Cotton Fitzsimmons

Philip "Cry me a" Rivers

The way YE OLE sees it, this is not a black and white issue. My good friend, PROMO, makes a point in that the concept of "reaching" is invented by draftniks. However, take the situation that played out in last year's draft with Cordy Glenn. It may be a little early yet to write the book on how the Gilmore/Glenn tandem will play out, but Buddy told an interesting story about the 2005 draft in San Diego and how it paralleled the quandry he faced in Buffalo last year. The Chargers seriously considered grabbing Marcus McNeil in the first rd. but waited it out based on a calculated risk they could get him in the 2nd rd. HUGE draft value, obviously, but the Chargers were also much better on the field for having McNeil and Merriman. You take a guy like Nassib... if this is truly the guy they want, and where Buddy is really going to make his money is using his connections and his instincts to guage exactly where he's going to fall. If he can grab a stud LB/pass rusher at 8 and Nassib some picks later, we as a franchise are going to be much better for it. In YE OLE's opinion, the draft is all about getting the most out of a finite number of resources.

YE OLE is less than impressed with all of this. This may or may not be an accurate assessment, as there are obviously other factors, but if we essentially port a rather young, relatively inexperienced (at the NFL level) coaching staff from Syracuse and end up with Nassib as our prospective "franchise QB" it's a bit concerning that the best that all of these fellows could muster was an 8-5 record in the Big East? Now, I'm sure some folks will don the rose colored glasses and say "Yeah but YE OLE, just look where THE 'CUSE was prior to all of this..." or point to the fact that with better talent surrounding these guys they'll take off. Those are, indeed, salient points. But, the fact is, you look at a HC/QB/OC (again, just assuming Nassib as part of the equation for argument's sake) as being a major nucleus of a program that while much improved over recent renditions of ORANGE FOOTBALL, was still rather pedestrian at the NCAA level. YE OLE is not seeing any evidence to support the fact that these guys will go from 8-5 in the Big East to some kind of ass kicking machine in the AFC East. Rather it's more likely, we will once again play the role of one legged man in the ass kicking contest that is the AFC East. YE OLE had such high hopes when this offseason started. First, rumors of ownership change... rumors of Polian returning... we get Russ Brandon as President. YE OLE brushed it off, and thought... well maybe we'll get a big time coach up in here... perhaps we are willing to spend top dollar this time... we get Doug Marrone. YE OLE even tried to justify this for a day or two, thinking maybe this guy could put together a decent staff... and now: Nathaniel Hackett. This smacks of 2001 when Gregg "High School" Williams assembled high school caliber staff from his vast collection of dossiers.

This thread is THE WHIP... FACT!

YE OLE hasn't seen enough of T-Jax to know much about his game, and while it is true that Fitzcannon will take off and run effectively, YE managed to pull up these numbers via THE GOOGLES: 4.86 seconds Ryan Fitzpatrick, 40 yard dash time 4.75 seconds Tarvaris Jackson, 40 yard dash time What is to be gleaned from this? Perhaps nothing. Neither man appears to be real fast, but it seems T-Jax is the faster of the two for what it's worth.

If THE WHIZENATOR is the answer... we're asking the wrong question, gents!

Russ, Buddy, and old J.O. are running around the desert all covert and what not!

We beat the hell out of KC... so how good would we be with a QB?

YE OLE may prefer Norv to Josh McDaniels... Norv.

Jeffrey Littman: as Himself

Oh, wouldn't that be par for the course?

Hey gents, just saw this on Twitter... YE OLE has no idea how credible this guy is, or if he's just another clown with a twitter account, so take it for what it's worth: https://twitter.com/Michael_Necci/status/285534981999185922/photo/1 This could definitely spell the end of CHANIMAL and perhaps a total house cleaning if true. With all of the rumors flying, who knows? This particular rumor seems to have surfaced a few times in the last week or so.

It's like the legendary Ric Flair would say: "I'm a limousine ridin', jet flyin', kiss stealin', wheelin' dealin' son of a gun. WOOOO!!" Maybe that's all "Carolina" Cam was trying to explain to the ref that he bumped.

YE OLE has always felt like The Chanimal was a better coach than Jauron. He seems like he is... it just feels like he has a better handle on things. But, at the end of the day, for as much criticism as Jauron was dealt (rightfully so), he went 7-9 every year with less talent.

Based off of Buffalo is THE WHIP... FACT!

YE OLE has never been able to locate it on the interwebs, but there is a clip out there somewhere of Gruden gathering his team around the granite chanting "POUND THAT ROCK! " like a pack of crazed dogs.

First on point #3... YE OLE would actually love to see Gruden here. That said, he was Ralph's first choice last go around and reportedly was offered a ridiculous amount of money then and declined. Not saying he wouldn't accept a ridiculous amount of money now to come here, but I have my doubts. As for #6/#7... you're essentially willing to trade Spiller for Cousins and a 2nd rounder? Cousins is a perfectly nice chap, and he may turn into a very good NFL QB. It's entirely possible. But at this point, Cousins was drafted in the 4th round and has thrown 48 passes in the NFL. Spiller on the other hand may be the only talent on this team that would make a big name coach consider taking this job right now. The man is averaging 6.5 YPC, is the second fastest RB ever to 1000 yards, and is faster than everyone else on the field. As much as many of us hated the pick at the time, he is showing that he very well be a "generational" type talent. If I'm Washington, and we were even considering such a thing, I'd cut out the middle man in your scenario and send Cousins, a 2nd, and a 3rd for CJ in a heart beat. Is there anyone that wouldn't take that deal? RG3 and CJ in the backfield for years to come, in exchange for a Kirk Cousins and a couple picks? Kasper, my good friend, frustration abounds this time of year, but this deal is horribly misguided.

Philip Rivers is THE WHIP... FACT!

mcnasty, my good friend, YE OLE is with you on this one. Now it's entirely possible that Rivers has simply hit a wall and will be in a steep decline from here on out. Now YE doesn't personally believe that is the case, but that's at least plausible... but where are these arguments coming from that this guy is just another mediocre retread... and going as far as to compare him to Trent Edwards? The Chargers are 4-8 this year, but Rivers is completing over 65% of his passes and is on pace for another 4000 yard season and roughly 24 TD's. If this is the worst season we ever got out of our QB, sign YE OLE up. The Chargers have problems, and Rivers isn't playing as well as he had become accustomed to, but this guy has been VERY good and at 31 may very well have several years left in the tank. Just imagine how much more difficult it would be on opposing defenses to stop our run game, if they are forced to pull an extra defender out of the box, because when TJ Graham gets behind the defense (and from what we've seen it looks like that's a question of when not if), we're actually connecting on the deep ball. Rivers could make that happen.

Dadonkadonk, my good friend, you have been Taken to TASKER!

This would be the gridiron answer to playing "buckets," gents! You make it, you take it! Aside from the obvious change in kickoff, it would change the entire dynamic of a game when a team gets down in the second half. If their offense gets rolling, they could convert a couple of 4th and 15's and never relinquish possession. Much more doable than converting a couple of onside kicks.

4th down, game on the line... Trent plays it safe, tucks the ball and trots out of bounds. That was the end of Trent Edwards.

YE OLE was speaking to a more general set of circumstances that are going on in our country today. That said, with regard specifically to the Tank, you are correct. It doesn't seem that anyone is threatening to jail him.

Now, YE OLE believes in treating others with respect, despite whatever disagreements we may have. But, one thing that is absolutely frightening is the inability of folks to speak their mind these days. This climate where if you offend this certain group over here or this group over there, then you're going to be threatened with fine, suspension, jail, whatever is very dangerous and not right.

For YE OLE it was when Luck spiked that ball to the turf at the end of the first half with 1 second left on the clock. The mismanagement of time that led to such a fiasco was just beyond words. YE OLE let loose a barrage of expletives that made it so that YE is once again banned from watching games while the Mrs. and YE YOUNG are present. YE had done a masterful job of biting his tongue the past couple of seasons, unlike his younger days, but yesterday was just too much.