charleytolar

Belichick talked with him after the shutout.

The devil is in the details. What is the difference between "getting fired" and being "relieved of duties" in the context of getting some value by trading Vrabel in the off-season. Are they the same? Other than a kind of morbid satifaction, I don't much point in making a change mid-season unless we can still get something from value of him in the off-season. We need too much. It's very likely what Vrabel wants anyway.

I'm not talking about one game. It is more of a sweeping observation about Vrabel's flaws. Vrabel's (a.k.a. meathead) brains or lack thereof likewise had nothing to with the two blocked punts and the missed extra point.

Remember a few years ago when Vrabel out-foxed Belichick? Has he lost that sharp mental edge or is he just an old soul in the style of football he cannot get away from? I can't figure out Tim Kelly. Sometimes he's pretty clever and other times...

You said "franchise QB". That's a bit further out than "starter". I hope you are right. I simply said is that you were "early."

In the 2022 season, half the teams had a rusher that cracked 1,000 YDS (low 1007 - high 1653). Henry's carries were a bit on the high side (349 for 1538 YDS compared to the leader's 340 for 1653 YDS). Be interesting to know how many of those were useless carries into stacked boxes. How much is Henry to blame for those? QB Justin Fields got 1143 YDS on 160 carries-- less than half of Henry's carries with probably close to none of them into stacked boxes. Many were scampers into the open field when pass plays didn't develop.

Of course, the fact that the Seahawk duo came in at about the same time is key here. Another key is that they hit on a 10-year QB; that brings stability when you are just looking for complementary pieces. Be interesting to know if the hires were simultaneous with job descriptions detailed. Vrabel has a five-year head start on Ran in our building and has that alpha male thing going on. It makes sense to me that the GM should be searching for players that fit the coaching schemes-- not just ranking players. Bill Parcell's grocery analogy is a bit blunt but rings true.

Puzzled why you said that you forgot that Porter was picked before Levis. Posts have been edited so I'm not sure what changed when.

... then there's this later. Explain that.

This post was created just after George Webster's birthday, so more likely than not, Code's posting was more about a discovery that he had died than announcing it to the world. I didn't know or didn't remember as I'm sure most of you did not either out of plain ignorance of his passing or ignorance of who GW was in the history of this franchise. I guess you all have had your fun! Thanks for the heads-up, @code! Webster was a great one.

My expertise is in the Passing Game, so that would be mis-placed.

what did he say/do?

It gets crazy at the end of Round 3 as the FA compensatory picks start to hit

You were referring to the fact that Round One that year only had 31 picks instead of the normal 32-- making Porter the 32nd player selected. Absolutely true, but there are contractual distinctions for Round One picks (5 years with Option vs 4 years) that make it necessary to keep the distinction. Some have opined that they wish we had been able to trade up into Round One for Levis just to get that fifth year option.

Not true. Joey Porter, Jr. was pick 2-1 by the Steelers. Levis was 2-2 by the Titans. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2023/draft.htm