Week 18 - Vikes @ Lions Support Group

A lot of arguments in this thread supporting KOC are essentially, "No QB coach has ever turned Sean Mannion into Dan Marino, so you can't expect anything from O'Connell..."

His stubbornness about QB play is beyond debate IMO. I'm now looking for more indications of inflexibility in the offense KOC runs. OL is pretty well-established, in that he won't use blocking schemes suited for his linemens' skills. I also saw that he expects Johnny Mundt and Josh Oliver to perform the same routes as Hockenson. My impression is that he was trying to make Addison play the same as Jefferson when JJ was injured, but I would be obliged if some of you who watch the route running in greater detail can assess that aspect.

The biggest problem with Stubborn Kevin might be his disinterest in building a running game. With Cousins, if the passing game wasn't working well enough he would just pass more. But the biggest aid he could give a backup QB would be a stronger running game, and there was nothing around when Kirk got hurt.

Or - he just had no idea what would work.

Maybe Cousins got hurt and KOC said, "Oh damn all I know how to do is call plays for Kirk. Mullens can pretend to be Kirk but he's hurt too. Hall was a total crapshoot draft pick and I can tell he can do nothing but hand off. Season over, man!"

But KAM checked with the Wilfs and was told they had to play out the season and try to make it look good. So they went through a list of warm bodies and the first couple didn't work out, then the Cardinals offered Dobbs. Then Josh pulled out a couple games because O'Connell couldn't alter him in time, but Dobbs' abilities were limited and KOC kept saying, "I know we won but not the way I want to win games!"

Probably an exaggeration. But I truly do not think we should assume KAM and KOC definitely had a strong plan for Dobbs or even Mullens. Some people have one approach and don't prepare in case that one falls apart.

I would agree with this. We know that Dobbs wasn't even their first choice. They went looking for Jacoby Brissett and backed off due to the asking price.

Hopefully this is a learning experience and KOC is more adaptable going forward.

Wolfson was saying that O'Neill was having issues playing through the ankle injury, so it seems he's going to be rested for the last game. Blackmon only played half the snaps last week, and may not go since his shoulder isn't 100%. Nailor is going to miss a 4th game with a concussion, which is not a good sign.

Ingram appeared to be benched, or it was this shoulder injury that popped up on the report?

You the new leader of the Championship Mindset (Bowel) Movement? If so, y'all need a new leader because you're SAWFT. Charmin Ultra Soft.

When was the season lost? When we were 1-4? Did you forget we were also 6-4 and controlled our own destiny from that point forward? We didn't have opportunities against Denver, Chicago, and Cincinnati to seal the deal weeks ago? Missed opportunities.

The next game is always the most important game, but with two games left, and still in position to control our own destiny? Against our most-hated rival on primetime? Despite everything that went down, that was the most important game of the season. And the whole team blew chunks.

But the argument that the season was lost in September/October is laughable. It was lost in December. Down the stretch, when teams should be playing their best football, we sucked. KO changing quarterbacks like people with good hygiene change their undies didn't help matters either. It was a freaking embarrassment. And that's my point.