kungfoodude

I mean, a lot of the random poo that gets thrown at Caleb was also thrown at Cam. I don't care about much of this. Same with his being upset on the sidelines. There were so many, "CAM IS A POUTY LITTLE BITCH" threads in here it was nuts. Winners hate losing. I don't want people that accept losing well. Also has a big problem with playing hero ball like Cam. So, for those reasons, I am not gonna jump on the badwagon of crucifixion of the guy for pretty football irrelevant reasons.

We can get another established veteran like Dalton or Flacco, I think. That is more my speed than a bust 1st round QB gamble or some career backup. Get someone that has done it in the past and can manage the offense effectively enough to develop young players. I think Bryce would probably claim another coaching head if he started all the games next season.

Hopefully he curb stomps OSU. Would love to see the traditional Big Ten powers fall apart with the influx of Pac 12 teams.

This sounds like a very poor plan. If you want a developmental guy, not a problem but Bryce is not a bridge. Andy(or similar) is a bridge. You still need a QB that isn't an immediate limitation in the offense. Bryce unquestionably is.

Yep. Even with backups coming in, this line has held up(minus Nijman who was quite bad early in the season). That level of consistency has even helped Bryce work a little bit through his Battered QB Syndrome. Plus, when you look at these guys, the majority of them are fuging road graders. This is a line built to dominate at the point of attack and break Chuba on these runs. Honestly, I can't wait to see Dalton back with the current group of WR's and the team in a little bit more of a rhythm. It might actually be a fun offense to watch.

I am a Jaden Daniels guys. I said he was the best QB in that draft. You ain't gonna hear me calling franchise QB yet a half season into his career. And he was playing at a potential MVP level. Anyone remember that Carson Wentz almost won an MVP his second season?

As we beat on Burns, let's also not suggest that he "sucks." He is an outstanding pass rusher and generates a lot of QB pressures. He just isn't elite and he isn't a finisher. Similarly, he is excellent and pursuit and running down plays but gets beat up at the point of attack. Otherworldly athletic ability, without question.

Per PFF they are behind 1. Jalen Coker 2. Chuba Hubbard 3. DJ Wonnum

I do think we have a lower top end than some previous great OL's. But this line has a very consistent level of play. Good example being BC on Sunday. Got abused multiple times but....still didn't allow a sack. The much maligned Ikey.....also only one sack allowed on the year. We are allowing 1.8 sacks per game and 6 of them were in Bryce's first two games when he was the primary reason for the overwhelmingly majority of them.

And handing off blocks and assignments is so much easier when you trust the guys around you. poo, even Moton looked like trash next year in the settings we had him in. And we KNOW he is a very good player.

Don't forget the 2nd rounder.

Yeah, but I guess that was okay because he was from Alabama, right? Not a small school.

When? Wilks?

Well the Bengals turned around years of being laughingstock with Marvin Lewis. They are attempting to do so again after some disappointing results in the Super Bowl loss aftermath. Even the Browns have really turned things around from 2017 and onward. TBH, they aren't many pieces from being a legit contending team. This is assuming they don't fall apart again with the burden of the Watson mistake. Becoming consistently competitive is important, I 100% agree. Doesn't mean winning but being competitive. That 2021 Lions team got blown out several times but they also were competitive in the majority of those games. To date we stand at 5 blow out losses, 2 wins and 3 competitve games. That's not great and it's not nothing either. If we can limit the stompings in the last 7 games, win a couple and be competitive more often than we aren't....maybe that is the 2021 Lions. Maybe we are on the path for once. It still takes a LOT of building every offseason to get there. That is gonna be where we have to stay on target.

I also want to point out that it was a good sign for the team that they moved guys like Johnson and Mingo at the deadline. Johnson is now a confirmed locker room cancer and Mingo was taking reps away from players that have started to shine. These are all positive steps from a team culture perspective that give me some glimmer of hope about the potential for there to be a future of some sort here.

IMO, he is hitting close to his ceiling at the moment. He is, at best, an above average starter. Alex Smith is his ceiling.

Yeah, 1995 OG's have seen a lot of this before. Never as long as this has lasted but we have seen the upheavals, we have seen the one win seasons, we have seen being a national laughingstock. And we have seen Super Bowl appearances emerge from those eras, as well. New fans, just chill.

You only know if it's the spark in hindsight, never at the time. I was at one of those Lions games in 2021, a home win over the heavily favored Cardinals to make them 2-11-1. It was in front of a maybe 40% capacity stadium and at a time the Lions were known for how completely insane their new HC sounded at his introduction press conference. Did anyone outside that building think it was headed to where it is now? Probably not. Maybe the end of this season goes down as another statistical outlier in a sea of losses. But also maybe this young core believes enough and it starts the ascent back to being a competitive franchise. Guess we will see.

You know, I am less butthurt about not making that trade in hindsight. Remember, that same goiter would have been the one making those picks.

I always assume that people who haven't had success in their life by working hard to get it are the ones pounding the table to tank. Anyone who has worked hard to achieve success in an unsuccessful situation knows how much effort it takes to get there. That's why successful people talk about those scenarios all the time. They are proud of those accomplishments. I get the fans perspective about draft picks, I do. We have all been there about wanting a better draft pick. But, you know, if you just have good talent evaluators, you will get good players. There has never been an NFL draft where there was only 10 great NFL players and all of them were top 10 draft picks. Herm Edwards(although not a successful HC) said it best....

I mean....listen....if you want to throw it deep like Dalton, the answer to that is in the same sentence. Notice how the Steelers were winning and some kept looking at those results saying, "Oh Justin Fields is the reason! He is a franchise QB!" But if they had watched the games, it was painfully obvious that entire offense is limited BECAUSE Fields was the QB. Mike Tomlin, being one of the smartest and most successful coaches in the NFL, had the balls to switch to the QB that has been an elite QB previously. That scenario is a LITTLE bit like ours. You watch these games and Bryce winning is cute, but he is obviously a limiting factor on this offense. If you want to get the maximum impact possible out of that passing game, you start the former three time Pro Bowl QB. Now, all that said, I don't think having greater passing ability necessarily does Canales any good because he seems to have the propensity to get in a more pass happy streaks because of Dalton's success. We have 2-3 remaining opponents that the diet of pounding the ball down their throats makes sense(all bottom 10 rushing defenses). Those are very winnable games for that reason. So maybe having that limiting factor in Bryce will "assist" him not get too pass happy.

Put a pin in this. This will be a very fun read in a few seasons as you crawfish away from that take.

What discussion? You have no concept of "building." It isn't possible to even have one. Sad because there are ample examples in professional and college football of the path to going from a cellar dweller to a winning program and very, very few of them involve intentional losing nor just walking over to the win switch and flipping it from OFF to ON. It takes time, effort and a shitload of hard work by the players and coaches you just want to lay down and keep losing.

You think Bo Nix is a franchise QB??? LMAO Also, you are literally preaching doing what we have been doing. Scrambling around and going from QB to QB. That's literally what we have done under Tepper and it hasn't done poo. This is just because you are simping for Sanders/Ward and that's all this is about. You couldn't possibly be more transparent.

Yes, I am sure your years of Madden really helped you learn how to tank for draft picks.