Thurman#1

Start of the season? McCown. Maybe Bridgewater if they decide to go FA and draft. I'd love Cousins but I'd guess he'll be very popular out there.

We've had nine new coaches for the years since 2001. Of course that includes Perry Fewell and Anthony Lynn, coaches only for a few games. Still seven new coaches in seventeen years. If we did just fine with new coaches, our overall numbers would be pretty good. They aren't. A new coach isn't necessarily anything that upsets the tendency.

Hunh. I knew it was a trend but didn't realize what a powerful one. Interesting.

You don't throw out all the good games. You count em up and total them and you find there are more mediocre and bad ones. The good ones absolutely count. Unfortunately for Tyrod, so do all the rest. And again, winning percentage is a team stat, not a QB stat. Anyone not getting that is ... well, not getting it. Pretending that a QB is either a winner or loser because a field goal kicker misses or makes a game-winner is flat-out clueless. If an RB fumbles five times does the QB who played well suck because the team lost? The whole idea is dumb. You evaluate a QB based on how the QB plays. Period. And Tyrod has played inconsistent and slightly below average overall. And more to the point, he hasn't played well from the pocket during the regime of a head coach who has said that the requirement for his QBs is that they have to play well from the pocket.

Winning now and planning for the future in this case each require different, opposed actions. Like getting a consistent deep dark sun tan while protecting yourself against future skin cancer. Winning now by not teaching the offense they'll use in the future would mean starting all over again next year. That will hurt next year's team. Dennison may not be here, I have no clue. But his offense isn't a quirky and unusual one, unless he had adjusted it to coddle Tyrod. Assuming Rico's gone they can bring in a guy who will require his QB to pass from the pocket. Great. Get the OL used to that now, and the skill position guys who'll be here next year as well.

It wasn't using Tyrod differently that caused the drop in scoring. It was changing the blocking scheme on run plays. Tyrod's been about the same all three years after the first eight or nine weeks of his first year, when they started catching on as to how to play him. He's on track to rack up maybe 200 yards less this season than the last two. That's not a big deal. Maybe a couple of passing TDs less than last year. Again, not a big deal. Whereas we have scored 11 rushing TDs so far this year (14th in the league, not bad) while last year we finished with 29, an insanely good number and by far the highest in the league. Second-best last year? Dallas with 24. 3rd-best last year? The Cardinals and Falcons, who tied with 20. That's where the drop came from. Not from not adjusting how we use Tyrod. Again, 29 rushing TDs last year and we're on a pace to not get half that this year.

No thanks, not in a year where the absolute ceiling is squeaking into the playoffs as a fodder team at the cost of performing well next year when with luck we might actually be good. Don't teach a scheme you're only going to use for a year. Teach the scheme you're going to be using for the foreseeable future. Bring in the guys who will make it work.

My druthers? 8-8 and a better shot at trading up.

Same way Tom Landry had four wins in his first two seasons. Sometimes it comes down to a bad situation. Sometimes not. But sometimes coaches lose because they're hamstrung. I don't know how good a job Hue is doing but if people close to the situation figure he's doing a good job, I'd be willing to believe it.

Disagree. They've got a lot of young talent. They're in a great position. It all depends on QB, but I could easily see them very good two years from now if they get a QB playing well. I think you raise an interesting point about Dorsey, though. I'm not sure he's as slamdunk as many assume, so if that doesn't work out they could be in for a lot of years of hell. My guess is he's good enough, but time will tell. 1969. 1-13. Since then they've never had less than five wins.

No. He's often had a good game or two in a row. Point is he's inconsistent and has major holes in his game that aren't going to change. He's who he is, and who he is ... is not a franchise QB and certainly not a pocket QB. I wish he was. But he's not. I can imagine a slight chance ... 5%? ... that they bring him back next year as a bridge but I doubt they even do that. My guess is that if they feel they need a bridge that they bring in one who fits the QB pre-requisite that McDermott laid out. They said before the season that a QB in their system must be good from the pocket. Given a chance to show he could be that, Tyrod didn't manage it.

The reason why most scoring throws from distance are outside the hashes now ... is that ... wait for it ... outside the hashes is most of the field. Inside the hashes is 18.5 feet. The hash itself is two feet long. The field is 160 feet wide. So outside the hashes is 160 - 22.5 feet. Of course most of the long TD passes are outside the hashes. So are most of every kind of pass thrown, at any distance, TD or not. But the idea that Benjamin's fit only for a west coast offense is ridiculous. He wasn't in a west coast scheme in Carolina. And plenty of tall but not super-fast WRs do very well in the NFL right now, in a variety of systems.

I imagine the Steelers are pretty happy they took the third-best guy a few years ago in the first. Last year, Watson was the #3. This is apparently a year where there may well be more than two guys with a pretty good shot at being a franchise guy. Being after the first two picked doesn't make you a middle of the road prospect, especially not this year.

It's this simple. Some guys take time and some guys don't. Depends on the oven the size of the bird ... Was Randall Cobb a bust because he was unproductive as a WR in his rookie year with Rodgers throwing to him? Nelson Agholor produced Zay-like numbers his first year. Bust? Enunwa? Hell, Alshon Jeffery had 367 yards his first year. Tyrell Williams had 90 yards. The ones who take time aren't busts. Only the failures are busts, and you find that out around the third year. The only exception is guys who are out of the league earlier than that. They're busts too, of course.

While I think he has overstated his case, I think he's right that nobody respects our passing game. Yeah, he's had some clunkers mixed in, but that's just it, they weren't just not very good, they were stunningly bad, and there were a lot of fairly ineffective games. Yup, a few good ones too but there's a reason that when you average them, the results ain't good. Tyrod's been consistently inconsistent. Teams have focused on making him be a QB. And that's not a good thing, even when your QB is a terrific runner, as Tyrod certainly is. You're saying he needs to be replaced, so I don't have any major disagreement with you. Wouldn't mind if they dump Dennison too. But they need to bring in a serious QB.

Total run yards says a lot about two things ... how often you run and how well you run. We run an awful lot. And decently. Tied for 13th in the league in YPA, the key stat for how well you run. 4.2 yards per carry. Dennison's run game has been OK. The problem is that he followed a regime that was absolutely terrific at the run game, the Roman scheme as used by Roman himself and the guys who inherited it after he was let go. Dennison was never going to be as good. But he's been alright at the run game.

This isn't a one-year turnaround. It's a team that's been putting together very good personnel for a while now. They have drafted really well the past few years. Were generally considered a QB away from competing for the Super Bowl. Has coaching helped make Goff look much better? Yeah, absolutely. Has Goff's second-year improvement made the coaches look much better too? Yup, without question.

No, no he's not. That's like putting a roast in the oven and looking in after five minutes and saying, "This roast is unsuccessful, it's inedible as is." Is he relatively unsuccessful so far? Yeah, Too soon to use the term bust in the first year, unless the guy's already out of the league.

I'm guessing they beat us one time, probably not two, though. And it'll likely be the game in Miami that the Fins take. I wish they'd beat us twice. I'd much rather have the 8-8 draft slot than the 9-7 draft slot.

Tyrod would certainly love that, but I don't see the Broncos even thinking that way. I strongly disagree. Luck is 28. He's got another decade in front of him, maybe more. That's not even mentioning the $22 mill in dead money that would hit their cap next year if they did that. No way that happens.

Agreed that getting both is a legitimate option. They might not choose to go that way even if they bring in Cousins, but they certainly could. People try to pretend that Cousins is a product of the system, and that argument just doesn't make sense. Might have before this year but when you perform at a high and consistent level across the terms of two OCs, it's likely because you're playing at a high level yourself.

Thanks for your own thoughtful response. I still disagree but I understand people who feel the way you do. And sure, you can make the playoffs as a fodder team AND still have a good draft. But the odds go down. It's less likely and not by a little bit. A higher draft choice gives you more choices. And if there's a guy who'll be available down low that you want, if your pick is higher you can trade back and acquire more. There is no downside to a higher draft pick. Any pick can be a bad choice - look at Len Bias - but a higher pick widens your choices. Who says if we get in we'd get beat? I do. We are simply not a very good team. And yeah, the Broncos won a playoff game with Tebow. Did they win a Lombardi? Again, that's all I care about. They weren't legitimate title contenders with Tebow. Someone was going to beat them. And the next year they had the 25th pick, instead of the 13th to 19th they would have drafted with their 8-8 record. Their first two draftees the next year were Derek Wolfe and Osweiler. Not exactly a high-impact draft. Who would have been available for them if they'd picked at #13 instead of having the #25? Michael Floyd, Michael Brockers, Bruce Irvin, Quinton Coples, Dre Kirkpatrick, Melvin Ingram, Shea McClellin, Kendall Wright, Chandler Jones, Brandon Weeden, Riley Reiff, and David DeCastro. Some real duds in there but you think Denver wouldn't be happier today with DeCastro or Reiff on their pretty bad OL? Not to mention having more choices in every single round, not just the first. As a coach, sure, you should do everything you can to get in. As a fan, no thanks. Do everything you can to become a terrific team as fast as possible, please.

Like it except your problems with Wood. He's still playing very well, IMHO. I keep hoping they put Groy at RG but for some reason they're resisting that. Maybe he doesn't resemble their vision for an RG? I agree that I hope they keep Cordy and that Dawkins will play as well at RT as he has at LT.

The article predicts Cousins to the Jets. I really hope that doesn't happen. It would be bad news for the Bills. The problem with Bradford to the Bills is a money problem. He'd be a terrific bridge QB to bring in while you let the young draftee take time on the bench to get oriented. He'd be a real upgrade from Tyrod. And Bradford would win games for the Bills and would probably fit the new offense pretty well. But he wouldn't settle for bridge QB money. Nor should he. And he's not the guy you want as your long-term franchise QB. He'd probably need somewhere around his current salary or higher to bring in. $18 - $20 mill. I don't see the Bills spending that. Oh, and the article predicts Tyrod going to Arizona and starting. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

When the choice is between two products, neither of which will get you even close to being competitive for a Super Bowl, sure, take the cheaper one. This team isn't developing around Tyrod or whoever replaces him as vet backup/QB mentor. They're developing around whoever they bring in as FA with a real possibility of being a franchise guy or high draft pick. But as I say, I don't think RGIII fits the system any better than Tyrod.