Shoutout to BIG MONEY Tepper and Dan Morgan and Matt Rhule

[PleaseCutStewart]

Go ahead and build a statue of Fatt Fhule out front. Guy was the genius we never knew we had 

[TD alt]

59 minutes ago, 45catfan said:

Trading up to take the #1 pick that hadn't delivered a winning season yet wasn't a huge blunder? All this playoff spot is to me is simply to get off the playoff drought list. 

We very well may be in the same spot as the Falcons are now next year, actually fairly likely.  There should be very few, if any, excuses not to eclipse this season.  I simply don't see it happening.

In my other post, I did mention suffering the lingering effects of the Bryce trade, so I indirectly acknowledged that it was ultimately a mistake, but with some nuance.

In my opinion, it wasn't necessarily a huge blunder from a football perspective to trade up if you look within a vacuum, as that's what teams do, but it was highly risky (the nature of the beast). The "blunder" was taking a short, smallish QB who was anything but prototypical as a potential franchise QB. I always said that "they had better be right," but they were wrong. But for me that's water under the bridge. Now we have to wait and see if they're smart enough to correct the mistake and not not make the same mistake again.

Now would I have traded up? No (I may inordinately value draft  capital).  But I can't say that trying to get an answer at QB is bad in and of itself, but it did turn out badly in my estimation, and David Tepper has to own that. But I've already mentioned how it water under the bridge and how he has changed his modus operandi. We'll see if the seeming progress continues. Giving Bryce a contract extension prematurely based upon his body of work will go a long way towards telling us if Tepper and Morgan are serious about establishing long-term success.

 

[BeenPounding]

I think it's safe to say that they have made chicken salad out of chicken poo. Bryce isn't a 50M per year QB.  If we make him one, that is GM malpractice and will get someone fired.  Bryce can operate around the Sam Darnold or Baker Mayfield salary and have a solid team built around him.  He has gotten better, but our offensive issues have been mostly due to predictability, prudence, and a lack of separation from pass catchers.  I wouldn't shy away from drafting Drew Allar, John Mateer, or Garrett Nussmeier after round 3 to create competition and groom as a back-up.  If he plays hardball come extension time, move on.

The team has gotten better, created a distinct culture, and has much more depth than they had two years ago.  Those are huge W's in regard to righting the path of the franchise.  Morgan is it at GM/President I see him getting better as the years go on like Brandon Beane. The XL pick has been the biggest Morgan miss.  Who knows, XL may be salvageable, but we still need a solid #2 receiver and one more reliable TE.  Sign experienced LB's, draft a back up G and T, work on finding play-makers and we will see improvement.  Our schedule is ROUGH next year.  9-8 would be huge!!!!  We have the AFC north and NFC north plus Seattle and Denver.

The hill I am willing to die on is that Canales's future will be predicated upon him giving up play calling.  He is too young of a coach with an inexperienced staff to rely on being the play caller.  Izdik needs to earn his paycheck and call the plays so Dave can be the head coach. DC, IMO, could be a great CEO coach.  If he is all about development, he needs to develop staff as well.  He needs to better assess the entire team and game situations without being hampered by the nuances of play calling.

I think EE is gone at year's end.  Evero has hit his ceiling in Carolina.  I'd love to see Raheem Morris step in and put the screws to the Falcons for the next few years.  He ran a similar, yet more aggressive system with the Rams so scheme and personnel would not be a huge issue.  It'll be a hot minute before he is considered for another HC gig.  Carolina could be the best opportunity outside of Cleveland to build a high level defense.  (I omitted NYG because they are just like our team was in year 1 or 2 of the "rebuild" Rhule years)

I'm pessimistic about our play-off game, but still excited.  However, I am more excited about the off season and how we will build on the success of this past season. 

[The Lobo]

They made improvements, still alot of work to do, but I’m excited to see what happens this off season.