SmokinwithWilly

We got an owner before he knew anything about football.

Hate to say it but I agree. If the roles were reversed and said it was like tossing a hot dog down a hallway, he'd be getting dragged through the mud and slammed all over the place as a misogynistic asshole. What's good for the goose...

Yes we won 8 games, but we didn't achieve 500 status. We didn't win our way into the playoffs. Atlanta had to do it for us. We are the only team in NFL history to get into the playoffs twice with a losing record. That's not something to be proud of IMO. If NO had started Shough instead of Rattler, we probably wouldn't be in at all. We have the 4th worst point differential of any team in playoff history. That's over 300 teams. If we're being honest, we don't deserve to be in the playoffs with the way we played this year. We just happened to be in the shittiest division in football. I'd be pissed if I was the Vikings and the Lions. Both have winning records and are sitting at home. If we were sitting at home with a 9-8 record while a "division winner" hosted a playoff game with a 8-9 record because their division was total ass, this board would lose its poo. I'd like to keep Tillis too and think we should do what we have to to keep him. I don't think it's a fluke that all of a sudden we improved in close scoring games and KC suddenly declined. I also don't think it's a fluke our draft improved and KCs declined overall. I don't know that fans expect too much. Other franchises are making significant visible changes in a single season and not from a single draft pick. You see teams make business decisions instead of emotional ones. I think our expectations are too low honestly. Our offense it putrid. We're in the bottom 1/3 in almost every category. DC is not a good OC. His in game decision making is awful. Successful franchises do good things over and over and we don't mimic them. We blaze our own Oregon Trail and wind up dead with dysentery more often than not. I hope it changes and I think if it does, Tillis will be a huge part of it. I think he's may deserve more credit than he's gotten to this point.

Getting snagged by those metal braces ain't a fuging picnic either.

I want to win short and long term and that requires there being competition in the QB room every year. Even when Brady was firmly entrenched with multiple rings, Billy B was still bringing in QBs behind him because injuries happen. Matt Cassel led them to 11-5 and should have made the playoffs as a wildcard. You don't settle in the QB room because you think you have a starting QB. Always try to do better. The ultimate goal is a SB. Do what it takes to win.

Couple of different approaches in 24 but mine would have been to keep Brady at swing, move Mayes to guard, Corbett as backup, stay at 33 and draft JPJ as top C/G, instead of Brooks, draft Frazier. I know everyone wanted a WR and I did too, McConkey being my preference, but if the need was to protect Bryce's Achilles heel which is pressure up the middle, taking 2 of the top IOL to start immediately, move up Mayes, who's already proven he can do the job, Corbett to backup where he belongs. Instead of Wallace in the 3rd, if we were going to risk on an injured player it would have been Wilson, top LB in the country. Use all that extra cap space from Hunt and Lewis to bring in a WR that can actually catch and run routes unlike XL and get an edge rusher and likely still have had some cap left over, 2 quality IOL on rookie deals, cap space to ink Icky and Mayes this year and a hell of a LB to boot.

Crowd noise will be a determining factor. False starts and keeping Stafford out of rhythm will be crucial.

The oline is already one of the most expensive in the league and about to be more expensive when we ink Icky to a new deal. If you believe the Huddle on gamedays, our line is overpaid poo that can't block anything. I don't think they're terrible, but i think we overspent on 2 guards when we could have possibly paid 1/0, promoted Mays/BC or both and drafted Frazier instead of an injured RB. Our dline was largely helped by the return of DB from injury and an all pro caliber season. I know it takes time to fix things. He inherited a mess from Fitterer but he was also a 3 year assistant to that GM. He helped create that mess if you believe he did his job as AGM, which I would assume he did since was deemed qualified and hired as replacement GM. It all boils down to how well you think the team and FO has been constructed. I look at some of the moves made and those not made and I'm skeptical of his abilities. You attribute more to his abilities than I do. That's all good. We'll find out in a couple more years how good a GM he really is when we have more to judge.

I'm not trying to be cynical. We have 5 drafts to judge Dan on. 3 that were pretty bad cumulatively that Dan was Assistant GM and 2 as Head GM, 1st bad, 2nd good. The point I was trying to make is we lack enough information at this point to judge Dan one way or the other to say Dan has earned our trust as a team builder. I think some skepticism is still warranted based on the things that have happened at minimum over the past 2 years. I'm skeptical of his abilities as a GM still. That's all.

In all seriousness, what has Dan done to earn any level of trust at this point? If we point at this year's draft as a huge success, we have to point at last years as a huge whiff to counterbalance it. His FA acquisitions have been even with what I'd consider a few serious overpays. His attention to the QB room is concerning at best. I haven't seen anything that gives me any confidence Dan has this franchise headed in the right direction enough to say he's earned my trust to get it right.

Sad part is that's still 6.5M less than Lamar's cap hit next season. That's just hard to fathom that much of a hit in general. Some of these cap numbers are ludicrous.

To be fair on the drops, Chase, JSN and Puka have a poo load more targets. If Coker had that many chances are he'd have a few as well.

Remember when Schottenheimer got fired after going 14-2 in San Diego?

Maybe it's because I played LT until some fat fug folded my knee, but I love watching footwork drills at the combine for olinemen. I call it fat man ballet. Base and balance are everything when it come to being a lineman. Everything starts there. Sure there's lateral movement, hip flex, bend, hand fighting, strength, push, etc, but without a strong base and good balance, the rest aren't happening. Those drills are specifically designed to show you things and they stand out big time if you're watching their feet and ankles. You can tell what doesn't feel like a natural movement. I remember watching Greg Little and I was blown away at how bad his footwork was. Like unbelievably bad. To the point I thought maybe he had never practiced one of these drills before. I remember when we drafted him, I thought to myself well fug, there's a wasted pick. Aside from the added weight, I wonder if that's part of why Bryce didn't throw. Standing next to all the other QBs, that footwork and mechanics would stand out like a sore thumb, much more so than at a pro day. Bryce is good at some things, improvising and eluding and he does appear to have that clutch gene, but his throws get ugly when he tries to arm it instead of having that solid stead base to throw from.

One of the hardest things I ever had to do was learn how to push/drive with power again after a knee injury that was really a repetitive motion injury. Even after 7 years, it's still something I have to consciously make an effort to do or I slip back into my old habits. Those things don't just go away.