Miyagi-Do Karate

pretty interesting. I didn’t realize Stewart wore football stuff. When I just looked it up on wiki, looks like he had a NFL sponsorship, which is why he wore that NFL gear. Out of curiosity, what got you thinking of Stewart all of a sudden? The Tiger crash?

Tough loss to G Tech. Nice to see Edwards get some quality minutes and he did pretty well. When the offense went a little stagnant with about 7 minutes left, that’s really when it got away from them.

Are these guys football players or Garbage Pail Kid cards?

Now you tell me?! I was stressed for weeks that he was gone!!

I don't know-- his rookie year was a waste due to COVID. So, I would view Fromm as basically a rookie this year. I doubt they bank on him as the number 2 as essentially a rookie. At least Webb has been around the NFL for a bit, and I think has had some live snaps. Webb was a 3rd round pick, FWIW.

Actually, you are right that a lot of those guys are better. I was mostly talking about the guys in the last para of the article, since the featured guys are all going to be too expensive. The reality is is that the guys in the last para is the market for us.

If they don’t re-sign Barkley, it Means they think Davis Webb is ready to be the 2. Otherwise, I don’t see them going out to get someone better than Barkley. And from the article, not sure any of those guys are better than Barkley anyway.

0% chance he is re-signed. I think the better 3rd RB is a Rex Burkhead or James White, who could take over for both Yeldon and Taiwan Jones— and catch a lot of balls and play ST.

Seems strange.

i agree. This article is super bad form.

PFF ranked our oline in the top 10. You can quibble with the oline re run blocking, but their great pass blocking was not masked due to JA mobility. Simply the eye test too shows me that JA had a significant amount of time this season, sitting in a clean pocket. https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-final-2020-offensive-line-rankings

I am totally cool agreeing to disagree, and please don’t take what I am saying as attacking you or the OP. Just good-natured debate! 😀 it just bothers me that many on here are taking the 1 data point of the KC game to extrapolate more systemic problems. That was 1 game, and an absolutely important data point— but it should be considered along with all other data we have on this team to see what sorts of changes are needed at oline, coaching, or anything else. I also hate this notion of generally being so critical of the oline and oline coaching after what I considered to be a ridiculously successful offensive season. Again, they have to get better at run blocking. But I the “we need a new coach,” or “we need three new interior linemen, or “we need a 1st round RB” approach seems disproportionate to the nature of the “problem.”

this is a great point and something you hear olinemen talk about all the time. Also look at the few times when we committed to the run this past year? We ran well against SD, and basically ran out the last 8 minutes of the game against the Steelers.

“horrendous” at run blocking? I would argue mediocre— which is fully supported by the data. They were middle of the pack in YPC and rushing yards this season. They need to be better. But this oline was exceptional in pass blocking and about average/slightly below average in run blocking. (I also think the stats on this are skewed because Winters was such a problem for a large part or the season and we were without our best run blocker in Feliciano for a lot of the season, and then missing Moss in the playoffs). They need to improve at run blocking. But I would disagree that they were “horrendous”— a description that would suggest massive changes, as opposed to some tweaks.

Not meant to be critical of the OP, but it’s nuts that that narrative is the oline has “problems,” when the Bills had one of the most prolific offensive seasons in team history. Yeah, the line can improve in some ways (including re run blocking)— but they overall had a tremendous season.

Ugh. This seems bad. Really hope he has a full recovery here.

I believe it is multiple issues-- personnel, for sure-- but I do think these teams in the ACC have adjusted and just play it a lot better now, and they have the better personnel to beat it. For example, gone are the days when we used to let a guy catch and shoot the ball from the high post, figuring that a bigger forward out there couldn't beat us on 17-footers or be a nimble passer. That used to be a viable strategy. The only guys in the old Big East who would really give us consistent issues in that spot were Dante Cunningham at Villanova, and Chevy Troutman at Pitt, when he would absolutely dice us up with shooting or great high/low passing. Other than that, we could live with giving up a 17-footer to a power forward in the middle of the zone. Now-- every decent team in the ACC pretty much has a guy who can kill you from that spot. On a related note, I was thinking about the last great center Syracuse had--at least great defensive center. Tough to recall. Maybe Rakeem Christmas (though he was more of a 4). Possibly Keita?

we have had a lot of bad luck at center with injuries. Sidibe has just been cursed his entire career. it would be nice to get a big block head like a Craig Forth to just eat up space for 4 years and at least have the Bball IQ to generally know where to stand. my other theory is that the zone has just become less effective now that we are in the ACC. The ACC teams on a whole have more skilled guys and it is less physical than the old big East. Once the coaches And players got used to it, it hasn’t been as effective.

Syracuse just always looks overwhelmed at Duke. Even the fake crowd Was making them nervous!

I was guessing that Newton was injured. Newton looked great early in the year, and then JB mentioned getting him “back in” a few games ago. It made me think that he was dealing with some Injury, but I could be wrong.

Firmly on the bubble. I don’t think they will Make it. I also doubt they will hold an NIT tournament. I think it would be cool if some of the teams that don’t make the NCAA, instead hold a mini-tourney— maybe like an 8-team bubble tournament over a week.

Even when Griffin is hitting his shots, the offense doesn’t look great with him out there. He’s just an ISO, shoot-first player, with a quick trigger. It’s great when he makes his shots, but even then, the offense is stagnant. And he’s not good as a defender in the zone— he is just slow to rotate and get out on shooters on the wing. He can sometimes recover with ridiculous blocks, but all those easy high-lows are usually Griffen’s Fault. (To be fair, he would probably not look nearly as bad in the zone playing next to a legit 5). I agree. Will be great to see him develop a more Complete game over time. For now though, KR almost doesn’t need that little floater or pull up. He seems to get to the rim At will, with great body control to sort of hang to make some tough finishes. He has to be one of my most favorite freshmen in years.

if you like McCarthy’s style, you might check out stuff by the late Kent Haruf. I love his stuff and style— very minimalist writer. But the topics of his book are much better and less bleak than McCarthy. Would highly recommend Plainsong and its sequel, Eventide.

I am way behind the times, and started watching all the marvel movies on Disney plus Last month. I think I just am starting on phase 3. Looking forward to adding Wanda vision series when I hit phase 4.

You might be right. But this was a weird game, and you could be giving JB a little too much credit. Seemed like the press just threw ND out of rhythm. They were so scared just bringing the ball up court, And when they did, it seemed like mass confusion on offense. this is what Buddy said— seemed like this had more with ND being totally out of sorts: “Even after the press, we just went into zone and they looked like they didn’t know what to do,” Buddy Boeheim said. “Our defense was a little better in the 2-3 for sure, but like they were just passing around the perimeter. They weren’t looking inside. They weren’t looking for Durham on the lob or anything. … They were just out of sorts.” Regardless, the defense really upped its game in the second half, and this comeback was really a great win. I hope they can build on it for the Duke game.