Sgt Schultz

I have found that when it comes to the media, including the sports media, I am much happier since I gave up all hope. Unfortunately, there are very few people who report on anything that do not cause my immediate response to be wondering what their motive is for saying it.

It sounds like Mike Williams is still alive, but it is a horrible situation. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/former-nfl-wr-mike-williams-on-life-support-after-construction-site-accident/

Yeah, I have absolutely no idea what to expect from either team. We do know the Falcons will run the ball. Otherwise, it is anybody's guess. I usually chalk up NFL results in the entire month of September as almost random events. September is a little like what preseason once was, only the wins and losses count. We've seen teams own September and then disappear from the Radar, and teams look like the Keystone Kops for most of the first four weeks, and then go on a tear.

Hope you were sitting down when you read that insight.

We usually don't hear about all the details in negotiations, but I would not be surprised if the actual sticking point is not guaranteed money (and how it is guaranteed) vs. base salary. Seems like a lot of head-scratching contract situations come down to that. Burns may want $30M and the team may be at $24M, but if more of the $24M is guaranteed that could soften his position.....and vice versa.

From what I've read, Reich's style is not only about the polar opposite from The Process, but also from one Josh McDaniels. Rhule could never earn the level of respect Reich has because he never played on an NFL field and had no real experience as an NFL coach. Now add that he is a BS artist, and guys like that can't really listen. Even when they try, they wind up trying to contort what they heard into something they already know. That tells the person on the other end that they didn't listen, at all. McDaniels is a different animal yet. He admitted not long ago that a major part of his problem in Denver was he did not deal well with personalities. From the looks of things in Vegas, he correctly diagnosed a problem but did not do much to solve it. We'll see how all this translates on the field. But leading a bunch of highly-paid professionals is tough. Reich can genuinely relate since he was one of them. You can't fake that.

Wow, that is awful. Way too young.

That dynamic duo is either that, this, or a combination of the two.

We all have. His grandfather was the dean at Faber University in Animal House.

Forget about Brian Burns, this cements it:

It is not a random rift. There are probably at least ten teams in the NFL that have a list of current Raiders they will be interested in when McDaniels drives them over the edge.

I don't think they expected the team to roll a 6-6 after they sent The Process packing. They were probably thinking things would get better, but not that much better. I think the most wildly optimistic would have expected 4-13 or 5-12 at that point, had they had any sense of reality. Had they followed the coaching change and CMC trade by trading Burns, that may have put us near the #1 pick. Not that I believe Burns was the difference between a 3 or 4 win season and 7, but it would have sent a loud and clear message to the rest of the team. The problem with following up with a 6-6 is it can create some unrealistic expectations going forward, as we have seen. And let's face it: that 6-6 was not against the toughest opponents the NFL had to offer. Between that and a lousy division, there is some pyrite being rushed to the assayer's office. ] We aren't at ground zero, but we also aren't a mere game from challenging the Eagles for the Owl berth last year, either.

Does the swami see the Falcons building a 21-0 lead with about 5:00 to go in the third quarter before things unravel for them? The devil in me likes it!

Can we give the narrative that we were one game away from making the playoffs and therefore this group should get us over that hump a rest? Yes, it is a fact that we were one game away from winning a division in 2022, whose division winner was 8-9. Two teams that missed out on the last wild card spot in the NFC had better records than the division winner did. The underlying assumption is that the entire NFCS will be just as bad in 2023 as it was in 2022, so all we have to do is roll an 8-9 and if it is the right 8-9, we are in. Easy. Except it is unlikely that 8-9 will win the division again, because it is unlikely all three of our division rivals will suck as much as they did in 2022. Even if one or two of them are slightly better, the fact that our 7-10 was only one game away will be completely irrelevant. In terms of relevancy to 2023, at 7-10, the thing we were one game away from was being 8-9. Can I assume that those waving the banner that we were one game away from the playoffs last year will be celebrating if we roll an 8-9, but somebody in this division manages to get above .500?

Even before the Rams trade offer, it was inevitable that decision day was going to come on whether to pay Burns a lot of money or move on. All the Rams trade offer did was accelerate when D-Day happened. I've tried to stay out of the discussion about whether he is worth the money or not, because the Panthers made that decision when they turned down the trade offer. His asking price could be absurd, but otherwise, you can't tell the Rams no and indicate he is a critical piece of the defense (as evidenced by the offer that was turned down), switch schemes to something that everybody has said would be his ideal fit, and then later say he isn't so critical without anything else changing. I'm all for taking the time to get a glimpse of what we think we know about him as an OLB/Edge in a 3-4, but assuming he doesn't blow chunks, this was always the inevitable outcome. And if the front office did not see the link when they turned down the Rams' offer, then they are morons. I don't particularly appreciate Burns speaking of being all-in for the season and then doing a 180. But, if he shows up tomorrow when the team starts to prepare for Sunday and is out on the field when the game starts, that didn't happen. He's not some rookie thinking he doesn't need all the prep time he can get. By now he knows what it takes to be ready on a Sunday.

And right now it is the perceived market. He and his agent are looking at recent deals and the Panthers are looking at how recent deals compared to him. The fact that we turned down a pair of firsts and a high second for him last year will impact his side's view of the market for him and his worth to the Panthers. But the market will not truly speak until he becomes a FA. Then, it only takes one team to bid his price up substantially. Kinda like we did in the Jet's trade value for Darnold.

I must point out the fatal flaw in that statement. You are trying to explain how a decision was made inside the Panthers organization by using logic. That went out the window when they decided to hire a BS artist for a HC over a plate of meatballs. Maybe some reason will be restored someday. Hell, maybe you are right and it is in place now. But I'd like to see it first.

If he was the one who decided to turn down the Rams offer and then they ultimately lose Burns in FA or have to deal him for a much lower haul, it is a pretty big indictment. Problem for him is even if it was Tepper who put the brakes on the Rams deal, Fitterer is in the fall guy position. As somebody said on this or one of the 372 other Burns threads, once you turned down that deal, you better start talking about an extension. I get it, the didn't have any idea who would be the HC or what the DC was going to run, but you have already shown you hand.

Is he auditioning for his next career move?

The Rams offer was partially based on the fact that they were desperately trying to make a splash and remain in contention. If I remember right, they were 3-3 when they made that offer, and the entire NFCW was between 4-3 and 3-4. The 49ers had just made their big splash acquiring CMC to make their push for the division. The Rams offer reflected that. Right now, everybody is 0-0, nobody is desperate (unless somebody suffered an injury at the Edge during preseason that I am not thinking of), and most teams would have no idea what position to acquire in a push for their division yet. If he continues to hold out, his trade value goes down the longer it drags on. I said in another Burns thread, when we turned down the Rams offer, we made a decision to get out the checkbook, whether they knew it or not. We now have to deal with the fallout from that.

I thought we should have taken the Rams offer for Burns last year. At the time, we had just traded CMC and the indications were that we were tearing things down and starting over. If that is the goal, then anybody making big bucks or about to make big bucks gets moved for draft capital or younger players. Especially when you don’t have a QB to build around. But, with the decision to not take that offer, we stopped short of a complete tear down. We basically tore down the skill positions on offense, which was complete when we included Moore in the deal with Chicago. Once we decided to keep Burns, the discussion of big money was an absolute certainty. How big is what is in front of the jury. But you don’t turn down a couple of firsts, quite likely high firsts, and what was destined to be a high second for a guy and then let him walk in FA a year and a half later (unless he really sucks in that year and a half). Especially when you then make a defensive scheme switch that certainly looks like it plays to his strengths. Personally, I want to see him in an NFL 3-4 defense (or defense based on that) before I get out the checkbook. In other words, he needs to “prove it” this year. It being that he can play the "whole" position. But given the deal we walked away from, we are committed to getting out the checkbook if he proves it. Somebody could throw something stupid at him, but otherwise, that decision was made last October.

I don't have a problem with Rivera, but you have to realize what he is and what he provides. If you screw yourself and hire a disaster as a HC who makes a clusterfug out of your team and organization, Rivera is one of the guys you call to stop the ship from sinking. The revolt among the players will come to an end, the team will focus on football, and controversy will subside. They will build cohesion. Think Denver after they waited too long to fire McDaniels (who should have been fired within 30 days of his hiring, before ever stepping foot on the field). Hell, think us after The Process was canned. Wilks is of that same ilk. But, they are never going to come up with some brilliant game plan, make some incredible adjustment within a game, call that mind-blowing play at a critical time, and steal a win from the jaws of certain defeat. That's what you get with Rivera, Wilks, or Fox: stability. And for some organizations, that is a dramatic improvement. I'd say DC has been one of them. As long as organizations screw themselves with disastrous head coaching hires they have to recover from, the Riveras, Wilks', and Foxes will have jobs. And I don't think organizations will screw themselves any less in the next 10 years than they have in the last 50.

Do you have any proof to back that up?

The two things that keep me from thinking the Saints are the favorites is that I believe they are the oldest team in the league as of the roster cutdowns, and their coaching may be among the bottom of the league. Carr was an upgrade. I'm just not sold on the idea that is enough to overcome Dennis Allen wearing the HC headset. Mind you, I don't think coaching excellence is exactly a hallmark of the NFCS. Allen may not eve be the worst in the division. The NFCS could come down to which staff grabs defeat out of the jaws of victory least often. I'm hoping Reich and company do the opposite, but until I see it, that is just potential.

The only reason I would not rule out winning the division this year is that until proven otherwise, the division is a train wreck. As a whole, there are major QB and coaching issues in the NFCS. I think it is likely that somebody will overcome those better than anybody did last year, but until I see some indications of it, I expect the door to be wide open. By the end of the year, that somebody could be us. And if the division sucks again, it might only take coming together for about the last six games to run past everybody else. I'd go as far to say if Atlanta blows chunks, the Saints "time out," and we don't come together, even the Bucs could win it. But let's not confuse winning a bad division (if that does bear out) with a legitimate playoff team. The NFCS disproved any connection between those two terms last year.