KSpan

I wouldn't mind having more Rosario Dawson.

I'm happy to see not only how well he blocks in-line but how well he moves and can locate and connect with defenders on the move as well. I'm sure there will be a learning curve as he adjusts to the speed of the NFL but there is potential there.

Conversely, it sounds like the perfect excuse to spend days watching past movies.

True in a vast majority of situations.

That's the point though - who is ultimately responsible for the performance and adjusting accordingly? Ron and Shula did nothing to adapt to the pass rush and Denver themselves said the plan was predictable. There were missed opportunities, sure, but Ron and the staff set things up for failure by planning not to lose from the outset. They were flat out outcoached.

Ron's in charge of the coaching decisions and there was minimal game-planning and zero in-game adjustment so yeah, we kinda did. Refs or not that game was still very winnable and yet here everyone is having this conversation.

It was so winnable, even once it started. Not a cakewalk by any stretch, but very winnable. And yet...

Ah, that makes sense with respect to him. I know he was a great international player as well but didn't spend a lot of years in the NBA.

Nah, I'm not saying at all that Sproles or Mitchell (or Hester for the matter) should definitely make it in. I'm just saying that I agree with an actual HoF voter, King in this case, that it's reasonable for guys like that to be in the conversation even if just by brief mention. If they happen to make it in then good for them. In all likelihood they won't, and they shouldn't over guys like Luke, Smitty, etc. With respect to the NBA I was very surprised to learn just a couple of weeks ago that Arvydas Sabonis was in. Maybe I just don't follow basketball closely enough but dude played like 6 years in the NBA... that blew my mind.

If that response truly comes across as not calm or 'Karen-ish' to you, then you live an easy life my friend.

Being good enough to return for 14 years says a lot, and he still had a role on his team's offenses during all that time as well. No question about a guy like Luke who competed, even setting the performance bar, at a key defensive position. I'm just pointing out that Sproles had a very good career in his own right and accomplished quite a bit, putting him IMO rightfully in the conversation even if he's always an also-ran.

As a disclaimer here I grew up playing against Sproles, my team getting toasted by Olathe North year after year. I've followed his career if only due to that interest. Sproles played for 3 teams in his 15-year career, so not a journeyman. He missed most or all of 4 seasons die to injury, so in effectively 12 seasons of play he amassed 19,500 all-purpose yards, holds the record for most all-purpose yards in a season, and is 6th all-time behind Frank Gore and ahead of Marshall Faulk. He's a 2x first-team All-Pro and was selected for the All-decade team. Journeyman? Not even close. Hall of Very Good? Absolutely. HoF? On the fringe IMO, and there are guys who definitely get in first like King describes. Don't know if Darren gets there, esp since Brian Mitchell hasn't. But Darren had a great career in his role, especially given his stature.

They quoted the guy whose average depth of target last year was less than 7 yards, Teddy's kind of receiver.

Impossible to say without full context but highly doubtful. One can connect dots from the comment to Teddy's release but Luke's not a drama guy.

It seemed an obvious implication that any Darnold suckage would only relate to the time he was actually on the field but yes, agreed that he did not make any of those units suck.

Somewhere between a little bit of the suckage and most of the suckage. Glad he's in Carolina but dude has a whole lot of work to do.

I'm not really concerned at all how he performs on the field at this specific point in time. I'm more interested in him establishing rapport and stepping into the secondary responsibilities of the QB role. If he's actually salvageable like the staff thinks he is then some bad habits are going to take time to break/improved skills time to develop.

To be fair, things were quite different this time last year. Tough to compare.

Or perhaps it's because they're responses to the specific topic noting that we saw him repeatedly not 'learn from his mistakes' for nearly a decade despite these comments now, and it ultimately cost him his job. All the best to Ron in Washington, and if this was a thread about his players gushing about him comments would probably include some affirmation. Talk is cheap though and 'Riverboat Ron' has a lot to show at this point to support such a statement.

Sometimes, there just aren't any words.

I see 7.5 as the reality-based O/U line on paper at this point. As bad as Teddy was in one-score game-tying/winning situations, 3 of the wins were also one-score (and a 4th was only by 10) so I see the regression-to-the-mean as cancelling each other out a bit. Call me pessimistic but I'm not expecting magic from Darnold - improvement in crucial situations vs Teddy and thank God the team moved on, but not wholesale magic this year - and I think the improved defense nets an extra win or two. Pie-in-the-sky ceiling IMO is 11-6 and a wild card.

A couple that are off the beaten path- Lamar Lathon telling the media that Barry Switzer now knows where Charlotte is after kicking Dallas' ass in the '96 playoffs. Greg Hardy, vilified as he now is, telling the Falcons to get the fug off the field after beating them in 2012 followed by Hardy telling the media that Matt Bryant was "... so small and weird-shaped..." Hoover rushing for 117 and a TD at tailback vs Green Bay on MNF after making the team as a UDFA in 2000. Chris Hetherington's crazy ex wife suing the Panthers ownership and various players, claiming a conspiracy to turn Chris against her.

IMO guys like Hoover and 'Spoon (and Rucker, Wharton, etc) were not JAGs - they were good, if not great, players in their own right. Not being a household name or having a bigger star around does not automatically relegate someone else to JAG status. With that said, Nick Goings is my favorite all-time non-star. Dude did his job, whatever it may have been on any given day, and was even able to step up big in 2004. Ended up having a sneaky-long 8-year career here in Carolina, similar to a guy like Karl Hankton. Jordan Carstens the Iowa pig farmer is up there as well.

My only real gripe is that he prides himself on being an analytics/data guy and yet left Rivera and Hurney in place for 2019 even with 20+ years of data between them showing what they were. Beyond that though IMO he gets the benefit of the doubt and seems to be making smart decisions on the whole. With this being year 4 and the second year of his regime really being in full swing time I think a lot will be learned in 2021.

So did he never practice them in Minnesota either?