Mr. Scot

There are bad ideas and there are worse ideas, and then there's this...

Oops...

Looks like the NFL is copying Panthers social media.

Quick FYI: Hopkins is actually in SC this weekend. How do I know? Lady Cowboy Fan and I went to dinner with a family member of hers in Clemson today. On the way back, we stopped at a grocery store where our cashier told us she had run into him at a gas station earlier in the day. He explained he was in town to attend the graduation ceremony at his high school. She'd had the chance to get a picture taken with him and showed it to Lady Cowboy Fan. I pulled up a pic online for comparison and yes, it was legit. So...what does that mean? It means he's in town to attend the graduation ceremony at his old high school and a local grocery store clerk got a chance to take a picture with him. Could the Panthers sign him? Sure they could, but I don't think that'll happen.

The same guys who claim things like this are for player safety insist on keeping artificial turf fields.

This is the worst rule change proposal I've heard in a long time. From the article: The proposal, approved by the competition committee, then tabled by the owners in March, would allow for fair catches inside the 25-yard line to be ruled as touchbacks, with the ball then being spotted at the 25. The proposal was in response to an uptick in concussions on kickoffs over the last three seasons—with 10 such concussions happening in 2020, 14 in ’21 and 19 last season. The rule was a topic of discussion on a regularly scheduled conference call among the NFL’s 32 special teams coaches Monday. Two respected veteran special teams captains helped to take the lead from there, with one suggesting that they gather a special teams vet from every team to participate in opposing the rule. That led to a Wednesday night call that included 34 special teams players from across the NFL, with at least one from each of the 32 teams, and NFLPA officials dialed in as well. Coaches on the Monday call unanimously felt that the rules change would do little to reduce concussions and actually could lead to unintended consequences that would lead to more injuries on kickoffs, and the special teams players largely agreed with that assessment. And the group gathered data that’s been shared with the league to back it up. Ugh No word on who specifically proposed this that I've seen. Regardless, I genuinely don't get how people who are as well acquainted with the game as the Competition Committee members would be can sign on to such an utterly sh-tty idea.

Apparently it was a little...off. From the article: Delayed reaction: The whole thing seems a little odd. The delayed reaction was bolstered by the video that emerged from the event, featuring Rubin, Brady, and Scott giving the four quarterbacks advice. The video was shot at an angle aimed at created a subtle impression that the participants didn’t know the cameras were on. (Spoiler: They knew.) Brady, as he speaks, comes off as if he’s talking to kids at least 10 years younger. “When Trav, something goes wrong with Trav, or with Mike, with his company, right?” Brady told them. “With me, like, the only thing you can do is work harder, man. The only thing you can do is work harder. Like defeats can’t make you work less hard. I think that’s the point. Like when poo hits the fan, you’ve got to change the energy. You’ve got to put more into it, never less into it. . . . Be curious, be humble, and work hard.” I’d love to know what Young, Stroud, Richardson, and Levis were thinking while they were being addressed as if they were middle-school day-campers. They’re grown men. They’ve been through adversity. They’ve achieved the highest levels of success at the second highest level of the most popular sport in the country. I think they know the importance of working hard and not giving up after a bad day. Also, Rubin’s mega-company, Fanatics, just bought the American operations of the PointsBet sports book. Fanatics hopes to be operating sports books in 15-20 states by the start of football season. And here he is, cozying up to the top four quarterbacks entering the NFL for the 2023 season. Even as we become more and more desensitized to betting on football and other sports, the optics of four key NFL players visiting the home of the CEO of a sports book seem a little off.

Hall of Fame linebacker Sam Huff had a story about Brown (related to me by a longtime Browns fan)... Brown took a handoff and got stuffed for little to no gain by Huff, who followed up the play by telling Brown "You stink!" Next play? Same result, and again with a little more emphasis, Huff said "Man, you STINK!" He was feeling pretty good right about that time. On the next play though, Brown blew past him and ran for a 79 yard touchdown. On the way to the end zone, Brown turned around and asked a pursuing Huff, "How do I smell from here, mother&@#$er?"

This ruined it for me... Mind you, I'm not discrediting the rest of the article. It's a good one. Just hated reading that phrase. Reminds me that Callihan was a Rhule homer while he was on the hot seat.

There are limits to that, though. Like for one, you're not going to pay an assistant more than your head coach. Plus sometimes it's genuinely not about the money. For some guys, being a head coach Is their ultimate dream.

It might have been because he got screwed over. McDaniels was set to get some head coaching interviews (including one with us) but Belichick reportedly made him stay behind to do some end of season work that probably wasn't really all that necessary. In the meantime, we hired Rhule without even interviewing McDaniels. As I recall, other hires happened quickly as well. (Bill's always been a Machiavellian type, so that's not really hard to believe) I know there was speculation at the time that Belichick had deliberately delayed him to keep him from going elsewhere. Up to that point, most believed that McDaniels would succeed Belichick, but then that changed. That could still happen I suppose, but not if there's hard feelings.

Receiving corps, including both receivers and tight ends...

Brown's had head coaching interviews already. He was considered a hot head coaching candidate prior to joining us, in part because of the Sean McVay connection.

Not a fanboy thing. I agreed with the trade. It's simple logic that better players make better teams. Unfortunately for us, a sh-tty coaching staff can negate the effect.

Look back at Rayzor's response. He got it.

Outside of one season, our win-loss record under Cam Newton's leadership was nothing to brag about. Is that on Newton? And none of what I'm discussing has to do with spending money. That's already acknowledged. I'm talking strictly about McCaffrey as a player. Suggesting that this or any team isn't better with someone like him on the roster is ludicrous.

Putting that on him (or any individual player) is invalid, especially under Rhule.

I have fond memories of his tenure as the Jets head coach

You'd be correct. That's kind of the point though. You can't necessarily predict a coach's success by where he was before. Sometimes guys who come out of great situations fail (See: Belichick Coaching Tree) while guys who come out of bad situations succeed (McVay, Payton and others).

Did all of our new coaches come from championship teams? (hell, out head coach was fired from a sh-tty team)

Correct.

Asking any player to compensate for the team being lousy at quarterback is a stretch. Using that standard to measure their value is completely wrong. Can you win without a guy like that? If your team is good enough, sure. Can you lose with a guy like that? If your team is bad enough, again yes, and the past few years Panthers are proof of that. Bottom Line: Using the quality of the overall team to measure any single player's value is invalid, same as trying to make wins and losses a quarterback stat. But the simple fact is that any team who has him is a better team because of it. Denying that is kind of silly.

Baldinger has Ejiro Evero on his primary list and includes Thomas Brown as an honorable mention. I don't necessarily think we lose both coordinators in one offseason like the Eagles did, but the possibility of staff leaving for promotions is likely higher than it used to be. (and a bigger deal, as well)

I get not overpaying for him, but any suggestion that we aren't a better team with a player like that on the roster is pure fantasy. And any GM in the league would tell you that. We misused him, we overpaid him, we didn't have good enough blocking for him, we had absolutely awful coaching and in the end made the right decision to trade him, but having a player of that caliber makes a team better.

Pretty much. Funny thing is the last head coach he had here is now in San Francisco with him.