The Big Cat

It's a derivative of eye speed.

Yeah, mine was a post high on snark and that's about it. Plenty of room for hole-poking. Bringing up the Thursday schedule? Hardly the best counter argument.

Which is why their week 8 matchup isn't prime time??

Here's how they determine prime time games: 1.) Does the team play in a top 5 TV market? 2.) Is the team any good?

And their performance in week 16 says otherwise to your claim.

And this is precisely why I've challenged your (now admittedly) unsubstantiated claims to this situation. If you repeat it enough, people begin to believe it. The team did not quit on Marrone at the end of last season. That. Is. False.

Well, that's my opinion as you've given it to me. But even if it were, is it just that you refuse to acknowledge the existence of a reality somewhere between it and what you're purporting to be true?

Please link to this stuff. And please demonstrate that the stuff you're referring to is in no way shape or form commonplace in the relationships between QB's and receivers.

What's the point in either of us "explaining" it? Neither of us know for sure. So I could make up some ridiculous explanation and it'd be just as valid as yours. My critique of your position this whole time is the utter lack of supporting facts you have to substantiate it. Everything you've cited is entirely circumstantial.

And, again, I think it's quite the leap to assume that frustration after a botched play means locker room mutiny. Want me to admit they look frustrated? Fine. They look frustrated, With themselves? With the QB? With the refs? The playcall? I don't profess to be certain WHAT they're frustrated by. You, on the other hand, have not only laser'd in on the cause of the frustration, you've taken that assumption to extrapolate a sure-fire theory that the locker room is rapidly recruiting membership into the anti-EJ faction. Stop me when any of this becomes inaccurate. Please.

Yet one fan will be celebrating his team's success. The other is a 'fan' celebrating the team's failure. I'll happily be that hypocrite.

Okay, sure. You've clearly made your mind up about this, and I quite frankly I think you're grasping at straws to justify something that--I think--exists mainly in your mind.

Almost. Over only comes into play when a thread doesn't devolve into EJ bickering. And that constitutes...oh I don't know...zero threads here!? Man, you are really trying to make this locker room narrative a thing, aren't you?

Let's play over/under Percent of posters who came to this thread with an open mind, who then, through thoughtful and measured discourse had their opinion evolve. I'm setting it at 0.5% And I'm taking the under.

I agree. Manuel's play has been small-ball. But I don't believe for a second that's the game plan.

The offense isn't built for small ball, and I don't believe that it's the strategy the coaching staff would ideally employ.

The run defense is what kept Sunday's game from being a complete blowout. To take it a step further, the run defense is why we even still had a shot in the fourth quarter. And it wasn't for lack of trying. 62 yards on 31 carries should be an UNFATHOMABLE statline for anyone who's watched this team for the last decade. Through three weeks our run defense stats are: 76 att for 251 yds @ 3.3 y/c Compare that to the first three weeks with Pettine at the helm: 107 att for 465 yds @ 4.5 y/c Game to game, winning is more dependent on run defense than it is sacks and picks. Being unable to stop opponents from running when it matters has cost this team at least two games a year each year for the past decade. To see progress in reversing that trend is refreshing, to say the least.

Second? Yes. Definitely.

Well, then I missed something. I apologize that my several-hour respite from this thread threw me out of the loop momentarily. There was only one first round QB in 2013.

It's the INternet. Only the snarky survive.

In

They don't? The same draft that got us Woods, Alonso and Duke Williams? Goodwin? Gragg? In fact, aside from Hopkins and Meeks, we've had more than adequate contributions from EVERY draft pick in 2013. And Hopkins' contributions were cut short because of injury. So unless I'm missing something... How do the early results not favor 2013?

When I'm looking for an opinion on nails, I rarely consult a hammer;.

Right. Nothing at all fatalistic about what you're seeing/what you're predicting.