Bear Hands

There's one baseline desire as a fan: winning. And we aren't doing that. Haven't even been relevant since 2017. It's as simple as that.

Yeah it appears he willingly walking into the same situation yet again. I swear, if that happens, I don't know how much longer I'm hanging on haha.

A balanced build is key. Every major blunder-move has had one common theme: the powers that be are too reactive, not responsive, and don’t take what comes. Funny thing is coming into the season, people were thinking this was the best line we have had since Gross and Kalil were out there. Now we’re back to saying it’s the worst ever. Which is a funny thing… Outside of maybe 5 teams, “the OL is the worst ever” is the common refrain by most fanbases. Just stay level-headed and keep building it all with a distinct vision in mind.

Another fun factoid, the two teams that were sharing our company in rebuild mode (Colts and Texans)...well, they're playing each other to get into the playoffs this next weekend. First year coaches, have had their fair share of injuries, poor OL play, nonexistent running games at times, and injured QBs. Coaching coaching coaching.

The biggest difference between the others coming out of Ole Miss was his catching style and movement when the ball was in the air. He never showed to be much of seeker/aggressor for the ball. He's just not a hands-catcher -- he does from time to time but it's not second nature. Overall, I didn't like what I saw this year. We needed a guy who could come in and make an impact, yet we took a guy with a big learning curve at route running. We needed quickness and guys that get open quickly. Doesn't mean he can't pan out, but his skills weren't complimentary so he was easy for defenders to shut down. And overall, we've had mediocre WRs still produce out of the gate and eventually descend into mediocrity (see LaFell, Funchess, Colbert, etc.). This didn't even feel like it was at that level. Better than TMJ but it was rough.

That's always been my suspicion. About 4-5 games into Rhule, you could see the weird disconnect and I've always figured he wanted out. Rhule barely even spoke about him and you saw very little interaction between the two. And they never even spoke of eachother in interviews much. And this was when he should have been the centerpiece of the team. I just wish we got a bit more, value received just never checked out for me.

Not to mention, Bears had a huge need at pass rusher (as we all saw when they traded for Sweat). And the report was they wanted Burns (one of him, Moore, or DB)...and Burns at his highest value in his career, at the 2nd most valuable position in football. Hell, could've kept 2025's 2nd if Burns was included and probably added an extra late-round pick from the Bears into the mix. To that last point, still don't know why Fitterer didn't try to add some late round flyers from Chicago. The teams on our end of these mega trades always tend to hedge their bets by getting some of that back-end change.

He clearly has a good report with Tepper, so as some said, I can see him retained in some capacity to many's dismay. It's unfortunate given the team assembled, but it's the reality. Not to give him too much credit, but Tepper clearly recognizes the team built is one of the league-wide worst in the past 10-15 years. In large part his doing, sure, but this is not an idle ship and have never been. He may just having like Scott around.

This would all hurt less if we turned what we got into some talent. But we kept thinning our margin for error with more trade ups and less draft picks. No legit WR, no true replacement RB, no new strs on defense, and after all of that, still a gigantic question mark at QB.

You beat me to it haha

CMC and DJ have a combined 3300 yards (2800+ pass/receiving) and 29 touchdowns For comparison, the Panthers have 2672 pass/receiving yards and 23 total touchdowns. It is absolutely bananas what we’ve turned the value received into for two franchise cornerstones.

A multitude of bad decisions led to the self inflicted tear down of our post-Cam rebuild around CMC..we could easily be where the 49ers are now. First off, we kept Rivera (& Hurney) too long Hired Rhule and gave him Belicheck level control. And he obviously had no idea how to utilize CMC and build around him and DJ. We had the parts…then hired people that didn’t know how to build with them. They made it an endless, frantic, needy QB search instead and countless reaches for RAS stars..not who worked best for the team with a distinct vision in mind. It’s been endless chaos all trying to force a QB rather than build a team.

Brugler spoke on him on Prospect to Pros some weeks back. The interest seems lukewarm on the scouting front but some teams do like him. Personally, I've been a fan and have followed him, but think he's more in the Bo Nix/Cameron Ward tier than JJ McCarthy. The arm strength is just good, not great. The injury history is there. Age is up there (although that seems to be about every QB these days being 23+). His accuracy has greatly improved but he still has to work on timed & layered throws. He's got some gamer in him though and is a fun dude to root for.

I am actually super excited about Ward. Think he has a ton of potential and could warrant 3rd-4th round consideration. Needs a redshirt season but there's a lot to like and he really developed as a passer this past season.

Eye test since last season is telling me that Rome Odunze is going to be a legit NFL receiver that’s for sure.

Yeah just rewatch the post-draft presser in 2021. It was Fitt answering all the questions about trade calls, players they were targeting, what the scout team thought of said players. Rhule is sitting they’re like a deshuffled guy just riding it out. Fitt even mentioned how they turned down multiple calls for #8 because how much they liked Horn haha.

This is what I find so wild. Mainly because this was not some hidden combination. It was there for all to see. Also have to factor in his unconventional shotgun dropback and mechanics effecting the velocity. The collective trust across all platforms/fans/media/etc. that he just had “it” and those intangibles overrode the physical limitations is what is just amazing. Reading evals retroactively is pretty funny — minus a few near spot on ones from the Athletic. Some Lessons learned should definitely be coming from this.

It is downright impressive how sharp the dive has been. Happy new year

RE: Lawrence talk — I would hesitate to compare because Trevor is still having a pretty iffy/up and down career. He still doesn’t look like he’s jumping into top-10 QB conversation. RE: Bryce — I just don’t know at this point. The eye test still just seems really bad. I would love to say he’s getting me excited at times, I’m trying to stay neutral, but it’s been difficult. No getting around that for me, it sucks to say, but it’s just what I see. Just seems way too limited. Time to position Bryce for next season and see how he can look in a new environment with a revised offense. Not much more to thinK on in that respect. We’ve known what we’re getting with the combo we have on offense for 10+ weeks running.

I’ll be honest—Johnson has called a really bad game.

The Montgomery dive call was really bad

I think Canales is being overlooked and is a big reason for TB holding things together. He’s a very bright and respected coach. I’ve been paying attention to him and Waldron for a bit now since the Reich cycle. Johnson, Canales, Waldron and Macdonald are my preferences.

Looks like it's a bluetooth boombox with an avg. $399.99 retail value: https://bumpboxx.com/ So if I'm picking up what the OP is putting down, he stickered over an Auburn one with Panthers insignias? Seems like it could be a fun tailgate piece I suppose, but not putting that in my house haha. ...but I'm a more minimalist prick/audiophile, I only trust certain brands when it comes to any form of audio purchase (headsets, speakers, studio monitors, players, preamps, etc.). And it has to have a clean, timeless design. Fun stuff though I suppose.

One minor correction is that Kafka has remained play caller in NY. There were rumors Daboll was calling them in late September but the staff refuted the claims. And I’m honestly a tad impressed what he was able to do what he’s done with that OL, WR and QB situation this year. They’re in a similar boat to us but without a potential franchise QB on the roster.

Targeting a young gun, whether O or D with adequate NFL experience, from a legit coaching tree, is what we need. And hopefully can identify the best HC material from that crop. Outside of Johnson, Waldron, & MacDonald, I’ve got one more more I’m quite interested in being Canales in TB. I think Johnson is still near the top of the list and for good reason.