"Don’t Look Now, but Bryce Young is Closing the Gap on C.J. Stroud"

[NAS]

1 hour ago, Navy_football said:

I think he had a bad game. Like the Panthers at Dallas. Every QB/team does. He still looks like the guy. But agree, you can't string together so many bad misses in a row. It looked really bad.

The Texans are a pretty good team in the worst division in football. They'll be in the playoffs for awhile. Even without Tank, they have Nico and Dalton Schultz. Metchie seems to be figuring things out and little too. And Robert Woods is their Adam Thielen. 

I just don't see them winning even their first playoff game.  They're down both Diggs and Dell, and their defense is too small up front to stop teams with a running game.  I think they'll be one and done.  

[MHS831]

1 hour ago, Navy_football said:

 Even without Tank, they have Nico and Dalton Schultz.

I think Bryce needs a stud TE more than most QBs do.  Do not be surprised to see us draft a TE earlier than most expect or sign a bigger name in the offseason. 

[MHS831]

5 minutes ago, MillionDollarCam said:

Stroud is going through what Young went through last year due to having arguably the worst OL in football; though Stroud is performing better than Young did with a porous OL. Maybe you can attribute that to better weapons or better coaching, regardless, neither is a finished project and comparing them now is shortsighted.

This does make a good case for Joe Burrow being MVP if he can somehow get the Bengals in the playoffs. The numbers he’s putting up with a bottom 5 OL is insane. Yeah, he has elite weapons but you still need to be able to get the ball to them. Burrow has shown the ability do that regardless of how bad his OL, Strouds not quite there yet.

FWIW, Lamar or Allen probably win MVP but Burrow should be in the conversation if the Bengals sneak into the playoffs.

Stroud has had some weapons and a good defense.  Bryce did not when his OL was terrible.  However, I wanted Stroud.  I tried to support the Young decision, and I think Canales is doing all he can to make Young maximize his productivity.

[Icege]

Weeks 9 - 16 Bryce has been a top 15 QB. :3

Subtract Dallas and he's top 5

Edited 16 hours ago by Icege

[NAS]

On the topic of Bryce vs. Stroud. Let me be clear.

Saying that Stroud has regressed doesn't mean that Bryce is at his level yet.  Clearly Stroud is still having a better season both statistically and in terms of wins (although we know Stroud is in a much better team overall with more weapons and defense). Bryce has a while to go to "close the gap", but it speaks volumes to how high of a celling Stroud set for himself in his rookie year.   It's also undeniable that Bryce has looked better over the last few weeks, or at least that he's on a higher trajectory than Stroud. 

I do think the offseason tour that Stroud did was a little weird.  He kind of bought too much into his own hype and was putting himself into a category of elite passers etc. That thing he did with Caleb where he's acting like his big brother was also kind of cringe.  Hopefully a little humble pie will get him refocused and he'll be better than before.  

It's a fact that Bryce has progressed this year (not regressed) but it's also due to such a low floor he has set.  The traditional stats don't necessarily indicate so but as we've seen, he's doing the right things, making better decisions, his consistently one of the better rated passers by PFF, etc.  I think stats AND wins will come as the team around him gets better with better weapons and defense.  

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I am rooting for both of them to be elite QBs and be faces of their franchise and the league for years to come.  

 

Edited 16 hours ago by NAS

[NAS]

22 minutes ago, MHS831 said:

I think Bryce needs a stud TE more than most QBs do.  Do not be surprised to see us draft a TE earlier than most expect or sign a bigger name in the offseason. 

Isn't that why we drafted JT, I think he's going to be good. 

[MillionDollarCam]

7 minutes ago, MHS831 said:

Stroud has had some weapons and a good defense.  Bryce did not when his OL was terrible.  However, I wanted Stroud.  I tried to support the Young decision, and I think Canales is doing all he can to make Young maximize his productivity.

For sure, I just think it takes an elite QB to get the ball to his weapons if the OL play is bottom 5 bad. Obviously Stroud isn’t there yet which is why I brought up Burrow.

He’s the only QB in the NFL putting up elite numbers with a bottom 5 OL. There’s a level guys have to get to before they can do what Burrow is doing and Stroud’s not there yet but he could eventually be there.

Right now Stroud is a good QB when he’s put in a position with a good OL and an average QB when he has bad OL play. I don’t think he’s regressed, the situation is just different. You just hope he doesn’t pick up bad habits.

As for Young, next year is the deciding year. Canales is setting him up to succeed by putting him in good situations (sans Dallas game) but since he was the number one pick we should definitely want more than a system QB. Purdy proved you can get one of those with the last pick in the draft.

I will say that since the Munich game Young has a TD/TO ratio of 10/4 which translates to a 28/11 ratio over a full 17 game season. Stroud was at a projected ratio of 29/7 over a full 17 game season last year. So not a huge gap between the two if things remained constant.

[NAS]

5 minutes ago, MillionDollarCam said:

He’s the only QB in the NFL putting up elite numbers with a bottom 5 OL. There’s a level guys have to get to before they can do what Burrow is doing and Stroud’s not there yet but he could eventually be there

I agree, he even did it his rookie year where he was running for his life but still making plays.  It helps to have Chase to throw the ball to, but I rate him even higher than Mahomes in being able to overcome lack of protection.

[Jackie Lee]

30 minutes ago, NAS said:

Isn't that why we drafted JT, I think he's going to be good. 

And you can't just sign a really good free agent TE, very few great ones and those are all locked up with the teams that drafted them. JT and Tommy have been a solid duo recently. 

[frankw]

Whether or not you feel like this is the real Stroud or he will bounce back the fact of the matter is he was in the MVP conversation as a rookie and when the games actually mattered for their postseason hopes.

We need to see Bryce Young have the kind of season Stroud had as a rookie next year for him to make the jump into any top 10 conversations. PFF data does not determine that. Winning games when they still matter does.

[MillionDollarCam]

13 minutes ago, Jackie Lee said:

And you can't just sign a really good free agent TE, very few great ones and those are all locked up with the teams that drafted them. JT and Tommy have been a solid duo recently. 

To be fair, the Dolphins are getting elite production from Jonnu Smith for pennies.

[MHS831]

46 minutes ago, NAS said:

Isn't that why we drafted JT, I think he's going to be good. 

I think he is going to be good--are you putting his potential (4th rounder, I think) up there with the elite TEs--I see some offenses where you have 2 TEs--sometimes in the backfield--etc. I don't see Sanders as the elite TE I had in mind, but I like his potential.  I think he is a #2.  he could prove me wrong, but I don't see it yet.

[DeAngelo Beason]

I was pretty sure Bryce Young was roadkill.  Gotta give him credit for coming to life.  At no point did I see a single flash of an NFL caliber QB, but the past 6 weeks or so he's really playing like a capable starter.  He's at minimum worth kicking the tires on for another season while we try to build the defense.

[MHS831]

2 minutes ago, MillionDollarCam said:

To be fair, the Dolphins are getting elite production from Jonnu Smith for pennies.

Not saying we have to break the bank; TE is a position you can draft later and pay less, so it is a good value to have a good TE. Who does Miami have at WR to keep Jonnu covered with LBs? Hill, Waddle, and if they need more speed and quickness, Malik Washington from UVA.   He is benefiting from the attention the Fish's WRs get every play.  Speed.  Tua needs a solid TE who probably plays beneath the radar a lot. 

I am talking Greg O good.  Kincaid in Buffalo has 424 yards and he is ranked 24th among TEs in receiving.  He has potential, and in that system, he is likely to not get much more than that.  Ja'Tavion Sanders has 29 catches--and he got 15 in three games--which is promising, but not dominant--he is not even listed in the top 32.  Tremble, fwiw, has 21 catches.  I think these two would be excellent #2 and #3 TE options, but Sanders is not really showing Alpha chromosomes at this time.

However, to your point, if we bring in some stud WRs, our TEs get better and they get open more.  We are close.