Without quoting because there’s some long posts...first off as to Rodgers weapons I think Davante Adams is REAL good. We can debate the rankings of WRs and if doing so I’m not sure where he goes, but he’s a legit #1. He had some drop issues his first couple years, but all things considered he gets open regularly now, makes some big plays, and is a very reliable target. If he was NE’s WR1 I’d be totes fine with that. What’s behind him is...pretty bad. They’ve looked good here and there but that’s matchup-based and coincidence and not consistent because they’re just not that good. The RB Jones is also pretty damn good. Almost 6 ypc over his two seasons with some pass catching ability...behind a line that most acknowledge is less than stellar and with an offense most acknowledge as somewhat unimaginative. He can play. Again...not much else there. Something is off with Rodgers and I don’t know if it’s mental or coaching, but I’m pretty sure McCarthy isn’t God so since they have a generational QB (by most everyone’s objective measure) it’s definitely time to find out whose fault it is. I don’t think McCarthy gets BETTER with another QB...but it’s plausible they could salvage the back end of Rodgers career with a new coach and some other personnel upgrades. We take for granted that BB/TB - recent reported troubles aside - make it to the SB at worst every other year. But I hope that if they’d made it only once since 2008 that NE would find a new coach at some point. To say nothing of missing the playoffs or early exits. I’d hate to think that he spent his whole career with one coach when that once coach wasn’t leading them to consistent success. As BB always says it’s a players game.
Many of us here (me included) decried the KC/Rams game as looking like college and largely defenseless - there were some big defensive plays but there were waaaaay more wide open receivers - but increasingly it looks like that’s what the NFL is becoming. It kinda sucks, but it makes sense based on the rules and skill players breaking into the league. TB/BB presided over this 20 year or so interim between the “old” NFL and “new”, but make no mistake the “new” is coming. All the QBs that many used to think of as “not NFL ready”....suddenly are. Trubisky, Watson, Mahomes, Lamar - this is what the league will look like. Goff and Wentz are a little more old school to the naked eye, but them too are part of the new class. I’m sure many old fans felt the same way in the mid-80s or early 00’s. Receivers will be more open, defenses will be softer by rule, pass rushes will be neutered by rule. I don’t really like it, and I might not watch it 5 years from now, but there are definitely ways in which these guys are fun to watch. I was at the NE-CHI game and watching Trubisky run around was ****ing annoying as a Pats fan, but it was also a little fun as a football fan. Passing and scoring the ball has been made easier by rules of the game. It’s going to look more like college, and QBs we may previously thought of as not NFL players and unable to transition will be able to win games and have good careers. They’re the next gen, and they’re here. Tb12 and Brees just out there trying to steal a couple more SBs before it becomes the Arena League. It’s happening!
