Upon further review-----

[Catfish]

I am of the opinion that this Carson Palmer led team played about as good as we will see this year against a really good Seattle team. That said, I still think that our roster is superior, (top to bottom), to last year's roster. I say that because there was a consistency in the way we played against three comparable teams.

We were soundly defeated by New Orleans and San Francisco on the road, and by Seattle at home. While there were points in both the Saints and Niner's games that I thought the game was winnable well into the third quarter, I had no such feeling Thursday night against Seattle. I still feel that we should have won on the road in St. Louis, as that game was given away late.

That said, we did beat a pretty good Detroit team here at home, and they were far better than they were expected to be. We also had a win against Carolina at home, and Tampa on the road. I believe that all things considered, the play in ALL these games bore a distinct consistency.

We stand 3-4 going into a 10 day stretch before we play the Falcons here at home a week from Sunday. Had we been 4-3 at this juncture, I would have been ecstatic. I also feel that either the Niners, or the Hawks, will play the Saints in the NFC championship game this year. With three of our 4 losses being to these teams, I am not disappointed in our standings, or our record at this point. (It was to be expected).

I believe that our game against Atlanta is borderline winnable, depending on how well rested we are, and how our injury situation pans out. If we enter they bye week after that with a 4-4 record, then an 8-8 season record is completely possible, and that was something that no one should have expected after last season ended.

Win our home games, and steal a couple on the road is simply 'coach speak'. It is not expected, or even reasonable for this roster. Thus far, we have lost only one game that was not expected. That was in St. Louis. No one expected wins against Seattle, San Fran, or New Orleans. We did manage to win one on the road at Tampa. That also was not expected.

Our play has been consistent in all these games. We have turned the ball over far too often. The defense, (while being pretty well beat up) after short, back to back games with Seattle and San Fran, has played pretty well. The offense is pretty much inept. The O-line is porous, (and is especially weak up the gut). That affords no help for an immobile Carson Palmer, (who also has shown more warts than should have been expected). The play calling has been only marginally better than mediocre, as has the personnel package selections.

I don't believe that this team will, (or can), play any better with Palmer at QB. I do not know what Drew Stanton brings to the table.

For the most part, this roster has played hard, (even when it did not play well). That pleases me. It is what I had wished for when the season began. It is still my favorite team, and I will continue to support it, warts and all.

 

[Buckybird]

We all support them Fish & hope for the best. But, is BA willing to sacrifice his job & ability to win now for a chance to draft a young potential stud QB in rd 1 next year? The chances diminish even more if we try to one in rd 2, addressing the other obvious holes. I think this is a pretty good QB class & unless they are all gone, IMO we have to roll the dice on a guy like Meziel or Boyd among a couple of others to win consistantly.

I don't think BA has that patience to sit & wait for what 2015 may behold with a new breath of life at QB. Screw playing hard, cause there are zero moral victories in this league. Roll the dice for the potential of greatness!!!

 

[Skumbag]

Address the line... don't reach for a QB. If the line is repaired, there are many more options for QB as they won't be reluctant to come here if we have a stout line to protect them.

 

[Buckybird]

don't reach for a QB.

I've been hearing that since 1979

 

[Skumbag]

I've been hearing that since 1979

...and they've never addressed the line properly either.

 

[Buckybird]

...and they've never addressed the line properly either.

Name a consistent winning team without a top 10 QB? Without that guy, you basically have no shot!!!

 

[CHAPTER 7]

You wish we were like the Chiefs. New coach and QB change, 6-0! But obviously, we have many holes to fill and it will most likely take time. So how many more years do we take to be significant and how much patience do you have??? I don't want to put the blame on BA and SK yet. I know they are part of this mess but probably majority is from the past regime. And I am not sure if BA and SK can fix all of these next year.

 

[THESMEL]

We passed ourselves to death just like the cardinal whisenstupid - but not the steeler or charger whisentsmart- the cb ran the route on the 2 point conversion attempt- I knew the route - you knew the route - - then the empty backfield pas play after pass play on the goal to go- at least we stopped pretending like we were gonna run- except the 3 yard td- defense was spent by the 4th quarter- it is freaking obvious- and ill get flamed for saying the same thing again- because I watched the same game again- it is the coaching and play calling - I would rather run 3 times 3 and out and rest our defense at least 2 minutes each drive-

 

[Skumbag]

You wish we were like the Chiefs. New coach and QB change, 6-0!

KC built the line over the years and added a mediocre QB at best. 6-0

 

[THESMEL]

Bassakwards

Consider for a moment good abs on bad teams- is Eli crap now? Ryan? Schaub? The run game stopped and the qb turned into a piece of crap? We need to practice and committ to a run game - to win with any qb

Name a consistent winning team without a top 10 QB? Without that guy, you basically have no shot!!!

 

[Buckybird]

Consider for a moment good abs on bad teams- is Eli crap now? Ryan? Schaub? The run game stopped and the qb turned into a piece of crap? We need to practice and committ to a run game - to win with any qb

 

[Catfish]

We all support them Fish & hope for the best. But, is BA willing to sacrifice his job & ability to win now for a chance to draft a young potential stud QB in rd 1 next year? The chances diminish even more if we try to one in rd 2, addressing the other obvious holes. I think this is a pretty good QB class & unless they are all gone, IMO we have to roll the dice on a guy like Meziel or Boyd among a couple of others to win consistantly.

I don't think BA has that patience to sit & wait for what 2015 may behold with a new breath of life at QB. Screw playing hard, cause there are zero moral victories in this league. Roll the dice for the potential of greatness!!!

In my opinion, there is NO chance of winning now, (or ever), with Carson Palmer at QB. To me, we have already seen the best that this team can be under Palmer. That is not good enough to win. This team is simply not a good one with Palmer at QB, and probably never will be. I would not have said that when we were fortunate enough to sign him. But that horse has already run, and the results were FAR from perfect, though they were very clear, (at least to me). Carson Palmer will take us no farther than we have already come.

 

[Catfish]

Scumbag says-----Address the O-line
Bucky says-----Get a QB
Smell says-----Run the ball

All are correct. What Keim will address this next off-season, will depend on:

1. Whether or not we can get an OL, or a Pass Rusher in free agency.

2. Whether we can draft a QBOF, (I happen to like Boyd).

3. Running the ball is an option that is available right now.

I believe that Keim will try very hard to address #1 via free-agency or trade. Getting Cooper back helps on the inside of the O-line. Getting playing time for Watford might go far towards getting stronger at the other guard. I believe that we still lack the anchor center that all good O-lines are built around. We still need to get better at LT, but that is not so huge a need as fixing the middle. If we can maintain a pocket for our QB to step up into, then maybe our current tackles can do the job of forcing the rush around and behind the QB.

We still need to obtain an elite pass rusher from the edge.

As for #2, I would hope that if we cannot draft high enough to get a QBOF, that we trade up to do so. Palmer is clearly not the answer at QB, and no matter how much lipstick BA puts on him, he still oinks. I would assume that he already knows that Stanton is no better, or he would be playing him instead of Palmer.

In any event, Keim will have his hands full, adjusting the many short term contracts that we have, and obtaining needs. I am convinced that he has already altered how we view the QBOF.

 

[CardsFan88]

Look at our line. The only guys there from the start of the season are LS and Winston.

Our depleted line has been going up against the best pass rushers in the NFL. So our weakness is magnified. They will play better against lesser competition, but being in the NFC West means that lesser competition will be few and far between.

This is one reason why I was so gung ho about drafting OL in last year's draft. We needed them, and they were there. It's why I wanted at least 2 of our first 3 and possibly all three of our first 3 being OL. We need it. I can't fault anyone with the Honey Badger selection, and Minter is a guy who should be a guy for us down the road, but for what we gain on one end, we lack on the other. OL continues to be an issue. We have 1 bonafide long time starter, and that's Cooper. Everyone else is suspect. We can point to Massie, Potter, and Watford, and hopefully one emerges as potentials, but the first two will probably be competent backups, and Watford is too much of an unknown at this point.

Unless we re-sign Winston, we could need/use 4 new starting linemen. Could we keep LS another year? Sure. So we need 2-4 new starting linemen next year.

We need this over everything else. A real line would give our offense a chance, and with that chance, they won't be relying on our defense to carry the team. The OL is at least #1, #2, and #3 need on this team.

We have a lot of talent on this team and it's a shame that a few glaring holes is dragging everything else down. Door #1 has to be a 1st round OL pick. Door #2 has to be a 2nd round OL pick. Door #3 has to be a 3rd-4th round OL pick. Some say you can't draft like that, and need to spread it out over years. Well the alternative is what we've seen this year, last year, and in previous years. A good team massively hampered by bottom of the barrel OL play.

But none of this will help this year. This year our best shot to win is Palmer. I doubt we get a chance to get a better QB then Palmer for next year. But I'm not as down as others are because I feel the OL is a big part of Palmer's problems. The playbook and sync issues will get better.

Atlanta is a game we should win. Jackson has been out and might still be. Roddy White has been invisible all season because he has been HURT all season. He was basically just a decoy. But as bad as it was for Atlanta early in the season they still had Julio Jones to throw to. No longer. He's on IR.

So it's possible of the four offensive threats for the Falcons to watch out for, only Tony G at this point barring an injury this weekend is a lock to play. Roddy White is guaranteed to be hobbling big time.

On the flip side the early rumors and Atlanta fans expectations were true...Atlanta hasn't had a good rush. Some people have claimed they don't have one. The one they had, we got now.

Matt Ryan is a great QB, but their offense can't be run the same way without Jones and White, and that I hope is a big plus for us. They are going to have to play in unfamiliar ways on offense with lesser personnel. Ryan's comfort zone is gone.

The Falcons are in a world of hurt, and we have the chance to get right against them. This is one of the easiest games of the year, and we better not mess it up. Our weaknesses shouldn't be exposed, and their lack of playmakers on the field should allow our defense to thrive. If we can cover TG, or at least make it so he doesn't kill us, we could win big.

We've seen what our defense can do against them (pick six and a fumble?), and now our defense has a chance to do the same and this time finish.

I think our guys are going to be motivated because of the collapse last time. While we don't know the outcome, the metaphorical football gods are smiling on us with this game given all the situations that favor us that surrounds it.

 

[Catfish]

88-----While I agree with you about fixing the O-line, and I admit that Palmer is probably our best option at QB this year, with all due respect I believe that Palmer is not our answer at QB. We have seen in seven games now, that he is NOT capable of using his O-line for protection, (even when it was performing well), and it did just that on several occasions. The best example of this was the Carolina game.

While Carolina's front seven was widely lauded as being very good, our O-line, (especially the tackles), did a remarkable job of keeping a pocket for Palmer to step into. He failed to take advantage of that in almost every instance where it was available to him, and not just against Carolina. In that game, both tackles were very clean in their pass protection. Sowell, although starting his first game, was playing a familiar opponent in that he practiced every day for three years against him in college. Winston also had a very good game. The only real breakdowns came up the middle, and even they were few. Yet Palmer almost always continued to retreat as he scanned the field, almost always throwing off his back foot. He never took advantage of the clean pockets provided to him. I watched that game twice, specifically looking at the O-line, and they played very well the whole game. Neither tackle gave up a sack, but neither did Palmer help himself by stepping up into the pocket.

I believe that he has been hit far too often, and is gun-shy at this point in his career, and even if given an all pro line, would not step up into his throws. If you recall, the only time he has done so all year, is when the defense goes to a zone coverage down field. At that time, the rush is generally diminished, and only then will Palmer step up into his throws.

That is precisely why he will never take this team any farther than he has. He is simply not capable, because he simply can not, (or will not), step up toward a pass rush. By throwing off his back foot, his passes sail high, (and sometimes wide). Thus the inordinate number of interceptions thrown. Those will continue so long as he fails to step up into his throws, and no matter how good our O-line is, unless we are playing inferior opponents, he is unlikely to be able to produce enough scores to win, even with a decent defense.

At this point in time, (winning now), is simply 'coach speak', or a pipe dream. That is just not possible. Also, no matter how much BA talks up Palmer's play, Palmer remains the biggest problem with our offense. I understand that BA's penchant is to prop up his players with positive feedback, especially in public, but no amount of talk will make Palmer a confident QB when facing a real pass rush. Once he sees the rush he simply reverts to retreating and throwing off his back foot.

It is also my belief that BA already knows what he can get from Stanton, and that is why we have not seen him already. Of course WE will not know that unless BA opts for a QB change, but that seems unlikely at this time.