Baker Mayfield: Fire The Cannons

[Out of the Rafters at the Q]

And Phoenix is the perfect city for this experiment because over half the people out here are fans of other teams because we went from 1.5 million in 1990 to over 4.5 million today. Just a bunch of fans of teams from all over.

Not sure how Phoenix supports 4 teams honestly.

Washington DC supports 4 teams if you count the redskins and I feel like they're even more transplant-heavy than Phoenix. I think population and lifestyle have a lot to do with it.

 

[The Voice]

So is Baker, Azor Ahai?

Yes hue was Nisa Nisa, he stabbed him in the heart.

 

[The Voice]

Baker reminds me of Philip Rivers from a personality/leadership standpoint. Brash. Unapologetically comfortable with who he is. Kind of a prick.

If you're on his team or a fan of his team, you absolutely adore him and would run through a brick wall for him.

If you aren't on his team or are a fan of his team, his personality cuts the other way and he's easy to really dislike.

I’ve never heard of baker screaming at his own teammate. Maybe this has happened, but Phillip does it a lot.

 

[dark2332]

I’ve never heard of baker screaming at his own teammate. Maybe this has happened, but Phillip does it a lot.

100% this point; great post.

Both are supremely competitive.

However, Phillip Rivers has a temper and will yell at referees, teammates, as well as the usual trash talk.

Baker, although he loves to talk, really only seems to express true anger when he’s defending a teammate or his team—not at a teammate personally. If anything, he seems very gracious with teammates who make mistakes, taking them aside and pumping them back up.

 

[Sebastian]

A lot of similarities and I do think Favre is the absolute best comp - but I think Baker is smarter with the ball. Favre took a lot of stupid chances at bad times. I don’t see that in Mayfield - not yet anyway.

I think Baker is smarter, more mature and more self-aware.

Fewer demons too. Favre had some serious issues at GB with drug abuse.

 

[The Oi]

100% this point; great post.

Both are supremely competitive.

However, Phillip Rivers has a temper and will yell at referees, teammates, as well as the usual trash talk.

Baker, although he loves to talk, really only seems to express true anger when he’s defending a teammate or his team—not at a teammate personally. If anything, he seems very gracious with teammates who make mistakes, taking them aside and pumping them back up.

I sense that Baker isn’t even truly angry in those situations. Inasmuch as one might have an emotional reaction to being broken up with out of the blue, a terrible call on the field or something that might feel important to someone of his age and make them feel out of control.

I have a feeling he’s strategic and goes out of his way to seek opportunities to build up specific teammates at specific times.

Total armchair psychologist here...

He seems to be very close to his mom and I’d bet the stability and empathy he learned from her plus the challenges he faced and surpassed in sports made a perfect cocktail for a tremendous leader.

 

[Tonedef75]

And Phoenix is the perfect city for this experiment because over half the people out here are fans of other teams because we went from 1.5 million in 1990 to over 4.5 million today. Just a bunch of fans of teams from all over.

Not sure how Phoenix supports 4 teams honestly.

Well it helps that suburbs step up to the plate at times. The Coyotes would have probably left for greener pastures had Glendale not stepped up and given ownership such a sweet deal.

 

[Lee]

Well it helps that suburbs step up to the plate at times. The Coyotes would have probably left for greener pastures had Glendale not stepped up and given ownership such a sweet deal.

True about Coyotes, but they have a huge following here, bigger than most towns with Hockey outside of Canada.

 

[macbdog]

I think Baker is smarter, more mature and more self-aware.

Fewer demons too. Favre had some serious issues at GB with drug abuse.

Those drug abuse issues popped up after the injuries started to pile up and he got hooked on pain killers. The good news is that Dorsey has made protecting Baker, so this hopefully is something that doesnt happen as early in his career (nicks and dings are inevitable in such a violent sport).

 

[CBBI]

Those drug abuse issues popped up after the injuries started to pile up and he got hooked on pain killers. The good news is that Dorsey has made protecting Baker, so this hopefully is something that doesnt happen as early in his career (nicks and dings are inevitable in such a violent sport).

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d07-XCIpBVQ


OL is probably the biggest question mark on the team at this point.

 

[Out of the Rafters at the Q]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d07-XCIpBVQ


OL is probably the biggest question mark on the team at this point.

Agreed.

Dorsey hasn't invested draft capital into the OL. The most he's spent was Corbett, who hasn't yet shown that he can play in the league.
Dorsey hasn't invested financially into the OL.
Dorsey traded away one of our best offensive linemen to add to our pass rush.

Dorsey has continued to draft speed and athleticism at "play making" positions (WR, DB, DL). If someone says that Dorsey has made protecting Baker a priority, there's the Dorsey cult of personality again. Dorsey is good, protecting the QB is good, therefore Dorsey must value protecting the QB. You're implanting your own football thoughts onto the man.

 

[Kbiz]

Maybe I am being jaded but I am not all that concerned with the OL unless we start seeing some injuries there. Sure it's the biggest question mark on the team but that is because it appears that every other positional group is stacked. We ought to be comparing them to other lines, not the personnel on our team,.

With the weapons we have, we should always have a reliable check down option and Baker can get the ball out fast. The way you beat a pass rush is hitting quick slants over the middle and now that we have a true #1 in OBJ, moving Landry to the slot is going to be a nice wrinkle.

Losing Zeitler stung and what we've heard about Corbett is on the disappointing side but Tretter and Bitonio are studs. If we can continue to see production from Robinson and Harrison, that will help.

Lastly, if the OL play isn't up to snuff early on, I have total faith in Kitchens to adjust the offense to make up for it - there's just too many weapons on this team, IMO, for a sub par OL to lampoon the season (unless its inability to protect leads to some injury to Bake).

 

[Out of the Rafters at the Q]

Maybe I am being jaded but I am not all that concerned with the OL unless we start seeing some injuries there. Sure it's the biggest question mark on the team but that is because it appears that every other positional group is stacked. We ought to be comparing them to other lines, not the personnel on our team,.

With the weapons we have, we should always have a reliable check down option and Baker can get the ball out fast. The way you beat a pass rush is hitting quick slants over the middle and now that we have a true #1 in OBJ, moving Landry to the slot is going to be a nice wrinkle.

Losing Zeitler stung and what we've heard about Corbett is on the disappointing side but Tretter and Bitonio are studs. If we can continue to see production from Robinson and Harrison, that will help.

Lastly, if the OL play isn't up to snuff early on, I have total faith in Kitchens to adjust the offense to make up for it - there's just too many weapons on this team, IMO, for a sub par OL to lampoon the season (unless its inability to protect leads to some injury to Bake).

In comparison to other lines, we're not in great shape. Our LG is elite, our C is above average. Every other position is a weakness. Our RT is average. Our LT is bad. Our RG is inexperienced.

That doesn't mean we can't still excel on offense with a bad offensive line. Last year, for example, Dorsey schemed away a reliance on tackles having to pass protect for long periods of time. We moved personnel around aggressively, which helped to slow down the first step of pass rushers and blitzers while they tried to figure out our alignment. Then we used Baker's mobility to move the pocket around, and finally we made sure the ball got out quickly. This allowed a bust of a LT who was cut multiple times to hold up during the rest of the season.

I'm also not sure you know what the word lampoon means. I think you wanted to use the word torpedo? Maybe your mind then went to harpoon, and settled on lampoon?

 

[Jordan]

In comparison to other lines, we're not in great shape. Our LG is elite, our C is above average. Every other position is a weakness. Our RT is average. Our LT is bad. Our RG is inexperienced.

That doesn't mean we can't still excel on offense with a bad offensive line. Last year, for example, Dorsey schemed away a reliance on tackles having to pass protect for long periods of time. We moved personnel around aggressively, which helped to slow down the first step of pass rushers and blitzers while they tried to figure out our alignment. Then we used Baker's mobility to move the pocket around, and finally we made sure the ball got out quickly. This allowed a bust of a LT who was cut multiple times to hold up during the rest of the season.

I'm also not sure you know what the word lampoon means. I think you wanted to use the word torpedo? Maybe your mind then went to harpoon, and settled on lampoon?

The offensive line is definitely in the bottom-half of NFL lines, and maybe even worse. I also worry about scheming away too many weaknesses.

I think this is where the running game could be really valuable. Last season, Nick Chubb gained more yards after contact per rush than any other Rb in the NFL. My hope is that the running game is productive enough where we can force the other team to not send as many pass rushers.

There will be a few teams that can use a four/five man rush and generate pressure. I think the Patriots, Rams, Jets and 49ers will provide challenges to that effect. Otherwise, though, Freddie should be able to scheme away that weakness in most games.

 

[Out of the Rafters at the Q]

The offensive line is definitely in the bottom-half of NFL lines, and maybe even worse. I also worry about scheming away too many weaknesses.

I think this is where the running game could be really valuable. Last season, Nick Chubb gained more yards after contact per rush than any other Rb in the NFL. My hope is that the running game is productive enough where we can force the other team to not send as many pass rushers.

There will be a few teams that can use a four/five man rush and generate pressure. I think the Patriots, Rams, Jets and 49ers will provide challenges to that effect. Otherwise, though, Freddie should be able to scheme away that weakness in most games.

I feel one of the biggest reasons our running game was so effective was how good our interior OL was. I'm also worried about how far Kitchens is willing to remove himself from the offense in order to focus on being a head coach and letting Monken do his job.

I hope everything works out perfectly. But there are things to be aware of or concerned about.