Sgt Schultz

That would be called "can't walk away until he can't walk away." I'm to the point with him that anything that makes him unhappy makes me happy. Part of playing this sport, or any sport for that matter, is knowing when to walk away. Brady is not a moron, but he does not know that. Now he has lost his family all for the sake of playing one more season, which has not made him happy overall, beyond just yesterday. I've never hated Brady, but his self-absorption at this point has gotten old. The sunset is to the west: ride off into it before they carry you off into it, ala Favre.

That's fine and well, but here is UCLA's Saturday Sep. 3 Bowling Green Falcons Rose Bowl Stadium, Pasadena, CA 2:30pm ETP12N W 45-17 Saturday Sep. 10 Alabama State Hornets Rose Bowl Stadium, Pasadena, CA 5:00pm ETP12N W 45-7 Saturday Sep. 17 South Alabama Jaguars Rose Bowl Stadium, Pasadena, CA 2:00pm ETP12N W 32-31 Saturday Sep. 24 at Colorado Buffaloes Folsom Field, Boulder, CO 2:00pm ETP12N W 45-17 Friday Sep. 30 15 Washington Huskies Rose Bowl Stadium, Pasadena, CA 10:30pm ETESPN W 40-32 Saturday Oct. 8 11 Utah Utes Rose Bowl Stadium, Pasadena, CA 3:30pm ETFOX W 42-

Yeah, I am looking at Sports Reference, and by overall defense they had Iowa as #3 and UCLA as #47. In passing defense, they had Iowa as #3 and UCLA as #88, all by yards. I'm not seeing how the UCLA defense is better Iowa's, much less "much better." Granted, yardage is not the be-all-end-all, but those differences are pretty big.

Marino was mentioned earlier, but he was not considered a lock, either. His senior year at Pitt was his weakest year (if I remember right, there was a coaching change before his senior year that might have been the real cause). There were also rumors of a drug use that got legs and caused him to drop to pick 27 and Miami, behind five other QBs, So there is no sure thing and where the huge talent will be drafted is pretty random. That said, at some point you have to pull the trigger and make the decision based on your scouting and best assessment about what is available. The 2023 draft is that time. Hell, the 2021 draft was that time, except I think their scouting and best assessment was that nobody other than Lawrence, Wilson, and maybe Lance were worth it. Even so, needing a QB is like needing a car: if you need one so badly you had to take an Uber to the car lot, the fact the exact car you want is not on the lot doesn't matter much. The old saying that perfect is the enemy of good applies.

One problem with a QB who runs around on passing plays is the OL has no way to know where he is or where he is going to set blocks and protect him. With Mayfield, everybody on planet earth knows his best play is from play action or a designed rollout, the latter of which helps the OL set the blocks. Everybody on planet earth except Ben McAdoo. Mayfield is not going to make anybody forget about John Elway, but having an OC that actually put him in a position to play to his strengths might help. But, that is all pretty much water under the bridge as they will both be gone after week 17. The OL may be the position group I feel best about. Unfortunately, the QB group is the one I feel worst about, except that all but Corral will be gone along with McAdoo.

Now imagine some team trying to purposely tank and competing for the bottom with a team not purposely trying to tank, but starting PJ Walker. He is a major ingredient in the "secret sauce" I mentioned.

No matter how hard a team tries to tank and secure the #1 spot, almost always, some other team(s) manage to do a better job of stinking up the joint without trying. The most recent tank job was the 2019 Miami Dolphins. Hell, they even managed to start out 0-7. Then a funny thing happened on their way to drafting Joe Burrow......they finished 5-4. The purposeful tank job was good for a 5-11, which got them the #5 draft pick. No matter how hard they tried, they could not outsuck the Bengals, Foreskins, Lions, and Giants. People think purposely being the worst is easy, but it isn't. The "on any given week" works both ways. And if some team that had hope suddenly finds that hope is lost, they can just as easily outsuck a team that never had any or lost it even earlier. Luckily, we have the "secret sauce" for a horrible season built in. A roster assembled by coach for whom NFL stood for Not For Long (thanks, Jerry Glanville) resulting in a roster built around flawed premises, with only a few pieces that, despite that, have mastered their positions, a coaching staff of underachievers (or out-and-out rejects), and nary a QB to be found. We don't even know for sure what is on the roster, because the coaching never put them into a position to succeed. Some of the pieces may be, in the words of the mirror "objects may be closer than they appear" if they just get decent coaching or played in a scheme worthy of being on an NFL field. Despite our best efforts, we may have actually assembled a good and young OL. If anybody can do it, this team can but not because it is trying to hit bottom.

Ouch. Well, on the bright side they both gave the Jets a pretty accurate grade.

He doesn't have time to worry about relocation. He's too busy: 1) Trying to prove he is the smartest owner in the NFL, then, 2) Trying to prove he is not a moron when he has to undo the actions he took in step 1.

That's where I am with Fitts. I do believe Tepper knows who said what and wanted what, and who made the final decisions. I've got to believe Fitts status is based on that knowledge. I'll cut Tepper this much slack on the Rhule decision: he was assisted by Marty "I Hear His Wife Makes Incredible Meat Balls" Hurney. Given the choice between Hurney leading the charge and Fitts/Morgan, there is only one sane decision. In fact, given the choice between Hurney leading the charge and Moe, Larry, and Curley, there is only one sane decision.

That should concern us all. I'm not saying Fitts/Morgan are the Yoda's of selecting NFL coaches, but Tepper is the Ty-D-Bol Man in that area until proven otherwise. 0 for 1 does not describe how badly he swung and missed the first time.

Where to begin? My main complaint with what we got is that assuming the 49ers elevate their game, we are looking at 2023 draft picks on the back half of each round. So, the highest pick we got is somewhere below 50. Granted, we got several picks, but none in the range that make me believe we are guaranteed or even likely to grab an impact player. I'm not going to get into the dead cap implications, because as TheCasillas said, the cap is likely to go up more than the cap-tracking sites have budgeted for. Those sites are always conservative on future cap projections, and for good reason. That has always been the silver lining for next year. I wish CMC luck, although preferably not this year (since our 3 of our 4 draft picks in return fluctuate with the 49ers success). He was another wasted talent here, and the reality is we aren't likely to be good again in the near future. A RB, or any player really, only has so many years and our floundering around is wasting his and a few others, unless something changes quickly. And it could, but that depends on hiring a good HC and staff and finding a QB. Our next challenge on that front is the number of young players in year 3 of their rookie deals, whose first 3 years have been essentially wasted. What really sucks in this whole deal is we have now had to hit the reset button twice in three years. That is the price for hanging onto Hurney, who perpetually believed we were only a few pieces away, and he could turn pyrite into gold if he paid it enough, and then hiring a guy with no NFL pedigree, making him basically omnipotent, and watching him turn out to be a buffoon at the NFL level (or more pyrite, if you will). It might be nice if we got this rebuilding thing right before I die!

Nominees: Denny Green "They are who we thought they were" Jim Mora "Playoffs, playoffs?" Then there was one from John McKay, where he told the reporters that they didn't know the difference between a football and a bunch of bananas. A week or two later, some reporter left a bunch of bananas at his door. He then told them they didn't know the difference between a football and a Mercedes. Another McKay: "In that game we didn't block very well, but we made up for it by not tackling." And his famous response to what he thought about the execution of his team......"I'm in favor of it."

I always said that was how the Raiders and Cowboys interviewed coaches. Whoever could recite the following to Al Davis the fastest: "What a great idea sir. You sure are a genius. I hope that one day I can advance to be half as smart as you, sir. Do you like one sugar or two in your coffee?" The winner is actually the candidate that can say that the fastest, but does not need that last sentence because he already knows the answer.

Well, he was good at it. There is that. Everybody has something they are good at, even if it is useless or counter-productive. I guess we can add him to the list of Overpaid to Underwhelm I mentioned above, along with McCarthy.

I'm in a Zoom meeting with several people for whom that is their motto, and a few are approaching retirement age. I can attest that it is a career, just probably not in the NFL unless your name is Mike McCarthy.

Some of these reports are other teams seeing us like a vulture sees a corpse. I don't have a problem with Shaq, and he has shown some badly needed leadership (especially tough with our previous brain trust). He is a decent LB that is starting to creep up in years. His major issue is his contract. He's not Lawrence Taylor, but Hurney figured if he paid him like Luke he would become Luke. The contract issue can be worked out, especially since his next contract may be his last. But that is up to him and the team, based on what we see in the remaining weeks. That said, if somebody offers the right price, his contract is the one that garners the evil eye now that RA is gone.

One of the questions I had coming into this year was whether Derrick Brown would assert himself on our DL. Answer: Yes.

I agree completely @Kyber53. I was trying to hint at contract restructuring/extension without sending our board into a tailspin. His next contract could be his last, and with what he has shown us, I don't have a problem making that with us just at a more reasonable price. Hence my comment about taking the rest of the year to establish his value unless somebody pushes all their chips in on him. He is one of those guys that you can point to as victims of the last coaching staff philosophy. They didn't kill his performance as much as they muzzled him. Sounds a like Chinn. Our staff excelled at that. LBs work as a team as much as the OL does.

Think of the confusion when we trot out the "twin punter formation."

The biggest problem with Shaq is his contract. It was another example of Hurney thinking that if we pay a guy like he is one of the best, he will become one of the best. With RA gone, Shaq is the third highest salary next year and, if I am not mistaken, provides the biggest cap relief. Of course, dumping/trading him is only one solution to that problem. We have the rest of the season to figure out what options are worth it, unless somebody pushes a lot of chips into the center of the table for him.

Then there is the question of who the "Rhule guys" are that would command anything in trade value?

I agree with most of the original post. Darnold is what Darnold is at this point. The only point in getting him back out there is if somebody gets drunk and calls to trade for him, and that assumes he plays decently. That is a big assumption. What I would like to see is competitiveness. Tough defense, and good OL play. Play Eason to see what he has, because what we have seen of the other three is not good. Even if Mayfield were to come back and catch fire, the odds of him, Darnold, or Walker being on the team next year are about nil. They are our version of the Three Stooges right now, and there is more than enough bodies of work to hang onto that conclusion. I'd be content with competitive losses that show who should stay and who we should look to upgrade. Give the new staff something to work with.

Mine too. In addition to the word "competition," I find myself getting the heebie jeebies when I see the word process.

That's because the NFL was obsessed with getting two teams back in the LA market. They are not that obsessed with anywhere else right now, other than maybe London and Europe but given the economic conditions, that has probably cooled quite a bit. Also remember when we talk about San Anotonio, one Jerrah Jones will scream and jump up and down to keep a team out of what he sees as "his market," rightly or wrongly. Oklahoma City may face that same challenge. It is not likely the NFL wants to abandon the Carolinas, since there is a migration pattern in that direction. Just because they let two teams move into a market that they wanted two teams to move into is not proof that they want anybody else moving anywhere.