magnus

I was a lot more NASCAR than football at that point. Never huge on DW. But, once I had my NASCAR license, there was a deal at Hickory where the big man was signing autographs, I was still young so I was kinda into it, and they stuffed him in the ticket box (I also met a younger, still playing John Settle there, which was somewhat interesting for the two years he was actually around), which was up on a hill on the front stretch. Well you still gotta get out of there, and people crowded him, and he started to fall but my dad caught him. Race day, DW invited me to his hauler, and I had a couple gatorades with the ol' man before the race that year. Given the date on my NASCAR license and the time of Neil Bonnett's death, that was 1993. He was a hell of a guy, and being a famous stranger my dad's age, I didn't have a ton to say. He was also, in retrospect, about done, another guy content to just ride and make millions, which honestly I can't blame, but it's an odd analogy. That guy, in 93, had been around 20 years in that sport. You can't just mail in a top 20 in football, though. And fan favorite DW, versus rough, fighting, championship DW, had a lot more miles on him. They have interesting, potentially polarizing personalities that grow on you, both he and Cam. But fan favorites don't win championships. Championship winners are polarizing to the people that don't love them. They're the ones who, when they drive by, idiot redneck drunkards throw up birds at them and throw their chicken wings at. That's what we see with Cam. Someone so d'amn good it pisses off other fans they're jealous they don't have him, because they know it's him that will take down their guy every week. If you don't want to say that's the Earnhardt of that era, Waltrip himself was the baddy of the decade before it.

And yet they're really just doing the same things, for the most part. Power, two tight end football. I want to say I have read some unstated, but still residual, Lee Ward pining in this post.

It's entirely possible that they will again, after preseason's done. He's on at least the PR unit, so he's gonna stand a good chance at the active roster as a WR. yeah. I'm not against the team being interested in the right waiver pickup or cheap vet. But there's not some requirement to flood this team with upgrades that aren't coming. Norwood not being satisfying enough for the screamers doesn't change a lot. Three or four receivers will play a meaningful role this season. If they really feel like one can be better than their 3 or 4, they might make a move. And that's a good point about the long term. This isn't a series of one year deals like last few years' rosters. There will be guys next year. There are guys now.

all this hyperbole. "no one's looking for a #1 here!" "there are v8s out here and this team is just too stubborn to care!!1" Who are we complaining about that's just sitting there that's starting quality* or even high-level situational depth, that we haven't looked at? *the only relevant term - we can stop using code words for what you're saying you want

exactly. I don't know. I think too many people buy into a "one player away" thing, are too willing to give up continual success for right now. You field the best football team you can every year. And the people dying for a big trade for this or that would be the first in line to criticize how bad it was if/when it didn't work.

But that's not how things work, of course. They didn't trade for Norwood because they "missed" on Wayne. They saw an opportunity. This franchise isn't in business of doing the fans' bidding for name recognition at a position. I see a lot of discussion about drawing doubles, too, and sure, that'd be great. A player who demands attention, and then can overcome that extra attention, would be fantastic. But that's not at all realistic right now. You want players who fill roles, can win one on one matchups.

it's easy to throw out analytics when they don't agree with them. That's why they're necessary - the same things that emotionally tell you Player X was really great, are the same reasons you can't rely on them to make business decisions.

This has real value. It might not grade "your" player well, but on average, it's a set of skilled eyes grading things like blocking in a way no one here can. It doesn't mean, in 20 plays, for instance that a career is over. Game 1 of preseason isn't the end-all, be-all determinant (I saw a "cut Ealy" in the other thread and an all but "it's OK that Lee Ward had a -1" - turns out falling off your man in the hole isn't universally accepted) of a player's career. Right now, positive is a nice thing to have, but a few negatives aren't catastrophic.

he does play a ton of special teams, and he would've been very helpful when they ended up having to keep Olsen in to block. Tolbert is a tremendous run, pass blocker and a weapon on both offense and special teams. I know it's easy to get hyped for Ward, and I root for everyone. He's talented. But let's let him stand out on a Panthers football field before we give him a roster spot.

I don't believe that's unique to Bersin. Cotchery does his work in the middle of the field. Funchess could very conceivably start but shift inside for the speed guys. ​ Olsen's spread at least half the time and is tremendously reliable. Also, I clicked with the promise of quantification - snaps/targets - fair enough but I don't see any quantification of these items.

Not really. The staff is somewhat conservative. Yes, Rivera tends to succeed most when he deviates from that, but know that's what this team is - conservative. This team is going to be able to do some things that you're gonna pretend you saw coming - on its way toward doing the necessary things like throw deep, run the ball, set up good 3rd downs. Shula isn't perfect, Ron's game management isn't perfect, but the end result is still better than most. This team isn't somehow magically held back from being this tremendously wide open offense by Shula, it's what Ron wants. With this defense, if you dump Ron, you probably have the same approach (provided a replacement doesn't ruin the defense).

​fair point. They don't measure that, that I'm aware, in the NFL (or at least the media doesn't report it).

valuable info, glad to see he wants to show others. You have to have knowledge to pass it on. For what it's worth, Kelvin (34.75) doesn't have a ton more wingspan than Devin (33.5), but d'amned if it isn't a game of inches.

when this first came out as a BBR hypothesis, I didn't like it either. Yes, early 2014 Cam was a better passer than mid 2014 Cam, and there was a conspicuous lack of running there for obvious reasons in the early portion. But, Cam broke rookie records as a passer and rusher at the same time. Negating his first three years to suggest that injured Cam is better than healthy Cam, I don't agree with that. Mid-14 Cam had no running game around him, no protection, a defense that was suddenly starting to fail him, no special teams, and no receiving depth. That Cam pressed (all the desperation throws v/s first NO), tried to do too much. Which is fully the opposite of what he'd built himself into by mid-2012. That's the difference, to me. And he settled down when his team came together. If you want to argue that limiting his carries helps his health, maybe, but he wasn't healthy through either early '14 or after he started running. It limits what a defense accounts for, if he's not a threat. It limits who he is.

I don't know why people had concern that DF and KB would've been similar, because I would take about all the Kelvin Benjamins they'd let me have. Good on Funchess for being versatile though.