Jacabee

Step on up Troy Hill. We’re gonna need you.

Great thread. Thank you for itemizing why preseason is a tool but not necessarily a measure for success going forward. If you want to talk about individual players struggling with specific assignments, let’s do that. Let’s talk about how RG was consistently beat the first game or how Ickey straight missed an assignment against TBX in the second. Things looked a bit better in the second game. Let’s talk about how whether Mingo should have driven more on that third down potential conversion from Bryce. Preaseason is extended practice. It’s putting players in position to be evaluated and evaluating accordingly. What a coach wants to see from evaluation purposes versus what it may take to “win” or even “look good” are drastically different things. If you’re going to put on the rest of the fan base your projection that the entire new regime is doomed from the start, you can at least bear the responsibility of producing the receipts. The only thing worth talking about this early is specific players and plays, not prognoses.

Impressed by Young’s poise. Night and day compared to Corral under similar circumstances. Corral went from overambitious to overly hesitant to zeroing in on check downs and firsts reads and/or bailing on the pocket early. Classic indica of the game being too fast. The sample sizes obviously are disproportionate but Young took a few shots and didn’t seem impacted in the least. The offense was handed vanilla plays without the option for motion and adjustment. Jets rush was especially aggressive, hard knocks and a prior game under their belt and all. On those 3rd downs where defense was pinning back: 1) First drive: Throw for a first down against the sideline is slightly sailed to chark. Smitty points out Chark probably should have taken a half step rather than one and a half timing wise. If the timing is on point here we’re raving about this play. 2nd or 3rd drive?) Don’t recall which one but again we set up a third a 5 or so because of the blandest of shotgun runs on second down. Pass again down the sideline, this time to Shenault. Smitty remarks that (despite contact that maybe warrants PI), Shenault needs to get flatter (drop towards the sideline) rather than deeper (going upfield) in that down and distance. Had he done so, this again is an easily executed play. This is practice/coaching stuff. Luckily, unlike the prior regime, I have no concerns about this one failing for lack of knowledge and effort. The key is seeing improvement next week on the individual battle level at least which those two throws I highlighted essentially are.

Deep breaths guys, its the premie-est of preseason. Taking the emotional “DJ First Pass and Same Ol’ Panthers” knee jerk reactions out of the picture, this piece of DJ’s game is nothing new. If they routinely start connecting on big play verticals, then it will start to sting as that’s the ceiling we never quite realized.

Didn’t we also forego a practice this week due to weather while the jets practiced indoors? These guys are a week a head already given the hall of fame game. They’re on their best behavior with hard knocks sniffing around. We came out unprepared against a hyped up hungry team. This should be a teaching moment and it’s on the coaching staff to get prepped for next week.

Lol he did say it phonetically. But he called it an “M.A.” Not hating on Smitty at all I look forward to his preseason broadcasts of our games these past few years, just found it amusing.

Smitty on the broadcast RE Jammie’s lack of hustle: “That’s an M.A…..a mental air(sp?)” lol

Eh, New HC. New OC. New, Rookie QB. New WRs. Some clear timing and communication discord along with the O-line having issues working as a unit. These are things a) are to be expected and b) are fixable with competent coaching. How the O-line gels is at the top of my list of things to watch going forward though.

This premise conveniently overlooks the benefits of not quitting mid-season. Do we attract the same level of coaches? Do we attract the same level of free agents? Do we have as good an evaluation on the existing roster? At minimum, the o-line seemed to gel into a unit with dominant potential as the season wore on. Does that happen without a competitive season? There’s a value to morale, and this team went from an unfocused clusterfug to a limited, but sound team by the end of the year. Those sound building blocks gave the front office the confidence to go and get their guy. Whether it pans out is fate but finishing the season strong enabled the staff to make the move they did and bring their guy into the best situation possible.

Meh, it’s a bird in the hand situation. Sam seems to struggle with quick twitch decision making. The processing is a bit slow and throws everything else off. To compensate, I think we’ve been running scripted drives much of the time. None of it is optimal, but rolling the dice on Sam figuring it out is our best bet at the moment. Meant to quote another user, but in switching devices quoted myself. Apologies.

Yep. There was that third down where he clearly had the first but instead threw downfield to Sullivan who barely even contested the ball. A little to Sam’s credit, the big dude looked wide open but did nothing whatsoever with his body to ensure that catch.

Matt Rhule is reclining at home alone with a beer and a plate of meatballs atop the Nebraska contract mumbling “1,000 percent. Now they see it”…

If the plan was to go for it on 4th down regardless, Darnold not tucking that third down play and doing what he can one on one with the backer is asinine.

It’s a fun story for a Thursday night game, particularly with the historically short turn around. That said, Baker threw a game ending pick called back due to a senseless PI. Maybe it doesn’t get picked without the penalty but it’s likely at least deflected and goes to 4th and long. Then, he takes a 15 yard sack that should have kept the clock running at a 1 minute. Instead, Raiders linemen knocks the ball out of Baker’s hands giving Baker those yards back, a clock stoppage and fresh set of downs. I thought there was even a third, 5 yard penalty that gave the rams a new set of downs due to yardage after that but can’t recall the specifics. But for the Raiders discipline melting down, Baker’s performance this game would have felt very familiar.

The value of the haul can go either way depending on what our next draft looks like. There’s now no head coach with an invested future and an owner with a renewed intent to be more hands off. That means this is effectively Fitterrer betting all in on himself in this next draft. Or are you repeating the same mistake in planning to sell the new head coach on complete control over these picks? Hard to comfortably stomach either option. I imagine Fittz thinks he can build in a full draft like that last Seahawk team. This is a down to the deadline bubble decision, and who is checking him on that confidence at this point? We’re obviously not privy to the ins an outs, but can’t help but feel that with some pushback and another week, a better option might have materialized.

The team has looked completely unprepared for the first halves of both of the last two games. No one here can pinpoint exactly why because we’re not in those practices and not in that locker room day-in and out. That said, we can judge the result and it seems like sporadic talent is the only thing keeping this team competitive at this point. The game plans have been crazy limited. Not sure we even have a go to for third and long.

Definitely keeping this one in his back pocket for the next union meeting. Bargaining contracts are what they are when it comes to walls ( in contract negotiations) concerning personal harm. Human error is what is when it comes to calls by referees. None of that justifies the NFL dipping into a man’s pocket to cover their own mistakes….

Give C3 their props for generating buzz I guess. Now more people than before are listening. 12 page thread here. Think about it: panthers lose again and he gets validation. Panthers win and no one cares. Our journalists over the years are what they are, but they’re held to certain standards for a reason.

Huddle crack. Say No. C3’s diatribe is literally just a play on this fan base’s insecurities. Not saying they’re not well earned but THIS is low hanging fruit you never would have consumed otherwise. To be clear, he finishes his string of conjecture with: “whether you believe any of this or not is entirely up to you.” Now why do you think that is that he’d qualify in such a way?

We’re one game into the second season. The OC was fired in the first as a scapegoat for a line which dwindled our playbook to 25 percent of capacity because 3+ step drops are out of the question. The guy has the physical tool kit to play any of the receiver positions and in all likelihood is being asked to learn all of them. But for recent history with Chase and Jefferson (who coincidentally likely absorbed most reps), year three is typically when WR’s make the big leap. Did a bit of a dive trying to find a decent comp as there are plenty of third year break outs but many of the guys are of the shiftier archetype . I think TMJ’s injuries skew the targets in the first year a bit, but guys like TO, Calvin Johnson and Dwayne Boye were all bigger, athletic guys that took some time to hit their stride. This is premature. Maybe circa week 6 we can reasonably start discussing impending doom on this guy’s career. Let’s see a comprehensible game plan before we start crucifying redshirts.

And the counter point. A few of these are just mismatches but the majority are quick twitch guys that Norman couldn’t keep up with

Decent snapshot. He could handle the physical possession guys like Thomas well. That glorious season the ball fell his way quite a bit.

Not sure it’s as simple as labeling him a zone cb. Dude could get plenty physical and had decent size for the position. Had elite ball hawking skills. Just didn’t have the hips to keep up with the newer wideouts. An elite pass rush and a favorable zone scheme catered to his strength which was attacking the ball better than the next guy in his area. Washington paid him big and put him on an island. Made no sense for the skill set.

High time to complete the fairy tale.

Secondaries are starting to straight squat on our intermediate routes. For the most part, appears Brady doesn’t believe we have the horses on the O-line, probably specifically on the interior, to allow us to counter vertically. I’d be willing to bet that Robby after that last interception was pissed it wasn’t a go route because the DB’s are squaring them up and flat-footed. It’s a problem without a clear answer in the zero-sum context of the NFL. Starting O-Line are not being passed around the league; they’re highly coveted. I say at least dial up some shots with max protection just to show the vertical. Maybe even see what Marshall can do in that respect given what he did in college. CMC certainly tilts the equation because he’ll still regularly win in the tighter windows. At the end of the day, every other phase of the team is ahead of the rebuilding curve. Just have to hope the young dudes develop and management applies our limited resources towards addressing it in the offseason.