Khyber53

Do they still play John Lee Hooker's "Boom Boom" at the kick off?

You make a lot of sense here but I'd be happy with a Jared Goff level of capabilities down the road. There are, at any time, maybe only two to three of the stellar, world-beater type QBs in the league at a time. Right now, you're looking at Mahomes, Allen and Jackson -- all stellar, generational talents that bring something beyond human to the game. Those guys are rare, rare, rare. We had one with Cam. They are meteoric and when they're gone, the next generation comes in. But those guys don't win all the championships, and sometimes never do. Yes, Mahomes has a shot at a third Super Bowl win in a row right now and Brady won like 17 or something. Good well-balanced teams with solid QBs can win championships and sometimes have an even better shot. A lot of making those guys win has to do with coaching, not just of the QB but in developing a game plan that works against each opponent -- shielding their QB from their own deficiencies (and they all have them except for those very few stalwarts like Mahomes, et al) and finding what there is in an opponent that can be exploited for a win. Good coaching, with a well-built team can do that. I think we are seeing that in Detroit right now, in Philly, too. The question is, can Dave Canales and his staff be the guys who can elevate a team through game planning and research? Not sure yet, but there's some hope. I think the team needs more fine tuning in player personnel, trainers, scouts and position coaches (and I still don't really believe in our DC) before we are ready to really challenge anyone, much less take this division. Maybe this offseason can make a big leap. I sure didn't expect the team to leap like it has in the last half of this past season. Another jump in competitiveness like that and they'll be talking about the coach as a turnaround guru. Wouldn't that be nice? But to circle back around, yeah, right now Bryce doesn't look like one of those generational talents, but he certainly looks like a guy who is getting comfortable being out there leading an offense, who seems more sure of his game. And that... well, not many of us had read that one in our tea leaves back in September. Good luck to the Kid.

Darn good read. Thanks for sharing it! If Bryce grows as much in the off-season as a player as he did during those few weeks off after week 2 this season... wow.

I don't think coach was the problem in Dallas. But considering I've always hated the Cowboys, I just hope they never figure out what they keep screwing up.

Yep, and add MLB, too, to direct the defense.

Would you have run that guy over for Rhule, Wilks and Tepper? Me, neither.

Screw it. Honestly, if the best player on your team is a WR, and also the highest paid, you've got nothing but troubles coming up. See Dallas. Develop receivers, grab FAs from the second round of grabs and draft here and there. It's an important position, but save draft capital for players involved in every single snap, such as QBs, o-line and d-line, LBs, DBs. A great receiver can break a game open. A big name receiver with a good agent can break the bank and the team's future.

He's been squirrel hunting, then skinning them before filleting and cooking them. That's what you do. Don't judge if you've ever taken a photo of the food you got at a restaurant or made at home.

Hard to argue that, but we are far from balanced offensively and defensively. And I know, we had a lot of problems, having been balanced before in how poorly the ENTIRE team played for the past five or so years.

If you take anything from Saturday's games, it's this: DEFENSE wins championships. We don't have a defense yet. We need to work on that more than anything right now.

First year wide receiver. How about we let the young man develop. Once upon a time, Randy Moss was just some dude with a heavy accent that could catch a ball. (Okay, you might have to go back to his Marshall days but...). Let XL get a couple of seasons under his belt before we label him, okay?

Deshaun Watson most likely will only be in Canton as a day-pass guest or as an event attendee, but he did successfully pull off one of the flea flicker plays of all time, at least when it came to contracts. He simultaneously soaked Houston and then managed to get traded to the Browns for a massive haul not just for the Texans but for his own bank account, netting both one of the largest trade values of all time AND one of the most overpaid, fully guaranteed contracts of all times. I'd say he gave it all up for a few after massage tugs, but let's be honest, he hasn't had to give up anything except some on the field time. And considering how he has played, that was probably in his interest, too. Like I said back then when folks were praying we would land him, sometimes the biggest blessings are the ones you don't get.

The biggest factor on whether you keep a center or not is whether they and the QB are meshing well. Everything else is secondary. They seem to be building that and Mays has shown solid skill growth there. This ain't broke, like you said, and it may even get better. I've been pounding on the table to draft a center high for the last couple of years. This year, I think we should address other needs unless the BPA is a Center head and shoulders above the competition. I think we need to work the other side of the trenches right now. We're good at O-line and actually have some depth. Never thought I'd be typing that statement...

Seems to be a lot of positivity and a lot of chances to earn your shot. That can go a long way in building a team that has forgotten how to win. And honestly, they are showing more grit than I gave them credit for. I have got to, got to, got to see some massive improvement on the defense, though. Get us into the playoffs next season in a shaky NFCSouth and he's our dude, yanno?

Awww fug. We weren't very good on defense even before everyone got hurt. Dude is going to have to make a mid-career course correction like Bryce did before I'll believe in him.

He'd be a great one. We desperately need a smart, fast tackler that can play well as rusher and run defender. We need our next Luke, like we once needed our next Beason, like our next Morgan, like our next Mills.

He'd bail on us the first time we lost two games in a row and wreck the locker room on the way out. Hard pass.

Let's keep building a team rather than building drama and losing massive cap space.

Just because you can see over the lip of the hole you're in, doesn't mean you are out yet. Let's get to the playoffs next season and then we can start talking about redemption and Tepper. Edit to add: And I'd sure like to be able to say what a good job he has done finally.

I believe it still, unshakeably, is.

I hated the pick and proceeded to make fun of him and naysay him up until his benching this season. And with that I thought things were done and done. And I ended up being proved so incredibly wrong. The kid is The Kid. He found the It he needed and he's taken the lead in the team, ownership of the games and made a believer out of me. Can't wait to see him grow even more next season. Young and Pennix are going to be trouble for the rest of the NFCSouth for the next five to seven years. Now, about that defense...

Let's get this thing done and leave with a win.

Let's wait and see how it turns out. Much stranger things have happened in this league. I think we will have to fire him/ let him go, but he might interview well and throw the management team and ownership under the bus during an interview, which he'd create some hard to argue against points. I've been saying he's been terrible since last season and I feel that perhaps he was retained for the Rooney rule pay-off if he got a head coaching gig elsewhere. He's probably the worst defensive coordinator I've ever seen. But trust me, there are many, many much more delusional things that have been said on this board, before and now.

Actually, I hold the whole defense against Evero. It was terrible last year and it's even worse this year. Injuries aside, the players look ill-prepared to play, they are timid in tackling and we seem to be very passive in our defensive play calling. I think Evero will be among the coaches called for head coaching interviews and we may get very lucky and he gets a head coaching job somewhere out there. If not, we desperately need to move on. And he isn't one of Canales' guys, but he was given that extra year here at Tepper's request. I think that boon has worn thin. Any words as to keeping the guy right now are just stagecraft and positioning.

And on defense... never seen a group that had such a hard time making even the most straightforward tackle. We need to move back to the 4-3 and rebuild the linebacking corps. That group has always set the tone for our team. I don't like the tone they've set since Shaq went down and honestly, I don't know if he can come back from this injury.