Sgt Schultz

Merry Christmas to you and you families. All the best to you all.

Let's keep in mind that Darnold would probably look worse if The Process was still here calling the shots. It was like his approach was to ask the position coaches what each player sucked at, and then devise a game plan to emphasize that. As for the QB competition, or any position competition, remember who the judge was.

I was questioning the wisdom of putting up a chair rail on December 24th, but you pulled it off. You get a game ball for that one.

When you know you need to run the ball to be successful, it is cold, and your first two offensive plays are runs for a total of 65 yards, it can't be a bad thing. Did somebody forget to tell the Lions we need to run the ball to be effective on offense? They apparently thought the Steelers did it wrong.

Ron is a decent man. As far as a coach, he is a stabilizer. He can come into a fiasco, de-fiasco it and provide stability. That is not an easy task. Since he also played the game (and was successful at it), the players respect him. As @kungfoodude said, you can see it in the way the players look at him. But, let's not revise history about the end of his time here. He said when he took the job here that a HC has a shelf life of about ten years with a team, at best. Most fizzle out before them. He pretty much called it. His extreme loyalty is both an asset and a fault. The fact that we replaced a high-character guy whose career on the field gives him credibility with a narcissistic BS artist who never came close to playing on an NFL field, and takes no accountability for any failures tends to color the memories of Ron and the reasons we moved on. There will always be work for Ron and those like him in this league, because there will always be teams that create fiascoes that need to be cleaned up. If the Foreskins fire Ron tomorrow (which would be a mistake), the Broncos, Cardinals, Raidahs, and Saints as well as potentially a few others should be looking him up.

I could easily see Hackett in Denver, Allen in Nawlins, and Lovie in Houston all getting the axe. Kingsbury might be on borrowed time, too, despite his (stupid) extension before the start of the year. I think the Raidahs are too cash poor to fire McDaniels, but he deserves it. LaFleur has probably earned his pink slip in Green Bay, too.

And a perfect opportunity for Mr. Haney, the Nigerian Finance Minister, or Matt Rhule.

Our problem, which I think is an opportunity, is that we have one QB on the 2023 roster right now. We can successfully purge our past mistakes at the position by simply doing nothing with this group. Sign a vet to fill the role, draft somebody, and see what Corral has. It might not lead to any success at the position, but it can't be any worse than our QB room the last couple of years. Bridgewater looks like Johnny Unitas right about now. And if it doesn't look good in 2023, draft another one in 2024. The idea of keeping anybody not named Corral off our current group is just laughing in the face of reality. Yeah, QBs came here and had career-worst years under The Process, but they generally weren't reminding anybody of budding stars at the position when they walked into the building. Let's try NOT perpetuating the same mistakes.

He's going to find recruiting is more of a challenge at Nebraska than it was at Temple or Baylor. Temple was never going to compete with the "big boys" in recruiting. There were no such expectations, and their expectations of football success were such that trying to compete with bigger programs was not necessary. Baylor gets its fair share of recruits. He had to overcome the baggage from the scandal, but if they weren't competing with Alabama, Oklahoma, or even Texas they had a good shot. Even then, they are probably talking to a kid who "might be" a starter at one of those schools, and if so, he WILL BE a starter for them, and that means something. Given the number of recruits in their "home area," he didn't have to sign a huge percentage to wind up with a decent number. At Nebraska, outside of the recruits in the state (and Nebraska has always done well recruiting at home), he will be competing with Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame, and the southern schools. Who the kids are in the recruitment pool changes a lot. Hell, Notre Dame has trouble in that pool these days. Add the fact that Nebraska fans and alum are not going to be happy just winning 7 or 8 games a season for long. Before he started popping off, I was hoping he was going to wind up at Colorado or Arizona State, just for that reason. Right now, he is a three-year turnaround and out guy. He has not proven he can sustain success, which is not easy and a different skill set. He'd probably have 8-10 years before Colorado or Arizona State started asking why they can't beat top 15 or 20 teams, and even then they may just accept that it is because they are Colorado or Arizona State. If they are going to start beating Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, UCLA, and USC on a frequent enough basis to keep the fans and alums happy, it is going to take more than convincing them that they are outworking those programs. It will take game planning and on-field coaching. A lot of that will come from his assistants, but he has shown no ability to do those things. Selling snake oil is not going to win those games.

I've begun approaching the Panthers decisions the same way I approach things at work. They are going to do what they do, and there is little I can do about it other than chime in and say "don't." At work, it is almost a sure bet that whatever "it" is, they will eff the decision up. I would not classify Tepper/the Panthers as a sure bet, but it is a pretty good bet.

The problem with that is Brady has never mentored or even given much advice to his younger backups. It's like he saw them as competition and was no help whatsoever. His relationship with Garappolo was always pretty aloof. I doubt that would change, and may be worse now that he is a shell of his former self. So, the idea of signing a vet to nurse the young guys along is great. He's just not the guy to do it. It would be great if he was, but he won't.

If it helps ease the pain, somebody was speculating recently that Brady would be a Raidah next year. That seems like something they would do, especially with McDaniels as HC. But, yeah. Not interested in Brady. He looks done. If The Process was still here, I'd be more concerned.

Might I suggest bowling or golf? You aren't required to catch either of those balls, and in fact, trying to catch a bowling ball is not advisable.

I get taking the position that those picks are going to be basically two seconds and a third when you are negotiating the trade, but in reality most people knew the Rams' goose was cooked after this year. When this year started to go south, the goose was done early and those picks became what they were: a lot more top 10 potential in each round rather than bottom 10. I never figured out if the people on this board who thought those were going to be pick 24 or below were confusing the teams or hitting the bottle. The Rams went all in to win a Superb Owl in the short term and the entire world knew it was going to cost them when that window closed. That has not changed and is playing out as we speak.

If it is not obvious by now that he is a small OLB, aggressive SS, or hybrid of the two, I don't know what to say. I get why the experiment at FS started, because we didn't have one. But the solution was to get one, not weaken another position that we were good at to try and fill that need. We arguably wound up with two weakened positions.

The significance of that for the next coach is that it is decision time for all of them next year. Brown should be extended. Chinn, too, IF somebody actually plants him in his best role instead of trying to use him to fill other holes. The rest are playing for their careers, either here or elsewhere.

That's the way I remember it, SCO. Everybody remembers the Immaculate Reception. But, he carried the load in their first Super Bowl win. He was a workhorse prior to the emergence of their passing game, and even after that, when they needed a play, he was there.

I'm with you, @rayzor. The Steel Curtain was one of the best DLs in football history. In fact, the only one I can think of that was in that same discussion was the Rams Fearsome Foursome. For those of us that grew up watching them, we will always remember the names. I remember LC Greenwood wearing yellow cleats in the early 70s, which was a big deal in those days. Then, of course, there was Otis Sistrunk with the Raiders, the most famous alumnus from "the University of Mars." RIP Franco. He was not the fastest nor the flashiest, but he had a knack for the ball and could cut on a dime.

It's probably a bad question, because I couldn't root for the Cowboys if they were playing Al Qaeda. I doubt that I am alone.

Watching the NFCS is like watching a foursome on the golf course, none of whom can break 120, they can't putt, they can't drive, they can't chip, and they are digging up the course. But, they have a $100 bet on the game, so one of them is going to win, anyway.

Somebody needs to change the title of this thread. There is no playoff push. In the NFCS, it is more like who is the last team to not trip on their own feet and fall backwards. Looking at this week, the Bucs play at Arizona, the Saints at Cleveland, the Falcons at Baltimore, and we host the Lions. I wouldn't normally think those four games could all be losses (especially the way the Ravens have played lately), but it is certainly on the table.

It is pretty comical. Last week we were running the table and heading to the playoffs to host Dallas.....and somebody even had us advancing to the second round. This week, we will never win a game again.....ever.

There is a lot of that outside this site, too. I guess we are just a cross-section of society, at least in that respect. I was going to add that maybe our membership is more desperate than the norm, being Panther fans, but I am not sure that is true, either.

There are a couple of candidates that I would be okay with (pending what they say when interviewed), but, yeah. Those are the steps. This time, don't make it impossible to continue on with the plan because the HC is too much of a narcissist to deal with the bridge QB not being willing to be thrown under the bus, when the coaching staff has its own issues holding up progress.