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Originally Posted by Sassy Squatch
I honestly have no idea what you're seeing in regards to Tranquill being anywhere close to a position to make a play on Diggs. He would've been 5+ yards away from Diggs at the point of the throw and if he hits Diggs in stride Tranquill isn't catching him before it's a first down.
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Tranquil is a plus athlete. Looks to me like Drue is maintaining depth, keeping eyes on the QB until the ball is thrown. An athlete like Tranquil can eat up 5 yards very quickly once he notices the QB start his throwing motion.
You can see that Diggs would immediately be hemmed in by Bolton out there defending Kincaid on the out route as well. I mean, I don’t believe Diggs is going to cover the 6 yards necessary after making that catch with Bolton and Tranquil lurking there. It’s definitely possible but I think it’s unlikely.
Especially for Diggs. Diggs had 8 targets for 3 catches this game. He was basically worthless. He’s basically always worthless for them in the postseason. For a guy his size, he’s never truly been a plus athlete anyway. He ran a 4.47 like 10 years ago. He’s probably more of a 4.5 guy now and at 190 or whatever he’s likely playing at, the dude is far from a burner. He’s not really dangerous after the catch.
If anything, with the full power of retrospect, Kincaid looks to be the optimal target there. He’s wide open by NFL standards and he certainly would have had enough yardage to gain the 1st down.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mr. tegu
It’s silly to just hand wave away a worst case scenario 3rd and 4 vs 3rd and 9. That’s a huge difference in what you call and even maybe even going for it on fourth. You pretty much have to pass on 3rd and 9. 3rd and 4 is far easier, especially for such a good running QB. It’s very possibly a first down but more likely worst case 3rd and 2. From there you simply do the one thing that is basically impossible to stop which is Allen running for three yards.
Again if Allen is determined to make that throw he has to actually make it. It was out of timeout so they obviously specifically wanted this play. He knew where he was going with it. But he rushed his throw instead of stepping ever so slightly to the obvious pressure that was coming. He made it way more difficult than it should have been with terrible pocket awareness. Again, the entire drive he was making mistakes and definitely not dialed in. This was just the last big one.
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Your mindset is a little confusing. You’re talking about how it was too risky for Allen to try to throw a wide open TD pass in the same breath that you’re arguing they should have considered going for it if they found themselves in a 4th and short situation? You’d advocate going for a 4th and 2ish in field goal range, down 3 with less than 2 minutes remaining but don’t advocate trying to throw the go-ahead TD in the same situation? That logic doesn't make sense to me.
I’ll agree that his biggest mistake was not taking a step to the right before unloading. He had a ton of real estate to do so.. but at this point I just cannot agree that it wasn’t the right choice in that moment. I’ve seen and heard nothing that would change my mind and firmly believe that if we had Mahomes, Kelce and Reid on this forum right now, they would all agree with me.
For the record, I don’t think him missing this throw is any indication that he wasn’t “dialed in” or broader proof of processing issues or whatever. Our defense was potentially the best in the league last year. It was extremely good. The other 11 guys get paid too and sometimes they’ll win. That’s what I chalk this one up to. Just Chris Jones dropping trou and making the impact play he’s been known for in huge moments like this for nearly half a decade now.
Also, also, you are being unnecessarily critical of Allen on a couple missed throws/reads. No one will say anything because we ended up winning in the end, but Mahomes missed throws and reads this game too. Hell, he overthrew two of the easiest TDs he’d ever have on back-to-back plays on our second drive. I’m not going to go back and rewatch the game to prove that point, but I’m sure he missed some other plays as well.