Random Thoughts

[vegas492]

7 minutes ago, dll2000 said:

I do think safeties have long been underrated.  Ronnie Lott, Ed Reed, Dawkins, Troy P., Earl Thomas, etc.  all made huge differences to their teams.  

When Bears were head faking on QB year they drafted Trubisky Jamal Adams was a heavy favorite to be pick.  Him or New Orleans corner from Ohio St. Whose name is escaping me right now.  

I thought for sure it would be one of those two and they would take QB in next class with a new coaching staff. Everyone said that was going to be deepest QB class in ages.  

Probably would have made more logical sense not knowing future.  Obviously in hindsight you draft Mahomes.  But no guarantee Mahomes would have became Mahomes in Chicago.  People assume he would have, but who knows really.  
 

Big time.  Underrated.  They can cover up a lot of things.  Pun intended.

We like Amos, but, a lot of what he does goes unnoticed.  He's so steady that you just forget that he's keeping things in line back there.  We were a wreck back there without a guy with his kind of football smarts.

But...to your other points....I'm not sure if Daniels has "it" or not.  And maybe some of that is coaching.  This I do know...Kenny Clark is a beast and just 24 years old.  He's still getting better.  He's gonna make a lot of guards look worse than they are.  Kind of like how Mack can make a great tackle look like a rag doll a few times a game.

It'll be a fun year in the division.  I think you guys are relatively the same, and do have more at QB now than you did.  Vikings took a step backwards.  Detroit is the wild card, aren't they?  You never think much about them and before you know it they are up 10 points with 8 minutes left in the fourth.  

[Sugashane]

1 hour ago, vegas492 said:

Big time.  Underrated.  They can cover up a lot of things.  Pun intended.

We like Amos, but, a lot of what he does goes unnoticed.  He's so steady that you just forget that he's keeping things in line back there.  We were a wreck back there without a guy with his kind of football smarts.

But...to your other points....I'm not sure if Daniels has "it" or not.  And maybe some of that is coaching.  This I do know...Kenny Clark is a beast and just 24 years old.  He's still getting better.  He's gonna make a lot of guards look worse than they are.  Kind of like how Mack can make a great tackle look like a rag doll a few times a game.

It'll be a fun year in the division.  I think you guys are relatively the same, and do have more at QB now than you did.  Vikings took a step backwards.  Detroit is the wild card, aren't they?  You never think much about them and before you know it they are up 10 points with 8 minutes left in the fourth.  

 

Amos is a solid guy. He won't wow you but his consistency allows you to have a guy take more chances. EJax benefited a lot from him being there holding a short zone and in run support. Savage will as well IMO.

Pagano decided to make EJax more of the box safety when we lost Hicks rather than HHCD, which baffled me. It's like dropping Mack or the Smiths in coverage more than letting them pin their ears back. You don't take your best guys and put them in poor positions to allow your more average players to remain average. It was just a weird move. 

This should be a great year all around. MIN still has a ton of talent, GB has Rodgers and a solid defense, Chicago has a damn good defense and the usual questions at QB, and DET has more talent than a 3 win team (Going 0-8 without Stafford made them look way worse) but is unpredictable AF. 

[vegas492]

1 hour ago, Sugashane said:

 

Amos is a solid guy. He won't wow you but his consistency allows you to have a guy take more chances. EJax benefited a lot from him being there holding a short zone and in run support. Savage will as well IMO.

Pagano decided to make EJax more of the box safety when we lost Hicks rather than HHCD, which baffled me. It's like dropping Mack or the Smiths in coverage more than letting them pin their ears back. You don't take your best guys and put them in poor positions to allow your more average players to remain average. It was just a weird move. 

This should be a great year all around. MIN still has a ton of talent, GB has Rodgers and a solid defense, Chicago has a damn good defense and the usual questions at QB, and DET has more talent than a 3 win team (Going 0-8 without Stafford made them look way worse) but is unpredictable AF. 

Stafford has really grown on me throughout the years.  I think it is Detroit that holds him back.  I'm not sure the gap between him and Rodgers is very big right now.  .  And I do think he's better than Cousins.

Guess I feel like he is underrated.  

[vegas492]

Just a little something for conversation....

Who are the guys on the team you are projecting that could break out this year? 

I don't know your roster well enough.  On the surface, I think it is a big year for Smith at ILB.  And for Roberson-Harris on the DL.  This should be the point and time in which they know what they should do and can just react without thinking.  Maybe Miller at WR is in there as well.

Who needs to stay healthy or it all goes up in flames? 

Mack, obviously.  But I can't help but think that a lot of what you can do defensively is a result of having a healthy Hicks in the middle.  And I'm not sure if your QB is good enough to move the ball without Robinson on the field.

[dll2000]

2 hours ago, vegas492 said:

Just a little something for conversation....

Who are the guys on the team you are projecting that could break out this year? 

I don't know your roster well enough.  On the surface, I think it is a big year for Smith at ILB.  And for Roberson-Harris on the DL.  This should be the point and time in which they know what they should do and can just react without thinking.  Maybe Miller at WR is in there as well.

Who needs to stay healthy or it all goes up in flames? 

Mack, obviously.  But I can't help but think that a lot of what you can do defensively is a result of having a healthy Hicks in the middle.  And I'm not sure if your QB is good enough to move the ball without Robinson on the field.

Graham at TE should have a break out year for us.

 

[Sugashane]

10 hours ago, vegas492 said:

Stafford has really grown on me throughout the years.  I think it is Detroit that holds him back.  I'm not sure the gap between him and Rodgers is very big right now.  .  And I do think he's better than Cousins.

Guess I feel like he is underrated.  

100% agree, he is definitely underrated. Being a Gators and Bears fan I've REALLY had to get over my obias but ge is a solid QB. Never really elite but one of the few things consistently making DET any sort if threat. With a competent team elsewhere he could have been in several long postseason runs.

 

If he and Cousins were flipped I think MIN puts up the highest scoring offense in the North. Especially when Diggs was there too. 

[dll2000]

19 hours ago, dll2000 said:

Graham at TE should have a break out year for us.

 

@vegas492 Nothing?  I thought for sure that one would bait you.  You are too cool.

Actually I was kidding around, but Chicago beat reporters are saying he has looked good in practice.

 

[vegas492]

1 hour ago, dll2000 said:

@vegas492 Nothing?  I thought for sure that one would bait you.  You are too cool.

Actually I was kidding around, but Chicago beat reporters are saying he has looked good in practice.

 

I gave you a "like" for that post!  I did like it.

Graham always looked good in practice for us, too.  And to be fair to him, he was open plenty in our offense and never got the ball.  Our QB is more or less allergic to throwing over the middle.

He could be good for you.  I will warn you, though, he does drop some easy ones.  He clearly is not what he once was before he shredded his knee in Seattle.

[beardown3231]

On 8/18/2020 at 1:09 PM, vegas492 said:

Just a little something for conversation....

Who are the guys on the team you are projecting that could break out this year? 

I don't know your roster well enough.  On the surface, I think it is a big year for Smith at ILB.  And for Roberson-Harris on the DL.  This should be the point and time in which they know what they should do and can just react without thinking.  Maybe Miller at WR is in there as well.

Who needs to stay healthy or it all goes up in flames? 

Mack, obviously.  But I can't help but think that a lot of what you can do defensively is a result of having a healthy Hicks in the middle.  And I'm not sure if your QB is good enough to move the ball without Robinson on the field.

1) I hope it's Miller or Daniels. I loved Millee at Memphis and so far he's been disappointing, although his last 6-7 weeks of 2019 were great. I'd love to see someone like Roquan or Nichols truly break out as well, but it'd be more helpful if the offense had a star besides Robinson

2) Hicks, Mack, and Jackson would be killers on the D. Robinson, Montgomery, Whitehair, and Graham would be tough on O, although Graham just because TE is so weak unless Kmet is a good player off of the bat

 

[The_Romen]

Trey Burton on IR for the Colts. Glad Pace moved on from him.

[Sugashane]

On 8/19/2020 at 2:57 PM, beardown3231 said:

1) I hope it's Miller or Daniels. I loved Millee at Memphis and so far he's been disappointing, although his last 6-7 weeks of 2019 were great. I'd love to see someone like Roquan or Nichols truly break out as well, but it'd be more helpful if the offense had a star besides Robinson

2) Hicks, Mack, and Jackson would be killers on the D. Robinson, Montgomery, Whitehair, and Graham would be tough on O, although Graham just because TE is so weak unless Kmet is a good player off of the bat

 

I would add Fuller to that list as well. Agree otherwise. 

[Heinz D.]

On 7/14/2020 at 8:11 PM, Bowler1215 said:

I'm an uncle again.  My youngest sister had her first kid last Friday, a girl.  She's so precious.  I now have a nephew and 2 nieces.  I'm also working again.  50+ hour weeks.  Like everyone I'm hoping for a new football season to start, but with covid, who knows what's going to happen. 

Good for you, dude. Kids are the best. 

[twslhs20]

Not sure this is the right thread, so my apologies.

I'm moving to IL for a job. I'm looking at moving to the Peoria area. My job will be a little south of that. Does anyone live around that area, and have suggestions. I've done quite a bit of research, and the apartments I like are in the north of the area, so my commute would be around an hour. Not sure I want to do that. I've also looked in the Pekin area, but not much there. Any info is appreciated.

[chisoxguy7]

1 hour ago, twslhs20 said:

Not sure this is the right thread, so my apologies.

I'm moving to IL for a job. I'm looking at moving to the Peoria area. My job will be a little south of that. Does anyone live around that area, and have suggestions. I've done quite a bit of research, and the apartments I like are in the north of the area, so my commute would be around an hour. Not sure I want to do that. I've also looked in the Pekin area, but not much there. Any info is appreciated.

My two cents: Peoria is not such a nice place, and gets worse the farther off the university campus you go.

 

Pekin also has its warts and a bit of a racist past: https://www.pekintimes.com/article/20130621/LIFESTYLE/130629916

 

Best of luck to you

[dll2000]

On 12/4/2020 at 12:38 PM, twslhs20 said:

Not sure this is the right thread, so my apologies.

I'm moving to IL for a job. I'm looking at moving to the Peoria area. My job will be a little south of that. Does anyone live around that area, and have suggestions. I've done quite a bit of research, and the apartments I like are in the north of the area, so my commute would be around an hour. Not sure I want to do that. I've also looked in the Pekin area, but not much there. Any info is appreciated.

If you are going to live in central IL there is no reason I can think of to commute an hour.   Its mostly rural and you can find nice places to live in any area.   The ‘cities’ are mostly towns built around a college.

Peoria is Bradley, Bloomington/Normal is Illinois State and Champaign is U of Illinois, etc.   They do have some minor seedy neighborhoods, buy you know don’t live there.  

If you have decent credit and wages it may  be better to simply buy a small place rather than rent because interest rates are so low.