Alphadawg7

My bad, and yes bball should have triggered BASKETBALL in my mind as me and my friends love playing and watching basketball and always refer to it as bball. But for some reason I thought I saw the word "baseball" and I dont know why hahaha. I do get the demand for college basketball, just not sure its still enough to grow its subscriber base enough, especially given how much college basketball is still readily available outside of the paywall. Anyway, sorry for misreading that

Definitely disagree. Its completely clear he was in as far as I am concerned.

ESPN+ was a mistake IMO. Why every network is trying to build out their own paywall is beyond me. Its a turnoff to viewers, and sports content just isn't in demand enough due to wide spread availability to warrant a pay wall. Yes, they have 30 for 30, and excellent series. But that series already has so many episodes now, its not enough to really command a pay wall. The bulk of their exclusive stuff just isn't good enough to consume a lot of of it all the time and warrant the paywall. I pay for it in a bundle package with HULU, Disney+, and ESPN+. But honestly, the ONLY reason I do is because I was already paying for HULU and the upgrade was not that much and I wanted to get the Disney+ for the Mandalorian. Outside of Mandalorian and 30 for 30, I literally don't watch any other of the content behind the paywall. There is just WAY too much content on all the other platforms I have like Netflix, HULU, Prime, HBOMAX to feel compelled to search ESPN+ or Disney content (I have no kids) for something else to engage in. If I was ESPN, I wold focus on going back to just being the sports network, scale down the endless amounts of additional ESPN's, and take away the pay wall. Also, they need to get better sports shows, the Stephen A's and Skip Bayless type shows are mind numbingly stupid. Its literally the same show every day. First Take spend 2 hours on the air with an hour of it discussing the Cowboys almost every day of the year. These shows barely discuss real sports news, its just loud noise every morning. 30 for 30 should be a series on ESPN, not a VOD paywall for example. I mean once they tucked it and other original behind the paywall, all that was left on ESPN were Sportscenter replays and garbage shows like First Take with some less watched sports peppered in through the day.

Agreed as well

I definitely agree when you pay a tier 2 or tier 3 QB as if he is tier 1, you immediately diminish your chances of building a powerhouse. So many examples of teams overpaying guys early because they had to. Doesn't mean those teams cant get there or win a SB that fall into those situations, just means its going to be harder on those teams if they are not supported by a strong front office and coaching staff who can find talent in the draft and get the most of it on the field. Its also not always avoidable or even wrong to do that either, especially if that tier 2 or tier 3 QB is young and trending toward that tier 1 level. Some teams have no choice but to roll the dice. Take Goff for example, I personally felt it was too early to give him that size of a deal, there were a lot of question marks still about his toughness and ability under pressure (and quite frankly still are today). But they were kind of in a spot where they had to roll the dice based on his trend line and production. No team is going to let Goff walk that early in his career, so I get it. Just one of those spots you hope the progress continues. Sometimes this works out, other times this turns into Kap in SF, Tannehill in Miami, Carr in Oakland, etc where it doesn't and they underperform to that deal moving forward. That can really set a franchise back a while.

No disrespect, but this is wrong. The $20M mark is irrelevant in the first place, but I mean just going back 2 years to Tom Brady, he had a cap hit over $20M that SB victory, so its not accurate either to say no one over $20M has won it. The case you are really trying to make is a cap chocking contract by a top paid QB. But that is not accurate either. Steve Young has the record as his contract ate up 13.1% of his teams cap in 1994 when he led the Niners to the SB. Guys like Manning, Farve, etc all also won the SB while being among the highest, if not the highest, paid at their position too. I don't disagree with the point that winning a SB once you have already paid a QB as one of the top 3 paid players in the league makes winning a SB much harder moving forward due to the cap restrictions of that contract. Means your team needs to be excellent at drafting and replenishing talent through the draft on cheaper rookie deals because you wont be able to afford both buying them in FA and resigning your own. Chiefs for example are a team that will be a major contender, and likely favorite, this year and next couple. But at some point, if Chiefs dont consistently hit on their draft picks the next few years, Mahommes could become Aaron Rodgers where he always plays excellent himself but his team roster is always just missing just enough to keep them from getting more SB births and titles. Brady was making $22M in his last year they won the SB.

Ok I will do it

At this point, bring him in for a workout. What’s there to lose.

I was on here insisting to everyone for months before the draft that DK Metcalf was going to be insane and was a true #1 WR prospect and best WR prospect in the draft. Some agreed, most argued. I was on here on draft night pleading to take Metcalf every time another team passed, few agreed, most mocked his cone time. Once we traded up in the 2nd, I knew 100% it was for Cody Ford. No way they were going to trade up there if it wasn't for someone in the trenches IMO, and Cody was a first round graded prospect. But even then, I was pleading to trade back up into the 2nd again and take DK all the way until Seattle took him. Even fewer agreed and most mocked his cone time. Ok, done with my victory lap hahaha. That being said, I was never upset or even dissapointed with our draft on draft night either. Yes I badly wanted a WR because I knew that Zay Jones was utter trash and wouldn't last much longer here, nor should he. But they still got the DT they targeted, help for Josh on the OL, and promising RB and TE in the first 4 rounds. And as I sit here today, I have no concerns about our WR group either as Diggs is an elite WR himself with very good WR's around him like Brown and Cole too, not to mention Davis has a lot of upside (despite the gaff where he dropped a TD this weekend, I mean I have seen Hopkins and Julio both let easy TD passes go right through their hands while wide open, it happens). So, if I could go back, would I take Metcalf over Ford...absolutely. But I also am not sitting here like our future is in worse shape either, because ultimately we got the elite WR anyway, and one that is a freak in his own ways. No one plays bigger than his size better than Diggs, his footwork is at a freak level, and he is one of the best deep ball home run hitters himself in the NFL. I haven't given up on Ford, I still think he can be a good guard for us, although I have kind of given up hope he can be a true RT.

This. And this was a big issue I had with what Dak was asking for. If you put Rodgers, Wilson, or Mahomes on the cowboys last year, there is a 0% chance the Cowboys miss the playoffs. If you put any of those 3 guys on the Cowboys this year, there is 0% chance they win only 1 game (over the games Dak played and finished). But Dak was asking for money to be paid like them or more than some of them. So for me...the only ones I pay massive money to are the ones who have proven they can elevate their team above their rosters weaknesses. Seattle has a bad defense, yet they are succeeding. GB has a marginal defense, yet they are succeeding. I want to see a guy who can put that team on their back and will them to wins if I am going to invest a cap choking amount of money into them. Because I already know, that contract will be an anchor on the cap and make it harder to balance the roster out. So that QB better be able to elevate the team IMO. But...the flip side...I get the quandary that teams are in. Do you let a guy putting up high personal stats who is young or in there prime walk because they want to be paid with the elite. Its not easy to find another QB either. So teams too often cave and pay the demands. Washington and Cousins is one of the few times I can think of where they bit the bullet and didn't over pay a QB (Cousins). And IMO it was the right move. Now that doesn't mean it will always be the right move. Doesn't mean the right move is to let Dak walk. But Dallas compounded the issue with Dak when it grossly overpaid Cooper after shelling out a massive contract to Zeke already. Then after all that, they decided to draft a WR in the first to a team who had a very good WR group already. All of those decisions make the Dak one that much harder given what a shambles the rest of the roster is after paying for all that offense. So one could ask the question: Is it better to over pay a QB and stay on a path of middling team, 7 to 9 wins every year, and missing on premium draft pick slots? Where your future improving is mostly tied to finding gems in the draft at cheaper contracts. Or is it better to not over pay, even if it means having a down year or two, to then focus on finding a young talented QB on a rookie deal for 5 years at the top of the draft? If you miss on that QB it will further set your team back more years. So its a risk as well. I think you can make a case either way personally, but I think I would as a GM build through the draft rather than overpay and hurt the cap. Reasoning is simple...in either scenario, I better be able to draft well as a GM. So I think personally, if I am tying my future success to drafting well, I would rather do so with better draft slot and more cap flexibility. So tearing it down and taking a step back to be able to finally break through 2 to 3 years later sounds better than just being a middling team for 3 or 4 years that leads me to getting fired. Just my 2 cents.

Yes.

He’s on IR. Players on IR can’t be traded.

But wait, what kind of car does @DDCC drive? If you get that reference you’re a TSW OG 🤪

How can anyone compare the two situations? This is a pretty silly comparison and guess people forgot about Matt Cassel too. Patriots roster is not remotely close to the Bucs. Brady has the greatest collection of weapons of his career right now. Patriots offensive weapons is among the worst in the league right now. Patriots had several of their best players opt out on defense too for COVID and lost others as well. Bucs have an excellent run defense and pretty good overall defense. This is like asking why isn’t BB coaching the Jags to the Super Bowl right now because the Pats roster isn’t much better than the Jags. Meanwhile, Brady is the QB of an offensive juggernaught with a pretty good defense too. Same offense Winston threw for over 5000 yards in last year when it had less talent than it does this year. Sorry, but this is a ridiculous comparison and literally means nothing in the story of who was more important. They are both GOATS at what they do. Brady is just on a SB roster where Pats are more of a 5-7 win team roster.

I dont understand why people keep listing WR's as potential trade targets. Its the one area we are pretty rock solid at. And also Gilmore is not even remotely realistic. Not only do I seriously doubt Pats want to send him to the emerging best team in their own division, but the cap numbers are nothing Beane is going to ever consider. We can't afford to field 2 of the highest paid CB's in the league. But, I did answer YES in the poll if I think Beane will make a trade, and also YES if I would be disappointed if we don't. One, this team can and should compete this year. I can make an argument confidently that we are a player or two away from significantly addressing some of the glaring issues on the team. And that area is primarily 1TDT. Adding a space eater in the middle to replace the hole left by Star will make the most impact. That makes our LB's, DE's, and 3TDT's jobs so much easier. Its the rare case where a singular player can have a multitude of impact across the unit. I wont be pissed if no trades happen, but I do think that its a position that can fit in quickly into a unit, so of all years, this really makes sense for a midseason trade given the opportunity we have this year. So I would be a little disappointed if we don't given the solution to that problem is not currently on the roster. Wouldn't surprise me if we made a trade for a veteran TE or athletic TE, but I think its far more likely he explores some beef for the interior of the DL over anything else. Possibly a CB too not named Gilmore.

Matthew Stafford says hi

First 4 games, Buffalo averaged 4 TDS per game. We have 4 TOTAL TD's in the 3 games since. Yards dont win games, points do. And we keep committing drive killing play calls, mental mistakes, blown assignments, etc that keep points off the board. Including against the worst team in the NFL. Somethings not working, the offense isn't playing with rhythm, discipline, or confidence. Im suggesting a way to help build that back up. Simple as that. We need smarter play calls, and better execution. Daboll needs to make adjustments.

Yeah, this is mostly what I am trying to convey here, good post Whose claiming things with confidence? I said I think...who are you to say its wrong with confidence? I mean thats a pretty silly thing to say on a fan message board.

Its just not working. My question is what do people think an OC or DC does when they make "adjustments"? They make changes in the playbook and play calling. So do people want him to make it more complex and an even bigger playbook? I mean, our guys are not executing well enough,. We have had so many drive killing plays either that were just awful play calls or poorly executed. Somethings not working well enough to get the offense in rhythm. Missing Brown and being short handed at guard on the OL is not helping. Yet every time our back is against the wall, they just keep it simple and move the ball at will like the drive to get us within a score late against KC, the key drives late in this game. They need to do more of that. It shouldn't only be when our backs are against the wall.

I already posted that in the OP. Hes over complicating simple situations. We are short on personnel and running a deep playbook. All I said was just shrink the playbook a little bit, and lower the complexity a little bit...while we get healthy.

Do you watch for the game plan? The formations? The shifts? The schemes? The options? Not being an a**...but if you don't then this thread isn't going to make a lot of sense to you. Guess Daboll is perfect and nothing needs adjusting. I whole heartedly disagree that hes been good the last few weeks. I have had these issues in the past with him too.

Thats not what I said. I said reduce the complexity and size of the playbook a little bit until our offense is healthy. Focus on getting a rhythm in the offense. Because if you think our offense has been in rhythm the last 3 weeks then I dont know what games you have been watching. Man, people fixate on certain words. I didnt pin this thread only on penalties. Its like thats all anyone read.

I didn’t make this post about one play. We have had multiple issues for several weeks. And most importantly, Daboll game plan has been frustrating for several weeks now. I didn’t say let’s make the offense vanilla, I think we need to just reduce the complex schemes a little bit that he’s always trying to run and turn the focus on getting the offense into a rhythm and getting the run game going.

You can’t look at our offense and play calling and not put a lot of that on Daboll. One, he is not calling many run plays, and when he does, he’s often calling runs out of unconventional formations or RPOs.

I think they need to reduce the size of the playbook a little bit and dial down the complexity. Players in the past have already said its the most complicated they have seen, and that was before this year where he has clearly expanded the size of the playbook. We are seeing too many dumb penalties on offense like illegal formations that have taken TD's off the board or killed drives. Get this offense into a rhythm, make it just a little less complicated and keep it fresh with Josh ability to improvise. Daboll is trying too hard on gimmick and trick plays. He calls too many, and has bad timing with it too. Maybe just dial back the complexity and size just a little bit, at least until our offense gets healthy and get key guys back like Brown and Feliciano.