All Activity

This guy is okay, don't understand why he has as many followers as he does 124 thousand but a realistic view of Poles.

I'm loyal to who is always here with the idea that they will get better. I get the way you view things, lots of fans take that stance, Flus was exposed last year which you were right about but we were one play away from a 5-2 record. The team ended up giving up on him and you never win in that situation. It takes longer for me to lose my loyalty but that doesn't mean I don't notice the bad. An example of how you look at things was as soon as we drafted Loveland you start talking about trading kmet instead of looking at the better we will be with more weapons. If I remember, I don't think anyone agreed with your opinion on Kmet not being a good TE and wanting to trade him. Then you backed off a little and I pushed back on all your negative opinions. Saying he couldn't get open and didn't do well on contested catches. He has the best catch rate the last two years for TEs and over his last 3 years 4th in TDs and 10th in yardage for the TEs league wise.

Of course there are lots of questions, every year brings that but this year is different. I believe the roster was better talented than the record indicated. And the coaching appers to be elite. Poles with BJ helping fixed the OL. LT is up in the air, but if Braxton is the floor (20) th ranked and the potential of Ozzy and Kiran, it will only get better. We added weapons to an already talented group. Coaches prevented the offense to function well and we did have a rookie QB. That has changed noticable. I think the first 4 weeks will have its hiccups but after the bye week, we will take off with consistently. The defense added DA that will be more aggressive and new talent. Existing players will improve and be more effective under DA. Dayo, Jarrett and Turner will improve the pass rush. Every year is a prove it year on a losing team but roster is close to having a 3-4 run of winning seasons. 10-7 record is my floor. It's just my opinion.

Yeah, the one thing Williams had was the unteachable traits, which is what makes good players great. Now with the proper coaching staff and scheme around him, he can improve on the teachables. There has never been alignment between GM, HC, and QB. The next 4 years will determine if that matters, and I think it will.

The defense is a bigger unknown I think. I do share you feelings about Allen, and we definitely have a top secondary, but im worried about the pass rush. Now I do like our tackles, and people say Allens gets his pressure more from them than most DCs, so it could well prove me wrong. If DTs are penetrating, and DEs are holding the edges while LBers and Safeties create havoc, then we could be really tough, but without a really great DE, I feel like we are missing a key ingredient. That just could be because i am used to different schemes I admit. I want Allen to show me and i will become a convert if it works. But i think the Offense is almost more steady than the defense possibly for that reason. I really need to see it in pads. Then this will all get much clearer. like who is Trapilo? Is he a huge 6' 8" stud ready to lock down the LT, or is he a rookie who cant get low enough? Rather than guessing or making predictions, I just want to see it in NFL action.

as soon as I saw Calebs film, like right away, I knew he was special - it took a while to trust that he could be consistent, and he still hasnt been in the NFL. But I think Ben johnson is the guy to get that right - I hope so, we'll see. My point was just the idea that if someone is already on the team, I think they get extra credit points from you, and I still think Poles is "eh" but I understand that if Poles is the GM like Declan Doyle is the OC, then we might be OK anyway. But if for example, Poles suddenly went missing and we promoted Ian Cunningham, i think he'd be better. I still cant forgive keeping Eberflus, and some of the other bad moves he's made too. It tells me he is mediocre, which means some good too - but he's not a top GM that gives you an edge in winning as I see it right now. But now is not the time to rock the boat. I understand rolling with Poles- but I dont understand why they extended him now instead of waiting thru this year first. He had 2 years left on his deal, and I dunno what we gained here - but to be fair Im not sure we lost much either.

Of course I also need to see it in games but I also don't believe good performance happens out of nowhere. If we stay in the days of old where the offense is just struggling day after day then my hopes for the regular season will drop. What little I gleaned from OTAs is that Ben Johnson isn't going to tolerate mistakes nor poor effort. It's not just him either... Dennis Allen has a similar approach on the defensive side of the ball. I don't know how good our defense will be but I do know that it we have a lot of good talent and it won't be bad.

. Yes I liked that idea but in the pre draft process, as the Bears got sold on Caleb, I started to see his potential and when the bears traded Justin, I was all in to the new best QB to get and sometimes we change our opinions. I'm sure I seen you hesitant on Caleb in the beginning, you were always consistent on hate Fields though.

Training camp reports and or preseason scare me. I have to see it when it counts.

Yes we should see a difference immediately, in spurts and flashes, but it may take 4 or 6 weeks until the consistency is reliable?

I think we will know this year is different with the offense early in training camp. Reporters have seen enough wishful thinking and bad performance with our offense over the years so they know what “normal” is. If it’s going to be different in the regular season it will start being different in training camp.

Every teams fortunes depend on the QB. This is why your "trade the #1 pick away, lose Caleb and get the haul of picks" made no sense. Ditto "keep Justin Fields"

Having a GM and Coach on the same time frame is the only logical choice. They obviously believe this is the coming out year for success and Poles gets to prove his worth. He built the roster and hired a high end coach. As much as that is important, our future is based on Caleb being a star or bust.

apparently he had 2 years left on his deal, so the extended him 3 more years. That puts him on the same timeline as Ben Johnson. I'm not sure why they did this now, as opposed to after this year so we could see how they work together, but at least this is slightly more sane than having them not in alignment. I'm still not sure Poles is the right guy, but with this staff to help him, Im not sure his drawbacks really matter that much.

5 years

I get out tomorrow, the surgery went well, but because it was because of an infection, it takes 6 weeks to retest for infection,so I could possibly have to get it redone it two months. I'm optimistic it works. I'll check with my two friends to see if they are still in play.

I do remember from watching film in context that I was hoping for more from him. If he can do what he did in college Id be happy, and theres no reason he cant.

Nope and I thought about that. Ultimately the best stat is the % inside the 20 from all punts capable of landing there.

does that take into account having to punt from inside our own 30 so much?

His raw inside the 20 was 4th but on 82 punts. His average inside the 20 was actually below league average.

I guess that never crossed my mind. Taylor had the 2nd most punts. Im okay not having a high average as long as he is pinning them at the 20 or less. He was tied for 4th best with 34 punts behind the 20.

I think he gets better because his leg won't be so tired in the 2nd half.