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The Big TV Series Thread

I figured because we have no such thread here it was time we started one!
I didn't want to create threads for each individual show and season. Made more sense to start a big one to house them all!

The most recent TV series I've seen are Stranger Things and American Horror Story.

The wife, who can't sit through a horror movie, loved Stranger Things. It's an awesome series by Netflix with a great 70's feeling. The acting is great, the story is interesting and I absolutely love the soundtrack; it's one of the BEST I've ever heard. You can literally binge watch it in one day but I guarantee you'll be left wanting more. I can't wait for season 2. Not recommended to watch with kids due to the nature of the content and language. Here's a trailer:

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As far as American Horror Story goes, I've seen every episode of every season up until the episode that aired yesterday (season 6, episode 1). I've loved every single season but I have to admit that the best were the first two. It's definitely worth a binge watch to catch up but will undoubtedly take you a while. The story goes that all 6 seasons are connected in some way, with season 6 tying a lot of them together (finally!). I don't want to give too much away but each season is something different: horror house, witchcraft, asylum, carnival, vampires...pretty diverse in terms of horror themes. Strong recommendation for you horror buffs. Definitely not recommended to watch with kids due to the nature of content, language, gore and strong sexual content.

What are you watching?
The wife and I are going to be starting Narcos sometime this weekend. I've heard great things about it.

David Carr: Difference between Carson Wentz, Jared Goff is the reps

http://www.fresnobee.com/sports/nfl/article101807917.html

By David Carr

Special to The Bee

When the Eagles made the decision to trade Sam Bradford and put in a rookie quarterback, a lot of heads were spinning. I’m sure that in Philly they were ready to completely lose it.

But the kid, Carson Wentz, comes out and plays great and what we saw the other day was exactly what we saw in the preseason and exactly what we saw in college. The downfield accuracy is there. The arm strength is there. He’s able to move. The mental processing is there. He’s going to make some mistakes, but all young guys are going to make mistakes. It’s a process. But just like my brother Derek, the game wasn’t too much for him. I wasn’t surprised. I think a lot of us were expecting this.

I was in the minority back in the spring when they were going back and forth between Carson and Cal quarterback Jared Goff as far as who should be the first pick in the draft (Goff went to the Los Angeles Rams with the No. 1 overall pick and Wentz No. 2 to Philadelphia), but there were significant differences in where they were coming out of college and in their ability to make a quick impact in the NFL.

It’s all an estimated guess by everyone who is throwing their two cents in. I wasn’t really that concerned about the level of play that Wentz went up against at North Dakota State, an FCS school. I was more concerned about what Cal asked Goff to do in college as opposed to what North Dakota State asked Wentz to do in college from an offensive perspective.

Wentz was in a more pro-style offense. It wasn’t necessarily the intangibles. (He showed his leadership qualities when he got hurt and worked his tail off to get back on the field.) It was more what they asked him to do at the line of scrimmage. He checked at the line. He moved protections. He threw on time and in rhythm in pro-style concepts. The arm strength was there. Everything was there. He was the clear No. 1 guy for me, and I think for a lot of people.

Watching his first preseason game, it was the same stuff. He wasn’t flustered. It wasn’t too much for him because mentally he was prepared for it. What coach Doug Pederson was asking him to execute, he had seen all of that, and the most important thing when you’re getting into that situation is what you’ve done before.

NFL quarterbacks have to learn protections. They have to learn where the hot guys are and which adjustments to make. In Wentz’s first preseason game, he faced a defense rushing seven and the Eagles only had six blockers. One guy was free. Wentz pointed it out to his slot receiver. The slot receiver made the adjustment. Wentz threw a little 8-yard slant against Cover Zero, with no deep help, and it was a successful play. Right then, you knew. It was his first action in the NFL and right then you knew he understood protections, he understood how to get the ball out with timing – he knows how to beat a blitz.

He was not afraid of the moment. That one play spoke volumes because that’s the hardest thing to teach. If you have that when you come in, you’re already a leg up on everybody else.

Goff, on the other hand, was never asked to throw hots. He was never asked to see the coverage and understand who you’re throwing against. Cal’s system is based on progression – you throw it here or you throw it here. Cal isn’t worried about what coverage the defense is in. They’re not worried about protections. Cal’s plan: Our scheme is going to beat what you run.

That’s great in college. You can score a lot of points doing that. But it doesn’t help you as far as understanding where to go against two-man, where to go against Cover Three, what routes beat certain coverages. You end up going from your X to your Y to your Z and that’s it, and for the most part you can do it, but it doesn’t help you transition your game into the NFL.

I’m not saying that Goff wasted his whole college career in an offense that’s not going to help him transition, because he threw pro-style concepts. This is a small piece to the puzzle. But that piece is huge in the NFL because you’re going to get tested to see if you know your protections, to see if you know where to go against a blitz and if you haven’t had those reps, like Goff hadn’t, you’re behind. That’s why he’s not starting in Los Angeles and Wentz is starting in Philadelphia and it really is that 5 percent to 10 percent of those reps throughout his college career that helped him be ahead.

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/sports/nfl/article101807917.html#storylink=cpy

9/14 Practice Report: Keenum, Offense Moving On to Seattle

Practice Report 9/14: Keenum, Offense Moving On to Seattle

By Myles Simmons

[www.therams.com]


Before Monday night’s loss to the 49ers, quarterback Case Keenum had gone through a solid offseason program, preseason, and first week of practice. While that did not translate to a strong performance to open the year, Keenum is undeterred as he learns from the outing in preparation for the Seahawks on Sunday.

“I’ve just got to let the game come to me,” Keenum said Wednesday. “Take what the defense gives me. Trust my teammates — they do a great job. And get the ball out of my hands to the right place.”

According to the quarterback, one of his most significant issues was probably overthinking what he saw on the field instead of trusting his instincts and offensive rules.

“I over-thought a lot of things,” Keenum said. “I think that I was seeing ghosts — I was seeing things that weren’t there. I wasn’t trusting myself and my abilities.

“They gave us some different looks,” Keenum added. “For us, we’ve always said, ‘We trust our rules.’ So that’s why our coaches do a great job of preparing us to have rules that can fix anything in a game.”


Head coach Jeff Fisher said Wednesday that this week, he’s looking for Keenum to capitalize when the offense has chances.

“Case made some plays and then missed some opportunities,” Fisher said. “But every game you watch, quarterbacks are missing opportunities. So we have to just make sure we take advantage of those opportunities when they’re there.”

Wide receiver Kenny Britt, who has shown strong chemistry with Keenum since the quarterback was inserted into the starting lineup last season, said he’s expecting the Houston product will be fine going forward.

“It’s only the first game,” Britt said. “You over-think stuff because you don’t want to miss stuff. You don’t want to see one thing and then it be the next thing. So I know things will calm down for him.”

One of the games where Keenum and Britt best displayed their strong chemistry came last year against the Seahawks in Week 16. In the Rams’ 23-17 victory, the duo connected on a 28-yard play-action pass for a diving touchdown — with Britt getting the best of cornerback Richard Sherman on the play.

“Go back to film from the last few years that helped us out, especially the plays that worked for us,” Britt said of what he’s looking at on film this week. “Capitalize on everything we see out there.”

One of the reasons the Rams can go back and intently study what the Seahawks have done in years past is because their defensive scheme has stayed consistent. Seattle runs a Cover 3-based system, and while they will do some tweaks off of that, the foundation is the same.

“They do what they do and they do it well,” Keenum said. “Their secondary is one of the best — obviously. And their front seven — or eight, if you’ll call it with [safety Kam] Chancellor coming down in the box, too — it’s a great run-stopping box, too. So we’ve got our work cut out for us.”


“They’re sound fundamentally and you know they’re going to play one defense, and it’s basically going to be the same thing,” Britt said. “They’re not going to change up their defense for anybody. It’s either you’re coming ready to play, or don’t come at all. So we know that we’re going to be strapped in and ready to go.”

But that doesn’t mean it makes it any easier to figure Seattle out. Success in the past does not guarantee success in the present.

“Teams change, players change, and for right now they’ve got some different players on their defense,” offensive lineman Rodger Saffold said. “Scheme is going to be the same, but at the same time, each week, they’re going to have a blitz that’s going to cause some problems that we’re going to have to figure out on the fly.”

“That was that game, it was that team, too,” Keenum said. “Obviously we can learn some stuff from those games, but we’ve got a new challenge ahead of us and a new opportunity, really.”

And so as the team moves on from Monday night’s loss, the offense is looking forward to potentially righting the ship against a division rival.

“All [this] adversity, challenges, it’s really opportunities,” Keenum said. “And that’s the way I’m looking at it.”

“Just trust what you see, and let it fly,” Keenum added.

EXTRA POINTS

— For Wednesday’s injury report, defensive tackle Michael Brockers (thigh), cornerback E.J. Gaines (thigh), wide receiver Pharoh Cooper (shoulder), and wide receiver Nelson Spruce (knee) all did not participate in practice. Cornerback Lamarcus Joyner (foot) participated on a limited basis.

Running back Todd Gurley also did not participate in the session, but only for a day of rest.

“That’s a coach’s decision, he’s inside,” Fisher said. “He’ll be fine. He’ll be out there tomorrow.”

— Tight end Tyler Higbee received his first game action on Monday night, calling it an exciting experience. He made one reception in his NFL debut.

“It was exciting,” Higbee said Wednesday. “Monday night, especially — you get the crowd out there, it’s cool. It’s a little bit [of a] step up from preseason, which is cool. And I enjoyed it.”

What did Higbee learn from his first taste of the regular season?

“Mainly, it’s the first game. Everybody’s good — you have to bring your A-game every week,” Higbee said. “You can’t slack off, you can’t take any plays off. And in order to win, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.”

— Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll had his conference call with L.A. media on Wednesday afternoon and said he’s looking forward to being a part of bringing the NFL back to the venue he called home while head coach of the USC Trojans from 2001-2009.

“I’m proud that we get to be the first ones that start this thing,” Carroll said. “For no other reason but I just love Southern California and love the fans and love who they are and what they’re all about. I feel fortunate that we have a chance to add to, kind of the kickoff event to this. That doesn’t amount to a whole lot, it’s just kind of a personal feeling about it. We’re hoping we’re going to play a good football game and the rest of that stuff will take care of itself later on.”

Fisher's target date for Goff is probably WEEK FIVE

The next three games are rough man. Seattle, @ Tampa, and @ Arizona. Tampa looks like a playoff team to me right now with Winston in year 2 playin like a boss, and we embarrassed them last season. Right now I think Fish is praying that Keenum plays well enough to get them through those games and to week five.

Why week five? Because we have Buffalo, then @ Detroit, and Giants, followed by the bye week.

Now, IF Keenum sucks on Sunday? Well, I'd guess they insert the kid in the @ Tampa game and let him settle in there before going to Arizona.

Keenum is playing for his job this Sunday IMO. Fish needs him to show up and play well or he's done.
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Did I miss something on the punt return Monday night?

If I remember correctly, there was a punt in the 2nd half, and Austin received it at the 30, and ended up going out of bounds at the 34. There was a penalty (I believe holding), against us, and after the break we got the ball on the 13 yard line. I couldn't figure out how the hell that happened.

Obviously, it had no bearing on the game, I am only asking out of curiosity, What did I miss?

PFT’s Week Two picks...Yikes!

To read all the picks click the link below.
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http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2016/09/15/pfts-week-two-picks-7/

Seahawks at Rams

MDS’s take: The Rams have played well against the Seahawks in recent years, but it won’t happen this time. This Rams team looks awful.

MDS’s pick: Seahawks 20, Rams 7.

Florio’s take: Pete Carroll returns to the Coliseum facing a Rams team that could have a hard time against the best editions of his Trojans.

Florio’s pick: Seahawks 23, Rams 13.
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Laquon Treadwell was active but played zero snaps

It seems the Vikings are having issues finding their #1 WR also. See the 2 articles below. We are not the only team that can't seem to get the WR position right.

http://www.startribune.com/laquon-t...sunday-ive-never-been-through-this/393428911/

Laquon Treadwell on not playing Sunday: 'I've never been through this'
Treadwell said coach Mike Zimmer told him before the Titans game that, barring an injury, he would not have a role on offense during his own NFL debut.

By Matt Vensel

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016 — 12:27PM

Laquon Treadwell hardly allowed a reporter to finish asking when the last time was that he was a healthy scratch before the rookie wide receiver, who was active but did not play in Week 1, blurted out, “Never.”

“It was more mentally challenging,” he said. “But you’ve got to go through it, create some fuel, I guess, to play harder. I don’t know. I’ve never been through this. I’ll just come in and work harder and get better.”

Even though starting split end Charles Johnson caught only one pass for five yards in the 25-16 win against the Titans, the Vikings did not give a single snap to Treadwell, the 23rd overall pick in this year’s draft.

Coach Mike Zimmer explained Monday that he “still has work to do.”

Zimmer pointed to fellow wide receiver Stefon Diggs, who did not suit up the first three games of his 2015 rookie season and then exploded in his NFL debut, as an example of playing a rookie when the time is right.

But Treadwell wasn’t interested in comparing their experiences today.

“We’re two different people, though,” the 21-year-old said. “Everybody’s situation is different. Everybody’s situation is different. You’ve just got to keep getting better and go along with the team, keep competing.”

Treadwell said Zimmer told him before the Titans game that, barring an injury, he would not have a role on offense during his own NFL debut.

“We had a brief conversation,” he said. “But it’s part of the game. It’s his call. You’ve got to go with it and keep getting better every week.”

So what does Treadwell feel he needs to do to earn playing time?

“Just be me and continue to compete and get better,” Treadwell said. “That’s all I can do. My role will come whenever they give it to me.”
************************************************************************************************************************
http://www.startribune.com/but-find...has-become-elusive-for-the-vikings/393345141/

Finding a star receiver has become elusive for Vikings
If Stefon Diggs hadn't turned into a quality player in short order, the Vikings would be in deeper trouble at the position. Even with Diggs producing, the Vikings' real-world pecking order is worrisome.
SEPTEMBER 14, 2016 — 12:39PM
by JIM SOUHAN

For decades the Packers have been defined by long-lasting Hall of Fame quarterbacks who produced four Super Bowl victories, and the Vikings for fearsome defensive linemen and talented receivers who have not been able to elevate their teams in the biggest games.

Sunday, when the best rivalry in Minnesota plays for the first time at U.S. Bank Stadium, the Vikings will find themselves in a predicament that once would have been unthinkable but now is the norm. They keep striking out on receivers, meaning the franchise of Ahmad Rashad, Anthony Carter, Jake Reed, Cris Carter and Randy Moss is remarkably dependent on a fifth-round draft pick in his second season who spent his first three NFL games on the inactive list.


Stefon Diggs quickly became the Vikings’ go-to receiver last season and was clearly their top receiver in their opening victory at Tennessee, which is strange, given the resources the team has spent trying to land someone with a more impressive pedigree.

In the past five years, the Vikings have:

• Signed Greg Jennings away from the Packers to give Christian Ponder a quality receiver. That didn’t work out well for Jennings, Ponder or the Vikings, while the Packers easily replaced Jennings.


• Traded for Miami’s Mike Wallace to give Teddy Bridgewater a deep threat. The threat remained idle as Wallace and Bridgewater missed connections on a dozen deep passes in 2015.

• Traded into the first round to draft raw Tennessee receiver Cordarrelle Patterson, who has caught three passes in his past 17 games.

• Signed former fourth-round pick Jarius Wright to a four-year, $14.8 million contract extension, believing they had found their slot receiver. Wright was a healthy scratch Sunday as undrafted free agent Adam Thielen turned into the Vikings’ second-most effective receiver.

If Diggs hadn’t turned into a quality player in short order, the Vikings would be in deeper trouble at the position. Even with Diggs producing, the Vikings’ real-world pecking order is worrisome.

Diggs is their best receiver, and has a chance to become the first Viking to reach 1,000 receiving yards in a season since Sidney Rice in 2009.


Thielen, too often dismissed as a special-teams player who can play a little receiver, might be their second-best option. He looked impressive Sunday and runs sharp routes.

Which Vikings receiver deserves more playing time? Vote here

In a league that favors three-receiver sets, the Vikings do not have a third wideout who inspires confidence.

Patterson is unreliable.

Wright has either fallen out of favor with the coaching staff or has simply been beaten out by the more versatile Thielen, even though Wright’s reputation as a worker and contributor always has been exemplary.


Charles Johnson looked to be Bridgewater’s favorite receiver at the end of the 2014 season and in the summer of 2015.

A rib injury has been used to excuse his invisibility in 2015, but Sunday he once again struggled to get open.

Laquon Treadwell, not Thielen, was supposed to become a complement or superior to Diggs in the starting lineup, but Treadwell did not have a good training camp and did not run an offensive play on Sunday. Perhaps he’s a project who will mature into a good player, but the Vikings’ recent history at the position begs skepticism. If Treadwell couldn’t crack this lineup, he is raw as sushi.

The 32 NFL teams produced only two 100-yard rushers in Week 1. The NFL is and will be a passing league. No. 1 receivers are vital because they either produce big numbers, command extra coverage, or both. Without Diggs, the Vikings would have no one close to qualifying for the job.

Aaron Rodgers might be the league’s best all-around quarterback. Last year, robbed of Jordy Nelson, he posted the worst quarterback rating of his career as a starter. Randall Cobb didn’t handle Nelson’s role well, and Davante Adams made the Packers regret passing on Jacksonville’s spectacular Allen Robinson.


Lead receivers are vital. Only Diggs’ surprising ascension has given the Vikings a receiver they can nominate for the position.

Why we should not get two high or low about the initial performance of Rookie QBs

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2016/09/15/nfl-quarterbacks-jameis-winston-marcus-mariota-notebook



The Truth About Young QBs
by Albert Breer

Week 1 competency is great for new players, but it’s hardly a predictor of success. Checking in with Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota, plus more on the Bengals, Adam Gase and what game day is like for an NFL agent

A year ago, Marcus Mariota gave then-Titans offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey a debut that he won’t ever forget.

The second pick in the 2015 draft posted a perfect 158.3 passer rating and that doesn’t even paint the full Picasso here. Mariota hit on 13 of his 15 throws for 209 yards, four touchdowns and no picks in a 42-14 win over Tampa Bay.

“That was quite a game,” Mularkey, now the head coach in Nashville, said Wednesday afternoon. “We didn’t throw much and we won by a lot. We didn’t put a ton of pressure on him. We just asked him to make plays, and guys made plays around him. It was impressive. He certainly wasn’t intimidated by the atmosphere.”

Fun afternoon for the Titans too, but how much could it really tell us? As I’m gonna lay out for you momentarily … not much.

Just like last season, Week 1 was a blast this time around for young quarterbacks, setting up Week 2 for all of us. And so we’ll get to the Bengals taking another shot at the Steelers, Adam Gase getting guys on his program in Miami, some summer trade fallout, a college quarterback to keep an eye on and so much more.

mmqb-mariota-winston.jpg

Photo: Joe Robbins/Getty Images
Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston met Week 1 last season, with the Titans beating the Bucs.
We start, though, with the explosion onto the scene of a bunch of young gunslingers. Carson Wentz was third-string nine days before the Eagles opener, and looked as good as any quarterback in the league, except maybe Jimmy Garoppolo, who quieted months of questions by helping slay a monster in Arizona. Trevor Siemian came up big when it mattered most, and Dallas coaches had Dak Prescott throw it 45 times.

Afterwards, for better or worse, there was bound to be some brake-pumping—It’s only one game—coming out of each of those teams. You should listen to that. Seriously.

I decided to look a little closer by examining the 14 first-round quarterbacks who started their team’s openers as rookies. (I know Garoppolo and Siemian aren’t rookies, and Prescott isn’t a first-rounder, but this simplified things.) What I found was, well, not a whole lot to hang your hat on. Here they are, sorted by passer rating, in those openers.

QB, Team Comp-Att Yds TD INT Rating
Marcus Mariota, TEN 13-15 209 4 0 158.3
Robert Griffin, WSH 19-26 320 2 0 139.9
Matt Ryan, ATL 9-13 161 1 0 137.0
Cam Newton, CAR 24-37 422 2 1 110.4
EJ Manuel, BUF 18-27 150 2 0 105.5
Carson Wentz, PHI 22-37 278 2 0 101.0
Mark Sanchez, NYJ 18-31 272 1 1 84.3
Jameis Winston, TB 16-33 210 2 2 64.0
Joe Flacco, BAL 15-29 129 0 0 63.7
Sam Bradford, STL 32-55 253 1 3 53.1
Andrew Luck, IND 23-45 309 1 3 52.9
Ryan Tannehill, MIA 20-36 219 0 3 39.0
Matt Stafford, DET 16-37 205 0 3 27.4
Brandon Weeden, CLE 12-35 118 0 4 5.1

Starting in Week 1 is tough for any young guy, but the truth in these numbers—Griffin was better than almost anyone; Manuel and Sanchez were better than Flacco and Luck—is that the degree of difficulty keeps rising, and swallows whole plenty of promising careers.

“The biggest challenge is that it really is different every week,” Mularkey said. “The defenses they’re facing—you got people coming in all different directions, different fronts, personnel, coverages, strengths and weakness. In the NFL vs. college, there’s just so many differences week-in and week-out, and that’s tough. There’s more time leading to the first game, so there’s that too.

“You don’t spend as much time on 2, 3,or 4. You spend a lot of time on 1. And then, they throw you into a regular season week, where you have to do all of it in a condensed amount of time. That’s jarring for a young player.”


So maybe the best way to gauge the difference, in current terms, is to take a look at the most recent examples. Those are in Tennessee and Tampa.

And we can start with Winston, who didn’t puke on his shoes in last year’s opener, but clearly was out dueled by Mariota in a showdown between 2015’s first two picks. In his 2016 opener, Winston was appreciably better, going 23-of-32 for 281 yards and four touchdowns, against a single pick, in a 31-24 win in Atlanta.

Even better, Winston made three-dimensional the improvements that he and QBs coach Mike Bajakian were working. Winston sunk weeks into honing his drop technique and becoming more efficient moving within the pocket. Done and done in Week 1, per his position coach. And Winston also focused on being more willing to check down. Touchdown passes to Charles Sims and Brandon Myers came on, yes, checkdowns.

“Those might not have been plays he’d have made last year,” Bajakian explained.

Winston also showed more command. Where quarterbacks often are given two or three options on each snap, based on what the defense shows them, Winston flashed the ability Sunday to go off the script completely.

“We give him some parameters, and he did a good job of recognizing those times against unscouted looks, when he had to take over,” Bajakian said. “When it comes to the mental side, Jameis is outstanding.”

As for Mariota, his numbers weren’t as gaudy in this year’s opener, and the Titans didn’t win. But the growth was most certainly there in his 25-of-41, 271-yard, two-touchdown, one-pick start to his sophomore season.

Mariota went through more than the typical rookie quarterback does in Year 1. “He had to learn to play through injuries, he really wasn’t healthy the whole year after Week 2, and he learned they can change coaches in midseason, and that’s not an excuse to be distracted,” Mularkey said. And Mariota came out of it with a solid base.

Mularkey and new offensive coordinator Terry Robiskie have cut down the volume in the offense, and given Mariota more control at the line. And the lessons he’s learned aren’t all that different than what the Bucs have taught Winston. Chiefly, it’s been learning when to take chances, and when to play it safe, which showed up in the opener.

“He got us out of a bad situation by throwing it away. There was a bust on a play, it was an option, and there was nowhere to go, and he just threw it out of bounds,” Mularkey said. “In the past, he tried to make more of those. So he did it in the first half, and then he didn’t on one play in the second half, and it cost us a touchdown. But I know he won’t do that again. …

“The big thing is, if we’re in a bad situation, give us a chance to get out of it.”

So obviously, this now keeps moving forward for all the young guys who showed up big in their debuts last weekend. Stepping on that stage is hard for anyone, and harder for quarterbacks. But as we’ve learned, and those guys are about to find out, sustaining a strong start is even more difficult.

“The biggest difference for the college guys coming to the pros, and what they realize, is it’s a really long season,” Bajakian said. “The mental grind, the physical grind, you have to be tough. So whether or not they make it is as much how a player responds to the 16-game season with a four-game preseason and camp starting in July before it. …

“Even for Jameis last year, starting out he had a couple games with multiple turnovers, then 4-5 games in, he hit his stride, and it’s tough to keep that going.”

We’ll find out soon if Wentz and Siemian and Garoppolo and Prescott can.

Tactics... from Fisher

(On if anything stood out about the inability to run the ball consistently yesterday)

“Well they didn’t let us – they weren’t going to let us – their whole defense was setup to that. We had, probably, a half-dozen runs that were close to getting unblocked to the safety with Todd, it’s just that close. Their commitment was to stop the run and then try to get us to make the plays outside. But we wanted to stay with the run because it’s the run game that helps you get the plays outside.”

"....we wanted to STAY WITH THE RUN....""??? NO SH!T...!!!! The 49ers knew that, i knew that, you knew that, my cat knew that !!!

EDIT

Rams' Case Keenum was "seeing ghosts" in season-opening flop

Rams' Case Keenum was "seeing ghosts" in season-opening flop


GREG BEACHAM (AP Sports Writer)•Sep 15, 2016, 1:04 PM


201609130033020065264

View photos
Los Angeles Rams quarterback Case Keenum (17) is tackled by San Francisco 49ers linebacker NaVorro Bowman (53) during the second half of an NFL football game in Santa Clara, Calif., Monday, Sept. 12, 2016. The 49ers won 28-0. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) -- Case Keenum waited five years to begin an NFL season as a starting quarterback. When he finally got the chance with the Los Angeles Rams, his first start was haunting.

''I think that I was seeing ghosts,'' Keenum said Wednesday. ''I was seeing things that weren't there. I wasn't trusting myself and my abilities. I tried too hard.''

And now Keenum's job status is increasingly tenuous after just one week.

The Rams can't wait much longer to cure the profound offensive ineptitude of their opening 28-0 loss to San Francisco. Their official homecoming game against the Seattle Seahawks looms Sunday, and Keenum likely must improve sharply and quickly to persuade the Rams not to play No. 1 pick Jared Goff immediately.

Keenum's 17-for-35 performance for 130 yards and two interceptions was just one faulty part of a creaky Los Angeles offense that produced 10 punts and a turnover on downs.

With the 49ers loading up their run defense while daring Keenum and his receivers to beat them, the Rams were the only NFL team that couldn't score a point on opening weekend, and they couldn't even get in the red zone. The Rams went 3 for 15 on third downs, with Keenum repeatedly throwing to receivers who weren't far enough downfield to move the sticks.

''Case, he made some plays, and then missed some opportunities,'' coach Jeff Fisher said. ''But every game you watch, quarterbacks are missing opportunities. We have to just make sure we take advantage of those opportunities when they're there.''

Keenum believes the solution to the Rams' problems centers on confidence - specifically his own.

''Just trust what you see and let it fly,'' Keenum said. ''That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to trust ... my protection, my mechanics, my rules, my footwork, and trust what I see. Trust the guys out there.''

Kenny Britt had four catches for 67 yards - more receiving yardage than all of his teammates combined. Even Britt realizes the Rams can't rely on the passing game to win.

''We have to do what we do best: Run the ball and run it well,'' Britt said. ''That will loosen it up on the outside, and we can take a couple of shots downfield and take that eighth man out of the box.''

The results weren't exactly a surprise after the Rams finished 32nd in the NFL in total offense and passing offense last season, and then didn't anything in the offseason beyond rookies Tyler Higbee, who started at tight end, and Goff. Fisher said he still hasn't decided whether Goff will move up to become the backup quarterback Sunday.

Fisher said the Rams' new play-caller, offensive coordinator Rob Boras, emerged from the game frustrated with himself. The Rams continually failed to create running room for Todd Gurley, and that problem is only likely to get worse against Seattle's vaunted defense, which limited Miami to 10 points in its defense-dominated opener.

Gurley didn't participate in the Rams' brief workout Wednesday after carrying the ball 17 times for 47 yards in the opener. The Rams barely used Gurley in the preseason to keep him healthy, but his fresh legs weren't much good against a San Francisco defense that smothered him, particularly between the tackles.

Britt attributed many of the Rams' problems to opening-night jitters. After eight months of uncertainty and moving, the regular season's arrival might have caught the Rams thinking too much instead of playing instinctive football.

''That will change up this week,'' Britt said. ''You realize it's only the first game, and everybody is always overexcited when you come into the first game. You don't want to overthink stuff. You don't want to miss stuff. You don't want to see one thing and then miss the next thing, so I know things will calm down for all of us.''

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AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL
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Tom Herman, HC of the University of Houston

I have been hearing about this guy for a while, although he has only been the HC at Houston for 2 years. Dude has his little school beating good schools from the Big Boy Conferences. He is 14-1 as Head Coach, and his team's performance may push it's way into a "Power Conference", in which case his boss (UO), will give him $5 million bonus. He's young and he's relevant, and gets out a lot from his squad of players vs supposed superior football programs. Sounds attractive to me as a possible HC for the Rams.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...0acea4-751e-11e6-be4f-3f42f2e5a49e_story.html
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Sunday's Commentators: Joe Buck & Troy Aikman

For the first time in the decade, Buck & Aikman will be commentating for us. The last time these two commentated for us was in 2008 against the New York Giants, week 2 (coincidentally) when Holt was playing his last year with us, Bulger was still under center, and Linehan was our HC.

My thoughts: I was critical of Buck's commentary back then for being lackluster in showing any emotions. Many fans still despise him for that disgusting act by Randy Moss years back as well as the lack of passion for commentating the 2008 Super Bowl, especially during that Tyree catch. Fast forward to 2010, he was on the verge of losing his job as a commentator. Since getting help, he's improved exponentially and I believe his commentary in recent years does an excellent job representing primetime football on FOX; there's been more passion in his tone when big plays occur and I definitely can appreciate improvement from someone who's been rather monotone before. Haven't made much observations on Aikman but I would say his color commentary is good too, keeping the Cowboy homer to a dull roar.

If I recall also, he also burned Stan K hard prior to moving to LA, I look forward to hearing those angry rants; if you're going to talk about this subtopic, please do not derail this into an LA vs StL thread, feel free to lock this topic mods if it gets out of hand. Other than that, your thoughts, comments, favorite NFL commentators?
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TRANSCRIPTS: Head Coach Jeff Fisher (9/14)

Head Coach Jeff Fisher, 9/14

(Opening remarks)
“You’ve heard of the 24-hour rule. If you haven’t, and you’re new to this, I’ll explain to you what it is. We basically have this philosophy, and everybody does, that you get 24 hours to get this thing over with, and corrected, and done. In this case, I gave them a 22-hour rule, because we got a short week. We’re just wrapping up with the players now at 5:00 p.m. We’re correcting things and looking at tape, and see what happens, and then we go on; we have to move on. Everybody is sleep deprived, but that’s a part of the Monday Night game. So, the coaches have already got a good start on our next opponent. I did ask the players, just to take an extra half hour…so maybe it’s an 22.5-hour (rule), and go back and reflect; make sure that we did everything possible that we possibly could do last week. That’s about preparation, and everything. Players are resilient, they bounce back. They’re excited about this challenge this coming weekend.

“As far as the game is concerned, you don’t win games converting 3-of-15 on third down, You don’t win games with 10 penalties, seven on defense. Not rushing the football, not scoring points, giving up too many big plays. There were some really good things in the game. Great, tremendous efforts, tremendous plays, in all three phases. Let me remind you, this is not a preseason game. This is a regular season game, and we didn’t do enough to win the game. So, you learn from it and you move on. From an injury standpoint, we came through it healthy, which is encouraging. Everybody is in good shape.

(On what disappointed him the most about last night’s game)
“It was the constant inability to get back into the game. We had opportunities. When we were third-and-3, we called a timeout, avoided the delay of game, got the first down, and then we get the penalty. We get (RB) Todd (Gurley) has the penalty. So now, we’re back out 15 yards, and we throw the interception. We had opportunities to get back in the game; we just never capitalized on it.”

(On his thoughts regarding last night not looking like a Jeff Fisher coached team)
“We didn’t. We expected to go in there and compete, and win the football game. I didn’t expect to go in there and get beat 28-0. Yes, you have to go back and look at it. Offensively, we couldn’t make plays. It’s a combination of bad decisions at the quarterback position, and drops at the receiver position. When you look at games like this, what happens is…I’ll take, for example, the offensive line. You’ve got five guys up there that are going to grade out really well, in a loss, but each one of them had a mistake. If you add those five mistakes in critical situations, that costs you a third-down conversion, that costs you an opportunity to score. We had mistakes; we had too many mistakes at different positions at different times, it added up.”

(On if he’s concerned about the decision-making of his leaders, in regards to the Gurley and DT Aaron Donald penalties)
“That’s a great point. We addressed it today. Todd was a little frustrated when he flipped the ball past the official and it landed in the hands of an opponent. Sometimes that’s called, and that’s not called. The learning experience from that is just give it to him, put it on the ground. When they scored their final touchdown, their tight end spiked the ball right in front of three of our defensive players; that was not called. So, that in itself is also a learning experience for our guys. Now with respect to Aaron, Aaron was playing really hard, and there was some chirping going on in that little scrum. He shouldn’t have done it, but he kind of pushed (WR Quinton Patton) 11 away, who I am fond of, I think he’s a really good player, I’ve known him since he was about this big, he played at Nashville. So, the helmet comes off; so now things start. The officiating department got involved. One of the officials put his hands on Aaron, and Aaron, just didn’t know him, he just slapped hands down, so that’s what he was ejected for. The helmet coming off was a result of the ejection, which I disagree with. The helmet doesn’t come off if he’s not ejected. He does have a 15-yard penalty, which is not acceptable. When you have time to look at it and be realistic, that’s how those things play out. But, we addressed it. These are two captains that had significant penalties in this game, and we just can’t have that.”

(On if anything stood out about the inability to run the ball consistently yesterday)
“Well they didn’t let us – they weren’t going to let us – their whole defense was setup to that. We had, probably, a half-dozen runs that were close to getting unblocked to the safety with Todd, it’s just that close. Their commitment was to stop the run and then try to get us to make the plays outside. But we wanted to stay with the run because it’s the run game that helps you get the plays outside.”

(On if he has made a decision regarding whether QB Sean Mannion or QB Jared Goff will be the backup on Sunday)
“No I haven’t, I will. And there’s that chance, too (that Goff is the backup). He’s pushing along; this whole experience for Jared was good – not good for our team, but good for him to see all this. We’ll decide later in the week.”

(On if he was aware that DE Robert Quinn and WR Kenny Britt were going to raise their fists during the National Anthem)
“I was not aware of that and I still haven’t seen it and I haven’t addressed it with them yet. But they have the right, they totally have the right and I get the issue. I think what we’ve done and what the organizational philosophy, with respect to the anthem, is well-known. They have the right to do that. I think there’s a difference between what they did and sitting down or kneeling down or sitting on the bench and things like that. But they have that right and I respect that.”

(On the kind of game he thought offensive coordinator Rob Boras called and if they were trying to get the ball up the field more)
“As a head coach, as coordinators, we all second-guess ourselves after it’s all said and done. Rob was not happy with himself, but a lot of it was dictated by what the defense was doing and by what we were trying to do. We wanted to get the run-game going, we needed to get the run-game going. We felt that, even at halftime being down two scores, we felt (that) we just needed to take balance in this game and make some plays and get some points and we’ll find a way to win this. As I mentioned to you in the past, Rob did an outstanding job calling plays the last four or five weeks (of last season) when I put him in a difficult position – he’s a good playcaller, we just didn’t execute for him.”

(On if he has to massage egos or if the team was down on themselves today)
“There’s the actual sense of disappointment and frustration, but you have got to push that out, you have got to eliminate that and come back ready to work. Our challenge, which we talked to them about, was we’re on a short week already, so we’re back tomorrow. And today we’re trying to recover, so tomorrow’s going to be a mental day and we have to get everybody back in the swing of things, physically. Yeah, we talked about it. Players are different than coaches – my job is to go back down the hall and get the coaches going because losses linger much longer with coaches than they do players. Players wake up in the morning and go ‘Oh, shoot, who are we playing this week?’ But, you also have to go into detail, like we said, about what happened.”

(On starting G Cody Wichmann at right guard and the rotation during the game)
“Yeah, our plan going in was to let them both play – Cody and ‘J.B.’ (G Jamon Brown). We’ll probably settle into one or the other by the end of the week. But you’re very observant, they both played and they both had a moment, but they also both did some really good things there. In addition to that, I was really pleased with (T) Rob (Havenstein) – once he settled down after the first quarter, it was really good to have Rob back at the right tackle spot.”

(On Seattle Head Coach Pete Carroll coming back to the Los Angeles Coliseum after coaching at USC for a number of years and if addresses the type of reception he expects Carroll to get)
“I would like to think that we would have a significant home-field advantage there. From a personal standpoint, I’m excited – this is our home opener here. We’re disappointed what happened last night, but as the week goes on, the enthusiasm and excitement is going to grow. As far as Pete is concerned, I could see the emotions that Pete is going to go through. He and I have been doing this a long time, this is about our teams competing and finding a way to win the game. I’m sure he’ll have an emotional moment. I may bring him into my office – which was his old office – and let him see it.”

(On how to not allow a defeat like this to define the team)
“It’s pretty simple, if you beat them down all week because we got beat, you have really little chance of having success the next week. You have to learn from it and move on. It’s, again, what I said earlier – they’re resilient, they come back. Everybody is either 1-0 or 0-1 right now, our focus is on Week 2 and that’s what gives you a chance. It’s a good group, they’re disappointed, they’re disappointed in each other but they’re together. The defense understands that they’re going to need the offense and the offense understands that they’re going to need the defense and special teams will balance it out. They’re together right now and they’re ready to compete this week and get ready.”

(On what advice he will give the team about shutting down the outside noise that will be talked about for the rest of the week and focus on the upcoming game)
“Well that’s okay, it’s talked about in every NFL city. Teams are winning and hey, they’re going to the playoffs. Teams lose and they’re not going to the playoffs – it’s doom and gloom. You don’t get caught up with that, you just focus on what you’re doing – turn to each other and have fun and prepare.”

(On if there’s a little bit of advantage to playing a team that you have had recent success against after just suffering a loss)
“I don’t know if there’s an advantage or not. My job, as the head coach, and our jobs as a staff is to get them ready to play and respect this opponent because they’re highly-talented. I think Miami is a good football team and for them to hang in there and find a way, even with (Seahawks QB) Russell’s (Wilson) ankle situation, to find a way to win that game is impressive. We’re just going to prepare. We’re familiar with them, they’re familiar with us; we respect them, they respect us. I love watching them play – the Seahawks – because they play hard, Pete does a great job and fortunately, we’ve had some success against them.”

What record will it take for Fisher to be...

I hope we win 6 straight starting this Sunday but ... I'm asking your honest opinion.
If we start off 0-4 do you think Kroenke pulls the plug on Fisher and fires him instantly?
I don't see how he could keep his job at 0-4 in year five.

Or what about the bye week? We will have played 7 games.
What Win-Loss record do you feel it would take to fire Fisher at the bye week?

I'm thinking 2-5 would make it happen.