West Ham Online

"Free agency started last night and was pretty crazy some huge money being spent. Osweiler getting £18m a year for the Texans, leaving the Broncos without a QB, Giants have spent a fortune on good but not great players, Oliver Vernon has more guaranteed money than JJ Watt. lots more deals but cant be bothered to list them all."

Ryan Fitzpatrick has tested positive for covid. So no late game heroics from him to save the fins this week. If Tua's even allowed to play now too.

mayo bowl live - wake forest v wisconsin https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw9gPDkok2U

"cough, I don't like getting carried away as the franchise has been cursed since snyder took over but I think we're just a decent quarterback away now from being a challenger. mclaurin needs another very good receiver on the opposite side but it's just adding depth now and the QB will set us up. he doesn't have to be a world beater, just not make stupid mistakes. my one worry is rivera turning to cam newton, who looks like he may be on his way out of new england regarding gibbs, the pundits always ignore him when talking about the best coaches ever but what other head coach won three superbowls with three different qbs, and not one of those qbs a franchise player? gibbs shouldn't have come back when he did but he's the reason we got rivera, and he proved in nascar how good he is at building a winning team"

"FC - yep, both very fine players, but the Vikes missed out on their best years. Moon had one of the strongest arm's I've ever seen. He needed it, too, because Houston's system required a relentless cannon. Glanville was quite insane, but in the most entertaining way."

"SBB, both those QBs ended up at the Vikings but on a downward cycle, Houston and Philadelphia had the best out of them. Talking of Houston, I really miss characters like Jerry Glanville and his smash mouth football, bloke used to leave tickets for Elvis at the will call window"

"GOAT is still Elway, realistically. If I had to put my mortgage on a QB to drive the team the entire length of the field, in the worst weather, with any set of team-mates, and needing a comeback score to win...I'd go to Elway every day of the week - before Brady, Montana, Manning, Marino and any other GOAT candidate."

"After Broadway Joe (of course), Randall Cunningham is still my favourite quarterback. Not the best - not by any means. But a top-class talent who was just mesmerising to watch. Amazing athlete, excellent passing skills, superb scrambler and some truly jaw-dropping 'did he just do that' moments of elusiveness. Fucking loved watching him play. Warren Moon, too, although that was down to his incredible arm strength and the relentless no-huddle offense. That guy was a machine-gunner."

"Cheers, Mike that's an impressive record by Mr Williams, I doubt any QB will ever repeat that? Shame, that's when the Skins were a decent team, I really liked Joe Gibbs I bet you wished you could have Doug and Joe now along with Diesel Riggins and Art Monk"

"https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2018/0925/First-black-starting-quarterback-reflects-on-race-in-football-and-society#:~:text=other%20FREE%20newsletters.-,First%20black%20starting%20quarterback%20reflects%20on%20race%20in%20football%20and,playing%20for%20the%20Denver%20Broncos."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_starting_black_NFL_quarterbacks

"FC - reportedly Marlin Briscoe at Denver in 1968. Drafted as a cornerback, played QB for a season and then became a WR. One heck of a good afro."

"no, cough, there were quite a few before Doug but he made history being the first winner & has two records that will probably never be beat. only QB to throw 4 td passes in a super bowl quarter, and the most passing yards (228) in a single super bowl quarter"

7800 rushing yards

Who was the first black (are we allowed to say that?) QB in the NFL? Doug Williams? Warren Moon? Randall Cunningham?

"TM - yeah, you're right about the pre-draft workouts etc. Haskins looks, I'm afraid, another of the kids who has talent but lacks the discipline to knuckle down and apply himself how a starting NFL quarterback has to. It's arguably the most demanding role in all of sport - because so much hangs on the QB. Yet by definition, the NFL now requires college-age kids to enter professional sport and almost immediately behave and learn like scholars - while simultaneously paying them in such a way that youngsters have the spending power of kings and all that entails. He's not the first, and won't be the last, to fail on that basis. The good thing for Haskins is that he's young enough to bounce back to an NFL side (even as back-up) providing he learns from his experience. So many don't - or just walk off with their millions in the bank. It's so difficult to draft the right QB. Too many variables and so many 'must do' requirements the moment they walk through the door aged 21 or so, having never been a professional. I'm always amazed when the real talents - like Manning etc - hit the ground running (so to speak). They get so little time and, let's face it, for a 21 year-old millionaire there are many, many potential distractions. It's easier not to live and learn like a monk."

"they were banking on that last season too, a long way to go yet"

Packers v Chiefs Superbowl then?

But that would make Bill belichick David Moyes... 🤯

Cam Newton is to the Patriots what Haller is to West Ham.

"SB, I can't remember if there was a combine before the draft this year, but I did watch almost all of the 2018/2019 drills/tests. In 2018, Josh Allen was the stand out even though Rosen & Mayfield were the press favourites. In 2019, for me Jarrett Stidham was the clear stand out, so I was surprised when Belichik brought in Cam Newton. I watched a lot of interviews, as well as games involving Wilson and he's very likable, very bright and the sort of character that would unite a dressing room. it's clearly very different making that next step up to pro level, and some just can't handle it. Haskins showed last season that he has talent, but not even players like Peyton Manning run a franchise just a year in to his career & he needs to check himself and get back to practising/studying. Rivera was pretty fair with him and he just wasn't interested"

"Yeah, Wilson looks a decent prospect. He looks about the level that Mayfield, Darnold and Allen were at in 2018. But my problem with the Jets drafting him is that we have one of that trio already! I can't gauge Fields after that weird performance in the bowl game. He looked surprisingly rattled up against a decent defense - like he was playing scared. But he'd been sound with his decision-making for most of the season. He was also missing a good WR in that game. Difficult one. I thought Allen looked a little over-hyped in 2018 and he's done well at Buffalo. The HC and OC become so important to new QBs...and we had ""you know who""... Whoever drafts Wilson gets a QB with good starting fundamentals (behind Lawrence). Very few weaknesses in his college game."

"from personal experience and history, ohio state qbs are on the whole useless. I wouldn't put all that performance in fields but he does look a bit flakey, and I want us to trade up for wilson. I love everything about him and I don't care how many picks it takes (this won't happen, and rivera will probably pick up a free agent or reject like mariotta)"

"Of course! Fecking Jets blow the chance of landing a good talent like Lawrence - and then start making noises that they still need a QB when they still have Darnold and have many other glaring needs that can be addressed at the top of the draft order. So they've blown the #1 pick and that's gone. Beyond Lawrence there are some decent QBs in the draft, but several of them have struggled against other good college sides in recent weeks (Fields, Ehrlinger etc) and I'm not sure they look any better than Darnold did when we drafted him at #3 in the 2018 draft. The exceptions may be Wilson and possibly Ehrlinger (I watched the Fields shitshow/meltdown under pressure and while the kid has talent, it was alarming). Best options now for the Jets: a) Sack Gase b) Make sure Gase is sacked by shooting him. c) Burn his bones and destroy all DNA. Then, after that refreshing move, they have a couple of options. a) Keep Darnold, get him a new HC and OC and see if he really did have good talent before Gase got to him (I think he did). Then draft a gold-standard right tackle to bookend the QB with the excellent Beckton at left-tackle - and give the QB the time and space to throw - even in the face of a pass-rush, for the next five years. b) Also save one of our first round picks for the 2022 draft (i.e. trade it out to some idiots like Dallas). That'll give Darnold a vote of confidence and tell him he's the starting QB for the 2021 season - but that he has to show the improvement expected of a #3 pick or else we're going after a top-ten pick QB in 2022 using multiple first rounders. That way you test whether Gase was the biggest problem (as we all suspect) and give Darnold at least another year under a good new coach - but you have the safety blanket of two first round picks in 2022, which can be compounded to draft the top QB talent that year if necessary. The best alternative looks like drafting QB Zach Wilson from BYU, who looks good for his draft class - but probably no better than Darnold looked at USC in 2018. Justin Fields at Ohio was the nailed-on #2 pick until a month ago. He blew up, badly, in his college bowl game and showed some weaknesses under pressure which were not obvious when playing against weaker college sides. It might just have been a bad day for a good player - but it will have caused alarm across the NFL sides looking at him. So I guess the Jets have the choice of a leading RT with the #2 pick (keeping Darnold), Wilson or Fields (if they are still confident about him)."

I'm fucking fuming.

"scorch, it was snyder's pick. gruden didn't want anything to do with him but snyder got his way and selected haskins who'd gone to the same school as his son. snyder did allow gruden to trade up for a second pick in the first round and luckily, montez sweat was still there but he had to wait first for dan to get his man. that's how fucked up it's been being owned by him for the last twenty years"