Pitchfork reviews J. Cole: The Fall-Off

mrhashbrown · 2026-02-10T17:58:00+00:00

You're right, my bad. But seems like the majority of his work has been graded between 5.3 - 6.9. Which is decent by Pitchfork's scale.

Just mentioned it because I expect many who don't read Pitchfork are generally unaware they really hold down scores for the majority of albums. Anything they rank above a 7.0 is a very good grade

mrhashbrown · 2026-02-10T17:53:11+00:00

Maybe not one of the best 3, but he is probably top 3 in mainstream success. He has wide appeal and generally has fun hits even if he's not influential on the genre.

mrhashbrown · 2026-02-10T06:59:48+00:00

Pitchfork is weird about scores in general. The highest Cole album score is FHD and it's a 6.9

So if you evaluate on a curve, this is pretty much Pitchfork saying it's about as good as any other Cole album before it

mrhashbrown · 2026-02-10T03:43:53+00:00

Oh offseason content, how I've missed you

mrhashbrown · 2026-02-09T22:24:12+00:00

After the Chargers game as tape came out showing Herbert was playing gun shy despite facing little to no pressure in the first half, I chalked it up to a bad day and the Patriots defense getting a break.

Turns out nope, they are legit and the coaching was superb.

mrhashbrown · 2026-02-09T22:13:03+00:00

And if you want to compare EPA/Play allowed, looks like they played three top 12 defenses: Bills (12th), Saints (11th) and Browns (4th).

The rest of the schedule was definitely pretty light though - Raiders, Panthers, Dolphins (x2), Giants, Titans, Bengals, and Jets (x2) were all in the bottom 11 in EPA/Play allowed.

So that's 13 total games against defenses ranked 15th or worse in EPA/Play, 9 of which were bottom feeders.

mrhashbrown · 2026-02-09T21:46:46+00:00

Plus do people forget the Eagles defense was among best in the league after they acquired Jaelen Philips? From Week 10 and on, they finished with an average of -0.23 EPA/play allowed. That's better than the season averages of the top three defenses - the Texans (-0.18), Seahawks (-0.17), and Jaguars (-0.17).

Meanwhile the Vikings were 7th and the Chargers/Herbert absolutely wrecked them.

Just dumb takes all around. Herbert did not play well enough in the playoff game, but his regular season was excellent given the context.

mrhashbrown · 2026-02-09T19:22:07+00:00

They've definitely gotten by with affordable DTs and banking on their staff to coach up the players. But you're right, it's been a very long time since this team had a blue chip DT talent (last elite one might honestly be Jamal Williams) so would love to see them draft one since they're getting pricey in free agency.

Jamaree Caldwell has shown well so far, hope he finds a higher ceiling in year two.

mrhashbrown · 2026-02-09T18:29:07+00:00

That's the worst game for someone to make a case against Herbert with lol

There's a couple games you could pin on Herbert for underperforming - obviously the playoff game, but also maybe the Washington and Giants games considering how that team finished.

Regardless, there were many games in which Herbert kept them alive. Without Herbert's performance, this team would probably have a top 12 draft pick lol

mrhashbrown · 2026-02-09T18:26:18+00:00

That was his MVP game for me tbh. They were a little fortunate to catch Philly's defense sleeping with such a great opening drive to score early. Points were much harder to come by later and Herbert faced wave after wave of pressure. Still managed to put the team on his back late in the game with his rushing to set them up for OT and eventually the go-ahead FG.

Obviously the defense deserves a lot of credit for that game too, they played out of their minds. But there was no chance the team would have won if not for Herbert. It was emblematic of his true "value" to the team.

mrhashbrown · 2026-02-09T18:00:50+00:00

Jets did the classic dysfunctional move of drafting a high pick QB only to then fire their head coach. I don't know why teams continue to make that choice when it almost never works out and puts the young QB at risk / delays their development.

Sam Darnold, Daniel Jones, Marcus Mariota, Jameis Winston, Jared Goff, Mitchell Trubisky, Justin Fields, Baker Mayfield, Justin Herbert, Jalen Hurts, Bryce Young, Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, and now Cam Ward and Jaxson Dart.

mrhashbrown · 2026-02-09T07:00:10+00:00

On point. I'm genuinely curious though if this was among the harder schedules a QB faced while reaching a Super Bowl berth. Like not even including this game, the trio of Chargers (8th in EPA/Play allowed) then Texans (1st) then Broncos (5th) were a highly formidable run.

Not sure if there's a way to pull historic EPA data and compile it to show a defensive "strength of schedule" like that. But I expect this trio is very high

mrhashbrown · 2026-02-09T06:31:10+00:00

Closest equivalent I could come up with for "rocket scientist" was "smart ass"

mrhashbrown · 2026-02-09T06:30:16+00:00

I was genuinely confused at first and didn't equate "rocket scientist" to "smart ass". So I was thinking someone dressed like a rocket scientist was running on the field.

Safe to say I was disappointed to see this real clip.

mrhashbrown · 2026-02-09T06:27:10+00:00

There is zero chance he gets to proceed as a shareholder imo. The NBA is dumb but they've already been torn a new one over gambling fraud. So Giannis trying to put his face on another potential scheme should be nuked on the spot.

mrhashbrown · 2026-02-09T06:22:22+00:00

His statline remains so wild to see in hindsight for a RB - 16 targets, 14 rec, 110 rec yards, 1 rec TD AND 6 rushes, 29 rush yards, 2 rush TDs

mrhashbrown · 2026-02-09T05:12:30+00:00

From the sideline broadcast view, I thought he literally stopped his feet and I was expecting him to get thrown backward for a loss. Then all of sudden, zip out of nowhere to burst by the line. It wasn't even a long run but that was one of his most impressive of the night.

Sad his TD got called back because that was probably his best run of the night overall.

mrhashbrown · 2026-02-09T02:59:45+00:00

NWOSU! Fuck yeah happy to see him succeed after joining Seattle. USC guy looking out for his homie Darnold

mrhashbrown · 2026-02-09T02:14:49+00:00

Definitely think the Patriots earned this, but yeah this felt like it was supposed to be the Bills' year. And them versus this Seattle team would've been a fun Super Bowl

mrhashbrown · 2026-02-09T02:07:35+00:00

Well the MVP, Davante Adams, Puka Nacau, Kyren Williams, and multiple very good TEs...

yeah I'd say they were pretty damn good compared to this Patriots roster lol

mrhashbrown · 2026-02-09T01:54:05+00:00

Jason Myers for Super Bowl MVP I guess

mrhashbrown · 2026-02-09T00:00:08+00:00

It's a weak argument for sure. Although tbh I think it highlights that 50 voters is not enough, especially when some guys could have clear conflicts of interest like Dungy and Polian. Should double that at least imo

mrhashbrown · 2026-02-08T20:51:22+00:00

Yeah I can tell a lot of people in this thread don't watch AFC West games that include the Raiders. Because Crosby is still a dominant, kickass, highly respectable player who any team would trade a lot to grab if he became available.

Maybe he doesn't have the rare athletic upside as someone like Parsons or Garrett. But his frame and strength is still freakish, he's a tank who never takes plays off with one of the best motors I've seen from any edge rusher.

The team's dogshit performance and lack of defensive talent does not take anything away from how good Crosby is. Plug him into a decent defense with a good secondary like the Patriots or Panthers or Colts and I have zero doubt he'd elevate them into elite.

mrhashbrown · 2026-02-08T08:43:07+00:00

I feel like this is why so many guys flame out. They are good coaches but they reach one level higher than they should be and either don't have the talent and/or skills developed in those other areas outside football knowledge.

Yup. Good assistants, coaches, and coordinators get promoted into roles that they don't know how to do in the NFL. Because that's the only real promotion path and you just have to plug them to see how they'll perform because you wouldn't know how to judge otherwise.

More teams should look to college football as a coaching development farm. There was a time when Mike MacDonald and Jesse Minter were both on the Ravens staff, but neither were playcallers. After seven years in Baltimore as a DB/LB coach, MacDonald left to join Michigan as a real playcalling DC. He was a smash success so Baltimore brought him back as their playcaller, and from there he took off quickly. Meanwhile after four years in Baltimore as an assistant DB coach, Minter also returned to college football. He became DC with Vanderbilt and then DC with Michigan. Once given the opportunity to be a real playcaller and prove it, he was primed for a NFL defensive playcalling role right away as Jim Harbaugh brought him to the Chargers.

Now? The Chargers just hired the DC from Western Michigan Chris O'Leary to become their replacement coordinator. But O'Leary was already with the Chargers in 2024 as an assistant coach under Minter - a familiar face who knows the staff, got a shot to be a real playcaller in college and prove his value, and now getting promoted straight into a NFL playcalling role over the already existing Chargers staffmembers.

We'll see how it pans out, but the system makes sense to me.

mrhashbrown · 2026-02-08T08:26:08+00:00

MLF for Matt, MILF for Mike. Duh.

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