CookieG

I do like when people try to blame the pick on Whaley. -He was hired On January 11, more than 3 months before the draft. -He sought out the position on a team that was obviously looking for an upgrade at QB. -He knew, or should have known, that this is a franchise that was missing a QB for 2 decades. -He had other options beside Whaley to scout QB's in that 3 1/2 month period. Considering it was a priority, its something he should have done. -He could have hired other scouts to perform evaluations, from either inside or outside the organization. For example, when Polian was hired as Indy's GM in late 1997, he had in house scouts go through a thorough evaluation of Manning and Leaf. In addition, he hired Bill Walsh to do an outside evaluation. -If this is a belief that he didn't want to step on toes in the power structure...pfft. He was already doing that. There was an article before the draft that he had basically taken it over, including adding people to the board and removing others. The post draft firing of Whaley and the scouting department left no doubt. -At the very least, his ears should have perked up when he discovered his former boss, Andy Reid, wanted him bad. He should have known, like even casual fans do..that Reid knows QB's far more than him. Its on him.

For guys that came in and said they wanted to run the ball...I can only say...wow. They inherited the NFL's best running game. In yards and ypc, they were at the top or at least in the top 3. In some areas, they were pretty dominant. Carries of 20+ (they had something like 27 of them). TD's, at the top. In terms of yards before contact on the left side of the line...they led the league with an ungodly high number. They made guys like Mike Gillisee and Karlos Williams look like all pro players. They liked to pound people, run some misdirection and use their QB to freeze LBs or on options. In a very smart move, Anthony Lynn improved on Roman's playbook and got plays in quicker...but he used it as a base because it worked well in 2015. He made it better. Then the new guys come in...saying they want to run the ball. But in a mindnumbingly idiotic decisions in some time...the OC that came in decides to change the playbook to a stretch play dominant run game. I think they led the league in that regard. By the bye, some of the O players were begging to bring back some plays from the prior years. They did for about 2-3 games, and it was working, but then Dennison went back to his old habits. To this day, I can't figure it out. Damn...they were given the playbook to the best running game in the NFL...and chose not to use it. In 2018, after their starting center is forced into retirement, they trade their LT and piss off their Pro Bowl guard. The replacements are less than adequate. On a normal running play in 2018, Shady is met by 2 defenders in the backfield or with an clogged hole. But its because he lost a step. Or something. For guys who came in talking about having a good running game...their aptitude has been wanting to say the least, on a number of levels.

No, I don't think there is a Nelson in this draft either, I thought I might have mentioned it (guess I didn't). On the other hand, I'm not as big on slotting positions, outside of QB. THAT'S the premium position. And I'm definitely not in favor of demanding premium pass rushers...but believing the guys who are supposed to stop these premium pass rushers can be gotten anywhere. Certainly not with this team. Its now 2019 and we haven't gotten an OL past the third round since Jason Peters...15 years ago. Given two choices, I'd just as soon "reach" for good to very good OL talent than to play yet another year of "we can get one later in the draft". We end up picking scraps every time that happens.

Well, the Colts did pretty much the opposite of what you're arguing. They had many needs. They're defense is a work in progress. They could have used another pass rusher to go with Sheerd. They could have used another WR, like Ridley, considering that their WR corps consists of TY Hilton. They also needed work on their Oline, even though they already had 2 1st round picks on it. Many would say something like "you can't waste all of your assets on the OLine". But, they went with the "non-premium" position, taking a guard at no. 6. (Well, not just any guard). They compounded this by taking Braden Smith in the 2nd. They now have 3 1sts on their Oline, a 2nd, and a pretty damn good player in Glowinski. Andrew Luck now looks like Andrew Luck again, in large part because he's given time to throw. And yesterday...pfft, on most of his passes he had enough time to cook lunch before throwing. What they did yesterday was go against one of the best pass rushing duo's in the league, along with a D that hasn't given up a 100 yard rusher all year...and put them on their collective asses. had they not made the investment in the OL, they aren't in the playoffs this year, much less dominating a defense like the Texans. For all I know, Luck might not have made it through the year without an OL that can pass block so well. Their plan most certainly worked for them.

They're winning 4 out of 5 plays, at minimum. This is 3 number 1's, a number 2 and a very good guard in Glowinski. And they're really looking like they are trying to make a statement.

Not too sure a GM who took a team's offense from 10th in scoring to 30th in scoring should really be taking shots at another GM, whether directly or indirectly.

And it was his idea to trade Glenn? and demand RI to take a pay cut? and not bring in anyone but below average players through FA'cy? and wait until the end of the 5th round to draft anyone? Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending Castillo and I'm not saying he wasn't part of the problem, but to try and use him as the root of the problems for the OL is...just plain incorrect. Lack of talent was by far the biggest problem on the OL and a new OL coach isn't going to change that. I'll go back to the paraphrased words of Mouse McNally, possibly the best OL coach of his era, back in 2006. "You know, I'm not a magician, most of what I do is based on the talent I'm given." If people think this is going to be simple "addition by subtraction"...well, the biggest addition will be talent influx. But based on 2 years...who they've gotten rid of, who they brought in, the priorities in drafting, the amount spent and the end result, their track record isn't good. Its actually very bad. So, I'm not as excited as others about firing an Oline coach. Not when the bigger problem still exists. I know, I know, the tired phrase, "let's see what happens" comes in right about this time. Well, I really don't have a choice but to see what happens. But in the end, its not for me to wait and see, its really up to them to improve the product.

Well, it was. The sad thing was, they inherited the best running game in the NFL. They led the league in yards, YPC, TD's and blew nearly every other team away in runs of 20+ yards and yards before contact (especially from the left hand side). In 2017, they decided to change the playbook, in one of the more baffling decisions I've seen. Then they decided to go cheap, getting rid of Glenn and his contract, and having Incognito take less. It was then the lowest paid Oline in the league..and it showed. I really think they believed, "we can just hand off to Shady and it will work". Well it doesn't. I can only hope..that like their decision to eliminate speed from the WR corps, they've figured out the error of their ways. Its only a hope..and not really based on anything.

Oh, they most certainly did when Dennison took the best run blocking team in the NFL and decided to run the stretch play 80% of the time. I don't mind that he's fired...Baltimore seemed happy to rid themselves of him. I just don't want Beane saying something like "let's see how these guys do with a different coach" or something as ridiculous. Its a bad thing that either Mcdermott or Beane are in charge of finding 4 new OL. better?

He was part of the problem, but the far larger problem was the lack of talent. Guys like Vlad, Newhouse and Bodine were bad before they ever got here. That's on McBeane.

If it instills the right attitude in the OL, I'll risk the penalty. A long time ago, in 1980, Conrad Dobler aka the Dirtiest Man in Football (he really wasn't) came to Buffalo. They still had Reggie McKenzie at the time, and a couple of talented young tackles in Ken Jones and Joe Devlin. People talked about the "dirtiest player" persona, but he brought attitude. He let the other linemen know that they were there to protect Fergy and they were going to do so at all costs. And he meant...at all costs. They gave up 16 sacks that year and led the NFL in 3rd down percentage. If occasionally going after a guy who cheap shots his QB draws a penalty, I can live with that, if it kindles the attitude.

Nah, you get 2 star linemen by saying "we can get them in later rounds". I'd be more for a Greedy Williams if someone could show where all these first round Db's have gotten us in past 20 years (almost).

Arrested yesterday, domestic battery, suspended from the team (for now). http://www2.ljworld.com/news/public-safety/2018/dec/07/ku-football-player-pooka-williams-arrested-on-suspicion-of-domestic-battery/

I have a Peter Griffin thermostat. Its a nightly occurence...my wife turns it up before bed, I turn it back down 5 minutes later.

A short list of those not already mentioned... -Married With Children, "Its a Bundyful Life" with Sam Kinison playing Clarence the Angel. -Pee Wee's Christmas Special..Or How Many B-list celebrities can you put in a one hour show? For the serious Xmas movies...Joyeux Noel, based (loosely) on the Christmas Truce of 1914. And one I didn't know existed until last night... The Addams Family Christmas. I found it on the Roku Channel. ***************SPOILER ALERT********************************** Seeing Lurch AND Cousin Itt as Santa is something that must be seen.

A few might still not know the story of the turnaround he performed at Kansas State. It bears repeating. When he took the job in 1989, SI published an article referring to it as "Futility U". It was branded the worst DI football program in college history. https://www.si.com/vault/1989/09/04/120464/futility-u-kansas-state-winless-since-1986-has-one-claim-to-fame-it-is-americas-most-hapless-team When he took over, they had lost 27 straight games. They had a whopping 4 winning seasons in over 40 years. He was their 4th coach in 5 years. And the 27 game win streak was worse than it sounds. They'd lose regularly by 50 to Oklahoma and Nebraska, and even then, those teams would put their underclassmen in by the 3rd Q. He had a good tenure as an OC at Iowa and to this day, taking the Kansas State job looks foolish. His slogan for the turnaround was a pretty unimaginative "Why not Us?" Recruiting in Kansas or anywhere else was pretty impossible. As Barry Switzer once said, "My job's easy, I recruit for Oklahoma. We won a national championship. He has to recruit for Kansas State. How do you get kids to want to play there?". Since getting kids out of high school was nearly impossible, he pioneered scouring JUCO rosters. Within 3 years, they not only started winning games, but had their 1st winning record in ...forever. Within another 2 years, he began a streak of 11 straight bowl games. -His coaching tree has produced several who went on to win the Frank Broyles Assistant Coach of the Year and a few National Coach of the year awards. -Though the read option is often credited to Urban Meyer, he actually learned it from Snyder at a coaching clinic in the 1990s. -His job at Kansas State is generally regarded as the greatest turnaround in CFB history. -He might be the only person who has both a stadium and highway named after him while still alive.

If he's faster, it isn't by much. At the combine, Edmunds ran a 4.5 as compared to LVE's 4.6 That was one of the things that was the buzz of the combine, how well he was testing. 40" vertical 10' broad jump. 4.0 shuttle sub 7 second cone drill Those numbers are very good for any LB and are outstanding for an 6'5" 250+lb linebacker. The only thing that hurt him, if it did, was the rumor that several teams failed him medically. The rumor was denied. I think both have tremendous upside, LVE just might be getting to his quicker.

I got what I wanted in the 1st 4 rounds. Banogu is worth a shot at the bottom of the 4th. 8: R1P8 OT JONAH WILLIAMS ALABAMA 40: R2P8 WR KELVIN HARMON NC STATE 71: R3P7 WR DEEBO SAMUEL SOUTH CAROLINA 110: R4P8 G BOBBY EVANS OKLAHOMA 133: R4P31 EDGE BEN BANOGU TEXAS CHRISTIAN 147: R5P8 DL DONTAVIUS RUSSELL AUBURN 168: R5P29 TE MITCHELL WILCOX SOUTH FLORIDA 183: R6P8 RB TRAVIS HOMER MIAMI (FL) 224: R7P8 S JORDAN FULLER OHIO ST 239: R7P23 C SEAN KREPSZ NEVADA

Yeah, I knew about him, but that's only because I live in Jayhawk country. He was their big signing last year. The story was that LSU made a big recruiting push for him after his high school playoffs, but he said he'd already verbally committed to Kansas. I like that. He's lived up to the preseason hype he got here. PS. He's missing all of the toes of his right foot. Don't ask me how he runs like that.

Best Concert - Large Venue - The Who, Rich Stadium 1982. The sound was great and it was the concert where it started raining during Love Reign O'er Me. -Small Venue - George Thorogood, a small bar in Albany in the '80s. Not for everyone, but the energy was incredible. -Mid Venue - BB King, early 2000's. Seats about 10 rows from the stage. No dancing, no lasers, no smoke, no stage show. It was all about the music. And if you're a fan of the blues....it was perfect. Like he was playing in your living room. *side note, I missed an opportunity to meet him. I had a client at the time who was sound manager at the PAC. Between acts, we were walking around and I saw him on stage. I was going to say hi, but he looked busy. A few weeks later, I mentioned that I saw him setting up. He said, "I wish you would have said something to me, I could have gotten you backstage to meet him afterward". Sigh. He said that for every person brought to meet him, he treated like gold. Worst There's a few, but no need to dwell. Concert Missed Ralph Macchio going toe to toe with Steve Vai in a contest over the Karate Kid's soul. Bucket List It'll happen when I die (which kind of takes it out of the category). Heaven I'm sure will have a hell of a band.

If you never saw him in college, this is what a Texas Tech game looked like. Last O on the field wins.

He took time off after the firing, Then his wife was diagnosed with cancer and he took care of her. A few years later he eventually became OC at Iowa St. for a year or two, but I don't think his heart was in it. When he took the job, he made the comment that "my wife wants me out of the house for a while". There were small murmurs about him before MIles was hired..."could he?" "would he?". He tweeted a week ago, something like, "thanks for the support, but I'm not coming back to KU, I've moved on, everyone else should." There are also very small murmurs about him taking over as successor to Bill Snyder at Kansas St. He made his bones there in the 90's, as a Snyder assistant. I don't see that happening though.

yeah, he did, with a potentially racist comment thrown in during one of his practice tirades. The real reason, I think, was that the AD never liked him (a guy that ended up getting fired a year or two later for some ticket selling scandal). It was no secret that he drove his players hard and had the social skills of Lee Emery in Full Metal Jacket mode. On the other hand, when he was hired, Kansas wasn't much above a club level program. He was literally going around the campus asking people to join the squad. A few years later, he had an 11-1 team that won an Orange Bowl. He was the Coach of the Year by...everyone. Since he left, they've been a bit above club level again.

Eh, you lost me with the beta/feminist remark. The couple that my son used to go with...the wife was the one who would usually get the first buck. And in her physical condition, she could barely make it to her tree stand. I never really saw it as an alpha activity (and I hunted a bit in my younger days). It is what it is. I have 0 problem with responsible hunting, especially since it really is used for population control. I'm not as big on hunting just for the sake of a trophy. When my son got his first buck, I had to learn how to make venison. The hamburger is extremely lean. The rest is..if you take the right steps, it comes out really good.