Proudiddy

I think the field stretching element is oversold. If the guy pulling the trigger is hesitant to make those throws consistently in the first place, and the staff scheming up the gameplan thinks they can dink and dunk teams to death 99% of the time, teams aren't going to respect speed anyway. And again, tbh, guys whose range maxes out at 45-50 yards tend to have smaller windows to get that ball off deep anyway, especially if that's not their first read, and to this point, Bryce has not shown great touch or accuracy on the deep throws he's attempted. Hope it's just getting adjusted, but from the coaching to the execution in week 1, against what I thought was a a not-great defense, I'm just concerned moving forward.

I haven't wrote him off. I just said I didn't see anything encouraging because we spent a #1 pick on a guy touted for certain traits that were supposed to lend themselves to him not making "rookie mistakes." And yet, he made more of those mistakes than the other starting QBs in his draft class, taken after him. His advertised strengths were some of his most glaring weaknesses. That is not encouraging. Period. Sorry I'm not drinking the kool-aid. I want him to succeed, but that was not what a #1 pick should be playing like, when again, guys at the same position from his class outperformed him in week 1. And not by a little. Hoping for the best, but early returns were not good, and people here want to get in their feelings because I refuse to gloss over the fact a #1 pick should be a gamechanger and instead, he looked like just another cog in the wheel... and not only did he not make game-winning plays, but he is mostly the reason we lost because of the turnovers.

Because I have an opinion? Big fan of authoritarian dictatorships heavy on homogeneous groupthink with a side of censorship are we?

Haven't finished it yet, but hard to get through it. I don't see anything encouraging. Staring receivers down, misplaced/bad throws, suddenly little to no feel for anticipation, bad decisions, etc. The sunshine and rainbows brigade keep wanting to cite it being his first game - outside of a couple of secondary players and maybe Grady Jarrett, the Falcons defense is ASS and Bryce looked horrible. And again, outside of the injury AR looked better. I think Stroud played better. And we saw Cam dominate and take the league by storm from his first game on. First game isn't an excuse, especially for a #1 overall pick. You draft a guy #1 because they should step on the field and change the game in your favor from the first snap... It's just very discouraging that every facet of his game that our staff felt made him the #1 overall pick over the other options are all areas he looked mediocre in for most of the game Sunday.

*replays his PI against Cleveland last season in my mind's projector like a war vet thinking back to battle* ... Yeeeeeeah, nope.

2018 All-Pro.

Damn, looked it up to see if i was correct in my memory of what happened and those are some real tough injuries he suffered. The initial was an ACL, MCL, and tibial plateau fracture. The he tore his achilles while recovering from that. Also, two of his brothers passed within a two year span after his injuries... I really hope he's back physically and we give him a shot. He was a great player.

Man, I would love to sign him if he's gotten back to form at all. He was a really good player and then, iirc, he tore his ACL and then tore it again towards the end of his rehab and missed two straight seasons. Would be tough to come back from, but he's a local guy... would love to see it.

I always appreciate the work and insight you share, brother... I've been getting a ton of flack for my "takes" after the game on Bryce, but it amazes me how people blind themselves from objective observations based on their desired outcome. Bryce just did not look or play good. And again, for someone who was touted as a super processor, and that being the trait they really felt put him over the top compared to AR, what I saw Sunday was about as big of a letdown as I could've expected, even with reasonable expectations going in. I look forward to it.

Well, I do also add the caveat that, as we know, PFF grades are kind of subjective bullshit. But QBs are a little easier to evaluate than a lot of the other positions. TBH, the whole offense looked a mess in respect to the passing game. I was actually really surprised by how little we used compressed sets/route combos to free up guys by design. I expected so much more of that compared to what we've seen the last 3 years, but alas, it looked very much the same dysfunctional mess.

It still boggles my mind we signed Vonn Bell over Bates. Young's rating is more along the lines of what I expected from what I saw versus the revisionist hype a lot of people are pushing after the fact. It was bad. And I really liked the Thielen signing when it was made, but man... it's starting to feel like the more data we get on him, the less I like it. I hope he turns it around.

Their backup was their starter the last two years. I think they're good.

We really fumbled the bag at corner going into this season. My hope was we would make enough upgrades that Horn wouldn't need to be depended on and Henderson would be cut. I hope Hill and Jackson can hold it down and keep Henderson off the field.

I acknowledge there's no way to predict a guy suddenly becoming Mr. Glass when there were no indicators prior to drafting him. But in regards to the rest of what you said - yeah, I would rather have another guy who has some success over a guy who is rarely ever on the field... and I actually called for the Horn pick before we made it. I thought he was the right guy at the time, but I also like Fields, Sewell, and Surtain. I would've been happy with any of them, but I never would've imagined Horn would become so fragile. It just sucks. Availability is the greatest ability.

I wonder if there's any starting-worthy corner out there available for trade? Otherwise, Henderson is about to single-handedly lose games during this period. I still would've rather us have kept Taylor over Henderson. We really should've taken Surtain. Hell, even Fields at this point.

Nope. Or this is going to the tinderbox. Back on topic.

I mean, he doesn't have to move much as he gets older and his arm talent likely never really falls off... I think it'll be up to him. But knowing him, I'd imagine he'll prolly hang it up because I don't think football is as important to him as it used to be snd that's a significant rehab process.

Complete achilles tear confirmed per BR. Out for the year. Damn.

I've just accepted that moment he bought the team I'd the moment the franchise was set back, and it will remain that way until he sells. He fuging sucks. Tougher to succeed in an industry where you can't rub elbows and kiss ass to the top and then game the system to rip people off on your way to a fortune.

I'm convinced we're cursed. Period. The poo that happened in Super Bowl 50 and the following season opener, hell, pretty much Cam's entire tenure here, I HAVE NEVER SEEN HAPPEN IN OTHER GAMES. Same as KK said in the OP, I've been watching and playing football since the early 90s and keep up with the rule changes year to year and I can't count the number of times I saw a call made for the first and only time against us. I know the NFL can't completely control outcomes of games, but they definitely can heavily influence them to their liking, completely stacking the odds against us to where they all but do control it - see the aforementioned Super Bowl 50. Yesterday was yet another example. I also recall us at one point, I believe during the Cam years, have offsetting penalties where they also said our personal foul penalty took precedent and canceled out the opponent's personal foul, and thus they enforced the 15 on us and not them. Also during those years, I also remember Cam getting roughed and they claimed a hold on us canceled out the personal foul on them, and iirc, it was a headshot. The NFL does NOT give a poo - they don't regulate it, and at the end of the day, they're always gonna side with the refs. And the officials have free reign to make up the rules as they go. And we're never going to be on the favored end of these calls. Period. Accept it.

I just don't buy that Chark singlehandedly changes the outlook of the game like that. He's a great player, but we also have Smith-Marsette who is regarded as a "take the top off guy" and wasn't utilized. And as I mentioned yesterday, both TMJ and Mingo beat their guys over the top and Bryce missed both of them. I didn't play QB in the NFL, but Simms has been wrong before too, and I just was not impressed in the least bit with what I saw. As I said before, Bryce has to rely greatly on his supporting cast to be effective, but when he's also missing throws to that supporting cast that are essentially layups, then it just further cancels out any positives he possesses. Again, it's why I preferred AR because he doesn't need other players to win a game bc he can make plays on his own and outs a ton of pressure on defense with his tendency to run. Not trying to trash Bryce... I'm still hoping for the best, but I didn't think he was the right guy, and yesterday did nothing to alleviate that concern.

My positive is that we went ahead and ran the ball with under a minute left to go ahead and get the game over with.

This.