Peon Awesome

As an aside, wasn't Elflein designated for return a few weeks ago? I think if he's not active this week, he'll have to stay on IR for the year which puts a dent in our already weak G depth.

Huddle logic: Saints are simultaneously so terrible that us thoroughly dominating them in week 2 means nothing but also so good that there is no way we can compete with them for a wildcard spot even after they lose their starting QB for the season.

I try not to dwell on negatives but came across this really interesting stat and felt compelled to share. It compares how many receiving yards a player actually has compared to how many they'd be expected to have based on expected completion probability and expected yards after the catch, e.g. factors that account for how good/bad the pass was and the defense your facing. Robby Anderson is worst in the NFL, almost twice as many yards left on the table as 2nd worst (Calvin Ridley). DJ Moore's yards and expected yards match almost perfectly this year. On the other side, Jamarr Chase is otherworldly, outperforming his expected yardage by roughly 400 yards. You can go to the original twitter page to see more of these diagrams.

McCaffrey is the single most impactful non-qb offensive player in the NFL when healthy. Hubbard is a fantastic backup and a competent starter but to say the drop off is marginal is a horrendous take. Darnold has been bad the last few weeks but I have to think he'd look semi-competent with McCaffrey out there. Even his presence helps make receivers more open and when they're not, he's pretty much a guaranteed 10 yards on a check down play. Him being out is definitely the most undertalked about part of the Panthers slide and really can't be overstated.

New fantasy football strategy: pick up the defense playing the Panthers

Couple points: you're suggesting the defense watched the offense lead a game tying 96 yard drive to force overtime and were so demoralized, they let the Vikings march down the field? I mean dear god, it's one thing to be upset by the offense's poor play for the majority of the game, but if you can't regain your intensity after that drive, just quit professional football. Also adding Stephon Gilmore and getting back your defensive captain (Shaq) both within the next couple weeks might change some attitudes quick.

I mean our offense is pretty anemic without McCaffrey but he's also the single best offensive weapon in the entire league, so yeah, it hurts to lose him. Let's hope the time on IR allows him to be 100% in 3 weeks.

I think it was a good honest answer. Basically said that at minimum they figured they'd be solid versatile backups and they recognized offensive line was a position of need and wanted bodies so they didn't feel desperate to reach for them in the draft. We can complain all we want but offensive line in general is seriously lacking in available talent. Not too many gems that reach free agency. They're either too old, too injured or just not good.

There is so much parity this year, honestly there are 25 teams that could realistically have playoff aspirations and we are definitely one of them. We need to show some resilience and get back to our winning ways first but I have no doubt we are capable. It also helps that there are 7 teams that qualify in the NFC and probably at least 1 9-8 team getting in. Outside of the NFC west runner up, who can you even pencil in for wildcard slots?

Unfortunately for the Colts, overtime often comes down to field goals and it's hard to think of a bigger mismatch than Justin Tucker vs a hobbled Rodrigo Blankenship

What is the obsession with tackles? Our interior offensive line is getting destroyed every game and we have 2 tackles that looked at least decent yesterday and are under contract for at least 4 years. Let's fix the actual problem, not find an expensive solution to a lesser issue.

We just need a healthy CMC and a convincing win against the Vikings and all this doom and gloom will be on the back burner. Until then, we're sitting on a 2 game losing streak after a completely uninspired game against middling competition. I'm choosing to keep my head up but we need to get back on track fast because even my positivity has its limits.

McCaffrey is the best remedy for a porous offensive line. Darnold can quickly run through his reads and if no one looks open in the first 2 seconds, he can dump it off to McCaffrey for a minimum 5 yard gain. Plus he keeps the defense on its toes and diverts attention away from the receivers. Instead, the defense can devote 2 guys to Moore, thus Sam struggles to find anyone open, and after holding the ball for 2.5 seconds, he's got 2 defenders in his face. Hopefully McCaffrey is back next week because this team that can only put up 18 points against a weak Eagles defense isn't going to cut it.

Floor: Patrick Mahomes Ceiling: QB that makes Mahomes look like Jimmy Clausen

If the trend holds, I'd put money on the Cardinals to handily lose next week as the unbeaten darlings of the league (a la Bucs in week 3, Rams in week 4). Definitely possible against the 49ers. Also who had the Raiders and Cardinals as the last 2 unbeaten teams in the league? After tomorrow night, it might just be one.

It's a no-brainer that Darnold is worth what we traded for him (and much more). Just watching the 1st round picks from this year should make that pretty obvious. He's got top 10 numbers by multiple metrics and is playing with the worst offensive line in the NFL by multiple metrics. For the first time in three years I think we've got our qb situation figured out.

Yeah it's good to see lots of positivity from the huddle; not something I've been used to particularly during the Rivera-Hurney years. If Green Bay can get completely destroyed by a Saints team we dominated, and the Rams can go from looking like the best team in the NFL hands down to getting handily beaten at home to the Cardinals (although impressively 4-0 themselves), I think we can survive a one possession defeat to the 3-1 Cowboys on the road. If there's any truth to the NFL it's any team can go down in any give week. CMC will be back soon (certainly before we hit the tougher parts of our schedule), Henderson will get up to speed, and Brady, Snow and Rhule will finetune their gameplans.

I catch myself guilty of that thinking too. But then I remember that we were literally leading at halftime even though Dallas was gifted a possession that led to a td on that abysmal forward progress ruling. The 3rd quarter was about as abysmal as it gets, starting with the missed fg and followed by 2 interceptions that led to short fields and TDs. But don't let that make you forget that for 3/4 of the game, we played with a lot of fight and hell, arguably looked like the better team.

I don't see Brown happening at this point. The staff doesn't even feel comfortable making him active. To go from inactive to starter in 1 week isn't realistic. You have to think the staff just doesn't think he's ready. Hell he could very well be our starter next year and hopefully a good one, but next week, not a chance. Even though Paradis has been a problem, I don't think Tecklenberg is the answer. That guy might not make any other 53 man roster. Seems like he was getting bullied by current practice squaders in the preseason.

Damn, got done in by a clever play. At least we made it look respectable at the end of the day. If you said we went to Dallas without McCaffrey or Horn, tried to integrate Henderson with about 4 days to learn the defense and routinely had them against their top wr, and came out losing by 1 possession despite some major officiating calls going against us, you'd probably shrug your shoulders, accept it as a tough defeat and keep your head up for week 5.

I know. I should've clarified but it only stops when you run out of bounds with less than 5 minutes left. It was kind of implied cause obviously it stops for an incomplete pass no matter how much time is left.

Clock only stops with less than 5 minutes left in the 4th quarter.

Would hate to see the zero timeouts come back to hurt us. Could also come into play if there's an egregious officiating error that we need to challenge.

Did even the biggest optimists expect Darnold to be this awesome? Holy smokes. 2nd round pick, what unbelievable highway robbery

They'd rather give us 3rd and 12 instead of 2nd and 24? I'll take it