The Now Moment

Pouncey stated he wanted to play with a "Hall of Fame caliber QB". Again, you can dream but you have to be realistic about our position when it comes to free agency. We are clearly in a full rebuild. 7 year veteran and 28 year old Mike Pouncey surely didn't want to join a full rebuild. He had interest from 6 teams. We would have had to grossly overpay just for him to look our way.

LA or Buffalo. A team looking to contend or a rebuilding team. We didn't have a chance my dude

Who said Pouncey wanted to sign with us? A team that lost 3 veteran offensive lineman this offseason and he would be protecting a rookie QB. This isn't madden. The player has to want to come here. If I were him, I'd have chosen the Chargers if Buffalo and the Chargers offered a contract. LA vs. Buffalo... A team looking to go to the playoffs versus a team clearly in rebuilding mode. I don't think we would have ever been an option.

There's a lot of players out there in their first NFL game. They had a massive roster overhaul. Look at the talent on the team and be realistic

Someone needs a pacifier.

Came to take a peek...glad everyone here is being realistic and understands that this isn't a playoff team this year. Why is this shocking anyone?

The offense must show more firepower than it did last season if you want to go for it more on 4th downs. He didn't have a passing attack he could trust last season and preseason is a stupid time to get upset over something like this. In the regular season though, the passing game needs to prove it can do more than last year or I too would punt in most of those situations. Our defense made more plays than our offense in a lot of games last year.

They will take more reps against a style offense that New England likes to run, so sure to a degree.

New England style offense with a carolina style defense...I could get used to that.

I just think it goes against how this league thinks. Potential is a big factor in grading prospects for scouts. I just don't understand why anyone grading a prospect would leave out what their potential is. I know potential can change but based on what the prospects are able to do now, there is certainly a reasonable projection that can be made.

Dez Bryant is the lazy fan's first pick. His past production means nothing to this team moving forward. He doesn't fit what they are trying to do here. It's pretty clear. He is a selfish player and that's not what McDermott wants here. Why not just wait until cuts or later in the offseason when teams will be looking to move some of their excess wrs? No need to try to fit a square peg in a round hole.

So just looking at what the QB is now and not factoring in what he may become? I think that is a very poor way to judge a prospect at that position. Potential is a huge piece. It's a crap shoot, the best prospects can turn into busts and then a guy stacking shelves at a grocery store becomes a HOF...

They were always going to be picked in the first round. I don't know where your 3rd round grade comes from? Players with their level of arm talent and mobility are considered projects but they are still 1st round projects. Rudolph went in the third round because he was still considered a project but didn't have the arm talent or mobility that either Allen or Mahomes have. I think you undervalue the position itself with your grading. Teams are willing to take the risk to see if they can coach them up to that very high ceiling at the most important position in the game.

Sure but they clearly wanted a veteran power back. There wasn't very many options for that and we had many more important needs last year.

Why make this thread just a few days into OTAs? Patience...we will see how both turn out in a few years. Even if the first year is garbage for Allen, he can certainly turn it around. Goff and Wentz are the most recent examples of QBs making big strides from year 1 to year 2.

They didn't have a ton of options last offseason. They clearly wanted a big back and Tolbert was a familiar veteran temporary option. Ivory is the same thing just without the familiarity. Both are just placeholders until they draft one that they want. It told me that they had bigger needs these last two offseasons.

You really think they wanted to keep Tyrod after a coach was just fired by the owners because we didn't win with him? They want to implement the offensive system that best compliments a solid defense and that isn't what Tyrod brings to the table. The amount of three and outs he was a part of would drive a defensive coach like McDermott crazy. Benjamin can certainly bounce back, so many players bounce back after injuries now and dominate. His game is not separation, it never has been. When will fans realize this? He is a jump ball player and Tyrod didn't throw the ball into tight windows. Look at Philly, got their QB and then the following year they added pieces through FA, trades and the draft to build around the QB and won a championship in year two of the young QBs career. They had a solid defense as well which is what our regime is trying to provide the young QB. It's almost the exact same footsteps as both Philly and the Rams and both of those teams were wildly successful last year and are looked at as being wildly successful moving forward. I still don't understand the complaining about the offense. Rams/Philly both added top wide receivers in year two. We have our QB now and 100 million dollars in cap space next year to go along with 9 draft picks. Our defense is coming together nicely and Shady is being shady. The blueprint of this team is staring fans back in the face with examples of success to back it up and they still are complaining. I don't understand.

Tyrod was not someone I would build an offense around. That's the point. He was middle of the road to just above that. He is a guy who hit the home run ball and then scrambled, that was about it. He has never been very good at passing the ball on the short and intermediate routes. His home run balls curved his stats. We had so many three and out series with him, that is not good for any defense. I know why people believe we won't do well on offense. It's not exactly rocket science but fans around here are who are pessimistic to the core believe that to be fact as if the season has already happened. I provided a few examples of teams whose offense unexpectedly were very good last year. It happens every year, players breakout and offenses breakout. New coach, new scheme, new players including a new QB and everyone seems to know how the offense will turn out. It's just way too early to come to any conclusions.

Thielen had similar numbers numbers to what Benjamin had in 2014 and 2016 before, why can't Benjamin have a breakout season with the new QB? Zay Jones dominated in college, with a new QB he could break out. System fit for a QB can completely change what the weapons on a team do. Tyrod was good at many things but he was not a very good passer. He wasn't willing to throw the ball in tight windows and that is what Benjamin does best, wins the 50/50 balls. I think our wide receiver core is not great but is better than the pessimistic fans give them credit for. Tyrod needed a specific type of wide receiver and the guys we had last year didn't fit him. They made Tyrod try to fit what the coaching staff was trying to do rather than the other way around and why shouldn't they have? Tyrod was nothing special even with Sammy and Woods who fit him better. They clearly wanted to build their team around a drafted QB that fit their system better. They offense is a huge question mark this year and I don't think we can look at last year as an example of what our weapons can do because of Tyrod. The chemistry was clearly not there.

Adam Thielen for Minnesota was an undrafted FA and became Minnesota's number one wide receiver. With a different QB, the wide receivers can certainly improve. Look at what Thielen did with Keenum. Players can develop a chemistry and become very productive regardless of their past play. Again I say, you can choose to be pessimistic but offenses can turn around in one year. It happens every year.

How many people predicted Minnesota's offense to be what it was last year with journeyman Case Keenum as the starter and a rookie running back? Who predicted Houston's putrid offense to become the force it became by the entry of their rookie QB. They were horrid and then their offense kept them in almost every game while Watson was playing. It doesn't matter what anyone including vegas predicts now, we have too much roster turnover to know what the offense will be. Some people lean towards the optimistic view in the mist of uncertainty and some lean towards the pessimistic view.

Enjoy your bells and whistles, I'll enjoy the game

People care too much about things that don't matter.

Not on the same level as Suh. Not quite the explosion that Suh had in college. Phillips is athletic but I repeat, he doesn't have the same explosion as Suh. Suh was the second overall pick for a reason. Watch his college tape and you'll see why. Stats aren't everything, Phillips had some great statistics but he isn't the same type of talent as Suh was coming out of college. Phillips had a lot of tackles behind the line of scrimmage but Suh LIVED in the backfield in college. He was just a different animal. Watch the tape. It seems like a lot of the dominant DTs fall from their greatness once they get paid. Sad to see such a great talent wasted.

The tape says it all. Suh was physically dominant in college and had an explosion that Phillips simply doesn't have. Phillips gets the job done but lacks the explosion. That's why a lot of his tackles are past the line of scrimmage, not behind it like Suh's.