mav1234

At this point this is all I want from this team. I'm done hoping for wins. I just want to see a competitive team for 4 quarters. Come out of the gate hard and don't give up no matter the score.

Tbf Darnolds last few games here were on par for "good Darnold." Some good decisions and some bad. He had extended success with the Vikings but he still had plenty of poor decisions. Still better than anything we have here. I've always been a Darnold fan and I hope that he finds continued success as a veteran.

I think a lot of this stems from how well some of our FA acquisitions / trades played after leaving us. But there's a lot of important caveats there, and I think in Mayfield's case he needed to hit rock bottom (yes, we are rock bottom) to bounce back. He seems much less arrogant in TB. Darnold was, for Darnold, playing well here when we moved on from him too. I think you are right. I also think we can't wait another 3 years to see if the offense turns around. XL needs to start his turn around this year. And Bryce needs to at least return to how he played the last half of his 2nd year. Or, imo, we move on from both.

I don't know if Canales is any good as a head coach yet, but he has done well with our non-XL receivers. I personally think he is handicapped by a key personnel and that is partly out of his hands for the next couple weeks. He's also very young, so will absolutely have head scratchers and growing pains. But outside of Wilks he's probably already out best HC since Rivera, which isn't saying much, and imo his ceiling is unknown vs Wilks' which unfortunately seems well known.

It isn't. This was Week 18 last year: And this was Week 16: Even when having success he wasn't pushing the ball super deep down field, but at least he was going beyond 15 yards far more often. Across those 60 attempts he had 9 completions past or at 15 and 6 at 20 or beyond... Plus a whole bunch of drops. This year he just isn't pushing the ball down the field and it's making it easy for teams to play the run, too. Due to his arm I think he needs to get timing down past 10 yards and maybe the big turnover in our receivers is part of why he isn't pushing the ball down field. Or maybe he can't see. Whatever the reason it needs to change.

Yup. 1 completion beyond 20 yards and only 3 past 15 yards. That's in 77 attempts. I'm not one that thinks Bryce needs to hit 40 yard passes but with how defenses play us he needs to push the ball a bit further down field.

Regarding BYs depth of target... Week 1 Week 2

How many of our 8 QBs were given 2+ seasons of starts? Not a whole lot. The way they are handling Bryce IS the right way. But he's showing all we need to know. Finding a QB is hard. But you don't stop doing it when you don't have one.

I will wait to see what happens on game day. I don't mind a coach blowing hot air towards fans. But there's no way he can think he looked good... Unless he thinks Bryce is the problem

We root for players that clearly try and that show some potential. They don't need to be super stars even. Of course, when they show early potential (Coker) or are already making a major impact (T-Mac) we are pretty damn excited about them. And many of us made excuses for XL last year, but this year... Man, he's just not it.

I think the vast majority of QBs only thrive or die based on their situations. But some are capable of making everyone else around them better in a way they redefine, or at least elevate, those situations. And some of the former group also just never will really have "it" when the moment matters. So far it feels like Bryce either needs the perfect situation or he just doesn't have "it". I suppose we'll get the season to see if that changes, but to call me skeptical is an understatement.

Playing for pff.. nobody open, good decision A+ grade on that play

Arguably Bryce's first TD and maybe second TD drive were. He did less than nothing until the game seemed surely out of reach. Then, when it looked like things could have turned the corner... He caved when it mattered most.

It's only 2 games. Give it time.

He isn't the biggest busy but the trade is one of the worst of all time imo. Not sure where it ranks, but it's pretty fuging bad.

Any chance they'd take Bryce with him?

Canales isn't great, but I think he's doing some work with our non-XL receivers. I do think Bryce limits him but he also gets into moments of idiot playcalling where he seems to forget his QB is smaller than he is and has to heave any ball beyond 10 yards half the time.

It sure looked like Chuba was open in the flat repeatedly. He may not have been but it looked it. He absolutely was on the intentional grounding but I'll grant Bryce wasn't going to be able to throw towards the other side of the field in that circumstance.

He acts a bit like a player that has already arrived, heh

He had a couple great plays moving out of the pocket or moving up in it in the 4th quarter, before that last drive. he just seemed to lose the mojo he'd been building... Just made it all seem like a mirage.

I know you talked up his after catch abilities but I thought that he looked so smooth today after the catch, I was really impressed

I recognize he didn't have a ton of time but he seemed to be indecisive on that final drive. One of the reasons he found success on the previous was how fast the ball seemed to come out

I still think the defense looked much much better this year than most of last year. The offense / special teams did them no favors until the 4th quarter IMO.

Worth noting with his 100+ yard game, he also drew a game-extending holding call. He had a hell of a game and I don't think it is an exaggeration to say he is already our best overall player on offense (though Chuba is, imo, still a beast)

We don't have just 1 good receiver - we have 2. Renfrow looks decent. He's getting open. T-Mac is better than good, IMO. And Sanders was good at finding holes in the middle. As to the middle... That's great and all, but then we ignore the very clear pattern we're seeing in his play. Will he turn the corner? I doubt it. But maybe he will, he'll get a chance against a division rival soon.