MasterAwesome

Just remember there were actually people who were genuinely trying to say last year that Mike Davis was just as good...like I actually wasted about 10 minutes of my life having to refute that claim against people like Jim Bob Cooter.

The overall argument that Darnold should be getting more reps in preseason is fair and there are definitely some compelling points you could make for that. Unfortunately, what sparked this whole back-and-forth between you two is that you were doing a pretty terrible job making your argument. Your premises were largely nonsensical. -You said the fact that we ran it three straight plays at the goal line instead of opting for a playaction pass is a testament to how the team feels about Darnold (i.e. they don't trust him in that situation). That may be true if your objective of preseason is to win the game...which is why people have been questioning your understanding of preseason. Rather, preseason is about evaluation - and if they choose to keep it on the ground for 3 consecutive plays at the goal line, then chances are, they feel relatively comfortable with Darnold's ability to execute in the red zone and would rather evaluate the o-line/running back's ability to punch it in from the 1. -You also suggested the fact that we aren't playing Darnold much at all in the preseason means the coaching staff doesn't trust him. In reality, there's generally an inverse relationship between the amount of a player's preseason playing time vs. the level of trust the coaching staff has in him. If a coach is leaving you out there for the majority of the game...chances are, he's pretty unsure about you.

He’s gone FULL Clark Kent now…he has fully embraced the dorky high schooler look.

Once we poach a solid kicker off another team’s practice squad this year, the balance in the universe shall be restored.

I cringe to go all “Huddle realist” for a second…but we’ve technically only allowed 3 sacks all preseason and so the vast majority of our o-linemen have allowed 0 sacks lol. I’d be interested to see the pressures. Christensen I bet has the most or nearly the most pass-blocking snaps of all our o-linemen and he certainly passes the eye test, so not trying to take anything away from him. This just feels a bit incomplete as far as a statistical snapshot.

Hell yeah brother, we’re just a couple of straight shooters who call it like we see it!!! Grier was straight up TRASH tonight! Did you see that deep ball to Terrace? He had to catch it at a 47 degree angle to his body, everyone knows the optimal angle is 49 degrees…pathetic. I would’ve cut him on the spot. And if you disagree, you’re just a homer-a&$ Grier Gobbler trying to stifle free speech and this AIN’T the marketplace of ideas for you!

I obviously don’t strongly follow the Ravens’ preseason games but I don’t think you win 19 straight preseason games on accident or because you legitimately have the strongest depth of any team like 5 years in a row. My guess is they try a little harder in preseason than most teams…Harbaugh is probably big on “winning culture” or something, i.e. winning in the preseason carries over into the regular season.

Today on the Huddle I learned Grier was absolutely awful in the first half on his way to an 11-13 144 yard stat line. @TheMostInterestingMan who says you still can’t learn new things on the Huddle? You should issue a retraction.

Oh yeah I ain’t surprised at all, nor am I even complaining or upset by it. I thought it was more funny than anything.

I mean we have a 12-page thread based on a single tweet about Darnold going 19 of 36 lol.

On a day where our defense dominated the Ravens in practice (including 5 interceptions), the hot-button topics on the Huddle: -DBO sign -Haruki Nakamura -WFT’s new name

Woah they're killing infants now? I didn't realize that abortions were being performed after birth now...that's pretty nuts. Must have missed that report on Newsmax.

FTFY

So then just flat out release these 8 candidates and see which ones poll best and narrow it down that way. This whole "we have three finalists already selected but we're not telling you which ones, it's a secret!!!" seems really counterintuitive.

Why release this poll with 8 candidates if they've already narrowed it down to 3 finalists? Seems like a dumb PR move if one of the non-finalists ends up polling well and exciting the fanbase and they just end up going with something else. This probably should've been the prerequisite to choosing the finalists.

He may almost be too opinionated. Or maybe it’s not that he interjects his opinion a lot, but that he interjects opinions I find to be a bit questionable. He’ll be like “that was an excellent throw” which clashes with what I just saw on the screen or he’ll say that any time a pass touches any part of a receiver’s hands, then that’s basically a good throw and it’s the receiver’s fault at that point. It did feel like he was coddling Grier a bit…or maybe he holds receivers to an extremely high standard since he was one of the best.

Fair enough. If you have enough material to write an entire exposé then I'll acknowledge I could be wrong. I admit I am not as active here anymore, in large part due to the context of this thread. Maybe my bar for mods has become so low that him simply not calling people dumbass morons is enough to hold him in relatively high personal regard.

I remember Miller jumping out on the screen with a quick near-sack early on but yeah after that, I hardly noticed him. I think he showed enough to make it past the first cuts so I'm hoping to key in on him a little more in the next preseason game.

I have less a problem with mods adopting a negative outlook on the team and more an issue with mod(s) derailing threads into a 14-page back-and-forth petty spat, routinely hurling more personal attacks than virtually any other poster in here, admitting (or at least claiming) to "troll-post" unprovoked in order to trigger "Darnold fans", etc. Within the digital Huddle world, moderating is certainly a kind of "job" and so I would expect a level of professionalism, dignity, decorum, etc. from moderators. If you can't go 5 minutes without inserting some snarky comment or calling someone an idiot, then maybe moderating isn't for you. @CRA is an example of a good mod IMO who may have adopted what some could consider a "pessimistic" outlook of our QB situation, but upholds the higher standards of a mod well. He's level-headed, engages with dissenting opinions respectfully, has never devolved into personal attacks, doesn't get rattled or baited into petty squabbles, and is generally just a very patient dude. All important qualities that suit a mod well. I don't think mods should have to surrender the right to their opinions in exchange for their shiny moderator badge, I just think there's something disturbing about a mod being the biggest e-bully on the site. As the great and wise Melania said: Be Best.

What's more crazy and backwards to me is the flip side of that, where being positive about your overall outlook is routinely used as a pejorative here. Like, what?? One of us is doing "entertainment" wrong, and I don't think it's the positive group.

Every rookie flashed to varying degrees…it really was very encouraging. They all look like they belong in the NFL so far.

Now this is the true “realist” perspective…not the reactionary cringe that people try to pass as “realist”.

And we miss an entire year of evaluating whether he can actually be the answer at QB. That would be a terrible scenario.

You've completely lost me now.....were you not saying we could have had a chance at drafting Herbert (by improving our draft position) had we played Will Grier instead of Teddy Bridgewater? Even though Bridgewater was signed less than a month before Herbert was drafted? Why are we talking about Rhule vs. Rivera?

Your timeline seems to be a bit jacked up. We signed Teddy last year, during the same offseason that Herbert was drafted. Signing Teddy had zero impact on our 2020 draft position...that would have been the Kyle Allen season.