MichiganCardinal

Trading for Garrett would be a 180-degree move from Holmes' history.

Tucker was one of the worst kickers in the NFL last year. Only Jake Moody and Dustin Hopkins had a worse FG% with 25+ attempts. They'll release him because it kills two birds with one stone. They can claim a holier than thou position on the conversation (even though if the accusations had come out a year ago they'd have been the first to call for a hold on judgement). And then they can try to recoup money, despite him being under a large contract (for a kicker) through 2027. Win-win for the Ravens, even though they're no better than the rest.

As I said when I originally posted about Shaw, I trust that Dan Campbell knows more than I do. Shaw to me is more of a “leader of men” type than an Xs and Os offensive coordinator or position coach. And maybe that’s the relationship that he and Morton have. Morton is the brains, Shaw is the implementor. In his last four years with the Cardinal though, their offense ranked 85th, 56th, 113th, and 109th. And the year he ranked 56th was the COVID-shortened year. There was no talent on the roster, don’t get me wrong, but he didn’t exactly scream “offensive mastermind” to me either.

Yes, but his fall from grace was significant. Stanford hasn't recorded more wins in a season than their prior season since 2014 to 2015. There's more to that than Shaw, but 99.9% of Stanford fans believed his firing was two years overdue. 12 to 10 to 9 to 9 to 4 to 4 to 3 to 3 (Shaw fired here) to 3 to 3.

I love David Shaw as a person. But when you get the nickname David "Up The Middle" Shaw amongst the students at Stanford (who largely know nothing about football), I can't help but laugh when you get hired as a Passing Game Coordinator. I hope Dan Campbell knows more than I do. He usually does.

It’s an academic exercise because I don’t think the Lions have any interest in trading him. Arguendo, somewhere between a 2nd round pick and a 6th round pick. Hooker fell to the 3rd because of his injury. So a clean slate rookie Hooker was probably worth a 2nd. Even though we know nothing about his development, I doubt the same is true NFL-wide. It’s not as if there is a literal bubble around him. People talk. If he’s shown NFL potential and a team is interested, they would know his worth, though the lack of snaps would make it still a massive risk. But again, a trade now makes no sense. You would be selling low to create a hole on your roster. “But maybe the draft pick would turn into a backup QB we could develop!”

Another year, another Super Bowl I will not be watching.

I thought it was pretty interesting they went DC before OC, when the outside consensus was that there is more offensive coaching talent on the staff. I’m sure they would do due diligence regardless of their gut instinct, but if it was Engstrand’s or Montgomery’s job to lose, I would think they would have signed both them and Sheppard at the same time.

Eagles should be sending a thank you card to Allen Park on the bye week into the Super Bowl. Easiest NFC Championship Game appearance in a long time.

Commanders are not a top ten team in this league. The Lions should be embarrassed.

Justin has changed course, said his sources now confirm it. Says the team was informing the rejected candidates, which is why they couldn't confirm it.

Big caveat on the Rapoport report: Justin Rogers reached out to a "trusted team source" who denied the report. "So as of now, I firmly believe it remains unofficial."

He can mow the grass on the Allen Park hill.

Goff is near his ceiling. That's not a shot, it's just a reality that how well he performed this year is hard to better, because he was so good. I don't think there is another "level" to his game we are going to see, because I can't imagine what they would even look like. "Improving" on this season probably looks like having less duds, in terms of the Houston and Washington games.

Objectively, Ohio State was the best team in the country. Objectively, Ohio State is the least deserving National Champion since at least 1990 Colorado, and maybe dating back to 1960 Minnesota. Theoretically, if a 10-1 team ranked in the top five enters rivalry week eliminated from contention from the conference championship, should they rest starters? The new playoff format clearly says yes. To be clear, I'm not complaining. Just stating implications - intended or otherwise - of the new format. They ultimately crowned the most talented team, and if that was the goal, then mission accomplished.

I’m surprised Johnson went to Chicago after seemingly having been picky the last two cycles. The Bears are not a significantly better organization or situation than Carolina. I’m not surprised Glenn went to the Jets. With only 32 jobs, he’s wanted one for a few years and he’s not as hot a commodity as Johnson. I am surprised the Jets are going back to back motivational DCs. But it’s not like Saleh was the problem there anyway.

Only the coaching staff knows because we never actually see him. I don’t expect him to be traded though. His value is about as low as it could be. It doesn’t inspire confidence that in the end of his second season in the league, shortly after his 27th birthday, the team thought a guy who was coaching high school ball a month ago gave them a better chance to win. I’m sure Teddy being a veteran played into that, but the point remains.

I’m looking forward to crowning either Northern Illinois or the University of Michigan the 2024 National Champion tonight.

The problem with the Bears is that it’s not a quick turnaround. It’s easy for people look at the offense and see weapons and a mobile QB and think they should be a nine-win team from the jump, but you have a porous OL and a QB who is seeing ghosts, to go with a mediocre defense at best… How many OL can you draft and start immediately? I think you need at least three replacements to make that a strength, and Poles doesn’t inspire confidence to find one, let alone three. Meanwhile, that very GM who I don’t trust to find an OL doesn’t have two or three years. He’s got one. Just seems like a train that’s already on the tracks to a two-and-done, even if it’s not even Johnson’s fault.

Saleh seems destined for SF, but I would love to have him here.

Although I liked him as OC, Ben Johnson doesn’t scare me as a rival head coach. His offensive line in Chicago will still be trash. Caleb Williams is a vastly different QB than Jared Goff, and I have no confidence he will resurrect his career. They have enough talent to win some games out there, but I’d be surprised if he’s a magic man who finally brings the Bears success. I’m more interested in who we replace him with here. I’m thinking it’ll be Tanner Engstrand, but Scottie Montgomery is a possibility.

I think Levi comes back on a one-year deal, maybe a quasi two-year with an out after one. Nobody in the league is going to give him serious money the way his first three seasons went. He needs to prove he can stay healthy. If they do, more power to him. Not sure what they do with Zeitler. He’s probably got to decide if he wants to hang up the cleats first. I’d bring him back for another year, but I also wouldn’t be opposed to moving Glasgow back to the left side and having Mahagony start. I don’t think we can afford CDIII. He will get a big deal. I think the plan was to have Rakestraw as CB2, but we haven’t seen enough of him to know if he’s ready. I don’t need to see Davenport or Moseley back. There comes a time when injury prone turns into undependable, and they’ve both entered that category. As far as this goes, I’m not there yet, really on any of the three, but especially not Vaki or Manu. I’m close on Martin, but Levi showed that a big step forward can happen in year four. Manu could still turn into Decker’s replacement and Vaki into Montgomery’s. Way too early on them. The cheap shot on Goff yesterday did reveal that there is an utter lack of trust or confidence in Hooker. They literally took a high school coach off the street and said “you are higher on the depth chart than the dude we drafted in the 3rd round who’s been with us for two years now.”

Anecdotal, but the lone Commanders fan in my section was a total douchebag. He was chill with me to start the game, ribbing back and forth, but he took it way too far in the second half. There is a kid probably 10 years old who sits in the seats next to me, possibly on the spectrum, who gets really into the game. It’s a highlight of the game for me when he’s there. The dude behind me would not stop giving him and his mom ****. It was pathetic. He ended up getting kicked out by stadium security after he made a sexist comment to the mom, asking where the kid’s dad was so he could “teach the kid some manners.” When others in the section called him out, he started literally begging someone to throw a punch so he could fight them. Some real Philly nonsense. The kid took it well. He was more upset about the loss than anything, but I had a good conversation with him after the game and told him to keep his chin up, how he was the best fan in the section and we need him next year. I try to keep it real with opposing fans, but for that fan’s sake I hope the Commanders get clobbered in the next round.

I think things that occurred before I was alive played any role yesterday whatsoever.