Mr. Scot

Fair point...

Or undercredit him... See, here's the thing... Bryce isn't good enough. He doesn't have to be the worst in the league or in history or even this season to not be good enough. He just has to be, right now...not good enough. Yet somehow, it isn't enough to just say that. When someone saya he's not good enough but dismisses the hyperbole, your response is to devote significant effort to basically argue "Nuh uh! He is so the worst ever! And if you don't believe that well then you're just a Bryce atan engaging in Brycemania!" This is what For Jimmy was calling out, and he's right. It's like trying to debate complicated philosophy with an emotional child And yes, it's obsessive behavior.

Brycemania...yeah, sure Hell, if I thought we could win every game by bringing back Chris Weinke and going wildcat all the time, I'd order a #16 jersey right now. I like winning. I don't really give a sh-t how it happens.

Canales played a pretty big role in that. (Jaycee Horn falling down a couple of times did too)

I'd want an insurance policy

Or maybe by who's healthy at the moment... (that kinda matters)

So just to be clear, you'd take JT Sanders, Xavier Legette, banged up Austin Corbett, banged up Taylor Moton, banged up Rico Dowdle and whatever third stringer is starting at center this week over Juwan Johnson, Mason Tipton, Cesar Ruiz, Taliwse Fuaga, Alvin Kamara and Luke Fortner? You sure you wanna stick with that story? (especially after our last game against them)

Don't know that I buy this as being true, but hey if that formula wins games, I'll take it

Are you suggesting garbage time stats aren't equally valid?

As substantive and well thought out a response as I've come to expect (Note: This is sarcasm)

But I was assured it was "Bryce stans" who were causing all the ruckus I'm starting to think some of our guys would look at a boxing match that ended in a knockout but argue the loser was really the better boxer because "the stats show he landed more punches"

Okay, that's below the belt

If I'd just looked at the comparison I put up, I probably wouldn't want to focus outside the running backs either (though even that argument is fatally flawed since you don't want to acknowledge that Dowdle is banged up) Unfortunately, the league doesn't allow us to play seven on seven. So yeah, those other position comparisons do actually matter.

Different? No. More recent, and thus more relevant? Yes. Yeah...that doesn't actually make any sense If you'd have gone by Jake Delhomme's career stats and percentagea in 2003, it's likely you wouldn't even have signed him, much less started him. And you sure as hell couldn't have predicted how that season was going to turn out. You don't pass on a guy who's playing well at this moment because he was bad two years ago. No more than you throw big free agent money at a guy on the downside of his career because he used to be good. (heaven knows we've made that mistake before) The only thing that has any meaning at all is how good they are right now. Bad prior seasons have no bearing whatsoever.

Kamara is certainly later in his career but he's not exactly chopped liver. Again, outside this fanbase i doubt he'd lose that contest. As far as other comparisons: I'd put Tet McMillan equal with Chris Olave, though I think McMillan might be hitting a bit of a rookie wall. Others may say McMillan is promising but not to that level just yet. Damian Lewis is equal to or better than Dillon Radunz and Ickey is better than Kelvin Banks, though Banks even as a rookie ain't bad. The left side of our OL wins, but not in a blowout. On the other side, if he were fully healthy I could argue Taylor Moton over Taliese Fuaga but I don't think he is. The Saints likely take that one for now at least, and probably in the future since Fuaga is younger. Jalen Coker is getting back to form. Putting him over Dante Perris right now is probably a bit of a stretch but he's still doing well. So this far, fairly comparable / even. But here's where it starts to get bad... Whoever's starting at center this week vs Luke Fortner? Eeehhh, no. Right guard of the week against Cesar Ruiz? Uh uh. Any of our TEs vs Juwan Johnson? Don't think so. Xavier Legette over anybody at all? Oy So yeah, overall at this point Shough has a better supporting cast around him. Once Hunt and others are healthy again it becomes a better argument, but as mentioned the league isn't willing to postpone things so we can be at our best.

Ask me in January.

Has Bryce? Again though, prior career results don't mean much when we're talking about right now. This season, Bryce can legitimately be called a clutch performer, a leader, a smooth operator, etc. Don't know that anyone would apply those descriptions to Murray at the moment...or even before for that matter. I'm not counting on Bryce to continue this run, but I can't really blame anyone else much if they do.

This is where the old "past results are no guarantee of future performance" disclaimer comes in. If Bryce does indeed manage to become a consistent good quarterback, nobody's gonna give a sh-t about his first two seasons. If he doesn't, nobody's gonna care about his stretch of good performances this season. I know what I'm expecting, but truth is both those options are equally possible.

Honestly just sounds like cautious optimism to me... (something which I'll happily embrace over the feelings we had late in some of our prior seasons )

I'd like to think this season's improvement could help us out some when free agency rolls around.

Would you rather compliment Sean Payton?

Boy, there's an epitaph...

Maybe so, but stats don't...oh wait

How many people outside this board do you think would pick Chubba and banged up Rico ovwr Alvan Kamara? At this stage of the season, and operating in the real world rather than off of a spreadsheet, they outperformed us in direct competition and just beat the team leading the division. Is our OL banged up? Sure. So is theirs. Is anybody gonna make any allowances for that? Maybe say "You know what? You guys take some time to heal and we'll play when you're at full strength" Kinda doubt it. Where we rank over a season's worth of stats doesn'tnmean sh-t when the teams take the field.

As an aside, I think there's a pretty good argument to be made that "late career Cam" was a better on field version of him (minus the injury aspect). Perhaps the most accurate way to put it is that Norv Turner coached Cam was a better quarterback than Mike Shula coached Cam.