Icege

I'm not saying the dude is going to have the mythical year three that he's had twice before, but would it even matter? Y'all both just said that any success this team might have you're not going to give credit to Rhule but rather chalk it to him not getting in the way.

He was outperformed by Hoskins, Roy, McCall etc. The only time he flashed last year was during the Colts joint practices. Aside from that, his 82 snaps over 7 games last season translated into just half a sack, 1 solo tackle, and 2 QB hits. There's no real surprise when we watch the performance on the field rather than the traits on paper.

The rationalizations prove my point on this.

Dude has consistently underperformed. Rarely got a push, was washed out often, etc. Phil Hoskins did more on the field than him as a 7th round selection. Was only a matter of time at this point, especially with McCall also outplaying him.

I'm fairly certain that even if the win column is showing what the fans want that people are going to deny Rhule's involvement. If anything, they'll write him off as finally staying out of the way, being carried by his coaching staff, carried by his players, etc.

I figured if there were anywhere folks would catch flack, it would be Columbia. Gamecocks fans never recovered from the ass beating they took from Auburn during the SEC Championship game.

Curious as well, as I've never gotten an ill word while wearing a Cam jersey during his time here nor afterwards.

There's plenty of reasons to be optimistic or pessimistic; it's just a matter of what you choose to be at this point. Personally, I prefer to have a good time. Some folks prefer to be miserable. At this point, it's up to you.

I have an unhealthy infatuation with the center position, and to say that I wanted Creed Humphrey and Tyler Linderbaum is an understatement (I will die on the hill that wrestlers make great linemen, especially centers). However, we've also got the guy that Linderbaum replaced... and he's seems to be pretty good too. Trey Smith is the guy that every fan but Chiefs fans can point at and scream, "SEE!?!?!" when arguing against their current regime.

"I'll take the NFL player's word with a grain of salt" That's about enough of the Huddle for today.

Buffalo was #13 in rushing attempts in 2021. Carolina was #14 with only 6 less attempts. Teams that ranked higher in rushing attempts included Tennessee, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Orleans, Indianapolis, San Francisco, Arizona, New England, and Dallas. The Chiefs were #20, Rams #24 in rushing attempts. Other teams ranking that low included: Tampa Bay, Houston, both New York teams, Atlanta, and Jacksonville. Running the football and playing defense is just as viable as throwing it 800 times a year. The latter requires the likes of a Tom Brady, Justin Herbert, or Patrick Mahomes.

Fitty Cent!!!! I wouldn't have bet on flipping Dennis Daley for any compensation, let alone a 5th at the additional cost of a 7th.

From Dane Brugler's 2020 draft guide Very much looks like a replacement for TMJ. My imagination tells me that the Jets wanted too much for Mims.

I'm expecting the team to keep PJ due to the Darnold injury and that they put Sam on the IR on Wednesday so that they can go dumpster diving for prospects.

Tomorrow

Tecklenburg looked AWFUL against the scrubs. The dude has never once looked better on the field than DJ Moore or Tommy Tremble, during that game or any other game. The only context needed is that PFF's grading system is arbitrary and wildly inconsistent. Anybody with a set of eyes can turn the game on, zero in on those players, and come to the conclusion that Tecklenburg was the worst performing player by far.

Seeing Sam Tecklenburg rated higher than Tommy Tremble and DJ Moore reminds me that those guys over at PFF are about as competent as EA's dev team for Madden.

Game 3 was definitely Deonte Brown's worst preseason game. He had some early struggles before settling in towards the end. Was very disappointing to see, especially since he was clearly outperforming Jordan prior to this weekend.

Undoubtedly. Chuba drops passes in a passing league, has awful vision, and has some downright oogly routes when coming out of the backfield. Lovett even looked faster, and Chuba is supposed to be a track guy!

Oh no doubt, not expecting to sway you, just wanted to (hopefully) alleviate some of the concern as those injuries are going to happen regardless, but at least with the preseason there are reduced injuries overall. You are right though that it still absolutely blows to lose a monster to a game that won't count on the stat sheet.

Nixon is such a weird case to me. When we drafted him there were some pundits calling it an absolute steal. He flashed at that joint practices last offseason as well, but the dude just seems to disappear on the field. I'm regularly seeing other players get better pushes against the same OL I can't tell if it's a processing issue or a physical issue either. Maybe he's the TMJ of the defense?

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/351964020_The_Injury_Rate_in_NFL_Players_was_Increased_Following_Cancellation_of_Preseason_Games_due_to_COVID_19 Players have said that preseason games give them an opportunity to get their body ready for the brutality of the regular season. A study was conducted and found that there was a significant jump in weeks 1 - 4 of the regular season after the 2020 - 2021 preseason was cancelled due to COVID.

To be honest, Hubbard needing to do some growing is exactly why I was not thrilled with the selection. RB is the easiest position to transition to the next level. Outside of pass protection and the plays themselves, there isn't really a whole lot of adjusting taking place. It's not like, say, an offensive linemen who usually needs an NFL offseason or two to get their playing strength up to that of the other elite athletes in the league. I could accept him being the complement to CMC if his hands and vision didn't suck, as you and others mentioned.

I've come to terms that we're going to at least see Erving and Elflein still make the roster, and as much as I have hated Elflein being on the field for the Panthers even I can admit that he's the least terrible out of Erving, Jordan, and himself. Cutting Jordan saves the team $995k (no dead cap!). Erving, Elflein, Mays, and Daley could allow them to roll into the season with 9 OL. I'd love to see Deonte Brown still make the roster, but he hasn't done anything other than not be as terrible as Jordan.