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blacklabel

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Everything posted by blacklabel

  1. He's awesome, no doubt. The only receivers to have moderate success against him this year have been Davante Adams and DeAndre Hopkins, and even then those guys didn't rack up a ton of yards and receptions. Hopkins made a wicked catch for a TD and Adams scored on him as well but other than that, he's shut down pretty much everyone they've asked him to cover this year. You don't hear his name mentioned much during games which is a good thing for a CB, means QBs aren't even trying to throw his way. I hope they can coach up this Wallace kid and have him be the #2 CB. Eh, I think it's more than him and Peterson. Marshon Lattimore in New Orleans, Xavier Rhodes in Minnesota, Ramsey and Bouye in Jacksonville, Harris in Denver is still getting it done, etc. Lot of good corners playing right now and I think White is right there with the best of them.
  2. It's a part of his game the Jaguars obviously weren't keyed in on so he exploited that. Even after he picked up first downs and chunks of yards, they still really weren't putting a spy on him. If it's there, take it. Yeah, sure, we don't want the kid getting hit frequently and risking another injury but he's an athlete and running is part of his game. A couple of his runs were by design, not all of them were scrambles. Kid throws for a TD, runs for another, picks up several first downs with his feet (also hit two perfect throws for first downs that were called by back dumb OL penalties) and accounts for 259 total yards and didn't turn the ball over... yet here we are with people saying, "Get yards, score points, but do it THIS WAY." He got the job done today, plain and simple.
  3. For real. I think Walt Coleman needs to hang it up. That game was ridiculous with the penalties. Some of them deserve to be called, others not so much. My main hang up was that every friggin' time they threw a flag they needed to huddle up for a 5 minute discussion. And then he'd go to announce the penalty but another official would be like, "Wait, wait, and then this happened and then number 35 called me a poopyhead." Even the commentary team was getting annoyed with the constant flags.
  4. Thanks to everyone who responded, appreciate it. Murphy is kind of puzzling to me... he went 47th overall in 2014 out of Stanford and for all the "injury prone" labels he gets, he actually only missed two games over his first three seasons. Racks up 9 sacks in 2016, was a top ten pass rusher in terms of QB pressures, looked like he was poised to break out and then he wrecks his knee and misses all of 2017. Missed OTAs, camp and pre-season, plays in 7 games before getting hurt again, has been on the sidelines for four weeks but only missed three games. I know he had the PED thing as well, makes you wonder if he was taking something to strengthen himself against injury or whatever. Obviously players are signed/given deals based on their on-field production but there are off-field things that factor in. With Murphy, you can tell they brought him in here because he embodies the work ethic McDermott wants out of his players. I'm sure he sets a good example on the practice field when he's on it but yeah, hopefully they didn't end up buying a lemon here because a DL of Murphy, Hughes, Williams, Lotulelei ain't bad especially when the rotational guys are Lawson, H. Phillips, J. Phillips, and Yarbrough. Jordan Phillips is a guy I'd like to see them hang onto after the season, I think he's been a nice surprise and he's been energized for a fresh start here. However, this lineup wouldn't stop me from drafting one of these premier DL players coming up if the board falls that way. Adding more strength to an already strong group is never a bad idea. And Carolina did that when Beane was still there. They had a pretty stellar DL in 2015 (their Super Bowl run) and still drafted a DL in the first round in 2016. The draft is just so packed with really defensive players this year that it's difficult to see them NOT going defense early, simply because the value for offensive skill players won't be there until late into the first. Feels like we could see something similar to what they did in 2017 when they dropped all the way to 27th overall and still came away with a great #1 CB in Tre' White.
  5. I searched around online and combed through the pre-game thread for the Bills/Jags game but haven't seen any info on Murphy. Just saw that Lawson and Clay weren't practicing today. Lawson has played pretty well in the DL rotation and he provides versatility in that he can switch up between DT and DE so even if Murphy is back, I'd still make sure Lawson gets some reps. Yeah, anyway, anyone know what's up with Murphy?
  6. Greedy Williams is currently seen as the near-consensus top cornerback. He'd pair up nicely with Tre and they'd be on the same page instantly having been LSU teammates. As for what I would do or what I think McBeane may do... if they end up with a top ten pick, I can see them trading down to acquire more capital ONLY IF a premier player isn't on the board when it's their turn. If one of those top-end DL are still hanging around when they pick at 5, 6, 7, wherever, I'd take one of those guys. So far, every big board of the top 50 or 100 prospects I've checked out is like, 75% defensive players. It's an insanely good year if you're looking to add to your defense... it's not so good if you're trying to build on offense. There are a few top-notch OL but even those guys need time to adapt to the NFL game just because of the offensive styles they're playing in school. Jonah Williams makes a lot of sense given he would have a head start having played for Daboll before. There aren't any clear cut elite QBs, same with receivers... Noah Fant out of Iowa looks like a baller but do you spend a high end pick on a tight end? I don't see this front office prioritizing the TE position that highly. RBs can be found in the mid-rounds... so... don't be surprised if they go defense early and look for a good value on offense in the second or third rounds. Ideally, I think they'd like to trade down in the first round and collect some more picks in the second and third rounds where the it makes sense to spend on offense. I see them working hard in FA to solidify the offense, which makes sense. Sure, you wanna build thru the draft but with the time it takes to develop young offensive skill position players, it makes sense to try and get some guys in here that already have pro experience. And adding to an already strong unit (defense) is a good strategy as it provides really good depth and the ability to keep guys fresh with their rotations. It's gonna be an interesting off-season.
  7. He's a world class athlete, sure. But even a world class athlete can't pick up a sport they've never played, practice for six months and then go play against the best players in the world, which is what he claimed he is capable of... some NHL players were asked about it and most said it takes six months just to get halfway decent at skating.
  8. Haha, I did catch that during highlights before the Sunday night game. He said, "They like to talk a lot, before the game, during the game... but I'm carrying the game ball." And yeah, Ramsey's face at the end was priceless.
  9. Most of those tweets were things he was quoting that were said by his friends to begin with. Ramsey just thinks he's absolutely the most talented football player ever to grace the planet and he wants everyone to know it. He should be sharpening his skates and getting ready to become a pro hockey player because he'll have all kinds of time to practice starting in January.
  10. Whoever keeps saying his time was "cut short" is uh... full of it? The dude quit. He did not initially have an "out" clause in his contract until after the Pegulas took over ownership. The thing is, is the Pegulas had every intention of keeping him. Marrone says he asked for a raise for all of his assistants and was turned down. I've heard the real truth is that he only asked for a raise for himself, which was turned down as the Pegulas told him they would revisit contract negotiations after 2015. On locker room cleanout day, he spoke to the team about their goals for next season and all that. A few hours later, he sent one mass text to the entire team informing them he was leaving... hours after he just laid out next seasons plans. He couldn't handle the Buffalo media, I have no idea what made him believe he would be able to handle the media in NYC. His agent was in his ear telling him the Jets job was as good as his if he walked from Buffalo, so he did. Then he went and laid a massive egg of an interview for the Jets HC job and they said "no thanks." Gus Bradley threw the guy a bone and brought him on as OL coach and surprise, Jacksonville suddenly had one of the worst OLs in the league. He cornered Tim Graham in an airport hangar before the Bills left for an away game because he didn't like an article Graham had written or was about to write. Graham has detailed it before on his Twitter and considers it one of the weirdest experiences he's ever had in his journalism career. He was routinely prickly towards Joe B because Joe was never afraid to call out Marrone for constantly playing the field position game and punting from inside the opponents' 40 yard line. He claimed ignorance on a number of things instead of just providing a decent answer. The organization wanted EJ to start as they had planned to build around him since taking him in 2013. Marrone stomped his feet about that until they brought in Kyle Orton. He also started 5th round rookie Cyril Richardson over a more experienced OG in Kraig Urbik (who had been a starter here for a couple of years at that point). Richardson was abysmal in four of his starts and it was insane that it took four friggin' games before Marrone put Urbik back in the lineup. After Marrone left, Urbik talked about Marrone's stubbornness to adjust in-game and said no matter what, they constantly stuck with outside zone runs even when they were being shut down. He loves him that "3 yards and a cloud of dust" crap that just doesn't work in today's NFL. Just over a year after his departure from Buffalo, Sports Illustrated (I think) got an interview with him. He spoke about Buffalo but never really gave a reason. After the interview, he called the journalist a couple hours later and asked that the interview not be run. The journalist told him that most of the notes had already been turned over to his editor and it wasn't his call to run the story or not. Marrone called back an hour later and said he spoke with his wife and said he was "OK" with the interview being run even though that really wasn't up to him at that point. He also tried to run a professional franchise like a college team and a lot of the veteran players didn't care for that, hence why a large portion of the team was fine when he walked away. Weird dude. Never met him, but I've read enough about him to see that he's just a bit of a whackadoodle.
  11. Yeah, it's pretty much been covered but they're wasting their time starting Barkley if Allen is healthy. 2018 is the sacrifice season for the sustained success they hope to create going forward. This is Josh Allen's team. There's no point in starting your backup guy just because he had a decent game against a completely uninspired team. The Jets are on the verge of blowing it all up and players know this. There are guys on that team headed for free agency who aren't going to ball out to avoid injury so they can land a deal elsewhere. The team apparently likes Bowles, but the writing is on the wall and the entire organization knows that Todd Bowles and his crew will be out come January 2019. The Jets also dropped two picks that Barkley almost handed them on a silver platter. His arm isn't much better than Peterman's. It's nice to have his experience but when he's been "the guy" for an extended period of time, he hasn't been great. He's on his fifth team in six seasons. His TD:INT ratio is 10 to 18. Yeah, he has a couple of 300 yard games under his belt but that's mostly the result of playing in garbage time. It happens every season, an inexperienced or career backup comes in and has a nice game. Or an undrafted no-name kid steps in and lights it up for a minute (Nick Mullens) but they fizzle out rather quickly. There's no replacement for live game reps and that's what Allen needs in order to grow and develop. I'm sure he's learned a lot on the sidelines and I'm sure he's already learned a few things from Barkley. But the front office didn't wheel and deal and make a plethora of trades and cuts to let the 2018 7th overall pick sit on the bench in lieu of a 4th round guy who came from the esteemed QB class of 2013. I've seen more and more fans on this board accept the fact that 2018 is really all about progression for the youth movement on this team. The sooner more people accept that, the easier it'll be to get through this season. What I'm watching for is progress from a lot of these players that are expected to be cornerstones for the next however many years. And so far, I think the draft picks McBeane have brought in are playing well. Tre White is excellent, Zay Jones is coming along, Dion Dawkins is solid and should only get better, Matt Milano seems to find ways to make plays in every game, jury's out on Allen but when you see the good things from him it's like, yeesh, that was *really* good but unfortunately right now he balances that with the polar opposite with plays that'll make you go, yeesh, that was really bad! His ceiling is the highest of any of the QBs taken this year, I hope he hits it. Tremaine Edmunds is another player that should only get better with more playing time and the kid is a physical freak of nature, his length alone causes QBs to be hesitant to throw through any of the lanes he's close to, Harrison Phillips gets to learn the ropes from Kyle Williams, Taron Johnson has me thinking of Antoine Winfield when it comes to tackling (Winfield was honestly one of the best open-field tacklers I've ever seen, severely underrated corner IMO), Wyatt Teller had a nice first start. So, if all of those guys pan out and the only whiffs these guys have are a 5th round QB, a 6th round LB and a 7th round WR, then... how can we gripe? Because that's a massive success rate on their draft picks. It's gonna pick up. This team is gonna be fun to watch in the near future. I got sidetracked but either way, this is Allen's team and if he can play, he plays, it's that simple.
  12. The most surprising thing about this statement is the lack of the word "obviously" being used about 237 times.
  13. The free agent group for WRs this off-season isn't great but I'd like to see them go after a guy like Tyrell Williams or even Devin Funchess. I know that'd be them going back to the Carolina connection but GMs and HCs across the league bring in guys they're familiar with all the time. I also think Tyler Boyd would be a solid acquisition. And he may be available if Cincinnati chooses to focus more on John Ross as the #2 to AJ Green. The other thing that factors in, is that the current FA list as it is now won't be the same when FA actually starts. Guys will work out deals with their current teams before March so the crop of players to choose from could become even smaller. The more I think about it, the more I think they won't be able to acquire a "true number one" WR... and they may not even feel the need to. I think because of the way Daboll wants to run the offense, we could be looking at a "WR by committee" type of thing. I mean, that's how it is in New England where Daboll learned most of what he knows. Aside from Randy Moss, there's never been a real, big time #1 WR up there. They always rotate a cast of different players. One week it's the Gronk show, next week it's Edelman, week after that they're utilizing all their backs out of the backfield, etc. etc. If that's going to be the case, I would most definitely still like to see them go out and get an above average receiver in FA (or via trade). I'd like to see them spend a second or third on another young guy to develop, get a solid TE and a multipurpose back and there you go, you've got a rotating cast of skill players you can scheme things up for based on the opponent.
  14. Dude called back to back time outs at one point and was penalized for it. I know Gruden was in his ear after that. I don't know when this other altercation took place. I'd be pissed if I was Carr. He goes from being part of a core of solid young players to the only guy left standing on a team coached by a guy who probably doesn't want him there to begin with. Plus, if he sticks with the Raiders, he's gonna have to pick up and move to Vegas in another year.
  15. I think maybe the Browns have some people within their organization who can't keep their traps shut. So maybe they're spreading weird info to see if they can trace it back to whoever has the loose lips.
  16. I think Shady can find success into his 30s. He takes care of himself very well, he's never endured a super serious injury or needed major surgery. What he'll likely have to do is be honest with himself and his skills as he ages. If he loses half a step, he's gonna need to realize that he probably won't find as much success as he used to when he tries to reverse field or cut back a buncha times as he tries to make something out of nothing. He'll have to start taking what's there instead of always trying to find the path to a big gain. Not saying he won't be able to make those kinds of runs at all, but I think if he wants to play into his 30s, he'd have to change his style to a more straightforward approach. He could certainly go somewhere with another good, established back and split carries and be utilized in the passing game where he's still really good. Actually, I kind of expect Beane to bring in a couple of new backs in the off-season as they search for his successor. If that new back can contribute right away, I wouldn't be surprised to see McCoy be the workhorse at the beginning of the season but see his touches decrease little by little as he starts to split more time with the new kid.
  17. I don't think so, and that's because of the losses of Wood and Incognito and the subsequent OL shuffling they've done. No offense to the current OL but it took until the 10th game (and even more shuffling of players as Ducasse was benched for Teller) for them to get Shady going. A lot of Taylor's success was predicated on the run game being successful from the start and then allowing Taylor to do play-action and take shots down the field in the right situations. His ability to improvise and escape pressure is something he's really good at and it was something that certainly helps him but with the OL struggles, he would've been bailing on the pocket much sooner than normal. That screws with a QBs internal clock and can throw off their timing and whatnot. And before everyone wants to crown Barkley, keep in mind, this is a dude on his fifth team in six seasons. The most playing time he had was 2016 in Chicago where he started 6 games and threw 8 TDs to 14 INTs. The Jets dropped two INTs last Sunday as well. He doesn't have a great arm. He can throw the ball with pretty nice touch and is fairly accurate but you're never really gonna see him zipping the ball into tight windows and while I'm sure he's a confident player, I don't think he's a "carry the team on his back" kinda guy who comes through in clutch situations. He's a decent backup, though. Much better than Peterman and hopefully his experiences with a number of different teams and coaches can be valuable information he can share with Allen.
  18. The Pro Bowl comes down to stats and popularity, really. I wouldn't be surprised to see Hughes go as an alternate for someone who decides they don't wanna play in the game. Unfortunately, most people look at stats to determine if a player is any good or not. Hughes has 5.5 sacks but the pressures he gets cause hurried throws which lead to incompletions or turnovers. It's not always about getting the sack. The other guy that absolutely deserves to go is Tre White. A few weeks back one of the analytical numbers sites had a graphic floating around on White vs. all the receivers he's faced this year and game after game the receiver he covers the most usually ends the game with like 2 catches, 19 yards or 4 catches for 27 yards, or 3 catches on 11 targets for 31 yards, etc. etc. I think the receiver that had the most success against him has been Davante Adams and even his statline for that game wasn't special, like 4 receptions, 67 yards and one score. Can't ask for much better than that out of your #1 CB, who can work on either side of the field.
  19. Peterman is a practice-time all-star, that's what it is... in practice and pre-season, the kid looks like he has it. But when he has to play regular season games where opponents aren't showing just a basic look on defense, he implodes. Things spiral out of control for him rather quickly after one mistake happens. Things just seem to snowball and get worse from there. I've never seen a QB with worse luck, actually. Over half his interceptions aren't really on him. Some of them weren't great throws but they were in places where the receiver should've made the catch but instead it would get deflected and picked off. And sportswriters are going to discuss whatever gets people to click their links and discuss their articles. Peterman replacing Taylor in 2017 had nothing to do with race. It had everything to do with Taylor playing very underwhelming football. And again, Peterman must have looked like the better option in practice which is why he got the shot. The game was and is still too big for him.
  20. The kid has to start regardless of the situation. There's no replacement for live game reps. He just recently said that he felt like the game was slowing down for him when they were playing Houston, just before his injury. And that makes sense because in that game he made a couple very nice, quick, decisive throws. The play he got injured on he put a 20-yard in-route on a rope to KB. He also had a great throw to Clay over the middle earlier in the game. And if OP has questions on a quick release for Allen, watch that Sports Science clip with him on YouTube. Kid has a lightning-fast release. But I assume you're talking about the hesitance he's shown to pull the trigger from time to time. That's typical rookie stuff and the more experience he gets, the better he should become. At his ceiling, I think Allen could be a lot like Brett Favre. A guy who isn't afraid of any throw that will usually most of the time make the right decision and the right throw but will have some gambles he takes that backfire. And I'd be just fine with that after the 20+ years of "safe" quarterbacking we've seen here. I'm all in on the kid. He has the confidence, the work ethic, the intelligence, the athleticism and the natural arm talent. I realize that sounds a lot like EJ Manuel but where these two differ is the arm. EJ had this weird way of trying to aim the ball and half the time his throwing motion looked as if he was throwing a dart. Allen has a very natural quick release and the main things he'll need to work on are his processing, seeing the field and knowing when to and when not to run. I do feel better that he's now sharing the QB room with a 14-year vet who's seen a lot and a 6-year vet who has bounced around a handful of teams and while that's not necessarily good for Barkley himself, it can be good in the sense that Barkley has experience in numerous systems and can hopefully share that knowledge. I'm also glad to see that they made a clean break with Peterman. I thought they'd stick him on the practice squad but they didn't and that's probably for the best.
  21. Nice post. This pretty much explains why it was 10 games before the kid got a shot. Even the highest rated college OL prospects face a pretty steep learning curve coming into the NFL just because college offenses rarely, if ever, require their OL to put their hand in the dirt. And things in college schemes are so simplified so teams can play at a fast pace. I know over the summer his biggest issue was reading the fronts and executing the correct protections. Only once did the interior OL look like it did earlier in the season and that was the one sack they gave up. Other than that, the OL overall has done a lot better, especially with pass pro and finally last Sunday they opened things up for Shady. It's one game but I hope the kid continues to improve. After his sophomore and junior years he was talked up as a 2nd-3rd round pick, coaching and scheme changes caused his play to drop in his senior year but the tools are clearly there so here's hoping.
  22. He had a 9.5 sack season in 2015 or 2016 and in other seasons he's been top five in QB pressures. Had the PED suspension and then the season-ending knee injury that cancelled out 2017 for him so he's had some junk to overcome but when healthy, he can be a productive player.
  23. Tre White posted an Instagram video of the team celebrating the win as they boarded the plane for the ride home. Milano was in it, smiling and enjoying the moment with everyone else. That's a good sign. Good time for a bye week. Edmunds missed one game with his concussion which looked a bit more severe. I'd assume that Milano will be cleared for the Jags game.
  24. Capable backup. Would much rather have him than Peterman.
  25. Too bad for them, I guess. Who's to say those guys didn't leak inside info they knew of? And that's why the Pegulas have told them to hit the bricks since they don't want any leaks anymore. That's just speculation but aside from that, these two clowns would constantly contradict their own viewpoints from column to column. Whatever seemed like the trendy view was, they'd run with it. And the excitement they'd show in talking about just how bad this team or that team would beat the Bills showed their inability to be unbiased and objective when covering the Bills. They'd throw around random negativity everywhere and try to hide behind their "we just tell it like it is" schtick. No you don't. You tell it how you subjectivity see it. That's why they wrote opinion pieces for TBN. The press is an important part of any large public entity but at a certain point you gotta weed the garden and these schmucks are like that super prickly weird crappy grass you don't see but step on while you're trying to have a nice barefoot stroll in the backyard on a nice day.
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