SmokinwithWilly

Crowd noise will be a determining factor. False starts and keeping Stafford out of rhythm will be crucial.

The oline is already one of the most expensive in the league and about to be more expensive when we ink Icky to a new deal. If you believe the Huddle on gamedays, our line is overpaid poo that can't block anything. I don't think they're terrible, but i think we overspent on 2 guards when we could have possibly paid 1/0, promoted Mays/BC or both and drafted Frazier instead of an injured RB. Our dline was largely helped by the return of DB from injury and an all pro caliber season. I know it takes time to fix things. He inherited a mess from Fitterer but he was also a 3 year assistant to that GM. He helped create that mess if you believe he did his job as AGM, which I would assume he did since was deemed qualified and hired as replacement GM. It all boils down to how well you think the team and FO has been constructed. I look at some of the moves made and those not made and I'm skeptical of his abilities. You attribute more to his abilities than I do. That's all good. We'll find out in a couple more years how good a GM he really is when we have more to judge.

I'm not trying to be cynical. We have 5 drafts to judge Dan on. 3 that were pretty bad cumulatively that Dan was Assistant GM and 2 as Head GM, 1st bad, 2nd good. The point I was trying to make is we lack enough information at this point to judge Dan one way or the other to say Dan has earned our trust as a team builder. I think some skepticism is still warranted based on the things that have happened at minimum over the past 2 years. I'm skeptical of his abilities as a GM still. That's all.

In all seriousness, what has Dan done to earn any level of trust at this point? If we point at this year's draft as a huge success, we have to point at last years as a huge whiff to counterbalance it. His FA acquisitions have been even with what I'd consider a few serious overpays. His attention to the QB room is concerning at best. I haven't seen anything that gives me any confidence Dan has this franchise headed in the right direction enough to say he's earned my trust to get it right.

Sad part is that's still 6.5M less than Lamar's cap hit next season. That's just hard to fathom that much of a hit in general. Some of these cap numbers are ludicrous.

To be fair on the drops, Chase, JSN and Puka have a poo load more targets. If Coker had that many chances are he'd have a few as well.

Remember when Schottenheimer got fired after going 14-2 in San Diego?

Maybe it's because I played LT until some fat fug folded my knee, but I love watching footwork drills at the combine for olinemen. I call it fat man ballet. Base and balance are everything when it come to being a lineman. Everything starts there. Sure there's lateral movement, hip flex, bend, hand fighting, strength, push, etc, but without a strong base and good balance, the rest aren't happening. Those drills are specifically designed to show you things and they stand out big time if you're watching their feet and ankles. You can tell what doesn't feel like a natural movement. I remember watching Greg Little and I was blown away at how bad his footwork was. Like unbelievably bad. To the point I thought maybe he had never practiced one of these drills before. I remember when we drafted him, I thought to myself well fug, there's a wasted pick. Aside from the added weight, I wonder if that's part of why Bryce didn't throw. Standing next to all the other QBs, that footwork and mechanics would stand out like a sore thumb, much more so than at a pro day. Bryce is good at some things, improvising and eluding and he does appear to have that clutch gene, but his throws get ugly when he tries to arm it instead of having that solid stead base to throw from.

One of the hardest things I ever had to do was learn how to push/drive with power again after a knee injury that was really a repetitive motion injury. Even after 7 years, it's still something I have to consciously make an effort to do or I slip back into my old habits. Those things don't just go away.

I remember after Icky's rookie season he was getting hammered on this board about his dedication and his need to go get a coach in the off season and work on his pass blocking and people were questioning his dedication to his craft. 3 years in and the same mechanics and footwork issues that were present in college are still present with Bryce and there's crickets. Hell, there was even a thread made a couple of weeks ago about XL needing to lay off TikTok and go get a WR coach and work on his game this off season. I don't get why everyone else needs to work on their craft, but the guy that is supposed to lead by example isn't working on his.

I think the speculation has traction. Harbaugh would have wanted to evaluate Young and bring in a QB if he felt Young wasn't the guy. With the way Bryce has been shielded from any real adversity in the QB room the past 2 years, it's pretty obvious he's been protected, handed the starting role, whatever you want to call it. Dalton was obviously washed up after last year, but we signed him to a 2 year contract. Head scratcher #1. Plummer was so bad in camp last year many of us were throwing fits about why he even had a number but he was brought back again as our #3. Head scratcher #2. Neither one makes any sense unless Bryce being "the guy" was part of the HC job requirements.

Not a good list. None of these guys started more games in their 1st 3 seasons than Bryce has and Fielder was a starter for almost 2 full seasons as the longest.

Check out those throwing mechanics! That's how you get zip on those throws.

It matters because we're getting ready to go against an offensive juggernaut that drove against our defense at will last time. We won because of 3 key turnovers, 1 in the red zone, 1 returned for a TD and 1 to take final possession from the Rams. We also had 2 4th down TDs that weren't part of standard offensive game plan. That's what it took to beat them last time. We're going to have to do better. DC is going to have to be better. You can't rely on 3 TO, a defensive score and 2 4th down TDs to get you there.

I see Howell as better than Dalton and if he's able to legit compete for a starting spot, whatever. At this point I'm not to ashamed to go scraping the bottom of other people's barrels. We've got Andy Dalton and Jack Plummer. Who the fug are we to talk poo about anyone else's QBs.

Tie him to the drum and bring back the entire SB50 roster to have a shot.

Should be Steve Smith. He has the greatest reception in Panthers/Rams playoff history. Beat the drum. Crowd chants X clown. Good times.

We have to start using Icky for what he's good at which is run blocking. Our run blocking schemes seem to be a little lackluster lately. Whether that's DC, BY a combo of both, or other teams DCs have figured out our walmart vanilla offense, who can be entirely certain. One thing has to change for sure and that's everything with regards to this limp dick offensive plan we put on the field or it's going to be a painful one and done this weekend.

No issues with an extension here. Pay tackles, draft guards and centers.

https://www.nfl.com/news/seahawks-ot-charles-cross-agrees-to-four-year-104-4m-extension 26m per year. Here’s our Icky comp. Cross is more pass pro proficient than Icky is. If we get close our oline will be close to 90m plus whatever we do at the center position. That’s a whole lot of dough for those big boys up front.

Actually no. If winning was the only thing that mattered we’d be watching from home next week. Better record doesn’t always get in.

9ers are our best chance, but if we hope to beat the Rams, we'll need to do it at home where crowd noise can cause problems for Stafford and co.

Oh no. A fat joke. Oh the burn.

And here's our very own Fat Alice. We shall call him FatKat.

We didn't win our division. Another team had to win it for us. 8-9 record. Only 5 teams in modern SB era have won a division title with a losing record, all NFC, 3 from the NFCS, and Carolina being the only 2 time winner. We have the crown but we didn't win it. At least 1, possibly 2 teams with winning records, if Detroit wins, eliminated from playoffs. We're in the playoffs but let's not pretend like Bryce spearheaded a juggernaut Pathers team to a dominant divisional title.