Hafley was scared without JA, so he capitulated with soft coverage and vanilla rush? Might as well have gone home and given up. Its amazing how well we held up when he was forced to not be so passive and cautious after being “run over” for 28
Points.

Hafley cost us that game and I just hope he’s learned to play to win in future. To compound it, we had Nixon outside regularly with better options, or at least ones that might be given the chance. Nixon in the slot is one thing, but that was just a case of asking for it and getting it. A truly horrible game plan, one I seriously doubt would have worked for Jaire either against that opponent, as prior film could have told him.

Among other things, Hafley took our running game out of relevance almost immediately, and it looked like that could have yielded significant dividends. Meanwhile Darnold, after carving us up with ease (and 2 really good WRs) looked like the old Darnold as soon as we blitzed and really struggled to capitalize on those blitzes.

I’m not overlooking the discipline issues, how rusty Love looked, the drops or the kicker, but Hafley handed them the first half even without those. The rest is just scum on an already fetid soup. At least he did adapt. I sincerely hope that he’s learned, but his reputation as a student of the game took a massive knock for me. He’s clearly got a vast amount to learn. He’s also far too inclined to caution for my liking: rather more like Barry than I care to contemplate.

Kraft is a big, strong TE with pretty good hands (outside that fumble). He should be the go-to receiver in short goal situations. Find a way to get him open. TE's, and him in particular, should be getting more designed plays.

I like our Safety's, Bullard, Williams, McKinney. A good core group with some above average instincts. Hard to believe this was the liability a year ago.

CB's on the other hand... Jaire still has some eliteness in him when he guesses correctly, but may be slowing a bit and might not have the recovery when he doesn't. Stokes is a man CB. That's about it. His speed can hang with most receivers, but you put him in any kind of zone coverage and you're relying on instincts that are not as good. If Vallentine gets healthy, I'd go back to splitting some time. Nixon should not be on the field.

Nixon and Stokes are subpar at their positions!

I hate to say this, but I feel that Stokes and Nixon are not good enough to start as DBs, even with injuries. Frankly, now that the kickoff return has literally gone away, do we need a high priced returner like Nixon? Should he even be a starting DB? As for Stokes, he's better than Ballantine but significantly? But is he good enough to be a starter? Hmm...

We're thin at CB and it's showing now big time. And without a decent pass rush, our DBs are in for a challenging season.

Several things make me go hmmmmm. Firstly special teams - why are guys returning kickoffs from the endzone. Hate this new thingy - but take the 25 and dont risk a penalty. Same things with fielding a punt inside the 5 - let it bounce. 5 yard line or 1 yard line not a biggie.

Another thing - how many times have we seen guys try to get an extra yard or foot by not getting out of bounds and either costing a time out or have the clock run. Why is that not drummed into these guys heads - there is the difference in trying to break a tackle but look at last nights game - fumble cost a touchdown when trying to do too much.

Al,

thanks for this! This article in particular but this spot as a weekly feature is GREAT! Many times I see what you point out just watching the game live, but this week I missed everything you pointed out here.

The team website also has a feature, In Case You Might Have Missed It, which I also enjoy. Similar idea, and between you both it still covers less than 10 plays. There's no such thing as too much film analysis!

About that Bullard blitz. Well, if we’re putting on the Matt LaFleur hat here, he’d probably be a bit more measured, a bit more thoughtful—definitely not leaning into second guessing.

“Yeah, you know, we decided to bring a little more pressure at that point. I thought Bullard did a nice job executing the blitz, timing it up well, and really catching them off guard there. That’s the kind of situational awareness we talk about a lot in our meetings—knowing when to go, and making sure we’re disrupting their rhythm. It was a big play, and it helped set the tone for what we wanted to do on that series.

Now, bringing more than four rushers, especially with Alexander and Valentine out, that’s always going to be a calculated risk. But we trusted our guys to step up, and for the most part, they delivered. The coverage got a little thin at times, and yeah, Jefferson and Nailor found a couple of big plays off of that. But that’s just part of it—you live with the decisions you make out there. When the pressure hits, you see the results, like with the Walker sack and the Nixon strip. We just need to stay consistent and make sure that, even when we bring heat, we’re disciplined in our assignments and coverage. It’s a balancing act, and we’ve got to keep improving in that area.”