Originally Posted by Chaka
So the team loses one disappointing game and now the entire franchise is in a tailspin? Just a week ago the majority of the people here were predicting 10 wins or more. There are lots of reasons to explain why we lost this game, one of which is admittedly that the team isn't as good as everyone thinks. But I'll remind you, it was the first game of the season - even in a normal season, weird things are prone to happen in the first game as teams work out the kinks, and I'd imagine that's only magnified here because of the lack of a traditional preseason, COVID, lack of fan attendance, new players still being integrated into the system, etc. So it's premature to begin writing the obituary yet (and yes, I know that's not exactly what you were doing, but I'm addressing the larger sentiment expressed here).
As far as your criticisms, to begin with I assume your reference to "four years" is a reference to Ballard's tenure. If so, more accurately its really only been three years, as we just had the first game of the fourth year (though there's been four offseasons). Second, I agree with the disappointment that we haven't been able to find a franchise pass rusher so far, though it’s not for a lack of trying as we've used several high picks on pass rush prospects. If these guys don't develop, that's on Ballard, Reich and the rest of the coaches and front office. My understanding is that they've always believed that a franchise DT was critical to their defensive scheme, so Buckner needs to produce in that role and if he doesn't that is again on Ballard, Reich, etc. Given how much we paid for him (both in cash and draft capital), that would be a real blow.
The franchise QB criticism is tired, honestly. What was the team supposed to do when Luck abruptly announced his retirement last year during preseason? Take out any team's franchise QB (Mahomes, Jackson, Rodgers, etc.) and they'll be in the same boat and will probably do the same thing we did – bring in an experienced QB to hold down the fort while they hunt for a long-term solution. I suppose we could have traded up and drafted Jordan Love, but from what I've read he's not doing well so far and is no position to help GB this year. So we went out and got Rivers as a stopgap, and resisted the pressure to negotiate a contract of two years or more, signaling to me at least that the team was unconvinced that he's the answer and we want to keep our options open if he doesn't work out. I suppose you could argue we should have signed someone else, Cam Newton perhaps, and that's a fair point but it didn't seem like there was tons of interest in Newton league-wide for some reason (including his former team). I don't know why but it's curious. So time will tell whether Rivers over Newton or someone else was a good decision.
The franchise LT comment is a non-issue and I think an exaggeration. Castonzo is not “about to retire” Yes, he talked about retirement briefly before he signed a two-year contract this offseason. So he's under contract for this year and next, and maybe he'll retire after that, but maybe he won't. He'll still only be 33 at that time, so it's not unreasonable to think he'll have a few more years in him at that time if he chooses to stay. And I'm sure we'll do our best to keep him if he's still productive. Obviously, we'll need to replace him if he does retire, and Ballard & Co. should be incorporating this into their thinking now.
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