woahfraze

We’ve invested enough money in the offensive line to justify a top or market free agent contract. The end of the year showed us that we have a unit that has developed good chemistry and can be really effective in both run blocking and pass protection. From a needs and capital allocation perspective, it makes much more sense to invest in the defense and another playmaker on offense. The offensive line should not be ignored this offseason, but the focus here should be to maintain/build depth in the position group rather than bring in a new starter.

Impressive catch by Coker.

Love it. Very nice 4th and 1 call. Falcons loaded up to stop the run on. Good fake. Easy pitch and catch.

Still should be a catch. On the regather into the chest (which you could possibly argue is really just part of the catch, not necessarily a bobble), Thielen still had two feet dragging when he got it into his chest.

The defense is absolute ass, but it was not even really bad defense on the last play specifically by the CB IMO. That was just an absolute dot by Penix. He did it twice in a row. Just got lucky on the first one that it was a tad long/a wierd “tie” with the CB on the catch.

I’m not saying culture is all that matters. But you just named: A 4th round pick (Amon Ra St Brown) Two 2nd round picks (LaPorta and Branch) The 20th overall pick (Ragnow) The 18th overall pick (Campbell) The 12th overall pick (Gibbs) The 7th overall pick (Sewell) The 2nd overall pick (Hutchinson) Two free agency signing (Montgomery and Smith) A player obtained in a trade (Goff) So only two players (Sewell and Hutchinson) where is losing ground in draft position from picking ~5 to ~10 would have mattered at all. All the rest were either the front office making the right choices with their draft selections or bring in veterans who fit what the staff wanted to do schematically, or the staff developing those players (FYI, it’s certainly a combination of those two things).

If you think that the Lions draft position had more to do with where they are as a franchise than Dan Campbell and the culture he has built, there’s nothing more to discuss with you. You just don’t get it. Our franchise isn’t in the toilet because we’ve ruined our draft position year after year. It’s because we haven’t had a Dan Campbell come in and implement a program and a culture of winning.

And look at what Darnold has done this year and how Mayfield has played in Tampa since leaving here. There is no way of knowing whether Herbert would have performed well here or if we would have ruined him.

Note the second sentence of my post….

There’s no guarantee we would have taken those players, even though we as fans wanted them. And there’s not guarantee the coaching staff we had at the time would have allowed/turned those players into the players they are today.

The team has to learn how to win. That’s inclusive of the players and the coaches. Hopefully getting this one under their belt will mean there are more the come.

Learning how to win > slightly better draft position. Winning builds culture. At least if you have the right leadership in place. Not sure we do, but we aren’t going to improve long term and start to consistently win if we don’t start winning some. That winning culture doesn’t just turn on like a light switch. It has to be built over time and winning these sorts of games helps do that. And given teams make bad draft selections all the time, the difference between pick 5 and 7 isn’t great. You still have to make the right pick wherever you’re drafting. And then you have to have the winning culture and infrastructure to develop that pick into a successful one.

This is the perfect reason you can’t box score scout. At half today, he’s got a 10.3 YPA and a QB Rating of 100. Whereas the past 3 games, he’s had a lower QB Rating (low 80s), which has been due mostly to relatively low completion percentage and YPA. But if you watch the film, the last three games, he’s played with more anticipation, made better reads, and threatened down the field more than he has today. His numbers were deflated by drops that would have increased his TD%, YPA, and completion percentage. Today, he’s playing worse but his numbers are buoyed by an 83 yard TD. It’s also a good reminder that level of play can fluctuate. Just because he played better the past few games doesn’t mean it would continue forever. But it also doesn’t mean that him playing like he is today will continue forever. Signs are pointing up. He’s got to improve more, but he has the ability to, he’s not hopeless.

I was an apologist last year. I certainly didn’t think he shouldered none of the blame for the poo show we all endured. He was not put in a good situation to succeed between the offensive line, coaching scheme/playing calling, etc., but he also wasn’t playing well enough. Those things can both be true at the same time, and all the deficiencies can reinforce and amplify one another. But I was out on him after Game 2 this year. To come into the season with a much improved situation and a whole offseason of being within a pro football infrastructure, his play those two games was unacceptable. So color me very surprised that he’s returned from his benching and played this way. Something has clearly clicked. He’s got more improving to do, but anyone who remains a full on hater is ignoring a lot of good tape that he’s putting out. Whether he can perform more consistently remains to be seen, but he’s showing that he can be a functional NFL QB working from the pocket, who can also excel outside of structure. Obviously you want more out of the No. 1 overall than a mid-level starter. I think he has the potential to be more. Probably not an elite level ceiling, but an above average one. He’s not there yet, but there’s hope. He could also plateau where he’s at. Or regress. We just don’t know.

Ok? Where in my post did I defend Bryce? I described the effort as I saw it and then said I didn’t see anything that makes me think he’ll ever get there? Why are you quoting me with this?