Khyber53

Please, 289 yards passing, 2 TD, 0 Int and 35 yards rushing. Then let's see about that trade status.

Thomas is a survivor. Like the cockroaches under the fridge surviving and atomic blast kind of guy. His greatest strength is his ability to have his name turn invisible on the chart when they are looking to make cuts. He's made a heck of a career out of being on the depth chart without attracting attention. Just astounding.

Dalton hasn't been doing well since we lost our center. Amazing how important that one guy is. Dalton is a veteran back up QB at this point in his career and as that, couldn't ask for much more from the guy. He can perform and give the rest of the offense a chance to compete more than harm them. He can't do a darned thing to help the defense when they are out there, though. Yeah, he's not the long term answer, but he should be perfectly capable for the role he was intended for. If we can get someone as QB1 and a decent Center in front of him.

Ain't holding my breath.

It's been a while since we were a professional football team. And now the injuries are piling up. This story won't end well.

Great post but honestly I want to see us grab the best DE in the draft this coming season. It is the position on the field that can make the most difference right out of the gate and it is our greatest position of need. And do we have a second round pick this season? Or do the Bears have that one, too?

Let's not bet a single thing on the RB who hasn't made it out of the barn and onto the field yet...

Leave Handjob Henry up there in Cleveland and make them finish it off. The guy is a mess off the field and on. Bad karma, bad play, bad for the team. Let's move on from this crap, huh? When are we going to learn that two trade losers going into a deal trying to take advantage of each other is like watching two morons fighting over who gets to step in the dog poo this time? Let's stop making deals and try to make a frikkin' team instead.

The question for me will Shaq be able or be willing to come back next season. Linebackers set the tone for a defense and have always set the tone for this entire team. It's time to get back to who we really are.

The secret is, that no matter how impressive they were in college, the truth is that the vast majority of college QBs never work out as NFL caliber QBs. Rarest job in the sports world to be able to have and hold onto. 32 teams in the league, maybe 18 players at a time qualified to do the job. At best. Might be best to build the rest of the team and just keep trying to find someone steady and confident. Who knows, you might get lucky and catch a guy at just the right time who has no pedigree, like Delhomme or Purdy. Or who is suddenly capable like Darnold or Mayfield... just missed with those two guys (well, maybe it wasn't them that was the problem here).

You have to build a team. And we haven't really been doing that for a while now. We've been trying to build an idea. Not an identity, not a purpose, just the idea of one. Tepper wanted to transform us from a 4-3 defense to a 3-4, from a run heavy team to a passing team, one that relied on metrics and analytics rather than grit and field experience. And we became, well, soft, ineffective and nearly winless. And we really don't have much of a team or an identity or much of a chance anymore. To misquote the Joker in Batman... "This team needs an enema." We stripped what little we had left (and there wasn't much) when we traded up to take Bryce. And we had traded away assets for Darnold as well. We let McCaffrey go, and Reddick, and Luvu and the list just goes on. And all we got was a handful of sadly non-magical beans. But back to the OP, yeah, you're right. Chasing a QB has been disastrous. So much so that you look at the horrible deal Cleveland made to get Happy Ending Watson and we've not done much better, except we aren't carrying his massive contract. And yet, somehow, even without that, we haven't had a lot of contract space.

But you also never bet on a horse that hasn't gotten out of the barn yet.

We're not real good at this "modern" game. Maybe it's time we zagged rather than zigged with current trends. Maybe I'm a neandertal but I prefer smash mouth football that dictates the pace to the opponent. Ball control rushing attack with play action passing, solid use of tight ends and a dedicated lead blocker who also has good hands. On defense, I prefer the 4-3.

I'd like to see Brooks first...

I forgot about Alex! Really liked that dude. But let's face it, we need another Brad Hoover.

I disagree. We've been trying for about five years now to do it with a TE or another RB. We need to get back to smash mouth football and nothing fits the requirements like a classic fullback. We haven't tried to use one since Mike Tolbert and it shows. It has been one part of the softening of this team.

This ^

We're better than we think we are right now, and had we only had about half the injuries on defense we're carrying, we'd likely have won that game yesterday. That being said, don't start with the Sanders crap. That guy will be a cancer to whatever team he ends up on. And, as much as I've loved his Dad's work and antics over the years, no one is going to survive him on the sidelines. Want to fix this team? Drop our first pick on the best Edge rusher in the draft, our next one on a DB and find a full back to ease into the system. We've got most of the right personnel, if they could stay healthy. Lock in that DE and DB, keep Dalton for another season and start looking at his eventual replacement/apprentice.

Chuba has been excellent and has earned the right to be listed among the really good running backs in this league right now. Major respect for the young man and he is something that keeps getting better. Someone needs to be working on that contract for him right now. And, we need a real, dedicated, punch them in the mouth, fullback on this team.

Evero will be pushing for a head coaching job in the NFL next season. Me, I don't think he's been very good as a DC, but a lot of people just feel he's the guy. And, I wish him luck with that. Might end up in Cleveland. Now, onto this Sunday afternoon's game... We're going to go out there and do the best we can with our patchwork team while a lot of our best players will be at home, recovering from injuries and watching on TV. In short, they should just kill us on the field, the Falcons are on their way up, have found their guys and are suddenly pretty darn competitive again. This being the NFCSouth, though, it could be a dirty, low scoring game that they blow and we sneak out a win. I'm not expecting much, but I wasn't against the Raiders, either.

No, some of us last year were pointing out that our defense only looked good if you looked at the total yards allowed per game and that there were MAJOR issues with that. Opposing offenses were generally playing with short fields and/or had the game locked up so early they were just running the ball to eat the clock and didn't have to worry about further scoring, or even making first downs, as they would soon get the ball back anyway. Players were constantly out of place (greatly attributed to Shaq Thompson not being on the field due to injury) and even with the much vaunted (and overly hyped) Brian Burns we just couldn't generate pressure or turnovers (not that we could do much with them anyway). Evero, last season, was just the least lousy coaching situation we had in the building, which wasn't saying much. I believe he was kept in an attempt to build some sort of continuity on the team considering the shaky recent history. And this year, major injuries have again plagued the team and our defense is decimated to the point where the deficiencies in our team building haven't just been exposed, but they've been left with nothing left to hide behind or excuse. There's no grit in this team and certainly no teeth left in this defense. There's no personnel, there's no scheme, there's no fight in these guys.

Ding! Ding! We have a winner! At this point we can choose the change away from our base 3-4 defense (and we should). We have like four guys on defense (counting the injured reserve guys) who could start on other teams and seven starters who might make second string on their own. It's time for Tepper to put his baby Pittsburgh aspirations aside and get back to the 4-3 defense. (And those four are Brown, Thompson, Horn and Woods if you were wondering.)

And our teams have been powder puff soft ever since. Don't give me a weight room guy, give me some farm kid who has spent his life throwing hay bales and helping fallen cows get back on their feet to work with our O and D lines. Gimme a guy that when they asks if he can push a stalled car, he wants to know if the family would like to get back in and rest as he pushes them down the road.

Pick smart, brave and gritty players. You'll never go too far wrong with them. Stay away from divas and workout monsters.

He can find the open spots in the middle of zones. It's amazing how underappreciated that particular talent is. 9-14 yard receptions when needed, nothing highlight reel worthy but integral to building a winning team. Put him in the slot, let him learn from Thielen and let him get the starter reps. Guys like that can have great, long careers. Doesn't matter if the guy is from Holy Cross or Notre Dame, his resume is being built on the field. I kept watching him make those catches yesterday and thought he reminded me of 2003 Ricky Proehl. A fellow could do well to follow in those footsteps.