Okay, so I guess I'm way out of step with the fanbase. I was under the impression that we were in the first year of a rebuild under a new coach, knew we had a bunch of spare parts and young guys at several position groups particularly the offensive line and had lost the two main defensive dudes in the middle of our at-the-time decent defense for the year. I had therefore concluded, obviously wrongly, that our objectives this year were to figure out some important things going forward about the players and schemes we were going to take as our direction while building experience among our rookies and new coaching staff and carefully shepherding our #3 Draft Pick QB so he can be put in a position to succeed. The not-so-subtle but understood aspect of this is that we were NOT playing to win, in terms of trying to somehow sneak into the Wild Card spot because that was basically unattainable and not particularly desirable for a team in Year 1 of a rebuild, but were focused on the future. Hence we are also looking to get good draft picks for next year too, where we can hopefully get some foundational pieces for critical positions such as the OL where we have a clear talent deficit after years of bad drafting late in the rounds because of our dynastic success.
Having been on vacation (Scotland FTW!) and missed the last two games previous, and not having opened the GDT for quite some time, I'm quite surprised to discover we were in "win now!" mode. I'm shocked that we're already at the stage of wanting to fire the coach in Game 5 since I had understood we were in no position to win given what I wrote above, not to mention that we also lost our anchor and leader on the OL for the season and our two most experienced safeties to boot. This left us with basically two giant holes up the center of the Offense and Defense, and you could easily see the impacts this had on our inability to stop their running game and pass rush.
I don't get it. It was a comically entertaining game, with Buttfumble Sanchez providing a suitable substitute for the Benny Hill theme throughout the travesty while the referees tried to deal with having been accidentally dropped off at a mid-level high school football game. Yet the GDT was not at all unlike it used to be when the games mattered and we were trying to win and usually did. Do we really want Maye getting the crap beat out of him as he runs for his life behind the remnants of a college offensive line like poor Jacoby did? Will this "help" him progress towards becoming an elite QB? Football, I had heard, was won in the trenches and we ain't got nobody there to compete. So why sacrifice the future for a meaningless win against another crappy football team. Let me remind you - Miami was 11-6 and lost in the Wild Card game last year, then lost their #1 high draft pick QB to injury and look at what they're like now.
So I'm watching first of all because I'm a fan of the NEP and have done so since 1973 and watched through the years even when they went 1-15 (Marc Wilson! Tommy Hodson!) and weren't much better afterwards (Hugh Millen!). As with then, I look for guys I can root for, diamonds or at least agates in the rough, some progression in where we're going, things like that. I don't recall venting angrily although I probably had a few laughs shaking my head sadly and making funny comments about the pathetic state of the team. And probably drank a lot more than I do now.
So in that vein, allow me to provide a small amount of positivity that I saw. Jacoby is who he is and we knew that already, he's there to take hits while we improve our draft position and try to get some sort of continuity and protection from the OL. He showed real toughness and leadership while trying to win against the odds. Good job buddy, and tough way to make a living but he did it like the Pro he is. No, he's not a high level QB. Were you under the impression that he was?
Marte Mapu I thought played with heart and handled a difficult task as the Defensive Captain on an undermanned side quite well, all things considered. The D played much better than they were given credit for, hard when you're out on the field being pounded for so long, you wear down. Also props to Christian Gonzalez who is a real one and future All-Pro IMHO. The Joneses played hard and well too. Not a bad performance until they broke down against the run late given the lack of Duggar and Peppers.
Rham ran hard and protected the football, showed his elusiveness and toughness again. Polk gets open and makes catches, looks like he's a keeper. Douglas had some important plays and could well have had more if our QB were a higher level one. Boutte showed up in the run and passing games. Guess they're easing Bourne back into the mix. The OL prevented anything sustainable from happening because they were just barely College level and couldn't stop committing penalties. That's clearly the thing we need to focus on fixing.
So, for me, and I understand I'm in a very small minority here, I actually enjoyed that game and watched it to the end and saw some things I can look forward to in the future - the growth of the WRs and the young guys on the Defense in particular. I'm up for trading pieces for Draft picks and I am not at all phased by losing even to teams as sad as these LOLphins were since it gives us a real leg up on the draft position. Give us a real OT or two and nobody will remember this game except for the comedy. When life gives you lemons...
