Mike Mcdee

I think my Kool-Aid soaked opinion is that the offense might be even better since AM has a better understanding of the offense and how it puts the defense in conflict and having to choose a poison. I never meant to imply that AM wasn't any good last year as a true freshman. If we have receivers that can play catch, this will be a fun offense to watch. I'm hoping our unknowns come out in our favor in regards to that receiving corp.

I wasn't trying to say any one player going forward is going to hamper Martinez's development. I was just saying that knowing Morgan was available may have caused him to look more his way and not as much where the route concept design should take his eyes. This offense is based on creating mismatches and getting the ball to players in space. With more comfort in the system, he may know where to look rather than rely on "ole' reliable".

This is in no way a knock on Stanley. He is a great receiver with great hands. His ability to get open and then run after the catch was a tremendous asset to this team. The thing I was wondering is if AM's reliance on him as a trusty go to might have limited his ability in this offense. There are a couple of factors in this. 1. AM was a true freshman who hadn't played a meaningful down in over a year and was in a brand new college system. 2. Stanley was almost a safety blanket for Martinez. With his knowledge of the offense, he may have mainly been concerned with Morgan's route and not as much the concepts of who might be getting a better mismatch. With these things being said and Frost's statement of AM having the full gambit of the offense at his disposal now, I'm cautiously optimistic about the offense this season. Even with the loss of Morgan and Ozibigo, if Martinez knows the where to distribute the ball, they might be pretty tough to beat.

I lol'd.

Does anyone else have this sense of the national media, betting sites, and pundits hyping us up more than the local and even our own fan base? Usually it's the them that has to water down our Kool Aid. I feel like our fan base is going to be a little more reserved because of how down we have been for so long. I guess if the hype train is coming down the tracks, hop on it.

This may be in the minority opinion, but there was a segment of the George Stephanopolous interview that I was let down by ABC. The whole guy coughing during the interview and Trump stopping them and wanting to redo it seemed inappropriate to keep in the final cut. That is something that felt petty to keep in in order to make him look bad. There were so many other things from that interview that reflect poorly him. Keeping that in, feeds the narrative that the press is out to get him. Politics aside, he granted you fairly wide ranging and open interview. Cut that interaction out.

Some of the things coming from players who have completely bought make me think that anyone not willing to put in the work to make the team better in the off season are made to fairly uncomfortable. I seem to remember Mo Barry calling out Breon Dixon via social media. I hate to loose players but maybe it's a culture thing where the team is policing itself. Or he wanted to be closer to home and effort had nothing to do with it.

Dang it. We knew he needed to put on weight, but didn't think he would use the RG44 method.

The problem is there is no way to prevent the brain from being jostled in the skull itself. That's where the brain injury comes into play. Yes it would be nice if science and engineering were advanced enough to handle this problem, but I don't know if we'll ever be there. Beat me to it.

F'n Domers.

I think her vengeance was tempered a bit in the first half of the season. Jaime being let off was before she lost half the Unsullied, Half her Dothraki, another dragon died and her most trusted advisor is beheaded in front of her out of spite. All of those events were the culmination of her turn to being the new bad. I know this season has had it's flaws, and I'm clearly compromised as a fan, but there is good bits still to pick out and enjoy.

So I listened to a podcast about how the turn that Dany took was an example of how good GRRM is at writing. He gives you this young princess who is first abused by her brother, then married off to a war monger and raped, then betrayed by a witch who kills her now loving husband and unborn child. This is all in just the first book/season. She later frees a city full of slaves only to have some of those same folks turn on her because they actually liked the way things were. George sets her up to be this sympathetic character. Someone who we as readers and audience members can root for with ease. The problem is her motivation. Sure she does some benevolent things along the journey back to Westeros. Heck she even looses one of her dragons/children in defeating the Night King and saving all of man kind. Her primary motivation is revenge. It has been since a child with her bother telling her stories about how her family was wronged and all the things they would do to those who tried to destroy their family. When she finally has battle won, she isn't content with just the throne. She seeks vengeance. She takes what is hers with Fire and Blood. The Hound even tells the viewers what happens to those who only seek to use vengeance as motivation. He warns Arya that there is only one way that path ends, in death. In the end, GRRM got us to see how a super villain is created: someone with unmatched power whose main goal is revenge. He got us to root for her, love her, and even name some of our pets/kids after her.

Craster's babies were truned into white walkers. Viserion was raised from the dead. Bran was alive and not actually touched. Vladimir might be doing a bit of trolling.

I did have a thought about the Dathraki charge. Some people are saying "That was dumb". The thing is, it's their go to move in battle. Many of them have never lost, so they know only victory in this tactic. Then add that they had their arakhs got lit on fire, they probably felt invincible. I will say the Arya library scene was awesome. The tension was good. She showed more of her human fearful side and wasn't this OP assassin Faceless Man. Then Mel snapped her back into it with the reminder of what we say to the god of death. I even had a thought that they would pull a twist that Bran realized he had to die in order to win in order to give Arya his face. Then she would kill the Night King in the Godswood.

The Hound can't die. We have Clegane Bowl to get HYPE about.

The chain thing bothered me too. I just had to take it as it was a chain recovered from Hardhome; the wildling camp from season 6 that was on the coast. There are leaps of faith we have to take, I've been willing to jump along with them because the show has been so good.

This is one of those episodes that was great for show only folks and awesome for book readers. There were so many little "Easter Eggs" on the Easter episode. The ramping up to the big battle has been beautifully executed this season. That being said,

The question was posed if they could live in warm climates. While GRRM has stated the seasons have a somewhat mystical base, he doesn't really get into what causes long winters, song summers and false springs. What we can see in the show is that where ever the Night King and his army are, there is winter. In the episode "Hardhome" you can actually see the winter storm preceding the army of the wights. I agree with you that winter isn't necessarily brought on by the Night King. So warm climates don't really apply to their survival.

Technically they are the cold, they are the winter that is coming. So where ever they are, it's cold.

You mean the "Power towels"?

I'm not saying there aren't any other very good coaches out there for the hire. The problem is someone leaked the info that Hoiberg was the one Moos was going after and going after hard. Even so much as to say a deal in principle was reached. Now a portion of the fan base has their heart set on him and will be disappointed if it's someone else. The hire might be a better coach with better connections and recruiting, but some people will take this as a loss because the perceived first pick was missed. I have faith that we will get the right person in here. Moos seems confident in this so I feel confident in him.

It may not be his plan, but anything less than Hoiberg will be a disappointment to the fan base. It's hard to imagine a scenario where someone other than Hoiberg is hired and a majority of fans are excited. It puts a lot of contract leverage in favor of Hoiberg. But much like Frost, Moos may have been given a target by boosters and told "by any means necessary".

I've heard a little of that too. Not going to get into it too much because I have no hard proof. Plus I have a haircut appointment to get to.