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I have faith he can get to the playoffs with the team he and Beane have built. I just think they're still in the building process. The 5-1 start had people's expectations skyrocketing and thinking this team was ready to seriously compete right now. They still might be, I've just always tried to temper my expectations and remember that it's still a young team, there was major turnover on offense and there are still areas that aren't where they want them to be. I think they'll get there. The path to success is never linear, it's always full of ups and downs. But overall, I do feel like they're on the right path at least.

Singletary definitely carried the load while at FAU, racking up 714 career carries over three seasons. In fact, that was one of the knocks on him coming out this year, maybe too much tread worn off the tires. I dunno, maybe that's why they're limiting his involvement? I kinda doubt that, I mean, he's shown he can carry the ball 20 times a game. I think Daboll is just getting a little too smartypants for his own good and tries to keep Singletary stashed in his back pocket and then utilize him only in specific situations. But, keep doing that enough and it's gonna get real easy to predict. Defenses will be like, "Oh, 26 is in, he's probably getting the ball." Just spitballin'. Maybe Daboll gets a little too caught up in the chess match at times, I dunno.

And then they'd have to rebuild half the DL, so you might fix one area if you bring in Bell, but if you're swapping out three players to manage his salary, you're creating an even bigger issue, especially since you're removing three players from the same position group. Lawson hasn't lived up to the first round status, but he's been effective this season and I wouldn't mind them bringing him back but I think they're gonna offer a modest deal and he's gonna be looking for the big payday. Lotulelei and Murphy aren't really breaking the bank that much. And I know the numbers aren't there for them right now but McDermott's defenses, save for a season or two in Carolina, have never been known as sack machines. I'd certainly like to see them scheme up more pressure rather than just sending four almost every time. Seems like they have the talent in the secondary to be able to send more than four on occasion but we'll see what happens, I guess.

Haha, fair point. Just toss him the smelling salts and he should perk right up... and probably still not know where he is, but hey, we tried.

All of this while inheriting a team he didn't help build in 2017 yet guided to a Wild Card spot. Then Beane tore it down for 2018 and we knew it was going to be a "growing pains" year. They're still building in 2019 and have had some success. This is the most consistent this team has been in a long time in terms of coaches/front office staff, and roster turnover. I'm gonna let these guys work through it because the whole "three years and you're outta here" thing has gotta stop at some point because clearly that has never really worked for them. They're more put together than any coaching/front office staff this team has had in the last 15+ years. They make calculated decisions while always keeping an eye on the big picture and working towards becoming a consistent contender. Not just a team that sneaks into the Wild Card spot once every five years, but a team that can consistently compete. Still have a lot of young players adapting to the NFL game but despite last week's absolutely Earth-shattering, world-destroying, godawful, no good, terrible, bad news loss to the Beagles, I still have faith and am excited for the remainder of the season. Although I will say that blowout loss stat is rough. But again, that 2018 offense couldn't get out of its own way and some of those issues seem to be creeping up this season as well. I think they'll find ways to get it fixed and if not, they'll make the changes they need to. But I wouldn't expect any sort of wholesale changes from the top down until the end of next season, if any, because of course games still need to be played.

I'd take him over Gordon but I don't see it happening. Teams usually don't trade within their own division and I'm sure they're looking for a haul in exchange.

This was my thought, too. Seemed odd that they sat McKenzie for Foster and then tried the one deep shot and that was all we saw of him. And I had read that Philly struggled with a lot of pre-snap motion but they just didn't seem to capitalize on that.

One loss and half this place disintegrates into questioning every single possible thing that can be questioned about this team. It's a work in progress. Yeah, it's a process too. I dunno what's so difficult about that. I get that we're all starved for a contender but the sh*t takes time. And blah blah blah, yeah we know it's fair to criticize the team. But if you wanna watch the games with a pessimist's eye, just chompin' at the bit to call out the first bad play or mistake, then go for it. I'll watch it with a degree of optimism and continue to temper my expectations for these guys. Cripes. Anything less than winning out the rest of the way and winning each game by 60 wouldn't be enough for some of you.

Sometimes I wonder if Daboll's offensive philosophy of wanting to transition from one offensive style to the next based on opponents is what gets them derailed. Typically their first 10-15 scripted plays are pretty good. They've moved the ball pretty well at times, it's just the inconsistency that catches up with them. On one series they might run the ball on most plays and then come out on the next series and throw it 3-4 times in a row and look out of sync. They always talk about finding rhythm and playing fast without a lot of thinking. Well, maybe the style of offense has them thinking a bit too much. Of course all teams adjust and change things up from game to game but maybe they should focus on their bread and butter stuff and try to build around that. I dunno, I'm not a football scientist.

Has anyone seen anything from the local media guys about this stuff? Those guys would have a better line on these types of things but I don't believe any of them have said they've heard anything regarding a trade for Gordon. Seems odd to me that they'd cut a high priced RB just to trade for one and then pay him in a similar manner.

Yeah, he's a gamer, I think. Might not always be pretty but when they need it, he seems to come through. Didn't happen yesterday but he's not solely responsible for the loss.

Yeah, Allen's spoken on it before. He and Daboll have sat down several times to go through the playbook and try to find what they think is gonna work for them. I don't think they completely get rid of plays, they might just put it on the backburner and use it when it seems like it'd work on a certain opponent or something.

Well, I dunno about the rest of youse, but I'm ready to send the kid packin' after 17 career starts. /s Progress isn't linear. There are ups and downs. Every first round QB from 2018 has had both good and bad outings this season. None of them have arrived, they're all still working to get to where they wanna be. And I thought most people knew that Allen has a lot of freedom to change plays, it's been talked about several times this season. They also sit and go through the plays and ditch anything that he doesn't like or doesn't think will work.

San Fran went 6-10 and 4-12 in Shanahan's first two seasons. They haven't experienced as much turnover. Rams had a pretty solid team with their franchise QB already in place when McVay took over. McBeane have had to pretty much build this thing from scratch.

Thanks. I just try to temper expectations, you know? Obviously it's difficult to really believe that this team has it together after we've seen starts like this before only to watch them burnout in the second half of the season. But I believe this team is more coherent and coached better than those past teams. I mean, most fans have been saying they can go 10-6, 11-5 maybe... well the losses have to happen sometime, right? This team has a good, solid foundation right now and they're still building. There are gonna be bumps in the road. Overall, I think they're gonna be alright.

One of these "statement" wins will come. What's interesting is the two remaining undefeated teams have also had powderpuff schedules and I don't hear anyone talking about that. And remember, the Bills weren't due to "arrive" until next year. They've had some success, perhaps unexpected for this season, but that type of stuff can only build confidence and help propel them to where they wanna go. Expectations skyrocket after a 5-1 start and then a loss happens and everyone forgets how young this team is and how much turnover they've had on the offensive side of the ball. They're still discovering their identity.

Yeah, because Kenyan Drake is the be all, end all of running backs and he'll surely come in and save the day. He's averaging a flabbergasting 24.8 yards per game on the ground (3.7 yards a carry) and has a whopping 22 receptions for 174 yards... which is exactly the same total amount he has in rushing yards. Zero touchdowns and two fumbles.

Nobody is the answer anywhere, OP. They should all just probably be replaced by CFL guys. Just for losing this one game here, they need to be fired! FIRED I TELL YOUSE! They'll be fine. Edmunds will be fine. It's still a young team coming together and learning how to win. These types of questions after one loss are just ridiculous. If you think one loss is going to dramatically change things to the point where they decide their first round MLB isn't the guy then you're gonna be disappointed when things carry on as usual. They had a rough game but this is a resilient team and I'm sure they were dying to get in there today and start fixing things.

Boo. This thread is bad, and you should feel bad!

Well, they were apparently negotiating for Emmanuel Sanders (along with New Orleans) but were outbid by the Niners. Beane has been remarkably good at keeping a lid on things. There's rarely any leaks or things like that. Aside from Sanders, though, I haven't seen anything else linking them to any player aside from speculation.

Good article, thanks for posting it, Yolo. From the start, when they drafted the kid, my thoughts on him have been this: He's a gamer. It's not always gonna be pretty, it's not always gonna go down the way fans would like to see it go down (you know, like he said, rack up 300 yards and beat their opponent by 42 points every game), he's gonna have some rough stretches here and there. But when the game is on the line, it really feels like they're always gonna have a shot with him under center. He just has that air to him and he's already shown it several times in his short career. The other thing he's shown so far is the ability to take to coaching and make genuine adjustments and improvements to his game. The article highlighted it perfectly, he struggled mightily on shorter throws last season but this year he's one of the best in the league at it. Seeing that improvement helps reassure me that he'll start hitting on the deep throws as well. Again, he's only 17 games into his career, hasn't seen every defensive look out there, hasn't played all 31 other teams, he's still gaining experience. And what better way to gain experience by winning in the process? I think he's gonna be a good one. I think more fans need to accept the fact that he's probably gonna make you scratch your head now and then, but in between those moments he's also gonna have times where you're picking your jaw up off the floor because you can't believe he just completed the pass that he did.

I'mma take a wild guess here and say...whine. They wanna whine.

Have the point spreads changed at all? I know some posters here keep up with that stuff. A buddy at work gets these pick'em tickets and on it it gives Philly +3.

It's rough on gamedays when they aren't playing so hot. I got a 3-day suspension for sharing my thoughts on that sometime last year, haha. Definitely a ton of knee-jerk overreactions.

Good read. Goff and McVay's setup has been known for a while and I've wondered if other teams have tried that. Leave it to Belichick, of course, to find the exact right way to defend against that.