LOL if Pagano were coaching, this game woulda been done after the Mack pick-six. They would have run the ball 3 times the next series out of fear of doing the same, punted, and the boat race would have begun from there.

Look, coaching matters, so does talent. Talent is probably most important because good players can make a mediocre coach look good. I see it at USC every year, bunch of underachieving 4-5 stars who elevate a bad coaching staff. A coach can elevate his players play, but he has to be damn good; i.e. Belicheat. And Belicheat had some good defenses and an accurate QB. Most good coaches will still lose if they don't have any talent.

Pagano was a cheerleader coach, the players loved him. But he was very dependent on good assistants. When he first started I think the assasstsnts were good, then steadily got worse. Pagano made some bone headed calls, he was not a good gameday coach. He always looked confused. Decent game plan, but no adjustments. His theories and strategies seemed made for ten years ago. He also was not very good at coaching young guys, not that Grigson's drafts helped at all. Grigson had to get FA's bc he couldn't find talent in the draft. Also Pagano and his coaches sucked at player evaluation as well: TJ green, that other corner that got cut after a year, I read Banner was a Philbin pick, etc.

Anyway, I see much more progressive strategies from this group of coaches. They make adjustments, in game decisions are made. But don't delude yourself, this team is hobbled with injuries. I saw it happen to a talented Chargers team last year. Injuries will derail your season. We have a bunch of rookies at WO. We have nobody in the secondary except Hooker who is really still a rookie in terms of experience. We were not that talented to begin with, now we are decimated.

Next man up is a nice theory for a rah rah type inspiration. But few teams if any have depth, the divide between starters and backups is usually pretty big. Ebron was just playing slot because we had two healthy WO's. I doubt he knew wtf to do.

He wasn’t

This is dumb, there is so much logically wrong with this I can't even bother.

Fair enough. Just frustrated with what seems like a lot of underachievement this season.

Really? Underachieving? With this roster and injuries it is difficult to see how they are underachieving. They are what we see. First year of a complete rebuild. Patience is called for this soon into the season

What did you think they would do this season? Win the division? Go to the playoffs?

We're on pace to lose more games than last year despite having Luck back , a 2nd off season with a supposed competent GM, and a supposed better coaching staff. So yes, we are underachieving.

I expected us to win more than 3 games, which is what we're on pace for.

I expected that also, then I saw this team play and pile up injuries. New coaches, new system, young players-you have never been able to get any continuity. It's a team sport, meaning you have to play together as a team. You need the same basic guys out there week after week to learn how to play as a cohesive unit. Once you do that you can replace a guy here and there that gets injured. We've been dealing with injuries to key guys right out of the gate. We are so desperate we sign guys off the street on a Monday and start them Sunday. We are what our record says we are. It's tough right now but it will just make it that much sweeter when we finally start winning.