MasterAwesome

Oh my god please post any reference to this. This might be the most wildly dishonest assertion I've seen on these boards in a while. Here is what Reich actually said for anyone who cares about facts: https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/panthers-frank-reich-says-using-andy-dalton-in-short-yardage-spots-can-limit-bryce-youngs-exposure/ It was about limiting his exposure because, yes, he's a small QB. And something Reich had a history of doing, even back in Indianapolis. It's funny that you take to heart the decisions and philosophies of a failed ineffective coach. Remember when Ron would choose to punt the ball instead of electing to let Gano kick 50ish yard FGs? Well, it turns out Gano actually had a pretty strong leg and was solid from deep.

If one side talks about how awful Bryce was last year and the other side talks about how Bryce was put in an impossible situation, then it's just going to be a circular unproductive back and forth ad nauseum until we see how this season plays out. And I think that's where most of us are...the roster is what it is, so let's just look ahead to this upcoming season instead of rehashing the same tired conversations over and over again about last season. "Was Bryce bad last year?" is such a boring and juvenile debate to be having halfway into the offseason. For as much as you and others like to talk about how delicate and sensitive the Bryce fans are, y'all get just as triggered towards the people voicing opposing positive sentiments. You're just two sides of the same coin...it's really silly to get on a high horse about how you're the levelheaded ones. I similarly find it ironic how your side of the aisle always prides themselves on being "realists", when I would argue that the realest realists are those who understand that Bryce is our unquestioned starting QB and it is in our best interests for him to succeed. Because that's the reality of the situation. Instead, you guys are complaining that we didn't bring in Nathan Rourke from the Canadian Football League (lol) to compete with Bryce Young. Y'all know damn well that if we signed Nathan Rourke or if we were in the Falcons' position of paying Cousins and then drafting Penix in the Top 10 (both moves that are being praised in here), you would be laughing your asses off at how stupid the Panthers are. "LOLOL Nathan Rourke is who we bring in to push Bryce?? What an insulting farce of a QB competition".

I really doubt Thielen is running these deep routes in a real game (at least I hope not), which is what slightly confuses me about why we're running this in practice. But given that Thielen was the receiver here, then 4 seconds in the air makes sense considering that's legit how long it takes him to run that far.

While I think it'd be silly for anyone to argue that Mahomes wouldn't have done any better here (and is obviously leagues above Bryce), it's worth mentioning...I watched the Raiders/Chiefs game late last year and man did Mahomes and that offense look like absolute trash in a game where Mahomes was continuously running for his life behind an o-line that couldn't block for poo, while trying to throw to receivers getting zero separation, and getting zero help from his run game. You know, the norm for Bryce every week. It really did look like I was watching a Panthers game. That was a game against Aidan O'Connell with a final stat line of 9/21 for 62 yards 0 TDs and yet Mahomes and the Chiefs managed 7 total points up until 2 minutes left in the 4th quarter in arguably garbage time.

Remember when you claimed Bryce never worked privately with his receivers last offseason? Then when you were presented with an article and photos showing just that, you called it a fake photo op? Remember continuously suggesting that Bryce is shorter than his official height taken at the Combine? Remember the report that came out about Nicole Tepper wanting Stroud and you saying that was BS that the team leaked so Nicole Tepper could save face? Most of what we discuss in here is opinion-based, but those are three empirical evidence-based examples that your conspiracy-brain has rejected based on nothing but your feelings…so I think you’ve forfeited your right to invoke “reality”, buddy. Unless we’re just operating in two different dimensions of the Multiverse. But if we’re actually acknowledging reality, you’ve taken coping to new heights. I’ve genuinely never seen anyone work so hard trying to gaslight people into believing that any report you disagree with is automatically fake.

As someone with no swag who has about a 39% dap success rate, I can’t overstate how much anxiety this video gave me. But coach nailed it.

17,000 posts but unwilling to read a single paragraph is actually a pretty remarkable insight into the psyche of some of these posters.

Oopsies

He looks about the same size to me...here's a pic from this time last year for comparison:

I guess you could say he....parroted someone else's opinion

You're not the same? You're very much parroting things other people have posted in here. You didn't come up with the Mingo/Legette comparison lol. Seems like you both read evaluations of prospects and based on what is compelling to you, you formed an opinion. That's a very normal thing to do...not sure why the petty self-righteousness. Your evidence only supports that the two of them are very similar physically/athletically. I don't think you've supported your broader argument that they are similar prospects. You're basically unironically doing the meme on here where every short agile WR prospect = Steve Smith.

So by your logic, the jury is still out on Ian Thomas because of the "Young effect". All we have to do is ignore all of his previous seasons pre-Young where he looked like the same guy as last year.

Now a rookie Bryce Young is being blamed for TMJ having done nothing in his three year career. Poor guy is turning into the "Thanks Obama" meme.

Right...that's my point. There's no one archetype of a leader. Some people seem to think a leader is someone who is fiery and screams a lot. Like I guess Travis Kelce screaming in the face of Andy Reid in the Super Bowl must have given these people chills as the epitome of leadership. So that's what people want and expect from Bryce, but for better or worse he ain't that...although he does have that side to him as well as was evident during the primetime game against the Bears. I'm not even saying Bryce is for sure some kind of amazing leader. But I think judging his leadership off how much he yells and his team's W/L record is asinine. For example the camera would often pan to him on the sideline standing up and rallying his o-line. That's more of the stuff I associate with leadership.

I agree that we had a distinct lack of leadership, but I don't know how you can begin to assign the blame to any one individual player. A head coach, sure. But I think if your team of grey-haired NFL coaches and multi-year NFL vets has to rely on a 22-year-old rookie to be the sole leader or else everything comes crashing down, then you've got some serious problems in that locker room that go far beyond the QB. Saying "we were a bad team, ergo Bryce Young is a bad leader" just seems like a weird leap to make. Surely your criteria for a QB's leadership isn't as simple as his team's W/L record...right? I'm just curious then, do you think Cam Newton was a good leader every odd season, but a bad leader every even season? Or is it more likely that team performance is an unreliable metric for leadership? Blast Young's arm strength and physical size all you want, that's fair game. But baselessly questioning Young's leadership makes you no better than the people you railed against for questioning Stroud's character in the offseason. Let's not be one of those people who apply principles inconsistently depending on whether it's someone you like or dislike.

So you're telling me you came in here to complain about something someone said about Mingo at some time in the past in some other thread that actually has nothing to do with anything anyone said about him in here. Got it...not sure why you proudly clarified that as if that makes you sound reasonable. At least it makes more sense why you just made a general passive-aggressive comment about these mysterious people who say Mingo is the worst NFL receiver we ever drafted instead of actually directly quoting a post, since there was nothing to quote. Also can you clarify your basis for comparison as to how Stroud brings an undisputed presence of leadership while questioning Young's leadership? What exactly are you basing that off of?

It's so strange...you complain about people treating Bryce with kiddie gloves, yet you find it so offensive that people say Mingo is not a good route runner? That's where criticism goes over the line for you? That's more coddling than I've seen anyone do for Bryce. Don't talk about people white knighting for Bryce and then be this sensitive to the mildest of criticisms for Mingo. Mingo had 3 catches for 21 yards with Dalton throwing the ball 58 times so it doesn't bode particularly well for your thought experiment. If you think our offense looked so much more effective with Dalton and yet Mingo is putting up the same consistently minimal production with both QBs, then that would suggest Mingo is at fault for his own struggles.

I just don't understand why it bothers people so much and why you guys can't just not click the thread (or put the bot on ignore). Even amongst a standard fluff piece, there are pieces of factual information I enjoy extracting from these articles that I hadn't heard otherwise. Something as simple as Bryce and Canales getting together for 3-hour long dinners to build rapport and reflect on last season's struggles. Maybe not groundbreaking news, but it still provides more value and insight to me than a hundredth mock draft or a thread discussing whether we're going to even win a single game next year.

Yes please do...the "fluff" is just a small percentage of what it posts; it also often breaks news and posts articles with good factual info that nobody else here would have linked otherwise. I don't see why we can't just apply the same rule we use broadly of "if you aren't interested, don't click it". People can ignore topics posted by the bot instead of swarming to the thread to post about how much those posts bother them.

I mean, I like a solid well-timed "I mean" as much as the next guy, but...it's getting a bit out of control.

Yeah that's reasonable. I think I take more issue with people in here discounting a signing just because they came from a bad team, because I see that a lot (including with Luvu when we signed him). Your take on Luvu being the type of player we should go for because the Jets' D was loaded is a more nuanced approach than I think most people take in here. I can definitely see both sides, which ultimately leads me to the probably uncontroversial take of evaluating players on their own merits and not harping too much on what team they came from.

Keep in mind Frankie Luvu came from an awful Jets team's trash bin. I dunno, I can almost see the opposite approach in favor of scouring through bad teams' rosters. Who do you think is more likely to have a hidden gem with untapped potential? A team like us with a knack for bad coaching, inability to develop players, and playing players out of position? Or a team like the Chiefs or Steelers? If those teams let a player go, I'm going to be skeptical and wonder if they're a product of their system who was overperforming relative to their skill and talent level. That being said, I'm not advocating trading assets for these players (I'm wary of trading assets period) like we did with Henderson, but I'm not opposed to "dumpster diving" Free Agency for players who just came from bad teams.

If you aren't even willing to concede something so innocuous like Bryce Young having a genuine private workout with his receivers (when shown an actual article documenting it) or Bryce Young being genuinely 5'10 (which is already very short for a QB) despite his official measurement being taken at the Combine, then don't clutch your pearls and get offended if someone thinks you're a hater and/or simply questions a claim you've made but not backed up. Take some responsibility for how you're being perceived on these boards. You're painting yourself as a dishonest actor when you show a repeated pattern of unwillingness to accept anything that conflicts with your opinion.

I've never seen a group of people blow a single game so out of proportion than y'all do for Andy Dalton. Were you among the group of posters who thought we found our franchise QB when Kyle Allen and Sam Darnold played pretty well in their first few starts with us? I would assume so, if we were being consistent here. But no, you were dismissing the hype and cautioning to hold off as they were likely to come crashing down. All of a sudden now, Dalton's singular game where he threw the ball 58 times (almost 20 more attempts than Bryce had in his season-high) is enough to draw conclusions and pass judgment. It would be silly of me to argue that Bryce > Dalton because his win% on the season was 12.5% vs. Dalton's 0%, right? But those are the kind of foolish arguments you open yourself up to when you want to compare them based on a sample size of one Dalton start. Dalton is a lot of things, including a 13-year NFL veteran QB with 163 starts under his belt. And you guys are so eager to compare him to a rookie QB whose acclimation to the NFL was accompanied by one of the worst o-line/WR/coaching trio to have cursed our eyes through the television. Dalton is experienced enough to make the most out of an awful situation...Bryce had to try and learn that on the fly, and understandably struggled. Yes Bryce was part of the problem too, but I can understand why. This year IMO is when the smoke starts to clear and we get a better sense of just how much of the problem he was.

Well you're ignoring the parts preceding the rapport; route running and awareness are pretty important prerequisites. No amount of rapport is going to overcome erratic route running. I don't think it's a coincidence that Bryce had the most success connecting with a 33-year-old very slow and unathletic Adam Thielen. Because their strengths complement one another. Thielen is the type of receiver Bryce needs IMO, not necessarily athletic freaks. And that's why I'm eager to see how Diontae Johnson does in our offense because he seems (on paper at least) to be a Thielen-type who can get open but with some actual YAC ability.