R I S E ___ U P ___ D A R K ___ S I D E (2024)

Chopper0080

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Our safeties make as much as the next top 6 defensive players combined. It's such a hilarious misuse of salary.
It is if you are paying them instead of other positions. We aren’t currently doing that and I don’t know that we will be in that position over the next two years. 2025 and 2026.
 

JosiahLee

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If we finish outsidenthe top 10 on offense and bottom 10 on defense hard to argue where we improved this year.

Hopefully Darius Robinson can come back and have a greater impact than the completely invisible Xavier Thomas and provide some push up the middle.
Man, I just a feeling Darius is going to miss more than 4 games and we desperately need him.
 

JosiahLee

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This team will be 0-3 in a couple weeks. That means at minimum they need to go 9-5 down the stretch if not 10-4. That’s likely too steep of a mountain to climb this season.

After seeing some teams perform well today I’m not sure the Cards are getting some W’s that I initially thought they would (like beating the Vikings & Chargers, and even the Seahawks)
 
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THESMEL

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The teams now spend the first quarter of the season accomplishing what they used to get done in training camp and preseason games.
Winning teams don’t, they develop game chemistry in the preseason, educated guesses suck. I mean honestly the difference in this first game is exactly what team mussed up in the preseason.

Priority is not the back end of the roster, priority is having starting team ready to play at best regular season level possible. It is as important or more important then the sometimes unnecessary last game.
 

BritCard

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Man, this isn't darkside territory.

We went on the road for an early East coast game against a top 3 QB and a team that's top 8 in SB betting and we scored 28 and had a chance to win the game on the final drive. Kyler had a poor game, especially 2nd half, but we were still right there in it despite that. Imagine when he starts playing well?

There was some bad but also some good. This is a good team with good coaches and expecting us to dominate them all game is unrealistic.

If we can score 28 and be within 6 of a team like the Bills on the road that's nothing to be ashamed of. Dark side would be scoring 14 and getting blown out by 20.
 

Krangodnzr

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Man, this isn't darkside territory.

We went on the road for an early East coast game against a top 3 QB and a team that's top 8 in SB betting and we scored 28 and had a chance to win the game on the final drive. Kyler had a poor game, especially 2nd half, but we were still right there in it despite that. Imagine when he starts playing well?

There was some bad but also some good. This is a good team with good coaches and expecting us to dominate them all game is unrealistic.

If we can score 28 and be within 6 of a team like the Bills on the road that's nothing to be ashamed of. Dark side would be scoring 14 and getting blown out by 20.
While some of what you're saying is true, it's the way the team fell apart down the stretch that is extremely disheartening.

The first 28 minutes went well but after that it was rough.
 

BritCard

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While some of what you're saying is true, it's the way the team fell apart down the stretch that is extremely disheartening.

The first 28 minutes went well but after that it was rough.

They didn't fall apart. A good team with a good QB and good coaches found a way, at home, to turn a bad start around.

It's always tough when you have a good first half against a good team. They get to go in to half time and assess and adjust. The winning team, they go in and say "Well done, more of the same".

The Bills have a say in this too. I think it's naive to think we should just expect the Bills to roll over.

If people here weren't expecting the Cards to be a worse team than the Bills then it feels like it's on them. We started on fire, returned to par and still had a chance to win the game. Arguably should have won the game, and had Kyler seem a wide open MHJ this board has a whole different attitude today.

Myself, I'm taking the positive. If we can hang with the Bills on the road with Kyler not playing well and MHJ and Wilson having a combined 9 yards, imagine what we can do once that sort that out?
 
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Krangodnzr

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They didn't fall apart. A good team with a good QB and good coaches found a way, at home, to turn a bad start around.

It's always tough when you have a good first half against a good team. They get to go in to half time and assess and adjust. The winning team, they go in and say "Well done, more of the same".

The Bills have a say in this too. I think it's naive to think we should just expect the Bills to roll over.

If people here weren't expecting the Cards to be a worse them then the Bills then it feels like it's on them. We started on fire, returned to par and still had a chance to win the game. Arguably should have won the game, and had Kyler seem a wide open MHJ this board has a whole different attitude today.

Myself, I'm taking the positive. If we can hang with the Bills on the road with Kyler not playing well and MHJ and Wilson having a combined 9 yards, imagine what we can do once that sort that out?
Overall I don't disagree. Josh Allen is a fantastic QB, the Bills have a great home field advantage, and they are a pretty well coached team.

But the Cardinals had a ton of plays they could have made and they didn't. Just extremely frustrating after all the talk of being dialed in and then being so totally undisciplined.
 

BritCard

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Overall I don't disagree. Josh Allen is a fantastic QB, the Bills have a great home field advantage, and they are a pretty well coached team.

But the Cardinals had a ton of plays they could have made and they didn't. Just extremely frustrating after all the talk of being dialed in and then being so totally undisciplined.

Yeah, it's frustrating, but it's not Dark side stuff. There ain't a team in the league that runs every play well.

If this is the dark side what's it like being a Giants, Bengals, Browns, Raiders or Falcons fan today?

It was a very Cards way to lose, no doubt, but if we can put 28 on the Bills on the road with this many issues then the only way is up.
 

Krangodnzr

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Yeah, it's frustrating, but it's not Dark side stuff. There ain't a team in the league that runs every play well.

If this is the dark side what's it like being a Giants, Bengals, Browns, Raiders or Falcons fan today?

It was a very Cards way to lose, no doubt, but if we can put 28 on the Bills on the road with this many issues then the only way is up.
Hey and you didn't even mention the Panthers.

I was so right on Bryce Young, kid is awful. I couldn't believe the Panthers were so dumb to trade up for an ultra poor man's Brees. They are an extremely bad football team and they have very little hope to get better in the near term.
 

BritCard

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Hey and you didn't even mention the Panthers.

I was so right on Bryce Young, kid is awful. I couldn't believe the Panthers were so dumb to trade up for an ultra poor man's Brees. They are an extremely bad football team and they have very little hope to get better in the near term.

Panthers fans like suspected it. I expect all those teams except the Giants thought they had a chance to win yesterday. Even Giants fans probably convinced themselves they might be Sam Darnold.

Most of the people complaining the most had us losing by 2 scores in the predictions thread. People just like moaning.
 

Krangodnzr

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Panthers fans like suspected it. I
Sort of. They werent expecting to get beaten down handily by a pretty ordinary Saints team
I expect all those teams except the Giants thought they had a chance to win yesterday. Even Giants fans probably convinced themselves they might be Sam Darnold.
The Giants were obviously not all that improved. How dumb do they have to be to look at last years team and think the pass rush was the real problem?
Most of the people complaining the most had us losing by 2 scores in the predictions thread. People just like moaning.
They were right to a degree. Over the second half, the Cardinals got their butts handed to them.
 

BritCard

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Sort of. They werent expecting to get beaten down handily by a pretty ordinary Saints team

The Giants were obviously not all that improved. How dumb do they have to be to look at last years team and think the pass rush was the real problem?

They were right to a degree. Over the second half, the Cardinals got their butts handed to them.

And over the first half we were very good.

Games just don't go that way. Teams dominating the whole game are rare as hell.
 

kerouac9

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And over the first half we were very good.

Games just don't go that way. Teams dominating the whole game are rare as hell.
I mean, being unable to execute the script we’ve supposedly been working on all season — run the ball early, dominate time of possession, and wear down the opponent— clearly didn’t work. The Bills are better than the 2023 Commies, but this was the same game script.

Maybe our defensive line isn’t good enough after all.
 

Chopper0080

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Yeah, it's frustrating, but it's not Dark side stuff. There ain't a team in the league that runs every play well.

If this is the dark side what's it like being a Giants, Bengals, Browns, Raiders or Falcons fan today?

It was a very Cards way to lose, no doubt, but if we can put 28 on the Bills on the road with this many issues then the only way is up.
Then why are you in this thread?
 

Stout

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And over the first half we were very good.

Games just don't go that way. Teams dominating the whole game are rare as hell.
We didn't need to dominate the second half to win. We needed to just not suck completely on offense and defense. Unfortunately, we did, although we had a ST play to keep us in it.
 

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Anyone who thought our defense wouldn’t be bottom 10 was delusional.

I noted a few Budda missed tackles today. Looking washed

Yea, I thought Budda had more misses than hits for this game. Not sure if that is preseason rust, or what. We are doomed if our "better" players tail off.

I bought the all 22 coverage for this season, curious to see how he did for the rest of the game.
 
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