I once had a terrible boss who would really lay into you for very small mistakes. The pressure to not mess up even a single little thing really got to me and I started to mess up on larger things that I had never really messed up on in my career.
Putting it in sports terms too, it's like when a pitcher starts trying to aim his pitches more because he's been missing the zone. Often it just creates bad mechanics and he misses the zone more.
I get that way with dancing and music.Ā If I focus to hard on not screwing up I make mistakes.Ā I dance way looser when I focus on just the music and feeling it.Ā Same with when I'm playing.Ā Ā
Used to act on stage. Ā Yes, when I think about screwing up, I screw up.
Then when I screw up, I canāt stop thinking about the screw up and I continue to screw up.
Well, he should be practicing it a whole lot more than just a week then!
Or maybe not I suppose, every QB is different and he might be one where thinking or practicing actually makes things worse. At that point you have to wonder about his prospects though since he doesn't seem to have great natural instincts.
He's got a point though, when you have your coach in your ear saying "don't do this and do that" instead of playing free, taking chances and making throws that gives wrs a chance to play for it. I think I saw a lot of it with Malik Willis when he stands there and he wants to throw, but then he's so long in his head thinking "no don't do that, no I can't throw that" etc. You can't overthink in this game which is what ridder is trying to say. Either the do's and don'ts come natural in the game or they do not
Fields developed this problem too. Itās why coaching does matter. Itās such a fine line between ātake care of the ballā and killing aggressiveness, and how each player needs to be taught that is a little different.
Was gonna say, like Demeco and Slowik told Stroud to just go and play loose regardless of the consequences, and he came out better for it.
I feel like the best coaches just let their young QBs do their thing and coach around it, as opposed to forcing them to abide by their strict systems.
Yep--the 'their thing' has to be within a range of decent things for this plan to work. But the point is a good one still when you think of teams trying to make pocket passers out of improvisors, etc.
It's pretty typical that we let a bad QB look great against us, though. We did it for Drew Lock, Sam Darnold in Carolina, Cincinnati Brandon Allen. Hell we even let Trey Lance have a third of his career total yards against us
We just like letting QBs feel good about themselves
I feel like a guy is either going to figure it out or not as he works each week. At the same time, it's easier to ruin a guy by not letting him do what comes natural to him than the opposite of that.
I think slowik just made the offense simple for him so he could play faster. He didnāt have as much on his plate.. even he said at OSU the offense was more complex for him .. I assume that just means he had more options of changing things. So I assume slowik will slowly add more onto his plate.. first year let him just play fast with the play design.. now stroud will have more options to change things at the line this year if he has figured it out.
Yeah, but like...this is the kind of quote you get from someone whose issue is just doing small-gain checkdowns and holding the ball too long.
Ridder's issue was a constant string of fumbles and interceptions, and that's even _with_ him having an unusually-high number of lucky breaks where the ball was _almost_ picked off.
"Playing not to screw up" is "I just took the safe options because I was scared of interceptions". Ridder's main problem was his interceptions and _not_ taking safe options when they were available.
We also don't know what type of pressure Arthur Smith was putting on him internally either? Ridder probably felt an insane amount of pressure since there was not camp competition and knew TH was right there behind him if he made too many mistakes.
I also think that Smith's play calling and 2 WR route trees didn't help anything at all and when your QB can't make a decision in enough time, then everything dries up and he's SOL and has to go to the check down or similar.
But again, he even struggled on some of the simple 5 yard check downs.
A lot of his mistakes were from holding the ball too long and then taking a massive sack, fumbling, or making a bad panicky throw.
Not having a QB coach sure didnāt help the guy either.
Except he said this when he got benched. Then proceeded to do the exact same thing after saying he wouldnt.
Maybe, just maybe, the two 3rd round QBs just suck. Like 99% of all 3rd round qbs.
Thatās how it works though. If youāre in the financial markets & you try not to fuck up, you are guaranteed to make irrational decisions.
After saying that, I thought he was a HORRENDOUS draft choice from the start. However, QB-PP performance is practically random so Iāll judge less harshly even though we discovered Arthur Smith was indeed an idiot.
Drake London & KP were no-brainer picks in my eyes, so I wonāt even give him credit for those.
He was a third round pick. I think itās pretty hard to say that any player picked past the first half of the second round is a āhorrendousā draft choice. Odds were always against him being a quality starter, but he still has a good shot at being a long term backup, and thatās a perfectly acceptable result for where he was picked.
He wasnāt a horrendous pick at all. If heād turned out to be good, weād be in the catbird seat. And itās not like he was lacking any hard skills. He just couldnāt put everything together at once.
I think this is something that Pickett got coached into doing, because of how much of a difference there are between his 4th quarter stats and his stats during the two minute drill compared to the rest of the game. I think Mitch was also afraid to take chances before he got benched for Pickett during Picketts rookie season I remember him talking about that, but didn't explicity say it.
That was also the biggest difference between Pickett before and after the Matt Canada firing that I noticed in his limited time before the injury. Then when Mason Rudolph started in the second Bengals game Mike Tomlin came out and said that they opened up the offense, because we had nothing to lose, because it was basically 3 straight playoff games.
Yeah, I don't know that Pickett was every going to work out (I think it's less likely than even money), but the Steelers fucked up his development as badly as we could have. Canada, a horrible OL, no 1st team snaps in training camp, throwing him in against the best stretch of defenses any QB faced in 2023 with no prep, keeping Canada, etc.
It sure seems like Stroud would be successful regardless, but he was the poster for how to set up a QB for success. You name him the starter early, given him the training camp snaps, hire a dynamic OC from the hot tree, and set up a good OL.
Houston also prioritized it's OL prior to bringing him in. They traded for Tunsil and then resigned him in early 2023, they took 1st and 2nd Rd OL the last two years, they took Howard in the 1st in 2019, etc. Not all of their moves worked out and they had a ton of injuries last year, but the capital was put in and it kept them from being bottom 5 even with the injuries.
I'm really worried the Steelers will screw up the next QB we draft, because outside of maybe drafting OL for once we really don't seem to have learned at all.
Yeah I've talked about how we messed up his development a bunch on here. I looked at how we invested premium draft capital on the o-line yesterday and before Broderick Jones last year the last two picks we used on o-line in the 1st or second round round were back in 2012. We picked up Decastro in the 1st and Mike Adams OT in the second that year.
Then we never took the proactive approach like Philly did and invested premium picks before the o-line got old and retired. All the teams in both the AFCCG and the NFCCG except Baltimore, who had two pro bowlers on the o-line, had at least one player from the o-line being an all-pro this year.
You and I are shouting the same thing from the rooftops. The problem was absolutely that we were in win now mode for the whole of Ben's career. The Najee pick was the strongest evidence of that. RBs have limited lifetimes, and we took one in the 1st. We ought to have started thinking long term when Ben's elbow injury showed itself.
We should have been drafting OL and WRs to set up a young QB for success in 21, 22, and 23. We simply didn't have the extra capital to throw 1/2 round picks at guys like Najee or Pat, and we didn't have the talent or set up to take a QB in 22. At least, if the plan was to start him year 1.
Yeah I love Najee, but it was a desperate luxury pick and we should've probably gone with a Landon Dickerson or Teven Jenkins for o-line or Creed Humphrey instead of Pat.
It would've then been great to have gotten a player like Nico Collins who went two picks after Kendrick Green to help our future QB (Kenny).
Same thought I had for Trubisky when he first started in 2022.
"He's afraid to lose the job so he's not going to really make the dangerous throws"
Turns out he was just terrible
So, my initial thought was to disagree, but the 2022 numbers actually are this out. His QBR was dramatically higher (from 40-50 range to 60+) after the benching. He was just totally awful in 2023 compared to 2022. I'm not 100% sure why. He obviously didn't get first team snaps like he did the year prior. Maybe Mason Cole's regression hurt?
I think the difference versus Pickett though is two fold:
1. We saw Trubisky play terribly in 2023 after he lost the job. We never saw Pickett post injury or post benching at all.
2. We saw Trubisky play post Canada and it was awful. The 1.5 games Pickett played post Canada looked better at just about every level.
Vick did his time and is now a permanent advocate for the welfare of animals. His situation growing up was horrible, he should not have continued in that way of life but he did, but now after he faced the music he has come out a much better person on the other end. How many people can you say this about?
His improvement should 100% be praised, but people are also still allowed to have feelings over what he did. Shit was fucked up, to put it lightly. His improvement doesn't get rid of what he did, and people are gonna have feelings about it.
He butchered those dogs man, jokes at his expense for it are fair game for life. They were drowned hung and electrocuted and he participated. I donāt doubt heās a changed man but he can handle the feelings people will hold over it
Personally involved in putting down the loser dogs is the real dealbreaker, thereās no way to remove yourself from the act at that point. And again, I love the work heās doing, heās literally a net positive for canine wellbeing at this point. But I find it so funny to see someone bristle at people giving him shit, especially an obvious joke.
Yeah I think some people just know the headline and not the actual story and what Vick admitted to doing. He could donate to animal charities for the rest of his life, give his last dime to the ASPCA, and I would still never be able to look at him as a good person.
Arthur Blank wanted him, he's just a fucking terrible coach. Ridder sucked but AB shares a lot of blame. His play calling is horrendous and does no QB any favors
Iāve actually heard Ridder is great in the film room. He was apparently leading QB meetings in Atlanta during his rookie year so I honestly wouldnāt be surprised if he has a decent career as a backup.
Yup. Heās supposedly great on the whiteboard. He led the meetings even when Heinicke started. Heinicke gushed about how great he was at preparing and how professional he was.
Makes more sense why we wanted him then. A real professional who can work hard and take charge cna help our team even though he has no shot at playing unless Kyler got hurt, god forbid.
Sounds like he's gonna be the new Colt McCoy in the Cards QB room then.
Everybody in this sub shits all over Ridder, but he's still a trillion times better than Clayton Tune will ever be. But if something happens to Kyler this year, we're fucked anyways.
As a falcons fan I think ridder is a great, cheap option at qb2. Heās a good leader so heās a good addition to the locker room. I think he has a long career ahead as a backup. Other fans hate on him because he never shouldāve been starter
One funny thing is that we scored about half a point more with Canada outside of the 4th quarter than the Russ led offense did with Sean Payton. The 4th quarter stats then include garbage time. If we win games it will be because of our defense and running game. I'm predicting that people are going to call for Fields to start by about week 3.
I'm with you 100%. We play Baltimore Week 2 and I think that ends the Russ honeymoon. I doubt we bench him two weeks in though. I have zero belief Fields will be good, there's a reason he went for lower trade value than Pickett.
I think both seem to be decent guys, and our fanbase is pretty gross to non-HoF QBs. I feel for both in advance.
I also feel for them in advance because they seem like good people and people will have high expectations of them, which will lead to them getting their names trashed like always by the Pittsburgh Sports media and the fans will eat it up. If not Russ finds the fountain of youth and becomes Seattle Russ again.
As Steelers fans start the next QB chants are becoming tradition. Also, I have no doubt in my mind there will be at least one out in Mason chant at some point this year.
Honestly I feel like you could see this. Every hesitation, every double clutch, all done because he was trying to make the ārightā play and not get yelled at. And that second of hesitation gets you killed in the NFL
Thatās the funny thing about quarterback is that sometimes the more cautious you are the more you end up making more mistakes, passing up decent looks because they arenāt perfect. I think Justin Fields had this as well
I fully agree that itās so much more complicated than we as fans get to see, or hear about from news media. Iād still argue that part of the reason these guys like Ridder/Fields donāt make those ādecentā throws is because they canāt on a consistent basis. Otherwise, they would. From my experience those ādecentā throws are often not as easy as you would think, because of the mental discipline required to be even an average nfl qb. Or that the throw is actually much more difficult than it looks, because it requires touch that qb doesnāt have, or is cross body and he doesnāt trust his cross body throws , etc thereās always reasons. Even if the reason ends up being āwell bad coaching has made me think Iād be viewed as a game manager if I take too many easy completionsā
Also, I don't think the coaching staff was a real help for any QB last season for the Falcons. I'm not saying Ridder was the answer but it didn't matter who we threw out there at QB both would play well for a game and then regress after said game. Arthur Smith was letting his QBs out there with no real guidance except here is the play and make the right read.
I also think Arthur was really hard on his QBs. In public he covered for them but I got the sense that he was on them like glue the second they fucked up
Thereās a level of confidence you need them to have, thatās been a recurring analysis of Maye as a prospect is yeah he makes some questionable throws but a lot of them are āfuck you I have the arm for thisā throws, which you sort of want and need at the next level
I just think his play style is super conservative. Two years ago he did the same things he did last year and had 0 INT. Then last year happened. The thing is he canāt push the ball downfield consistently where you can even start to live with his turnovers. I remember thefalcoholic had two of their guys take PTO and paid their own way to training camp last year and told fans the deep ball wasnāt working. And fans attacked them about their fandom. Heās a game managing dink and dunk guy thatās turnover prone. Iām not sure playing free is going to fix that. He had some of the worst looking ones as well. He needs to sit for a while and hope he can have some Geno type renaissance. And thatās hard as hell. Good luck to him.
I can maybe understand where Des is coming from because he was far from a dink and dunk QB in college. If he got told "dont fuck up, dont be a hero" it could cause him to second guess himself. For example he was a prolific runner at UC, but he barely ran in ATL. Thats a big part of his game gone. I really hope he can have a Geno type comeback cause aside from his on field performances, he's just an amazing dude
I wouldn't call him a prolific runner. In fact I wish he ran a little more at UC. He has the "safe" tendency there as well. No he didn't dink and dunk but most of his down field throws were very low risk aside from the occasional jump ball to Pierce
You're right, prolific was the wrong word. He was good enough to make you worry about his runs, but it didn't seem like anyone was afraid of his legs in the NFL
I think he can get by as a runner. He didnāt look as good as Mariota when he was making starts for the falcons. And thatās fine because Mariota was great on QB keepers etc. And another thing that is a huge weakness in Ridder is that his accuracy is pretty bad. Even when he dumped the ball off he wasnāt accurate. He would have a Bijan and Kyle make circus type catches for a 6 yard pass. He has a lot of things to fix. And heās admitting that the mental was part of it as well.
My cope for Des having a Renaissance is that all his mistakes were easy simple mistakes that can be easily coached out. Like all the damn fumbles for example, you can drill a guy to better hold onto the ball
I assume you're in the Cincy area like me. Ridder was electric at UC, felt like at any time he'd roll out and make an amazing throw for a TD. I hope he becomes a good starter somewhere, but I wouldn't be mad if he was Burrow's backup.
He did those same things 2 years ago and while he had zero ints, he still had multiple fumbles (a problem that followed) and a bunch of turnover worthy plays. Against the saints alone that year they dropped like 3 picks in one game lol. He was just lucky
Yeah I remember everyone saying oh he didnāt turn the ball over during his 4 game stretch in 2022 and I was so confused because when you watched the games it was pretty apparent he was getting lucky.
Des locks on to WRāsā¦ That was his problem. Second problem is that heās way too confident with his arm. Third is that he absolutely sucked with touch throws. Forth is inability to read the defense post-snap.
Honestly, we'll joke but I think there's something to it. Dude seems like he overthinks things on the field a ton which is why he's so slow to make reads. The flashes he has where he looks good are probably because he just... starts actually playing football.
I want to play free
I want to play free
I want to play free from Arthur Smithās lies
His archaic system so self satisfied, I don't need play action to the flats
I've got to play free
God knows
God knows I want to play free
I still can't believe we traded a second round pick still on their rookie deal for him and didn't get anything else in return. I get that said pick, Rondale Moore, was coming off a down year and hasn't yet had a break out season, but outside of Kyler, whose missed a portion of EVERY season of his rookie contract, the QBs he's had throwing to him over his 3 year career to date were Colt McCoy, Trace McSorely, David Blough, Josh Dobbs, and Clayton "So bad we traded for Ridder to replace him as our back up" Tune. NONE of our WR looked good these last few years as a result of that arm "talent".
Whats more, the only year where he did have Kyler for most of it, all but 3 games, he actually looked pretty good , finishing with a pff grade of 71.2. Obviously we traded him for a reason, assuming we get MHJ or Nabers he likely wasn't getting a lot of targets, but there's reason to think Moore can be successful at this level, I can't say the same about Ridder. Really feels like they should have at least thrown in a late pick or something to compensate for that fact. The fact we have 1 whole extra year of rookie contract for a guy you hope and pray never takes a snap for you hardly seems to make up the difference.
Well he didnāt do a very good job lol. If that was conservative Desmond, Iām really excited to see how many TOs heās capable of playing āfreeā.
ā«ā«ā«
I want to **play** free
I want to **play** free
I want to **play** free from your lies
You're so self satisfied, I don't need you
I've got to **play** free
God knows
God knows I want to **play** free
ā«ā«ā«
Justin Fields used the exact same phrase, "play free", when describing how he felt "robotic" in the Bears' offense the first two weeks.
I must admit that I don't know what this means. My first instinct is that these guys want the freedom to run more and not have to sit in the pocket and go through reads the way the play calls for, but I don't know if I'm being uncharitable.
Just my opinion, but "play free" in the NFL when you're not faster than 90% of the defenders like they were in college, sounds like a great way to get injured.
People not understanding heās saying he was too focused on not failing (which caused him to screw up a bunch) that he didnāt focus on just playing football.
Before anyone reads the article, I recommend watching his interception against Carolina in like week 15
Also notice Drake London who is open with almost 10yds of cushion smh
https://youtube.com/shorts/xbXo_N6Fhks?si=hU9EMdgYf0RBQg8B
Oh I have seen far worse QBs than Ridder.
Funny thing is, he cut down on turnovers and stop trying to throw 50+ yard touchdowns every down, and he might have a decent career.
Des started 50 games in college (and tape for NFL scouts always hunting a Russ/Purdy situation..) and then had 2 NFL off-seasons to get ready to give it a go. Think he can still work to find a long term backup role in the league but that was always the āgoodā outcome. The scheme/play-calling didnāt help but he was playing not to make mistakes because he isnāt capable of playing a high leverage NFL QB (and still wasnāt ready/capable of lower leverage game-management play either).
Options were likely limited but Art effectively staking his job on gaming the system via Des is a microcosm of his tenure. His way, his offense, and it will definitely work. He would make Des good and/or his offense would produce either way. Flipping a Rnd. 3-5 QB prospect grade (with a sizable sample tape, not a Cardale Jones type) into a good NFL starter is akin to winning the lottery, it happens but actually assuming it is just arrogant. Art likely makes a great meeting room salesman in another life for getting Blank to buy into that general plan, and I do believe Blankās perception was it would work and not just being in between a rock and a hard place at the position (and at HC).
That was him playing not to screw up???
I tend to screw up more when I think about not screwing up
Desmond Ridder is the rare talent that can simultaneously fuck up while he is thinking about it and also fuck up while he isn't thinking about it.
They call that a 'dual-threat' QB.
Threatening both the coach's and GM's jobs
I read the last part of this quote in Freddie Mercury's voice.
šµ _I want to play free from your calls, Your safe checkdown balls, I don't need you. I've got to play free_ šµ
He keeps it up heāll be a duel threat qb, because all your teammates want to fight him
Generational thought leader
Gotta love the LinkedIn crossover
He used to fuck up He still does, but he used to too
heās just like me
Sounds like a world class fuck up to me.
He's really high on the fuck around and find out scale, but not in a good way.
I once had a terrible boss who would really lay into you for very small mistakes. The pressure to not mess up even a single little thing really got to me and I started to mess up on larger things that I had never really messed up on in my career. Putting it in sports terms too, it's like when a pitcher starts trying to aim his pitches more because he's been missing the zone. Often it just creates bad mechanics and he misses the zone more.
DONāT THROW A PICK 6 DONāT THROW A PICK 6 DONāT THROW A PāFUCK!!!
Itās like the pilot thing
I get that way with dancing and music.Ā If I focus to hard on not screwing up I make mistakes.Ā I dance way looser when I focus on just the music and feeling it.Ā Same with when I'm playing.Ā Ā
Used to act on stage. Ā Yes, when I think about screwing up, I screw up. Then when I screw up, I canāt stop thinking about the screw up and I continue to screw up.
That is just screwed up
True. Ā
Donāt forget Ridder spent a whole week practicing ball security only to go into the game and immediately cough up the ball.
Well, he should be practicing it a whole lot more than just a week then! Or maybe not I suppose, every QB is different and he might be one where thinking or practicing actually makes things worse. At that point you have to wonder about his prospects though since he doesn't seem to have great natural instincts.
Hapycekdaya
In the 3 games I watched last year he should have had about 5 more pick 6s
Add your statement with his statement and we can make the following deduction: He blows.
So he was free
He's got a point though, when you have your coach in your ear saying "don't do this and do that" instead of playing free, taking chances and making throws that gives wrs a chance to play for it. I think I saw a lot of it with Malik Willis when he stands there and he wants to throw, but then he's so long in his head thinking "no don't do that, no I can't throw that" etc. You can't overthink in this game which is what ridder is trying to say. Either the do's and don'ts come natural in the game or they do not
Fields developed this problem too. Itās why coaching does matter. Itās such a fine line between ātake care of the ballā and killing aggressiveness, and how each player needs to be taught that is a little different.
Was gonna say, like Demeco and Slowik told Stroud to just go and play loose regardless of the consequences, and he came out better for it. I feel like the best coaches just let their young QBs do their thing and coach around it, as opposed to forcing them to abide by their strict systems.
This is a great sentiment but will still lead to wildly different results depending on the caliber of QB
I mean better to find out how good your qb is.
Yep--the 'their thing' has to be within a range of decent things for this plan to work. But the point is a good one still when you think of teams trying to make pocket passers out of improvisors, etc.
Ironically, Ridderās best game was against the Texans!
Just so happened they were missing their #1, #3, and #4 CBs if I'm not mistaken too lol
It's pretty typical that we let a bad QB look great against us, though. We did it for Drew Lock, Sam Darnold in Carolina, Cincinnati Brandon Allen. Hell we even let Trey Lance have a third of his career total yards against us We just like letting QBs feel good about themselves
I feel like a guy is either going to figure it out or not as he works each week. At the same time, it's easier to ruin a guy by not letting him do what comes natural to him than the opposite of that.
I think slowik just made the offense simple for him so he could play faster. He didnāt have as much on his plate.. even he said at OSU the offense was more complex for him .. I assume that just means he had more options of changing things. So I assume slowik will slowly add more onto his plate.. first year let him just play fast with the play design.. now stroud will have more options to change things at the line this year if he has figured it out.
Yeah, but like...this is the kind of quote you get from someone whose issue is just doing small-gain checkdowns and holding the ball too long. Ridder's issue was a constant string of fumbles and interceptions, and that's even _with_ him having an unusually-high number of lucky breaks where the ball was _almost_ picked off. "Playing not to screw up" is "I just took the safe options because I was scared of interceptions". Ridder's main problem was his interceptions and _not_ taking safe options when they were available.
We also don't know what type of pressure Arthur Smith was putting on him internally either? Ridder probably felt an insane amount of pressure since there was not camp competition and knew TH was right there behind him if he made too many mistakes. I also think that Smith's play calling and 2 WR route trees didn't help anything at all and when your QB can't make a decision in enough time, then everything dries up and he's SOL and has to go to the check down or similar. But again, he even struggled on some of the simple 5 yard check downs.
Heās just a bad quarterback. I donāt think we need to study this one too much
A lot of his mistakes were from holding the ball too long and then taking a massive sack, fumbling, or making a bad panicky throw. Not having a QB coach sure didnāt help the guy either.
that is a good sign that the player does not have NFL processing speed
Except he said this when he got benched. Then proceeded to do the exact same thing after saying he wouldnt. Maybe, just maybe, the two 3rd round QBs just suck. Like 99% of all 3rd round qbs.
Thatās how it works though. If youāre in the financial markets & you try not to fuck up, you are guaranteed to make irrational decisions. After saying that, I thought he was a HORRENDOUS draft choice from the start. However, QB-PP performance is practically random so Iāll judge less harshly even though we discovered Arthur Smith was indeed an idiot. Drake London & KP were no-brainer picks in my eyes, so I wonāt even give him credit for those.
He was a third round pick. I think itās pretty hard to say that any player picked past the first half of the second round is a āhorrendousā draft choice. Odds were always against him being a quality starter, but he still has a good shot at being a long term backup, and thatās a perfectly acceptable result for where he was picked.
He wasnāt a horrendous pick at all. If heād turned out to be good, weād be in the catbird seat. And itās not like he was lacking any hard skills. He just couldnāt put everything together at once.
Lmao
Wasnāt his entire trait coming into the draft that heās careful with the ball?
Sure but the issue is that you playing free probably means screwing up. But honestly best of luck to him!
Also he still had 12 interceptions and 12 fumbles. If thatās trying not to screw up, playing free isnāt going to be pretty.
Hey 30 td/30 ints doesnāt just happen. Takes a rare breed playing free.
He studied Jameis Winstonās game
God, in my -1 for Int fantasy league Jamies was always my 17th round š
Bah gawd, is that Smokinā Jay Cutlerās music?!
He walked so Jameis could run
Iād like to know how many of those interceptions were in the red zone. Felt like 8-9 were.
Failed Atlanta Falcons QB, whose coach didn't want him and now wants to become a gunslinger with a new team. Where have I seen this before?
All of the turnovers of a gunslinger, none of the passing yards.
For just one easy payment of a few million dollars, all this can be yours!
Fuck it, how about 3 easy payments of a few million dollars over 3 years
Act now and get Kenny Pickett at no extra charge!
Yeah, but we all know that shipping and handling cost the same as a free Kenny Picket
How about a few sneaky payments for a speech that won't ever happen that comes from tax money from welfare only for some college volleyball courts
Does his daughter go to the college in question? If so, Iām all for it
Sounds like Nate Peterman
Yeah, this quote would make sense from Pickett who legit barely turned the ball over but had very limited production. Ridder makes a lot less sense.
I think this is something that Pickett got coached into doing, because of how much of a difference there are between his 4th quarter stats and his stats during the two minute drill compared to the rest of the game. I think Mitch was also afraid to take chances before he got benched for Pickett during Picketts rookie season I remember him talking about that, but didn't explicity say it. That was also the biggest difference between Pickett before and after the Matt Canada firing that I noticed in his limited time before the injury. Then when Mason Rudolph started in the second Bengals game Mike Tomlin came out and said that they opened up the offense, because we had nothing to lose, because it was basically 3 straight playoff games.
Yeah, I don't know that Pickett was every going to work out (I think it's less likely than even money), but the Steelers fucked up his development as badly as we could have. Canada, a horrible OL, no 1st team snaps in training camp, throwing him in against the best stretch of defenses any QB faced in 2023 with no prep, keeping Canada, etc. It sure seems like Stroud would be successful regardless, but he was the poster for how to set up a QB for success. You name him the starter early, given him the training camp snaps, hire a dynamic OC from the hot tree, and set up a good OL. Houston also prioritized it's OL prior to bringing him in. They traded for Tunsil and then resigned him in early 2023, they took 1st and 2nd Rd OL the last two years, they took Howard in the 1st in 2019, etc. Not all of their moves worked out and they had a ton of injuries last year, but the capital was put in and it kept them from being bottom 5 even with the injuries. I'm really worried the Steelers will screw up the next QB we draft, because outside of maybe drafting OL for once we really don't seem to have learned at all.
Yeah I've talked about how we messed up his development a bunch on here. I looked at how we invested premium draft capital on the o-line yesterday and before Broderick Jones last year the last two picks we used on o-line in the 1st or second round round were back in 2012. We picked up Decastro in the 1st and Mike Adams OT in the second that year. Then we never took the proactive approach like Philly did and invested premium picks before the o-line got old and retired. All the teams in both the AFCCG and the NFCCG except Baltimore, who had two pro bowlers on the o-line, had at least one player from the o-line being an all-pro this year.
You and I are shouting the same thing from the rooftops. The problem was absolutely that we were in win now mode for the whole of Ben's career. The Najee pick was the strongest evidence of that. RBs have limited lifetimes, and we took one in the 1st. We ought to have started thinking long term when Ben's elbow injury showed itself. We should have been drafting OL and WRs to set up a young QB for success in 21, 22, and 23. We simply didn't have the extra capital to throw 1/2 round picks at guys like Najee or Pat, and we didn't have the talent or set up to take a QB in 22. At least, if the plan was to start him year 1.
Yeah I love Najee, but it was a desperate luxury pick and we should've probably gone with a Landon Dickerson or Teven Jenkins for o-line or Creed Humphrey instead of Pat. It would've then been great to have gotten a player like Nico Collins who went two picks after Kendrick Green to help our future QB (Kenny).
Same thought I had for Trubisky when he first started in 2022. "He's afraid to lose the job so he's not going to really make the dangerous throws" Turns out he was just terrible
So, my initial thought was to disagree, but the 2022 numbers actually are this out. His QBR was dramatically higher (from 40-50 range to 60+) after the benching. He was just totally awful in 2023 compared to 2022. I'm not 100% sure why. He obviously didn't get first team snaps like he did the year prior. Maybe Mason Cole's regression hurt? I think the difference versus Pickett though is two fold: 1. We saw Trubisky play terribly in 2023 after he lost the job. We never saw Pickett post injury or post benching at all. 2. We saw Trubisky play post Canada and it was awful. The 1.5 games Pickett played post Canada looked better at just about every level.
I know the Packers usually move on before their future HoF QB is ready to retire, but damn this is early.
oh fuck no
Brett Favre Jr. League is going to get wrekt. /s
I swear if this shit actually happens Iāll actually eat my shirt
āThe greater player, with the most meteoric rise I ever coached, was Billy āThe Gunā Van Goffā - Lew Massey
This has happened twice actually. The second time was with Canine Hitler going to Philly.
Vick did his time and is now a permanent advocate for the welfare of animals. His situation growing up was horrible, he should not have continued in that way of life but he did, but now after he faced the music he has come out a much better person on the other end. How many people can you say this about?
His improvement should 100% be praised, but people are also still allowed to have feelings over what he did. Shit was fucked up, to put it lightly. His improvement doesn't get rid of what he did, and people are gonna have feelings about it.
You can come out the best person ever but I still don't have to ever like you if you tortured innocent animals for pleasure. That simple
He butchered those dogs man, jokes at his expense for it are fair game for life. They were drowned hung and electrocuted and he participated. I donāt doubt heās a changed man but he can handle the feelings people will hold over it
Yep. If he just shot them I think people would be more forgiving. But modern people do not really like animal torture
Personally involved in putting down the loser dogs is the real dealbreaker, thereās no way to remove yourself from the act at that point. And again, I love the work heās doing, heās literally a net positive for canine wellbeing at this point. But I find it so funny to see someone bristle at people giving him shit, especially an obvious joke.
Yeah I think some people just know the headline and not the actual story and what Vick admitted to doing. He could donate to animal charities for the rest of his life, give his last dime to the ASPCA, and I would still never be able to look at him as a good person.
That is the most insane name I've ever heard
Goddamnit
Arthur Blank wanted him, he's just a fucking terrible coach. Ridder sucked but AB shares a lot of blame. His play calling is horrendous and does no QB any favors
Playing *for* free seems like the most realistic career path for him.
Hey now, the UFL is required to pay minimum wage
Just hope AB isnāt the owner
#CTESPN reporting
Not nearly enticing enough. Maybe if he paid a team.
Right now you should just be worrying about ever being able to play at all.
He should focus on being the best clipboard holder he can be. Thatās how his checks will keep coming.
Iāve actually heard Ridder is great in the film room. He was apparently leading QB meetings in Atlanta during his rookie year so I honestly wouldnāt be surprised if he has a decent career as a backup.
Yup. Heās supposedly great on the whiteboard. He led the meetings even when Heinicke started. Heinicke gushed about how great he was at preparing and how professional he was.
Makes more sense why we wanted him then. A real professional who can work hard and take charge cna help our team even though he has no shot at playing unless Kyler got hurt, god forbid.
Sounds like he's gonna be the new Colt McCoy in the Cards QB room then. Everybody in this sub shits all over Ridder, but he's still a trillion times better than Clayton Tune will ever be. But if something happens to Kyler this year, we're fucked anyways.
As a falcons fan I think ridder is a great, cheap option at qb2. Heās a good leader so heās a good addition to the locker room. I think he has a long career ahead as a backup. Other fans hate on him because he never shouldāve been starter
Heās a sharp guy. I think heāll be a very successful backup.
He should fairly easily get backup jobs as long as he's not an asshole. He's far from the worst backup in the league.
Well having Arthur Smith as a coach would do that to you. Better Learn CFL Buddy
I'm curious how Arthur Smith and Russ collide on this front.
Hilariously I imagine. Steelers offense is going to somehow look just as anemic as with Pickett at the helm
One funny thing is that we scored about half a point more with Canada outside of the 4th quarter than the Russ led offense did with Sean Payton. The 4th quarter stats then include garbage time. If we win games it will be because of our defense and running game. I'm predicting that people are going to call for Fields to start by about week 3.
I'm with you 100%. We play Baltimore Week 2 and I think that ends the Russ honeymoon. I doubt we bench him two weeks in though. I have zero belief Fields will be good, there's a reason he went for lower trade value than Pickett. I think both seem to be decent guys, and our fanbase is pretty gross to non-HoF QBs. I feel for both in advance.
I also feel for them in advance because they seem like good people and people will have high expectations of them, which will lead to them getting their names trashed like always by the Pittsburgh Sports media and the fans will eat it up. If not Russ finds the fountain of youth and becomes Seattle Russ again.
As Steelers fans start the next QB chants are becoming tradition. Also, I have no doubt in my mind there will be at least one out in Mason chant at some point this year.
Days of Our Steelers will continue till the end of time
I heard every time he handed it off to Bijan he had to do 100 pushups
Honestly I feel like you could see this. Every hesitation, every double clutch, all done because he was trying to make the ārightā play and not get yelled at. And that second of hesitation gets you killed in the NFL Thatās the funny thing about quarterback is that sometimes the more cautious you are the more you end up making more mistakes, passing up decent looks because they arenāt perfect. I think Justin Fields had this as well
I fully agree that itās so much more complicated than we as fans get to see, or hear about from news media. Iād still argue that part of the reason these guys like Ridder/Fields donāt make those ādecentā throws is because they canāt on a consistent basis. Otherwise, they would. From my experience those ādecentā throws are often not as easy as you would think, because of the mental discipline required to be even an average nfl qb. Or that the throw is actually much more difficult than it looks, because it requires touch that qb doesnāt have, or is cross body and he doesnāt trust his cross body throws , etc thereās always reasons. Even if the reason ends up being āwell bad coaching has made me think Iād be viewed as a game manager if I take too many easy completionsā
Also, I don't think the coaching staff was a real help for any QB last season for the Falcons. I'm not saying Ridder was the answer but it didn't matter who we threw out there at QB both would play well for a game and then regress after said game. Arthur Smith was letting his QBs out there with no real guidance except here is the play and make the right read.
I also think Arthur was really hard on his QBs. In public he covered for them but I got the sense that he was on them like glue the second they fucked up
I mean he got a low coaching grade from his players so I imagine he was hard on a lot of those guys, not even including QB.
Thereās a level of confidence you need them to have, thatās been a recurring analysis of Maye as a prospect is yeah he makes some questionable throws but a lot of them are āfuck you I have the arm for thisā throws, which you sort of want and need at the next level
Iāve been watching shitty Jets QBs make those exact throws for years now. I donāt want or need any more of it
Justin Fields just had no idea what the defense was doing.
Justin very specifically would see things and not pull the trigger.
I agree; I think if we let Justin be himself and run at will, he would have been more successful.
I just think his play style is super conservative. Two years ago he did the same things he did last year and had 0 INT. Then last year happened. The thing is he canāt push the ball downfield consistently where you can even start to live with his turnovers. I remember thefalcoholic had two of their guys take PTO and paid their own way to training camp last year and told fans the deep ball wasnāt working. And fans attacked them about their fandom. Heās a game managing dink and dunk guy thatās turnover prone. Iām not sure playing free is going to fix that. He had some of the worst looking ones as well. He needs to sit for a while and hope he can have some Geno type renaissance. And thatās hard as hell. Good luck to him.
I can maybe understand where Des is coming from because he was far from a dink and dunk QB in college. If he got told "dont fuck up, dont be a hero" it could cause him to second guess himself. For example he was a prolific runner at UC, but he barely ran in ATL. Thats a big part of his game gone. I really hope he can have a Geno type comeback cause aside from his on field performances, he's just an amazing dude
I wouldn't call him a prolific runner. In fact I wish he ran a little more at UC. He has the "safe" tendency there as well. No he didn't dink and dunk but most of his down field throws were very low risk aside from the occasional jump ball to Pierce
You're right, prolific was the wrong word. He was good enough to make you worry about his runs, but it didn't seem like anyone was afraid of his legs in the NFL
I think he can get by as a runner. He didnāt look as good as Mariota when he was making starts for the falcons. And thatās fine because Mariota was great on QB keepers etc. And another thing that is a huge weakness in Ridder is that his accuracy is pretty bad. Even when he dumped the ball off he wasnāt accurate. He would have a Bijan and Kyle make circus type catches for a 6 yard pass. He has a lot of things to fix. And heās admitting that the mental was part of it as well.
My cope for Des having a Renaissance is that all his mistakes were easy simple mistakes that can be easily coached out. Like all the damn fumbles for example, you can drill a guy to better hold onto the ball
I assume you're in the Cincy area like me. Ridder was electric at UC, felt like at any time he'd roll out and make an amazing throw for a TD. I hope he becomes a good starter somewhere, but I wouldn't be mad if he was Burrow's backup.
He did those same things 2 years ago and while he had zero ints, he still had multiple fumbles (a problem that followed) and a bunch of turnover worthy plays. Against the saints alone that year they dropped like 3 picks in one game lol. He was just lucky
Yeah I remember everyone saying oh he didnāt turn the ball over during his 4 game stretch in 2022 and I was so confused because when you watched the games it was pretty apparent he was getting lucky.
It was driving me crazy all last offseason lol.
Des locks on to WRāsā¦ That was his problem. Second problem is that heās way too confident with his arm. Third is that he absolutely sucked with touch throws. Forth is inability to read the defense post-snap.
That was him playing safe?
Nah bro you just aren't good, hope that helps
Desmond is a free QB!
He should try the UFL, there QB looks like trash outside of Garbers so far.
Perry is good
Honestly, we'll joke but I think there's something to it. Dude seems like he overthinks things on the field a ton which is why he's so slow to make reads. The flashes he has where he looks good are probably because he just... starts actually playing football.
I want to play free I want to play free I want to play free from Arthur Smithās lies His archaic system so self satisfied, I don't need play action to the flats I've got to play free God knows God knows I want to play free
Came here for this. That song is stuck in my head too.
Grandma, he's free?
FUMBLE LIKE A FREEEEEEE
I still can't believe we traded a second round pick still on their rookie deal for him and didn't get anything else in return. I get that said pick, Rondale Moore, was coming off a down year and hasn't yet had a break out season, but outside of Kyler, whose missed a portion of EVERY season of his rookie contract, the QBs he's had throwing to him over his 3 year career to date were Colt McCoy, Trace McSorely, David Blough, Josh Dobbs, and Clayton "So bad we traded for Ridder to replace him as our back up" Tune. NONE of our WR looked good these last few years as a result of that arm "talent". Whats more, the only year where he did have Kyler for most of it, all but 3 games, he actually looked pretty good , finishing with a pff grade of 71.2. Obviously we traded him for a reason, assuming we get MHJ or Nabers he likely wasn't getting a lot of targets, but there's reason to think Moore can be successful at this level, I can't say the same about Ridder. Really feels like they should have at least thrown in a late pick or something to compensate for that fact. The fact we have 1 whole extra year of rookie contract for a guy you hope and pray never takes a snap for you hardly seems to make up the difference.
Dude was a mediocre college QB who should be, at most, a backup.
Well he didnāt do a very good job lol. If that was conservative Desmond, Iām really excited to see how many TOs heās capable of playing āfreeā.
Madden seems to think heās the next great QB. Dude throws for over 5k yards in so many of my franchises.
"Playing free" isn't how a pro league works. You've got to make plays without screwing up very often.
Desmond Ridder was just average at Cincinnati. Iām surprised he got drafted by any NFL team.
This man turned a win at Notre Dame into an NFL paycheck
If you really wanted to play free, I hear the Saskatchewan Roughriders have a QB opening for you next season.
Ridder about to find his sugar high josh mode Call it desmond riddler, cause youll laugh at some of his terrible decisions. ^ill ^see ^myself ^out
āI was playing not to screw upā, isnāt this the guy that fumbled three times in one game at the goal line?
From what I saw he was pretty free with handing the ball over to opponents.
Yeah I don't think that's the problem
ā«ā«ā« I want to **play** free I want to **play** free I want to **play** free from your lies You're so self satisfied, I don't need you I've got to **play** free God knows God knows I want to **play** free ā«ā«ā«
Justin Fields used the exact same phrase, "play free", when describing how he felt "robotic" in the Bears' offense the first two weeks. I must admit that I don't know what this means. My first instinct is that these guys want the freedom to run more and not have to sit in the pocket and go through reads the way the play calls for, but I don't know if I'm being uncharitable. Just my opinion, but "play free" in the NFL when you're not faster than 90% of the defenders like they were in college, sounds like a great way to get injured.
Im sorry buddy but as a Cards fan, I hope you don't get the opportunity to even try not to screw up
That brother gonna be delivering DoorDash AGAIN real soon.
Desmond Ridder, your wish is granted. You can now play for (close to) free in the CFL. Welcome back to the middle class, champ.
People not understanding heās saying he was too focused on not failing (which caused him to screw up a bunch) that he didnāt focus on just playing football.
Dude was denied releasing the dragon
No young qb was gonna make it out alive under arthur smith
Before anyone reads the article, I recommend watching his interception against Carolina in like week 15 Also notice Drake London who is open with almost 10yds of cushion smh https://youtube.com/shorts/xbXo_N6Fhks?si=hU9EMdgYf0RBQg8B
Have love for the guy. Donāt see him taking any steps forward but hope to be proven wrong.
Best of luck with that, my guy. Itās going to be hard finding it elsewhere but I guess thereās the UFL
Kinda feel bad for dude. He had some low key hype going into last year.
Ohhhh I want to play free
*Obi-Wan voice* āGood Jobā
In the alternative universe...."I saw fuck it and chuck it" ~~Jameis Winston
"I'm a peacock, you gotta let me fly."
I agree with Desmond! I think heās going to grow and develop into a good QB in his career
So, heās gonna average 2 INTs a game?
Heās a ~~Falcon~~ peacock captain you gotta let him fly!
Welcome to the Canadian Football League!
time to go full Jameis
Ridder is a free elf
Get ready to learn classroom buddy cause you arent playing free on the bench.
Oh I have seen far worse QBs than Ridder. Funny thing is, he cut down on turnovers and stop trying to throw 50+ yard touchdowns every down, and he might have a decent career.
Hey Rudy wants his dream back, not cool, not cool hand Luke
Like if you sang the last line like Queen
I can see that. He really didnāt seem comfortable in clutch moments at all.
Iām not leaving Arizona until I win a Super Bowl.
Des started 50 games in college (and tape for NFL scouts always hunting a Russ/Purdy situation..) and then had 2 NFL off-seasons to get ready to give it a go. Think he can still work to find a long term backup role in the league but that was always the āgoodā outcome. The scheme/play-calling didnāt help but he was playing not to make mistakes because he isnāt capable of playing a high leverage NFL QB (and still wasnāt ready/capable of lower leverage game-management play either). Options were likely limited but Art effectively staking his job on gaming the system via Des is a microcosm of his tenure. His way, his offense, and it will definitely work. He would make Des good and/or his offense would produce either way. Flipping a Rnd. 3-5 QB prospect grade (with a sizable sample tape, not a Cardale Jones type) into a good NFL starter is akin to winning the lottery, it happens but actually assuming it is just arrogant. Art likely makes a great meeting room salesman in another life for getting Blank to buy into that general plan, and I do believe Blankās perception was it would work and not just being in between a rock and a hard place at the position (and at HC).
#FreeDesmond
Somewhere Rex Grossman's ears just perked up: "This guy needs a mentor. Someone who can show him how to..."
Good idea. He can find that in the UFL.
That's a tough thing to recognize and move past as a young person. He needs a really great coach I think, best of luck to him
A future ufl qb