Navy_football

Yeah, but unfortunately they traded away the only playmaking WR and replaced him with a possession guy. Released the workhorse back that perfectly fit the offensive philosophy. The oline took a major friggin nose dive, granted it was mostly due to injury. I mean they went from a solid 8 to a shaky 4. No one expected that. And the coaches had no clue what scheme they wanted to run. Still think Reich should have stuck with his mesh concept and just added more presnap motion. This team wasn't a QB away. That's some BS narrative every team with 7 or more wins says. The TEs were (if you don't have anything good to say...). The oline was supposedly the saving grace, but they were (see above quotations). The receiving corp was mediocre, even with DJ Moore. Without him... The running backs were good enough with Foreman in that scheme. Without him... The 2022 Panthers were a lot closer to a QB away than the 2023 team. If that makes sense.

In all honesty, Jordan and JT are much better receiving options. So they'll improve the passing game, but likely hurt the run game some. Definitely "willing" blockers, just not great at it. I feel like their contributions as receivers will trump their lack of blocking. Pick your poison.

Uh oh. I remember another coach that let better players sit on the sideline because vets... Rivera "found" better players on the bench more times than one due to injuries to starters.

Come on Basbear, don't lump us with the Ivy League. Yes they normally beat us. Sometimes pretty bad but never like that. Heck Navy has beaten Notre Dame like 4 times in the last 20 years. Last time being 2016. They only beat us by 3 in 2022. The bigger point is fully developed grown professionals going against kids in college. Too big and strong. Literally men against children.

No college team is beating any college team. Remember how dominant Derrick Brown was in college? Remember how pedestrian he was his first 2-3 years in the NFL? Now imagine him playing against an 18- 22 year old kid now. It would be illegal. They'd call the game before he killed someone's child.

And you'd better spy him so that takes another guy out of coverage.

The kid that played basketball at UNC, right? Curry?

Yeah I don't think the guy is as bad as some are arguing. Is the deep ball his strength? No. Is it a glaring weakness? I don't think so. Deep passes that aren't called take more than just a strong armed QB. That helps, but you also need a WR that can burn a defense and/or "Moss" a DB. That WR wasn't present last season. Not sure we have that this season either, but we do have a route runner that can create separation and catch the ball. We also appear to have a playcaller that will take shots early. The second pass of the preseason game, DC dialed up a deep pass to DJ that forced the safety to help, opening up the underneath pass to JT. That's about all we can hope for from deep passes right now. At least until we have a WR that can run past or jump over the coverage. Legette is the only player that may have both in his bag but he's unproven. Coker has an insane vertical and showed it in college too, so may have a chance with him as a jump ball guy. As far as Bryce goes, he has to throw the ball when the opportunity is there. That's the biggest issue I had with him last season. Maybe he didn't trust his receivers. Maybe he didn't trust his oline. Maybe he didn't trust the playcall. He doesn't have those excuses this year, so I expect him to take more deep shots, particularly when the defense creeps up. If he doesn't, then we'll have a problem.

Diontae Johnson is actually pretty good. He's respected around the league as a high level route runner. Overall looks like an average receiving corps now, with an average to above average oline. Just my opinion... I think the defensive line is greatly improved. Burns is a feast or famine splash player. All or nothing. Mostly nothing. If nothing else, Clowney is a huge upgrade against the run. A'Shawn is another big upgrade. He and Brown should be a problem for teams to run inside against. Any combination of Josey, Shaq or Wallace appear to be at least as good as Luvu and whoever else they marched out there next to him. The secondary is at worst a wash. Could be a lot better if Horn stays healthy and the new Jackson is probably an upgrade. All is on paper though. Now up to coaches to put it together on GameDay.

Agree. I don't know how anyone can look at this roster and think it's worse than last season-at least on paper.

Much appreciated! Been out of the loop. Labor Day. Family. Vacation.

Wait when did we sign a friggin Army linebacker?! And $3M a year for a special teamer Cadet? Please tell me I'm wrong!

... stand there right next to each other.

Wait didn't Tremble say he was ready? Just holding him out as a precaution?

Already have the most productive TE from training camp on the PS, but you know an injured Ian Thomas is too important.

Does this team hate Jordan Matthews or something? Geez! Get a pass rusher or another quick twitch WR in case Diontae goes down.

That will never get old. Never.

That would mean... Super Bowl baby!!!

I went through this entire thread and can't believe there is no mention of Navy's beat down of Bucknell. Wing T baby! Go Navy! Beat Army!

Really good player in my opinion. But don't think he is a natural in the middle. Will in a 4-3 is probably the best position for him. He just doesn't play like a Mike to me. Luke was the opposite. He was born to play the middle of the field. Becomes a little more mortal on the outside. TD could play, Mike, Will, Sam even SS - at a high level. That dude was really different.

More about the coaching staff and evaluation of the entire roster. If DC is the guy but BY isn't HIS guy, then move on from Bryce - and vice versa. Contrary to popular belief, it's easier to find a QB you can win with than a HC/OC/DC combination. The right coach will make the QB right enough. Now if you're looking for a Mahomes or a Lamar Jackson (the QB version)... well good luck with that.

Legion of Boom (Southern Edition)

This is a big move! On another note... imagine the range of emotions this man has gone through over the past 2 days? Geez!

I don't know. I generally got the impression they went where he wanted them to go, but his timing was off. More attempts might help. Canales called a deep ball to DJ early in the preseason game, but Bryce didn't like what he saw and ended up completing an out to Sanders instead. Would love to see him take more shots.

Wait... doesn't he normally OVERthrow deep balls, meaning a faster WR would be better for him?