TD alt

I mean, and I've said it recently, 2024 was Dan's first draft. It was also stunted by the residual effects of the Bryce trade. I think it's kind of cynical to say that the earlier draft was akin to a counterbalance of the later draft. I mean, you have every right to look at it that way, but it would seem to me that you'd put a premium on the improvement from year one to year two. That is certainly evidence of moving in the right direction, even if one considers it modest, or maybe even nominal, improvement (not that I necessarily view it that way). That being said, I don't think it's coincidental that the better draft was with Brandt Tillis. But, Dan hired Brandt Tillis. It's not a stretch to think that he can hire someone else with a similar analytical/PFF background.

He has had emaculate timing and a helluva agent. Eff him however.

UnluckyforUs, I guess... *LOL*

I still say this guy should be on our list:

This doesn't breed optimism.

Honestly, I never thought about the fact that Harbaugh and Payton could've said (or at least thought) that Bryce has to go. At the time, Tepper wasn't going for that, and in general Tepper probably balked at seeding so much power after the Matt Rhule fiasco. In my opinion, he should've been able to see the absolute obvious difference, being that Payton and Harbaugh had had varying degrees of success in the NFL and Matt Rhule had not. I don't think Ben Johnson wanted any piece of Bryce either. You know, if you really think about it, we're still in a similar situation. If we were to axe Canales and force Bryce on the next coach (unless maybe if it were Nick Saban *LOL), then nobody of import will want to take the job. That would be a SMDH type of situation.

Well I guess that I was somewhat unreasonable because I predicted anything from 4-11 wins with 7 being my best guess. We got to 8, and really could've gotten to 11, I believe, if Bryce had actually continued to improve and basically continued where he left off last season. He didn't, and as has become customary, he pretty sh¡t the bed at the beginning of the season, caught a little spark in October, and pretty much played like sh¡t every other week since. In my estimation, Dave hasn't necessarily "earned" anything from where I'm sitting, but I'm not opposed to giving him another year or two based upon the Bryce effect. Canales, to me, seems to be coaching down as opposed to making calls that make sense. If he doesn't feel that Bryce can do the job, then he needs to campaign for a legit backup plan. If we don't get one, then I don't expect we'll see any improvement next season, and Canales can be jettisoned with Bryce. We should have substantial and unquestionable improvement, and if we don't, changes should be made. If Canales can't be the catalyst for that change, then he doesn't need to be here.

What you have to ask is if this is the Bryce effect. If the answer is, "yes," then you must not extend Bryce, and if you do exercise the option, you have to have a serious plan B (and, no, Dalton is not serious). If the answer is "no," then Canales should be put on a leash and a hot seat.

In my other post, I did mention suffering the lingering effects of the Bryce trade, so I indirectly acknowledged that it was ultimately a mistake, but with some nuance. In my opinion, it wasn't necessarily a huge blunder from a football perspective to trade up if you look within a vacuum, as that's what teams do, but it was highly risky (the nature of the beast). The "blunder" was taking a short, smallish QB who was anything but prototypical as a potential franchise QB. I always said that "they had better be right," but they were wrong. But for me that's water under the bridge. Now we have to wait and see if they're smart enough to correct the mistake and not not make the same mistake again. Now would I have traded up? No (I may inordinately value draft capital). But I can't say that trying to get an answer at QB is bad in and of itself, but it did turn out badly in my estimation, and David Tepper has to own that. But I've already mentioned how it water under the bridge and how he has changed his modus operandi. We'll see if the seeming progress continues. Giving Bryce a contract extension prematurely based upon his body of work will go a long way towards telling us if Tepper and Morgan are serious about establishing long-term success.

What has Stefanski done that would warrant replacing Canales with him? Stefanski has had a long run, and a I'm not sure how much juice he actually had in personnel decisions and the like, but he's been a part of a dumpster fire arguably more intense than what we've experienced.

Idzik would be clearly a fall guy

So the PFF angle is turning out to look pretty damned good.

Different situation and context. To be clear, in general the Falcons were expected to compete for the division, and, to put it bluntly, we were not. The Falcons roster was generally thought to be ready to compete for a deep run when he took Raheem Morris took the job. Moreover, Morris and GM Terry Fontenot made the decision to take Penix Jr., notwithstanding all that money Kirk Cousins was paid, and the decision backfired big time. The comment was a one-liner that doesn't pass muster when analyzing the two situations. As for David Tepper, I would think that it's pretty obvious that he has taken a backseat since Dan Morgan has been a GM. For those that don't want to give him credit for adjusting his modus operandi, I guess you'll continue to berate him into perpetuity because it's easy and "fun," I guess. Admittedly, has made what turned out to be boneheaded decisions in retrospect based upon what I'll refer to as "billionaire bravado," pre-Morgan, but it is what it is. Tepper was a bit of a control freak, and probably still is (they probably all are), but at least now he is letting football guys run the show. Now I'm not one that says the owner should never get involved, especially when things are going badly, but that should largely be to swing the axe, and signing off on major changes. Tepper wants to win, and he's trying to make it happen, and I can appreciate the improvement. As for Morgan, and by extension Canales, we'll see. They're still relatively new at their positions (as is Tepper, relatively). They aren't going to be perfect, and are still figuring things out. I think that the improvement from the 2024 draft to the 2025 draft is stark, but you have to realize that the prior draft was hamstrung due to the residual effects of the king's ramson for Bryce Young, and it was this admin's first draft. And, of course, it must never be forgotten that they came into the situation hamstrung by Bryce Young, who was not their choice (especially DC's), and is a ways away from the prototypical franchise QB. In light of all that, I would be surprised if either is fired after the season. Although I am skeptical and critical of Canales, and don't necessarily think that he has made improvements coaching---situational play calling in particulatlr---I still can't fully say he can't coach as long as he has Bryce as a QB. In one sense, I can say that it's amazing that he has improved in spite of Bryce's shortcomings, but in another sense I can say that we're not going to go anywhere fast, or anywhere at all, if this duo is allowed to go on, as Dave is coaching to Bryce's shortcomings (so to speak), because that's all that he can do if the team has any opportunity to eek out some wins. In other words, I still don't know how this is going to go, but I do pretty much know that we improved, if only incrementally, and that Tepper's change is obvious, Dan's change from year one to year two is a little less obvious, though still stark, Canales may or may not have improved as he's tied down, and Bryce hasn't really improved at all. Admittedly, I don't think Bryce is the long term answer, so my opinion of him may be highly subjective, but I just don't see it. We don't know what the fug we're going to get week to week, and I see the same mistakes though Canales may be trying to mitigate them.

Not gonna happen

There were worse teams, even maybe one of our own.

That may be, but I ain't rooting for the Saints. The refs were as much as the Bucs victory as anything.

I told y'all that he was done a long time ago and that he wasn't our best back, but then got blowback. I double down on what I said. Unless we do something stupid, he'll be gone anyway.

Moving the ball down field and getting close to scoring position, and you do a trick play, on a wet field no less. My, oh my.

The refs need to be fined or fired for making terrible calls

I understand, but bringing someone in who will actually improve the situation is no guarantee. They're all damaged goods in some sense. Could we get marked improvement? Maybe. We surely would hope so, but it's still not guaranteed. And as for the draft, honestly we'd probably have to have a lot of luck involved, provided that we don't spend round 1 and/or 2 draft capital. Do we really want to do that notwithstanding other needs that are wanting? That's a discussion. I don't see it as guaranteeing him two more years of being the starter, especially how he plays. Unless the light switch comes on and we see something totally different than what we've seen for the last three seasons, I don't know that Bryce lasts even another full season. Even the Tepper's have to have come-to-Jesus moments, and I just can't see Dan And Dave testing the pliability of their job strings by continuing to let Bryce continue to hot and cold. I see the option, if they exercise it, as a going through the motions---a cost-effective one last gasp at trying to save a sunk cost.

I mean, you wanna go cold turkey...Enter a QB abyss? I seriously doubt that a move like that will be sanctioned (and that's probably the most realistic way to fix the problem). Brett Rypien, anyone?

Not exactly what he said. He expects it. Perhaps Kimes expects it, but they're just reading the tea leaves like everyone else. Hell, I expect it ( considering our FO). But there is nothing definitive as of yet.

It's a national broadcast per Google AI. There's always a way to watch BTW, or so I've been told.

I mean, this year we should've easily been a playoff team in my opinion. We should have easily had two or three more wins--at least one--had not Bryce crapped the bed. But let's be serious about human nature and what we know about our FO. I wouldn't bet the farm that Bryce will be anything but the defacto starter in 2026, because (inconsistent though it was) we have exceeded expectations this year, and some in the FO probably believe, rightly or wrongly, that Bryce is at the center of that. You know, piece of bread seems like a meal if all you've had is a cracker. That being said, Bryce has shown plenty of inconsistency if not a downright pattern of flaws. He's a third year QB, and some, if not most, of his metrics aren't pretty. It could be argued that he should be further along (for me it's not really arguable). So, hopefully the decision makers will acquire a couple of plan Bs. I would hate it and love it if we identified "our guy" in the draft, and that it was somehow achievable to acquire him with a couple of high draft picks or even less. But we already pulled the trigger on Bryce with arguably awful results, so that's got to make the decision makers a little skittish to repeat a mistake that should be still fresh on everyone's mind. That being said, I think that it's more likely that we acquire a player like Mac Jones, Malik Willis or Trey Lance in free agency, and also target a day two or day three developmental pick in the draft with some real upside. That pick for would be Drew Allar who should slide to day three (I'm thinking). I think that this is more realistic than them releasing Bryce from his starter's role from the get-go, or someone just flat out playing themselves definitely into the starter's role by the time the season begins. Now, again, if we can find "our guy" that changes the narrative and is expected to be the starter from day one, I'd be excited, if not downright ecstatic, but I don't think that's a realistic expectation. Getting back to the team in general, If we don't make some improvements, including QB, I wouldn't bet that we'd necessarily be a playoff team next year, because, the rest of the NFCS is likely to improve next year. I don't expect that teams in our division will be necessarily able to "backdoor" themselves into the playoffs next season. So we're going to have to hit on at least a couple of picks, get healthy along the line, and fundamentally change the way we're calling plays because lightning probably isn't striking twice. I'm hoping that we'll have a real breakthrough season by 2028, because this season and next season aren't likely to be it because removing ball-and-chains ain't easy unless you got the key, and It's still gonna take some time to find it.