strato

I’d point to the Rams win and those two 4th TDs but I am sure there is plenty of poo you can point to as well. Whatever game it was with the clusterfug last second FG miss would suffice. Where it was so rushed and the kicker slipped. Mixed bag. Edit. Saints game maybe, for that rushed FG blunder. Was that 1st half? My memory sucks… Some other end of 1st half stuff fits. Yeah the same thing that happened Saturday happened another time. Want to say maybe it was the Saints too.

I don’t mind Dom as much, don’t see what he could be hurting. And on the flip side I don’t know what Caldwell could be helping. I always associated him with the pro Bryce cabal though, rightly or wrongly. Long as they aren’t hurting things I guess it doesn’t matter.

Well Tepper probably liked Frank more because he liked the 3-4. Because we had been running it. So I don’t know what that tells me about who hired Evero. You might be right and Frank wanted him. Or he could have been just another Tepper/Fitterer idea. There were a few of them in 2023. I thought. Then, Evero was put on Canales or retained independently, however you want to see it. Did not leave with Frank, when most of Frank’s people were out of here. I certainly don’t know it’s just what I thought was going on.

Because he is a massive challenge and he improved. Such as it was. If you can help him, it stands to reason you could take on lesser challenges.

I guess my memory is worse than I thought. Besides being old with a declining short term memory, I have been focusing on offense when I hunt down the videos and review. Seeing that as the critical unit right now. I am a bigger fan of defense, but haven’t really been in critique mode for them in the Bryce era. And the missed tackles, I wasn’t referring to them. Just blown coverages, which I thought happened more in the early part of the year. With a poo memory maybe I missed that.

Three years straight of crap to start the year. For sure everyone, even his stans, will be sweating that again in 2026. I wasn’t that worried about our record even this year, but they have given me reason to put more importance on it next year. I have a long standing policy to discount opening week performance as a barometer for the year, but when it is so bad I forget about that and go straight to &($#% mode.

Jackson sure did have a nice year. What a deal we made bringing that guy in. Their communication seems to have taken a little while to gel. when you have new guys, that is probably a price you pay until it isn’t. Doesn’t seem like we had as many out and out coverage snafus this year as in 2024. Maybe I have forgotten some from earlier in the year…

UFL. Well, tear it up fellas. Be rooting for you. NFL needs a minor league like NFL Europe. Guys that would never have had a shot were enabled by the opportunity to play and develop. Warner and Jake were on the same team. Young guys that are backups get no game reps in the NFL unless someone gets hurt. Good for the coaching pool too.

Up in the air. It is a 6-12 month recovery. We will likely have a contract on him for a bit over 13 months so a little bit of a window could exist. As we sit now, I would be very hesitant to use a tag on him. Probably against it. I guess we also have a chance to try a new LOT, so maybe we are desperate by then, maybe not.

Rooney rule team, honoring the Rooney rule most likely. As they say, it is a good experience for guys to go through that process regardless. Not sure if he has done it yet. Maybe he has. That poo would get old being the token Rooney guy. Or one of them but you gotta take what comes. Look how long it to Rivera to get hired as a HC. Not that he was Rooney, but he was a minority also. And not saying that had anything to do with it. He was an excellent DC.

You may be right on there. I always said people don’t trade the pick if the fruit is sweet. Well not exactly that I just came with the fruit analogy.

Yeah I think we need to be preparing to react to that becoming a big issue.

I am not really willing to cut XL slack on the trajectory of the pass. In fact for a likely 50/50 result Bryce’s rainbows seem like they would be easier to come down with. I am picturing Russell Wilson’s punts that he was so lucky with so often. That is what I pictured it looking like with him and Bryce. You don’t have to be that close to the OB for that to work though. Which Bryce seems to not execute, he is often right on that line or over it. Seems like it couldn’t be that damned hard to make your angle a little less severe when throwing a deeper ball to the outside. But it has been. As to XL, I never had it out for him but I have eyes. He deserves to be demoted.

My first reaction is the mental image of a Cam fastball which surely would make it more difficult. Vs a Bryce cream puff toss. I do think in that situation Bryce’s ball is easier to handle if it is not perfect. I don’t see the need to die on the it bad pass good pass hill, but do not think Bryce threw him a gimme, at the least.

That is probably a good point that I did not consider. It doesn’t force their hand financially, to declare early.

It has been going down that backyard ball road with the QBs a long time. It also has made it more difficult to evaluate OL for the pro game. I agree though that the NIL is making it even worse. Then they get in the league and suck, coaches get fired. Here comes a new system every year for some of them, same as you are talking about in college. Unfortunately, IMO, the league has responded by taking the path of least resistance offensively. The only saving grace for the QB problem we identified here is the slotted salaries out of the draft. No more 100 million rookie deals. Which today would be 250 million and even more. So to me, paying a player that doesn’t bring success in the first two or three years, you can’t do it. Better to take another shot in the draft or reclaim someone else's failure. Given that all staffs are not equal. Look what Shanahan did with Purdy for instance. And their getting off of Lance quickly. In theory if Canales is a QB whisperer type, which we don’t know he isn’t at least to a higher degree than many (not including the established masters) we should be quicker on the trigger with these QBs. If Bryce doesn’t show out next year we really need to hit the reset.

Don’t know why but those videos won’t play on my iPad. I did get to see the play. And what you are talking about is what I expected to see more of with XL. Bryce just isn’t the passer over to the sidelines deep that Stafford is. Inaccurate a lot. Between XL’s sideline gaffs and the tendency to get the pass too near being OB or just OB it definitely doesn’t work like I hoped.

https://overthecap.com/position/left-guard Lewis is the 9th highest paid Left Guard in the league. I bet it was higher when the deal was done two years ago. https://overthecap.com/position/right-guard Hunt #3 highest Right Guard There is a tab in the upper left portion of the graphic that allows looking at the different positions.

Yeah that pass rush is kind of a big deal. He was getting beat though, off the snap not (just) after 5 seconds of defending the scramble drill. He has to do better. And yes we have to help them with a better pressure package.

Can’t argue much with it. Good linebackers would make a huge difference. Jewel wasn’t great but losing him really hurt. We were basically practice squad level a good deal of the time there. Wallace needs to get on the stick, I had hopes for him when they took him but those have been downgraded. I don’t think he will ever be much. edit/PS we did improve, substantially. Despite the remaining issues. A lot of the problem early was likely an issue of integrating new guys and getting them on the same page. We seemed to have fewer blown coverage assignments n the back end as the year progressed.

I blame the players maybe not being good enough to implement the scheme. Also I blame the players, mostly, for their crappy tackling. But the coaches needed to nip that in the bud. And did not. We addressed the edge pressure with substantial draft capital this year, but they weren’t top shelf already there guys. Scourton is young as hell. It takes time though, and yes adding a real stud would be great. I am now afraid this Icky thing thwarts that or could. The best hope I have for Horn is the concussion affected him because most of his bad play seemed to come after that happened. But now he has a second one. Obviously he was disappointing down the stretch.

And that 1.1. They have a long way to go, but it is sort of a blank slate for a coach to work with.

Head coach and coordinator require different skill sets. Couple of guys have all the skill sets, it is rare. EE could transition, never know until you put him in the job, like all coordinators who get the chance to try being HC. And that is why I was really never against hiring retreads. I think it is an acquired skill for some and they can learn a lot from their failure the first time. Of course some just plain are not cut out for it.

Yeah me too. I have only said so almost daily for three years. I do see his improvement, but like I said it still comes up short of expectations. Or requirements. And I long ago gave up expecting 1.1 overall highest level play (actually never expected it, sadly). Just good will do. I guess one more damned year of rollout backyard football is on the menu. Raise your floor Bryce. No more fuging every other week maybe you play well then you go back to rookie Bryce level the next week. More LA Rams Bryce no more SF Bryce.

Seems like get yourself a Loomis and you will always have deep pockets.