Khyber53

Here's one of the most maddening things, that will be shown in full light over the next three weeks. The same people around here that called Darnold a bum and Mayfield a washed up over draft are also the ones saying Bryce is a catastrophe. Yeah, and I've been one who said Bryce wasn't big enough, brave enough or capable enough. I said back in the day that Darnold had a lot of fight in him and got shouted down. And on Mayfield, heck I didn't know, I just knew we had a very, very bad team that was run terribly. But I saw both of those guys go out there and resurrect their careers and be play-off bound since shaking the Carolina clay dust off their cleats. And we sat there and cat called their cars as they pulled out of the parking lot, laughing at what nobodies they were. Over the next three weeks, those two guys may just serve us sh!t sandwiches and then settle down to their just desserts. And then we'll probably let Bryce go off into the realm of other teams. And when that happens, will we see him coming back, better than before and we're left to re-sit this cycle all over again? Same naysayers, same results, same revolving carousel of ponies and pundits? Will we end up looking like the Temu version of the San Diego Chargers back in the day watching Drew Brees come to fruition in the previously moribund Superdome while we whiff on a Manning pick just to be jilted for Phillip "Always a Bridesmaid" Rivers?

This keeps coming up a lot: Why does Canales give Bryce such a long leash? Why does he keep putting him out there. There's one really important answer here. It doesn't cherry pick a game, it doesn't take into account draft position, or even height and weight. The number one reason Dave Canales keeps starting Bryce Young is: The QB bench. Look at it. Look at it. That is one dusty ass bench. The Red Rifle can no longer be reloaded. And there's literally no one else there. We've shuffled the practice squad guys a couple of times for QB prospects and they can't even claim a jersey. That's management, not coaching.

Cam will have a better shot at HoF simply because of his highlight reel. Stats be damned, there were things on the field he did that still haven't been duplicated, no matter how much Josh Allen tries. Ryan, while he catches a lot of flak here, was a darned good QB, but as Peter King once opined, if there was a Hall of Darned Good, he'd be a first balloter.

Those never work in this day and age of Twitter feeds, scream sheets and podcasts. Everyone has an anonymous source willing to trade a favor or a few bucks for something off the record. Besides, they almost never ever stand up in court.

Moton is getting up there in years and there was some question if I remember correctly whether he was going to hang it up or not. Sadly, Father Time catches every player eventually. Still, we also have to consider that for all of New Orleans' faults, they've had two really good pass rushers for some time now. Me, I can't wait for Cameron Jordan to finally hang up his cleats and join a broadcast team somewhere. Man, he has been a menace in every game he has played.

No, there's not enough room down that rabbit hole for both of us.

I appreciate ya man, but that's bullshit. But if it makes the world make sense to you, go for it.

The problem with most conspiracy theories is the incredible assumption that every single one of the people involved will maintain complete secrecy throughout their entire lives. Yeah.

Me, I'm sick of WWE channel hopping their PLEs and shows. Netflix now with Raw. USA still has Smackdown but you can't get it with Roku if you don't also have cable. Then they went from all the PLEs on Peacock to ESPN+ which required upgrading your Disney+ package. Then they frikkin' move Saturday Night Main Event with John Cena's retirement match back over to frikkin' Peacock, which we'd just cancelled two months prior because no PLEs there anymore. And there are fewer, but longer matches and its the same danged stories again and again. Rematch after rematch after rematch between PLEs. Fewer matches, fewer wrestlers, more promos (of lesser quality) and less action. It just seems like it's all fillers and re-runs. I'm tired of Cody Rhodes. I'm tired of Jey Uso. I'm tired of the two Brons. Shuffle the deck a bit guys, this game's getting stale.

There may very well be a point here. And that should be part of our scouting and scheming. I wonder how Jackson does against speed vs height as well. And then have Moerhig (sp???) double up on the speedster for some hard hits. Nothing slows up a speedster like a couple of hard tackles.

You forgot Dan Morgan.

Funny how we said there was no value in washed up Sam Darnold and washed up Baker Mayfield, too. Just sayin'...

You pick up Bryce's option because it has value beyond just the team in the next two seasons. If we decide to go ahead and draft some QB competition, or replace the Red Rifle finally with a new free agent with some experience, you have an upswing QB in Bryce that can be traded, especially if there's a team with an injury that happens. And, let's be honest, right now Bryce is playing as well or better than the other 1st round QBs from his draft class. Scary, but true.

This. He's building a team in the right way, he's managing the creation of a support system within it and has (and I didn't think he could) begun putting some grit and resilience into this band of players. He, however, needs to be able to hand play calling over to someone and learn to manage the overall game more than each individual play. He needs to conduct, rather than try to conduct and play the solo. And I think he has something hanging over his head that is crippling him at times... the Teppers reputation for cutting coaches for poor performance. It makes him play not to lose at times, especially against lesser opponents like Sunday. Maybe he needs to instill more grit in his own game.

Current rebuild I guess.

I wish I could be certain of that. I mean, that's what I feel, but there's something there.

Two fluke wins against playoff calibre teams. You get into the playoffs and well, things happen sometimes. We were supposed to be one and done in 2003.

In his defense, we've had taller QBs in recent years that actually accomplished less. I've always said his height worked against him, but he was out there pretty fearless and performing well on Sunday. Not setting the world on fire, but there were a couple of fantastic throws he made. He didn't lose that game for us.

We aren't out of the play offs. We haven't stopped growing as a team. We're ahead of schedule on this rebuild. The sky isn't falling. We have a hard schedule ahead of us. We have to win out. And sheesh, we gotta play the kid from New Orleans twice a season for the foreseeable future. This team has been getting better. It's a young team. To even be contending right now is a major step up over what we've been since the Teppers took over. Breathe. Tune in. Keep the hope alive.

Umm, the Bucs that lost to New Orleans' wunderkind and Atlanta's grandpa?

Hope this goes great today! We need to even up the series.

Feasting on the foes with Cajun Chicken sandwiches here. And Nacho-cheese Bugles, of course. How about y'all?

Look, whichever way Sunday comes out, and I'm hoping for a win, there's still a lot of football ahead of us that can be very meaningful, either way. It's been a long time since these games meant anything.

Let's just win out until only March is left ahead of us.

Winning fixes everything. We're in the lead, for at least this moment, and like being on a sled dog team, the view from the front is much, much more pleasant. I think the team is ahead of schedule right now. And I like that. Would really love to see us win out the rest of these games. And in the playoffs, anything can happen.