Well said. If Mazi Smith helps set up more 3rd and longs because he helped us stuff the run on early downs, then this team has collectively improved.
I am beyond tired of watching this D get gashed in the run game then watch the FO sell day 3 draft picks or a trade for 33 yo Jonathan Hankins as the “fix” for stopping the run. Glad we have Hankins but he alone was never going to be enough.
And there’s plenty of really good players at multiple positions of need on Days 2 and 3.
I wish I could give 2 likes here. It's still not enough. I think we have a pretty good team going forward and will probably be picking late next year as well. I'm not totally against picking up another beast in the middle in next year's draft for whatever it takes. I can't stand how we've been getting gashed in the run game.
We lost that first game to the Eagles last year and a lot of people point to Rush. Although he didn't play great, a lot of pressure was put on him because we couldn't stop the Eagles from running the ball. When we came back and made it 20-17, they just drove right down the field. Largely in part to running.
Make Hurts pass the ball without selling out for the run.
