Some time yesterday I got one of those full-body sicknesses where I woke up today feeling like I ran a marathon I very much did not run. I considered skipping this post today because it’s not really the most important part of the offerings around here, but then I started writing it this morning just to get it in, and then my wife told me to take a ‘rona test, and that confirmed I do have COVID. So, a short version of the post today.
I know I got some good questions this week I wanted to hit. A big-time reminder to all of you posting questions on the Stealing Signals writeups — I would love to answer each of them, and it would make a lot of sense from a business perspective if I offered that as a feature of this newsletter, but the reality is after writing 10,000+ words over Monday and Tuesday, I’m typically not in the mood to type out more words. That’s why I started the Signals Gold livestreams on Tuesday nights, which are me on video answering written questions in the chat. They’ve been a blast, the chat feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and there aren’t a ton of Signals Gold members so I’ve been able to go in depth on the biggest waiver players of the week as well as hit on I’m pretty sure every question I’ve gotten each week.
I generally want to do more stuff like that, and might add more video stuff if not during this season then into the offseason. If you’re finding yourself interested in more depth after reading Stealing Signals, you can catch me talking through my more probabilistic thoughts there. (To sign up, please contact me directly so I can refund your current subscription first — the “upgrade” process has had some issues, so the easiest path has been a prorated refund of the remaining time on your current sub and then a new Signals Gold sub. Also keep in mind, I’ll refund anyone at any time if you just want a refund for some reason.)
Anyway, I got some good questions this week I want to hit on. Let’s start with Andy:
The concern I have with the Rams, and (Puka) Nacua specifically in the absence of (Cooper) Kupp, relates to a counterpunch. What do they do if teams agressively press Nacua and cheat coverage to his side? It didn't seem like Cincinnati did anything novel defensively. Could it just be that Nacua eats up zones and doesn't fair as well in press man? Matt Waldman mentioned this as a concern on Nacua coming out of college. That the Rams lacked a plan B here, and looked so out of sorts, gave me PTSD flashbacks to last year's disaster. To be fair, Nacua was stuck on 4/35 until he got loose late (in cover-2 zone). Understand that I'm still playing him, but I think it's fair to be at least slightly concerned that other teams will follow suit, considering that the player is still getting his bearings in the NFL. Kupp coming back (please do!) would obviously change the equation.
This isn’t really a question, per se, but it’s a) super thoughtful along the lines of what we talk about, and b) advancing the conversation in a direction I haven’t seen it go yet. So I definitely enjoyed reading it.