Harder2000
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@Asher, thank you for another good tale of the tape post!
I really enjoy these posts, especially when they are focusing on the lessor known high potential prospects, as these often get overlooked by others.
Murray has a lot of tools and when looking at the tape, he really reminds me of D-Mac when he runs. If he is able to clean up the technique and lower his pads properly, he seems to have the potential to contribute to the S&B.
I hope you will do David Baas as well, really a pick I am excited about as a potential steal! Hope he can get in and become a succesful situational and back up player in the first season when acclimating to the more competent competition!
Butler would be interesting as well - RMc must see something in him despite the lack of production, so can he become a better pro than college player? One to watch in OTAs and camp at least.
Again, thank you for the posts Asher, your work is appreciated!
@dondiraider Yeah, they must think Brisiel can be a good presence when healthy, hopefully, but the jury is out and he Will be exposed of he as reported is lacking strength! They must have a better idea than we do though - he could be bulking up to add strength for the PBS! ... Still hate his false start issues though (have been following him from Texans)! Aussey is interesting and with huge potential IF he can add the blocking talents that DA prefers! He is big and strong enough, think an extra yearworking at it could have him showing great improvements - he will be interesting to watch, im rooting for him! Big Bear Gordon as well - physical monster that one!
@dondiraider Myers is not suited for the PBS! In the PBS it is Essentials that the TE is able to overpower and shield outside rushers, be it LBs or DEs, but Myers lacks the strength and technique to do this! He was a pleasant surprise in moving the chains, but a lot of that was scheme and unimaginative Knapp playcalling, so his stats are probably inflated! They want another TE that is more complete probably, so Myers Will get a better offer elswhere i would think..
I am convinced that CP3 is currently the best QB on the roster! ... However, imo he is not one of the top QBs in the league and i don't see him as a QB that is able to take the team on his back and get us in the POs (like a Manning for instance). He is also up there in age and will not be here once we finally finishes the rebuild and start to become relevant again, why I would trade him in a heartbeat if given the chance. He is expensive but could perhaps be interesting to a contender lacking a QB, and that could net us some added ammunition in the draft as well as clear up some cap room to add some pieces or the future! TP showed glimpses of what he can do but is still an unknown at this point, still I would prefer him to start the season as a trade of CP3 would help allow improvements on the rest of the team while giving TP his chance to see if he should have a future with us! If TP would succeed - great, if not, then ok, the team got to improve the talentlevel (can add a couple of starters for what CP3 makes) and let's draft a QB. Having a great QB is what we all want, but with the holes we need to fill, a QB like CP3 that is not another Manning, is no more than a stop gap that will never get the chance to lead us to where we need to go! A better overall team - sure, lets give him a chance, but rebuilding - let's improve the overall talent level and prepare for the next QB of the future!
The one thing with this new hiring and switching back to the PBS, leaving the ineffective (for us) ZBS behind for the time being, is that we just signed our most expensive FA signing Brisiel who is primarily a ZBS blocker, as well as we used our top draft pick (granted a 3rd is not a lot all things considering) on Bergstrom - a G/T prospect who is known for his ZBS skills (and lacking strength)!
Carlisle is clearly also a better fit for the ZBS and is getting to old to count on, so what to do?
I would really hope that we could get a guy like Jake Long at a reduced price (still a major force when healthy and he and Velheer could easily be our bookends for the future), or one of the tope RTs available in Vollmer, but with the cap and severely lacking overall talent on the roster (with more cuts coming no doubt), it's difficult to guess how the money and draft picks will be prioritized..
Would love to see us trade down in the draft to stack up on some overall talent level (even though the draft is not that deep this year)!
--- Trading our #3 for the Rams' #16 and #22 (fitting on the draft trade value chart) could be an option, but generating an extra 1st or 2nd rd pick or two in general could go a long way. RM definately considers it as he loves his picks, and Joeckel, Lotulelei or a riser could perhaps become the incentive that could get us there!
Just hope that we can get some continuity going so the draft picks and FA signings can be utilized going forward without too much replacing due to scheme changes!
* With seasoned Bobby April hired as ST coordinator, let's go get a LB and Oline coach who can help turn it around!
On the surface i must admit that i don't really understand or like this hiring, but that is mainly based on the statistics from previous years as well as other available candidates, not any real knowledge of him or his playcalling!
... However, i do find some sort of solace in the fact that Dennis Allen most definately knows that his newly hired OC will need to greatly improve the Offense if he is to stay on as HC going forward, so it has to be a well considered choice of his (not buying the notion of him selecting an OC that would not shine too bright and take over his job)!
Dennis Allen undoubtedly has way better knowledge of football than i and the vast majority of fans do, and as he has no doubt done his due diligence, it will be interesting to see how it develops! Could be a positive surprise despite our initial reservations (unlike Knabb)!
I do have the concern that we only have had a very limited selection of potential OCs to choose from though, subsequently causing the hire to be more a result of limited possibilities than real abilities! Keeping my hopes high that DA truly have found us an OC who can surprise and establish the offense by playing to its strength and help create some stability and continuity going forward!
---> Now go get a seasoned ST coach and solid LB and Oline coaches as well, they are sourely needed!
@Indy! All with you on the rebuilding thoughts - would have been the perfect time to say "ok, lets start all the way fro scratch and rebuild as effective as possible - this is truly the new era!"!
Reg has undertaken a lot of changes, but if they ever truly believed (and i really doubt they did) that they had a legit chance of a PO adventure, they were seriously lying to themselves!
We should have been
- stacking up on picks from players that no longer fit while they still had worth, while significantly restructuring or cutting all expensive players with no future on the team and no trade value (happened to some degree already),
- securing players that needed to be secured long term (like Reece),
- adding young potential keepers in FA (Wheeler was a great and cheap addition,but several more could have been had; for instance Tulloch),
- giving the young hopefulls on the roster a chance to prove their worth in the games (Chekwa, DVD, Barksdale never really got a shot, and why is Pryor not at least in for some simple packages in garbagetime to see if he can complement the offense in spot duty) instead of relying on over the hill players with no future on the team as starters (im looking at you Carlisle),
- Establish a coaching staff you believe in for the future in order to create stability and continuity going forward (granted, Reg was out too late to get any top shelf talent on most positions so this might not have been possible at the time, but too many of the position coaches and the coordinator hunt seems to need replacing in the coming year which is another issue in a rebuild),
- officially let the fanbase and players know that the actions would serve to establish the base of the future, while letting the players know that only those who proves their worth would get to stay, and accepting that even though you field the best team possible, you would be underdogs to the division (not giving up, but accepting the terms)...
... instead it has turned into a cleaning process that will continue into the next season and postpone the progression another year! It usually takes 3 full drafts to rebuild a team from the bottom, and it seems that that is the way that Reggie is going! The coming off season will lead to yet another overhaul, hopefully one that will bring at least some progression, because we sure aren't showing any right now!
About the defensive players - imo you greatly undervalue both Shaughnessey and Houston! Both are very solid against the run and are young promising payers (Shaugh still not all the way back from injury, will be next year)! Houston has the versatility to play all positions in both a 43 and a 34 while Shaughnessey is naturally more limited to the 43 it would seem!
Giordano is a great practice player, reminds me of Gradkowski that way (did i read that comparison by you as well @nilbymouth ?) - and also in the way that neither are starterworthy in the league! He is a decent back up and he is fired up, but dang he misses a lot of tackles, is malplaced and just miserably fails to impact the game positively aside for a couple if ints that happened to fall into his hands (one great one if i remember correctly)! Not saying he should be cut, but to me he is not nearly a sure bet to be on the team and is a ST and 3rd string talent only imo!
I don't like Palmer because he was brought in and hailed as the second coming, but truth is that he is decent with a plus to it - nothing more nothing less!
He should not have to suffer for the fact that we overpaid for him (i have been judging him on that, but that is not his fault), and he is at least a solid transitioning QB for the next couple of years while rebuilding the roster! He can make all the throws, has a grasp of the defenses and knows the offense - yet he will never be a top shelf QB like Manning, Brees, Brady, Rodgers, or even the likes of the group right behind them)!
His stats are up as a result of garbage time catching up, and he makes too many mistakes to win singlehandedly (which most would) - but he is not the one costing us in games, and would definately be a lot more effective if we actually had a rushing attack to complement him!
Knabb and his inefficient running attack and unimaginatory playcalling, Offensive line woes , defensive blunders, no pass rush and absolutely no coaching adjustments are clearly more to fault!
It is just so frustrating to keep watching the games and our regression without any real consequenses to it! Please admit that this is a rebuilding mode and supply us with some sort of belief in the new era, because even though this new regime to some degree gets a pass as a result of the benefit of the doubt that goes with a rebuild, i personally lose a little bit of my faith in it every time we regress without owning up to the issues and openly admitting that we have lengths to go before we are where we need to be!
We are NOT competititve and and a threat to the division, and we will NOT be so in the coming years until the roster and rebuild is beginning to take shape! Raidernation is in it for the long haul, but we are starving, please give us something to believe in for the future!!
@oaklandraider It speaks volumes when our team consistently is outplayed in the coaches quarter (3rd) and are incapable of any real in-game adjustments! Horrible!
@Ironhammer Hue had to go though imo - personally i really liked him as an OC, imaginative, daring and aggressive, but his head got too big for him and this franchise when he started talking about being the OC, HC and GM all at once! He misplayed his hand and had to be let go for it!
... That said, because the coaching hunt took so long we ended up stuck with several less than ideal coaching/coordinator positions which truly hurts us now!
ST is miserable. Knabb is miserable. Defense is horribly inconsistent and unreliable. The talent level is questionable and several of the good players we actually do have doesn't seem to be a great fit for what the new regime seems to go for!
It usually takes three years with subsequent draftclasses to re-establish a roster in a way that it fits what the GM and HC wants, so we are in for a lot more overhauling!
Hope some of the young guys gets a chance to step up and takes advantage of it - at least that would give us some hope for a speedier recovery than what it currently looks like!
That said - sometimes even a few pieces can go a long way; Indy might have one of the worst talent levels in the league, yet they are in the run for the division (which they will hardly get) and a wild card based on especially the selection of Luck! We will not be able to get a Luck, at least not next year (and Carson is at least adequate to compete for another year or two if utilized correctly), but a significant upgrade in especially OC and STC (personally i think Tarver can be ok if he is allowed to add a few key pieces to the puzzle and a healthy squad) as well as a couple of the position coaches could go a long way! Especially with a real draft for once and hopefully a couple of solid FAs (not like Brisiel - was always penalized in Houston as well, not really a surprise, but damn how he struggles all around right now)!
But right now, this is just horribly depressing to watch! Regression after even a slight improvement is just not what we need right now as fans!
@DonovanGibbs D-Mac should have been traded before the season with this way of running the offense! But his value is limited right now - whatever we would be able to get would not be what we would ask for probably! Really hope they start emphasizing plays that fits our talent (especially D-Mac), otherwise D-Mac deserves better!
@KenRWilliams Makes no sense - especially with Mannings armstrength not yet at a 100%, giving him the short and intermediate routes free of pressure and with large cushion makes no sense! Also, the Falcons are extremely good at disguising the palys - always moving around! ... Why don't we do that? Manning could read our every blitz and is too good of a player to fall into the traps then! Crappy playcalling by both Tarver and Knabb!
Thanks for the post Darth!
Great to have cornerstone members of Raidernation showing up every gameday with the passion and fire that this franchise is all about! Much respect!
@Raider Nate 75 No doubt, we need the D-Line to play up to the best of their ability to free up the LBs in particular! The LBs need to do a solid job of covering, and the Safeties needs to help by coming up (wouldn't be surprised if we went to nickel a lot)!
... But if you play the Safeties all the way up and use press on the outside, you'll have an issue jamming the receivers for an entire game without having them burned at some point (an Manning will see it) - especially as both Thomas and Decker are huge compared to what we have out there, and Huffy ain't comfortable at CB yet!
It will be interesting to see, but there is no doubt that Manning is the threat in that game! Gotta cover his short throws efficiently to stop them!
Barksdale also gone? Dang - DVD, Chekwa and Barksdale already gone, this new administration don't mess around!
Would have preferred if they had been given one more year, some players develop late, and it's not like we bring aboard stars, but guess they know what they are doing! Just hoped we would have perhaps received some late rd picks or excess players at least!
@Indy! Palmer deserves his due, he had a good game and showed some poise! Still not impressed with his first two games this season, but hopefully this is a vision of what awaits!
And agreed - an aggressive and unpredictable team is what can help us to some wins! The division is still wide open, so we better seize every opportunity we get!
@Indy! Yeah, it seems like we are stuck somewhere between rebuild and reload squad right now! Several big contract players could have been dealt to get picks and safe cap space, but the balance and competitiveness is naturally important for any team culture!
Difficult to say from home, and they definately know what they are doing, but as a fan it is really hard to keep watching how they show glimpses of hope and straight after falls apart again - i personally would prefer a total rebuild mode that would allow for a complete restructure in the mold of the new regime; at least then i would be prepared to accept the 3 years a rebuild normally takes while hoping for developmental players to emerge in the meantime!
For now i just take it one game at a time hoping for the best - really, really, really hope they start to gel and step up their game so we have something to look forward to (with excitement) come sunday!
"Heyward-Bey has been targeted 13 times and has caught 7 of those, so almost half the balls that come his way do not get received."
- Palmer is at fault for several of those incompletions! Bad passes and thrown in DC a couple of times!
DHB has improved, his hands as well, now they just need to get him involved in the new scheme! Having D-Moe back will definately help him a lot as he will force the D back and let DHB go away from the deep routes that really doesn't play to his strengths (as he just can't trail and catch a ball over his shoulders)! They need to call some short to intermediate routes as well as slants and other crossing routes for DHB and he will be fine - he is open often enough when he isn't called deep (into a 10 yard cushion), so Palmer just needs to get the ball out there now when D-Moe is back and represents the deep threat!