outlaw4

What with Bryce Youngs making themselves known on a college national stage? Well, this one for the wrong reasons.

RBs have a high level of attrition. I'm often in favor of finding some fresh legs mid-late draft who can either: - Be a change of pace back - Can catch the ball - Are good with pass protection We did get Chuba as a fourth round pick, so there's precedent. Also, we need Brooks insurance.

Not surprised. How he plays hasn't been as much of a problem than not being able to play for extended periods of time.

Option? Absolutely. A new deal? If the team really wants to keep him, this might be the time to do it. Otherwise, there's a real risk he plays even better next year and his price tag is going to skyrocket to elite LT money. Obviously, his agent would try to get that now, but they aren't going to have that much leverage. He's not even a Pro Bowl alternative this year.

Not going to deny for a second Evero was put in such an unenviable position from the start. He was basically asked to work with even less than last season, only to lose the few good pieces he had early. I suppose the question is what has our defense shown us this season that validates our loyalty to Evero? With Bryce, at least there can be arguments made using actual things he did on the field. Our defense... a few critical stops that led to wins? Our pass rush having some good spurts here and there? Trevin Wallace? If the whole point of Evero is that he can coach up even marginal players, have we've seen that out on the field? Again, I get it. If a much better team like the Lions can't coach their way out of fixing their now-depleted defense, then what chance do we have? The issue is whether whatever reasons we had in keeping Evero are still valid as of now. Also, from my recollection, it was Morgan that insisted on keeping Evero and his defensive staff. Given that Canales is an offensive coach, he might like working with Evero but if Morgan has soured on him, I feel Canales is going to defer to someone that likely is more qualified to judge his performance as a defensive coach.

Roasted Ducks for dinner tonight by Chef Ohio...

So, is Oregon looking like another West Coast team that folds like a cheap tent the moment they face stiff competition? So far, yes.

ASU defense has gone full Panthers.

It's become Texas vs Skattebo.

Ew, Ewers. Ew.

Kinda reminded me of Tolbert. A quick read says fumbles are a concern as is the workload he's been getting.

Big guy with the football may be the best play ASU will have today.

At this rate, ASU will be changing the last letter of their acronym with the second letter.

This felt more like JT ripping our defense a new one than actually talking about Baker.

Another blowout? Well, this blows.

I'll believe it if Evero is still here come draft day.

I think it might've been Smitty that said this recently but one of the things about getting old (for the league anyways) as a receiver is that you really have to work on our craft in order to continue being effective. This is where Thielen is at this juncture, not having that same athleticism he once had. What I see is him doing the little things to effectively dangle a carrot to get defenders thinking he'll do one thing and then catch them by surprise doing something else, effectively making himself open. For example, on that first TD to Thielen, definitely looked like he was starting an in route. Young climbs the pocket. Safety bites on the route to cut it off or even get an interception. But right at the same time, Thielen switches from the in and goes right for the end zone. This could've been by design, but could've also been him being ultra savvy and hoping his QB sees him. Either way, the timing of everything was excellent and the result was borderline filthy. Quality tape material that XL/Coker should be watching.

Not much I saw today that shows he's worth a draft pick at all.

Something that wasn't really mentioned with Chuba going to IR is his pass blocking. Noticed it on a few key plays earlier in the year. When you're also down Moton, it was a double whammy. I'm just kinda sad how this team once always had good to great linebackers at our disposal. Morgan can't be happy watching such putrid play.

I'd say Moore is the next most versatile already being familiar with this system but he's just a guy. Maybe Thompkins for similar reasons but everything I've seen tells me he's really more of a decoy to get other guys open. After that, you have Tremble followed by a massive drop-off with the three rookies in XL/Coker/JT, all who get a fair amount of snaps together. Hopefully, getting a lot of experience now will speed things up for year two but it's certainly hampering things on the short term. Part of me thinks that need to give the the rookies the reps on the field sneaks into the playcalling. Like how Canales really wanted XL out there for the Bucs game and he ends up getting a lot of targets. A little surprised JT isn't getting that type of focus but it's possible they are working him more with blocking since he had issues with holding calls earlier in the year.

Some weeks, I wonder how PFF isn't grading our defense even lower. Who in the NFL is playing worse than us?

Frank's O was more like a nightmare than no QB at this level should've been asked to run. Not sure what changes Brown brought on board but the thing was that - in theory - he was the right type of guy because he worked under McVay, a guy who is probably the best scheming guys open and producing YAC. Problem was that we didn't have the pieces then - or now - to run a McVay type of offense. XL definitely still confuses me for a draft pick. The guards were absolutely necessary regardless of QB because allowing so much interior pressure in 2023 was fatal to running any offense. Chuba is a nice piece, although we really should run more for effective play action. I have at least seen guys getting open at times under Canales but our short to intermediate game needs a lot of work. Can't run effective screens. Can't get guys to break tackles and break ankles to get some extra yardage.

I'd be more optimistic if our run stat line yesterday wasn't utterly putrid.

Eh, I'm mostly here for the few that are worth engaging with and to be amused by the same hot takes I've seen so many times already.