11 YEAR NFCCG Continues . . . . Why I am drinking the kool-aid

I like it, Skodin. Fuck it, lets do it. I'm on board with a goblet full of purple Kool-Aid.

Well I don't agree but I like your optimism. B).  Let's say I hope your dream comes true despite the odds against it.

Great comments. Re the CB position, one thing concerns me - your description of the squad there as "young, fast, hungry CBs who make mistakes" is going to be challenging for Zimmer. Mistakes have infuriated him in the past, and if he calls these guys out in press conferences and/or is benching a player after any mistake, these young corners might not develop well. He runs a challenging coverage scheme, every corner who has left remarks on it, so there will be mistakes. Hope he can stand the growth period.

I like our team on paper...

I do have concern about the impact of losing Diggs and how that will influence how D's play us. 

That baby d backfield is a huge question mark too.

But what team doesnt have Q's?  I think we have enough horses to win the Norris. 

Just put some vodka in the kool-aid, it will go down better. 

Nice post Skodin!  Like your optimism!  I always hope for the best and this year has it's question marks but, fans gotta fan for their team, right?!

You bring up the no crowd noise part. I wonder if this year more then any other diminishes the value of home playoff games. 

@"AGRforever" said: You bring up the no crowd noise part. I wonder if this year more then any other diminishes the value of home playoff games. 

There will be crowd noise. Every stadium will have an audio operator that will pump in various levels of crowd noise taken from each individual stadium over the last 3-4 years. They will simulate louder crowd noise for 3rd downs, redzone, etc. for home teams if no fans are allowed in. 

@"Skodin" said: I watched a couple of full game highlights yesterday (Det, Green Bay, Dallas) and came to the realization that:

-Yannick will be significantly more impactful than a slowing Everson.  I don’t know if people understand this freak we just brought in to bring havoc frequently.  This could be one of those moves you look at in January / February as saying, brilliant move, absolutely paid off.
-Rhodes, Waynes, and even Mac played terrible last year and a CB upgrade is fair to expected.  Give me young, fast, hungry CBs who make mistakes over overpaid, older, slower, CBS who make mistakes.  The Zim factor will be huge here.  Marvin Jones and Devante Adams are going to see their impacts go down not facing 29 anymore
-Cousins, Cook, Adam, Irv, Mattison, Ham, Rudy, Hollins will be excellent in Kubiak year 2.  This offense will be explosive and surprise many

I AM CONFIDENT 2020 WR’s are deeper than 2019, Bisi will improve (watch his game vs Det) Jefferson will have the opportunity to impress, his hands will build trust with Kirk
Losing Stef will hurt on the deep ball, but there is a possible deep threat developing in Hollins.
Between Bisi, Jefferson, and Hollins you will have the key pieces that make Diggs great without the headache 

Lastly, Cousins.  I have to admit, it’s love and hate with this guy.   There were times in 18 you saw amazing glimpses (week 2 vs GB).  Then there were amazing stretches in 19.  I believe with a solid OL, these weapons, 2.0 Kubiak, this will be Kirk’s best year period.  One factor?  No road noise, I believe the game will be different for Kirk with no fans in the stadium, some guys need that, some guys have trouble with it.   Would KC, SEA, and CHI have been so tough (all tough winnable road losses) with no fans?  I believe Kirk can win those games this year.

1987 - 1998 - 2009 - 2020

Prediction: NFCCG
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Minnesota Vikings

Oh hell ya. You got me pumped up rolling into a long weekend. I like dat!

@"Jor-El" said: Great comments. Re the CB position, one thing concerns me - your description of the squad there as "young, fast, hungry CBs who make mistakes" is going to be challenging for Zimmer. Mistakes have infuriated him in the past, and if he calls these guys out in press conferences and/or is benching a player after any mistake, these young corners might not develop well. He runs a challenging coverage scheme, every corner who has left remarks on it, so there will be mistakes. Hope he can stand the growth period.

To your point, I bet they can stand the growth period here.  Young guys can learn, adjust, while a player like Rhodes, the tape is out on him, his weaknesses were exposed and we saw it repeatedly when he faced off against Adams or Jones.  The “injury” every time they would get burned was becoming an issue.  

My money is on A) the athleticism these guys have PLUS B) the coaching that Zim will provide.

Think about the structure of the coaching staff, Zim has handed over the offense to the Kubiak (father and son), the defense, he trusts Patterson, he trust his son who ran the LBs, the DBs are his to work on and it won’t be Ant nor Harry who needs the love.

The young CBs will surprise, Rhodes turn around surprised us, Captain’s eventual fit surprised us, Holton Hill in 2018 with playing damn good surprised us.  I am confident that with those Monster DE’s, blitzing up the A gap, and the best pair of safeties, these young guys could not be in a better position period.

@"purplefaithful" said: I like our team on paper...

I do have concern about the impact of losing Diggs and how that will influence how D's play us. 

That baby d backfield is a huge question mark too.

But what team doesnt have Q's?  I think we have enough horses to win the Norris. 

With you on Diggs until I thought about it. We are going to run, run, and run effectively.  Cook is a stud but so is Mattison.  We have a damn good TE and a developing super star TE which means flexibility out of run sets.  All of this done effectively does one thing, opens up 

PLAYACTION

With the best damn PA QB in the game.  Big gaps for crisp route runners like Adam, Bisi, and Jefferson.  The occasional deep shot to a speedster like Hollins will keep the defenses honest.  

I expect with continuity (outside of the loss of Diggs) this offense will be more dynamic and more productive in 20 than 19. 

I’m still drinking Heineken, but I’m w/ ya @Skodin...!  ;) B)  

@"StickyBun" said:

@"AGRforever" said: You bring up the no crowd noise part. I wonder if this year more then any other diminishes the value of home playoff games. 

There will be crowd noise. Every stadium will have an audio operator that will pump in various levels of crowd noise taken from each individual stadium over the last 3-4 years. They will simulate louder crowd noise for 3rd downs, redzone, etc. for home teams if no fans are allowed in. 

I like the team this year. I think it has a chance to be a better team than last year. A lot of depth at WR and CB. Superstars at DE, S, LB and RB. Here's my list of worries in order....

1. Without Michael Pierce, can we stop the run? We sure couldn't against the 49ers and without Pierce, it doesn't look any better. Maybe Dom helps?
2. Will defenses double team Thielen? I think they will, early and often until someone (ISJ, JJ, Bisi) makes them pay for it. 
3. Dozier and Elflein. Cousins is the NFL's best QB from a clean pocket. Just don't know how confident we should be that he'll get it.