Bear Hands

Steelers got Herbig out of this lol

Tepper has had a few retired NFL minds help him on the side in a silent-consultant type basis. That has likely given him the assurance he could figure it out but it hasn’t worked. …so now, as some have been mentioning, it’s time to find a true President of Football Operations who is his liaison and he just goes full hands-off. Doesn’t even need to pretend he’s Mr. Charlotte either. Just sit back, throw the cash, get out of the light (which I’d say he’s done to a certain effect) Many have been screaming for this since the first reset before we hired Rhule. If you can find that guy, that’s the starting point. Have them map out the blueprint for finding a GM who dictates the vision, and then those two find their HC. BUT If we don’t hit that full reset, and get a PFO, we need to get lucky and find a generational player or coach that changes everything. There’s nothing any player on our roster can do to transform the team. McMillan, Horn, DB and Chuba are a start, but may be on their way out by the time we correct it. I can give Canales a bit of grace these next 5-6 weeks but then pressure is on if it’s looking bad. Bryce, I’m mostly done with him. A few main Personnel objectives should be: -Accrue high draft capital (figure out how to gain picks to create multiple 1sts and 2nds) -ID a blue chip DE and LB. -Roadmap a QB scenario with both a vet and rookie. I’d take anything at this point, Stidham and Mateer IDFK

Safe to say we are pretty stuck. So figured it would be interesting to see how people would suggest we navigate our way out of these waters. Bullet points, longer spiels, memes, let’s see it all. Anything is acceptable. Benchings, Firings, Releases, Draft Ideas, potential HCs, just curious to see where people are leaning at this stage for reshaping the next season or so. I’m still collecting my thoughts on this but have some ideas…

Patrick Ramsey [insert Obi-Wan meme]

Yep I mean that’s what it comes down to. Analyzing this in a play-by-play manner doesn’t help (although I’ll still respect those who want to dig into that mess) When you have someone who inhibits the plays you can deploy, the concepts you can scheme in, it’s such a limiting factor and you won’t rise out of it until you try another guy at the spot. He limits the entire system down to physical, unchangeable traits… we are restricted in what we can run, and he can’t even run the limited playbook effectively. So that’s why I stopped bothering with play-by-play looks. It’s clear it’s the bigger infrastructural issue.

We technically have a SB winning starter but he’s our worst defensive player lol

Don't throw out the bait and complain about the biting.

We’re probably destined to roll with someone like Jarrett Stidham for a 2026 transitional season while taking a QB in R2-3. Possibly under a new HC (it’s a toss up right now)

Honestly, if he would’ve just got to the point and gave Ron his notice the year he bought, we could have been in a timeline for a legit HC and QB. And could have kept CMC+DJ in tact — the timing of the firing (and of course choosing Rhule) was the beginning of this death spiral with the missed overcorrections. Could’ve outbid GB for LaFleur and the entire sequence of poor decisions is altered.

You gotta pinpoint the guy with the right DNA. For example, Steichen, McDonald and Ben Johnson are the types for various reasons that had some clear potential. All fan favorites for our HC job. I think Canales has some of the HC gene, but I just don’t like the approach we’ve team building wise and he didn’t have a ton of experience. So I don’t know how he would be with a bit better talent. But I also haven’t been a fan of his offense thus far. A bit conflicted. The defense is not well constructed (has some promising parts) and the offense has zero identity (with McMillan being a start). So it’s a bit muddy. I think worth seeing how he can rally these guys this season, but if that’s the case, you gotta increase his seat temp and give him the green light to bench/release and bring in who he wants to help improve. Then DT should analyze that the remainder of the season and make the call once it’s over. If embarrassments like this become a trend, then it would be worth canning.

Christian Rozeboom and Nick Scott are two of the lesser quality FAs we've had in a while and not just that, but they're starters. Need immediate changes at those two spots. I do not believe for a second that a mid-season pickup or any of the other guys we have could do worse than Rozeboom. At least Wallace shows quickness and flashes from time to time (between some bad situaitonal moments). Christian is just slow, missing all over the place. And we have Ransom who should supplant any Scott snaps when they both aren't in in heavy DB looks. I would consider just cutting Scott.

We went from boring zone run concepts with Reich to boring zone run concepts with DC. And we have a QB that’s neither a mobile one or rocket arm zippie. So it’s a recipe for a super vanilla boring product. We won only when our defense gets lucky.

and another one bites the dust

Also - Ransom is one of the rare cases of a guy I really wanted and we actually drafted. Never freaking happens and finally did with him so hope it works out ha.

Lots of reason for optimism with some of the young players on defense. We’re a few guys away from rounding out the unit but the secondary has serious potential. Seems we’re playing better against both man and zone so far, but are still breaking when the pass rush and LB play has been off. ILB will be a big focus in 2026

First win since the Wilks stretch that felt like a commanding, thorough old fashioned butt whooping. Shout outs: Chau Smith-Wade - he has been getting better and better. I've really enjoyed his development and could turn into a quality starting nickel for us. Ryan Fitzgerald - He's looking great. I would caution to brace for some rookie kicking moments, but he seems like a kid who could stay here a minute. His kicks today were at big points to force ATL into high percent passing scenarios Cade Mays - from what I saw, he had a solid day. OL with some exceptions with Zavala played very well. Lathan Ransom - He's one guy I'm willing to crown a tad prematurely, but I really think he's a safety that will stick. Just solid play, no real mistakes. Good communication today. Rookie EDGEs - Scourton and Princely won't show on the stat sheet but they were disrupting the pocket from the edge. Played really tough today, good effort. No shout out: Christian Rozeboom - Oof. He still looks really rough. Wallace was a little better today/didn't have any egregious screw ups but Christian seems pretty rough. If we can find someone average here, it could really help this defense.

It has been 5 years since we last held a team under 7 points. Lions game 2020, 20-0

Fitz baby. Chau & Fitz get the damn game ball

We made the Falcons bench their guy. Love to see it

It's okay, we've destroyed a team and played extremely well on defense. Soak in this feeling -- winning a game due to defense just completely shutting the other guy out.

Today is nice. Completely tearing a team apart who was hyped for the playoffs. We are stomping on ATL and it feels damn good. Evero is owning some of his old peers. Secondary has played fantastic. Horn, Ransom, S-W, Jackson, just awesome.

Good Defense gives me good feels This has been long missed. ATL looks terrible, but the defense came to eat.

I don't usually diss picks or toot my own horn, but oh wee mayne

This team is soft top down.