Khyber53

So, in the preseason, I said if Rhule found himself with another five win season he'd be on the hot seat and probably be released at the end of the season, contract or no contract? People laughed and laughed. So here we are, week 7 and as a fanbase we're ready to call for his head already. My premise doesn't sound so stupid anymore does it? Rhule, Brady and even Snow are coaching for their jobs right now. Sitting across from them is Joe Judge the guy the Giants were left to hire after Tepper put the big money contract in front of Rhule and would not let him go to NY before signing it. If these guys lose to NYG today, then the band starts playing the death march. It doesn't matter if it is an ineffective offense or a defense that gives up 500+ yards. It won't matter if it is a single botched special teams play. If we lose this one, then it's dead men walking. And considering how Fitterer has busily stocked the shelves with some real dented/labelless merchandise, he may well be gone, too. Me, I want Rhule to succeed. I want him to be able to deliver what he said he would. This team, though, is even weaker on the field than it is on paper. And I think we're seeing a lot of business decisions being made by players with injuries and "injuries." Today, Rhule needs to prove the narrative is wrong. He needs to show he is further along in this rebuild than the Giants are, that he is the better coach and worth the belief we put into him. Nice guy and all, but if you ain't winning, you're making losers of all of us.

We're quickly becoming the convalescent home of the NFL. Feeling a little achy, need to take some time off but still get paychecks? Have you got a nagging injury that's hard to pin down? Need to spend a bit more time at home with the kids? Then come on down to the Carolina Panthers! Our newly expanded IR list is ready to put your needs first. Heck, Coach will even tell folks you just might play each week, just to keep your agent and PR firm happy. Just give Scott Fitterer a call as soon as you can, he's in on every deal!!!! We're dealing while you're healing!

Grilling out burgers since we've got this nice weather!

The latest Snow defensive scheme is ready to be put into action: the 1-1-9 defense!

I'll watch us play, I'll still care, but I'll be counting the days until there's another regime change around here.

PJ isn't the answer, never was. Warm body, that's all. Darnold, unless something just monumental and unexpected happens, isn't the answer either. He could maybe be a serviceable back-up next year since we're on the hook for him. At the end of that the math might work right and we get a comp pick for him if someone else snags him. We're going to either have to draft a QB and hope for the best, or, better, draft o-line early and often and try to find a steady journeyman QB to see us through. Really, the o-line is key here. Guys like Trent Dilfer have a Super Bowl ring because they have a good defense and an o-line that gave them a chance to perform.

Gotta quit eating 'shrooms you find in your yard man.

Whew. I just never know what to believe when Rhule talks. He's just about lost me. If we drop this one, I don't think I can believe in his abilities anymore.

And I think the new boss there may be the same as the old boss there. I've said it before, Fitterer looks busy but his hit rate is pretty low at this point and really bad when it comes to offensive linemen.

I think it is a systemic problem and probably starts in our scouting/evaluation department. Wonder how much turnover we've had there or if it has remained stagnant for the last decade. We do seem to make the same O-line mistakes again and again.

Actually, I might have endorsed him a bit more. I thought he was the best choice of all the guys available after Trevor Lawrence. That being said, behind our offensive line he'd be dead by now. Bad organizations often kill top level QB draftees because they have not been able to build a decent offensive line. Brady, both Mannings, Roethlisberger, Rodgers have all been able to develop behind a decent to good offensive line. Had any of them been behind the kinds of lines built by teams like the Jags, Lions or Browns (until recent years for the Browns) they'd have all been written off as busts. Sadly, I'm coming to the realization that we're that kind of team. And it's not just bad coaching, but also bad management. Not only can we not pick good linemen, but we can't even seem to evaluate them, either as they come out of college (scouts) or from a medical standpoint (trainers, team docs). Darnold is getting killed out there and he's acting like it. Lawrence, Jones, any of them would be doing the same. Not sure even Brady or Rodgers could perform under these circumstances. Jones, in the end, had the best chance to succeed imho before the draft because of his experience, leadership and ability to deliver the ball around the field. He also had that calm, cool it factor. He will succeed the best and first of this year's first rounder QBs because, more than anything else, he has a decent line in front of him. He'll have enough time to not just make some plays but to survive long enough to learn. Here, we won't have a QB look like they're worth a damn until we put together a line that could at least play in Div. III football.

Oh geez, not this poo again.

Rhule says all kinds of stuff to make sure the other team doesn't know what we're doing. Sadly, we also don't seem to know what we're doing. So that's a wash I guess, right?

Panthers 24 Giants 17 It won't be pretty, but the Giants are already giving up on the season and perhaps their coach. Still hoping to see Darnold play like the guy he was at the end of the fourth quarter last week. It's a fleeting hope, but it's all I've got right now.

With the Jets, Jags and Lions, there's a very good chance that they don't!

We all seem to hate that other Dallas offensive lineman we picked up this year, right? Maybe we shouldn't be so bothered by missing out on one they waived.

We grab cast offs from the Lions and Jets, Jags and Patriots --- four teams with four wins amongst them. Sheesh Fit, even Gettleman's dumpster diving was more productive.

Brady is beginning to remind me of Chudzinski in his second season. An overly complicated, "look-at-what-I-can-do", offensive "genius" gameplan week in and week out that never plays to the teams current strengths or covers for their weaknesses. It gets old fast and dooms a team in the long run. It's basically a season-long resume` effort. And like Chudzinski, with luck he'll get hired somewhere else and we can get back to creating a solid offense. (Remember Chud? Did he even make it through his first season as a HC?) So, I'm holding the offense more at stake here. They ran roughshod over some unprepared/injury depleted teams but folded against even moderate defensive pressure. Lack of offensive line development is a big problem for both the coaching staff and a GM who has "been on every deal" but hasn't picked up a real winner yet. He's been busy for sure, but Fit hasn't struck gold or silver even yet. The jury is still out on his draft, one which we all marveled over at the time, especially in comparison to picks he could have made. The defense has been more aggressive and it has helped. We're overcoming the weaker/less prepared teams handily, putting up a fight against teams of our standing and getting walked over by obviously better teams so far. This is, believe it or not, way better than last year. Now, though, we can't seem to get off the field, stop the runs up the middle or create turnovers. 550+ yards of offense to a competent, not great, Minnesota team last week was bad and there was no gas left in the tank for overtime heroics. Key injuries are playing havoc right now, but the return of Shaq Thompson should help when he makes it back. They could be greatly helped by an offense that grinds out some first downs and takes control of the time of possession stat again. Fast twitch, high energy, lots of motion defenses need time to catch their breath. And special teams? That blocked punt for a touchdown was just wonderful to see. And that's about all the good we've had from our special teams. We've had three kickers and two punters since training camp. 'nuff said. TL;DR Offense overly complicated and stinks to boot. Defense aggressive and overachieving but running out of stamina and warm bodies. Special teams, get rid of Chase Blackburn.

Please just remember that if you kill yourself from stress doing this job, your employer will have to hire someone else to do it for you. That's all. But there won't be anything you or your family can do about making it through the next couple of decades. Without you. You need a break, really a vacation. Realistically, though, you need to tell them you need two 40-hour weeks in a row to survive this. Do the job, go home, enjoy your family, rest. You are literally killing yourself so someone else can make a bunch of money off of your work. If dropping back to normal work for two weeks will crash their company and the project, then they are on such thin ice that even with you killing yourself to do the work, it could all come crumbling down before you see the big payoff. And what are they going to do? Fire you? If they are laying people off, don't bet on that severance package paying you off. Take care of yourself and your family first. Keeping the job is part of that, but don't let it ruin the lives of the people you love. There's always another job out there.

How about we fuging play the game before this poo?

Honestly, our offensive line is still garbage and is rarely being put in a position to help their case. On defense, as hard as it is to admit, Snow's scheme has been figured out by teams that have coaching staffs that are students of the game. If an opponent's OC or DC even aren't anything more than glorified college coaches then we can dominate them. I've been trying to be optimistic, but y'all have beaten me down.

Right now, the sample size just isn't big enough or without enough outside factors. If we'd have judged him based on our first three games, he's a lifetime starter here. After the last three, he's a bum. What do you do? The truth is probably somewhere in between. But, we have a long season ahead of us and since there just aren't any skilled journeyman QBs out there that still have the arms to be competitive, we're going to have to ride out the season and see what happens. Me, I think Darnold's a young kid and he's played like one up until that last bit against the Vikings. That last series he played like a man who is supposed to be here and was able to dictate the game to the opposing team. If Darnold can become that man he found, then things are going to get really good around here. If that was just a one-time deal and he reverts to being the passive participant he's been since his second year with the Jets, then it's going to be tough on him, the team and us fans. Eleven more games to go. Sure hope we're cheering our hearts out for the guy by the end of it.

Honestly, right now I think Darnold will be our QB2 next season if things don't change. Not sure anyone can be a decent QB1 with this offensive line being this, well, offensive. He could actually make a case for staying as the QB1, but it will require him to pursue a true gunslinger QB persona like he did at the end of the fourth quarter last week against the Vikings. If Darnold can bring that guy out on a regular basis, he's got a shot at QB1 here or being traded to be one somewhere else. If, however, he succumbs to the pressure behind a porous offensive line and receivers with dropsies and poor work ethics, no outlet and Ian Thomas as the featured TE, then it's going to be a rough ride to the bench. And he's been working with an OC that seems to be unable to really adjust for those deficiencies around him. And honestly, as a QB2 he's probably not a bad choice, just a really expensive one for next year. As a QB2 he could come off the bench and win a game or two. Still, there's the other line of thinking that you have to build a QB, they don't come out of college completely ready all the time. Darnold had no development during his time with the Jets to speak of. Here, it is his first year in the system, his third different system in four years of play. A case can certainly be made that there should be a year over year improvement if he stays and we stick with him. It could be next year, it could be later this year. The problem is the dilemma Darnold creates for himself. He has stretches of competence, he has a few moments of brilliance (that 96-yard drive to push it to overtime), he has some stretches of questionable play, and a few moments of just jaw-dropping bad decision making. He has such a mixed bag of results that it's really hard to look down the road and see who he will become or if he's already hit that peak. It's going to be tough for us to decide as fans. We don't hear the play calls, we don't have edge rushers bearing down on us, we aren't facing Pro-Bowl DBs. We should know by the end of the season, though. I hope.

Same old Huddle, same old time each year.

Lemme guess, I just asked your alt to go somewhere else?