ctk232

unpopular opinion, but please...don't move up to draft rosen

Seems to be a growing unpopular opinion, but Darnold - don't buy the hype

Great breakdown and post - added comments fwiw. For the first time I'm looking at this off-season with a different optimism. Thanks for sharing!

Aside from the rookie season adjustment, the biggest issue, imho, is that he's been playing out of position all season. He's been our WR2 and at times with injuries WR1 when his skillset, experience, and route knowledge is all built for the slot. Now he's lined up in the slot this season and has seen some success, but it's more the lack of an overall, consistently healthy WR corps that has forced him into routes he hasn't had much, if any experience in. Not making excuses, for a high 2nd rd pick you'd hope to see the adjusment be more natural, or at least look like Robert Woods did as a 2nd rd pick. I still have hope that Zay develops throughout the rest of the season and could do with more targets, but I don't see it happening outside of the slot. Benjamin could be a solid WR1 with his size to play the big vaccuum role. Since he's lacking the speed for a truly explosive receiver, either Thompson or someone else needs to fill the WR2 speed role to keep safeties honest and provide a constant deep threat. That leaves Zay in the WR3 slot role and he may develop into the solid option he was projected to be. Should the miracle happen we could be seeing a fairly solid corps.

To be fair here - point 2 isn't technically correct as the extension applies to the first down marker as well. But I agree with the overall thread. Those were terrible calls, and even more egregious no-calls on the Pats at times. I know our DL is pretty pathetic right now, but half of the non-pressure pass plays Brady had 5+ seconds to throw were not because of stout OL play...Hughes was being held on 98% of the plays (genuine holds too, to where it affected his ability to make a play on the ball).

Two Things: 1. The other thing the Rams and Eagles both did was get lucky. Plain and simple, drafting a QB in the top 5 doesn't mean they'll pan out in the least. But they got lucky, I can think of a couple teams (Browns, Washington) who gave up a lot for busts. Not to mention we cried bloody murder giving up what we did for Watkins, careful what you wish for. 2. Goff was a bust until McVay installed a system that fit more to Goff's skills, coupled with his offseason development. Both QB's are playing in systems that help them. Peterson is a great QB minded coach that the Eagles can lean on, McVay seems to be killing it in his first year as a team coach, but looks to be at least aware of the system fitting the players specific to QB play. Not to mention they're both offensive-minded/oriented coaches. You're right that QB's turn a franchise around faster than any other position. But you need to say "right QB" because the wrong one could waste multiple draft picks and set us back further. I'd rather we maximize our two first rounders rather than convert them back into a single pick. If we can package one with others/future picks then maybe. Just don't expect us to nail the pick simply because we drafted in the top 5.

Bradford would be a mistake, Cousins I wouldn't give as much credit as people have been giving him (nor his price tag), Eli's interesting but might run into similar cap issue

I mean, I don't totally disagree with you, but who you going to get to replace him? We have more high end draft picks than we've ever had, but we still have a lot of position needs that aren't DE (OL, DT, WR, RB, QB, LB, just to name a few)

Terrible seeing Rodgers go down - heart went out to you guys. It's a hard feeling to deal with certainly, fortunately (or not) we've had 17 years practice at it...with frequent hope and heartbreak perpetuating a seemingly never ending purgatory of mediocrity and high blood pressure. But ya still watch every Sunday

Yet another QB post speculating over a garbage QB (Bortles - don't be fooled by the jags success and thinking he's an NFL qb, he's not) and a guy who we will overpay for what he's worth (Cousins, haven't exactly seen anything spectacular from the Washington offense since he's been there overall, been to the postseason once since he's been on the team? Wasn't due to his play - overpriced average QB). Just sit tight, let the season play out, get through the draft and see this team start to come together.

There's many more factors than that but Baltimore is our biggest direct competition in my mind, and then Cincy. Ravens should beat the browns and colts, but don't sleep on the Bengals being an easy win. Bills get to 10-6 and I think we're in, but I agree 9-7 likely doesn't get it done.

Right? And even with this impressive study of our offensive play calling, I don't see how this relates to McDermott outside of the HC allowing the OC control over the offense. Rico is calling the plays, McDermott is a defensively minded coach and is likely involved, but leaves play calling to the OC and staff. That to me rings as a Rico & co. shouldn't be brought back next year, and McDermott will be looking for other options. I do think the lack of trust in TT plays a factor into it, but our offensive play calling and percentages is all on Rico, imho. He's an old-school conservative system guy who never properly learned how to run an offense without HC oversight with calling plays. The fact that we've done this well with this team and OC is objectively fairly impressive, but can't be sustainable beyond this year.

Too bad half the board disagrees with this and thinks we should trade away as many picks as possible and our firstborn child to grab a top QB....as if just drafting one in the top 5 guarantees he's the future solution

To be honest, I don't care if we get blown out in the playoffs this year, even though I'd love them to win it all as much as anybody. I'd almost rather they get there and get that ridiculous monkey off the back so the media doesn't peddle this story into the coming years. That way we can spend the next couple years actually rebuilding regardless of how many postseason appearances we make, and just focus solely on building a perennial contender. But 4-1 fingers crossed!

9-7 likely won't cut it with the Ravens remaining schedule, if Cincy and LA keep winning, and/or the Chiefs don't slide. Unless we win out or go 4-1 for the remainder, we're sitting on the bubble looking in. I'm crazy enough to think we can go 4-1, but they took their fate out of their own hands with three deplorable performances in a row, two to AFC teams.

Or just root against KC to tank the rest of their season so their #1 (now ours) is higher.

Do we know if it is DTD because of our inept training/med staff? Or is the tear a degree of severity where he could return with a fairly quick recovery? I'd imagine this is something that is relatively certain as to the severity that by this point they should know how long he'll be out (at least an estimate)

I agree - he has TREMENDOUS talent, but that's different from using it. He needs to have a Dez Bryant moment where he realizes it's not all about him and needs to put on for his team, whether it be forced or self-realized. I don't think he's the prima donna that TO, Ocho, early Dez were, but his attitude is getting in the way and had it been fixed, man I would've loved to see Sammy and KB on the same team. Word, don't throws need to be on target and not 10 yards underthrown to be perfect? How is 2 feet short a nearly perfect for an NFL throw?

Shouldn't we be hoping the Chief's slide continues and they drop off the face of the earth and hope LA takes over as the division lead given our tiebreakers? I can't see us holding off the ravens AND chargers for the wild card spot if KC keeps their division spot and OAK doesn't start winning the rest of the way. Probably just stating the obvious here but if the Chief's do collapse and we go 4-1 the rest of the way I think we do it. 3-2 probably doesn't cut it with the Ravens remaining schedule, looming Cincy, and LA's resurgence all combined.

Pretty much - there was one play where Humber was very slow getting to the edge to catch up to a sweep and didn't make it. Milano may have been better in that position (and I'm pretty excited about Milano tbh), but I think we really could've done with having Reggie on the roster at least for run stuff packages and early down sets.

He'll go back to FL after this year. Reunited w/ Marrone and back in a familiar state - he'll be better naturally after leaving.

Still would rather have Ragland on the roster. He's more of a run stuffer than people think and better than Humber imo.

Love the review every week - I only removed pieces I'm commenting on here: Smith may have been their biggest weapon today, but he missed an open Kelce more than just a couple times and in key situations that would've had a lot of us returning to our established beliefs over the last two weeks. I think Kelce was ready to quit after yesterday's game, they kept panning to his reactions. And sure, the play was already decided on some of the plays he claimed to be open, but there were more than a couple key missed opportunities to him on Smith's part. I don't think relying on our defense was nor should be in our game plan. And I agree with the maddening conservative offense. Though I don't think this has anything to do with McDermott more than him just letting it happen (which is often too much in and of itself) and has everything to do with Rico and our play calling. It's draconian, older school west coast, and he doesn't understand what to do on 3rd down or sequencing of plays - felt like I was watching Greg Olsen's tampa offense and could hear my roommates shouting at the tv over 3rd down draws and screens. It's hard to watch. Whether it's doubt in TT or lack of actual ability in Rico, but something needs to be done. We managed to take time off the clock but when we had actual opportunities to end the game on offense we didn't. Bottom line. The O'Leary throw was everything about TT that gives us fans the frustration we have over his play. 1&2: I want Milano to start. I have nothing but respect for Humber but between his hand injury and lack of speed I don't see him as a starter in the league on any team. This was evident on one play yesterday with a sweep to the defenses right and he just couldn't leg it to the edge. Milano makes plays and helps in coverage against TE's and flat zone runs - give him his day. 3. I'm glad Zay is starting to find his rhythm. I still think he's a great slot option for us in the future if we can keep Benjamin healthy and add to WR depth. He could potentially have a lot of mismatches if he lines up in the slot more. But I'm glad to see his confidence coming around. 7. Shady gives us the chance to win every game. That being said I now feel the weekly remorse of what I saw in my philly friends every week when he'd snap of a huge run and his next five go for negative yards everytime. My issue with shady is I don't think rico can use him effectively and he goes down either due to himself or a pinky. It's why he's still in the shape he is, he doesn't take big hits. But that's why he always has so many negative runs as well. Combined with our OL play this isn't great. 10 They hurt themselves with the last three weeks. Beating the Jets and Chargers would've been great of course, but more so now that their destiny isn't quite in their hands unless they win out. We gave Baltimore and LA the advantage if KC doesn't continue to drop off the face of the earth. Guess we'll see but GO BILLS!!!

Agreed, though I wouldn't say it's just Rico. Castillo has our line looking like mid-season retirement. The play calling though is definitely questionable. Especially on 3rd down. I see a lot of old-school west coast style play calls, especially on 3rd down. The unfortunate part of having a defensive-minded, rookie HC is that it leaves play calling all on the OC et al., and neither Rico nor Castillo should be a piece in "the process."

I completely agree - and I'll say that his performance yesterday, even with this play, was good. Not perfect or great, but rock solid good, kept us in the game, put points on the board, made some throws, and killed time off the clock when we needed it. Now he didn't do all of these things to the fullest which is why we were sitting on the edge of our seats that last defensive series, but he played a good game. To the play in question - this play in my mind sums up everything about TT. He's a good QB and like you said, does all of the big picture things well: doesn't turn the ball over, extends plays, completes passes, etc. All of this is needed of course, but what this play and your post perfectly capture is mediocrity. TT needed to hit O'Leary in stride. The ball wasn't completely off, it hit O'Leary just below the waist - the issue with it was that it was slightly behind him which forced him to open his shoulders while on a crossing route causing him to lose momentum and balance. That ball needs to be chest to shoulder high and in stride for that extra 15-20 yards. Even if there was a defender 5 yards off, he needs to hit him in stride to get that first. To me it wasn't giving up the extra 15-20 yds, it was more so the resulting 3rd and 2. Up 6 at this point in the game you put the dagger in them, take all the time in the world and put any amount of points on the board. He has made some window throws, particularly in the end zone with fades and out routes. He threaded the window on the slant route to zay at the start of the game and can make most throws within 10-15 yds. It's the 15+ range where his accuracy seems to take a drop. And by this I don't just mean completing passes over 15 yds, but hitting the windows needed vs. not. TL;DR: I'm thrilled he made the completion, but the problems outweigh the simple completion when the result is 3rd and 2 and leaves our defense needing to make a stand. Making this throw is what an NFL QB should be consistently capable of.