FanPost

The QB Conundrum

"Courage can be that little voice inside your head saying tomorrow I will try again."

The NFC Least, a 7-9 division winner, Hurts, Jones, Fitz. There is only one true QB in this division and that is Dak Prescott. Sure this year we have Fitz, surrounded by what appears to be the most solid team we’ve fielded probably since Gibbs stood on the sidelines in his second stint. But Fitz is a wild card who even joked about playing for almost every NFL team. If you are indeed a good QB, this likely doesn’t happen. He’s also almost 40.

"Not all storms disrupt, some clear a path"

The Eagles seem to be in a rebuild, but they are playing with house money. They have three first rounders (probably). Their HC is a first timer who hasn’t exactly endorsed any QB as a starter. Hurts is a runner who is one hit away from getting sent to IR. There is talent there with Hurts, but I think the Eagles brass is a little hesitant to anoint another franchise QB after the collapse of "Pimples" Wentz. Remember it was Foles, not Wentz, who led the Eagles to their SB victory. Yet, Wentz got the huge contract. Foles got his money too, but really hasn’t lived up to his MVP status since. With Hurts, the Eagles really have holes and inflated SB chasing salaries everywhere. They have a big mess on their hands. They haven’t drafted well, they tried to sign guys, restructure, after restructure, thinking they were in that contention mode. It just wasn’t in the cards and now they have to try to clean this up. The one thing they do have going for them is if Hurts tanks so bad this year, they have ammo to get a QB and possibly some other pieces with three firsts. The Eagles are playing with house money. No one expects them to win, they have an unknown as coach, and they aren’t as a talented. But, this also makes them overlooked, and makes them dangerous. If Hurts can succeed where the circumstances call for his failure, he could be the real deal. If he is the real deal, the Eagles will join the Boys with a sure thing under C. And he’s in his rookie contract.....

"To improve is to change, to be perfect, is to change often."

The Giants seems to be poised for a break out. A lot of this relies on the play of one Danny "Dimes" Jones. This guy is smart, has decent arm, has underrated athletics, seems to have all you’d want in a franchise QB. The problem is Danny fumbles at a high rate and has a penchant for throwing a game altering INT, unless of course he is playing us. The Giants had a horrible blow hit them when Barkley went down. Yet, they were likely the best team in this division more consistently than any other team. They played many of their losses tough, they had a good defense, and were just solid enough on O to stay relevant. Perhaps the ESPN not top ten of the year, number one sums it up. Danny takes off down the field, leaving every one behind, as he approaches the end zone, he is tackled by Casper, the friendly ghost, and falls just short of a long TD run. Danny can almost get it done, he just seems to fall just short. This is basically his last stand, there is no room for error, and the pressure is one because the Giants really stocked up on weapons. There is also a savvy move made here too. Let’s say the Giants just tank, their season falls apart, injuries pile up, or they just stink. They could potentially have two top ten picks in this upcoming draft. They traded with the Bears who really don’t have a QB other than a rookie who could need some time to acclimate the speed of the NFL defenses. Fields won’t be able to hold the ball in the NFL....but he can run too if all else fails. The point is, if Giants tank, they one high pick, if both the Giants and the Bears tank, they have two high picks. This is different situation than the Eagles who may have one high pick, and two mid to late rounders with Miami’s and Indys firsts. So if Danny doesn’t "Dime", the Giants will make change.

"Paying your dues is more affordable when you’re broke."

Dak "Chunky Campbells Soup Ankle" Prescott: a 4th rounder mined by Stephen Jones who is perhaps the savior of the Boys franchise from the tone deaf Jerry "clean my glasses bitch" Jones. Stephen has come a long way from the infamous wipe my glasses bitch scene featured on many sport networks. The man makes moves that produce. Say what you want, the Dallas team has drafted well. What they haven’t done well is find a coach. But when you run three HOF (imo) coaches out of Dallas, idk, maybe working for Danny isn’t so bad. Dak is the guy, there’s no question. Is he the best QB, no, is he a top ten, yes. Is he worth 40 mil? Listen Dak played years on a 4th round tender. If anyone deserved a raise, he did. But is he worth 40 mil? Guys, my simple answer is a clear cut no! The guy is a winner and he can play. Some will argue, but to me, I’d take him. But likely the 40 million would be a deal breaker. It’s too much money. It hampers what they team can put around him. On paper, Dallas is loaded on O. Lamb, Coop, Gallup, Ewoks, I mean they even have Yoda up in the owners box. But then you look at the OL, here could be a problem. Fredricks is gone, Tyron has back problems, and last year showed how little depth they have on the OL. Let’s couple that with the defense. This is year two, Nolan had a complex system in a Covid off-season and now they are rebooting a new system. I’ve often felt a great coach tailors his system to his players strengths and this will be key here. Dallas couldn’t add FAs extensively to shore up their D for 40 million reasons. Will they be able to retain talent or rely on Stephen Jones to find replacements to compensate for the massive price of having an answer at QB under C. Dak is the other end of the spectrum, when you find your guy, eventually, or immediately, you gotta pay the guy. Some of the greatest QBs didn’t win as many as perhaps they should’ve because they won in the bank, and it hurt them on the field imo. Some say Brady is the Goat, and he could be, but he took much less to ensure he had a team around him. And he’s won seven!!!! Probably the most important part of Dallas to succeed is their ability to draft. This year, they went defense, and some may argue they drafted out of need not BPA. It remains to be seen if Stephen hampered by this, will continue his run of successful drafts.

"Trust the wait..."

Magic...the trick of magic is distraction. Hence the term sleight of hand. In layman’s terms the expression is defined as motor skills of entertainers to entertain or manipulate viewers. We have Fitzmagic. We have speed. We have a defense. We appear to have a decent deep OL. Can Fitz use these weapons to trick the defense and score. Last year we managed the O. It was boring and if we went down, it was tough to rely on the O to rally. This year do we have magic? Can we use our fine motor skills to entertain us and manipulate the defense lines up across from us? Fitz is no long term answer. He is what is known as a stop gap. He is a guy who is good enough to fill a hole for a short period of time. By not allocating high capital towards the QB position, we have been able to use our capital to fill many holes and add depth in many areas. Is this the new model of success? Is it sustainable? Many would argue no. I think off of the direct data, I’d have to agree. Eventually, for sustained success and relevance, we will likely need a capable QB that isn’t a stop gap. A lot of our success this season is going to be on Fitz. This guy is fun, he’s fearless, and lately he’s been pretty good. But there is this storm cloud in this sunny sky that can unload on our proverbial picnic. This is also a guy who has a known track record of being streaky. And when he’s good, he’s magic. But when he’s bad, he’s unplayable. We have a wild card, in Taylor. Taylor really won me over in the wildcard game because Tampa has a vicious defense like us. Todd threw every brick, stone, hammer, and nails at this guy and all he did was compete. This guy came out of the class room, and taught the class. He’s there, but he’s fragile. He’s fearless, he competes, but again, he’s a delicate proposition. He has a track record for getting hurt, and maybe coaches just didn’t have enough tape to properly prepare for this guy. Maybe Todd’s aggression played to Taylor’s strengths. Maybe not, I don’t know. But what I do know is Ron went out and spent 10 million on Fitz knowing he had Taylor. So that tells me even Ron has his doubts. Riverboat Ron didn’t want to gamble. That kind of shows his hand.

"Questions can be full of answers"

So here you have the division QB break down. You have your team who has their guy but had to pay him. You have your two teams that have tried to find their guy and they really aren’t sure if they have. Then you have your team that has tried to build around not having their guy. When you look at this it’s actually four different scenarios. Philly thought they had their guy, they paid him, and failed. The Giants saw this. They have gone out and tried to take away every excuse you can make for your QB not being successful. They also loaded their chamber in case it’s the it’s the me not you scenario. They have two firsts next year. Dallas has paid their guy, their OL isn’t the wall it once was, their defense isn’t yet striking fear in anyone. They have a talented group, but with the cap, how long will that be the case? We have Fitz who considered retirement. We don’t have any draft ammo other than what our record dictates we get (shy one cheesy 5th), and we really don’t have a long term solution or back up plan, it would appear. This is perhaps what Shakespeare’s Hamlet meant as he held a skull and said; to be or not to be (no it’s not lol). This is year two. Let’s enjoy this one and worry about three when it happens, eh?