News to me

[BrianS]

I never really looked into it or thought about it, just happened to stumble across this.  Apparently, we're playing one of the toughest schedules in the league.

Here's a couple . . . one from last week, one from this week.

Obviously there are variances in how sites each compute SoS, but you can start to see a trend the more you look at.  Not saying it excuses everything, but it does explain a few things.  We aren't playing the NFC East here.

 

[raleigh-panther]

While this may be true, some of the players and coaches on the field are not NFL ready 

I get the dead money, I get a lot of players had aged and left or where let go, I understand the salary cap but I have real concerns about the team put on the field by Hurney and the coaching staff

i mean, really, a team would have to plan to be this bad 

which begs the question, again, why would a team pay Bridgewater $63 million to lead it for 3 years with this roster 

point being I have heard Rhule say he ‘wanted to win now’   Looking at that roster, what in all his football experience made him think this team could compete with the big boys this year 

there will be another roster turnover coming   I don’t want Hurney to be part of it   We need a true talent evaluator and I’m not too sure that the answer should always be ex Baylor or Temple either 

I want players from winning programs.  We had enough ‘Rudys’ with Ron  

 

[Mage]

We’ve played stud QBs all season

[hepcat]

5 minutes ago, Mage said:

We’ve played stud QBs all season

Got lucky we played Herbert in only his second game ever 

[Sgt Schultz]

7 minutes ago, raleigh-panther said:

point being I have heard Rhule say he ‘wanted to win now’   Looking at that roster, what in all his football experience made him think this team could compete with the big boys this year 

I have to ask, what did you think he was going to say? 

Tepper, himself, said everything to indicate this team was not going to win this year, and rebuilding it would be a process.  As the owner, he can say that. 

But the HC?  The most negative statement you are usually going to get before a season starts is that some tough roster choices have to be made.  Otherwise, he is sending the message to his own locker room that "you all suck and there is no hope."

[Proudiddy]

We have one of the toughest SoS every year.

[raleigh-panther]

4 hours ago, Sgt Schultz said:But the HC?  The most negative statement you are usually going to get before a season starts is that some tough roster choices have to be made.  Otherwise, he is sending the message to his own locker room that "you all suck and there is no hope."

You took one sentence of what I said however he doesn’t have to say anything now.

The stats say it for him at this point along with reliance on gimmicks plays during the game because the QB his OC chose can’t throw the ball more than 4 yards under pressure   Defenses just clamp down on those routes and rush more  

To me, his message should have been ‘do your job and and I’ll put you in the best spot to compete’

i don’t  see that ‘best spot’ with this Baylor coaching staff or the personnel on the field from Temple and Baylor. It’s like there is no one else in the nfl world who can play except those from those two schools both of which haven’t exactly set the world in fire in Div 1 

you mean to tell me there isn’t one player better than Tahiti Whitehead or Reed? 

[Sgt Schultz]

3 minutes ago, raleigh-panther said:

You took one sentence of what I said however he doesn’t have to say anything now.

The stats say it for him at this point along with reliance on gimmicks plays during the game because the QB his OC chose can’t throw the ball more than 4 yards under pressure   Defenses just clamp down on those routes and rush more  

To me, his message should have been ‘do your job and and I’ll put you in the best spot to compete’

i don’t  see that ‘best spot’ with this Baylor coaching staff or the personnel on the field from Temple and Baylor. It’s like there is no one else in the nfl world who can play except those from those two schools both of which haven’t exactly set the world in fire in Div 1 

you mean to tell me there isn’t one player better than Tahiti Whitehead or Reed? 

Of course he had to say something.  Reporters and talking heads ask him that or questions leading to that early on.....no Cam, no Luke, young roster, what are his expectations and goals?  Nobody is going to say "no comment" or "I hope to win in three years."

Here is a news flash: whatever he said to the press or openly is most likely BS compared to what he, Hurney, and Tepper talked about behind closed doors.  People act like what anybody says for public consumption is "the plan."  In reality, the public is so reactionary him not commenting or commenting that they are building for the future will, most likely, be spun into "Rhule shows no urgency."   

From a building perspective, it was never about winning this year unless we could do it with players who will be with us for the medium to long term, or at a minimum, not screw up the ability to move on later.  That, more or less, from the guy writing the checks.  Assuming what he said was right (getting it right in the long term and it will take time), he would probably have just as soon skipped this year and moved to next year's draft.  The league does not give him that option.

The question isn't whether there are players better than Whitehead or Reed.  The question is whether there are players better than them that can fit into the longer-term picture or at least not screw up the cap moving toward the long-term picture when they have to be parted with.  People complain about Bridgewater's contract, but if you look at the way it is structured, it does exactly what the team needs. 

Your post leads me to believe you are focused on winning this year.  The problem is that is not the bar the organization is aiming at.

 

[WarHeel]

ATL is the only garbage can we have faced this year. I’m not much for participation trophies but one takeaway from this year is that one could argue we are over performing our schedule and expectations with the rebuild.

[pantherj]

We have possibly the worst roster in the NFL if you count overall talent. If we're not the #1 worst, then top 5 worst. The more we lose, the more Teddy and the coaches will catch heat.

Because we're also a young team on defense, we get a wide range of performances from terrible to good. We don't know what to expect from week to week.

The bottom line is that we need the highest draft picks possible, so losing is likely helping our future 2021 team which could be playoffs level in talent. The reason the team might be a lot more talented is due to the high draft picks and a lot of cap space after cutting some drastically under performing players. We'll have cash to bring in a couple of mid-tier free agents, and high 1st, 2nd, and 3rd rounders who could start right away.

If everything breaks our way, then we could have a mid-level roster talent wise. The puts the playoffs in range if the ball bounces our way and the injury bug stays away for the most part.