mav1234

Who knew I'd miss Elflein... Ugh. I don't know what they are or aren't seeing in practice... But we have seen things can get worse on the OL... Personally I think we should give the younger guys some chances but then, if they play so poorly they turn the tide of a game... Given how competitive we've been, I can see the coaches avoiding that right now. But we need OL help. The D is severely banged up so I get them struggling. But the O?

Ideally we get a chance to meet again as fully healthy teams in the playoffs. I think we might see a full game of close football instead of just a half, then.

Home field advantage I guess? Heh

Not just 2 starters. We have 3-4 starters on IR, including Horn that was playing lights out at CB, a starting safety, and Elflein from the OL (admittedly not that great anyway)... not to mention 2 other dbs that would be starting if they weren't on IR now... plus CMC and our starting run stopping DE inactive this game due to injuries. I'm not saying the Cowboys are bad or completely healthy, but the Panthers are really hurting right now.

They were the better team. Acknowledging refs helping them out doesn't change that... Fewer meaningful injuries, better half time adjustments. Maybe this will finally be their year to put it all together. Games turn on a few plays and it's pretty clear the refs had a huge hand in one of em.

Lol okay. Is that why the Cowboys did so well last year sans their best player? Sit Dak and let's play the game again. That's the difference between CMC and not. He's that important to the Panthers... Not to mention missing far and away our best defensive back, starting safety, etc...

Im not sure why you think Dallas is mediocre. They are probably top 3 in the NFC. The OL will hold us back, but the D is a bigger reason we lost today.

obviously taking one game at a time is most important, but I liked the approach to not getting too bogged down by losses, even a couple of 'em, if the team could rally for other wins in the 'quarter.'

Darnold and the O as a whole could have packed up and went home for the 4th. They didn't. They fought hard and we were a couple D stops away from tieing or winning. Given the D should be our strength moving forward... I was glad our O didn't collapse and showed resilience. But it was still a loss.

we used an entire draft on D, our 1st rounder this year, and traded away our third next year too. We have invested so much into that side of the ball... disappointing to see a game like this.

if the team finds ways to suck less in the third quarter... really, 20-0 third quarter is why we lost. Dallas is a better team but we're not that far behind.

would really be nice to have some time outs, eh?

other than the Texas, we've seen like nothing resembling adjustments. Really bad.

At least in a complete team loss, there's blame to go around.

Darnold can't carry a team for a full game. Two good halves the last couple games. Not enough to beat good teams. He's not seeing the field well. He'll have a season to change that.

the strength of this defense was supposed to be the line, and that has simply not been the case. maybe PFF has been right all along? hahaha

as bad as the OL has been, and Darnold has been in the 2nd half, the defense has been complete garbage all game long.

wow these timeouts, wtf.

personally I don't mind a comparison between a young player and our former MVP... but when it has to do with the fact the OL is so bad both are running for their lives...

Sam'll never be the dual threat Cam was, but its nice to have an OC that can utilize a QB's athleticism to a good degree.

I think the Darnold trade demonstrated they will take on a young QB that needs development. Darnold isn't a rookie, but he is young and needs development... He isn't in the same category as Fields in terms of what development he needs but it isn't as if Rhule was only after veteran or proven commodities at QB. Time will tell if Rhule would draft someone like Mahomes if needed / opportunity arises, but he has demonstrated that he values building the team with young players as well as vets so I think that's possible.

I get it isn't about Fields alone, but we weren't in a position to give up what the 49ers did to move to where they did for Lance, since realistically our team had huge holes, so we had to pick from what was available... In a year or two though I agree we may be in that situation. I think pursuing Stafford (and Watson before legal issues) and going in on Darnold do indicate they highly value a quality starter. So that is why I think that I'm less worried about the staff knowing they need a QB as I am the OL... That seems like an area Rhule would very much value, so hopefully we see some significant building there soon. I'm worried a bit they think a mediocre to bad OL is sufficient when you have the playmakers we do.

I dunno man... They believed Darnold could lead a franchise... And I'm not sure they had as much faith in Fields. It may be that the level of QB play you think a team needs and what Rhule thinks it needs are different, but if Rhule was satisfied with just a decent to good QB, he wouldn't have jettisoned Teddy, who was the definition of average. He clearly thinks the QB position is critical. Edit: also being aggressive to go for Stafford, who is an elite QB, should indicate something.

He is not, but when he casually points out how three guys screw up and one TD run was nearly blown up immediately it's a little disheartening. We really need better OL play going forward ...

The number of times he comments on the OL... good find, thanks for the post.