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Granted, this is only one blogger, but his comparisons to Pete's camps and his notes about how sharp everyone looked are really encouraging. My biggest reason for skepticism (other than the OL and LB units) is whether an all-rookie head staff could handle the task of running a team. But Macdonald, Grubb, and Durde seem to have guys executing on Day 1. I love it.

https://www.hawkblogger.com/2024/07/cam ... -24th.html

Nice report, and yes, it's encouraging.

But I'm so gun shy about putting much faith in these beat reporters, or in this case blogger, opinions as they are almost always glass half full outlook. Who was that guy, the beat reporter for the PI, Clare Farnsworth or something like that? Each training camp, his reports would have the Hawks in the Super Bowl, and we'd end up missing the playoffs.

Thanks for the link. Most of it sounds encouraging. As for McClendon Curtis, I have not heard of him prior to this blog, and when I looked him up and saw him listed at 6'6 for a guard? Oof that is a mighty tall guard.

4XPIPS wrote:Thanks for the link. Most of it sounds encouraging. As for McClendon Curtis, I have not heard of him prior to this blog, and when I looked him up and saw him listed at 6'6 for a guard? Oof that is a mighty tall guard.

It's probably not as much of an issue as it would have been with Russell, but they generally like guards in the 6'2"-6'4" range so they don't restrict the QB's vision.

The old regime talked about shorter Guards for leverage, not the QB vision.
We don't yet know Grubb's viewpoint on that or whether he wants road graders or quicker IOL at the NFL level.

NorthHawk wrote:The old regime talked about shorter Guards for leverage, not the QB vision.
We don't yet know Grubb's viewpoint on that or whether he wants road graders or quicker IOL at the NFL level.

I would agree. I tend to believe the lower center of gravity favors a guard more than a tackle. Guards are more power blockers, and tackles have more lateral movement and finesse style of blocking. I would not think the height of the guard would obstruct the vision of Geno... well maybe Sam Howell as he isn't very tall himself. May prove to use full with a shorter tailback like K9 back there to hide behind such a giant guard.

Like it has been said before, we have no idea how any of this will shape out but it's almost here and I am anxious to see a new era of Hawks football.

Macdonald and this staff have a much different approach than Pete, and it was sorely needed.

Less feel good fluffy candy a$$, more accountability and teaching.

Irish Greg 2.0 wrote:Macdonald and this staff have a much different approach than Pete, and it was sorely needed.

Less feel good fluffy candy a$$, more accountability and teaching.

I think that might also mean better on field discipline as well.

Irish Greg 2.0 wrote:Macdonald and this staff have a much different approach than Pete, and it was sorely needed.

Less feel good fluffy candy a$$, more accountability and teaching.

NorthHawk wrote:I think that might also mean better on field discipline as well.

That's one of the things I'm hoping for, too. Pete's teams were consistently one of the most heavily penalized teams in the league, quite a change from the Walrus years. I'm anxious to see what kind of effect he has on guys like Metcalf.

I hope that's the case. The defense was far from elite, but they had enough talent to be better than they were; cleaning up penalties, assignments, and tackling would go a long way.

Metcalf; hope they get through to him about self-awareness and not hurting the team over pride.

Also, was anyone else less than thrilled about:

a.) Bringing Marquise Blair back and
b.) Letting Jonathan Sutherland go?

Not sure what Blair brings to the table besides experience, but Sutherland showed some talent. I don't know why they wouldn't rather develop Sutherland versus this semi-win-now move with Blair.

MackStrongIsMyHero wrote:Also, was anyone else less than thrilled about:

a.) Bringing Marquise Blair back and
b.) Letting Jonathan Sutherland go?

Not sure what Blair brings to the table besides experience, but Sutherland showed some talent. I don't know why they wouldn't rather develop Sutherland versus this semi-win-now move with Blair.

I hadn't heard that, but I'm going to default to Mac's judgment until proven otherwise, at least as far as defensive matters go. Perhaps he has some role in mind for Blair in his scheme.

MackStrongIsMyHero wrote:I hope that's the case. The defense was far from elite, but they had enough talent to be better than they were; cleaning up penalties, assignments, and tackling would go a long way.

Metcalf; hope they get through to him about self-awareness and not hurting the team over pride.

There were guys out there, like Diggs, that acted like they didn't care, and apparently the rest of the league has a similar opinion of him as he remains unsigned, unusual for a healthy Pro Bowl player that still has some tread on the tires. Plus, there were guys like Metcalf whom Pete could not control and blatantly refused to heed his advice. It was time for a change.

It's going to be interesting to see how these dynamics play out. Macdonald is 35 years younger than Pete and isn't that much older than his veteran players. Is he going to demand and receive respect from guys like Metcalf who wouldn't give it to a grandfatherly figure like Pete? Mac has never been a head coach at any level, so we don't have much of a history to reference.

I saw where they extended Julian Love, one of the few players on last year's defense that stood out. I like that move.

4XPIPS wrote:I would agree. I tend to believe the lower center of gravity favors a guard more than a tackle. Guards are more power blockers, and tackles have more lateral movement and finesse style of blocking. I would not think the height of the guard would obstruct the vision of Geno... well maybe Sam Howell as he isn't very tall himself. May prove to use full with a shorter tailback like K9 back there to hide behind such a giant guard.

Like it has been said before, we have no idea how any of this will shape out but it's almost here and I am anxious to see a new era of Hawks football.

That's how I see it too. Tackles need to be mobile blocking units able to keep up with super fast D-ends and rush LBs or safeties coming around the ends or speed rushing around the tackles inside or out. Guards need to be human walls blocking off huge DTs trying to explode through them and also need to be able to get under opposing DTs and drive them back opening holes.