AZ54

@Pix, @Stinger....glad to hear you're both ready for some contact sports again. Aim high!

I'll take the over on the thumb chat. No way that gets talked about just 4 times. If Fields plays well the chat will focus on how well he and the team rehabbed the injury. If he's playing bad well you know how that will go.

Wow, that would put us at 30.4pts/gm and we'd be 2nd in the NFL just behind the Dolphins. For reference that is way beyond what Andy Reid and Mahomes are doing in KC at 23pts/gm. Bills are at just 26pts/gm. Bengals also with one of the best QBs, best WRs in the game...ah forget them we're ahead of them. Eagles with a good HC, GM, OC, QB, great Oline, and WRs are sitting at a mere 28pts/gm. You feel the Oline, WR, RB, and TE talent we have is first rate in the NFL and is only being held back by Fields and Getsy?

I can remember Warner struggling in the preseason to win the starting job in 2008. He eventually won the job and then threw for over 4500 yards and took AZ to the Superbowl. What a wild up and down career he had.

I've only watched one game with Maye and a few pieces of games with Williams. Admittedly that's a very small sample size yet neither stood out to me as #1 overall picks although both have good 1st Rd talent. If I had to choose one based on my limited knowledge right now I'd go with Maye simply because I think there is a bit higher ceiling. Despite that, watching this game film against Pitt nothing really jumps out at me saying he'll be elite in the NFL. He can make some beautiful deep throws but then so can Fields. Then he has plays that make you shake your head. As of today I can support one of two directions. Draft one of these top QBs if you think they can be the guy, but keep Fields and let 'em all compete. Trade away the loser after next season, or sooner if it's clear who is the guy. Or option two which I'll call the Purdy approach: Keep Fields, trade back and then just absolutely load up the roster in the '24 draft and FA, garnering another 2025 1st Rd pick in the process. Then in the '25 draft add more top talent such that any good game manager QB can drive the bus deep into the playoffs. Or in 2025 make your move up to get your QB. That QB would still be joining a good roster. Should Fields, Bagent, or drafted QB not be the answer, you can usually fallback into a mid-level vet QB like Derek Carr or JimmyG in most off-seasons. Now if Fields fails miserably in these last 7 games then our hand will be forced this year. I don't think that happens and I think he'll still be at least a QB you can win-with just not because-of.

Any underlying issues here from the past? He was a four-star prospect and originally committed play college football at Alabama before flipping to North Carolina.

It sounds like Davis is coming back. I'm not sure about Edmunds. If he does and Fields is out there this will be our first look at this team as it was planned in the offseason. I have no clue what that means for game day but I'm looking forward to seeing it play out.

Who is Justin Fields (comps)? Preseason we all heard the comp to Jalen Hurts. That didn't quite work out, not yet anyway. I've been thinking the best comp might be Dak Prescott. Dak has never really impressed me because he lacks consistency. He's had some real head scratcher games but then he'll get it together and have some good games. Through it all he's pretty much always had that good running game to lean on, and good pass protection. Despite those ups and downs Dallas stuck with him long term and they continue to have success. Astute fans always point out stats to compare players and Dak wins there big time. However, Dak walked into a much better situation than Justin did. Great Oline and top running game with Elliot who was one of the best, if not the best, RB in the NFL for years. Dallas has been able to maintain continuity in part by sticking with Dak and not burning more draft capital trying to find a QB, while also not paying top $ on a QB. Instead they continue to add good talent with their early picks and have enough cap space to keep a good roster around him. (Looking at their draft history that wasn't entirely true in the first few years after they drafted Dak but since then they've righted the ship.) Dak is currently the 11th highest paid QB but that will likely change next year as he gets an extension. With the Bears idle this past weekend I watched Trevor Lawrence play a real stinker of a game against the 49ers. Meanwhile Brock Purdy, coming off a 3 game losing streak, looked like a 1st Rd QB throwing to wide open players. Josh Allen just had another bad game as well. I saw nothing from Allen against Denver that would make me take him over Fields. All 3 of those QBs have had better rosters in the last 1 1/2 seasons. We've still got more to see from Justin and hopefully he can improve the quick game at least somewhat. Neither of the top QBs in this draft look like slam dunks to me. Our roster is just rounding into shape. Can that be good enough to mask Fields deficiencies while also highlighting his strengths? Can we win with that formula long term? We'll find out in the next 7 games. If Fields shows there is a winning formula with him and a really good supporting cast then I'd stick with him. How he'd value himself on a contract extension is the risky guess. We can't pay him top 5 money. Top 10 yes.

You are not properly taking into account position value and LT is way ahead of WR on that list. There are 3 OTs currently in the top 10 although I don't know if all are true LT prospects. So is Edge rusher.

Yeah, a ton of Cards fans would love you for making that deal.

Look at Justin’s sideline demeanor this past game and even in the locker room post game and I think he knows he’s got to improve. That’s not to imply Bagent has been better but the fact is he has won two games while Justin was out. Worse, when asked about the QBs Poles gave no vote of confidence. At this time the Bears have first overall pick in the next draft too. I think Justin knows he’s got 7 games to prove he’s the QB of the future.

Ditka was his nemesis. Ditka is a total legend in Chicago. Want to prove you’re better than the master? Come to Chicago and stake your claim.

I see plenty of times where Bagent had opportunities to make big plays and he chose other options.

I still like Flus as a head coach. He's not perfect by any means but I also accept that it takes people time to grow into their job. Therefore I look for progress. Where Nagy has some early success the team then peeked and sank. Worse the locker room culture was bad. OTOH Flus stood by last year and toed the company line as good player after good player was traded away from him. Flus fielded what was easily the worst roster in the NFL last year, now backed up by how many players are backups elsewhere or out of the league. Now he's done something I'm not sure has ever been done in the NFL..... win 2 of 4 games with an undrafted QB from a D3 school. If anyone had that on their bingo card please let me know. That leads into the progress because we now have a top 5 running game in the NFL. I don't remember where we ranked last year, it was at least top 10, but most people gave that credit to Fields. Regardless, we were still good running the ball and that was without a complimentary passing game. We set out to fix the run defense in the offseason and now have a top 5 run D. I say they set their goals correctly and achieved them. I say correctly because even with Fields we still have questions at the QB position. If you want to help a young QB develop then give them a good running game to take pressure off them. Did I expect us to go from the worst roster in the NFL to a playoff team in one offseason? No. I did expect more consistency especially from Fields but i'm not going to fault Getsy for Fields cryptic indecisions to throw to open WRs. We've also had a lot of injuries to deal with as well in the secondary and Oline. Backups played decently this year indicating improvement from coaching: Borom, Carter, Jaylon Johnson, Foreman, Darrynton Evans who was poached off a practice squad, Sewell, and Patrick. Minus one or two key injuries I think it's reasonable for us to have won 4 games at this point. That would be on track with most pre-season projections of 6-8 wins. We still might get there and I need to see that progress. If the team regresses then yes we have a coaching problem. If the upward trend continues then I want to give them another season.

Carolina might be missing some skill position players but their roster isn't totally devoid of talent. They have better talent than what we put on the field for the last 8 games in 2022. At this point in the season Young has comparable experience in their offense to what Fields had in Week 10 last year. Who were our WRs last year in Wk 10? I had doubts about Young, at least as a #1 overall pick and he definitely didn't look the part tonight. It's still early for him but if you went into that game not knowing the QBs which one would you want to keep on your roster... Young or Bagent? Neither looked good but one threw better on the run and handled pressure better. As for Bagent I think he really shutdown his game this week. He made a couple risky throws early. After that, it was mostly throwing into the dirt if there was any doubt about coverage. His confidence is definitely shaken and he needs to get back out of the spotlight. I'll give him credit for the throw that got that last First Down. Super tight window there, he really threaded the needle into the perfect spot. It was really the only throw in the game where I felt he looked like the Bagent we saw in his first couple games.... confident in the pocket and (what I think) good mechanics. We'll see on the highlights. Mooney made a great catch too knowing he was going to get lit up. That is how winning teams close out tight games. Bagent is 2-2. Much of that credit goes to the D and his supporting cast. Yet that's what you expect from a backup QB. Seeing Carolina not really worry about anything beyond 20 yds was bothersome but they were right. I miss the explosive plays with Fields. Now Detroit has a lot to figure out with this offense and if I'm Flus I'm making them prepare for both QBs.

I always used to have that same feeling watching Lovie's D. Yet after reflection, the purpose of the defense is not to give up points. That "bad" D gave up just 6 pts. It might not always look ideal, and, for example, I certainly didn't like a blitz on 3rd and short late in the game but the net result was a good game in the NFL. If you want to make excuses because they were playing the #1 overall rookie QB well then our undrafted Div III rookie QB put up 16pts. If special teams didn't give up a TD to ISM that game has a totally different feel to it. At one point it was 7 possessions for Carolina with 6 punts and 1 FG.

Edwards was being picked on in pass coverage. He's a good player but we have to recognize his limitations. Of course putting Edmunds and his range next to him covers that up better than Sanborn.

Edwards can't keep taking bad angles and giving up big plays. Two games in a row he's done that. Against SD he gave up a TD on a missed tackle. In NO he gave a big gain on an outside run by taking an inside angle to avoid a blocker thus leaving the outside wide open. If he takes the outside it's still a positive gain but not 20+ yds. In between he makes good plays now let's see the consistency.

DJ Moore has met my high expectations. Herbert has looked good as the starter, handling more snaps better than I expected. Blasingame I’m a big fan of. Nobody gives FBs love but we missed him when he went out of the game.

I thought Sweat played well. Later in the game he saved one TD with his hustle play chasing down a RB from behind. That was after starting on the opposite side of the play. Consider his week started with a trade then a flight to Chicago. Having to spend time figuring out where to live. New playbook. New teammates. Get mega rich which, if it were me, I would want to celebrate with a great bottle of scotch. Still living out of a suitcase then a flight to New Orleans. Now he has a short week to get ready for Carolina. We’ll see him at full strength after the 10 day break.

Dominating left side or right side.

Gotta wade into this draft stuff... Strategy is to figure out how we win with Justin Fields or Tyson Bagent, which means I'm not drafting a QB. Justin has proven when he has time to throw he can take apart a defense in the intermediate and deep range and if that fails he can make you pay by running. All that takes time to pull the defense apart so you must have good Oline play. Therefore I'm drafting the best LT prospect right out of the gate. 2). Fashanu is still young and learning but his potential is top shelf. Braxton can stay as our swing OT or I'm not opposed to trading him even on draft day as I think that'd get us a 2nd Rd pick. I can't add that pick to the sim. 3) Trade to 8th pick up 39 and 2025 4th 8). Brock Bowers. It'd be Harrison or Bowers early but Harrison is gone so let's add the big brute. He a plus player who can help both the run/pass blocking and can stretch the field for Fields. 39). DT Leonard Taylor. Another misfit player from Florida's Dline like Dexter but this kid has 3-tech written all over him with cat-like quickness to go along with good strength. Stats are way down this year because he's not a 2-gap player so here his at 39. 68). Ja'Lynn Polk... all the traits needed as a WR. Calen Bullock...Safety. Dude is skinny but tough and plays physical beyond his size. His highlights have two goal line 1v1 tackles where he stuffs a much bigger player. You can't teach that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8KFZmqvnFE Drake Nugent .... starting OC. Thomas Harper.... because I don't trust Brisker to stay healthy and Eddie Jackson is gone. He's more backup than starter.

We'll see how they finish. Even when healthy Jackson hasn't played all that well so I think it's time to move on unless he really steps up in the last half of the season. Whitehair at Center ... he got replaced by Patrick quickly, and that was with a full offseason to get ready to be our starting Center. I don't see him as a viable backup there. Even as swing OG they moved Jenkins and put Whitehair back at LG. If I were Poles I'd be looking at all options before restructuring Whitehair.

The accuracy portion was a bit lacking against New Orleans. One INT was just a bad read where NFL DBs are going to jump routes faster than what he's used to. The others were passes in tight coverage that were slightly behind the WR. Again, NFL speed. Under pressure did he revert to his college paradigm for passing windows? Can he fix that? Probably with more reps. Those might have to be offseason work.

Sanborn in man coverage is not a good thing. Backup safety Hicks in man coverage is not good to watch either.