(12-13-2022, 10:47 AM)Mikey Wrote:

(12-13-2022, 09:30 AM)carp8dm Wrote: I was thinking about it this morning as I was brushing my teeth.

Kyler Murray took a sorry [BLEEP] AZ Cardinals to the playoffs for the first time in forever after being drafted #1 overall just 3 seasons earlier.  

Murray came on a team that was down right aweful,  took them to 5 wins his rookie year.  8 wins his 2nd year.  And then the playoffs in his 3rd year.  That's exactly what you want to see from a garbage franchise that drafted #1 overall.  Now, sure he played bad in his first ever playoff game.  

But he got absolutely buried by every single media outlet after that game.  But for whatever reason, Lamar Jackson, who had just as embarrasing a 1st playoff apperance didn't get a fraction of the smoke Kyler got.  It just made me wonder why 1 hyper run happy QB gets the benefit of the doubt and the other doesn't...  Is it height?  Is it the city the franchise is the QB is on?  

Lamar Jackson looked like absolute dog water in his first playoffs and he had a better team around him.  Kyler willed the Cards to that playoff spot and his OLine was completely decimated by a world class defense.  I don't know, it's wild the way the sports media is so arbitrary in the way the shape a narrative around a team/city/player. 

I hope Kyler the best.  I would love to see him come back and stick it to all the haters.

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I imagine a big part is how the teams finish/get to the postseason.

Look at Kliff's history, his teams always tend to start strong, then gradually fizzle to a finish. In that playoff year, they started 7-0, and ended on a 3-5 run. If analysts see that, they may be lukewarm on the prospect of them (QB or coach) turning that around and carrying the team. Jackson did have a horrible first go, but I think a lot of coaches, players, and analysts knew that he had plenty of potential to make his future in the postseason more than just a few outings where he couldn't drop that deer in the headlights performance.

(12-13-2022, 10:53 AM)Mikey Wrote:

(12-13-2022, 09:57 AM)carp8dm Wrote: I'm not saying I have any insider information or anything...  But the smack they talked about Kyler just seems so suspect.  He plays video games in his off time so they put that in the contract?  You don't think that all these 20 year olds are playing video games?

ehh... whatever.  I'm just saying that even with all the video game playing, the dude took a 3 win team to the playoffs in 3 years.  And even after that, they still decided to make him look like a schmuck.  You'd think you'd want to praise a guy like that...

A lot of analysts are former players, or folks that have spent their entire career studying and discussing the best in the game. I think a lot of them are going to have more favorable opinions of the guys who spend their time in the film room, building up (or taking heat in the stead of) the team, and not just relying on natural talent to carry them.

I don't think any critic is concerned with guys playing games in their downtime. You gotta have some recreation to avoid burnout. But if you aren't putting in work when the expectation is that you should be putting in work, you're gonna get criticized if you appear unprepared, out of sync, or overwhelmed.

Yeah, I get that.  

Especially the Kliff Kingsbury (or whatever his name is) criticism.  I never really understood why you'd bring a college HC into a NFL world just because of the QB.  It just seems like a decision made with very little actual professional discussion/fore-thought

I'm not really a big fan of the running QBs.  Maybe I'm "old school", but I've never seen a running QB ever really sustain a franchise for more than 5 years.  I'd rather have a pocket QB that can scramble...  That's a 15 year investment.

All I'm saying is that it's weird that certain running QBs are seen as priority over another one that does basically the same thing.  Your analysis is probably correct.  It's mostly the coaching and the team philosophy.  But.  I consider Lamar Jackson and Kyler Murray closer to eachother as players than the rest of the media does.  And for me, that just seems weird.

It's not like Lamar Jackson is a SB contender.  He's a playoff contender, so long as he has good weapons around him and a good coach.  Kyler seems like the exact same thing.  Well, now that Kyler has an ACL...  His career may be done.

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