outlaw4

Low hanging fruit but... Tucker all tuckered out?

Jawaan Taylor is this generation's Todd Steussie with all these false starts (that often don't get called).

Aggressive going on 4th down and then the play is a dinky pass behind the LOS? Wut?

Boy, those new kickoff rules sure are working, aren't they?

Before everyone here jumps a cliff, Chiefs jumped up to pick 28 to get Worthy.

You'd think these penalties would've been called more in the preseason for emphasis. If they did, I don't recall.

Trying to see the logic behind the list... 1) Josh Allen - Has yet to reach a SB. For all the big plays he makes, he's also a turnover machine which has cost his team games. 2) Jalen Hurts - Eagles in general fell off a cliff for drama that - afaik - hasn't been fully revealed yet. Maybe he's part of that drama and/or he's hit a developmental wall. T2) Tua Tagovailoa - Team carrying him more than the other way around. Overpaid. 3) Justin Herbert - All the talk about him being an elite player doesn't line up with overall record, even after considering circumstances. 4) Trevor Lawrence - See Justin Herbert 5) Deshaun Watson - Scandal + Paid an unjustified amount of money 6) Kyler Murray - Possible poor work ethic. Excuses made for erratic performances. T6) Brock Purdy - See Tua

If there's one position this franchise had been rich in terms of quality players, it's linebackers. For me, Shaq was the beginning of the regression back to the mean. Don't get me wrong. He's still an above average player but it used to be that he would've been a great compliment to a great unit rather than the best player surrounded by meh.

All your corners are belong to us.

He's great at blocking his own exit from this team. I'll give him that.

I'm still baffled on how we made Mayfield look so bad and yet, he gets shipped off to the Rams and looked far more competent, and then plays at least to the level we wanted him to be with our despised rival. Wouldn't surprise me if Darnold is last year's Mayfield although I wouldn't put money on it. If it's not a performance issue, the guy simply cannot stay healthy.

...yep. We're well past talking about today's practice.

I am able to keep my balanced approach to things despite the incessant negativity on this board. This team is unlikely to be much better this season. I already expected that given all the glaring deficiencies we have and so I can get through this season without too many problems.

At least Plummer didn't do what Emory Jones just did for the Ravens. Very first preseason snap after Eagles miss a FG. Sack/fumble which lets the Eagles get another shot at that FG for the W. That's rough.

So it switched over to the Eagles/Ravens game. Already saw a hospital ball, a bad drop and a clear false start that wasn't called. Yep, this is preseason football at its finest.

Really would like to know if they put that list out there after our game.

I'll give the O-line an olive branch in that their run blocking was competent enough that some may be worth keeping as extra lineman for run heavy packages.

The current trend with only three preseason games instead of four is that the third is still the dress rehearsal for the starters. That means those fighting for roster spots aren't going to have the on-field time they used to have at the end of preseason to make their case. Yesterday was probably their best shot and suffice it to say, most aren't making the cut. Of course, that's going to be the case regardless because we can only keep 55.

That definitely looked like a preseason 4 game. I will say we ran the ball okay but any chance for drives were sabotaged by either the O-line or Plummer just being bad. Defense looked fine but the Patriots were about as bad as we were last season. Honestly, performance was kinda expected given our roster being wafer thin on talent. Starters can't be playing like that, obviously, but most everyone out there tonight aren't making the roster anyways.

The line is doing relatively okay run blocking but the instant we try to pass... Plummer is zero help evaluating anyone on offense. Defense run defense seems a little better. Pass rush not great. Canales at least won his challenge. Bit of low hanging fruit but good start in that aspect of the job.

All my best wishes.

Couple of things to note: 1. O-line depth: How bad is it, really? 2. WR separation: Can our guys actually get open quickly? 3. Run defense: Are we still getting gashed? Do we have enough LBs that can tackle? 4. Pass rush: Are Pats QB able to have a picnic on the field? 5. Canales: Will we see his tendencies in certain game situations? 6. Special Teams: What’s our approach to the new kickoff rules?

There isn't really overlap so...

Ultimately, nothing really matters until we play actual games so for me, it's more about the differences in approach compared to last season. From the naked eye, our offense is at least attempting to be far more dynamic than... whatever Reich and company were throwing out there. I swear it looked like Reich photocopied a 90s playbook and added in a few random plays to make it seem "new". No guarantees what Canales has will yield results but even now, it feels that this staff is trying more than the prior regime.

I'm not one to draw conclusions from TC but general observations so far: - Diontae seems like a W acquisition so far. Drops may be an issue but a receiver that can actually get separation and draw away attention is huge. Am concerned if/when he's injured because I'm not sure if anyone else can effectively fill in. - O-line pass pro remains a concern. It really shouldn't matter who is behind center because they are not going to succeed (or survive) if they have guys in their faces immediately. - Running game... not enough information which is glaring since our supposed emphasis was to lean more into that aspect. - Clowney might be another W acquisition. Like with Diontae, however, it's more of a short term solution. Other guys have to step up. - Offensive system at least isn't the ultra rigid dinosaur we had previously. Lots of moving pieces, crossers, rub concepts and play action. Not seeing much of those behind the LOS stuff. - Deep ball does need work but given how modern NFL defenses have clamped down on them, I can understand working more on those 10~20 yard concepts. That said, Thielen in TC going deep with Horn in coverage... why? - Bryce making those plays out of structure was a quality that made him draftable in the first place. Obviously, stay in the pocket if there's one but seeing more of those plays in TC and guys actually making catches is a positive, not a negative. If there's an advantage he has that can be exploited, use it. - I like XL as a person but I still question drafting him over someone closer to Diontae's mold. I'd be surprised if he has any meaningful contributions until later in the season. - Overall depth... yeah, even if everything goes to plan, this will limit our success. - Even right now, I don't have a big issue with Canales as a HC. Obviously, some bad tendencies will come up but that's universal across every head coach. Interested to see his tendencies.