Deacon
Bacon=greatest of all!
Just looking at the landscape of the NFL can't help but arrive at some unique conclusions.
- Browns have missed their perfect coach in Riverboat Ron! He would have been a perfect solution in Cleveland. He is a stabilizer. What Browns need more than anything is leadership that can calm all the hype and unify the focus of a team. Remember when Rivera came to the Panthers, Steve Smith was breaking the nose of a different teammate every training camp. He settled that down and he folded Cam Newton into a consistently productive QB until injuries derailed him. I think he would have united all those renegade personalities on the Browns and he has proven to be able to succeed when given enough talent, and the Browns appear to have talent on the roster.
- The Raiders and Buccaneers should trade their QB's straight up. Arians needs a QB that is much less turnover prone and Carr is just that. Carr is not going to make any great splash plays or pull something out of nothing but they have enough playmakers a WR in Tampa that he doesn't need to. Just get the ball to Evans and Godwin and let them do their thing without throwing a pick every 10 passes. OTOH Gruden fashions himself as a QB whisperer. Winston clearly has the physical talent to be great, his biggest problem is between his ears. I'm sure Gruden would be intrigued by this project.
- Lamar Jackson may have changed the way we look at the QB position but we won't know for some time. There have been many 'running QB's' but none like this! Problem is the same tired detractions still get regurgitated. "He can't last cause injuries will catch up..." It has always been the dominant argument against having your QB run the ball. But I say the real problem is all the so called experts will give QBs with running ability the chance as long as 'we' can put a concerted effort into transforming you into a pocket passer. I think that is the major contributing factor that limited Cam Newton's effectiveness. After his MVP year he stated that he was learning to stay in the pocket more and relying less on his legs. I can't help but notice that he has been way more injury plagued in the last few years since he stopped running so much. RGIII was phenomenal his rookie season running the 'Skins' into the playoffs but once they forced him to adopt a pocket passer style he has been worthy of nothing more than backup status. So hopefully the unquestioned success of Lamar will force people to recognize and accept that there are other ways to be a long term successful QB other than sitting in the pocket like the legend of old...only time will tell.
- The NFL needs to stop being a hypocrite in regard to its so called 'player safety initiatives'. How can you on one hand change all the kickoff rules, eliminate upper body hits on defenseless players, coddle the QB position, etc. but still let players trot out on the field without leg pads etc. And growing up we were always taught that the mouthpiece was used to reduce concussions from being hit and your jaw slamming shut etc. yet every play I see multiple players running around with the mouthpiece just dangling off the facemask. Why even have it if your not going to put it in your mouth. If the NFL can fine players for having the wrong length of socks on they can enforce a minimal padding/equipment requirement.