Khyber53

Honestly, I don't think Canales is on the hot seat at all right now. He inherited a bad team with little depth and a QB who came at a high price and got no coaching in his first season (coupled with some physical limitations that require different game planning). I think he and the Teppers both knew this was going to be a situation where he had to show progress in more than just the QB position to keep his chances going. And, well, we might not like it but there's progress being shown. The defense has shown some good games and some terrible games. That, especially over last year's effort, is a remarkable growth. As bad as we look at times this year on defense, we are nowhere near as bad as we were last season. Nowhere near. Brown came back and shored things up, and both free agent pickups and draft picks seem to be helping. It's not a finished product yet, but it isn't embarrassing (at least on a consistent basis as before). On offense, well, Bryce has done better. He's not putting up big numbers, but we're sitting at .500 at the mid-season point, which is a far shot better than we have been. Bryce probably isn't our answer at QB (unless he really turns it up when he comes back from injury), but our running game is stronger, our receiver corps is markedly better (to the eye if not on paper), we've got some decent tight ends for once and our O-line had been looking decent to good (at least until Buffalo opened up a machine gun on them... ouch). If Bryce just holds the line here as he's doing, we'll finish with an okay record for once. If he does poorly, it's just another rinse repeat season for us. Either way, I think we could either go QB in the draft or look for a solid free agent back there. All that being said, I think that Canales has made a stronger case for his future here than he is making for his present here. Play calling could be much stronger, more inventive and more able to exploit opportunities. He needs someone in the coaching booth who can see the whole field making those calls while he manages the team and the game. That's going to take a step of maturity on his part. And I think Ejero moves on after this season, here's hoping he gets a HC gig next season (good for him and even better for the compensation we'd get). All that said, if this team does completely collapse after all these injuries, all bets are off. If he can hold the team together with these injuries and make it to that late bye-week, then he's going to be here. If we can somehow snag a wild card spot (and we are honestly very much in the hunt) then the sky is the limit.

I know, but we've been served turds for so long, at least a change of seasoning would seem like something good at this point. Won't change the substance, but at least the experience.

Sometimes eliminating a question is a positive move, too.

Oh yeah, I agree. But they also had the same coach through those three years. What bothers me, though, is that Bryce is still our best QB as far as we can tell (I mean Hooker could be a miracle waiting to happen maybe). Tough times.

Yeah, but the futility of it all, at least it will have a different seasoning to it.

Dalton was brought in as a veteran to be the mentor to Bryce. And an emergency back-up if need be. Never meant to really take the reins. And well, I really think it's time to put Hooker in, set Andy back on the bench and in the film room. Bryce needs more time to heal. Maybe a lot more time.

The reality is that Moton is on his last legs as a player. We desperately need a MLB who can run the defense. And then we need a QB. When it's our turn to pick, and no cutesy farting around with trades, we take the most unquestionably solid one of those three positions left on the board, in that order. Then in the second round take the next one, and then the third. Third Round QB? Honestly, can't be less inspiring than what we have now. Bryce is a good kid and I've hoped he was turning into a world beater, but it just ain't happening. And I think that the coach that sat him on the bench last season, needs to sit down and have that difficult talk with the young man. Bryce might make a really good back-up QB but he just doesn't have that it factor, or the size. And we need to move on to save not just the coach's job but also the future seasons of the rest of the players on this team. God bless him, he tried and he had his moments, but there just haven't been enough moments so far. Maybe something will blossom mightily in the next few games.

I agree. Better but thin... We hit a freight train with Buffalo and it shows.

This is a rebuilding year (one of many in a row) but the only way to track if we are making progress is: are we beating the teams that we should beat. So far, yes. Have we beaten a team or two that no one expected us to, so far, yes, twice. We trounced the Falcons and the Cowboys, both teams that while middling were supposed to be better than us. Have we beaten a team that we have no right to think we'd beat? Nope. And yesterday was one of those. We got beaten by a completely better put together, coached and rostered team. Beat in all three phases. And it showed us a lot of what we need to work on. It also was the first one where we walked away broken badly. So many injuries, no idea how that line is going to hold up and I'm wondering whether Brown is going to an issue on the injury report for next week's game. Still, we're at .500 at the rough midpoint of the season. Here of lates, that's rarified air. And we have winnable games down the road. There are going to be some people already whining that we shouldn't win any more games because we need high draft picks. And that's a steaming pile of bullshit. Winning teams don't pick at the top of the draft. We've done it a lot and it got us nowhere. I want us to win games. And someday, I want us to pick 32nd without having to trade back in for it. Top 10 draft picks are for losers.

We desperately need to pick the best MLB in the draft this time around. We will never find another Luke, but we have to get someone back there that can run the defense on the field, cover weaknesses and correct mistakes in real-time, along with diagnose the opposing offense based on personnel, alignment and pre-snap movement. And they need to be able to hit like a freight train, cover like flypaper and tackle like a rotweiller. Not too much to ask.

Something illegal and unethical happens in the world of gambling. Color me shocked and amazed. Gambling is always on the up and up, right? People who either get put in a bad position or in a lucrative position would never ever ever violate the sanctity of the game, right?

We catch 'em when we can. Glad we could be there for them on that particular day. Would love to see it happen again on next meeting. I think the Falcons are way overpriced right now.

Honestly, they've been playing at the level of their opponents. That can be maddening at times, but it's working for us now. We were better against Dallas than the score shows. Let's hope we can do the same with Buffalo, just do enough to stay one scoring opportunity ahead of them. Our best shot there is that the game becomes an ugly slugfest dictated by the running backs and that we somehow keep Josh Allen bottled up. This is probably our toughest test of the entire season. If we squeak out a win somehow, then Canales and (I can't believe I'm saying this) Evero deserve some serious kudos. Still, on that defensive ranking, we're buoyed greatly by playing the Jets last week.

Sorry, my memory may be getting wonky with age. I thought he had been. Or had it been a "mutual agreement to resign/retire?"

While he was here, Burns was more of a fan favorite than an actual force on the field. Glad he was able to find a home elsewhere, but it wasn't like we traded away prime Peppers. Still, would have been nicer to have gotten that package deal from the Rams, but we were stupid.

And it still got Cowher fired.

My prediction is that Buffalo and Carolina will become trade partners after the game. Both have needs and both have resources the other side could use. They won't do it, though, until, the game has been decided. Both may trot out a few guys that seem out of place for a play or two just to show off the goods, so to say.

I agree. All of these guys, and let's face it our coaches before Canales, too, were selected to be head coaches not because they had developed weak or underperforming teams during their previous stops. As a matter of fact, the only way to really move up in coaching is to start with a bad program, correct it, win and then move up when a vacancy arrives at yet another bad program, then do it again. Sometimes they are the HC, sometimes an assistant, whatever. But you've got to have some patience. And yeah, there's the Peter principal at work, too, sometimes. That states that people will eventually be promoted to their level of incompetence. It kind of waves its hand at the idea that sometimes people learn a lot from mistakes and grow. It's really hard to win at this level of competition, this is the HC final boss level for football, from Peewee Leagues and Pop Warner, through junior high, high school, college and pro levels. It's tough and there are only 32 spots per year for the gigs (give or take a couple of mid-season replacement jobs). We have to remember that Tomlin, Cowher and Knoll all inherited collapsed teams. And each rebuilt them and had them eventually wear out and fall down, too (okay, Tomlin is still holding strong, but entropy eventually catches everyone), but each took a time commitment and good management to rebuild. I wish we could snag onto the winning formula. But you're very right that we can't just change every two years and expect anything but the same restart difficulties each time.

Right now, I think any QB situation is a crap-shoot at this stage in the season. How fast can a guy get on the same page after no exposure to even a playbook here much less relationship building with teammates? Not saying it can't happen, but I don't think we're looking at a San Fran-type situation where the starter goes down and an off-the-street backup (because Mac Jones was really pretty much assigned washup status before the season) takes over and excels. I hope we hit on something. You never know. Baker was terrible here and went at midseason to LA and just blossomed. Then he went to Tampa Bay and Canales and grew into what he could have been. Maybe Canales can do that with Hooker or White. Sure would be something to see.

You said it! But really, it comes down to fixing your organization and the team before diving in for that new QB. Even then, you've really only got about two seasons to do it before the GM and HC seats get too hot. It's a remarkably tough job and it keeps things interesting. Quality organizations keep the ball rolling, sometimes for as much as 10 years of competitiveness. And bad organizations can have an even longer shelf life of hell for their fans.

We seem to play to the abilities of our opponent. Hopefully we can keep pace and eat the clock with a punishing run game and hope that our defense gets a couple of turnovers to give us a chance. Here's hoping Andy Dalton finds the fountain of youth this week.

Imagine being the valedictorian for your Ivy League university. Perfect grades, massively well done final projects, research grants and countless mentions in the newspapers and on TV for the strides you made. And there are only 32 employers out there that can hire you and make use of you. Now imagine that the worst businesses, the ones with the least resources and most chaotic workplaces get first dibs on you. Trumpian dystopia? Nope. The NFL draft. Killing young QBs since day 1.

You know, a lot is going to be made of it, but let's also be honest, the Jets defense is a helluva lot better than their offense. That's actually a modestly okay defense we faced. The rest of the Jets, phew.

You're right but not sure where we can find a QB for trade at the moment. Just looking at bottom dwellers that might be looking for draft capital... Dolphins have Tua, Raiders have Geno, Giants have Wilson and Winston (sounds like a really bad radio Zoo Crew team), is Arizona ready to give up on the Murray experiment? There are some second stringers floating around out there...

Don't get me wrong, I love Chuba, but Rico has been earning the starting job. Now they just need to properly game plan for using a double trouble set up.