be the year?

    1. Author

      24 hours after that Thursday game, when Tua had no symptoms and (by all accounts) was cleared to play, I think Stephen Ross and/or Chris Grier assessed the situation by worrying about what the p.c. media would say. Tua had passed protocol and was able to play, but the public relations and the criticism and the second guessing would have been too much for Ross to handle. He has no killer instinct concerning victories, and he cares too much about making the NFL itself happy.
      I firmly believe that if Tua had played those 4 games, we’d be at 7-2 right now. But because a bunch of talking heads and podcasters were telling Tua what to do, Ross listened to them.
      To be clear, this is just me speculating. I have no insider information that this was Ross’s idea to bench Tua, and I try to be factual here on my site. The known facts are simply that Tua was cleared to play and had no symptoms. Why a healthy star with no symptoms was forced to sit out for 4 games–by his own team–is the part we may never know for sure. Just like we may never know for sure why the Dolphins had to forfeit our #1 draft pick in 2023 and…Oh, wait a minute. We DO know why we forfeited that pick: Stephen Ross.

  3. I know I have been super critical and a negative Nancy, but at this moment, I am feeling a little bit of optimism.

    I LOVED the MNF win against the RAMS.

    Tough, Ugly, and we closed the game when we needed, with clutch long 3rd down conversions.

    Our defense, when healthy, is competitive. We will need our Defense to make the playoffs, and they had a great game against the Rams. It appears the linchpin of our D is Zach Seiler. His presence along with his menacing giant sidekick, Calais Campbell, set the tone of the defense on MNF. May they both stay healthy the rest of the season.

    Tua mentally overcame two turn-overs and showed some grit in the win. Bravo Tua.

    That’s how you win a playoff game.

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