Mr.TaterSalad

So do you all think the NFL Owners vote out Dan Snyder as owner of the Washington Commanders before seasons end?

I did not dive into the crosstabs of the poll and only read the topline numbers. Like you, I would have a hard time believing that any one group would swing +30 towards a particular party or candidate in one month, especially with today's hyper-polarized electorate.

I know he'll likely lose, but Tim Ryan's takedowns of JD Vance have been really strong, political attacks. I'm sure given how few people watch these Senate debates that they won't reach the target voter unless they end up in a TV or digital ad. But still really good stuff.

Tudor Dixon is both dumb and repugnant, which is par for the course with MAGA politicians.

It's a miss based on who they passed on and that the Lions desperately needed a LB (they desperately needed a DT too). JOK was still on the board and they passed on him. JOK looks like a really good NFL player and Levi does not.

I get that Joe Douglas has been there going on 4 years, but their coaching staff has only been in place as long as Campbell has here. On the Giants front, I'm not sold on them either being a long term, successful team. But here we are with them sitting at 5-1. And it isn't like they only beat up on the bottom feeders of the league either. Green Bay, Baltimore, and Tennessee are all quality wins for the Giants. They did it with no Kenny Golladay, no Sterling Shephard for the past 3 games, no Kadarius Toney. They are starting a collection of rookies and borderline practice squad guys at WR, with Daniel Jones still at QB. Yet they are finding ways to win still. I am aware that I am being one of those fans right now that is not showing patience and only reacting to what's in front of me. I know that the season is young and that Holmes and Campbell deserve more patience and time than this. I want to give it to them too. I know we could come out of the bye week, make changes, and improve on defense, as we did last year on offense after the bye. I know we could be the Bengals and go from worst to first with a few changes from one offseason to the next. But right now, getting lost in the weeds of a 1-4 record, the league worst performance of this defense, Dan Campbell's coaching mistakes, and seeing Levi out for then season, it's hard to be patient and optimistic for the future.

I know. Right now as fans, we are stuck in the rut of what we've seen and what we know. It's hard to be disciplined as a fan and tell yourself to just wait for the rest of the season to playout. The next 3 games will be more telling than the last I feel. Coming out of a bye week, they should be able to readjust and reset some things. I don't think anyone expects them to beat Dallas, but we at least want them to look competitive and see this offense rebound to what it was in the first 4 games. If it doesn't and they go and get skunked, even against a really good Dallas defense, then you are really going to start to see fans panic. The other two games, Dolphins and Packers, are now games they should be in the conversation to win. The Dolphins are potentially starting either Teddy Bridgewater or Skylar Thompson at QB when facing us. The Packers just got torched by the Jets and haven't exactly looked dominate thus far this year. If we come out of that 3 game stretch with the defense looking as it has and the offense not rebounding, that means we're in 1-7 territory as a team having gone 0-3 in those games. At that point, you see a coaching staff and a front office spiraling downward and you're just looking for somewhere on the schedule where we will finally get a win. And as I have said all season long, what I want to see more than anything is improvement from this team and coaching staff. Individual player improvement with guys getting better week to week. Unit improvement with entire personnel groups looking better on the whole over the course of the season. And competent coaching with improvement that shows this coaching staff is growing, but learning from their mistakes. If we are 1-7 3 weeks after the bye, I think it will be hard to say we saw marked improvement from this team.

What's frustrating to me is that you have teams in year 1 or 2 of their rebuild and they already have better records, with worse QB situations and worse offenses than the Lions have. The Giants have a brand new GM and a brand new, first time head coach and are 5-1 and second in their division. They are 5-1 with Daniel Jones as a starting QB and no good offensive playmakers outside of Saquon Barkley. The Jets are 4-2 with a second year head coach and a carousel of QBs with both Joe Flacco and Zac Wilson having started and won games for them. Albeit it, this is Joe Douglas' third year as GM but only second with Robert Saleh as the Head Coach. The Seahawks were supposed to be contenders for the #1 pick this year and are now 3-3 and tied for the division lead. They have a career backup starting in Geno Smith and lost their best RB, Rashad Penny to an injury. They lit us up for 48 points with Geno Smith in at starting QB. I always knew this was going to be a 3 year process. But it is still frustrating none-the-less to see teams you though would be worse, Giants, Jets, Seahawks, doing it quicker than we are.

How much criticism does Brad Holmes deserve for not being more aggressive in targeting defensive free agents? I know Marcus Williams was the not name around here and I believe he is now on IR. But when you read some of Holmes' quotes from this past offseason, it really feels like they (mistakenly) trusted the talent they already had on the roster and what they would end up doing in the draft. They stood largely pat in free agency and didn't make any splash moves. SeShaun Elliot was the biggest free agent move they made on defense. They have the statistically worst defense in the NFL this season, well they did pre-bye week. Again, I say all this as a supporter of a lot of what Brad Holmes has done and am not even discussing moving on from Holmes, before someone infers that.

Alim McNeill is on pace to have about 24 tackles this season, 0 sacks, and a PFF grade of 62. Does that fit the definition of decent? Maybe?

Remember the reports too that Holmes wanted to trade draft capital to move back up into the 1st round to get Levi.

He played 12 games in 2017 at Washington, 14 in 2018 and 13 in 2019. So it looks like he played a full season of games every year he was at Washington.

According to Football Outsiders Michigan has a higher overall defensing ranking that Ohio State this season. Albeit a marginal advantage with Michigan at #10 and Ohio State at #12. We have a better, what they call Defensive Drive Efficiency (DDE) as well, ranked #3 in the country. Looks like DDE stats measure the scoring value gained or lost per your opponent's offensive drive. Ohio State was ranked 9th in the stat. The other stat they have called DTD which measures weather or not the offensive drive ended up with a TD scored also gives Michigan the edge over Ohio State. All these stats could be meaningless when lining up against a team with the talent level of Ohio State. They beat being behind though and thinking Michigan has no chance whatsoever, that's for sure. It's been nice to be positive about a team's direction for an entire season for once.

Are we officially able to declare this pick a bust now?

Fun fact I heard from Rico today on the Ticket. Brian Daboll has more career wins than Dan Campbell after 6 games of not even one full season. Yikes!

I think on offense we have a two-headed monster at RB with Coram and Edwards that matches theirs with Henderson and Williams. I think our offensive line has played as well theirs has and we can control the line as they do. So I don't think they are bullying us around up front as they have in years past. The one area where I think they get the clear win is their playmaking ability out wide and over the middle of the field with their Wide Receivers with Smith-Nijgba and Harrison. I do believe we have a total team defense that is close to theirs. However, covering the middle of the field is probably where I share the most concern, given our linebacking play. I do worry about getting torched over the middle with the combo of wideouts they have and our LB corps inability to stop the dreaded crossing patterns.

Valenti on now saying he believes the National Championship winner will come from the Big Ten, either OSU or Michigan. What say you all? Do you feel that Michigan has a shot to win it all, which means likely beating both Ohio State and an SEC team (Georgia, Tennessee, Bama)? I can't believe I am saying this, after years of clowning on the program that Jim Harbaugh was developing here at Michigan, but yes, I do think we can win. We're number two in the country in running and have a top 3 offensive line. We control the line of scrimmage and play bully ball, buying time and creating openings for this offense to operate. We are number 8 in the country in time of possession as a result of our great running game. On top of that, we have a complete defense, that looks well rounded talent wise and well coached. I am giving Jim Harbaugh credit, where credit is do. I think he's built a team capable of beating Ohio State, an SEC team, and ultimately winning a National Championship.

Here's why you just can't trust polls or at best, can throw things into the average and call it a day. CBS's Battleground Poll measuring the generic ballot has interesting findings as it relates to their own CBS poll of Biden's approval rating. As Biden's approval rating has recovered, which they now have at 48% approval, the Republicans have actually gained a point from September to October in the generic ballot poll and went from up +1 to up +2.

This new ad against Herschel Walker is the kind of savage ad that Republicans normally run against Democrats. Glad to see they are hitting back hard against him. My jaw was on the ground when they showed the scene with the gun being put against the women's head.

And the Red Wings won too! 🙂

I actually feel good about this year's Michigan team with JJ at QB and the wrinkle he adds to our offense. I think Michigan is going to surprise people and actually be competitive in the toilet bowl. Even I surprise myself having that much faith in Harbaugh.

Today's the kind of day you just LOVE if you're a sports fan. Great football to watch with Alabama and Tennessee followed up by two great baseball games. Michigan winning always helps too!

What an incredible night of baseball tonight!!! An 18 inning, scoreless classic with the Astros beating the Mariners. Then, we get to watch Cleveland claw back to win with 5 singles in the 9th and basehit after basehit to get the winning run in. As they said on the TBS broadcast, small ball beat power ball tonight.

So my dad is a conservative Republican and I've mentioned that here before. We had lunch and watched part of the Michigan game together. We got to taking about the Georgia Senate debate. Even he told to me today that it's downright shameful that the Republican Party could trot Herschel Walker out there in the condition he is in and with his mental capacity. My dad said being a Senator requires a serious ability to think critically and decipher complex public policy.