BetterDayByDay

The instant gratification crowd that "want it now" mentality. Not wasting my energy on them. Why even bother with that mess. Everyone knew going into this with a new coach that things were in shambles. Being on the outside looking in, we just dont know how bad it was. We dont know what residue is still there from two different coaches and just how deep some of that rot is left behind. Obviously, Tyrin Ferguson could of been some of that rot. But we just dont know. What I do see is most of the team is on board but I am sure there are a handful of holdouts. But if they are the "best" you have and they are not totally rotten. Then you go with what you have. The most childish thing I read on here and on other social media posts are the worst. Fire Frost, Fire Chinander, blah, blah, blah. Those kinds of people lack patience and definitely do not fit the bill of "grown up" by any means. Heard the same crap for the first 20 years of Osborne's tenure as football coach. The best, and most intelligent thing out of that was the powers that be had the patience and resolve to stick with it. Sometimes, you just have to block out the insanity and role with the punches. So the "instant gratification" crowd and pound sand. Why? Sitting on the outside, looking in, and only seeing a small fraction of what is truly going on does not allow those to make educated, or intelligent assessments. The team is getting better and it shows. You can see those that truly give their all. Firing a defensive coach in year two is not the answer. There is just no real talent on the team at this time to provide a good pass rush. In the end, it takes less time to destroy something. Takes longer to build something worth while. Be happy someone wants to be here and correct the damage. It is written in his face, and emotions. You want instant gratification? Go buy a box of lucky charms. I hear their "magically" delicious.

who got their nuts busted to be great, rather than just OK today.

In all honesty. Its going to be what its going to be. I am probably going to cover quite a bit in this so bare with me. I have watched each game this year at least 2 to 3 times each just to watch Offense and Defense play. After doing that, this is my take and it will tie into this weekends game against Indiana. And there will be some sour grapes and disagreements and that is fine. First of all, offense has struggled due to really poor Oline play. The tackles and guards are slow, period. Farniok and Jaimes just do not engage fast enough, nor move fast enough either on pass or running plays. Most of the time while trying to set a perimeter around the QB, all the the opposing teams DE's or OL's need to do is hold off of them a yard or two and wait a second or two and they can then make their move. They are not engaged at all. This gives the DE's and OL's time to determine what is going on and they just push the the tackles to the side easily. I have seen this happen too many times for pass plays and run plays to the edges. The OL's are the biggest winners out of this from what I have seen. They most generally at about 70% end up distrupting or sacking the QB. Or hurrying the QB on screens and such that the play does not develop properly because the tackles essentially did not engage or were not quick enough to get on the block and hold it. The tackles and guards are not opening holes in the middle at all. No push what so ever most of the time. Maybe I am wrong, but if your going to make a hole in the middle for a run you want them to block and and push to split like Moses did the Red Sea. That doesnt happen again about 60% of the time. As for receivers, a majority of them are just running bad routes. JD gets open because he gets it. Noa? It seems like it knows it 40% of the time. The rest just dont seem to get it and cannot get separation. The only tightend that I see performing on a regular basis is Jack Stoll. The receivers and tightends seem to have the speed and get separation, but again, the play is probably there passing wise, and that is why I am overlooking that because the QB is always under duress. That makes it tough because yes, there is a receiver open but it is missed by a second or two because the QB is already running for his life more often than not. With that said, a majority of the issue is on the Oline, period. I dont know how or what they run at practice. I dont know if full speed at practice is game speed. Or practice speed. I just dont know. But the Oline ALWAYS seems to be stuck "going through the motions, make sure my technique is right" speed during a game. And when I say that it means they are focused on technique more than anything and lacking the aggression. To focus on that alone and leave the aggression out of it? That make sense? So when it comes time for the game, they are so focused on getting it right, and they are afraid of failure, that they lose their aggressive instinct during games. I truly think that this is part of it and it is a carry over from the Riley days. Why? Because at least under Bo they played with aggression and some wreckless abandon. They could protect the QB most of the time. Riley came in and it seemed like it was cupcake time. And some, if not most of these guys time, was under Riley. Especially in the case of Farniok and Jaimes. So what they do in practice does not seem to translate well to gametime because when its gametime they still fear failure, regardless. As for the defense, well, they are playing better than they did a year ago. I think most of their problems are that is some cases they are over pursuing and wiffing tackles that they should of had. In some cases I would say too aggressive. They do have a propensity to over pursue and miss gaps. They know the assignment but their desire to get there seems to make them "overshoot" rather than "fill" the gap. Barry is good. He is probably the best we have, but he tends to be a bit overly aggressive and "anxious" and over does it. Why? Because I have seen in most cases he filled the gap, but he has filled the gap so fast that he does not have time to react to the RB as he speeds through the hole and Barry is left last second reaching left or right grazing jersey or pant leg and not able to properly wrap up. Lets just call it over pursue "in the excitement" of things. The defensive line for the most part gets decent penetration but just cannot seem to know when to shed blocks to plug a gap, or "roll outside" to stop the run. I dont know if this again, is just focus on technique or what, but they are fast enough to do the job. The Davis brothers and Darrion Daniels are the best part of that Dline. The ends and OL's just seem like they cannot shed blocks to get to the runner or the QB. Hence the lack of a pass rush or stopping edge runs, nor, creating havoc in the middle on runs. They have time and again gashed us because the defensive ends cannot seem to know when to shed blocks to plug gaps to assist the linebackers. As for cornerbacks. Lamar Jackson is probably the best we have, but he cannot do it all. Bootle does a good job but he seems to lack two things, height and speed, for long down the field plays. More often than not, Bootle is there and running as hard as he can with the receiver ,and in his efforts, has to focus on staying with that speedy receiver thus not getting his head turned in time. Or he just doesnt have the height to block what he needs to. So overall, I didnt cover everything I wanted but you get it. I hope it makes sense, some of it is talent, some of it is mental. Thank you for your time.

You focus on Farniok, but Jaimes isnt much better. And the middle just cannot consistently move men to open holes and hold it for a running back.

Yep. Been lurking a while. Decided to join. The problem? Hype versus reality of the situation. Scott got handed a crap sandwich from the get go. He can change the culture and get them to buy in. But its up to the individual players to believe in themselves. I saw that tonight. I saw most of them give their best through all 4 quarters. A year or two ago, that never happened. They just gave up. What I do see is a lack of fire on the o-line from some of the players. I cant blame Frost for it. He can only teach those and line up the best he has right now. The major problem is they cannot open holes for runs and cannot block the ends of the line for crap. I have seen this all last season, and the 4 previous games of this season. Some of those guys move like they are still in practice at half speed. Until that player "gets it" them it will still be a problem. As for the secondary of the defense, some of those corners are just not speedy or big enough to keep up with most elite teams wide receivers. Lack of a consistent pass rush is a major problem as well. Most of those kids know nothing but losing for the past 3 to 4 years. Until they actually start believing in themselves more than what they are this is what it will be. It will change, it will take time, but it will change.