Rob's House

This is what bugs me about Marrone. I'm not as quick to cast him aside, but I have concerns. Being a hard nosed, take no ****, my way or the highway kind of coach is great if you're smart and know what you're doing. That kind of coach commands respect and good players want to play for him. These guys are seldom worse off for cutting malcontents. See Bill Parcells; Tom Coughlin. On the other hand, if you're a doofy idiot who doesn't have a clue but still draws a hard line then you're just a stubborn fool who is destined to fail spectacularly. I don't know which group Marrone falls into. I'm not going to jump to conclusions prematurely, but if he's the latter I hope it comes out soon and is dealt with quickly. Neither arrogance nor stupidity alone irritates me all that much, but the combination is infuriating.

To Gatorboy anything that could be construed negatively toward conservatives is noteworthy, while anything that could be construed negatively toward liberal douchebaggery is irrelevant. This is why a family dispute between a couple of NY politicians is illustrative of tea baggers in dissaray while the revelation that President Dipshit's repeated assurance about his signature legislation turning out to be a bald faced lie is just a minor detail being harped on by zealous idealogues. That is if gatorboy was even a legit poster.

It's a Kingpin reference. I assumed you inteneded to post in the Cutler thread and accidentally ended up in this one, but if I didn't know that and was just looking at this thread it looked like a crazy person throwing out unrelated non sequiters; hence ...

I was helping a friend move yesterday and his parents, who are very socially conservative christian types in their 60s, were helping and watching the kids. His mother was putting some brownies in the pantry and decided to have one. Unbeknownst to her these were, shall we say, special brownies.

I don't have any logical explanation, just a gut feeling the Bills show up big today. Even if it does little more than foster a continuation of false hope, the team could sure use an infusion of excitement and optimism and beating the tar out of another 4-9 team .... well, it would feel good anyway.

WHO ARE YOU CALLING PSYCHO!?!?

Receivers haven't been the problem the last 2 weeks, and prior to the TB game protection hasn't been that bad. If you watch the Jets game you'll notice EJ surveying the field. Against Atl & TB he almost always locks in on his primary target and/or takes the short option even when his protection holds up and he has open receivers down the field. If he can get back to what he was doing in the Jers game and build on that he could have a very bright future. If he keeps playing small ball he'll be another draft bust no matter who you surround him with. BTW, I know he's a favorite whipping boy around here, but TJ Graham gets open a lot. So does Woods for that matter.

If you go to the college football forum there's a pretty good scouting video of Barr. He's a speed rusher who can be a liability against the run. Mack, well, let's just say his name is fitting.

I agree with this philosophy generally, but I think the odds of a talented guy with potential slipping to the third is high this year b/c of the # of quality QBs. There isn't an Andrew Luck in this draft, but there are a lot of Tannehills. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Mettenberger. It could be perfect for us - guy who arguably has first round talent who's likely to slide b/c of his ACL. But since we're rolling w/ EJ he could sit for a year. Then if EJ works out you've got depth at the most important position on the field, if he doesn't work out you've got his potential replacement on the roster learning the system AND being evaluated by the coaching staff so if they don't have faith in him after getting to know him they can move on another guy in 2015. And all this for the low price of a 3rd. That's a deal you just can't pass up if it presents itself.

To put it a little more accurately, the majority of the board has expressed concerns over the sub-par play of EJ over 3 of the last 4 games. A small handful have declared him a bust, another enlightened handful, yourself included, declare it the height of stupidity to have any kind of contingency plan in place, while virtually everyone else has decided regardless of whether they think EJ's the future that the not retarded move is to bring in some competition in the off season.

I read the other day that in North Korea if you're caught trying to escape the country the penalty is life imprisonment in a work camp for you, your children, and your grand children. In a just world the leadership of that country would be publicly flogged to death.

What is it about Hackett that has you ready to pull the cord on him?

If we win the last 3 games I'll go into the off season feeling like this team has turned the corner & expecting playoffs next year.

Last I checked we had every position on the roster.

I'm not high on Grice at all. He's not big enough or strong enough to compensate for his lack of speed. I dig the idea of a RB around the 4th but not him.

Well, it's the one year anniversary of the shooting. Let's capitalize on that and exploit the story for all it's worth. Gotta maximize the return on this.

I think these guys are getting a raw deal. If you're saying Stevie sucks b/c he chokes I'll give you that, but he's otherwise quite good. Woods has played very well, especially for a rookie - it just goes unnoticed because the ball isn't coming his way. And TJ Graham is the may not have the ball skills to fully utilize his speed consistently in the deep game, but gets open with great regularity as well. And why would you say Goodwin sort of sucks? That doesn't make sense to me. If this crowd had better QB play they'd be doing just fine. And let's not forget Brooks and Goodwin are rookies and TJ is a 2nd year player. Everyone says give the rookie QB time, but WRs need time to develop too. If and when EJ gets it together we'll suddenly realize our WRs are a lot better than we thought.

Upon further review, I am now prioritizing OG above WR/TE in terms of need. If I'm GM I might still take a WR first if there's an elite prospect, but our WRs are a lot better than they get credit for around here. And TE is a ? depending on Moeaki's condition. Pears isn't that bad either. The two biggest liabilities on the offense (other than rookie QB) are LG and RG. I'd like to see both positions addressed in the first 4 rounds.

Now that you mention it, they were waving their hands in the air.

Actually yes. For the first 55 minutes of the game Stevie is a an elite possession WR - that's right, I said it. But if I'm trying to win a SB with him I want to have a Robert Horry on the team to take the game winning shot.

I understand. My point was that for this particular team I'd have rather taken a safer path to getting to a reasonably competent football team before worrying about Superbowls, but generally I agree with what you're saying. At this point it's all academic anyway. We'll see how things go. I can see these guys making it work, it's just frustrating.

Upon further review: Not that EJ's accuracy doesn't leave room for improvement, but his biggest shortcomings are having trouble picking up the blitz/reacting to pressure, reading the field, and locking in on receivers. He had a few off target passes last week, like that bounce pass to Graham, but for the most part accuracy wasn't his problem, decision making was. He had a few plays last Sunday where he threw to the only receiver on the field that was well covered. One of them was his INT when he tried to go to TJ Graham who couldn't have been covered better. On another INT he stared down Stevie all the way, then threw it when there was virtually no chance of anyone but the defender catching the ball. On that play Graham was wide open right beside Stevie and Woods was open enough behind Stevie. The good news is decision making improves with experience. If he can get better at feeling where the pressure is coming from, surveying the field, and consistently finding the open receivers he could be very good. At this point he's got a ways to go, but I'm feeling more optimistic about his prospects for development.

It would hinge on the degree to which he's a bad influence to the other players and what the compensation is. He's not clutch, but the guy can get open seemingly at will. He's also the closest thing to a security blanket EJ has right now.

You're looking at it the wrong way. Now I've lost my comparative advantage over the guy at McDonalds.

For those of you who want to kill this kid, there's something wrong with you. I understand wanting to give him some time to teach him a lesson, but it's not like this kid maliciously hunted down these people. He's f'n 16 and couldn't handle his ****. It's terribly unfortunate, but it's not like he necessarily had a depraved mind (although it's entirely possible, but we don't know that). All yall focus on is the consequence instead of the intent. If he'd hit that same car and no one was in it, his act would be just as blameworthy, but most of you would not see it the same way. And please don't tell me "what if that was your ..." If I was that emotionally intertwined with the situation I don't think I'd be all that rational and certainly wouldn't be the ideal authority on what the appropriate objective consequence should be. Also, the "rich kid" thing is so overplayed here. There was a hit and run in Richmond last year and the media latched on because it was a young semi-pretty girl that got killed and the driver's dad was a local lawyer, and they played that "daddy" angle to death. He got 3 years and you'd have thought he got the royal treatment. 2 other people within a years time received 2 year sentences for similar crimes and neither of them had a rich daddy. But hey, if class warfare's your thing have at it.