Sgt Schultz

It could be that the worst thing that happened was there was hope after last year. The defense looked like it was starting to come together, the WR corps looked good even with the potential (and eventual) loss of Samuel, and while we only posted 5 wins, we were expecting 0-4 and we looked prepared to increase that total this year. Especially with our primary offensive weapon out for most of that 5-11 season. Our draft picks and their progress was part of that. That led to people talking about a run at a playoff spot this year. Instead, the 2020 draft choices collectively did not seem to take the next step (I won't get into why), the 2021 draft choices mostly didn't play, our WRs regressed in production (maybe on them, maybe on the QB, maybe both), we did not address the OL issues early (and the vets we brought in did very little), we essentially traded transition QBs and went from a conservative, ball protection guy to a gunslinger sort who has PTSD from the Jets, and then we added to it with our OL woes. We left 2021 with more question marks than we entered it with. And that is probably my main disappointment right now, and my main concern about Rhule. I have serious doubts that his philosophy/program translates to the NFL. Maybe my main concern is that his emphasis on "versatility" makes him deaf to the fact that the NFL is largely comprised of extremely good specialists. A great LT is a great LT. He does not need to be a good RG, TE, K, or anything else at the expense of his mastering of his real position. If the RT can play decently at LT in a pinch, great. If you have OGs that can snap when the primary C is out, great. But, when it comes to the NFL, I would rather have 8 of my 22 starters that are in the top tier of their positions, than 22 who can come out of the huddle in line up in any position.

True, all of it. Did Rhule want to be the HC of the Panthers? Yes. It was a shot at proving himself at the NFL level. We are not talking about a guy coaching Bama, Ohio State, Michigan, or some other pinnacle in college football that a coach would really have to weigh whether they want to give up "all this" to risk going to the next level. This was "his shot." We have seen other college coaches with bigger names and resumes than Rhule get to the NFL and flame out. At some point, it is almost like they give up and go through the motions. It happened to Spurrier, Saban, Petrino, Holtz, etc and it happened pretty quickly. It happened to Chip Kelly, it just took longer due to some initial success. It happened to Meyer almost on day one, it seems. There is no set of proven characteristics for whether or not a college coach will make it in the NFL. It is almost completely random. The only place I differ with Khyber is I don't think we will know in a couple of weeks. I think Rhule is here for 2022, at least the first 10-12 games, barring some complete meltdown. I honestly hope Kyber is right. Unlike most of this board, I don't think Tepper is an idiot. I also don't think he is some oracle who knows what the right answer to these situations is. I do think he is more patient and deliberate than most of this board seems to understand.

If he can play as the backup kicker, that is three of the four and a half.

My feeling about Cousins is pretty much the same as my feeling about Garappolo in that thread. If we had $0 to maybe $5M invested in Darnold, if our OL was not a sieve and could keep a QB upright, and if our coaching staff was able to develop game plans around his strengths and avoiding his weaknesses, it would be worth considering as a transition QB. Add to that he would have to be a reasonable cost, both in salary and it what we would give up to get him. But, we have about $20M invested in Darnold for 2022, our OL is a sieve until further notice, and our offensive coaching staff is up in the air right now. Here is the problem with getting either of those guys as a transition. We set that up with Bridgewater, then shot ourselves in both feet by getting into a public pi$$ing contest with him to the point we had to send him elsewhere. That meant we took what was a 2-3 year plan and torpedoed it in one. In fairness, most of this board gave the team a standing ovation for that. Then we basically went back to square one with Darnold. The jury is still out on his ability to do that, but they were not smiling at us as they left the court room. And, our OL got Darnold killed back there. So, transitions are rather useless because 1) we don't stick to the plan, and 2) our OL as it stands now requires us to have a roster of QBs about the size of a MLB bullpen staff. None of this is a knock on Cousins. I don't know that anybody would have done more than he did in Minnesota. He's not exciting, but he is not a fiasco waiting to happen, either. Put him at the helm of a decent team, and he will help yield decent - good results. We would not be putting him at the helm of a decent team, especially on offense, especially behind our OL.

Truth is, I would have doubts the DBs on the play even noticed the whistle. The guys chasing Burrow, yes, but the DBs not so much, especially with the ball in the air.

If McCarthy really believes running a QB draw with 14 seconds left and no time outs is "the right call," somebody needs to sit down with him. There are hundreds of replays available that can show him that if a play is run while the clock is moving and no timeout is called, the best you can hope for in terms of getting the next play off is about 14 seconds. If your goal is to end the game spiking the ball, he's right, it is the right call if the best case scenario happens. As others have said, it demonstrates just how much Rodgers covered up McCarthy's limitations.

The league has contributed greatly to this situation. They started by making rules that were impossible to call on the field and had to be looked at on replay. The former definition of a catch was something that it took two physicists and a mechanical engineer to determine on instant replay, and then they had to look at it frame by frame to figure it out. They tried to fix that, but the damage had been done. Remember when they cracked down on hits to the QB? They followed that up by telling officials that anybody who missed one would be disciplined. What did they think was going to happen but the worst possible outcome? They created an environment where officials were throwing major flags on what they thought happened (but not what they saw) or what they expected to happen, but in some cases didn't. Once they get their officials thinking "they'll just look at it on replay" or "I'd better call it or else," that is a hard trend to reverse. Moving the umpire out from behind the DL to in the offensive backfield also left two officials looking at the same plays from only a slightly different angle, rather than from opposite angles. Then, there are three back line officials. That goes back to 1978, when teams were largely running two wideouts and a tight end. Given the fact they took the umpire out of a position to provide them any help, maybe they need to look at putting another one back there. It's not like they don't have room.

So, I guess Moe, Larry, and Curley are available this weekend.

All I can say is my second favorite NFL team is whoever is playing the Cowboys. I grew up in St. Louis when the Cardinals were in the NFC East, hated the way Landry was treated at the end, and now live in a place where the majority of people interested in the NFL wear Cowboys' shirts or hats. Broncos are second here, but that I understand since they are closer to us.

Ironically, unless he's changed in the last hour or two, he was not blaming the refs at all. His statements certainly sounded like a guy who felt his coaching staff was not up to the job. Of course, saying a coaching change is "not on the table" is not exactly a ringing endorsement for how he will feel next week, or on Wednesday, or at 2pm today. My guess is he does nothing, but he probably has already turned up the heat a little. The other problem he has is if he decided to can McCarthy, who does he get next? I don't think he has won the NFL's Award for Best Workplace for a Head Coach in any of the recent years.....or ever.

At this point, Boger has such a bad reputation and not just on this board, the only reasons I can think he gets any playoff game assignments are 1) he has 8 x 10 glossies on somebody in the league office, or 2) Moe, Larry, and Curley were busy.

I've never hated the Jimmy G idea, but, we are not in that position. IF we didn't have Darnold under contract, or IF he was under contract at about $5M a year, it would make some sense. Garoppolo is not going to make 49ers fans forget Montana or Young, but he can hold down the fort until the future starter comes along (exhibit A is the 9ers situation right now).....provided you can keep him on the field. Add IF our coaching staff develops game plans and calls plays to his strengths, which remains to be seen. While I think Brady was in over his head as an OC, his philosophy was more tailored to that than whoever we are likely to bring in next. Which brings us to another IF. Our OL could get Refrigerator Perry killed back there. So the added IF is that our OL mess gets fixed or at least stabilized. Given his injury history, Jimmy G raises the bar to needing to remain upright, from on his back but nobody is calling for the the stretcher. We struggle even to hit the latter.

Stupid call, stupid execution of a stupid call. I don't watch the NFL live anymore (I watched 5 plays of the Panthers-Cowboys game when it was on here, the officials thoroughly botched two of them, and it reminded me why I don't watch the NFL live.....and I do not usually criticize officials). From what I see, the officials did nothing wrong here and, in fact, did everything they should have. With 14 seconds to go and zero time outs, if the ball stays in bounds the game is probably over. Even if Dak slid 5 yards sooner, by the time they spot the ball (they being the officials, not the QB) and the teams (and all the 300 pound lineman and officials) get into position and set, the clock will likely strike 0 as the ball is spiked. 14 seconds is about the point of no return. Let's not forget, if one of those OL does not get set for the spike, the game is over even if there is time left because of the mandatory run-off. To top it off, it's not like they are trying to get a few yards to set up the potential game-winning FG here. That call may be worse than Darrell Bevell calling an in-route against a goal-line defense with 30 seconds left in the Super Bowl, down by 4, with the ball on the Pats 1 yard line, the Pats not able to stop the run, and time outs in his pocket. I have always marveled at how DCs will figure out how to slow or stop an offense, given enough film and exposure to it. Lately, I marvel at how OCs too often are not their equals in that respect. As for Dak, I have defended him in the past to my friends who are Cowboys loyalists (fans is another story). But, the criticism I have not defended him from is that he has not proven he can win a big game against a quality team. His pattern has been to become inert in those situations. While I am in this mode, Cowboy fans are among the most fair-weathered in the league. Many of them are like spoiled kids. It is about like having 92,000 politicians in attendance. The complaints about McCarthy that I see are par for the course with him. The problem is, who is going to work for Jerrah Jones? They have a problem similar to what the Raiduhs had the last decade or so of Al Davis' life. I hate to admit this, but reading Jerrah's statements......I agree with him on this. Having said that, I need to take a shower.

That is more misery than anybody should have to endure. The Cardinals made the playoffs three times in the 28 or so seasons they were in St. Louis. They had the decency to be blown out of the last two by halftime and the first by the end of the 3rd. They didn't break any hearts, they just frustrated the bejeezuz out of us. I remember The Drive and then The Fumble. I also remember Sipe's end zone interception against Oakland in the playoffs on a frigid day in January 1981. Oh well, that which does not kill us........causes us to drink.

Now I am reminded of the description "jack of all trades and master of none."

Thanks, that's what I remember. His future was always tied to Watson in Houston. With Watson pretty much out of the picture, Culley was a dead man walking whenever he showed. Sucks, because like others have said, I doubt some hybrid of Hoodie, Parcells, Johnson, and Walsh could have done any better with that team.

Correct me if I remember this wrong, but wasn't he hired basically as an olive branch to Watson, before Watson's situation really got ugly?

Probably, just in a different way. Or maybe in additional ways. A lot of people THINK they would get more satisfaction out of watching the team lose 38-33, but the reality is it would probably be 45-17.

There is that. We had just purged most of Hurney's follies, so we did not have much left on the roster. I thought we had more on the roster heading into this year (but not enough), but based on the results, I'm not sure anymore.

I grew up a St. Louis Cardinals fan in football. Trust me, I can relate. Growing up in St. Louis, I am also a Blues fan. Sure, we won the Cup in 2019, and I still savor that. But it took 50 years of my life to get to feel that.

You, sir, are a glutton for punishment.

So apparently we are looking for the prototypical perfect physical specifications to draft OL in the early rounds. There is a saying that the enemy of good is perfect. We are proving that.

I think you can say that same thing about CMC and, if we continue to try and make him a FS, Chinn.

It will take a lot more than bringing Cam back, him reverting to near-2015 form, and playing in a hybrid role to make this a playoff team. Even with 14 out of 32 teams making the playoffs. We need our 2020 draft class to make progress when they pretty much regressed this year. That probably means the coaching staff needs to identify what they are strong at, what they don't do so well, and use them in roles they can succeed in, not scream "versatility." We desperately need the OL to become an OL, not a rather shallow speed bump on the way to the ball carrier or QB. Expecting 2022 Cam to do well despite this group is about like somebody's retirement plan to be "winning the lottery." Expecting 2015 Cam to do well despite this group would be a tall order. Our OL performance is somewhere between porous and terrible. We need our skill players to play with skill. In 2020, we looked like we had our WR problems solved. Even with the loss of Samuel, it looked absorbable. Not so in 2021. In short, unless something big changes, if we are going to make one single roster change to improve things, I would recommend drafting a backup punter because we are going to wear one out.