National Football League

[Nomad]

Chiefs rookie tight end suffered a torn ACL during Friday's practice

Kansas City #Chiefs rookie tight end Jared Wiley suffered a torn ACL during Friday’s practice | @EdEastonJr

chiefswire.usatoday.com

WTH? Friday's practices are usually stretching & a walk through. Chiefs' 4th rd pick, #3 TE & special teams contributor.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

My real concern about Sanders is he'd been helicoptered around in his entire football life. Daddy may not be there to protect him when a pro. Though I can hear daddy being a vocal Monday morning QB when a team does his boy wrong, criticizing every other play called, especially if he goes to a junk team with a junk OL, and that team expects him to single handedly save them.

Interesting games:

NO@CAR - Derek Carr set to return. Panthers starting Bryce. I'll take the Saints to start turning their season back around. I think Bryce will be dumped in the off-season unless he shows a major turnaround. Tepper will be done with him (and draft Sanders? Tepper and Deion! What a duo!).
LAC@CLE - Let's see which team might be for real. I expect the most raucous crowd in Cleveland in 3 years.
NE@TEN - Lots of talk about how the Titans are about to dump Levis and draft a new QB. Maybe they'll get Sanders?!
DAL@ATL - Here's the Cowboys chance to "upset" a good team, and show they are competitive. Or lose and have their season about gone. I wonder if Bill Belicheck will coach the Cowboys if McCarthey is fired?
CHI@AZ - Cards think they can win the division. Let's see what they have against a rising team.
JAX@PHI - If the Jags lose, and I think they will, and Lawerence struggles against the Eagle stiff defense, the Jags will be 2-7, and someone will get fired on Monday.
LAR@SEA - All 4 teams in NFC West are fighting for the division. Winner here takes a solid step.
DET@GB - Why this isn't the flex game is beyond me. Obviously the game of the week. If Detroit can't disrupt Love, look for them to make a trade for a DE/Edge before the deadline.

TB@KC - The lack of receivers for the Bucs means KC wins another close, bland game, to go 9-0. I won't be watching this one.

 

[movingtarget]

Buccs defense won't be good enough against Kansas and their offense is wounded.

Cards and Bears could be the game of the round along with GB and the Lions. Think both home teams win.

Rams usually beat the Hawks. Geno has to do better, to keep the Hawks in the game. Rams in a close one.

Browns and Chargers will probably be a slog. Browns to win in a low scoring game.

Dallas lose to the Falcons they are done. They don't seem to have the team to go on an extended run necessary to make the playoffs and Dak is Dak. Be a miracle is McCarthy is still the coach next season.

Same goes for the Jags and possibly the coach as well. Expect the Eagles to win after a good win last week.

Saints game is also a must win. Who knows what the Panthers will offer but I'm smelling an upset.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Because there has been instant success with some of these high-drafted 1st rd QBs, albeit very few & the exception rather than the norm, expectations run extremely high with these top guys coming out of college. And when some of are being compared to legends that doesn't help matters either (e.g. the next "Payton Manning," "Drew Brees," "Brett Favre," "Mahomes 2.0," etc). And the college system, at least at the Power-4 level, has been elevated to more like a MLB farm system. Most of the top college QBs are just playing 3 yrs & declaring for the draft entering the NFL at 20 or 21 yrs of age.

For example, If you wipe out Mahomes' rookie year because he sat under Smith & start with his 2nd year as his actual rookie season = instant success. Mahomes led the Chiefs to a 12-4 record, division title & playoff win. The following year was the SB run & the start of the dynasty. Jackson replaced a struggling Flacco mid-season during his rookie year going 6-1. The following the year he led the team to 13 wins, division title, playoffs and was the league's MVP.

Yes let’s remove the rookie, developmental year for Mahomes and Jackson despite both being a developmental project and both stating they needed that year to learn at the NFL level. Mahomes has even given Smith amazing praise for the help and learning he received.

 

[Potomac]

Andy Reid had a proven career when the Chiefs drafted Mahomes. If Reid said the QB will wait a year, there were few that could second guess him.
Few coaches have that much authority and security.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Don't forget Eric Bienemy. He had a huge impact on Mahomes early career.

Ravens look like a juggernaut. Denver (supposedly?) has a good defense, and the Ravens just completely thrashed them.

Incredible win by the Bills. 61 yard FG by Bass late! Bitter pill for Fins to swallow.

Great wins for the Panthers, and Titans. But Maye played very well for NE. Saints blew several chances to win. Having Olave hurt didn't help.

Cleveland made multiple bad mistakes losing to the Chargers, who continue to have a very good D.

Raiders worst team in the league at this point. No fight at all. Antonio Pierce is probably the worst coach in the NFL.

 

[jmdirt]

WTF!? I can't remember faux not having the regional game on...ever! Neither GB or DET are in this region! Frs!

BAL!
DET!
WASH 7-2!

 

[Nomad]

Ravens look like a juggernaut. Denver (supposedly?) has a good defense, and the Ravens just completely thrashed them.

They had a good defense. Lol. Vance Joseph's D was clearly out matched by that incredible Raven offense. And the Bronco offense was nothing but 3 & outs giving the Ravens a short field a lot of times.

The oddsmakers were spot on for this one. The Broncos play KC next week at Arrowhead. I think if they lose that one they're pretty much out of any playoff talk & their focus moving forward would be to achieve a winning season.

 

[Nomad]

Yes let’s remove the rookie, developmental year for Mahomes and Jackson despite both being a developmental project and both stating they needed that year to learn at the NFL level. Mahomes has even given Smith amazing praise for the help and learning he received.

Mahomes didn't play his rookie season because Smith was winning going to the playoffs with him that year. If they weren't winning, there would have been a QB change in a heartbeat & I think you know that. And as I mentioned, Jackson started mid-season supplanting Flacco. Now why would Harbaugh make a QB change mid-season sitting a SB winning QB in his prime in favor of a low 1st rd pick?

Allen didn't start in the Bills' opener but went into that game in the 2nd half replacing the starter Petermen. Allen was named the starter week #2 & went 5-6 but missed 4 games due to injury. The following year the Bills made the playoffs

Burrow & Lawrence both started day one. Both struggled their rookie seasons but Burrow led the the team to the SB by his 3rd season & Lawrence led the team to a playoff win in his 2nd season. Herbert sat the opener behind Tyrod Taylor his rookie year, but was the named the starter in week #2. He also struggled his rookie season but led the team to a winning season his 2nd yr & playoffs in his 3rd season.

There's no need to have these hotshot 1st rounders sit the bench their rookie seasons & "learn." "Learn" under who? Some stiff veteran QB that's so lousy that the team had to draft a QB in the 1st rd to replace him? Lol. Unless the rookie QB is struggling in preseason & is clearly not ready for the big time yet, you play the rookie & give him OTJ training.

Did you see the clown show with Indy tonight starting Flacco over AR? I LMAO at how bad he played. He's too freaking old to be starting. He's lost some considerable arm strength. He has no agility, looks gimpy & fragile. In those ad nuseam close up facial shots, he looked confused & discombobulated. Sad.. pathetic..ridiculous. AR is the franchise QB. So what if he took himself out if the game last week because he's "gassed" a little. BFD - who cares. Play the #4 OA pick & let him get experience.

 

[movingtarget]

Crazy game in Seattle. Very scrappy by both teams. Some great throws by Geno and a couple of terrible picks. Hawks will be ruing missed opportunities in a tight division while the Cards won again. Last throw and catch by Stafford and Robinson, who had a very good game, was class. Rams were desperate for that win as they would have dropped two wins behind the Cards if they lost but they do have a favorable schedule compared to the 49ers.

Miami will be wondering how they lost the Bills game as every time they ran the ball, they had them on the back foot Miami faces at the finish told the story.

Cowboys and Jags are out of it now and to make matters worse for the Cowboys it seems that Dak and Lamb are injured . Although Rush did better than Dak when he came on ! Cowboys and 49ers have been injured but they also look like teams in transition while the Lions and GB have moved up. Still think the NFC is open but the Lions are looking like they will take the top seed. The Vikings won again but don't look like they did earlier. Still, a long way to go.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Mahomes didn't play his rookie season because Smith was winning going to the playoffs with him that year. If they weren't winning, there would have been a QB change in a heartbeat & I think you know that. And as I mentioned, Jackson started mid-season supplanting Flacco. Now why would Harbaugh make a QB change mid-season sitting a SB winning QB in his prime in favor of a low 1st rd pick?

Allen didn't start in the Bills' opener but went into that game in the 2nd half replacing the starter Petermen. Allen was named the starter week #2 & went 5-6 but missed 4 games due to injury. The following year the Bills made the playoffs

Burrow & Lawrence both started day one. Both struggled their rookie seasons but Burrow led the the team to the SB by his 3rd season & Lawrence led the team to a playoff win in his 2nd season. Herbert sat the opener behind Tyrod Taylor his rookie year, but was the named the starter in week #2. He also struggled his rookie season but led the team to a winning season his 2nd yr & playoffs in his 3rd season.

There's no need to have these hotshot 1st rounders sit the bench their rookie seasons & "learn." "Learn" from who? Some stiff veteran QB that's so lousy that the team had to draft a QB in the 1st rd to replace him? Lol. Unless the rookie QB is struggling in preseason & is clearly not ready for the big time yet, you play the rookie & give him OTJ training.

Did you see the clown show with Indy tonight starting Flacco over AR? I LMAO at how bad he played. He's too freaking old to be starting. He's lost some considerable arm strength. He has no agility, looks gimpy & fragile. In those camera close up shots, he looked confused, overwhelmed & discombobulated. Sad.. pathetic..ridiculous. AR is the franchise QB. So what if he took himself out if the game last week because he's "gassed" a little. BFD - who cares. Play the #4 OA pick & let him get experience.

Mahomes didn’t play his rookie season because he wasn’t ready to start. This is the same Smith that constantly lost games due to his game managing and lost to the Steelers who could only score by field goals in the playoffs due to the Chiefs offense ineptitude. Do you really think if Mahomes started his first year or went to the Bears he’d play like his 2018 season? Chiefs lost 4 in a row in 2017 with the offense playing like crap in 3 of them yet Smith still wasn’t benched. Flacco was certainly not in his prime and had been on a downward slide while also stating he had no interest in reaching Jackson.

Are you serious about Petermen? He was an absolute bust at quarterback. Of course Allen got to start, they had no one else and no one he could sit behind.

Same as with Allen, Lawrence and Burrow didn’t have anyone to sit behind and learn from. The quarterbacks that have sat and learned before they started played better when they did vs the ones thrust into the fire. What a shocker.

You stated there’s been instant success for these high draft picks starting and that’s rarely been the case. In fact the 4 quarterbacks you brought up, 3 sat their first year and the other was terrible his first season.

Manning played his first year and was trash before he was better the next year.
Brees and Favre sat the first year and were decent the second and got better as they played.
Mahomes sat his first year, was touted as a developmental project by everyone and had a great starting season.
Brady sat his rookie year on a 5-11 team, took over an 0-2 team, and won the Super Bowl.
What do all of these great quarterbacks have? They sat and learned bar one who started and was terrible. Quarterbacks need time to learn at the NFL level and some even though they’re first round or even later need time to develop. Stroud and Daniels were surprises but they still made rookie mistakes.

 

[Nomad]

BS. How in the F do you know if Mahomes started his rookie season he wouldn't play as good as his 2018 season? He was ready to play his rookie season but for some reason Reid felt some loyalty to Smith & didn't want to hurt his feelings by benching him. Don't forget Smith was a #1 OA that wasn't living up to expectations. Lol. If Smith was so great & wonderful, why in the F did KC trade the house away to move up in the draft & get the Gunslinger?

I don't think you understand that when team drafts a QB in 1st rd - especially in the high 1st rd - the message here is that incumbent veteran starter is so bad they can hardly wait to get rid of him. You saw that with Wilson & Payton. Payton could hardly wait to jettison Wilson out of Denver - he didn't want Nix to "learn" under him & jeopardize Nix's development. Lol

And newsflash: Jayden Daniels started day one & is smoking it - 7-2! He's more than ready for the big time. However, you'd probably sit him & have him learn under Mariotta? Lol.

 

[movingtarget]

Raiders fire OC Luke Getsy following blowout loss to Bengals, 2-7 start to season

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

After another embarrassing blowout loss, this time to Cincinnati, the Raiders fired offensive coordinator Luke Getsy. He was the Bears OC last season when they sucked with Justin Fields. They also fired OL coach James Cregg and QB coach Rich Scangarello. All 3 were new hires this season. I don't know if any of you watched any Raider games (why would you? They're terrible), but their play calling was flatlined, the OL porous, and no matter what QB they stuck out there, the guy was terrible. Minshew played like he had PTSD, throwing countless interceptions and dropping endless fumbles.

Now, all eyes will focus on Antonio Pierce, see if these guys were really the coaching problem, or it's him.

 

[movingtarget]

How Caleb Williams, Brock Purdy and others are resetting the way quarterbacks prepare

Gormely and his CORTX team help quarterbacks find secret weapons using biomechanics-based training and technology.

www.espn.com

 

[jmdirt]

RE: Young QBs coming in and having an impact:

Jayden Daniels is keeping that dream alive. Bo Nix too.

Somebody else can do the data pull on all of the young studs that didn't pan out.

IMO, Troy Aikman is a solid case in point for building a team around a good young QB (remember, he had a solid (considering he didn't have much help) season to go 0-11 his first season). Brock Purdy is a good case of bringing a game manager (tongue in cheek) into a solid team.

 

[jmdirt]

SEA...Geno solid, but with two costly ints. O line gets pushed around too much. JSN great game!

Barkley...what an amazing athlete!

 

[SHAD0W93]

BS. How in the F do you know if Mahomes started his rookie season he wouldn't play as good as his 2018 season? He was ready to play his rookie season but for some reason Reid felt some loyalty to Smith & didn't want to hurt his feelings by benching him. Don't forget Smith was a #1 OA that wasn't living up to expectations. Lol. If Smith was so great & wonderful, why in the F did KC trade the house away to move up in the draft & get the Gunslinger?

Because multiple people on the team stated Mahomes needed to develop and Mahomes himself stated he needed the developmental time to learn NFL defenses. We saw in the final game that he played that Mahomes wasn’t a gunslinger and was still learning. The team relied heavily and n running the ball that game while Mahomes was still figuring everything out. I never said Smith was so great but he was a good quarterback that could lead the team to a winning season and that was it. Chiefs moved on from him because they felt like Mahomes was ready to play. What loyalty do you think the Chiefs had? Their goal was to win the Super Bowl and they had many seasons showing that Smith was a good quarterback with great games in him, he was unable to take them anywhere in the playoffs. Highlighted by the fact they lost to a team who only kicked field goals last post season. If they felt like Mahomes could have taken them further he’d have started his rookie year.

But that doesn’t mean if Mahomes started his rookie season he wouldn’t have been better the next like Manning. The team decided to develop him before he gets beat down and loses confidence like other rookie quarterbacks thrust into starting in bad situations. Just because you want to act like 2018 was Mahomes rookie/first season doesn’t mean it’s true.

 

[movingtarget]

Saints fire head coach Dennis Allen after loss to Panthers, 2-7 start to season

 

[jmdirt]

Saints fire head coach Dennis Allen after loss to Panthers, 2-7 start to season

Bill B in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6...

 

[Nomad]

Because multiple people on the team stated Mahomes needed to develop and Mahomes himself stated he needed the developmental time to learn NFL defenses. We saw in the final game that he played that Mahomes wasn’t a gunslinger and was still learning. The team relied heavily and n running the ball that game while Mahomes was still figuring everything out. I never said Smith was so great but he was a good quarterback that could lead the team to a winning season and that was it. Chiefs moved on from him because they felt like Mahomes was ready to play. What loyalty do you think the Chiefs had? Their goal was to win the Super Bowl and they had many seasons showing that Smith was a good quarterback with great games in him, he was unable to take them anywhere in the playoffs. Highlighted by the fact they lost to a team who only kicked field goals last post season. If they felt like Mahomes could have taken them further he’d have started his rookie year.

But that doesn’t mean if Mahomes started his rookie season he wouldn’t have been better the next like Manning. The team decided to develop him before he gets beat down and loses confidence like other rookie quarterbacks thrust into starting in bad situations. Just because you want to act like 2018 was Mahomes rookie/first season doesn’t mean it’s true.

2018 was essentially his first season as far as starting opening day & playing a full season. Yes, he did start in the Chiefs' last game of his rookie season where they had already locked up the division title. Mahomes says it was important for him to play in that game as it was a springboard into next season's starting role. He says you can basically only learn so much from practice, film study, standing on sidelines, etc. However, he makes no mention of any important role Smith had in his development:

Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes reflects on first career start vs. Broncos

It's almost five years to the day since Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes made his first career start against the Denver Broncos. Mahomes has come a long way since that game — his first career win — where he completed

chiefswire.usatoday.com

The Chiefs were fed up with Smith - and let's not sugar coat this - because he was a #1 OA QB that couldn't take the Chiefs beyond making the playoffs (1-4 playoff record). The Chiefs traded the house away for Mahomes because their scouts had never seen QB in college "sling" the ball they he did at Texas Tech. I saw the one game where he threw for over 700 yds, 7 TDs & 88 attempts against Oklahoma breaking all kinds of NCAA records - and thought WTF!

So, Smith saw the writing on the wall when his employer drafted Mahomes (no surprises there). And do you think Smith would have been happy about that knowing you have one season left & you're gone? Happy about going into 2017 season with this hotshot rookie the Chiefs selected as their franchise QB? And do you really think Smith eagerly would want to mentor to Mahomes - the QB that's costing him his job. Lol.

These veteran QBs that get pushed out of their starting job by the incoming high-drafted rookie don't want to mentor to these guys - that's such a BS myth in the league. Realistically, the veteran QB is pissed that he's lost his job & will be traded or released, or in some cases take a retirement (see the end days of Eli Manning). Do you think Russell Wilson was a mentor to Fields during the preseason while they were competing for the starting job? Lol. And now that Fields is holding a clipboard on the sidelines, do you think he wants to be mentored by Wilson anyway? Lol. He's pissed & probably is hoping Wilson gets either injured again or performs terrible where he can get right back into the starting lineup (look at his body language - angry, frustrated, stoic look on his face, fingers clamped on his shoulder pads below his neck, lol). You're not the #2 HS recruit (behind only Lawrence), a stud QB at Ohio St & #11 OA pick to be sitting on the bench behind some washed up veteran who was so bad he got ran out of Denver. Lol.

Of course, Fields has to say all the right things to the media & be very careful not to criticize Tomlin. We saw what happen last year when Pickett complained to the media about his criticism of Tomlin continuing to go with Rudolph as the starter when he was cleared to play from the ankle surgery. Bam - Tomlin booted Pickett off the team like like deep, out of the endzone kickoff. Lol

 

[SHAD0W93]

2018 was essentially his first season as far as starting opening day & playing a full season. Yes, he did start in the Chiefs' last game of his rookie season where they had already locked up the division title. Mahomes says it was important for him to play in that game as it was a springboard into next season's starting role. He says you can basically only learn so much from practice, film study, standing on sidelines, etc. However, he makes no mention of any important role Smith had in his development:

Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes reflects on first career start vs. Broncos

It's almost five years to the day since Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes made his first career start against the Denver Broncos. Mahomes has come a long way since that game — his first career win — where he completed

chiefswire.usatoday.com

The Chiefs were fed up with Smith - and let's not sugar coat this - because he was a #1 OA QB that couldn't take the Chiefs beyond making the playoffs (1-4 playoff record). The Chiefs traded the house away for Mahomes because their scouts had never seen QB in college "sling" the ball they he did at Texas Tech. I saw the one game where he threw for over 700 yds, 7 TDs & 88 attempts against Oklahoma breaking all kinds of NCAA records - and thought WTF!

So, Smith saw the writing on the wall when his employer drafted Mahomes (no surprises there). And do you think Smith would have been happy about that knowing you have one season left & you're gone? Happy about going into 2017 season with this hotshot rookie the Chiefs selected as their franchise QB? And do you really think Smith eagerly would want to mentor to Mahomes - the QB that's costing him his job. Lol.

From 2018-2024 article after article after article from Mahomes, Reid, and EB about how much Mahomes learned from Smith and he appreciated his mentorship.

Listen up, Ben: Patrick Mahomes says Alex Smith 'always was helping me'

Heading into his first season as a starter, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes praised Alex Smith for all his help.

sports.yahoo.com

The tale of Alex Smith’s mentorship of Patrick Mahomes resurfaced this week

Reid: "Alex did let Patrick into his world without being forced on it or anything and he let Patrick in it."

www.arrowheadpride.com

Patrick Mahomes Told to Open His Wallet for Alex Smith’s 5 Key Lessons, After Andy Reid Acknowledged Ex-QB’s Generosity

Andy Reid discloses the invaluable teachings of Alex Smith that made Patrick Mahomes the 3x SB Champ and what the QB owes Smith for the same

www.essentiallysports.com

Patrick Mahomes Calls His Mentor Alex Smith a ‘special Human Being'

Mahomes owes a lot to Smith, and the QB was proud to see him back on the field.

www.nbcwashington.com

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/andy-reid-reflects-on-alex-smith-as-a-mentor-he-was-greatest-thing-that-ever-happened-to-patrick-mahomes/amp/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/01/29/before-patrick-mahomes-became-superstar-he-followed-blueprint-set-by-alex-smith/

Patrick Mahomes again credits Alex Smith after Chiefs’ latest Super Bowl win

The Chiefs’ NFL MVP quarterback recalled the culture lessons he learned from Smith.

www.deseret.com

Patrick Mahomes Credits Utah Legend Alex Smith for Chiefs Culture

Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes names Utes Legend Alex Smith as a big reason for the KC culture.

www.si.com

Patrick Mahomes says Alex Smith taught him to teach others

Kansas City’s star quarterback says that his former mentor showed him how to be a team leader.

www.arrowheadpride.com

NFLN: Patrick Mahomes Talks About What He Learned from Alex Smith

Of course the Chiefs were done with Smith, they could only go so far with him. But despite you not wanting to give credit to anyone bar Mahomes doesn’t mean that’s the case. Whether that’s the defense, coaching, receivers, kickers, or the mentorship that occurred. Because whether you want to admit it or not, Smith did mentor Mahomes on his last year.

 

[Nomad]

C'mon man, he has to say that BS to appease his coach. Reid is a Tomlin type coach - a player better careful what they say around him. Imagine if Mahomes said "I'm so effin glad Smith is finally out of here...sitting the bench behind him really sucked." LOL

You're becoming one of these NFL zombies that believes in this feel good BS with all these competing players respecting each other. These are modern day Gladiators that fight the crap out of each other. But afterall aren't you one of those zombies that believes most of the players are clean & not loaded up roid monsters? Lol.

 

[SHAD0W93]

C'mon man, he has to say that BS to appease his coach. Reid is a Tomlin type coach - a player better careful what they say around him. Imagine if Mahomes said "I'm so effin glad Smith is finally out of here...sitting the bench behind him really sucked." LOL

You're becoming one of these NFL zombies that believes in this feel good BS with all these competing players respecting each other. These are modern day Gladiators that fight the crap out of each other. But afterall aren't you one of those zombies that believes most of the players are clean & not loaded up roid monsters? Lol.

I guess we will just have to wait 20 years for Mahomes to say he actually hated Smith.

Whatever helps you sleep at night. But you can still respect someone while still wanting to win and beat the tar out of them. I’ve never stated my opinion on NFL players and their clinic bar a couple years ago on the talk of Rodgers with corticosteroids and that potentially all of his broken bones could be from long term steroid use. Nor do I get irritated when a player or coach tries getting a penalty, I just want consistency for the drug policy and penalties thrown. Though we did go back and forth when you thought Cav bought his Tour win.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

I think Smith mentoring Mahomes revealed two things: Smith knew his time in KC was about to end is one. The other is he seems like a genuinely nice guy and saw no reason to be bitter, knowing he'd start somewhere else the next year for a heap of cash (which he did, in Washington, until that horrible injury all but ended his career).

I've posted before, most vet QBs do not mentor rookies. Partly because of what Nomad said - they are competing for the same job. But it's also not their job to do so. The person who mentors and teaches the QBs most on any team is the QB coach, followed by the OC, and HC, and for many players, a private coach they work with in the off-seasons. For some silly reasons fans always assume it's the wise old QB who takes the rookie under his wing to teach him the ropes, day after day. That's fairly tale thinking. It might happen if that QB is really at the end of his career, no threat to the new QB, he will teach the rookie some things, but that's about it. But sometimes even that doesn't happen. I don't think Rodgers taught Love anything before he left.

Dennis Allen firing doesn't surprise me. He's been a DC most of his career, and that's what his next job will be. He's always come off like a nice guy, which has kept him employed, but he's just not a HC, period.

Bill B in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6...

I'm not so sure, because of two reasons: First, the Saints will be in salary cap hell in the off-season, it's going to be a real challenge to fix that. They can kick the can down the road and restructure 3, 4, 5 players contracts, but what for when your team is average, at best? Also the Saints currently have two young QBs who are prospects. Rattler, and Haener. Is one of them the future starting QB? If so, they might be in an okay position there in 2026 maybe. If not, they may seek to burn a draft pick on a QB. But I don't think they'll finish as bad as their record, so they aren't going to get a super high pick.

The HC who could land in New Orleans? Jon Gruden?

Unless he ends up back in Vegas. I'm honestly not sure what to think of Gruden. Part of me thinks he has a great football mind, passionate, motivating. Part of me thinks he's an idiot, and a bigot. I could be correct on all counts! The Raiders have had 17 coaches since Tom Flores left in 1987. Only two of them have built winning teams: Jack Del Rio, and Jon Gruden. But Gruden had some crap teams when he first came back (though the team was in cap hell for a while), but he seemed to have them headed in the right direction when ousted.

Unless Belicheck is lured to Vegas by Brady? Or the Giants, where he once coached? Or the Jags who are loaded with talent, as I think Pederson is too passive. Or the Bengals, who badly could use his defensive wisdom. I don't see Belicheck going to the Jets. They are going to have a hard time getting takers.

Or Belicheck is lured to Dallas by Jerry Jones. Though Jerry has a full grip on the GM position, and I'm not so sure Bill will be good with that. Cowboys are also bloated in contracts at a few positions.

Someone is going to pay Ben Johnson a heap of cash to coach their team. The Bengals are my early guess.

Still puzzled why Eric Bienemy isn't in the NFL anymore, at least as an OC. I'd be ecstatic if the Raiders hired him for that job.