Yesterday, 07:29 PM
If we stumble this season, whether going 0-3 or not, but ultimately fall flat and miss the playoffs, I think the Hobspin in-house narrative will focus on a "decimated defensive line" as a baked-in excuse, and highlight free agency signings that "just didn't work out" from a player perspective while ignoring front office failings.
They'll probably try to shove blame on Trent Brown not providing a stop-gap answer at RT and Geno Stone not delivering his Raven results from last year. They'll probably not admit that Moss was a pedestrian replacement for Mixon. They'll likely ignore that previously capable and reasonably beloved veterans like Hubbard, Hilton, Bell and Cappa are visually slower and demonstrably less impactful than in our recent playoff runs. They'll let Tee's Bengal's career fade into the shadows of wherever the hamstring treatment room is, and he'll receive a lot of fanfare from the talking heads when he signs with someone else. They'll ultimately sign Chase to something that seems like pretty much what is being offered/asked for now, but they'll take pride in doing it on their terms and timeline, while the residual animosity from Chase's camp will likely linger for the remainder of his time on the team, and the derived scepticism from players and agents outside the organization will likely grow in regards to wondering if this is the kind of franchise they'd want to commit to long-term.
Doubtful you'll hear too much about a head coaching change, but I could see Lou and the team mutually parting ways perhaps, while Pollack could possibly get the sack. Simmons could retire. (I say this without knowing any of the coaches' contract situations off the top of my head.)
All in all, my preconceived bias might be showing through here, as this season has always felt like at best an '06 or '07 Palmer campaign where we messed about an narrowly miss the playoffs after believing we were on to something in previous years, or the '10 debacle where we had all this unwarranted hype about our resurgence, talent and acquisitions but ultimately fell hard.
I sure hope I'm 100% wrong on it and we go on a raging tear to break into the playoffs again and do some damage, but I don't think it's a stretch to say that as of right now, something just seems odd and off with the way this team's overall physical and mental prowess presents on the field, and I'm just not convinced the chemistry can be balanced to make it right unfortunately.
They'll probably try to shove blame on Trent Brown not providing a stop-gap answer at RT and Geno Stone not delivering his Raven results from last year. They'll probably not admit that Moss was a pedestrian replacement for Mixon. They'll likely ignore that previously capable and reasonably beloved veterans like Hubbard, Hilton, Bell and Cappa are visually slower and demonstrably less impactful than in our recent playoff runs. They'll let Tee's Bengal's career fade into the shadows of wherever the hamstring treatment room is, and he'll receive a lot of fanfare from the talking heads when he signs with someone else. They'll ultimately sign Chase to something that seems like pretty much what is being offered/asked for now, but they'll take pride in doing it on their terms and timeline, while the residual animosity from Chase's camp will likely linger for the remainder of his time on the team, and the derived scepticism from players and agents outside the organization will likely grow in regards to wondering if this is the kind of franchise they'd want to commit to long-term.
Doubtful you'll hear too much about a head coaching change, but I could see Lou and the team mutually parting ways perhaps, while Pollack could possibly get the sack. Simmons could retire. (I say this without knowing any of the coaches' contract situations off the top of my head.)
All in all, my preconceived bias might be showing through here, as this season has always felt like at best an '06 or '07 Palmer campaign where we messed about an narrowly miss the playoffs after believing we were on to something in previous years, or the '10 debacle where we had all this unwarranted hype about our resurgence, talent and acquisitions but ultimately fell hard.
I sure hope I'm 100% wrong on it and we go on a raging tear to break into the playoffs again and do some damage, but I don't think it's a stretch to say that as of right now, something just seems odd and off with the way this team's overall physical and mental prowess presents on the field, and I'm just not convinced the chemistry can be balanced to make it right unfortunately.
