Bright spots...

[DoYouSeeWhatHappensLarry]

15 hours ago, Bunchy Carter said:

To my mind... he's DEFINITELY earned an extension. It'd be fiscally wise to get it done sooner than later with his arrow pointing up.

His development has been pretty much on track with what you'd expect. I'd like to see a bit more "explosion" in his game but he's developed into a very nice TE in the league. 

Of course, the anti-Hooper brigade has been noticeably silent on that front. And rather than take the lesson, they'll simply move on to some other player to criticize. 

[dawgsjw]

On 12/4/2018 at 0:45 AM, Bunchy Carter said:

Even though this season has been terrible from almost every single standpoint, there are a few reasons to be hopeful going forward. Here are some that come to mind, in no particular order:

1. Hooper (TE) If this team was anywhere approaching respectable, he'd be in probowl contention.

2. Kazee (S/CB) From preseason straight through, he's shown that he just wants it more than everyone else. I'm excited to see how he fares at NB next season.

3. Oluokon (LB) The numbers aren't eye popping, but he's shown TREMENDOUS growth and completely ended the Duke Riley project. I think he's going toward a GREAT career, especially with a healthy Deion Jones.

4. Senat (DT) The weird decision to make him inactive aside, Senat has exceeded my expectations and shown REAL potential. I think the DT position needs a talent infusion, but Jarrett and Senat are EXCELLENT building blocks.

5. Tavecchio (K) Obviously Bryant is a world class kicker and should be allowed to finish on his own terms, but I think the Falcons have a real gem in Tavecchio.

6. RIDLEY (WR) I'm not sure how I feel about his play overall. He's definitely beneficiary to playing with Jones, Sanu and Hooper. He's also had some bonehead plays (expected for a rookie) and untimely drops. All that said, I think he'll be even better next year.

*Honorable mention

McKinley (DE) He was streaky...but his effort is always there and I think if he stays healthy, he can be more impactful next year. 

1) Hooper is not in pro bowl contention or would be if we had a winning record.  Maybe if he had 200-300 more yards, maybe.  Gotta take the homer shades off.  Hooper is 10th in TE receiving yards, and tied for 7th in TDs for TE.  It is basically Kelce and Ertz, then Kittle, then J Cook and then everyone else. 

2) I would Kazee at the top as he has been the biggest surprise and should be starting next year.  Dude will only get better and Rico is no where close to him in ball hawking abilities. 

3) Oluokon has also been a big surprise and should make Duke expendable, and hopefully keeps his *** on the bench next year. 

6) Ridley had a knock on him about his stone hands in college and it has showed itself again during his rookie season.  Maybe he can go the route of Roddy and get over the drops and be more reliable in this regard.  We have seen what Julio's drops can do for us (Seattle drop/int, CAR dropped TD, etc). 

[IA Falcon07]

5 minutes ago, dawgsjw said:

1) Hooper is not in pro bowl contention or would be if we had a winning record.  Maybe if he had 200-300 more yards, maybe.  Gotta take the homer shades off.  Hooper is 10th in TE receiving yards, and tied for 7th in TDs for TE.  It is basically Kelce and Ertz, then Kittle, then J Cook and then everyone else. 

2) I would Kazee at the top as he has been the biggest surprise and should be starting next year.  Dude will only get better and Rico is no where close to him in ball hawking abilities. 

3) Oluokon has also been a big surprise and should make Duke expendable, and hopefully keeps his *** on the bench next year. 

6) Ridley had a knock on him about his stone hands in college and it has showed itself again during his rookie season.  Maybe he can go the route of Roddy and get over the drops and be more reliable in this regard.  We have seen what Julio's drops can do for us (Seattle drop/int, CAR dropped TD, etc). 

Not saying Hooper would be in the pro bowl conversation, but it is convenient that you just happened to leave out he is 4th in catches.  He needs more explosive plays to be a a high end tightend, but think that is just as much scheme this season as anything.  He's the safety value for an easy 5 yards when the o-line inevitably gives up a pressure in a second and a half.  That said he is not nearly the athlete as some of the other top guys at the position.

[dawgsjw]

10 minutes ago, IA Falcon07 said:

Not saying Hooper would be in the pro bowl conversation, but it is convenient that you just happened to leave out he is 4th in catches.  He needs more explosive plays to be a a high end tightend, but think that is just as much scheme this season as anything.  He's the safety value for an easy 5 yards when the o-line inevitably gives up a pressure in a second and a half.  That said he is not nearly the athlete as some of the other top guys at the position.

How is catches convenient for me to leave out?  No one really cares about catches.  lol

In fact, I'm about to use stats about Hoopers catches to show it as a negative unlike your spin of it being a 'positive'.  So if you go by yards per catch, you see that Hooper is ranked very low in this category, if not the lowest of all starting TEs.  If you rank the TE position by receiving yards, you have to go down to the 45th ranked player to find another TE with the same (M Gesicki) ypc avg as Hooper, and he just tied Hooper, so you must go even lower to find a player with a worst YPC avg.  Probably almost every other starting TE has better ypc numbers than Hooper, so me not showing his receptions to fit my narrative is just false. 

I'm not the biggest Hooper fan and think we could plug in other TEs and just as good if not better production.  Other than that one long TD where he broke a few tackles, he pretty much just goes down and isn't elusive like some top tier TEs.  I think he is avg and his numbers show that, plus he isn't that great of a blocker either.

[IA Falcon07]

1 hour ago, dawgsjw said:

How is catches convenient for me to leave out?  No one really cares about catches.  lol

In fact, I'm about to use stats about Hoopers catches to show it as a negative unlike your spin of it being a 'positive'.  So if you go by yards per catch, you see that Hooper is ranked very low in this category, if not the lowest of all starting TEs.  If you rank the TE position by receiving yards, you have to go down to the 45th ranked player to find another TE with the same (M Gesicki) ypc avg as Hooper, and he just tied Hooper, so you must go even lower to find a player with a worst YPC avg.  Probably almost every other starting TE has better ypc numbers than Hooper, so me not showing his receptions to fit my narrative is just false. 

I'm not the biggest Hooper fan and think we could plug in other TEs and just as good if not better production.  Other than that one long TD where he broke a few tackles, he pretty much just goes down and isn't elusive like some top tier TEs.  I think he is avg and his numbers show that, plus he isn't that great of a blocker either.

No one cares about catches? Tell that to the eagles offense who literally runs through Ertz high number of catches or KC / San Fran where it’s a staple of their offense. 

I’m well aware of his YPC numbers being poor, hence why I mentioned how he is being used this season. AB is #54 in YPC and Michael Thomas is #59, but you won’t anyone saying there are having poor seasons. He is literally being used as a dump off / safety valve versus quick pressures. Watch the catches he has, half the time Ryan is falling back while getting hit and just throwing it in Hoopers general direction so he is having to dig the ball out of the dirt or not catching in stride able to run. He does have the talent to stretch the seam and became fairly surehanded is the point as can be seen by him having to adjust to hurried and off target throws.