Its the complete opposite of last year where we had the best defense in football and a decent capable offense with Jackson and Gus Edwards but now we have arguably the worst defense in football and an offense that has to carry the team. An offense that has its problems too. The chiefs dominanted our oline, as did the Browns today, Lamar is still developing his accuracy and misses throws. Marquise Brown looked like a rookie today and for some reason multiple times every week the game announcers have to question why Lamar only throws safety blanket throws to Tight ends and RBs rather than spread the ball to the other WRs, a group that looked stacked during preseason but now we are hearing the typical "we need more receivers" hoopla.
Where the hell is Hayden Hurst? Why involve him at the end of the game and not early on? Dude looks like a bust due to lack of production/game changing ability, and the fact we offered him for Jalen Ramsey and the Jags were like uhhh isn't he a backup? Lol no deep shots today due mostly to a good browns pass rush but worse blocking on our end.
Horrible defense, great running game but middling offense overall as our pass game has faded sharply since week 1
1. Agree on Hurst. I don't think he'll ever really be much in this offense. This team can't really sustain two quality TE's in my mind, and I think Andrews looks like a stud. Its unfortunate, because there's players we could have gotten there that would have helped more.
I try to think of it this way... if we took Andrews in the 1st, and Hurst in the 3rd, would we be complaining that much about it? Not ideal certainly.
2. I'm not sure where the "receivers hoopla" in the preseason came from. You basically didn't get to see Hollywood Brown at all, Snead looks exactly like we thought he was (not a world-beater, but a reliable set of hands). So what else was there? Boykin looked better in the preseason, but he's still like your 3rd/4th option in the receiver core, at best. How many teams do you know that can sustain quality production from a 3rd/4th receiver most weeks?
I, nor anybody else, should have bought in on guys like Moore or Roberts or anybody else. YOU'VE SEEN THEM PLAY BEFORE. Why would you think this year is any different? Did anybody really think Joe Flacco was what was holding Chris Moore back?
The reason I'm not concerned about the pass catchers is because, like Lamar, they're all young and have room to grow. And we need to give them at least a couple years to do so. If we just keep drafting more playmakers because a rookie doesn't impress, you'll miss on quality talent that was already there.
My stance on the offense is that, except for the Oline, its mostly rookies. I come close to viewing Lamar as a rookie. He played half a season last year, ran about as conservative of an offense as you could possibly run, and still has less than 16 games under his belt. As a passer... he's WAY ahead of where I thought he'd be. He's not as accurate as I'd like, but he's WAY more accurate than he was last year. His mechanics are greatly improved, which was the one thing I cared about. With the offense, I see clear paths where players can improve.
On defense, I see a lot less of that. In fact, it's close to none. I think a guy like Averett or maybe Canady might improve, but who else? I know what Bowser and Wiliams can and can't do. I know what Onwausor can and can't do. I sure as hell know what Jefferson can and can't do.
