mav1234

If the right rookie is there, we will. We don't need a rookie to hand it off but we need them to develop to one day lead this team.

CMC was publicly a big supporter of Rhules. It's possible he requested a trade when we fired Rhule... I can't imagine him having Been a distraction though, we didn't see any blow ups like with Robby.

indeed... Alex Smith is one of the greatest "game managers" of all time. He had multiple seasons where 1.5% or less of his throws resulted in INTs. For context, Aaron Rodgers, who is renown for taking care of the ball, is at a career 1.4%, the same rate Smith had in KC. Mahomes is at 1.6% on his career. Darnold? Even with these four games without a turnover he's at 3%. Maybe he ends up as good a game manager as Smith long term, but he's such a far cry from that consistency wise.

I suppose it depends on how wide your tiers are. This year, Sam Darnold is miles better than PJ to date. Career wise, they're both bad, but Sam is showing he may have a future as a backup. PJ has done the opposite.

Whatever Sam is, PJ walker is worse. https://twitter.com/KevinCole___/status/1607487133324804097/photo/1 edit: PJ played 2 more games / started 1 more, has 60 fewer yards per game, 3 fewer TDs, and 3 (more) interceptions.

Darnold is looking like an excellent backup / bridge. He can't carry a team on his own, but that's fine. As to AY/A, he's still only at 7.3 IAY/PA, which is not that high. However this means he is finding receivers in space so they can use their athleticism, which is definitely good.

When asked to be the offense vs Pittsburgh, Darnold had only 225 yards, with most of 'em coming in the 4th quarter. 4 of our 5 first half drives were 3 and out. Yes, the Steelers kicked our ass in multiple aspects of the game. Yes, the defense folded in the third quarter HARD, but heading into the 4th it was still a 21-7 game, more than within reach with a competent offense. Darnold was not the reason we lost, but he also was exactly as you expect a backup to be - insufficient to win a game with their arm alone. Darnold isn't garbage, and he's played well overall, but he's got to show a lot more over the next few games to be more than a bridge/backup. As to drops who dropped passes? As far as I can see nobody was credited with any.

For a decade people had been saying Reid just couldn't win a Superbowl. Then Mahomes came along... LG is right here... Mahomes is a great player, period. Now, you could certainly say that his ridiculous stats are a product of his greatness *and* the greatness around him on the offensive side of the ball. But that is not the same thing as questioning if Mahomes would even be good without Kelce.

Maybe. Hard to know for sure. But he was also injured, so.

Eh... If he plays mistake free he'd be a good backup imo. And maybe that gets us the division and playoffs... Then, My feeling is that if he falls flat in the playoffs, where he will NEED to do more than just lean on our rushing, it'll be clear to everyone he isn't the answer

The whole point of my post was the hypothetical that we win out And make the playoffs. Obviously if we don't it's different.

The ONLY interim coach I know of to lead a team to the playoffs in recent memory was the Raiders coach last year, but that was a team with a winning record and a stacked roster expected to make the playoffs. The situation was nothing like this at all IMO.

What interim coach has taken over a 1-5 team and gone to the playoffs?

Tepper is insane if he doesn't retain Wilks if the dudes gets this team into the playoffs (unless we stumble backwards by everyone losing out or something shitty). I don't *want* Wilks but you really have to admit that if he wins the last two and brings the playoffs back to Charlotte you gotta keep him. The only time a coach is fired after the playoffs is if constant expectations have been a Superbowl. We are miles away from that expectation.

I mean. Sam's a 25 year old veteran. He had a good game. But boy has he had a bad career. Doesn't mean he can't turn it around, but odds aren't in his favor. But, recent success suggests backup level. Cool. Maybe more? Sure. Maybe less? Also possible. And anyway no I didn't want Pickett in the first and while I wish him well and have seen him make some great throws, one of the big knocks on him was actually his age.

if this team keeps playing like they are, I suspect there won't be a new coach... edit: but I'm hoping Wilks / Fitterer will be smart enough to draft a QB anyway.

last season at least made some sense since he was averaging like 40 throws a game and 300 yards passing thru the first 3 or 4 games, and you could make the argument he was free of his old terrible coaching. He looks like he's becoming a perfectly fine backup but good god as fans we need to stop settling for perfectly fine backups as our starter.

We have a couple more weeks, and I think a lot will be determined then. If we get BadSam back after these next four, he'll be relegated to backup someplace. But if he plays a good game manager style, who knows. The way I see our QB room next year is: 1) A veteran presence. Could be Sam. Ideally the bridge and future backup. 2) A rookie we draft - maybe in the first or 2nd depending on who is available. 3) Corral, who will have a shot but realistically has a long road to climb. Gives us flexibility to go into next season with a QB that (assume he does this) has won his last few games, while still having options behind him if he ... well, is what he probably is.

I'm not sure on these two - keep in mind, Sam was coming off an injury. Not even sure he was off IR by the Rams game but he would have had huge rust. A lot of his success yesterday was owed to him being brought along slowly. It does look like McAdoo knows how to handle a young QB.

Cam yelling "I'm back"

Thats not training wheels, that's this offense. When we needed points to put the game away in the 3rd he did throw it deep.

What were today's training wheels? Agree we didn't ask him to look when the field at all when he first came back but legit not sure what those training wheels are now. He's just in a QB friendly offense atm. It's fair to say he isn't being asked to carry the team yet but that's different than training wheels (limited playbook, limiting reads to half the field, etc)

Yup. I think we go 3-3 in the first 6 games of the season even with Wilks and Baker, so the 2 game swap to win column would put us at 8-7 now. But 10-5? I don't see it personally.

sure but that isn't what happened with Wilks as coach... Reality is we are .500 with him...

Wilks is coaching at a .500 clip. Sam was injured to start the season remember all, so he'd be stuck with Baker as well. I don't think this is a 10-5 team right now with him; maybe a 9-6 though I think 8-7 is the most likely.