2 minutes ago, joemas6 said:

Similar to McNabb making a huge jump with TO...or more recently Josh Allen once he got Diggs.  The impact one WR can make on an offense is huge...taking the attention away from everyone else and creating that one mismatch that wasn't there prior.   " Smitty "  as a supporting actor vs being the main guy is a huge difference.    The rest get moved down a spot and have easier jobs as well.   Which makes the huge difference for the QB

You think AJ is of TO level? Or Diggs?

Just amazing how the haters set the bar at MVP level for Hurts….or he sucks. Ridiculous expectations!

The monster in the room to me is the coaching. Think the top teams are steps ahead of us there. The next huge misstep is the faith in the Oline. Looks pretty good on paper in July. But Kelce is in his final season. Tough to say if he still has another year of top level play in him. He makes up for much with intangibles. But recovery and that many years experience…..age always catches up. Dickerson was a medical tent guy. Just be real about that. Don’t know the RG. Lane is one strike from drug ban. Also he’s struggling mentally. Mailata is the most reliable looking one and he has very little experience. Teams have been studying his tape hard….trust me. Division guys are looking for that weakness. Even with all in tact. Everybody, fan boy wise, says we are the best. But can we count on them dominating against the top guys we HAVE to beat? Can you say against Commanders we will clearly rule that phase? Cowboys? Can we contain Parsons(we gave them)? Rams? Niners? Bucs…we already know we don’t. Do we get the check in the plus side for our Oline vs any of these NFC major hurdle teams Dline? I don’t think so. Hoping the Cowboys. Hoping Washington doesn’t get all those top athletes going on their Dline. This is our hurdle this season. Our strength much of the season. Against Donald and Vea? Need to adapt the plan.

Packers are obviously involved also. Really like that kid they got from Georgia…Wyatt. They are tough. But I do think we matchup well in the trenches with them. They could be better than some of the teams I listed…like Washington. But they don’t have that potential and scare like Washington Dline should. Those guys are all super talented.

3 hours ago, cunninghamtheman said:

You think AJ is of TO level? Or Diggs?

I think all 3 force the defense either put their #1 CB and/or double team them.  Which makes all their teammates jobs easier. 

That's the function of that type of WR.

The difference in those 3 and every other #1 type WR....is how they succeed vs the double teams and #1 CBs. 

Similar to basketball... the player that needs a double team and gets his teammates open shots.   Those players are of different levels, but function similarly for teammates getting space to operate.

3 hours ago, cunninghamtheman said:

Just amazing how the haters set the bar at MVP level for Hurts….or he sucks. Ridiculous expectations!

Who mentioned MVP level for Hurts?  

1 hour ago, cunninghamtheman said:

The monster in the room to me is the coaching. Think the top teams are steps ahead of us there. The next huge misstep is the faith in the Oline. Looks pretty good on paper in July. But Kelce is in his final season. Tough to say if he still has another year of top level play in him. He makes up for much with intangibles. But recovery and that many years experience…..age always catches up. Dickerson was a medical tent guy. Just be real about that. Don’t know the RG. Lane is one strike from drug ban. Also he’s struggling mentally. Mailata is the most reliable looking one and he has very little experience. Teams have been studying his tape hard….trust me. Division guys are looking for that weakness. Even with all in tact. Everybody, fan boy wise, says we are the best. But can we count on them dominating against the top guys we HAVE to beat? Can you say against Commanders we will clearly rule that phase? Cowboys? Can we contain Parsons(we gave them)? Rams? Niners? Bucs…we already know we don’t. Do we get the check in the plus side for our Oline vs any of these NFC major hurdle teams Dline? I don’t think so. Hoping the Cowboys. Hoping Washington doesn’t get all those top athletes going on their Dline. This is our hurdle this season. Our strength much of the season. Against Donald and Vea? Need to adapt the plan.

The monster in everyone else's room is the QB.   

Again though, none of our opinions matter.  If it succeeds both the QB and coach keep their jobs.    If it fails, the history of the organization says the coach will get a chance with another QB.    That's pretty much what matters.  We don't need a long complicated theory to know this.

1 hour ago, joemas6 said:

I think all 3 force the defense either put their #1 CB and/or double team them.  Which makes all their teammates jobs easier. 

That's the function of that type of WR.

The difference in those 3 and every other #1 type WR....is how they succeed vs the double teams and #1 CBs. 

Similar to basketball... the player that needs a double team and gets his teammates open shots.   Those players are of different levels, but function similarly for teammates getting space to operate.

Don’t think I put AJ on their level. But think he should compliment Smitty very well. Really should work great for everybody. He’s a top Press beater. Also a quality Redzone option. Those were the two big missing pieces. You point to the growth of knowing the team. You didn’t think we grew during the season as much as faced terrible opponent. So if you put heavy emphasis on our road playoff game against the defending champs….those were two of the biggest exposed parts of the offense. Jam Smitty and play downhill on the run. Huge guys on their Dline made the trench battle a disadvantage. We weren’t bullying Vea and Suh.

Confusing Hurts was obviously a part of the plan. But him and Siri just didn’t have much of an answer. AJ was the answer.

But that’s just offense. Smitty I think works his butt off. He’ll be more prepared for Press. But he won’t be forced as an X on the line so much either. 
   The D? That’s where we just saw a wholesale change. That’s the main thing if you want to point to opponent and whether the team grew or not I look at. D was terrible. Can’t watch that again this year. Just too passive. At least JG seems to emphasize making plays with turnovers. But the personnel wasn’t that awful. We’ve seen top defensive minds do better with worse. Everybody says it takes two years to switch from 4-3 to 3-4. So I’ll cut some slack. But he’s preaching this hybrid stuff. Being a Jack of all trades D. Just haven’t seen that work but so much. Think Bellicheat maybe adapts his Ds week to week as well as anybody I’ve seen. Having all these different pieces he needs to show some real mastery. Seen some quality defenses that were more simple….but just played fast.

Need the d to gel and adapt and learn the strengths and weaknesses. Helps guys know how they plan to attack. Then your ready to tweak and cover weaknesses. Don’t think playing everything they can develop all that.

15 minutes ago, cunninghamtheman said:

Don’t think I put AJ on their level. But think he should compliment Smitty very well. Really should work great for everybody. He’s a top Press beater. Also a quality Redzone option. Those were the two big missing pieces. You point to the growth of knowing the team. You didn’t think we grew during the season as much as faced terrible opponent. So if you put heavy emphasis on our road playoff game against the defending champs….those were two of the biggest exposed parts of the offense. Jam Smitty and play downhill on the run. Huge guys on their Dline made the trench battle a disadvantage. We weren’t bullying Vea and Suh.

Again.... you aren't getting what I'm saying. It's the function of the #1 WR that I'm talking about, not who is better.   Brown will be the guy defenses are game planning for.   " Smitty"  playing next to your boy Reagor, vs playing next to Brown is a different ball game.   Now he doesn't get the attention that he got last year because teams have to worry about Brown ( a proven NFL pro bowl WR).   Brown didn't make the pro bowl because teams had to focus on another WR, he was the guy the opposing secondary had to stop.  

Game changer for "Smitty "  and your boy at QB.  And really Goedert and everyone else.

14 minutes ago, cunninghamtheman said:

But that’s just offense. Smitty I think works his butt off. He’ll be more prepared for Press. But he won’t be forced as an X on the line so much either. 
   The D? That’s where we just saw a wholesale change. That’s the main thing if you want to point to opponent and whether the team grew or not I look at. D was terrible. Can’t watch that again this year. Just too passive. At least JG seems to emphasize making plays with turnovers. But the personnel wasn’t that awful. We’ve seen top defensive minds do better with worse. Everybody says it takes two years to switch from 4-3 to 3-4. So I’ll cut some slack. But he’s preaching this hybrid stuff. Being a Jack of all trades D. Just haven’t seen that work but so much. Think Bellicheat maybe adapts his Ds week to week as well as anybody I’ve seen. Having all these different pieces he needs to show some real mastery. Seen some quality defenses that were more simple….but just played fast.

We disagree...I think the defensive roster this year is way better in every aspect that matters. 

1. DL depth

2.  LBs

3. CBs that can cover multiple weapons.   

You like to focus on these genius coaches..   I look at the players.   2017 we had the players.. maybe you think Doug and Schwartz were geniuses?   I think the coaches had the players to work with and they did the job,but I don't think the coaches were anything special.  Solid, not special.   So I don't care about the all time great DCs... I look at a GM that got piss poor talent on the defensive side.   That got fixed.  So I expect better results... THIS YEAR.   Long term is a different story though.  I think the aging top players being replaced will be a big issue come the next year or two.  But this year no doubt we should see a major improvement.    If not, I would expect a new DC.

21 minutes ago, cunninghamtheman said:

Need the d to gel and adapt and learn the strengths and weaknesses. Helps guys know how they plan to attack. Then your ready to tweak and cover weaknesses. Don’t think playing everything they can develop all that.

I think a big difference ... in 2021 when the QB said " hike " we had Josh Sweat rush him.... this year he will have Sweat, Reddick and Graham.   I think that's a big difference... 4-3, 3-4, hybrid...cover 2, cover 3,cover 4... 2 -3 zone, 1-3-1, box and 1, man to man... or any other " scheme" don't matter as much. 

All the strategy goes out the window when you hit someone in the mouth.... that's what the QB will face this year vs last year....that ability to force the QB to make quicker decisions, that ability to hit him in the mouth.... that's the game changer,not the scheme.     

And vs the run, the new additions from Georgia and the free agent LBs.. that makes a difference. 

Sure we believe in rushing the passer is key. Been our philosophy the whole time I’ve been paying attention. Some of these guys…especially Brady are getting the ball out so quick now though. Several QBs can read and know where to attack. Our brilliantly super talented Super Team gave up like 500 yards passing. Don’t even remember if the Pats punted. Last year it wasn’t just our soft pass rush though. We were unusually soft against the run. Played back in coverage so hard their were huge gaps everywhere.

Reddick is tough for me to exactly see how we’ll utilize him. He clearly can’t hold the edge against Oline sized guys. We’ve seen DE get targeted before that can’t holdup on that. Can’t just run around everything in every scheme.

Seems like I’ve heard so many different times how DCs mention how they just decided to simplify. Let their guys play fast. They were trying to do way too much. Gannon seems like his whole idea is having it super multiple and complicated. Think you need a D together for a long time to get anywhere near there. I really appreciate the week to week matchups. Implement a gameplan each week for the opponent. Usually that means that week you got three or four bread a butter defensive ideas of how to counter their strength plays. Deal with their personnel. 

Gannon has to prove it to me. Don’t see how he got so much HC attention last year. Thought he did terrible.

Scheme definitely matters though. We got plenty of pressure on the QB the season before. Didn’t make the defense good. 

Pretty surprised Carr is behind Hurts in Vegas for MVP odds 

Hurts, Jackson and Murray all the same….with a huge gap after

So Ham,this is what we need to find out with Hurts,we gonna shell out this amount?

11 hours ago, joemas6 said:

#s wise... but I thought the rookie is a tough runner up the middle?   Style to me is more important than measurables.. Bigger RB doesn't necessarily mean more powerful. 

The bash on the newest kid is he has upper body but not lower. Normally those are blocking backs,but he is not a good blocker. So why he wasn't drafted. He has lots to prove. We'll see how this pans out

8 minutes ago, GreenbleedinNC said:

So Ham,this is what we need to find out with Hurts,we gonna shell out this amount?

I feel he’s going to prove better than Murray

11 hours ago, cunninghamtheman said:

Just amazing how the haters set the bar at MVP level for Hurts….or he sucks. Ridiculous expectations!

LMAO, OH you were just POUNDING the Hurts train before,now you do a 180 and think we're all full of BS expectations? Did you lose your pom poms? I believe most of us understand Hurts is not,nor ever WILL be "elite". But a good consistently functioning "smart" QB could take this team far because we surrounded him with talent. We boosted the defense so he will get more opportunities,something we NEVER did for Schwartz. 2 Nice drafts in a row by Howie certainly helped instead of the ego WHIFF picks in prior years. Others on here never lowered their bar in the first place,we have been consistent as to what we expect. We all know Hurts arm is not "elite" but he can have a HUGE impact by playing SMART,and being accurate(this is Bradys forte also). We all realize he will not magically become a gunslinger,but if he can hit these excellent WR's we now have,use Goedert to his full abaility and siri calls the plays that accomplish that,there is no reason we can't run with the big dogs

But it’s all about the details.