1st Round Redo: Horn vs Slater

[panthers55]

1 minute ago, top dawg said:

I really don't see it as being a Chicken Little as much as I see it as being realistic. I guess it's a matter of expectations. 

In any event, I don't know how anyone can feel good about Paradis, Elfein and Miller last night. And that was basically against backups. "It was preseason" is about the best sugarcoating you can put on it.

No gameplanning, still installing the offense, shuffling linemen in and out to get film.  Guys playing together in game situations for the first time. You guys seem to forget what preseason is about. It is getting film on guys to make roster and position decisions. Mission accomplished and Tepper got a win against his old team and the fans got something to cheer about.  All of these doom and gloom posts are absolutely chicken littleing at this point. Now if it continues into the regular season you might have a point. 

[top dawg]

2 minutes ago, panthers55 said:

No gameplanning, still installing the offense, shuffling linemen in and out to get film.  Guys playing together in game situations for the first time. You guys seem to forget what preseason is about. It is getting film on guys to make roster and position decisions. Mission accomplished and Tepper got a win against his old team and the fans got something to cheer about.  All of these doom and gloom posts are absolutely chicken littleing at this point. Now if it continues into the regular season you might have a point. 

If we don't improve the interior of our O-line, we're going to have another unfulfilling season, point blank! Chicken Little that!

[markbm62]

I really hope we see some Gm magic after the cuts and get some OL help.

[panthers55]

1 minute ago, top dawg said:

If we don't improve the interior of our O-line, we're going to have another unfulfilling season, point blank! Chicken Little that!

And they will improve as they gel. Which is why I am not joining your sky is falling hysteria.

[kungfoodude]

6 minutes ago, panthers55 said:

No gameplanning, still installing the offense, shuffling linemen in and out to get film.  Guys playing together in game situations for the first time. You guys seem to forget what preseason is about. It is getting film on guys to make roster and position decisions. Mission accomplished and Tepper got a win against his old team and the fans got something to cheer about.  All of these doom and gloom posts are absolutely chicken littleing at this point. Now if it continues into the regular season you might have a point. 

It's a legitimate concern because this wasn't an isolated case of them looking underwhelming. Nor are we talking about players with pedigrees we can say, "Oh, well just are just getting warmed up for the regular season." These are guys that have been average to well below average their entire careers.

It's pretty concerning the shape that OL unit is in. Like you said, it doesn't REALLY matter because that wasn't a real game. But, it's not comforting to see them get beaten more often than not over the course of three exhibition games. 

Let's just say, it won't exactly be a surprise if we see them getting blown up through 17 ACTUAL games either.

[top dawg]

1 minute ago, panthers55 said:

And they will improve as they gel. Which is why I am not joining your sky is falling hysteria.

I never said "the sky is falling." I said what I said. Let me make it easy for you. If we go into the season without upgrading some deck chairs, we're in for a long one. That's not the sky falling, it's just the same old sh¡t.

[mrcompletely11]

I wanted Slater badly during the draft and still think he is going to be all world however if we use this next draft to get the line figured out then I truly feel we have a total and complete team thanks to fitt.  So if we get the line fixed next year than I am fine with Horn in the 2021 draft.  He is a stud

[panthers55]

2 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

It's a legitimate concern because this wasn't an isolated case of them looking underwhelming. Nor are we talking about players with pedigrees we can say, "Oh, well just are just getting warmed up for the regular season." These are guys that have been average to well below average their entire careers.

It's pretty concerning the shape that OL unit is in. Like you said, it doesn't REALLY matter because that wasn't a real game. But, it's not comforting to see them get beaten more often than not over the course of three exhibition games. 

Let's just say, it won't exactly be a surprise if we see them getting blown up through 17 ACTUAL games either.

It is only concerning if you discount the caliber of who we played, ignore our preseason goals and assume we won't look bettervwhen the season opens. For now I am not concerned. After all as a fan I don't have to worry about any of it since my job isn't on the line. I am excited for the season and with the much improved defense think we could be better than predicted.

[kungfoodude]

1 minute ago, panthers55 said:

It is only concerning if you discount the caliber of who we played, ignore our preseason goals and assume we won't look bettervwhen the season opens. For now I am not concerned. After all as a fan I don't have to worry about any of it since my job isn't on the line. I am excited for the season and with the much improved defense think we could be better than predicted.

But we will see high caliber players all season long, perhaps not in the quantities that we faced against the likes of Baltimore and Pittsburgh, but it will not get easy, just easier. I'd make a pretty substantial wager that the coaches are concerned about that line, as well. 

I have been very down on the OL the entire length of the offseason, so I am quite worried about that side of the ball headed into the season. I am chomping at the bit to see this defense play though. They look like they are going to be a lot of fun to watch.

[panthers55]

2 minutes ago, top dawg said:

I never said "the sky is falling." I said what I said. Let me make it easy for you. If we go into the season without upgrading some deck chairs, we're in for a long one. That's not the sky falling, it's just the same old sh¡t.

And what makes you think we won't. It isn't just the words but the negativity and protestations about how bad we are that I find overblown. Paradis had a pretty good year in 2020 and rebounded after the huge injury before 2019. Now suddenly he sucks again in his first half of action? That is my definition of sky is falling. And the problem is it goeson and on for post after post and then if they play better one post possibly admitting they were not as bad as advertised. 

[kungfoodude]

1 minute ago, panthers55 said:

And what makes you think we won't. It isn't just the words but the negativity and protestations about how bad we are that I find overblown. Paradis had a pretty good year in 2020 and rebounded after the huge injury before 2019. Now suddenly he sucks again in his first half of action? That is my definition of sky is falling. And the problem is it goeson and on for post after post and then if they play better one post possibly admitting they were not as bad as advertised. 

Paradis played well in stretches last season but he also played quite poorly at times. That's sort of the overall problem with him as a player, it's hard to have a streaky center. That's the guy on the line you really need stability from. 

[top dawg]

9 minutes ago, panthers55 said:

And what makes you think we won't. It isn't just the words but the negativity and protestations about how bad we are that I find overblown. Paradis had a pretty good year in 2020 and rebounded after the huge injury before 2019. Now suddenly he sucks again in his first half of action? That is my definition of sky is falling. And the problem is it goeson and on for post after post and then if they play better one post possibly admitting they were not as bad as advertised. 

It's what I've been suggesting. You're the one intimating that it's all good. "So what if the interior of the O-line implodes during preseason, like we've seen continually, at the end of the day we'll be middle of the pack." 

That's not good enough.

Edited August 28, 2021 by top dawg

[mrcompletely11]

5 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

Paradis played well in stretches last season but he also played quite poorly at times. That's sort of the overall problem with him as a player, it's hard to have a streaky center. That's the guy on the line you really need stability from. 

He got bullrushed at least 3 times last night badly.  I will go back sometime tomorrow and watch the game and only focus on the oline but when I did last night Paradis and Miller looked like high school players.

[panthers55]

1 minute ago, kungfoodude said:

But we will see high caliber players all season long, perhaps not in the quantities that we faced against the likes of Baltimore and Pittsburgh, but it will not get easy, just easier. I'd make a pretty substantial wager that the coaches are concerned about that line, as well. 

I have been very down on the OL the entire length of the offseason, so I am quite worried about that side of the ball headed into the season. I am chomping at the bit to see this defense play though. They look like they are going to be a lot of fun to watch.

If they are concerned about the line thy have two choices, bring in other guys or cich up who you got or hopefully both.

The defense is actually the most surprising. I don't remembering seeing much prevent defense even with the backups. We actually looked more like Pittsburgh than they did last night. Blitzing and mixing things up. I was really happy with Snow. I know he doesnt  listen or care about what fans think but he did exactly what I have advocating for since he got here. I guess he thinks he has the talent to run an aggressive scheme. I do hope he emphasizes finishing the rush and blitz because we missed several sacks because the QB was able to get out of the grasp of a defender who had a hand on him.