(04-18-2024, 12:46 PM)flgatorsandjags Wrote:

(04-18-2024, 12:28 PM)Caldrac Wrote: Exactly. You hear it all the time from scouts and the scouting community. The "intangibles" that everybody likes to throw around is just a word that sums up something that a particular player is just naturally better at. Whether it's God given speed, agility, strength, balance or power. 

Or, you'll get the other scouting note I like paying attention to. "Looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane". There's a lot of that in multiple sports as well. You could be an absolute gym rat, built like a brick [BLEEP] house or have shoulders the size of mountains. It means absolutely [BLEEP] all if you can't understand your blocking assignment, don't understand leverage, how to read a secondary, identify a rushing lane, etc. 

And that's okay. There's a reason why guys are boom or bust in RD1 and why teams land gems in RD2 and down. It's a big game of crapshoot man. You either trust your evaluation process and your draft board or you don't. Most of these guys are physically capped out by the time they're drafted. They are who they are. 

If he's throwing 225 pounds up over 30 times and the film shows that he's throwing his blockers around like a bag of potatoes while also getting downfield to make the tackle or sack? And he's done it consistently year in and year out? He's probably got that damn "intangible" everybody is looking for. 

If he's throwing up 400 pounds on the bench, squatting over 500 pounds and has had one good season of football while laying dormant for the other two or three years?

You might want to be careful. There's a lot of variables in all of this. But, like you said, it's scary and opposing. Your best five didn't start until the season finale and that best five laid an egg a few times in a game where you win and you're in against a team that had nothing to gain at all. 

I think this coaching staff and front office knows they have to get better next week in the trenches or they're possibly out of a job. If Lawrence gets nicked up again this year like last year? Because they only added one new face to the starting line-up? [BLEEP] need to be kicked to the streets down there near that stadium before the season is over. 

There's just no excuses for it anymore.

It's sad and scary that Doug actually thinks that was the best 5 with Fortner in and Little out. That 5 also got destroyed most of the game by Ten. dline who aren't wold beaters and their best player in Simmons didn't even play

Best at his disposal. You're only as good as your roster allows you to be. Fortner was probably the best Center he had at the time. Obviously we now know what the team truly thinks of him because they went out and signed a 10 year veteran in Morse. Who honestly was middling by all accounts in Buffalo last year. 

That's why I think we should honestly keep his statements in mind. They said they needed to get better. They at least did that by getting Fortner's replacement. I just don't think they're done. Their prospect visits would indicate to me that they've identified players from this class at 17, 48, 96, 114 & 116 that are realistic options on their draft board. 

That group of five was bad in the finale. I keep thinking of that run stop at the goal line that got blown up. That had happened more than once in the game throughout the contest. We absolutely have to get better next week in the trenches or this team is doomed to fall short again.

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