Big Blue Huddle

Quote from: madbadger on March 08, 2024, 02:27:14 PMWell if you said it than it must be 100% true. Coaches don't make players, they can only hamper them. I remember dolts trying to claim that Belichek was the real genius not Brady. How'd that work out in the end?

So by your logic a coach-less team is ideal because nobody can get in their way?  I'm glad to see that every sport in this history of sports that has coaches has gotten it wrong.  Very enlightening.  The 2007 Giants had a single player that made the Pro Bowl but won the Superbowl.  How do you explain that?

I've always loved the revisionist history about the Patriots and Belichick/Brady as well.  Tom Brady was not always Tom Brady.  He was a nice player who played well within a system for the formative years of his career.  The Patriots had a great defense and a team that won championships as the team was usually greater than the sum of it's parts from 2001-2006.  Tom Brady has said so himself on many occasions.  Belichick absolutely benefitted immensely from Brady by 2007 and beyond, and many of those teams would not have won championships without Brady at the helm. 

The simple reality is that great players are more valuable than great coaches.  To suggest that great coaching doesn't matter, or can't make players better is an absurd notion though.

There's the very real possibility that teams are interested in Fields, simply not at the Bears' asking price.  That seems more plausible than no team having any interest.  Early reports that the Bears initial asking price included multiple picks and none lower than a 2nd round pick.  He hasn't done anything in his short career to warrant such a bounty.  This feels like the Bears thinking they can fleece a team and get their new QB in Williams moreso than the market sentiment about Fields.

Quote from: madbadger on March 08, 2024, 12:50:06 PMWTF? He's a hall of fame quarterback who, statistically, was in the upper third of all quarterbacks last year, despite having a dirtbag coach who tried to torpedo him constantly. lol

Is this real?  My god do you have it all wrong about Russell Wilson.

Pete Carroll is the Hall of Famer, and Russell Wilson's career is a testament to Carroll's ability to take middling players and make them better.  Russell Wilson is an average passer who used to have some juice in his legs.  He throws an amazing deep ball.  He's durable and doesn't miss time.  He benefitted massively from a ground game featuring Marshawn Lynch and a defense that revolutionized against the modern passing games effectiveness.  The results since the "Let Russ Cook" campaign took effect haven't shown anything that would lead you to believe Wilson is a player capable of carrying a team.  He has passed for 4k yards only 4 times in a career spanning 12 years, a feat that many find rather pedestrian in today's game where passing yards come in massive chunks.

His abilites (and realities) as a player also don't highlight some of the "intangibles", which for Wilson aren't stellar.  His teammmates do NOT like him, and many former teammates have stated that with remarkable clarity.  They believe (and many) that he's a "me first" guy.  That he's more interested in being a power couple with Ciara than being a quality football player. The front office openly stated they couldn't wait to trade him and get him to the airport by the time his course had run in Seattle.  His lack of success in Denver only continues to highlight his deficiencies.  Sean Payton appears to be a terrible human being who is a good coach.  He couldn't make much out of Wilson and is moving on from him after a single year, despite the INSANE cap hit they're going to take.  That's not a glowing vote of confidence from either of his last 2 organizations.

I couldn't greet the news that the Giants met with him, even in just an exploratory phase with more disgust.  Please pass on this guy.  We already have a middling passer in Daniel Jones.  And for all his warts, he's a good teammate. 

Yes, I'm really hoping he's off the board by the time the Giants select, or that the Giants simply remove him from their board.  While I don't think it will happen, I'd actually love to see him slide like Rodgers back in 2005.  Humility is a good quality to have, and clearly one he needs to work on.

The leash on Schoen and/or Daboll is NOT tied to the selection of a QB in the upcoming draft.  Period.  End of story.  They hitched their wagon to Daniel Jones and they won't get a "free pass" if they select a new QB under the guise of "he needs time".  That doesn't mean that won't draft a QB.  That doesn't mean they will get fired if they eschew a QB and go again with Jones.  Their future will hinge on the team showing improvement regardless of who is under center and the continued development of their picks and free agents.

There were 12 players last year who rushed for 1k yards and only 4 of them were first rounders.  The Giants are doing the right there here.  Don't spend too much of your cap on a running back, and don't expend too much draft capital either.

With the other rbs on the market they're value will be suppressed even more. Why pay a franchise rate when you can get another for less? Guarantee that at least 2 of the Henry, Jacobs, Barkley, Pollard group are still free agents after the draft

Honestly it's this kind of thinking that has me avoid talking about the draft.  You know who was a "really good" wide receiver?  Odell Beckham Jr.  Antics/behavior aside, this guy was on an absolutely meteoric pace his first few years in the league.  He was destroying records held by Randy Moss and other Hall of Famers.  And the Giants continued to lose.  He made insane one-hand grabs despite being interfered with.  And the Giants continued to lose.  Well surely that must be the result of STILL not having enough "weapons"?!?!?!  So 4 years later we go out and get Saquon Barkley instead of trading down and taking Quenton Nelson who has 4 All-Pros and 6 Pro Bowls to his name.  And the year before that we also over-looked the line and went for Evan Engram.

But yes, please let's go get another wide receiver.

Williams should do what he thinks best. That said agents can:

- help prepare a prospect to navigate the predraft process.
- game the Combine ala Mike Mamula.
- ensure the prospect stays out of trouble.
- enhance his clients image with teams
- negotiate the best possible terms within the roookie contract, of which there are a lot.
- provide financial advise and help set up tax shelters.
- help with logistics related to moving for training or securing housing after being drafted.
- find endorsement opportunities for secondary income streams.
- act as a messenger to teams and take the brunt of public opinion if they express they don't want to play somewhere.
- secure the best trainers and nutritionists.

The Chiefs and Giants show that turnover differential is pretty negligible depending upon the competency of your offense.  The Giants' ability to convert turnovers into even field goals was abysmal last year.  I can't tell you how many times we go the ball via turnover, even in plus territory and thought "oh great we MIGHT be able to get a field goal out of that".  Conversely, the Chiefs could often shrug off a turnover and say "our defense will handle it" and be right.

The NFL typically does allow for non-judgement call penalties to be challenged.  In this particular case I'm not sure it would have made much of a difference except yardage?  Even if it wasn't pass interference because the ball had yet to be thrown, the contact definitely rose to the level of illegal contact or holding.  Either way its 5 yards and a fresh set of downs.  It's a fair question because you can certainly challenge other aspects - like if pass interference is called you can challenge whether the ball was tipped, which negates the pass interference.

It certainly seems the friction with Wink Martindale was that Daboll liked to yell and deflect and Wink thought he was too established and should be above reproach.  Shame on both of them for acting like children.  Daboll wanted the big boy job - he needs to do it.

I realize it's not uncommon but I've always questioned the head coach also being a play caller.  If this is because they have only mastered one side of the ball then they really aren't a head coach.  They're a figurehead while the other side of the ball is usually relegated to an established coordinator.  I've always thought the success record of special teams coordinators who turn into good head coaches is because they have to be considerably more circumspect and intimately know what the offense and defense are doing in addition to their own duties. 

https://www.the33rdteam.com/study-coaches-with-a-special-teams-background-have-been-highly-successful/

He's become a punchline for the Chiefs now - with fans openly mocking him.

"I see you Chiefs, making sure KT can't line-up offsides again"
"Kadarius Toney is out?  I'm not sure how the Bills overcome that one, he was their secret weapon"

I won't say the Chiefs "lost" the trade - he made 2 plays in the Superbowl that probably bought him enough goodwill to ensure the trade wasn't a complete bust.  But I'd be very surprised if he's a professional beyond another year or so.

I openly advocated for the Giants trading down in 2022 with one or both first rounders and securing Linderbaum as one of the picks in the middle of the first round, and was routinely laughed at here.

"You can't spend first round capital on interior linemen when you have top 10 picks" - really?  I believe you can, but we often believe gambling on a tackle is better than a sure thing at guard or center.  Good teams like the Ravens have been doing this for years, grabbing incredibly polished guys at under-drafted positions. 

Not only did they get a ProBowl plug-and-play center, they got Kyle Hamilton earlier in the first at safety (another underappreciated first round position) who turned in a fantastic season as well (4 ints, 3 sacks). 

This is how the Giants need to avoid the dreaded "we did just good enough to not be eligible for a top tier quarterback" routine.  Stop swinging for the fences and just hit a few singles.

Quote from: MightyGiants on January 16, 2024, 12:23:02 PMAll last offseason, the punditry told us that Howie Roseman was a genius and the Eagles could do no wrong.  It was pretty much ordained that the Eagles would be back to the championship game and were the likely NFC representative in the Super Bowl. 

Everyone ignored the Super Bowl hangover.  Everyone ignored the Eagles were acquiring players with injury and character concerns.  Everyone pretty much ignored the loss of the OC and DC.    They ignored the fact that many of their key players were getting older.

I guess the Eagles didn't tank their last game of the season, they simply sucked.  I am looking forward to an offseason that is free of talk about how brilliant the Eagles and Howie Roseman are.

I hate the Eagles as much as the next guy, but I would not remove the "genius" moniker from Roseman.  Players play, coaches coach.  The level of talent that Roseman assembled is not/was not the issue.  This feels like it's on the coaching staff and potentially a few players who were/are disgruntled who upset the apple cart.  AJ Brown might very well be one of those players.