6 Games In... Where Are You At?

[Boone]

It's not been the start many of us may have envisioned for the Burgundy and Gold. Where are you with a ton of football still to be played in 2021?

 

[Chris]

I’m where my feet are.

 

[Rymanofthenorth]

we will never be a good team until we build an OLine. our defence has good bones but needs a stud LB, and a stud db guys who make everyone else better.

 

[Rymanofthenorth]

if I am honest, I have hardly being paying attention to the NFL this year at all. I watch hilites of the skins games, but havent even watched an entire game yet this year

 

[Rhino-Rhino]

WIN !!! I just want wins and at whatever cost .. Winning to cures a lot problems and if you win enough you won't tend to care where you pick the draft, Plus I'm tired of losing!!!!

 

[Chris]

we will never be a good team until we build an OLine. our defence has good bones but needs a stud LB, and a stud db guys who make everyone else better.

Offensive line is the least of this team’s problems.

 

[Canadian Hog]

Record wise, we are sitting about right where I thought we would at this point in the season. I have always contended that I thought the weight of some unrealistic expectations (based on last season's playoff appearance) thrown onto a relatively young group of players would result in growing pains early this year. Tasting a tiny bit of success and then sustaining it vs. overall superior competition are 2 different animals. I feel this team is capable of playing quality and competitive football still, and am interested in seeing how they respond to adversity and if the coaching staff can hold them together as a united group. Obviously, the concerning part is that the regression (particularly on defense) seems to be happening on a steeper slope than any of us envisioned, without any real answers or solutions in place in the short term. All in all, not giving up on the season quite yet.

 

[Boone]

I’m where my feet are.

I'll interrupt this regularly scheduled poll thread for a quick knee-slapper...

Country bumpkin from Georgia is smart enough to earn a scholarship to Harvard. Gets there a few days early to start and get the lay of the land. A little lost as he wanders around, he stops an upper classman, well-dressed in his letterman sweater.

'Excuse me partner, can you tell me where the library is at?'

'Here at Haaaahvaaaad we don't end our sentences in prepositions' he replies.

'Oh. Sorry bout that. Do you know where the library is at... asshole?'

 

[Chris]

Why is a Harvard student wearing a Yale letterman sweater? 😉

 

[Boone]

It's a long story

 

[DieselPwr44]

we will never be a good team until we build an OLine. our defence has good bones but needs a stud LB, and a stud db guys who make everyone else better.

So you don't watch games but surmise the Oline is bad.

You'd fit right in at ESPN....

 

[Neophyte]

I went with "Win!" but it was a close thing over "steady improvement".

Truthfully, I want to see both and I believe both are possible here (which I guess should have been evident from my comments earlier in the Random Thread).

 

[Henry]

Let’s see … I thought the team would be better but I am not at all shocked or dismayed that they decided to instead completely crap the bed on the field whilst maintaining their high level of embarrassing incompetent lack of class and/or decency off of it. That’s just more of the same, really.

I will say that my son, who has been a die hard fan since the age of 7 in 2012, taking and enduring years of crap from classmates who rooted for teams like Seattle despite never setting foot on the West Coast, finally said to me after Sunday’s game, “I don’t deserve this.”

That’s the damn heart-breaker right there. No son, you don’t. I’m sorry I ever got you interested in this disaster of a team. That’s on me.

At this point? Blow it up, fire the coach, find a QB, change the colors to pink and green … it won’t matter. I recommend not wasting a minute of your life trying to solve this team’s problems. There’s only one way the team will ever get any better, and the NFL has made it abundantly clear that that’s not going to happen.

 

[SirClintonPortis]

Really not surprised at all.

Linebackers suck, Collins is subtraction by addition. A elite pass rush can't do much if the ball either comes out faster or they blow it behind them.

Green QB who has moments with a lot of "mind talent" but obviously is going to be playing like a rookie his fair share as D coordinators throw all sorts of disguises at him that he's never dealt with at game speed.

And of course the injuries are racking up more and more.
This season is basically an extended preseason where it's the trends and doing the right things that matter. The one truth is that Landon Collins is just collecting a check.

 

[JPPT1974]

You can only hope that they can turn it around. As that they have a great coach in Rivera.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

In some ways, I'm not surprised. Losing to Buffalo and KC, expected. New Orleans is still pretty good and has a good coach. San Diego is the up and coming hot team this year. So losing to those 4 on it's face is not bad. It's really been the way they lost. Not getting a stop on 3rd down in week 1. Getting embarrassed in week 3. Having the game in hand in week 5 and just not taking advantage and similarly in week 6 with KC not playing well, and you essentially just wait for them to figure it out and win going away. I agree with others who say last year was fools gold and may have set some unrealistic expectations coming into this year. And I would never trade in winning for losing unless it's a guarantee to get the top pick with a great QB available. You want to establish winning and a culture where the team expects to win. I thought they would have that coming into this year, but it's been the opposite. This past Sunday's game was a great example. You couldn't ask for much more out of the defense in half 1, but very little on offense. Then in the 2nd half, no offense or defense. If you have a culture of winning, you find a way to win when better teams are not playing their best. Like the Pittsburgh game last year. That's the big difference (so far) between last year and this year.

So what I want to see is improvement. At this point, I don't care much about the record. It is still early and I'm not writing off this season yet. But clearly the way they have been playing, they won't win more than 4 or 5 games at best. If they improve and play better, they could win more. But I'm not concerned about that if they overall can play better. I want to see Heinicke play better. I want to see the D line make plays, because we know the rest of the defense can't. I want to see McLaurin continue to develop as a true #1 receiver. He's been inconsistent this year and yes that's more on Heinicke than McLaurin. But I want to see Scary Terry every week. I'd love to see a run game established, but now I may be asking for too much.

 

[SkinsNumberOne]

I put "we need new coaches" not to get rid of Ron, but to get rid of Scott. I hope he will prove me wrong, but actions speak louder than words. At the beginning of the season I read an article about how he likes to alter his system to fit the players. That would be great if it is true. Now almost 1.5 years in with Scott, I have seen exactly one QB have a lot of success in his system. Alex Smith. By many accounts, one of the smarter QBs you can find. If his "system" requires that level of intelligence to run, I think the real problem that I see is that Scott dials up some good plays, but in my opinion it takes an expert to make the right reads and audibles to really make it work. In other words, I simply don't believe Scott's playcalling abilities are up to snuff. I feel that playcalling has factored into our struggles significantly, and I don't see any sign that he is learning anything. I listen to postgames, and I see subtle (and not so subtle) digs at QB play and things like that, with little to no responsibility taken. For me, taking responsibility is a hallmark of good leadership and it inspires people.

If he changes a few things, that is great, but nearly 1.5 years in I don't think the team will be successful with him as an OC in the current configuration. Maybe without him as playcaller at least. So maybe "blow it up" is a harsher take than I intend to convey. My problem here is that the only way Scott loses it, it seems, is if the O clearly loses football games. To me, I have seen obvious evidence that Scott causes problems with playcalling, but in the postgames at least, there is absolutely no indication that any blame at all falls that way. It is always on the players. So, that is a major concern to me.

 

[MikefromOH]

I came in super hyped up. But, I knew I was just setting myself up for failure since we haven't really made any moves to improve during the off-season.

So, I'm back to where I have been the past 20 years at this point in the season. I'll watch but I'm not excited. I hate the coaches but I love Rivera. I think this team has no heart for having so many players from the DMV.

But, I'm here. As I have been for 45 years.

 

[SkinsOrlando]

In my crystal ball I had picked Washington to finish with the last wild card but that was at an 8-9 record in my mind. If we even sniff close to 8 games I think I'd have to be smoking some really good fluffy uffy after what we've seen. As I stated in another thread, I'm not really all that disappointed in the offense, the gunslinger got hurt immediately, we didn't make any massive moves or upgrades so I wasn't expecting 30 points a game. However, I wasn't expecting the VAUNTED defense to give up 30 points a game either. At this point that's the disappointment for me for the season so far, we didn't regress it looks like the guys on defense don't even want to dress for game day, minus a few players. If this season ends up where I anticipate now at 5 wins, both Del Taco and Turner have to go and if overrated Ron wants them back, deuces to him as well. On a positive note Hopkins won't miss any more FG/EP's for us this season.

Edit: With just a few weeks before the trade deadline, team has some decisions to make if we get some offers, I won't lie if we got an offer for two numbers 1's for Terry (not likely), I might bite, I can't see him sticking around once he becomes a FA unless we tag him and next year is the final year of his rookie deal.

 

[SkinsNumberOne]

Edit: With just a few weeks before the trade deadline, team has some decisions to make if we get some offers, I won't lie if we got an offer for two numbers 1's for Terry (not likely), I might bite, I can't see him sticking around once he becomes a FA unless we tag him and next year is the final year of his rookie deal.

That is the kind of tough decision our FO has traditionally never made. Well, for most years, "FO" really meant "owner" but yeah, I love Terry and yet I have to agree with the idea. If he was going to stay for a reasonable market salary, sure, keep him. Otherwise, I never understand letting a guy walk for nothing if it's in your power to avoid that. You just can't overpay, and you can't lose talent like that for nothing if avoidable. Not if you want to climb.