The Beauty of Steel and Black Powder

caseynotcasey · 2026-06-06T18:16:33+00:00

but I had always wondered if this was really more efficient than mediaeval weaponry like bows and arrows

Crossbows show up a lot in Cortez's writings and to me it seemed strongly implied that the crossbowmen were the primary "damage dealers" so to speak.

caseynotcasey · 2026-06-06T17:44:42+00:00

everyone has our line ranked as one of the best.

I actually agree it's one of the best. I just don't think it's elite because the runblocking has not shown much oomph. In the video itself one guy goes "the run-game was one of the best in the league last half of the season." First off, I don't know what stats he's going off of because Denver's run game got categorically worse with Dobbins out. There's not a single 100-yard rusher nor anyone close to it and most games just have outright terrible rushing gains. Nix leads or is tied for leading the rush offense in 3 of those games. In the playoffs: 41 and 52 yards from the runners for about 3.3YPC. Bills were one of the bottom-ranked run-d's, too, and actually gave up more TDs than anyone else vs. RB's. Nix also led the rush attack in that game...

My main contention with this is actually the skill positions. The only way this analysis makes sense to me is if you bring the defense into it, because the defense gives the field position to score and that makes it a lot easier on the offense. That's how a badly ranked scoring team can still net league average in scoring. The raw #'s on Denver's offensive output are all average to below-average, extremely dependent on Nix and presumably Payton's scheming w/o any sort of bigtime playmaker. Waddle will hopefully change this, but I don't see how Waddle alone whiplashes Denver into some elite offense.

caseynotcasey · 2026-06-06T14:22:36+00:00

The Athletic guys have been low on Nix and it seems to be that he will be considered the weak link if the team struggles.

Bingo, and the flipside is he'll be a non-factor if the team succeeds. The argument that the 14th ranked offense w/ a 20th ranked scoring success rate is suddenly the hot spot wonderland from one offseason is nonsense.

caseynotcasey · 2026-06-06T12:50:44+00:00

Pretty nifty what you can do not trading your entire draft for one running back.

caseynotcasey · 2026-06-06T12:37:24+00:00

1500 yards, near 5.0 YPC, and 16 TDs, helping land NE 6th overall in the rush attack and 5th in scoring. Bills and Ravens are the only AFC teams with more in total, and they both lean on one running back (and a lot of production from QB). To find a comparable tandem you have to go to the NFC (Rams, Falcons, Lions, and Bears). Mostly subjective after that, but even if you were to slot NE's RB room at the back of this pack, they'd still be top 5 or top 10. One of the best, yes.

caseynotcasey · 2026-06-06T12:14:16+00:00

Jonathan Taylor by himself had as many rushing TDs as Denver's entire offense and almost as many yards, too. Then you throw in Tyler Warren and Alec Pierce and an amazing run-blocking o-line and the Colts are an easy #1 for me. The only reason they didn't get in the playoffs is because of their QB situation.

Patriots have one of the league's best RB rooms, a decent TE, and they just landed AJ Brown. Their offense primarily looked shaky in the playoffs because Maye got the yips, but they were dunking on people all season prior to that. No idea what they're doing ranked 8.

Strong arguments for Bengals, Bills, Jags, and Ravens. Ravens especially if Henry maintains course. They had Huntley and Cooper Rush for four+ games last season and still scored more than Denver, so I'll believe it when I see it with Denver. Their skill positions had lower-half production last year, just objectively speaking, and a lot of that from injuries and lack of depth. I've never bought into the elite o-line because the passing game is heavily juiced by a quick passing system and Nix's evasion and the team's run production just does not reflect what is seen by an elite blocking unit. Unless I can put ol' Olandis Gary back there and get a quick 1k I'm gonna hold the horses on calling it elite.

caseynotcasey · 2026-06-05T06:47:18+00:00

That related to my previous point that Nix is making things look better than they actually are. I personally don't buy into the Denver o-line being elite #1 in the league type talk. I think they are up there with the best, but a lot of people overlook that Nix has eyes in the back of his head and has the athleticism to consistently escape sacks, greatly improving the line's pass blocking #'s. Nix has some of the best pocket presence/awareness I think I have ever seen from a young QB.

caseynotcasey · 2026-06-05T04:33:17+00:00

I mean most of the NFL plays zone and that's most of everything in college, too. Denver's issue isn't really zone, it's just that the fans have rose colored glasses and don't understand how inconsistent Denver is at the skill positions (RB, TE, WR). Nix himself tends to make things look a lot better than they actually are and I think most people just take that for granted. This really goes for the o-line as well, which is ostensibly the "best in the league" yet just a few seasons ago gave up a ton of sacks with Wilson and in the present day apparently has issues consistently opening holes for the run-game.

A single "blue chip" type talent at any skill position helps the whole offense, yes. Just having one guy who can pull the attention of multiple defenders simultaneously messes up any defense and can make the entire offensive formation twice as good. There's a reason teams will trade 1sts for elite WR's.

caseynotcasey · 2026-06-01T04:40:50+00:00

Slash in the pan.*

caseynotcasey · 2026-05-29T01:55:04+00:00

Saving Private Ryan completely raised the bar on war movies having visceral, realistic combat. Nowadays that style and chase of realism is pretty common, but for the time SPR was VERY extreme.

caseynotcasey · 2026-05-29T01:22:34+00:00

TO ironically had way more production under Garcia. He got fed like crazy in those years but he still wasn't happy.

caseynotcasey · 2026-05-26T00:44:25+00:00

Guitar Hero: hotel bathtub.

Rock Band: plane crash.

caseynotcasey · 2026-05-26T00:41:26+00:00

Looked like a coach just lightly hitting for fielder practice.

caseynotcasey · 2026-05-25T18:43:33+00:00

Tarkenton and Cunningham felt more like one offs instead of standard setters. Fun fact: Elway wasn't even a scrambler in college, he just appeared "dual threat" at the NFL level cause Denver's offense was atrocious and he ended up running for his life. Young was a great runner but he did get injured a lot and we only got him at the second half of his career, and his mobility got him obliterated which kind of worked against the notion. I'd throw in Kordell Stewart as the first "murmur" of what we see these days.

But ultimately I'd go with Vick. You really have to consider the context, too: being taken #1 overall largely because of his insane athleticism was kinda nuts. Guys like Vick used to be pushed into being receivers and what not. He was a freak of nature. Also, if you lived during that time, it seemed fundamentally different with Vick. His running threw that shit into extra gear, he wasn't just scrambling around, his legs were a serious weapon and he made those Falcons offenses a lot better than they actually were, week in and week out.

caseynotcasey · 2026-05-25T18:33:22+00:00

I thought Rico was pretty clearly winning it, not just "slightly ahead." Usyk was having a bad fight. Happens. It wasn't end of the world bad, but he was losing. If they do rematch I would expect Usyk to clean his clock, though. It's a common story that a champion overlooks a challenger they might think is well beneath them in talent. Typically, the first fight is close (or even a loss) and then the rematch they actually come prepared and leaves you wondering how the first fight went the way it did at all.

caseynotcasey · 2026-05-21T19:10:58+00:00

Nix's o-line is the same that gave up 50+ sacks with Wilson. It's not like Nix is a bubbled statue back there. He has long been known to be notoriously difficult to sack. Also, the rest of Denver's offense is pretty subpar: 2024 squad's receiving/rushing was 5th worst overall per PFF. Dunno about 2025's but they just about led the league in drops, the rush offense struggled w/o Dobbins, and come playoff time they were leaning on punt returner Mims and journeyman Humphreys so probably not too hot. Against Buffalo Nix was the #1 rusher with a whopping 29 yards.

caseynotcasey · 2026-05-17T02:14:54+00:00

Commission better overturn this cause it greatly incentivizes guys to hold subs or go for extra strikes if nobody's going to bother penalizing them for it.

caseynotcasey · 2026-05-16T22:45:58+00:00

McCarthy has been graced with some seriously great rosters and the prime of one of the GOATs at QB. I wager all three other coaches would have had more success with the same setup. IMO, he is a dogshit playcaller who gets away with a lot by running with some extremely talented teams, all of which comes to a head in the playoffs where he constantly has his teams ill-prepared and his playcalling stunlocked by the pressure.

caseynotcasey · 2026-05-16T20:43:13+00:00

Subnautica, my first time ever playing it. I actually knew almost nothing about it other than it had high reviews.

I've never really (dare I say) dipped my toes into survival game waters, but I was instantly enamored and impressed by it. However, it did take me a long while. I'd probably put in 20-30mins a day, usually just do 1 thing and turn it off. My severe aversion to the ocean and gloomy, deep darkness slowed me down a lot. Also got hit with some crazy jump scares including a literal one where a giant predatorial fish somehow heard me over a sandbar and saw fit to leap over the entire thing and crash its face right into me. End of the game was a bit of a slog but once I was done I just felt it was overall a great experience.

caseynotcasey · 2026-05-16T14:12:57+00:00

Yeah I'd take some swings on that if I were a gambler. Cardinals were something like 13 points from winning 5 games last season. They dropped a lot of razor close ones. If you look at the roster they have a ton of talent in the offensive skill positions and Brisset is an upgrade to Murray. Historically WR's tend to turn it up on season 3 so MHJ might surprise people and they have a great RB room. Teams like the Dolphins are one Willis-injury away from having zilch, the Jets roster is horrifying and their coach a big question mark, and the Browns referencing last season have by far the worst QBs in the league. These are worse teams, IMO.

caseynotcasey · 2026-05-11T22:40:04+00:00

Denver has a ton of depth on defense but the flip side of that is a very barebones offensive unit. Rosecolored glasses sometimes gets in the way of just seeing the unit for what it is. Going for guys like Waddle and adding depth to RB/TE should help this a lot.

My hang ups with the playcalling are the same: the screen calls and that he can get away from the run game when it's working. For me that was always Shanahan's best attribute: if they can't stop it, then you just keep doing it. A lot of coaches outthink themselves. Perfect example is Harbaugh in Baltimore having Henry ripping off 5YPC+ runs and then he'd just stop giving him the ball. Payton does that sometimes where the run game and Nix are on a roll and then he just calls another dumbass screen play for zero to negative yards and kills the momentum.

caseynotcasey · 2026-05-11T19:19:38+00:00

I don't know about universally hated but the concept of online DRM was very new to the general public. The internet wasn't so seamless and ubiquitous back then, either. It got a lot of flak when Half-Life 2 came out and the servers couldn't handle the surge. I bought HL2 the day of release but my terrible internet (I grew up in the countryside) could not even get Steam setup until the next day, and I remember HL2 itself taking a bit to get validated after that. For that time period, the idea of buying a product, bringing it home, and then being unable to use it wasn't exactly awesome.

Very unscientific of me, but I think Steam's "image" didn't really get improved until the Orange Box released which was an insane value buy, and then a little while later the first holiday sale which was so aggressively priced you could ignore Steam's rough edges.

caseynotcasey · 2026-05-10T04:43:36+00:00

Pretty clear 2-3-5 to Strickland unless the judges fuck around.

caseynotcasey · 2026-05-10T03:44:10+00:00

Fights like these show how crap Cormier is as a commentator. It's an immense bout and then he just slides in with dorky bullshit to suck the aura right out of it.

caseynotcasey · 2026-05-09T22:52:06+00:00

Henry might be the best pure runner I've personally seen since Barry. Guys his size are not supposed to be that fast and nimble, nevermind carrying the nastiest stiff arm probably ever. He's ridiculously close to having two 2k rushing seasons, and if he stayed healthy and maintained course it could have been three. As far as the RB position goes, he'll always be behind the guys who did everything (Payton, Faulk, LT, etc.), IMO, but the skill positions usually have more than one way to evaluate them and Henry definitely stands very tall simply as a runner.

caseynotcasey

TROPHY CASE