varaven45

It stinks but I'm writing this guy off. That way, if he returns and kills it, its a windfall. If he doesn't, we are no worse off than where we are right now. Come FA and draft time, Ozzie and Co need to right this ship.

And each of has a shot to win the lottery in our lifetime. Nuff said. Time to acquire FA or draft the next vertical WR in '16.

Good pint. Everything, esp the QB play. Is magnified when you lose. Winning cures everything right. Case in point.: Cam Newton throws 3 picks the other night in a Panthers win but you don't hear a thing.

Just for giggles, anyone know when he's coming back ? 2016, 2017 ?

Interesting observation. You wonder if the season going south or pending contract expectations are beginning to weigh on him. We easily forget these guys are stil human, you know ?

There were a million reasons including Joe's fatal INT, why we lost. Joe went down swinging; trying to win the game. Still, Joe's part of the problem and part of the solution. Right now, we got a whole of problems to fix, not the least of which is Joe. btw- Joe is 7th in the league in passing yards (ahead of Rodgers, Dalton and both Mannings) with arguably the WORST receiving corps in the NFL, a makeshift OC position, precarious OL (sans Yanda) and a dysfunctional running game. Let that all sink in for a few minutes.

Penalties reflect lack of team discipline and leadership. The team, not the league, owns it and needs to fix it.

Was the it referee Ronald Torbert or Stevie Wonder ?!

Yep. Even on Johnson's first TD - which was a busted play- we had guys (Mosely)whiffing on the guy. When crap goes down, it goes down.

Tsyl, Cant disagree. I'll go a step further. You could trace our problems back a few years - SB win in NO. The team - talent, coaching, FO moves, draft, etc. - has gone south. It was just a mater of time.

Crav, I thought the turning punt (game was lost) after the fumbled punt right before the half. We were in the lead and had momentum before the half. Should have had the lead 10-7 going into half and starting with the ball in 2nd half. My opinion.

I don't know folks but it could ugly early and get uglier as she goes. Not feeling good about this one but one step closer to a top draft pick

Crav, your prediction on Az points looks spot on. For us, I'm thinking 10-14, unless the O catches lightning in a bottle. Anticipating an Az 20 + pt win.

TSyl, I really appreciate your points - all of which make sense. I really believe there is a very fine line between winning and losing in today's NFL. Just look at all our games this year. The lack of discipline and attention to detail has certainly cost the team dearly. And when you lack the talent - say as Cincy - and the discipline/attention to detail - NE- then your margin for error is razor thin. Moving forward, I don't see our fortunes changing until the FO actually "kills" the draft and acquires significant FA s for at least consecutive years. It will likely take at least 2-3 years before we have stockpiled enough talent to expect, rather than, hope to win. The NE, Denvers will take our current place as the irrelevant ones. A team's good fortune is cyclical and this organization is at or nearing bottom. We will see the bottom this year I believe and next year we'll begin to see marked improvent. I have too much confidence in the organization to expect anything less. in the meantime, I'll keep rooting for my team, knowing there's a lot of pride and good times ahead. It's like the recession: we've been there, we'll endure, and get on the other side before you know it.

At 1-5 and seemingly pathetic, lost and going in no direction, how in the hell did we stay in each lost game and actually could have easily one several of them ? Is the league actually that mediocre or bad or did the other teams just feel sorry for us let us hang around ?

Jax at home ..... In a nail biter

Yep, the dysfunctional red zone offense has been crippling. It's been this way for years (sans Joe's SB run a few years ago)

Which makes it all the more incredible we are ranked 7th in total offense (yards) and 9th in points. All that with no offensive identity, no WRs (sans SSS) and a grossly underutilized running game. A tad misleading? Probably, but still interesting. Now, imagine the O with a healthy Perriman, another WR, a running attack and a creative OC. Doesn't help the Woeful D but just sayin .....

After whiffing on several drafts, amazingly we still have a good DL and OL. Fortify those and begin to strengthen the LB corps and secondary on D, and WR and TE on offense. Again, I think a 2-3 year project and within Joe' s window (assuming he's here and healthy). it some ways, it reminds me of where we were when we DRAFTED Joe and Ray Rice. Realistically, it'll take a couple years (2017-2018) to achieve relevance. It stinks but its reality.

A QB to consider this Spring is Brandon Doughty, Western Kentucky. Likely a mid round pick with a helluva arm.

Hmm. It sounds like we are in 7 yr itch mode

Didn't Billick leave after 7 years (1999-2006) ? How long has Harbs been coach. 7 years ? Maybe a change is in order. If so, who ?

So Crav, as a fellow fan, what do you suggest we do ?

Here are the 5 things we learned: 1-5. We stink.

I don't see us cutting Joe even as bleak as things are right now. Still, we need to rework his deal, free up $, and pick up a beast and speedy WR from the FA market. This time, though, Ozzie cant do an impersonation of Peter Angelos and screw around and blow off the tier 1 FAs and wait for the leftovers. This team desperately needs legitimate NFL WR's to form a modern day passing program like in Cincy and Pittsburgh. Joe needs 1 more year with a legit WR/TE corps. Concurrently, we draft or bring in another legit QB (not another Schaub please) to push Joe or take over the next year.