Bengals are tackling the box to limit Henry with success. 5 man fronts and 3 men at LOS.

I'm not looking forward to more Cover 4 from Gannon against them next week. 

3 minutes ago, RLC said:

Bengals are tacking the box to limit Henry with success.

I'm not looking forward to more Cover 4 from Gannon against them next week. 

Just dumb not to have 8 in the box against that team.  Make them beat you one on one.  

5 minutes ago, LeanMeanGM said:

At what point can the family step in and tell them "no”? That’s at least twice they insulted him in the last year. 

Did you see the 'mural'?  Seems the family was 'involved' in this in some way.

 

I'm no art critic, but that sure seems like an extremely amateurish mural.  Painted in 11 hours.  

7 minutes ago, LeanMeanGM said:

At what point can the family step in and tell them "no”? That’s at least twice they insulted him in the last year. 

You mean a JC Penney’s mannequin isn’t enough?

3 hours ago, bitbased said:

This seems like a weird thing to complain about lately. Since 2019 our 2nd round picks have been Sanders, Hurts, Dickerson and Jurgens. JJaw was the only one that was bad. We obviously picked Jurgens to learn behind Kelce (who was a large proponent behind the pick) before he retired. Considering how pivotal center play is to our offense, I don't think I'd feel comfortable with a rookie coming in and hoping they hit the ground running.

I can get behind not putting enough emphasis into the defense and hoping on mid to late rounds picks to hit to solidify the defense but the players they've picked lately aren't bad in the 2nd. I'd complain more about their tendency to whiff on WR which has caused us to overinvest. The Reagor and JJaw picks really hurt us.

Howie has absolutely nailed recent 2nd round picks with solid inexpensive starters. People want to over punish him for Whiteside and for our 1st round selections with Reagor. You're not gonna hit on everyone. Yes, Jefferson & Metcalf make it feel worse. There's plenty of teams who missed as well and  consistently screw up top selections like the Raiders & Browns over the years. Howie has done a nice job drafting here and is a good reason why we are 9-1. Most of the starting offense are Howie draft picks. Yes he leaves the defense pretty bare one can say. But Davis, Williams, Dean, Sweat, Maddox and this year's class can straighten all that out pretty fast. Done a good job building a draft stash to do so. Also does a nice job finding talent with after the draft prospects (UDFA's) which we get poached by teams frequently. Bottom line, there's no 9-1 record if you are bad at drafting. Those 2 don't mesh usually. Way too critical from certain folks here.

4 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

You mean a JC Penney’s mannequin isn’t enough?

Its DC so there should be sewage pouring from pipes above onto the fans looking at the memorial.

Man, you pour filth onto fans one time and they never let you move on from it!

A long-winded musing on what I think is, by far, the most important issue facing every team in this new era of the NFL:

I think there are 2 benchmarks for roster building right now...the Chiefs and our Eagles.

If you have a young roster and franchise QB, you have a problem matching up to either benchmark. 

1.  If you pay your QB $50m/year, you will never be able to compete with the Chiefs.  Mahomes is going to outshine your QB 19 out of 20 times.  In a battle of lopsided rosters entirely invested in a QB doing everything, you are going to lose.  

2. If you pay your QB $50m/year, you will never be able to compete with the Eagles.  Hurts is just as good as your QB and is playing behind the strength of a stacked roster, which benefits from a 2nd round pick and rookie contract freeing up massive resources elsewhere.  You just can't compete with the talent the Eagles will put on the field.

 

If you have someone less than Mahomes making that absurd market value at QB, you will either reliably lose to the better QB or reliably lose to the better roster.  It's the new no-mans land.  And if the Eagles give that contract to Hurts, they'll fall back into that no-mans land...because Howie relies on signing and trading for pro-bowlers to stack the roster.  Strap him to a franchise QB contract, limit the roster to draft picks, and they'll fall back to the pack within 2 years.

If Hurts is willing to take a discount to win, then I think you play ball with him long term.  If he wants to max out his earnings, then I don't think they'll be a perennial contender as currently constructed.  

And highlights of the Jets-Bears game... and the JETS are in all black today as well.    OK.  The NFL has officially lost their collective minds.  

3 minutes ago, jojodancer said:

Howie has absolutely nailed recent 2nd round picks with solid inexpensive starters. People want to over punish him for Whiteside and for the 1st rounders with Reagor. There's plenty of teams consistently screwing those up a la Raiders. Howie has done a nice job drafting here and is a good reason why we are 9-1. Most of the starting offense are Howie draft picks. Yes he leaves the defense pretty bare one can say. But Davis, Williams, Dean, Sweat and this year's class can straighten all that out fast. Done a good job building a draft stash to do so. Also does a nice job finding talent with after the draft prospects (UDFA's) which we get poached by teams frequently. Bottom line, there's no 9-1 record if you are bad at drafting. Those 2 don't mesh usually. Way too critical from certain folks here.

Howie has done an incredible job, but when you distill it down to the draft, that's still his blind spot.  

Everyone always says that "This years class" will change the narrative...that only counts when it happens.  It's too early for anyone to be willing to criticize Devonta Smith, but let's acknowledge that investment is not providing good returns this year.  Blame him, blame the coach, blame the QB, blame the offense...replacement level production from him 1 year after being a top 10 pick isn't good.

Dickerson has been very good...and I don't want to take credit from Howie for a solid starter in round 2...but the Stoutland effect in both selection and coaching looms a bit there.  Jalen Hurts is the best pick really.  

First round results have been consistently abysmal.  

From a holistic standpoint, he has done a solid job of adding young talent from the draft and after the draft to get us here. Not saying he's perfect or some kind of draft guru. Our record is our record and a reflection of mostly good decisions overall.

White putting up big numbers today for the Jets. Know it's against the Bears, but one has to wonder if Wilson rides the pine the rest of the way. Their defense and a competent QB probably positions them for a wildcard spot.

Think ATL gave the Commies a good chance at 3.

The Falcon's inability to have Mariota go under center at all this year has killed them.

1 hour ago, WentzFan11 said:

I like Hurts more this year, but he isn’t worth 50m. He isn’t worth 40m. He isn’t worth 30m. 

He's certainly going to get >30 mil, especially if they do something post season. A bigger question to me is about length of contract and guarantees. I'm not sure ANY QB is worth what Cleveland gave Watson.

45 minutes ago, WentzFan11 said:

At least with Rodgers he keeps the packers in contention every year. Hurts will never be at that level when we’re losing a lot of the supporting cast. 

I’ve become more lenient with Hurts.  I used to think it was Brady/Brees/Manning/Mahomes/Rodgers or bust…because it was.  But the NFL has changed.

I think you play the hand you are dealt.  There are 1.5 qbs left in the nfl that can single handedly put you in contention (Mahomes and the better half of Allen) and 1 more (Herbert) with the theoretical potential to get there.

Everyone else is just trying to do more with less. And if you can pay a Jalen Hurts less, then you can do more with the roster and you’ve got a shot.

2 hours ago, DaEagles4Life said:

Shaw rode the wave of Luck and Harbaugh as long as he could but eventually got found out he isn't a good coach 

I'm not so sure he wasn't a good coach.  Stanford is one of the hardest schools in the country to recruit for given they're probably one of 10 (and maybe the only D1) that maintains academic integrity while recruiting.  Given the landscape of CFB now, with NIL deals, transfers and absurd coach signings/leaving I'm not sure there's a way for them to get back to the 'glory' days.

CBS has way better announcers than FOX. It’s not remotely close.

3 minutes ago, EagleJoe8 said:

Think ATL gave the Commies a good chance at 3.

Well...unless Heinike (sp) throws it right back to Atlanta.

Ravens just tried to do the Hurts QB sneak with Lamar and it was a disaster.  

Mariota should've thrown that away before he started to scramble out of the pocket. Wasted time.

1 minute ago, Wentz_Era said:

I'm not so sure he wasn't a good coach.  Stanford is one of the hardest schools in the country to recruit for given they're probably one of 10 (and maybe the only D1) that maintains academic integrity while recruiting.  Given the landscape of CFB now, with NIL deals, transfers and absurd coach signings/leaving I'm not sure there's a way for them to get back to the 'glory' days.

He rode the wave of Luck and Harbaugh and record clearly shows it. He was getting 5 star kids the first few years especially 5 star QBs every year and no doubt selling the next Luck. Eventually, that shine wears off and they see who you are. 

You get back to the good days with good old  player development. 

Hate to say it, but if Hurts wins a Superbowl he is getting closer to 50M than 40M. Wins just a game in the playoffs he gets about 45M. Loses 1st game and looks meh he still probably gets 40M. He would have to be horrific to not get 40M. Salary cap will be sky high by end of his contract where 60M will be the new 50M. 😆 Have to accept that QBs are crazy overpaid in this league or you become the NY Jets and draft your next Zack Wilson or the Jags and draft a Trevor Lawrence, who can never get it right. And in perpetual rebuilding mode. All huge questions marks even after 2 years. Big time crap shoot at the top of the draft.

 

If Hurts gets a mega deal, I don’t know how Howie is going to replenish talent on the roster over 3 years when trading and signing proven studs is no longer an option.

Do you think it’s entirely coincidental that each rise and fall since 2017 has coincided with the flexibility to stack up on such additions?  That’s how this roster is consistently built.

Just now, jojodancer said:

Hate to say it, but if Hurts wins a Superbowl he is getting closer to 50M than 40M. Wins just a game in the playoffs he gets about 45M. Loses 1st game and looks meh he still probably gets 40M. He would have to be horrific to not get 40M. Salary cap will be sky high by end of his contract where 60M will be the new 50M. 😆 Have to accept that QBs are crazy overpaid in this league or you become the NY Jets and draft your next Zack Wilson or the Jags and draft a Trevor Wilson, who can never get it right. All huge questions marks even after 2 years. Big time crap shoot at the top of the draft.

Yeah 2 Super Bowls in 5 years would be worth all the chaos