Sgt Schultz

One of my favorite NFL playoff games was the 1977 "Mud Bowl" between the Vikings and Rams in LA. The first picture is Jim Marshall wondering what the he11 to do with this situation.

2009 - 2011 were all bad. I think 2009 was the worst. 2009: The only pick that worked out was in the 7th round.....let that sink in. 2010: LaFell and Hardy were fine, but they were sandwiched around Pickles and Armanti Edwards. And we all know what happened Hardy. 2011: After making the obvious #1 pick, we should have traded every other pick away for something....anything. As somebody said, we were drafting #1 in every round. The only thing that saved it from being worse (Cam aside) was that we didn't have a second round pick to waste. Cam saves this from being worse than 2009 which is hard to do. Dishonorable mention: 1998 was nothing to be proud of, either. Then there was 2019. Take Burns out of that, and you get Little and Grier. Daley was picked The best is saved for last: 2001: As was said, picking Morgan, Jenkins, and Smitty in the first three rounds and then getting a decent backup-level QB in round four is rather impressive. The fact that the backup QB was forced into being a starter is not the draft's fault. 2007: Among our first four picks were Beason, Kalil, and Charles Johnson. Not too shabby 2017: Three picks in the first two rounds net CMC, Samuel, and Moton. We also made a hit in the 7th round.....and then got rid of him (Butker). 2013: Deceptively good. Of our six picks, we got Star and Short. AJ Klein had a decent career (only 4 years of it here), and Barner was in the league for about 8 years.

He might find out that the grass is much like it was in Cleveland Municipal Stadium in November and December. They simply painted the dirt green.

I'm not sure this team has anybody that is untouchable for the right price. Truth is, I think the number of players who are untouchable on any team for the right price is a smaller number than most would think.

Someone will probably report us for handling disagreements in a civil, rational manner. We'll probably both be banned from the internet soon. So, here may be my last post. But I digress. What I cut and highlighted would be a major step forward. Rhule lost me last season, and your last sentence is more or less the benchmark for getting me back. In a perfect world we would be a playoff team, which is where we should be in year 3. Of course, I am yet to see a perfect world in this or anything. If people are mentioning us in the same conversation with playoff picture (without laughing) as we start shopping for the Holidays, and we are competitive even when we lose, I won't be sold on Rhule but I will go from head shaking to shrugging my shoulders. Oh, and I don't start Holiday shopping in October, despite what the stores might want. Or before Thanksgiving for that matter.

My guess is if they hit 8 wins and don't look awful in the losses, Rhule returns. I would classify my position as suspicious optimism. Yes, the roster is better on paper, but the games are not played on paper. We've been down this road pretty much every year after 2015, which is the last time the results warranted the optimism). Here is my problem up until now: Rhule is paid roughly $8.5M a year. That is John Harbaugh and Andy Reid money. Rhule is seventh on the list of highest paid coaches this year. Reid and Tomlin actually make slight less. Reich, Harbaugh, Shanahan, Carroll, Hoodie, and McVay all make more. Each of those ahead of him or in the same neighborhood have shown some ability to coach teams to wins. That is, steal games that should have been lost because they outschemed the opponent. Rhule is the guy who is outschemed. I don't know at this point if that can be learned for him. I think, based on what we have seen, Rhule and Tepper are both "org chart guys." You know the kind, when they come in the first thing they do is "redraw the org chart." That does not mean people are immediately sent packing, the structure just changes. We've seen organizations of all sorts that were so poorly defined that they would inevitably fail, and one could argue the Panthers were an organization so poorly defined that they could never fully succeed. The problem is "org chart guys" will redraw the org chart no matter what, and judge success or failure based on that how pretty that is to them because "it will inevitably lead to results" rather than the organization's actual results at its mission. The reason I have that suspicion actually goes back to how the Bridgewater criticism was handled. They never openly acknowledged that they needed to work on the criticisms he raise, which were accurate. Instead, they (including the owner) circled the wagons to protect the organization and shot the messenger. How many times in my 60+ years have I seen that, and I don't think I have ever seen an organization that did it succeed at their mission. If Rhule lets the people around him do their jobs and loses the "process" nonsense, the team can get to those 8 wins or maybe even a little more, and probably not look completely clueless in the process. The best case is we chalk up 2021 to "sh1t happens" and move forward. Then the debate can begin about whether a coach getting paid $8.5M a year and his best case is to stay out of the way is going to get us anywhere.

Ideally, if Mayfield has a 2020-esque season, that becomes an option. That assumes we can resign him. I still think we will be QB shopping in the draft, but it would be nice to do so looking for a backup that has that "who knows how far he can go" standpoint rather than a starter. Add to that equation that our OL gels and puts us in a position we don't need an immediate starter. If those two areas take care of themselves, we have some options on draft day that we have not had in a while.

The hope is captured in this video at about the :30 mark. Somebody commented that we've built a fast defense to handle the "modern NFL." That works well, right up until you play a team that can push you around and stuff the ball down your throats because you are fast, but don't have the brawn to control the line. Just like what almost always happens in the playoffs. I've heard the "modern NFL" for years, but the fact is if you can't control the line or at least hold your own, good teams will exploit that. We have to prove we are up to that task. Until then, the pieces are just getting smaller.

Ouch! Now I need a drink! Thanks for reminding me. I had hoped we would enter the season with the QB void somewhat resolved with Baker being the starter, Darnold being the backup, and Corral in the #3 slot and poised to overtake Darnold by about week 10. And I am not convinced Darnold is a legitimate backup, either, since he turns the ball over too much. But, add that to the list of things I have hoped for that did not come true. Brady is giving every indication he is going to make the decision to hang them the same way Favre did.... Am I still walking? If yes, play on. If no, can somebody do something to make me walk? If yes, play on when that happens, even if you don't know who you are anymore. If no, probably time to hang them up.

I figured you understood what odds signify, others not so much The concerns and unknowns we have are what really prevents me from being more optimistic than I am, and that includes how the HC will handle things. History says he will not handle them very well by NFL standards, but we'll let that play out. I will say this: in this or another thread somebody mentioned that they thought Tampa was teetering on the edge of regressing. I think they are closer than that. If Brady does not play the full season they are in trouble and going over the edge and into the abyss. And that is not an "if" but a "when." Brady's body could tell him that it is 45, he could get injured (particularly if their OL stinks), on the previous OL assumption, Brady has been reduced to ordinary or worse in the past when he has been consistently been in danger in the pocket (that's how the Giants handled him twice in Super Bowls), or his wife could convince him it is either playing or her (which sounds like it could be the gossip of the week) and he decides another year is not worth that price when the risk of being carried out is factored in. But, our chance essentially includes the Bucs going over the edge this year and the Saints being more what I think they are than the bettors. I don't factor in the Falcons, either. While there is a lot of money to be made betting on them, the chances are better I will see trees tap dancing out my window while I am sober than that bet paying off. It would be interesting to know how many putting money one the Saints are experienced bettors vs. those who shout "who dat" as they place their bet.

That's true, but the handicappers are not evaluating the odds of something happening, just handicapping what those betting are saying the odds are of that something happening. The handicappers win more often than they lose because those supplying the data for the odds lose more often than they win. In this case, I think the odds look pretty realistic except that I think the house is going to make a decent haul on people betting on the Saints.

The big caveat that follows 32 teams is Barring Injuries, I have us somewhere between 6 and 10 wins. So split the difference and call it 8-9. If Brady starts playing like he is 45 or is a victim of the above caveat, that actually could be good enough to win the division.

That was a good follow-up to reading this thread: I needed to start the day with a few laughs.

Don't forget the caulk gun used to add the sour cream......or is it caulk? The OP reads like Shakespeare to me! Or Catch-22.

I figured they would go with a veteran just for that reason. It's not like Joey Slye came up injured and it was a springboard to upgrade. They are happy with Gonzalez, and barring him not recovering 100%, they have bigger fish to fry.

Oh be quiet, you farging cokesuckers.

Sounds like they need to hire someone well-established in making first round picks. Mr. Hurney, line 1. Mr. Hurney.

They probably got told no twice by somebody. I would imagine that the second time there was an expletive in front of "no."

I have it to. The NSA is probably as to happy not to see ads for me as I am.

What do you mean? We have PJ Walker, who is undefeated as a starter! Sorry, somebody had to add it in jest before somebody added it seriously.

From what I have seen of him (and granted, that is looking at videos in the last 18 or so hours), there are three things that jump out at me as positives: His size should translate in the ability to finish off plays, such as 3rd and 7s and red zone plays. From what I saw, #1 is true. He is not afraid to take on defenders. Most of the videos showed him turning upfield if there was only one defender between him and advancing the football, even in situations where he was on the sidelines. If you are going to be 6’-1” and 227, you might as well take advantage of it, and he has demonstrated he is willing to do that. So he not only has the bulk, but is willing to use it. The first time I noticed that I was thinking how much we could have used that on the play against the Bears a couple of years ago when Ian Thomas caught a pass a yard shy of the first down maker and didn't get it. His route running is pretty good, including reading and adjusting to the coverage. I think McAdoo will put that to good use, since he uses routes to get receivers isolated. We could see him clearing out zones of the field to get others open, or finding seams in the underneath – mid depths to get himself open. If they are going to use him out of the backfield or in a hybrid position, that last one is important. He can use that to make himself available (and then bull for first downs) or draw attention from LBs and open up part of the field a little deeper for someone else. Hopefully he works out and doesn’t have a lot of other issues. The drops issue is a concern, but without seeing them (and nobody makes videos showing receivers dropping footballs for 5 minutes), it is hard to substantiate. As for Kiper, no joke, Mel. A guy this size that runs a 4.58 40 is not an outside receiver? Geez, glad I was sitting down for that. I thought we were getting Jerry Rice. Dipstick.

Garoppolo really didn't have a lot of leverage. Nobody was trading for him because of his contract ($25M this year with the weekly roster bonuses) and him coming off shoulder surgery. His only taker at that price was the 49ers. The 49ers could have just released him and certainly made every move to indicate they were prepared to. Of the 31 other teams, according to Spotrac, 15 of them have less than $10M of cap space (Overthecap say 10 teams). Another 10 (both sources) have less than $15M. That only leave 7-12 teams with decent money available, and almost all of them are set at starting QB (for better or worse). Between cap space and questions about his shoulder, there was no guarantee anybody was going to put more shekels on the table than the 49ers were offering if he was released. Especially when the teams with over $15M are almost all settled on their QBs. Most likely, if he had been released anybody wanting him would have made it an incentive-heavy contract, but they still have to have the cap space to make it worth. Sure, teams can clear cap space, but then the question is whether he is worth it? And he may get a chance to start in San Fran if Lance gets hurt or stinks. So, the closer cut down day came, the more his $25M salary for this year looked like a mirage.

I think he was talking about trading for a WR when we have other holes to fill.

I had a feeling when the board was melting down over the trade for Shenault that the entire book was not yet written. I think the most Rhule had to do with this is supplying Fitts the list of cuts as soon as he could. That's not a knock on Rhule, but it's not the HC's job to orchestrate trades. He may not know where to start, and few HCes would. That is purely a GM's job. Somebody joked that Daley would probably have an All-Pro year. Nope. Now had we traded him to the Bills.......

What I know about him I've learned in the last 20 minutes. Not the fastest guy on the field, but a good route runner, apparently pretty smart about reacting to the coverage, and does not appear to shy away from contact at the end of the play.