03-18-2022, 04:16 PM
(03-18-2022, 03:33 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Why surprised? Dude had 6 years to get his shit together. Penetration came up the middle and RG all season long, got worse facing strong pass rushes in the playoffs. It's long past time to fix the middle of the OL, and they need that money he was to be paid in order to do it.
I want to touch on this right here.
The fans have long been calling for weak links on the offensive line to be let go and replaced with better performers. And for just as long the organization was content to let the contracts play out on these weak links, often rewarding mediocrity with a new contract, further dragging out the suffering. Perhaps no position better encapsulates this than the C position. Post Braham it has been an unbroken string of "meh" to flat out bad quality performances. Ghiaciuc, Cook, Faine (for a cup of coffee), Bodine, Price, and finally Hopkins.
When I saw the team trade Price I was honestly surprised, not because he was a bad fit here, but because he still had a year left on his rookie contract. Granted, Hopkins also has 1 year left on his contract, but this feels different. It feels like the move was made to legitimately address subpar performance and with a true goal of getting better at that position and, finally, like the the front office and the fans are on the same page.
I am honestly stunned at the sea-change that has taken place within the organization in the last couple of years. Is it Brown getting old and wanting to go all in, a younger generation in charge, Zac's influence, the rapidly developing Burrow mystique, or some combination? I don't have that answer, but this isn't the team of my youth. This is damn good team and a front office acting like a pro front office.
Fueled by satanism, violence, and sodomy, dinosaurs had little chance to survive as a species.
