Happy

Ice, the biggest thing successful franchises (Packers are certainly included here) have is continuity, which is something we've struggled with for 17+ years. But not just continuity for the sake of being consistent (and not consistently bad, which we have down), but the right kind of continuity. Hopefully we'll find that with Beane and McDermott, because we've been plagued with personnel turnover, poor front office decisions (including ownership), and awful coaching during our reign of futility. You all will bounce back, I'm sure. Good luck.

Luck probably has another 7 years in him, at least. Too bad Grigson is out at Indy, he could have been had for a second round pick and Vlad Ducasse. Can never have too many good offensive linemen.

Steelers. They're going to win the AFC North, so they're not our competition. Titans still have a shot at a wildcard birth.

I'm sure the Rams really miss this guy. LOL Funny you should mention this. I have a high school buddy who is a long time Rams fan. He is happy that Wade Phillips is their DC, but also wonders if anything is coming through his headset at times. I told him it is probably tuned to classic country. No reply from my Rams fan friend.

No, I think last year had more drama: firing Greg Roman after the second game, Rex's bull$&*#, Rex's job status, Whaley's job status, bench Tyrod the last game, Rex fired, trainwreck of a press conference, Whaley fired. A lot happened last season. Right now McDermott is just trying to right the ship and get into the playoffs. The fact his OC and OLine coaches are also disasters is a bit outside the scope of the original question.

A loss this week really puts us behind the 8-ball. We would need the KC win, MIA sweep, Indy win, and probably split with NE. This would put us at 10-6 with not much room for error.

I'm not sure if this is as big of a deal as some make it out to be. I'd think pattern timing/anticipation is a bigger deal, which is Peterman's strength. He might want to avoid the Brett Favre type risk passes. What was Peyton Manning's velocity his last two seasons in Denver? From what I remember, most of his passes were quick, shorter attempts and rarely threw long. His intelligence overcame his declining physical abilities.

This is a good article by Sal, I think most of us completely agree with it. I'm hoping for the best with Peterman, but I don't think Dennison can get out of his own way with his baffling play calling. I suspect Dennison will be gone after this season. The other problem which is not getting as much attention is Juan Castillo, who is doing a well below average job with the OL and running game. He should be gone as well, but I'm not holding my breath because he was on Andy Reid's staff along with McDermott.

If Dennison calls his standard run, run, pass, punt, this offense will still look small. Maybe Peterman will audible out of 90% of Rico's calls.

1. Fans, eighteen year dead end and still true to this team. 2. Whaley, never really had a true and traditional GM role.

Nah, Tolbert has a place on this team: short yardage and goal line situations. We've been incorrectly using him as a RB2, which he clearly is not.

I see what you're getting at, thanks for the reply...it makes sense. Frank Reich has a good history here and maybe open to it; only problem is he is not a McDermott guy. But he has to be better than Dennison. Or Peyton Manning, that would be good. One can dream

Really hard to say without know Peterman will do from the opening drive of the 1st quarter. We'll know soon enough. This would help. Take Castillo with him, as well as Ducasse. The three of them can move on together to the next team that desires an abject failure on offense.

I don't know enough about him, but I'll take your word for it.

Exactly. Everyone is rightfully piling on Dennison. What isn't getting enough attention is the poor job Castillo is doing with the OL and run game, and Shady is paying the price.

Yep. I think most of us would like to see that.

It appears that this is the path that Rick Dennison's offense is on. If Nate Peterman doesn't pan out, then what; hope we get Dennison's type of QB in the draft?

This is noticeable since they've had their hands in the Carolina cookie jar a lot. Hopefully they'll look at FAs from other teams as well, not just their comfort zone. This is where Whaley excelled, he found talent in a number of places and not just Pittsburgh, for example.

He should be fine in a system that allows him to be a typical college-type QB in a spread offense; this is his strength. Would like to retain Tyrod as a backup here, but that won't happen with his current contract.

I think they still select a QB in the upcoming draft. Having two good, young QBs is a good problem to have. There are probably about 8 positions that need an upgrade including QB, right side of OL, several positions on DL, and LB.

Football decision. McDermott appears to realize Tyrod was never going to get it done in this offensive scheme.

It comes back to taking McDermott and Beane at their word: want to win now with an emphasis on the future. The roster moves this week demonstrate that they are trying to win now and get into the playoffs. Regarding the future, we'll have to see how the draft and FA goes. I believe they have a plan, it will take a couple more seasons for it to play out, so they need a little more time. People always point back to NE regarding adjustments mid season. That's fine, but NE has a process and philosophy that has worked for what, 17 years? I think we're on our way to that, but it will not happen immediately; it can't.

I don't think so, nor do I think Dennison was interested in modifying the offense for Tyrod's skillset. Certainly understand why Tyrod would be pissed.

This seems like a modified wild cat. No way Dennison will do this; would be outside of his offensive philosophy and like you said, he doesn't have the creativity to do this.

I suspect McDermott didn't want to start Peterman this soon, but Tyrod is not going to flourish under Dennison's offense, which they don't appear interested in changing mid season.