Khyber53

We've done so well with QBs who were the number one pick in the draft these past few years...

Well, honestly, it's not like Walker gave us anything except screen and smoke passes. I think that experiment should be over, whether he's healthy or not. Eason at least looked the part and the INT can be overlooked at the moment because, well, last week he was probably sitting on a couch watching the games. Maybe he can be serviceable, maybe not. If he can't be the guy, here comes a chance for a lot of unsigned QB potential to rotate through and get a shot. Who knows, we might Happy Gilmore ourselves into something. Or at least we can see a lot of different QB numbers get used. Might as well have fun with it and cheer the little dudes on.

I don't know, the guy got the job on Monday, had to fire his DC, move some coaches around, backfill the empty spots, practice up our 4th string QB, then fly cross country to take on a wounded, defending Super Bowl champ at their home stadium. And you know he knew that Robbie Anderson poo was going to happen, too. Oh yeah, and the list of injured starters was pretty long. And he's playing with a team built by a moron and his OC is basically the new guy from Man V Food just with less play calling ability. Maybe we should give Wilks a couple more weeks before we decide how bad he really is. We gave him a rubber band and half a stick of chewing gum. It might take him a bit of time to figure out how to McGuyver a win or two out of this.

100% right.

Well, that played out about how it was going to. And, we move on. Well, accept for maybe Robbie. Did they let him on the flight back home? Seeya Sideshow Bob.

Actually, we might, if we can keep moving and grinding the game out. We're playing slow ball and putting it in the hands of CMC instead of PJ. That gives us a chance and keeps our defense fresh and opportunistic. It's old fashioned, but it's a strategy that Rhule would have been embarrassed to use.

Bye, bye Sideshow Bob. I would go ahead and tell him to change clothes at halftime.

The team has a different feel to it. This is a good start. And right now we're only sitting two games outside of first in our division after the Bucs loss and the Falcons win. That's just crazy that we could be just one game out if this continues.

You're most likely right, but I just needed to feel a little bit of hope today.

No idea how this is going to turn out today. On paper, we should get killed. In reality, LA has major problems with their offensive line, we have a guy who knows every one of their weaknesses and a lot of their playbook and has extensive practice experience against Donald and co. We may also have completely different play calling on both the offense and defense. We might surprise some folks. Or we might get steamrollered. Either way, it's game 1 without Rhule and that's a step in the right direction. I hope Wilks has a great showing today.

They made major strides. I'm still wondering if we're at our best situation at Center, but it does seem to be working. There's nothing like watching the Bears and Commanders just kill each others' QBs last night to make you thankful for what we've now got. I'm really curious to see how Walker and Darnold can play behind this line. Sadly, I think Mayfield is broken and it's not the blocking (by our o-line at least) that seems to be the source of his problems.

We dodged a bullet on Fields. He's not developing well in Chicago, he'd have done even worse here. You really need a proved OC and QB coach on hand BEFORE you even evaluate draftable QBs. Or even try to pick up a veteran, I guess. We haven't had those guys in quite some time.

So, the long-tenured long snapper that was almost replaced and an offensive lineman that has not panned out at all were the ones willing to speak about Rhule positively. Okay, let's shut the book and quit reading it. Put it on the shelf and move on.

I think we are going to see a whole new tone to the team when they take the field. And that is what we desperately need. There was no grit under Rhule, there were just platitudes. If Wilks can change the tone and timbre of this team, then he can turn this thing around and make something of it. I'm not going to go out and say we've got a winning season just waiting for us. We may not even make five wins this year, not that we were going to anyway before. But I want us to at least fight for those games and show that we can punch above our weight class. And I want to see us win against someone scoring more than 17 points. Hurricane Rhule has passed, a big wet blanket on the entire team history. Now it's time for the recovery efforts and the rebuilding. It's time to start pounding again.

There's an awful lot to unpack in this statement and I'm going to be really curious to see what happens. Good point!

Ricci is being played like he is because, I think, McAdoo wants a FB and Rhule said we don't do fullbacks around here anymore. So, they took the guy who could kinda be a FB and made him into that hybrid. Honestly, though, unless it is an automobile or a mule, hybrids are pointless and non-(re)productive. Ricci was probably our best TE, if that's how we chose to use him. He can block and he can catch. He seems to know the game and doesn't shy away from contact in the least. Tremble has potential. Thomas has shown his and it wasn't impressive. None of the above are Greg Olsens, not even close.

Jerry wanted to sell. He wanted the money and wanted his family out of the business, for whatever reasons. He cried all the way to the bank.

Stafford's back wouldn't have lasted a season behind the line we had. The situation he ended up in was the best for Stafford, obviously, but here he'd have ended up like Birdgewater, Darnold and Mayfield, in my opinion. And the dude deserved better than that after what he'd endured in Detroit for all those years. Karma took care of Stafford.

That last bit there, that's some masterful writing and insight.

Wilks really has an opportunity here and I hope he really is given a full opportunity. The more I've learned about him, the more I like him. Originally, I didn't want to see him as HC, but I've come around to think the opposite. I think you won't find a coach more committed to this team, the city and states it represents and the Keep Pounding mantra. I think he can give this team back its identity of being a scrappy, hardnosed team. I hope he can turn this around. I think he has a lot of the pieces he needs in place, but not all of them. QB is a big, big hurdle for us and he has to work with what we have in the building, because I'm not aware of an alternative out there waiting for a trade. If Wilks can somehow get five wins out of the schedule remaining, getting us to our best record in three years, then I think we'll know he should stay. Considering our first five games, doing this would be a miracle. Here's to hoping he can do it.

And his pro-QB record is...

Just because we've been screwed over badly does not mean we should go out looking for Hookers.

And that has been my problem, too. Baker has not been himself. I don't know if it's the prior injury or if his confidence was crushed during the whole DeShaun Watson ordeal (and really, what QB's confidence would come through all that crap intact?) or if we have such horrible coaching at the QB, OC and HC level that he never had a chance. I mean, there's no way anyone, even his detractors would have thought he'd be this bad. He's got a better line in front of him than we fielded last year (not just on paper, but on turf in truth). He's got two excellent receivers who can move the ball (DJ and CMC), some receivers he is familiar with and Robby Anderson who is good for one long sprint and catch per game. We don't have a TE for crap, but we didn't last season either. The guy has been demonstrably worse than Darnold was, and that's saying something that shouldn't make any sense whatsoever. What gives?

Trading away CMC doesn't make sense. Now letting Robby go, however, does. Robby is like what, our third biggest cap hit next season and he's like the what, fifth best receiver on the team? CMC is our best running back, our second best receiver, third best blocker and will consistently give you a big play in every freaking game if you just give him the ball. Hell, the guy might be the best QB on the team, we just haven't tried him there yet. Robby will give you two receptions, four dropped balls and an unintelligible tweet each week. Send him to Greed Bay.

He may well have found three halfway decent QBs here, four or five maybe. He just couldn't let them be who they could be. See, there's only room at the top for one guy and he didn't have the strength of character to let any of the be that guy. Can't develop a QB if you don't want to give that player some control. And that's why Cam was shown the door. Twice.