KSpan

Obviously, yes - I live in KC and have watched the entire Reid era (and long before as well) firsthand. But he absolutely was Smith's competitive spark that year, and if Smith had not come out firing Mahomes would have been on the field. Reid and the FO kee what needed to be done.

Did you seriously just suggest using social media comments as some sort of barometer for athletic performance? What an absolute clown show of a comment.

No, it would not - Dalton was clearly enough. All i said was that they need to keep an air of competition. You are flat out making things up at this point.

Where did I say to spend a draft pick or a bunch of money? Hint: I didn't. The threat of Dalton was clearly enough this year as. A 'cheap vet backup'. Stop putting words in my mouth, you look foolish doing so. That aside, Bryce absolutely did not prove anything long term - that can not happen until next year. No player can do so with a samp size this small and with the abysmal performances put on film previously. It would be foolish for the team to not have a continuing development plan that does not include a viable alternative.

No, you made up the BS strawman that you posted first and I responded to for giggles. All I said was that the team should consider keeping competition if they feel it would benefit him.

Point being what exactly? The corollary here of course is that if he had been challenged sooner instead of anointed and not challenged, he would have performed better throughout his career. Which is almost what I'm suggesting the team continue to consider with Bryce... Craziness, I know. I mean, who would think that a guy that clearly benefitted from competition might still benefit from some degree of it in the formative years of his career?

Where did I say any of that? I didn't. However, let's pretend for a second that I did. If the competition is indeed a catalyst of Bryce's performance, and it sure appears to be, would it not be sage to keep that solidly in place rather than risk decline in performance? Is that not worthy of prioritizing in some way, shape, or form? And is that not the responsibility of the FO to address such priorities? Boy, if you don't stop...

That goes both ways. Carolina should have lost vs the Cardinals and today if not for Kyler and Atlanta's kicker and defense, and the Saints and Giants games were both FG margins as well, and those games were not high scoring. Last year and earlier this year can't be ignored completely - it doesn't work that way for such a drastic shift and small sample size. However, there is a definite trend of notable improvement and scoring in recent weeks and IMO Bryce and the offense coming out strong next season can carry a lot of weight toward that trend being permanent.

Except Lamar did it yesterday. Has to be shared at best, unfortunately.

Your last sentence is completely disingenuous. Having an alternate viewpoint is not attempting to 'prevent you from being happy'. Bryce needs a larger body of work for a definitive assessment either way, full stop, and discussing it all around is completely fair. Deal with it.

Yup. The excuses/rationale that folks made for Bryce in recent weeks apply for Penix today - drops, missed kicks, and defense. Game would have gone the other way with any of those elements absent.

Completely fair, but we know what it took to drag Bryce out of the gutter. Plus, your last sentence goes both ways - is this stretch a mirage or were the first 17 starts? Only time will tell.

What is your point? Consistency makes the best the best - Matt Flynn had a great couple of games once too. Keep Bryce competing and when he continues to show this type of command for more than a game and into the first half of next year, that will be a stronger indicator. Until then, jury is still out. That's all I'm saying.

Alex Smith had an aberrant season with 26 passing TDs the year they drafted Mahomes as well, a.k.a. clear competition. That is an example of why I think Carolina would be remiss to take all competition off the table at this point. Need to keep things rolling strong into next season.

Would be great if they know what they're doing, but competition is what brought him around this time. Hopefully their chosen course of action, whatever that ends up being, continues this trajectory.

For perspective, the Chiefs never got over the hump until they got Mahomes and then got Spagnuolo. Bryce needs to show he is beyond the Alex Smith/Teddy tier of QBs to get past the hump that matters.

Nope, not yet. If things continue this way for the first half of next season though, odds at better.

Think what you like, it's a moot point until next year anyway. I hope that Carolina continues to keep competition for Bryce, as that seems to have been a motivator for him this year. Don't fix what isn't broken.

Nah, Bridgewater had games like this with New Orleans. Atlanta put up no real resistance. Bryce and the offense did exactly what good offenses do in that situation and scored nearly at will, but Atlanta's defense was every bit as atrocious as Carolina's today. Again though, I said that if he continues then I'll be wrong and we all win. It appears a much stronger possibility then it did this time last year. At this point only time will tell.

I was honestly happy to see Canales not get cute. He just kept with what was working and Atlanta didn't stop it. So many coaches outthink themselves and lose games; Canales did not do that today.

Eh, I don't think he is at that stage yet. But IMO he did rapidly move toward that Bridgewater/Smith tier that I thought was his ceiling. If this growth continues and this type of performance can come against quality defenses then he could surpass that, I would be wrong, and everyone gets to watch more winning football.

Yup. First time the offense has truly closed it out during this back stretch of games against a team that was supposedly trying (AZ and Kyler absolutely gave that game away). Had the chance at the end of regulation but bounced back. Nice to see and a hecl of a day for the offense overall.

Man do I hate lining up in the shotgun on the 1 yard line.

Tremble and a hurdle over no one, a truly iconic pair.