OldhamA

I am acknowledging reality that they don't think an overweight 6th round pick is ready to start the season opener, yeah. If he's any good he'll work his way into the lineup - that's how Rhule operates.

Because he doesn't throw every rookie ever into the lineup? Horn is going to start, Marshall is (essentially) going to start. Tremble is going to see major minutes. Hubbard is apparently returning Kicks and first man off the bench at RB. Taylor and Nixon will rotate in on defence. How much more do you want?

"I don't think the defence is going to be great". fugouttahere

I swear to god, if you make this a race thing...

You'd dread August every year - new young QB brought in to challenge you, getting hit in the pre-season games. Survive that though and back to the red jersey and chillin' with your mates. The dream (if you know you're not good enough to start in the NFL).

This is all way OT from the thread, but I'll just finish with: I enjoyed that season. I was extremely disappointed we couldn't beat the corpse of Peyton Manning in the Super Bowl. We never recovered from that as a franchise. That team relied heavily on a handful of star players. It was unsustainable. Yes, it's only one season (and two offseasons), but Rhule's team last year was night and day to anything Rivera has fielded. They looked tough, physical, disciplined and amounted to far more than the sum of their parts. The injection of talent is like nothing we've seen around these part since Siefert was here.

Yeah the season felt good and was fun, but I didn't sit there thinking "this is the turning point for the franchise!". I thought "wow our drafting has been spotty af, just enjoy this while it lasts cos it's unsustainable".

Much like we drafted Davis to spy Vick, if I was in that division I'd be drafting an ultra athletic LB highly to do likewise. I still feel Murray is one hit away from a career ender. He's 5'10" but 8 of those inches are his forehead.

The 49ers O is the best to watch in the NFL imo. They move the line of scrimmage and gash teams with the run. It's beautiful to watch.

How'd that work out for us? Or was it, as I thought at the time, a flash in the pan season?

We never achieved back-to-back winning seasons. I always felt we had a handful of very good players, surrounded by dross with a poor HC and GM without a plan. The 2015 SB run we caught lightning in a bottle. If we were a good franchise we'd have built on that - instead we've been pretty terrible since as injuries caught up with those handful of star players.

We will see. This is the first time I've felt good about this franchise for a decade.

That's why the QB Coach is on record as trying to fix his footwork... I'm not saying that they didn't need to change his mindset too - but that's why you have the different tiers of coaches. HC and OC will mostly be interested in his decision making. QB Coach (and any position coach) will mostly be interested in his mechanics. Both needed adjustment, and it looks like both are being adjusted. The raw material is there in abundance.

I'm going to ignore the Newton comments because we'll just end up disagreeing. I didn't say he didn't care. I said it's not his primary concern. He'll enjoy the win more than most, but he should have a burning desire to win every game, not just those against the Jets.

Why would you want him to want to beat the Jets more than any other team if you're the HC? Pretty useless motivator as you play them once a decade, no?

Delhomme is a completely different personality to Darnold. I didn't say he didn't give a poo - there's a little more on this game than a usual weekly matchup, but he's not hell bent on revenge. I'm not going to engage with the last part of that statement.

Good article. I'm going to go on record and say that the acquisition of Darnold is the final part of the triumvirate with regards to rejuvenating this tired, listless franchise. The first step was a new owner who's had a vision and was willing to back that with significant financial resources. The second step was hiring a fantastic HC who has a tried-and-tested process and evidently is a fantastic evaluator of talent. Acquiring a very, very talented starting QB for the next 10 years for peanuts was the final step. I don't want to be wrong.

I should have added "baring a catastrophic run of injuries". He's been given everything he wanted - if the team goes backwards from last year... well let's just say Tepper isn't a patient man.

I don't think Darnold is lying. Sure, there's a bit of resentment there and maybe he'll celebrate a little harder than normal when we win, but he's evidently an even keeled guy. You have to be to play QB in this league - he can't focus all your energy on getting back at one franchise. He isn't Steve Smith.

Rhule would be fired if we picked in the Top 5.

This would have been a crushing blow last year when he was their #1 WR. Did Darnold dirty.

Who, Darnold?

I THINK they're teaching him to keep his feet active so they're aligned correctly when he throws the ball. Some think that means he has happy feet - I think it's the opposite. The QB coach is getting him to overcompensate and consciously move his feet because he has (had?) lazy footwork and that's 90% of the reason he got in trouble in the past.

Not if there's a receiver in the area that you're throwing it to. Veteran move by Brady.