EddiOK

Our draft board, for the first 5 rounds next May, should be exclusively CB, Safety, and WR. We've been trying the deep discount bins at Walmart, and this is the state of things because of that. It's time to go to Crate & Barrel and order up the nicer goods, pay the price, and have different results than this year. And if our FO cannot draft successfully, then maybe it's time for a FO change.

Wow, what a bust.

This season is an accumulation of: 1) Losing quality players to FA for a few years, 2) Poor drafting in key areas over same time, 3) injuries, 4) the continual coaching carousel with new schemes and styles. It's life in the NFL, but boy oh boy, it's become the perfect storm for us this year. The good news is that most of those above (except #3) we have some control over. Normally, good drafting counteracts injuries and FA, but in our case, it's exposed us to sub-par substitutes and desperate waiver wire acquisitions.

So the next time a ball carrier is held down, not moving, sitting on another player, and a 2nd defensive player comes over and cleans his clock - how many of us think we'll see an unsportsmanlike conduct or late hit penalty for that? Yep, me too.

My Yelp rating for the refs, on a 1-5 scale, would be -13.

I think the elephant in the room is the lousy drafting and hemorrhaging of quality players over the last 5 years. That's what's got us to this place today.

I would think that playing for respect (which is all we can play for now) would drive these guys to RUN to the line for the next play.

If they're missing so many mechanics and fundamentals this far into the season, what in the world did they do all summer?

Why do I have the sneaking suspicion that Belicheat is going to make Melvin a pro-bowl CB by the playoffs?

The only way to have a backup plan to an untested rookie WR to stretch the field is to go out and get a high-quality free agent and pay top $$. Is that something Ozzie was prepared to do, knowing the cap limits and dead $$ we were paying out this year? It would have been viewed as high-risk financially. In retrospect, it might have won us a game or two more. Nine out of ten times, he's saying no to that kind of approach.

One silver lining is that when the off-season comes, and Joe's contract needs to be re-worked, he can't claim this year as a reason to get more $$.

Where's Juan Castillo when you need a really good scapegoat?

OK, I was venting. This is a year of adversity, and we're going to come through it. But we need to make sure we're learning the lessons we need to learn along the way. And it still doesn't seem like we're at that spot where we're learning them. Same stupid mistakes, bad mechanics, dumb penalties, and poor decisions as last week(s).

Between the Cubs winning their first World Series in over 100 years, and the Ravens having an 8-8 season--my $$'s on the Cubbies. It's that bad.

So how in the world does NE do it? Year in and out, they are drafting at the same level as us, getting the same rotation of players as a successful team, yet they can re-load and win regularly. I'm not talking Brady and the O - I really mean the D, that has stayed consistently above average to very good over the years. Are they conditioning differently, and getting less injuries as a result? Is Belicheat handing out bags of unmarked Benjamins in the back parking lot? It's so frustrating to see them keep sailing, and us getting grounded like this.

Now its time to get your buddy ready for the Pearl Harbor treatment we're seeing every Sunday.

The moves create little spark and smack of desperation. Frankly, we're just not good right now (as opposed to under-achieving), between injuries and quality of replacements. The time to make major upgrades is between Feb & August. But given that window this past off-season, nothing was done. Same major weakness now that was obvious in Feb. We just need to wait till the off-season (which will come much sooner this year) to make those moves. We'll certainly get better draft pick #'s come next May, that's for sure.

Mo discipline and mo fire.

Babin was a disaster. Multiple offsides because your head sticks over the ball THAT YOUR LOOKING AT? I was calling it from my basement TV before the plays even started. That's part of the undisciplined play that's been killing us.

And I don't think this is as much Pees' fault on the D as it is with the FO. The players are just not cutting the mustard. No fight, no heart, no composure. You can't weave gold from straw. We're playing for draft picks and pride at this point, and we're only 5 games into the season. It's that obvious.

Good God, that was awful. Making Derek Carr and Josh McCown look like Tom Brady are the eye-popping realities of our D right now. In all four losses, the D cannot hold a 4th quarter lead. Them's the brutal facts.

Which secondary will show up - it's enough to take a heavy dose of aspirin before 1pm on Sundays, just in case.

I really love this guy. Has a heart like a Raven, plays like a Raven. Godspeed.

I'm ready for all the pre-season hype about these young WR's to match the on-field actions.

At this rate, Perriman will be ready to suit up in November 2018.