BrianS

5 minutes ago, jayboogieman said:

I'm not worried. Belichick hasn't looked anywhere as good without Brady and I highly doubt he finds another QB that good before he retires.

Not so sure that's a complete assessment.  It's much more fair to say Belichick hasn't looked as good without his offensive coordinator.  Mac Jones was a Pro Bowl QB running Josh McDaniels system, and now he looks like a bust.

He's also been the GM up there, and wrecked the roster.  In Atlanta, they have a GM who has done a pretty good job of building a roster.  Effectively, the weaknesses that caused the downturn in Foxboro have been largely accounted for in Atlanta.

I am not excited about having him in our division, with McDaniels and that set of skill players.  If Atlanta winds up with a QB, it's going to suck for us.

Shanahan, Andy Reid, John Harbaugh . . . in that order.

Putting turf in BoA really was inexcusable.  In the top soccer leagues in the world, turf isn't even allowed.  And do the two or three concerts per year REALLY put that much stress on the field?  Seriously?

We had a field that most of the players in the league thought quite highly of, and now we have . . . turf.

So the Falcons - a divisional rival - have interviewed:

Baltimore Ravens Defensive Coordinator Mike Macdonald
Cincinnati Bengals Offensive Coordinator Brian Callahan
San Francisco 49ers Defensive Coordinator Steve Wilks
Carolina Panthers Defensive Coordinator Ejiro Evero
Baltimore Ravens Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Line Coach Anthony Weaver
Former New England Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick
University of Michigan Head Coach Jim Harbaugh

Meanwhile, we have interviewed:

HC Chris Tabor

DC Ejiro Evero

Ravens OC Todd Monken

Ravens DC Mike Macdonald

What the actual (*@$ are we doing?  Our HC has been gone since mid-season.  The Falcons started their search less than two weeks ago.

We don't even want to have a conversation with Harbaugh or Belichick?  I'm truly baffled.  Every time you think we've hit rock bottom, along comes Tupperware with his pickaxe and chisels us down another few feet.

3 hours ago, Gapanthersfan said:

How about letting a prospective coach know he won’t be fired after a year in trying to work through this abject cluster. 

 

I don't disagree with this, but that's what four and seven year contracts are supposed to do.  How has that worked out so far with Tupperware as our owner?

We are in an awful position.  I hope we can get a good coach, but I don't expect it.  

2 hours ago, Castavar said:

Not even last year. We should have embraced the suck AS SOON as Cam left. All those years fuggin around with the likes of Teddy, Darnold, and Baker could have went toward rebuilding this godamn thing. We could have already been rebuilt and in a position to compete for superbowls had we done just that. Tepper did the perfect speedrun on how to derail a franchise.

I actually didn't mind Teddy.  Our mistake was that we somehow convinced ourselves that all we needed was a better QB.  TB5 was good enough to get us to the guy, but we decided to start swinging for the fences instead of playing the long game.

And here we are.

35 minutes ago, KatsAzz said:

Derrick Brown should call the police because he got robbed

If our team was even competitive - not great, just competitive - he would easily have been first team.  He was a (*@$ monster.

8 minutes ago, Davidson Deac II said:

I am not disagreeing with you, but one of the problems with stats is that they can be misleading.  

The Yard totals can be misleading, as can the points allowed.  For example, if an offense gets the ball at the 25, goes backwards, then punts from the 15, the opposing offense is already starting with a significant advantage.  If they score, the yardage total might be less than a normal drive, but the points will still be scored.  And the score would be at least partially on the offense.  

IMO, I think the defense played well enough to keep us in some games we might not have been in otherwise.  But when we played a team with a balanced offense (Dallas, Miami, etc...) we struggled a lot.  Our defense wasn't good, but I thought given the huge numbers of injuries (at one point more than any team in the NFL), they were better than they should have been.  Our defense played well enough in several games that even an average offensive performance would have given us a victory.  But they certainly weren't the 85 Bears, or even close to it.  

I don't disagree.  I do find it curious how many times we chose to go for it on 4th and XX when we employ one of the best punters in the league.  The fact we gave up so few yards and so many points sort of indicate that we didn't really play our cards right a lot of the time.

Still, our red zone defense was not good either.  We were 27th in RZ defense, giving up scores 63% of the time.

As I said, I'm not "Evero Out" . . . I think he deserves a chance to show us what he can do.  However, I'm also not one who thinks we should be talking about a guy with two total years of coordinator experience as our next head coach either.

21 hours ago, CamWhoaaCam said:

I mean what more does he have to prove on defense. This man should be a HC if not with us definitely for someone else. He was the only bright spot on the team. Our defense somehow was top 5. Evero is HIM!

NO THEY WEREN'T.

Our defense was bottom five in the one category that matters:  Points Allowed.

Great, they were fourth in yards allowed.  How many games did we win because we didn't allow many yards?  Oh, that's right.  NONE.

Had our defense been ACTUAL top 5 - allowing 18 ppg - we would have won an additional 5 games and tied another.  We'd have been 7-9-1.  You know, competitive.

As I've said elsewhere, I don't lay all the blame at Evero's feet.  There were plenty of circumstances which led to a poor defensive performance.  I'd be happy for him to be our DC next season to see if he really can build something.

As far as "what more does he have to prove" . . . that's easy.  I'd like to see him build and maintain a top 10 defense for 3 years.  As a defensive coordinator, Evero has *never* led a top 10 defense.  That'd be a nice start

2 minutes ago, CamWhoaaCam said:

He's #2 on my board behind Harbaugh.

Please Tepper bring this guy in for a interview. He's another HC who can change the culture. Players love playing for him.

You are being swayed by past accomplishments.

Pete's a defensive coach, and the Seattle defense has been average at best over the last four seasons.  They have been 25th, 25th, 12th and 15th.  That's not good, it's below average.

Pete was a great coach, he put together a great run in Seattle.  But he's lost his edge.  I'm a lot more interested in finding the next Pete Carroll than trying to re-tread the existing one.

20 minutes ago, Mr Mojo Risin said:

Who said anything about perfect? How about we start with league average instead of historically bad and go from there

Statistically, our offensive line surrendered pressures and delivered pocket times on a even playing field with averages across the league.

Here we go again with that "fourth ranked defense" horse crap.  It's maddening.  Yards surrendered mean absolutely nothing.

We were 29th in points against - the only stat that matters for a defense!

Other stats can tell you a story, but points against tell you whether you're a contender or not.  Of the top 10 scoring defenses, eight are in the playoffs.

Evero was never going to have a great year here.  We switched systems.  Then injuries happened.  I'm not laying the blame for it solely at his feet.  I'm simply trying to have an honest look at it.

Our defense was not great.  His defense in Denver was not great (14th in points against).  Certainly those don't sound like the credentials of a dude that becomes your head coach.  Stats aren't great and they don't show any consistency over time.

3 hours ago, Silent Majority said:

I never expected much out of Collins. Weinke was the one that broke my heart. There is zero reason he shouldn't have had an awesome career. 

Remember, the knock on Weinke was his age.  Played baseball a couple years I believe.  I never could understand how he didn't make it.  He's now a really successful QB trainer apparently.

58 minutes ago, jb2288 said:

If you can get good value for Moton I agree trade him, if not I'd like to see Icky slide in to LG freeing up BC to play LT. Roll with Boze and Corbett another year, draft and develop a future RT. BC coming back opens up a lot of options, I'd like to see us aggressively pull another very strong guard in FA however

You can't ditch Moton, in any scenario.  The restructure we did with him killed it.  We still owe the guy 24 million guaranteed, plus his salary.

If we do anything (cut or trade) with him before June 1, it's a 24 million hit to our cap this year.  Do anything after June 1 and it's 12 this year and 12 next.

It's just not a good move.

I don't get it.

After three of the most disastrous drafts in franchise history, and free agency classes which have managed to bring in players that don't fit our system . . . we want to bring in more people who don't know how to evaluate talent?  What am I missing?

13 minutes ago, pantherj said:

Good man. Would take him back here as DC in a heartbeat.

You should have stopped at good man - he is. 

His team just finished 32nd in the league in scoring defense.  That's not the guy I want guiding our defense.

Been saying for a while now that Weinke was the closest Panthers comp for Bryce.

Unfortunately, looks like we'll be stuck with him next year as well since we decided it was more important to rebuild the Bears than our own team.  Thanks Tep / Fitt!

2 hours ago, top dawg said:

You should include pressure rate as well. But, yeah, from the eye test alone, I think we're simply better off trading him to the highest bidder. He's not a top rusher, and that fact has shown up better than he does on every down. 

 

I think his pressure stats are loaded with false positives.  Unfortunately, we've all watched Burns play.  We've seen him get ridden just past the QB too many times.  We've seen him flat out whiff.  That's technically a pressure.

I'm not sure what value Burns coming around the corner for pressure really has.

1 hour ago, DaveThePanther2008 said:

I would like to keep Evero.  Considering his defense was forced to play 75% of the season I think he's a good DC. Keeping him for one more season could benefit us going into 2025.  If we retain him and he gets a HC gig in 2025 we get compensated with a 3rd round pick.  in 2025 draft capital should be a top priority. 

Evero didn't light it up here.  Some of that is due to our switch to a 3-4, certainly.

But ToP wasn't a huge issue.  Our offense averaged 28:33 per game in ToP.  Yes, it was last in the league but it wasn't a massive problem.  For example, they were only 2 minutes less possession than Philly, who were 11th.  Washington was first in ToP . . . how'd that work out for them?

And the most important stat of all:

We ended 29th in scoring defense. 

Yes, we've had injuries.  That's a big deal.  Yes, we switched systems.  So I don't lay all that awful at Evero's feet, but he's not been the "shining light" some would like us to believe.

And yes, despite having more ToP than any other team in football, the Washington Riveras managed to have the league's worst scoring defense.  Well played WTF, well played.

If you want to be paid like a top player, you gotta be a top player.  Over his career, Burns has been:

40th

14th

21st

8th

37th

In sacks each season.  So an average of 24th.  He's "good", but not "great" or "top".  I'll give him 20 per over 4 years, with 30-35 guaranteed.

8 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

There's an argument to be made that the Thomas Brown hire is what doomed Frank Reich.

And it's not a weak one either.  While Reich was here, we averaged 15 points per game, with him gone we averaged 10.  Not saying Reich was the answer, but the staff just didn't have chemistry at all.

Dear Mr Burns,

You have so far in your career earned nearly 30 million dollars.  If injuries were a concern as they relate to future earnings perhaps you might have considered investing some of that money in an insurance policy.

Unfortunately, no.  Our defense has not been good this year.

Only two teams have given up more points per game than we have.  This is our first year in the 3-4, so it should be expected, but don't get it twisted.  We have not been good.

This next coaching hire doesn't matter.  He'll be here a season and a half, tied to Bryce.  When BY is a clear failure they'll ditch this coach and draft a QB again.

Sorry.  I wish I could see it differently, but I don't.

8 hours ago, Jackie Lee said:

Don't usually like your posts but this was basically my wishlist if you sub Steichen for Ryans, either one wouldn't be a major issue regardless of what our record would be currently . They could have literally taken a Huddle/Panthers twitter poll  in the spring and done a better job than whatever their formula was. The only intense Bryce/Stroud issue was when certain people started pummeling all the Stroud supporters after Bryce's pro day like somehow just because it became clear we were going to take Bryce that all Stroud supporters were idiots lol. Pretty much all Stroud fans accepted Bryce being the pick and tried to be positive until preseason at least. Also S2 fug you

This was me.  I was a Stroud guy, but accepted that we were going to draft Bryce after pro day.  I'll still root for Bryce to succeed next year, I just don't see the path.  But serious props to Stroud.  I thought he was the better prospect, but what he showed in the Georgia game was actually who he is in the NFL and I definitely didn't see that coming.

5 minutes ago, Riverboat Ron said:

This is why I’m done. Stroud was by every measure the #1 pick based on the timing of our trade, dude had blown away the workouts and looked every bit a franchise QB. I was convinced he was the pick and the Young projections were just trolls, then I saw the hug. I knew we were f’ed. I held out hope just like when we took Jimmy Clausen that maybe I was blind to something the experts in Charlotte saw that I didn’t. Sadly they have very comparable arms and Bryce will struggle.

Pickles isn't the comp, it's Weinke.  Pickles was measurably worse than BY.