7 man rush… cover zero… man coverage.
yeah… I’ll take the short crosser every time on 3-and-1 when a first down keeps Buffalo from getting a possession…. especially when the MLB blitzed and the middle of field was vacated.
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Hard to know who the next guy in his progression was.
ASRB was open and Goff had a throwing lane but by the time Goff went through his progressions, ASRB would have been past that lane and the ball had a good chance of being batted down at the LOS.
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Against a blitz…. QBs are taught to throw where the blitz is comings from… and the progression of reads is altered to react to the blitz.
On this play… there were 2 routes that were too long developing to even consider against a 7-man rush…. so it was either Chark or ASB. Zylstra ran a seam route between 2 deep safeties… and Raymond ran a deep over… so the blitz should have immediately taken them out of the equation.
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I wish Goff would have tried to get to the ball to St. Brown too. If Goff had given St. Brown a moment longer to get open in the Miami game, the Lions would have had a first down there.
He is by far the best receiver the Lions have. Get him the damn ball in those situations!
That said, in the Bills game, there’s a couple problems. Goff can’t take a sack and has to avoid a turn over. The quickest, safest throw is clearly down the field to a WR who is one on one with a corner with no safety help.
Throwing a short, quick pass in the middle of the field is risky and dangerous. If one of the rushers, backs off to watch for the short crosser, they can easily make a play. Miami and Brian Flores did that to Goff when Goff had a turnover fest against Miami a couple of years ago.
I liked the Hockenson trade, but it would have been nice to have someone like Hock (and of course Jamo) lining up with St. Brown in that little bunch
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In 2010 Rams fans had a debate over taking Bradford or Suh with the number one pick. They passed over Suh and took Bradford who never did much in the league.
Lions fans watched a once in a generation defensive lineman maul opponents. Rams fans watched a young qb struggle.
The Lions probably won’t pick high enough to have a chance at Anderson, but I know who I would pick if given the choice.
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Great post Snags! The pictures really tell the story and makes it pretty clear what happened. Chark needed to realize he was the hot read on the blitz AND that he did not have his man beat.
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That is definitely not what Goff or any of the coaching staff said.
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Chark was open on that last throw. If Goff throws it out in front it’s a touchdown. Chark had two steps on the db.
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He wasn’t open when Goff threw it, he was after.
Scroll up and you’ll see the pics I provided.
“On the pass to Chark, who messed up?”
Ben Johnson.
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In the press conference after the game, he said he “picked the wrong guy” in the reads. He took the blame.
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Yeah, that’s not exactly what Goff said.
He said, “we had 4 receivers on the play, could have thrown to any of them, the guy I picked was open but we didn’t hit it, so we can second-guess the play all we want”.
It’s at the 3:40 mark of this video.
Goff on cleaning up the mistakes
QB Jared Goff talks with the media about certain plays in the Week 12 game and mistakes that need cleaning up.
It was reported that way by multiple beat writers after the game, so 
“I had a guy open and we didn’t hit it” still comes off as him being part of the issue.
Ive said it multiple times–I like Goff and think they can win with him. Absolving him of that mistake is absurd. “Chark turned the wrong way!” That pass wouldn’t have been accurate even if Chark DID turn the way the ball went.
Again: Goff hasn’t hit that throw once this year. Stats show his accuracy plummets once the pass hits 20 yards, and that isn’t just a 2022 thing–he has been that way since 2020. It was a dumb decision to throw the ball, and an even dumber decision by Johnson to call that play. Give your QB multiple options to hit receivers in a range he can actually throw.
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Hey, not fair using facts and examples to counter vague assertions
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OK, once, then, and is that even the same pass? That looked like a straight deep route with no option to change the route.
PFF ranked him 30th in the league on passes over 20 yards. It’s not a high percentage play, and definitely not one to pull out at 3rd and 1 with 3 timeouts and time left.
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Given that Chark has been subpar or hurt all year and that the Lions haven’t had an NFL quality deep route receiver, the easy conclusion is that lack of deep connections is all Goffs fault
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The absurdity on this site when it comes to this stuff is ridiculous. Two NFL QBs, one of which is a Hall of Famer and one of which very well could be, immediately blamed the QB. They know exponentially more than anyone on this site. They’re experts. You’re not. You pretend to be, but let’s face it–you aren’t. They played the position their entire life. They retired and still study it. Why in the world would you NOT take their word for it?
Saying all that, I still blame Ben Johnson more than anyone. His 3rd down playcalling has been suspect at best this year. That play design reaffirmed that. Orlovsky said it best–No way you call a gun pass on 3rd and 1 in that situation.
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I for one appreciate the thoughtful analysis and screenshots the posters take the time to research create and post. If you think it’s ‘absurd’ why are you here?
If you just want to take RG3s word for everything Lions related your content will be sparse but I’m sure he has a podcast or something you could listen to
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I’m not pretending. 
Romo can eat rocks. (Matter of fact, clearing out the ole gizzard with a bit of gravel might make his voice more tolerable.)
I’m still a little high on turkey, the game plan, competitiveness, aggressiveness, successes and resiliency shown against a superior opponent. I also appreciate the Lions willingness to take shots when they’re in predictable down-and-distance, especially when the 3 points needed to tie are in the bag. It didn’t work and we tied.
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