LinvilleGorge

I expected the OL to look bad. In part because we lack talent. Also in part because we haven't identified our starters yet and given them time to work together and gel. That's what I'm saying. If we don't identify our five and let them gel into a cohesive unit then they're not going to play up to their ability, even if that ability is subpar. We gotta identify our five and let them start working on becoming the best unit that they can be. More than any other unit on the field, an OL has to be a cohesive unit.

Where did I say that? My concern is very specific. And it's the opposite of what you seem to be interpreting.

This is the NFL. Not every team is coaches by Rivera and Shula. The rest of the league is going to show you different wrinkles week in and week out. OLs need time to gel to understand each other, to work well together, to understand each individual assignment and how to communicate in order to handle the types of exotic blitzes they're going to see. Trust and believe, if you show an inability to handle the blitz you're going to see a LOT of blitzes.

That's why you practice. Picking up exotic blitzes is why OLs need time to gel. Meanwhile, we're still playing musical chairs because we're realizing that we may simply not have the talent necessary and we're desperately trying to find out what our best bad option might be. We gotta find our five and let them start gelling. Playing musical chairs on the OL isn't a recipe for success.

We're gonna scream "No fair! You gotta wait til three Mississippi!"

Sadly, you might be right.

Rhule said we protected well. Seems like virtually every other observer saw something very different. Coaches say what they think needs to be said in the moment. He may see these guys giving all they have and knows bashing them isn't going to do anything positive. Talking them up and giving them as much confidence and support might be the best option right now. We'll see. There's a lot more talent in the secondary and receiving corps so if those guys aren't playing up to their ability they're gonna hear about it and Rhule will be a lot more likely to say so publicly.

Not worst case scenario, just pointing out the hypocrisy. Can't put our money on Darnold only sucking because of an adverse situation in NY while at the same time thinking our backup needs to go through a similar adverse situation to get battle hardened.

So we need PJ to get the hell beat out of him but Sam busted in NY because he got the hell beat out of him?

Getting busted in the mouth a split second after receiving the snap isn't gonna be helpful reps.

I sure hope the Colts are sitting their starters too because I feel awful for PJ if he has to go out there against their starting D behind our backup OL.

With the new preseason schedule, it's odd how teams are treating the 1st game like they used to treat the 4th game. I would've thought we would see them approach it like the old 2nd, 3rd, and 4th games in that order. I'm guessing now that we're going to see the new preseason schedule treated like the old 4th, 3rd, and 1st games in that order. I didn't expect that.

Ultimately, the proof is in the pudding. Win when the games count and it doesn't matter. I just have serious doubts we're gonna do that.

I don't mind camp fights. Never have. If you don't have some scuffles then there's not enough effort. This is football. These guys aren't playing soccer out there. Anyone who ever played football knows any August practice that was worth a fug has some scuffles. Doesn't mean poo. Doesn't mean lack of discipline. Doesn't mean had blood. Just means you're playing football and going all out in miserable August heat.

Makes sense. We're an established team. No big depth chart decisions to make. We just need to stay healthy and we're Super Bowl favorites. Wait... what?

Agreed with all of this.

QB is the huge one.

A lot of low probability moves working out really well. We pulled it off early on in the Gettleman years.

It's possible, but we definitely need some lucky breaks to go our way.

We'll see if we're light years ahead. I'm not convinced we are. I think we're heading the right direction of defense, but seems like we're treading water on offense.

It's what happens after three straight losing seasons.

The ones that have the stuff will make it anyway.

Truth. Virtually every high pick QB ends up in a shitty situation. It's just the reality of being a high pick QB. Trey Lance got really lucky.

He just physically looked like a shadow of his former self. That was a BAD injury with not a great track record of successful athletic recovery.

Teddy had accuracy and anticipation too.