Scott Pennock

I said many times over that FR lost the locker room…….

I have always supported Ballard and his roster construction. His reputation as a talent evaluator sunk because the coach on the ground, aka Frank Reich - who, unfairly or not has already been canned less than a year from hire with the Panthers. So his roster building is now on full display again because the coach knows how to use the personnel provided. Look at the roster and the amount of low draft picks and UDFA’s that are prominent contributors. Look at the diversity of the WRs - Pittman the bully, Downs the technician, Pierce the deep threat. The OLine (except Kelly) are all drafted by this FO. The young DB’s are performing and growing right now. Paye, Dayo, Tomi are all blossoming. The Buckner trade was genius. Ebukam is earning every bit of his salary as a free agent. A lot of his moves are second guessed all the time but they’re paying off.

True statement

Or, perhaps the QB actually throws the ball downfield to him when and where he’s running open…….?

No, no, no…….it’s all smoke and mirrors. Our GM sucks and he couldn’t possibly have put a roster together that could accomplish that?????? Stop with the positivity before the boo birds come after you! ~ sarcasm folks

A few notes with no specific players to mention (yet). 1. Flowers (prior to his injury) and Jones (currently) both rates out in the top tier of CB's - as would Brents if he had enough snaps. Plus, I do believe Moore II will be re-signed. So that is three quality boundary corners and an above average nickel........Doubt very seriously that the FO invests in a CB early. A mid-round toolsy guy, sure. 2. Offensive tackle is covered with Raimann, Smith and Freeland. They will not invest early in a Tackle (as they never have in the past anyways). Witt coming off of the phantom IR will provide a boost too. 3. With Ebukam, Paye, Buck, Stewart, Land, Lewis, Tomi and Dayo all applying pressure and getting after the QB I doubt they invest early here as well. Titus Leo coming off the phantom IR will boost the speed rush depth as Land is starting to show signs of being a decent edge guy right now too. 4. Wide receiver - here is the position that can put the offense over the hump. A player of Pittman's quality (or better) would form a quality WR room with Pittman, Downs and Pierce as now the 4th WR. Ballard tends to double down on what he thinks is his biggest weakness in the past (Paye, Dayo), (Jones, Brents, Scott and Rush), (Freeman and Witt), (Franklin and Leonard), (Nelson and Smith), (Fountain, Cain).................so I would focus on a stud 1st round WR and a mid-round WR with "traits". I will come back and add in names that fit that criteria or respond to anyone who questions who I think would fit.

KJ is a slot receiver and there are already two on the active roster. Montgomery is a boundary receiver and special teamer so probably more useful in the short term. Plus he may be practicing better than KJ?

Comment of the day right there! On a sidenote……have you noticed that no broadcast team has taken advantage of French Fries lined up next to each other. They will babble on about a former TE turned OT or a bball player now playing TE…..but they’ve literally missed an easy layup every game!

While statistically he is not as productive as many of us would like, however, there was a graphic posted during the Patriots game (I believe) that stated he has run the most miles of any receiver this year in the NFL. That is by design as they are using him to clear out the underneath routes................Minshew doesn't have the arm strength to hit him on the deep balls and AR5 was too green to let those develop when he was playing. So statistically he is not offering much, but the staff likely does not share your sentiment.

Ronnie Harrison called up from the Practice Squad as a linebacker sounds like he and Cross may be used in some sort of third safety/linebacker hybrid role like a Kam Chancellor???? Or am I reading into things?

You’ve watched the games……tackles 6-8 yards downfield, running around blocks and generally looking slow diagnosing plays doesn’t impress me nor did it impress the team apparently.

New head coach with no ties to a FORMER All Pro who is a shell of his former self. I have been saying it since the beginning of the season he will be released, did not expect it mid-season though!??! I thank him for the outstanding years provided prior to his injury though! The facts are easily seen on the field, Franklin and Speed are simply outplaying him. Good luck to him and I hope he never plays again and saved his bag to live comfortably off of the rest of his life.

https://atozsports.com/indianapolis/colts-rookie-cb-jaylon-jones-elite-company-7th-round-pick/?fbclid=IwAR3cke_cA0zO8oy44JgXvAuUfYLbzrGoX3PAFzs9oefu7Dl4me80rz2BwVQ Here is the article. It has Kenny Moore and Jaylon Jones on it playing at "lockdown" levels as well as Dallis Flowers prior to the injury.........I would imagine JuJu will show up on that list once he starts playing again and has enough snaps to count.

Ranked third in NFL per PFF…….. No mention of it on here in its own thread. Guess the hatoraide runs truly deep in here. That’s including all the OMG we need a RG and the OMG Freeland is horrible at RT as a rookie and OMG Kelly’s loss of skill at C while his backup French has no skills at all crowd -aka the lets bash our GM for every move or non-move but never offer credit where it is due crowd!

Funny how the talking heads talked about Mac Jones success versus Cover 3 defenses but when the Colts D shut him down it was just because he had a bad game……they don’t mention that the Colts played well!

Don Majkowski….decent wheels…..just an okay arm…..kinda witty in the pocket…..not scared…..not able to throw a good deep ball.

Shaq out there playing like a chump still…..non existent for the most part! SMH

This is some real cry baby % right here...........he led the team in tackles last week, but only one that I recall was within three yards of the LOS............. He is getting outplayed every week and shows none of the fire and ability he had prior to the injuries. Sorry, the NFL stands for Not For Long for a reason! "Everybody says they want you to keep that fight up until you step on toes," Leonard said. "... I honestly don't know what to do. I have put my best foot forward every day. I come in the building, do the best I possibly can to be the best leader I can be. I go out to practice. I practice extremely hard. I play extremely hard -- do my job as well as I possibly can and just let the chips fall where they fall. "I've just got to control what I can control. That is play well on the snaps that I play, and then I sit on the bench frustrated. And, when you get back out there, continue to do what I do."

Displeased with his role? We are displeased with his LACK of playmaking ability! Speed and Franklin are outperforming him as he avoids contact, runs around blockers or makes tackles 12 yards downfield..........no forced fumbles, no interceptions, no sacks, and I don't even think he has a pass breakup either!??! He is a shell of his former self and I pray that they cut him at the end of the year and use that money for a more productive player!

I feel ya! I didn’t update my ERB for three years while I was in Recruiting to avoid being automatically converted to 79R for the rest of my career…..then retired in lieu of PCSing farther from my daughters!

Congratulations! I presume as a CSM based off your avatar!??!

We got a Sapper in the house! Damn Combat Engineers........ours were worthless at both Combat AND Engineering.......lol.......10th Mountain though you guys were probably pretty strac though!

I was E-4 "Promotable" for three years waiting for the points to drop from 998............the NCO's always put me in charge of the rest of the E-4 and below for pretty much every task that required them to move out of the TO&E Room.........It turned out to be very educational as I finally got promoted as I knew most all of the Sham Shield tricks of the trade! It was especially fun when I was a 1SG.........they were like 'how did you find us Top???????' I would just smile and say I know everything that goes on in my unit! Ha!

I think we go back to the 3-4 and play bump and run with Brents, Jones and Flowers (as the Nickel after Moore walks)...............cut Shaq and use Speed and Franklin as ILB's with Paye and Ebukam as the Rush LB's. Use the money saved from Shaq's release to buy another 3-4 edge rusher. Couldn't be any worse than they are now!??! LOL

I don't think there are enough folks on here that understand what the E-4 Mafia is nor the sham shield...........lol