Friday Mailbag, September 1st edition
Ask me 20 questions about anything you want
We are on to September!
I hope everyone enjoyed our free August. Nineteen posts in the month is our new record high (and also our record low) and now we embark on our first in-season month.
Again, to all of you who have chosen to be paid subscribers, I cannot thank you enough, but I plan on doing so by making this journey well worth your while. I just reread the first story this #SturmStack has ever done and I will already tell you this was the right decision to break off and write on my own. Of course, I did not really have a choice in the matter at the beginning, but I am so excited about what is ahead.
As we have discussed, during Cowboys season, my first priority will be to make sure every Cowboys fan feels that they are getting everything they hoped for and more. But, once the season ends (not that I am in a big rush to get through another NFL season), I have huge plans to cover this city’s sports scene in a way I have always wanted to do, but lacked the authority and platform to do so. But, you provide the authority by agreeing to be my audience and Substack has provided a platform, so there is nothing stopping us now.
I am honestly as juiced as I have been in a long time for this opportunity. Let’s get it.
And now, 20 questions about whatever you want:
From lilwrangler: What’s your take on the whole ‘Jerry didn’t even give Dak a heads up’ before trading for Lance? Is that a snub/power play or is Jerry so in tune with his QB that he presumed it wouldn’t be taken as anything other than an attempt at making the team better?
I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with them not chatting with Dak Prescott when they want to make a play for Trey Lance. Now, if you ask me the same question about the guys who will now be tasked with coaching him, the answer gets a bit more muddy, although as many have pointed out, both Mike McCarthy and Brian Schottenheimer both have expanded dossiers of their work on Lance before the 2021 draft, so that should not be any sort of problem whatsoever, either. But, at least those coaches have a real reason to “need to know.” Your 30-year old QB who is surely secure enough in his own skin to say, “if this guy is here to take my job, I’d like to see him do it,” and go on with his day.
If you have seen my film review of him from earlier this week, he isn’t very close to being a guy you would want to put on the field if you had any better choices. I don’t think Lance has no chance, but I do not see this as a looming danger or any threat whatsoever on Dak’s contract or future. In other words, this is a “nothing burger” to me.
From David Warren: What are your thoughts on how the Jimbo/Petrino relationship will work?
It is a great storyline all season and potentially the entire time they are together. I know that it is possible that two offensive head-coach caliber alpha-males could become great friends and be as tight as two can possibly be for the next how many years they end up together, but it is far more likely that Jimbo is very annoyed that a guy who is responsible for one of the best college football offenses of modern times – the 2014 Florida State Seminoles who went 14-0 and won the national title has to hire another offensive mind to save the program. But, here we are.
Jimbo Fisher is one of the best recruiters in the nation and has been just about every year for a decade. But, his offense has not worked hardly at all at Texas A&M. It has been positively holding them back in more ways than you want to count:
Just look at that. Look at all of the red there! And with superb offensive talent, the scheme and QB play and vertical passing games have all been unacceptable on every level. I realize my answer here is far more about “how did we get here” rather than “how will Jimbo and Bobby get along”, but it matters.
For all of these reasons, you could have seen TAMU decide to run Jimbo out of there, but because of the buyout amount, they want to give it a longer chance to turn it around. They needed an offensive restructure and Petrino gets that for sure. Will it work? Well, we can have our doubts because personality clashes alone can make this a wild ride. But if Petrino can mold Connor Weigman into what it looks like he can be, there is a great opportunity for them to win 9 games this year. If not, it will be another tough to watch season down there and Fisher might be done.
So, I have many, many thoughts, but the first one is that I won’t have to watch Fisher’s offense not use the wide receivers for much more than blocking downfield and desperation bombs. That group they have at WR should be dominating games and getting the ball constantly. Let’s see it.
From Michael Hicks Will you (or do you already?) incorporate AI into your writing workflow for your longer columns?
I can promise you, I would never allow AI to write a thing for me. I don’t trust it any more than I would trust my son or an intern to write my stuff. I love you all way too much than to allow anything to try to replicate this sports nerdiest of nerd minds.
From Brad C. Do any of the three tight ends have a high ceiling? They all seem pretty similar but can any breakthrough for a big season. Top teams seem to always have that guy at TE, could we/ do we have that guy?