[Chaka]

Originally Posted by omahacolt

1. Campbell is talented but he just isn’t going to work out.

2. We are better off with hooker not on the field.

3. Those are 2 busts for ballard. I know everyone loves ballard but those turned out to be bad picks. He has had more than we want to acknowledge

4. Rivers was ok today. Can’t really complain about his play. Accurate all day and the int wasn’t on him. Would have been much better if ty would have made that catch.

5. Stop opening the fucking roof. Nobody wants it open. Just stop it. Giant waste of taxpayer money.

6. Ty has to play better. Period. We need him to step up and dominate. These drops are fucking killer

7. Oline was pretty good except a terrible play by AC and a couple miscues from smith. We need to take shots down the field more. Teams are keying on the run and we need the defenses to back the fuck off. We can’t consistently just impose our will. Reich needs to figure this out

8. Pittman was fucking clutch. We need that guy. The Reggie Wayne of 2012 that will just make a key catch when you need it. Good for him. Clean up the blocking though

9. Mo Cox? Very well done sir

10. Hopefully hooker is ok but he is done as a starter. Blackmon or Odum can handle it. Willis hasn’t looked so great so far imo.

11. We need more pass rush. Buckner was good against a backup rg. Autry is ok at de and is good at stunts but Grover sucks and Houston is not consistent at this point in his career. Lewis did have some good snaps late in the game which is promising

12. Can’t complain about the corners.

13. Leonard was getting after it. Walker was a no show. We need consistency out of these dudes

All good stuff, thanks. As to points 1-3, I gotta agree with Norm above, that it's tough to place blame on Ballard for Campbell's injury problems as there's no indication these problems were apparent when he was drafted. Now, you can say that doesn't matter, and only the results matter and Campbell has not panned out yet, but I think if we're trying to accurately assess anyone's performance you want to exclude stuff that they have no control over.

Hooker has been a disappointment, no question, but even with that pick there are some additional factors I think need to be considered - most notably, it was Ballard's first draft after being hired a couple month earlier and by necessity he had to use the Grigson scouting staff he inherited - all of whom were replaced shortly after the draft. So Ballard gets the blame certainly, but maybe with an asterisk. And I'll add that he didn't try to justify the pick to protect his reputation this last offseason, and did not pick up the fifth year option.

Lastly, I did not feel like Taylor's performance was all that great yesterday. Nice to get 100 yards and all, but it felt a lot more like quantity over quality to me.