December 17, 2023
12 17 2023
GOD BLESS ISRAEL, UKRAINE AND THE USA!!!!
HO HO HO
Here is hoping you and yours have a Merry Christmas Happy Holiday! There are a lot of people who helped us greatly in the things we have done in 2023 and throughout the years. To one and all THANK YOU.
ONE MORE THING
Happy New Year!
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THE WIZARDRY OF OS
If you are a Chiefs fan, I suggest you skip the first couple of paragraphs. I cannot even wrap my head around the premise of Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes' argument regarding a play that happened with 1:25 left in the game.
They reacted as if this situation was the NOLA No Call. First of all, the result of the penalty left them with 2nd and 15 close to midfled with over a minute left, two timeouts, and only needing a field goal to tie the game. Not exactly insurmountable.
Second, if the penalty had not been called, the Bills would have had over a minute left and three timeouts to try and comeback. With Josh Allen and his weapons, also a strong possibility.
Third and most significantly, what if the play had resulted in an incomplete pass? Reid, Mahomes, and Chiefs fans, might have rolled their eyes, but we would not have heard a peep in the postgame press conference, Mahomes would not have gone after the official, or made a comment to Josh Allen that he would later apologize.
The reality is the infraction was not a judgment call in the middle of the play that had no bearing on the play. The penalty was an obvious pre-snap penalty that was made as soon as it happened. The consequence was the result of the player not paying attention to detail. The reaction of the coach and teammate toward the official when the action of the player was completely within his control is surprising and disappointing.
I understand being upset when the judgment call of an official is outside the norm and outside of the control of the players and coaches… see the NOLA No Call. Again, what happened on Sunday had none of these ingredients. The fact there has been any debate is the most startling aspect of this situation. If there were 10 instances of the Bills lining up offsides and not being called during the game, we might have something to talk about. But there were not, so let’s move on to another topic.
Sticking with the NFL, the Saints are sort of tied for first in the NFC South, but the reality is this team has major problems. Naturally, I was hopeful like many Saints fans entering the season. The schedule has been ridiculously easy. Every week, sportswriters, talk show hosts, and anyone with an opinion posts their top 10 or power rankings. The Niners, Eagles, Cowboys, Chiefs, Ravens, Dolphins, Lions, Browns, and other teams that have been mentioned have one thing in common. None of them are on the schedule for New Orleans. When you look at the bottom ten, those are the teams the Saints have been playing. What has gone wrong?
Marcus Davenport, no 2nd round pick, and Tre’Quan Smith in 2018. In 2019, no first round pick, Eric McCoy, and no 3rd round pick. In 2020, round 1 Cesar Ruiz, no 2nd round pick, and Zack Baun in the 3rd round with Adam Trautman. Payton Turner, Pete Werner, and Paulson Adebo in 2021. Chris Olave, Trevor Penning, Alontae Taylor, and no third round pick in 2022. This year, Bryan Bresee, Isaiah Foskey, and Kendre Miller. 6 years worth of draft picks in the first three rounds is potentially 18 players. I listed only 15 names because of trades to move up and get Davenport and Turner.
In five years with the Saints, Davenport played in just over 12 games a year and averaged just over 4 sacks a year, 5 tackles for a loss, and 12 quarterback hits. Meanwhile, Payton Turner has a total of 14 games played, 3 sacks, 8 tackles for loss and 6 quarterback hits in 3 seasons.
Trevor Penning was hurt all last year and this year has been a healthy scratch on a bad to mediocre offensive line. Cesar Ruiz has not lived up to the expectations of a first round pick. Eric McCoy has been the only lineman to justify his draft position in 6 years worth of drafting in the first three rounds and five of those being linemen. The jury is still out on the 6th Brian Bresee who, to his credit, has had a solid rookie season.
There was some hope that Isaiah Foskey would provide a pass rush, but he was buried on the depth chart early on and then got hurt anyway. Zack Baun, Tre’Quan Smith, and Adam Trautman also performed below their draft position.
Adebo (a third round pick that has been a starter is a huge bonus), Taylor, Olave, and Werner met the expectation of their draft position, but nothing more. Kendre Miller has been hurt most of the year.
In summary, 18 players (or more if the Saints ever traded down like the Niners, Eagles, or other of the top teams right now) turned into only 15 players. The two players with huge investments were total busts, mostly due to injury. Only 5 of the 15 have played up to their draft position. Only one of those is a lineman.
You might think, what about the late round picks? Many times teams are wrong about their early picks, but they hit on the late rounders. Good point, let’s see.
In the past six years, here are the p[layers that performed above their draft position for the Saints: Kaden Elliss and Chauncey Gardner-Johnson. List over.
Jordan Howden and A. T. Perry started this year as rookies due to injury. So there might be hope there. But the rest of the draft picks are names like D’Marco Jackson, Kawaan Baker, Tommy Stevens, Alize Mack, Rick Leonard, and Kamrin Moore.
In the spring, I know the articles we are going to read. The Saints have a certain type they are looking for at each position. They will never draft an undersized defensive lineman. Aaron Donald is 6’1” 280 pounds.
The Saints love the Ohio State players. The Eagles love Georgia Bulldogs.
We know the Saints will draft linemen from a school we have never heard of and we will be reminded that they hit on Terron Armstead once. That player, naturally, dominated lower level linemen and when they get to NFL training camp they cannot keep up with the athleticism. Meanwhile, the Chiefs will draft Chris Jones from Mississippi State, 37th overall. Jones, who LSU fans watched dominate the line of scrimmage against SEC teams who are stacked with talented linemen who will play in the NFL.
There are other problems with the Saints right now, but winning in the NFL requires winning at the line of scrimmage and the Saints do not win at the line of scrimmage. Quality linemen do not last long in the draft and the Saints have 5 total picks, only two in the first 3 rounds. There is some hope for compensatory picks, but hope feels like a wish on a star right now as a Saints fan.
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