Standouts vs the Patsies
 

Start out with AR. 11 of 14 for 145 yards, 53 yards rushing with a 22 yarder tossed in, only one bad throw in the game, looked on target, great mobility and the ability to task defenses with his legs, kept the sticks moving… In his time with the team, this is the best he’s ever looked. If he keeps it up, he probably locks down QB2.

Seth McGowan…showed the kind of slashing style that the team is looking for in JT’s backup. Had 5 catches for only 17 yards, but that included a 9 yarder, a 6 yarder, two short yardage, grind it out carries, and only one stop for no gain.

Will Mallory was a man amongst boys. Consistently open, caught 6 of 7 targets for 80 yards and a 13.3 yard average per. I know he doesn’t excel blocking, but for a team beating the bushes for receiving threats…

Jalen Farmer was a stud at RG. Excelled in both pass and run blocking. On one play, he drove his man 5 yards off the line. While none of the guys I’ve mentioned up to now, stand much of a chance to elevate into the starting lineup, Farmer might.

George, Forrest Gumps. This is a guy who brings elite skills to the table, the kind of guy that Chris Ballard loves to stock up on. For once, maybe, he rolled the dice and they didn’t come up snake eyes. I know it’s just one preseason game, against backups, but…. He had a sack, a couple of tackles for loss and another pressure. When they drafted him, conventional wisdom had it that he might need a year of seasoning. That’s probably right, but so did Robert Mathis.

Caden Curry. Before the draft, if there was anything that scouts agreed on, it was the lament that, if Curry’s arms were a couple of inches longer, he’d be a fringe 1st rounder. Yesterday, he put those tools on display. 5 tackles, 2 for a loss, a sack, 3 QB hits, 2 passes defensed. Interestingly enough,he looked unstoppable when attacking up the middle, dominating the middle of New England’s O Line. Ultimately, he might add 10 or 15 pounds and make the move to 3 technique. With Deforest Buckner on the wrong side of 30, that might be the best case scenario.

Bryce, the Butcher, Boettcher showed pretty well. Nice range, and attacked the ball, looking instinctive along the way. He’s probably stuck behind Davis-Gaither on the depth chart, and that’s a testament to the work the Chris Ballard put into bulking up the position,

Jaylon Carlies didn’t stick out for a lot, but he did the one thing for which this team has a crying need…he did a nice job in coverage, breaking up a pass along the way.

I like your call outs.

I thought curry would be pretty solid from the jump but I was impressed with gumbs as well. which I figured he would be a practice squad player at best.


boettcher sp? was flying out there.

really most of the rookies were playing well.

plenty of people were kind of dogshit

Agreed on all your accounts,

I’d like to add Castle and Haulcy to that list.

Bryce the Butcher has to be his nickname from here on out!

I thought Boetcher was outstanding. Gumbs was impressive. Haulcy was about what I expected, but I think he will improve pretty fast. I wasn’t impressed with Farmer. My first impression was that he was easily pushed around, though I wasn’t really watching him.

I thought AR was what he’s always been. Tremendously, freakishly talented but maddeningly inconsistent, with a flair for horrific mistakes, like the inexcusable fumble. And you’re always worried he won’t get up(he came up somewhat gimpy after the sideline run). He’s never going to be a good quarterback. He CAN be a good backup but I think if they get an offer for him, they’ll probably take it.

Leonard was absolute dogshit, which may have an effect on whether or not they trade AR.

Also, Curry was impressive. He’s always going to be a max effort guy and he made an impression last night. Probably because he was playing against 3rd stringers but still, he made some plays.

Carlies was impressive but he can’t stay healthy.

Disagree with some of you on AR. Fucking guy hasnt been on the field in almost a year. He fumbled trying to make extra yards on a football play. The defensive player made a play on the ball. It happens. Man showed great mobility within the pocket, obviously has a great pair of legs and completed over 70% of his passes. Led us to scores. Has a winning record in the NFL (I don't buy excuses about he 'should' have a losing record without good luck, counts as much as all those fans who think we should have won a lot more these last few years without bad luck-a win is a win). He is mentally tough (he plays his best when the game is on the line) He gives us a chance if DJ gets injured

If he plays like that again next week with that (3rd string)/ pathetic oline and the receiver group that will be a huge statement

Dude has 50 percent completion percentage, a 67 qb rating, and more ints than touchdowns in his career. He f***s up basic protections as we saw last preseason. He cannot complete a short pass. He has a bad habit of making awful mistakes, like the fumble Thursday.

He looks good in preseason because nobody game plans in preseason.

Plus he’s a running quarterback who is incredibly brittle. Dude is always hurt.

He’s just not a good player. It sucks that we wasted the 4th pick on him but he is what he is at this point.

All true and I agree on all points but …..

I’d be lying if there’s still a part of me that’s wants to see it work, wants to see him and Jonathan Taylor in the same backfield, wants to see the home run WOW plays that shatters a defenses confidence.

Just a dream to have a backfield that says we don’t give a fuck what defense you’re in, one false step and every play can be a TD

Hey a man can dream right?

My guess is you are probably correct. However he is only 24 years old. We are not talking starting, we are talking backup. All backup QBs have issues, 100%. I’d rather have AR than anyone I see that’s available. He also knows the offense. Like most of us I’d love to see it work out but am not holding my breathe

I thought farmer played well

I hope that AR has another game like last week minus the mistakes. If so, it will be interesting if the Commanders give Ballard a call, after losing Mariotta.

- Boettcher is one I've been very interested in. High level dual sport athletes are already pretty exceptional and rare, but I'm not sure how many I've seen at the LB position. At Oregon you could see the guy was a sideline to sideline player and I personally though his tape was better than Allen's.

That kid was everywhere that night and to me he showed he is an exceptional athlete. I want to see him become a mean, technically sound player. I think there's some potential with him like I haven't seen in a lot of players coming through the building.

- I thought Castle looked like he has great decision making but I don't know if he's athletic enough make the team. 20 years ago I feel like they would have put another 10-20 lbs on him and had him play fullback but now they have three tightends that do that job.

- Mallory is putting this team in an interesting position. I like Ogletree, and I respect MAC, but at this point I am not sure anyone would argue that Mallory is the bigger threat behind Warren as a receiver.

The WR room is talent deficient so I presume they are going to carry all 4 into the season. It's hard for me to believe Mallory's blocking skills are so insufficient that we need to employ packages where Ogletree and MAC are on the field at the same time.

I get that they're in a tough position there because Ogletree can play special teams and I assume MAC is the clear #2.

I've always been on record as not wishing to see AR traded, UNLESS there was a phenomenal offer made. DJ is no iron man, and in his career, he has missed 27% of games. So, you need a decent #2. There are 2 more games for both Leonard and AR to earn that spot. After 3 games, #2 should go to the one who has earned it. I see flaws in AR, he has brain farts in his game, but his talent and potential are off the charts. I like Leonard as a human being, but I don't think he'll ever be a quality starter in the NFL, that's just my opinion. Hopefully DJ can stay healthy and live up to his first half of last season, but if he follows his pattern of missing time with injuries, I'm hoping AR makes the most of this possible last chance to be a star.

Based on the other night, the Colts should absolutely find a way to have some gimmick packages for AR. Barring injury to DJ, AR should have at least 4-5 plays in each game this season. If that earns him another contract somewhere else, great. If he gets hurt in game 4 trying to run through a DL at the goal line and is done for the year, he's done with. We really don't have any downside with him now. I think they may owe him some petty change later this year, but it is irrelevant. So you keep him, and you use him, and let the cards play out. That's just the way this game works.

Sadly, I don't think Steichen would ever go that direction with him. I think Steichen has a small altar in the corner of his office and prays every day that someone calls with an offer to take the AR problem off his hands. I don't think Steichen wants to deal with the PR that comes along with AR in either direction. He comes in and shines = dumbass you pretty much ruined this guy. He comes in and sucks and they lose game = you should have never put him on the field dumbass.

My gut and instincts just shout that Steichen has a personal disgust with AR. Part of me understands it, the tap out happened Afterall.

Another part of me recognizes there is a huge conflict from what the media tries to tell everyone about this guy being an offensive genius but who also refuses to employ a unique skillset in a way that can help the team, even in a limited fashion.

Jones is actually athletic too. you could put him out on the perimeter in a bubble screen scenario. he can still be a threat to throw the ball, and if the defense doesn't actually put an athlete out there he can also easily pick up yards.

I find it hard to believe that Sean Payton is the only head coach that can figure shit like this out.

Those are his current stats from a time that the organization that drafted him admitted that he shouldn't have been playing. The short passing game and ball placement were the two things about AR that I thought showed the most improvement in the preseason game. He's also 24, we've seen several recent cases of QBs who have developed into quality starters in their late 20s. You can give up on AR if you'd like, I just hope the organization doesn't.

Again, no one game plans in preseason. Also, even if he does improve his accuracy, he’s still incredibly brittle.

I don’t know if the organization has given up on him or not, but I’m pretty sure Shane Steichen has.

I’m also pretty sure the only reason he’s still here is because no other team is willing to give up a draft pick for him and the Colts aren’t just going to cut him. Remember, this is the same guy Mike Tomlin was telling his guys not to hurt because he didn’t want Flacco to come in the game.

Do you think players are incapable of improving? I understand that it was preseason, but ball placement doesn't change, and AR's ball placement was on point, both on short throws and downfield throws. He has also had injury problems, so has Daniel Jones. If you want to find reasons for pessimism, you'll find them. I would rather find reasons for optimism.

I’m not pessimistic, I’m realistic.

AR has at least proven that he can win games. Riley Leonard has not. AR will be the #2 until, either Leonard shows great improvement, or someone offers us compensation that can help us get a true #2.

Venturi was on JMV this afternoon just lampooning Steichen for allegedly being this offensive savant but seemingly doesn't / won't take advantage of a very unique weapon that can force defenses to have to adjust their entire planning structure to account for what AR can do when on the field. Went the same place you did- can't be Payton alone that is able to do this, and with a much less athletic player than AR.

So, what does that say about Leonards' performance?

Says every pessimist in the world.... :)

It’s hard to design gadget plays around a one dimensional player, even when that dimension is transcendent. Until AR shows the ability to throw the ball effectively, bringing him in simply signals to the Defense that some kind of Quarterback run is coming up.

If so, that's even shittier coaching than not even having plays for him.

I speculated like everyone else about using AR in a Taysom Hill role before last season.

But if we're outpacing the 2007 Patriots by a mile in points-per-drive like we were for 10 games... fuck me, I'm not burning too many calories second guessing coach.

I still believe there is an argument to be had about this and that it's legitimate.

Jones has proved 100% dependable in one factor for his career, He's going to get hurt.

Reducing his mileage and putting that labor on Richardson in a limited role shouldn't be such a hindrance for this generationally genius play caller we have as a head coach.

I get it. Again, I know I brought this up early or prior to last season, so it's not like I'm against the idea.

I just strikes me as a myopic avenue to question/criticize Steichen's offensive prowess. Especially if a 10-game sample of off-the-charts efficiency as a play-caller isn't enough to massively outweigh it in comparison.