I completely trust Macdonald and the defense.
I trust Darnold and the skill position guys more than most. Darnold needs to prove people wrong for sure but I don't think he's the liability people think he is.
I don't trust the line at all yet. Not saying they can't play really well and hopefully sundell to right guard rights the ship but I'm still worried about it.
I used to be into archery when I was younger. I was pretty good and competed in tournaments on a regular basis. There was a guy at the range that was famous for lighting up the practice range, hitting robin-hoods, consistently 10 type shooter. When we are all just hanging out and shooting on non-tourney days, he was hands down one of the top 2 or 3 guys in the club. But come tournament time, he struggled to ever finish top 3 because he would always send shots all over the place and on occasion actually miss the target all-together because he brain farted on the distance. He just could not put it together in big moments. He upgraded every possible element on the bow - sights, string, silencer, rest, etc and bought one new bow after another. None of it helped. It didn't matter how good the equipment was that he had because the problem was in his own head.
In years past conversations around here involving the o line went so far as to recommend blowing the whole thing up and getting all new players. Now, out of 5 o lineman, we have 1 who's play is marginal to sometimes bad. 4/5 guys playing at a relatively high level and two, maybe 3 playing as good as any others at their position in the league and still the O line is the issue?
The line has given him overall some of the best protection in the league. Quarterbacks who lead the league in explosive plays and time to throw in the pocket don't have an o-line problem. Sam 100% has an issue he needs to overcome and it remains to be seen whether he can do it or not. Unfortunate thing is, unlike years past when despite the bumps, the QB was one of the bright spots on a poor overall team, we have the pieces in the run game defense and good enough blocking to get it done.
To date, JS's powerplay in bringing Sam over has been good enough to win games against defenses that haven't been skilled enough to challenge our pass attack. Yet everytime we have faced a unit that can bring pressure or throw off Sam's timing, we look very average, if not worse than average.
Batted balls are more on the QB than the o line because it's the QBs responsibility to see the line and hit the lanes between players to make plays.
When the QB doesn't step up into the pocket or feel pressure behind him and just stands there waiting for the route to come open, that's not on the O line. Daniel Jeremiah talked specifically about this this week on Brock and Salk.
Sam needs to take the next step. Brandon Mebane also interestingly gave an interview where he said that from a DLine man's perspective, there are things that Sam does presnap that are a 'tell' as to whether we are going to pass and that it's a pretty consistent things that he is doing. What it is? I don't know. But it wouldn't at all surprise me given how his performance overall has dipped since the Rams game.
Sam has a complete team around him and 4/5ths of a dominant o line. He has more than probably 30 other QBs in the league have around them and light years more than any QB named Wilson or Smith had here over the last 10 years. There is enough here and the window is wide open. I am concerned that fact alone is enough to F with the dude's mind, knowing that the lynch pin is him.
Pray to God this season doesn't get flushed the way 2020 did. Given the overall team we have today, not making a real push would hurt far more now than it did that year.
