NoCalMike

When using citrus for a marinade, sauce, baste etc etc.....every since I started using the zest (shredding up the peel/rind of the fruit itself) instead of just the juice, it's made a huge difference in getting the flavor to shine through on the cooked meat. There was a really good Caribbean marinade I use for flank steak when I make grilled fajitas and the flavor was night & day from when I just added some juice versus the shredded up zest.

So Texas has decided that water breaks while working outside in the blazing summer heat are too woke?

These folks live in a world now where evidence against Trump means he isn't guilty and no evidence against Biden means he is definitely guilty.

"WOKE" is probably going to be the easiest rallying cry for the GOP to turn out their base. Vaguely describe something you don't like, offer nothing in it's place that enriches anyone's lives, and then slowly stop talking about it once you win. Oh wait....that is sort of how the GOP has been running their campaigns for about 30 years now.

He's basically going to be a rookie as the Starting QB this season. What we want to see is his skill set on display, learning from mistakes in-game, and the ability to put the offense on his shoulders in certain situations. What we can't expect are performances equaling Top 10 QBs who have been in the league 3-4 seasons. Regardless of his ceiling, his level of play isn't going to be there yet. I am hoping for the a trajectory similar to Hurts. All we need to see this season is that he shows he can/will be THE GUY going forward. Once he does enough to convince the front office & coaches,(an IF at this point, admittingly) then you go into full-on stack talent around Sam mode.

Yeah I felt like 2022 was already the season that Ron took a chance with the O-line. Basically neglecting upgrading it in hopes that he could bring in a few cheap pieces to hold things together and not get worse. That didn't work out and it was very cringe to watch for an entire season a rotating door of mediocre subs and guys having to be thrown into roles they weren't equipped for. You can always find ways to excuse it for a single season because every season there are some things that happen in-season that are out of your control. However, going into the offseason with the likelihood that Howell was going to take over there is zero justification to play the guessing game with the O-line AGAIN.

If the O-line ends up as horrendous (or worse) than last season, when you knew going into the season you were starting a rookie QB, I'd find that damn near a fireable offense alone due to gross negligence/incompetence.

There's nothing wrong with working out with Von Miller during the offseason in theory. I am sure Von knows the ins & outs of staying in shape and showing up ready to ball. The issue is that being in shape, strength & conditioning, & athleticism so far haven't been Chase's issues, it is more technique (or lack there of) and the type of things you need to be working on against live O-lineman where the coaches can critique you in real time and help coach you up and out of your mistakes after reviewing film. I don't think the voluntary OTAs are going to make or break a player when it comes to regular season performance, but if I am Chase Young, a player with a ton of potential, who hasn't really shown a whole lot since my rookie season (not entirely his fault, injury/recovery) I am probably wanting to be as close to the team as possible, get as much legitimate practice battles against O-line as possible. If the guy goes out and gets 15+ sacks this year, he will have silenced the critics and will get paid a ton, but if he struggles to get 10 sacks, it is going to be seen as a problem as far as the kind of contract he like is going to want versus what this team (or a lot of others) will be willing to pay him.

Honestly I've been so through so many false hopes of ups & downs when it comes to reports on players during OTA's & Training camps that at this point, other than injuries and the curiosity of who will be fighting for a roster spot when cuts start happening, I make it a point to try and spare myself reading too much into these things. Of course Howell's situation is a little more unique since he is a young QB taking over the starting role (most likely) and has little to no NFL experience so the question marks coupled with his natural athletic ability tends to make me want to cling onto anything positive or negative I hear, but in reality, what matters is what the young man is doing beginning with Week 1 of the regular season.

I think it sort of depends on the situation. Like are we talking about being a playoff team that gets booted routinely in the first or second round on & off for a decade or are we talking about being a playoff team for three years, then attempting to go all in for a championship run which means they better win it all or the team will get torn apart and have to rebuild the following season?

I think what I was getting at in my last reply is that Ron's approach to Howell (so far) has me feeling he is more unsure about his potential than anything else. Doesn't mean he doesn't think there is a chance Howell will end up a good QB but he isn't convinced. At some point you have to be willing to just take the leap and hope whatever you are seeing on the practice field is going to translate to the games (unless the issue so far is what's been seen on the practice field itself?). I kind of figured that once Heinicke was gone who was already established as a QB2, it would be a little telling who was brought in to back up Howell, or now as stated by Ron....compete for the #1 job. I just don't see the upside to the scenario of Brissett starting, even if he performs better than Sam on the practice field, if....and it is an if.....they view Sam's abilities as QB1 material. That is sort of the problem with bringing in veteran QB's to compete with an inexperienced rookie for the starting job. Of course a veteran QB might look better in the short term, but they have already had time to show themselves to be starting QB caliber and didn't do it and once they get extended starting time, it will show up on the field. If Howell ends up starting, I am not going to be surprised if we see a lot of games similar to his performance against Dallas. He will show off the arm talent, make some electrifying plays, but also get fooled by coverages at times and throw an untimely pick or two. That is just how it goes for rookies. Even most of the great QB's did that early on in their careers, but if you believe in their potential you are willing to roll with it and not instead go with a short term mid-tier solution instead.

For me, it just sounds like double-speak when it comes to Howell. When you draft a young QB that you believe in, like truly believe they are franchise caliber, then you are going to be willing to weather the up and down rookie season they might have, in order for them to get the necessary reps and real game experience. I like Brissett as a backup, but he isn't a long term solution, nor a franchise level QB. So his 1 year contract can be looked at in two ways, one of them is that wanted a relatively inexpensive option at QB2 so they could put their resources elsewhere. The other is that they seem Howell as a QB2 long term and this just buys the organization another season/offseason to address the QB1 position. I understand why Ron is saying what he is publicly about Brissett. Hell, maybe he had to assure him that he would be in an open competition for QB1 in order for him to sign here, but again, if they believe Howell, with a season or two of experience can end up really good, then there is no justification to keep kicking the can down the road on getting him onto the field, as another season or two goes by with the roster you've assembled that can win games right now.

JB isn't a franchise QB. A franchise QB is what the organization is after and what has been ever so elusive for the last 25 seasons. If JB beats Howell out for the starting job in 2023, it more than likely means Howell is looking at solid QB2 as his future and the team will be drafting a QB next offseason.

This is kind of where I am at too. I have just seen too many QB draft picks (especially for this team) not work out, and a lot of the times there is no rhyme or reason to it. I think Wentz not working out really forced Ron's hand to try and make it work with Howell, because I still think the plan with Wentz was the coaches hoping he'd have a career resurgence in 2022 and they'd end up re-signing him for at least two more seasons while Howell developed as the #2, and by then they'd be 100% on whether Howell was the QB to takeover the franchise or not. I like Howell's game, but I am not foolish enough to assume that him having the physical tools automatically means they will translate on the field.

I just don't see how Brissett can be seen as a legit threat to any QB that the coaches feel should be the QB1. You can maybe make the argument that they would still view Howell as the long term QB1 but feel like he isn't necessarily ready to shoulder that yet, but there is also the argument that at some point you have to just commit to the guy you think has the goods because there is a certain level of development that is only going to happen with actual regular season reps against live opponents. I think if anything Brissett's 1 year contract is what is bringing on the questions because maybe the coaches view Brissett as a 1 year starter as a contingency plan should Howell get out to a bad start, but maybe it is like 2023 where the team is finding ways to win around mediocre QB play? Questions questions questions.....

I've got to imagine that Bienemy wants to target a playmaker at the TE position either through FA or the draft. I personally think Rogers showed some very encouraging things before his injury last season, but if the coaches overall still view him as a project/devlopmental talent, then they probably want a stable pass-catching playmaker lining up at the position ASAP.

I'm neutral on Howell, even though he seems to have all the physical tools, only because I've been burned before buying into our QB draft picks before they really proved it on the field, but I will say that as I was originally worried with the very guarded praise and backing of Howell by Rivera, the fact that they went out and signed Brissett on a 1 year deal, tells me they are actually backing Howell as the QB1 of this team at least for 2023 to prove himself. I don't think you sign a Brissett caliber QB for any other reason than to push the guy in front of him, and your QB1 can't beat out Brissett in a competition then they are going back to the drawing board at the position next offseason anyway. Part of me is thinking they want to replicate what the Eagles did with Hurts, and give Howell the 2023 season to show he is capable of playing at a certain level, and then use next offseason to load up everywhere around him to make that big run in 2024 before they would have to worry about a contract extension.

I mean to be honest I am not surprised that any player who was a Snyder-centric draft pick and had the "Dan Snyder privileges" while on the team is going to have more positive things to say about the guy than everyone else, but that is why a good personal relationship with someone isn't a good representation of the totality of the person necessarily. As far as new ownership goes, it is like any billionaire is going to come with some baggage because it's rare that anyone gets to billionaire status without having rubbed some people the wrong way (or worse) so that aside, I mainly want the new owner to be successful with current endeavors unrelated to the team so they won't be relying on the team itself to grow their person revenue. Any profit they make off the team should be seen as a bonus to the revenue they are already generating with their other businesses. This was a big turning point back in the day out here with the Maloofs when they owned the team. The Kings went from their toy, to their primary revenue source when they stupidly sold their beer distribution business and within a handful of years they were pushed out of ownership for those and related reasons.

The idea that just about any billionaire is going to be totally "clean" is a bit of wishful thinking, but there is "questionable business practices" and then there is Dan Snyder, and there's a lot of room in between.

I don't believe so. I think the Eagles figured Hurts was good enough to captain the ship, as long as the ship was elite and went all in for 2022. Once they have to pay Hurts they are hoping he has developed into an elite QB, but I sort of tend to think what we saw in 2022 was Hurt's peak. Not that it is a bad level to peak at, but it does require a ton of talent around him.

To the point of the posts above, the Commanders might see themselves in a similar situation the Eagles were with Hurts. I would call Hurts a good QB, but not great, however he is good enough that he will end up paid like a great QB (or at least what the standard of pay used to be, right?) so the Eagles probably figured they have a couple seasons to load up on as much talent around him before his contract takes up a much bigger % of the contract. By then Hurts will have either grown and developed into a great QB or the Eagles could look to alter the contract or something else to off get off the hook. I think 2023 might be that season for Howell. If he goes out in 2023 and shows he is capable of being a QB you can win with (sprinkled in with dual threat playmaking ability) you might see them try to load up like crazy next offseason to make a run.

The Allen & Payne contracts tell me that this organization is now paying for performance and Sweat & Chase are officially on the clock. Chase gets more charity because he did ball out as a rookie and was working his way back from injury in a handful of games, but in 2023 our DE's either ball out or at least one isn't coming back.

Well that's always the messaging, right? When big banks fail it's never their fault for getting loose & risky with everyone's money, it's always the fault of the people because we just didn't agree to de-regulate them enough to allow them ever MORE gambling privileges. Oh and one of those silicon valley banks that failed because they decided to get caught up in crypto and has zero to do with DEI which is really an absolute nothing of a thing besides window-dressing progressive-ism anyway..

DeSantis is going to get Chris Christied in the primary if he attempts to run against Trump. I think DeSantis is another case of big fish in a small pond. It's also why on the other side, I am not sure if Newsom would play on a national level despite me personally liking a lot of aspects of him. Trump is in the unique position where his supporters simply don't care about any of his negative traits. They either ignore them, excuse them, or outright deny they exist. It gives Trump free reign to go after his opponents without any fear of what they might say back in response.

Woke is just the new "SJW." It started out as a very specific criticism but as does everything else, it took on a life of it's own with the mainstream GOP and morphed into anything that isn't right-wing is "woke" just like anything to the left of Reaganism/trickle-down is "leftist/socialism/communism" It is the same rebranding job that is done when there is little to no merit in the actual argument, just demonize a brand, and throw that brand on everything you disagree with. Other recent examples: "CRT" & "gender ideology"