Biggest Area of Concern for 2009 Season?

[sambrinson]

Now that Free Agency is over and the Draft is over we seem to have a pretty good idea of who will be on our team and the areas addressed most by the Trifecta. So pretty much as the thread title says, What is your biggest area of concern for the 2009 season?

For me personally I think that our biggest weakness will be stopping the run. With Vonnie gone, Ferguson getting older, and Mering and Langford still having yet to hit their prime the D line will likely take a step back for this year. Also our linebacking corps haven't seen any drastic improvement (Wake is unproven and I don't think run stuffing is his specialty.) I hope to be proven wrong, but I don't think we're ready for all of the good running teams we'll be facing this year.

Well Finheaven I've shared my concerns, what do you think will be our biggest area of need this season?

 

[DolfanISS]

I agree with you. NT is a question mark as Fergeson is getting old and Soliai has yet to prove he is ready to be depended on. I was also hoping to upgrade Akin Adoyle if possible. I do not feel WR was such a pressing need, like many draft gurus thought. The secondary should be OK and the O-line should be good (barring injury).

 

[WVDolphan]

I think we have done a nice job with the moves in the secondary.

Having said that I was STUNNED we didnt do more to upgrade the front 7. We definately need a player to step up and be the guy for when Ferguson isnt in there, god forbid gets injured, or is past the point in his career of being the beast that he is(which could be after this season).

I feel good about the DE spots with the starters and the depth, but IM concerned about the overall strength of the LB corps. I feel like we couldve upgraded a couple of starting spots, and hence made the depth stronger by having guys that are starting now become backup/ part time role players.

The other concern would be the youth of the CBs who will need to contribute nicely right away.

Basically the biggest concern to me is the D.

Offensively I feel like we have set ourselves up quite nicely. The OL is pretty stable now and the T positions are set for a while. We still need a quality player who can be a backup at that spot should Long or Carey go down. We have decent to good starters on the interior and adequate backups there.

RB we are set nicely for at least this season.

WR is a spot where we are looking like we could fill in nicely. Plenty of guys competing there and we should have at least 3 quality players if not 4 or 5.

TE is all good as well and the QB position is in as good as shape as it has been in years. I feel like we need to resign Pennington for 2-3 more season if he is willing to backup Henne in the future. But, having those 2 guys there gives us a better pair of QBs than most teams in the league have.

Add in the playmaking ability of Pat White and I think our offense could really start to go this year, especially after they get a few games under their belts.

 

[RoninFin4]

I still say pass-rush. Langford was quite an effective run stopper last year, and i think the combination of Merling, Starks, and McDaniel is almost as good as Holliday was.

It's unlikely Porter duplicates his '08 season, and who knows what we're going to get from Roth in his 2nd year as a LB, or from Wake and/or Anderson.

 

[CedarPhin]

Like alot of people here, I'm concerned about the pass-rush too. I think we did a fairly decent job with the secondary and o-line, and I think we did alright with the WR position too. We may not have gotten a true #1, but we did add some nice depth there.

I know we got Wake, but I think we should have addressed the position just in case Wake doesn't turn out well. It's always good to have a fall-back plan.

 

[madmic21]

My concern is not really about the team in a strengths vs weakness kind of way, but more in a where are we in the rebuilding phase kind of way. There have been teams in the past that seemed to take a leap into contention, only to be placed in prime time games, get touted by the media, and wham fall flat on their face. We have made steps to improve and are much closer to being a consistant contender but we still have areas that we need to improve, and the most dangerous thing to this team is unrealistic expectations that may or may not be met. Yes, we are AFC champs and have got better via draft, FA, and expierience. However, the NFL is a cruel league where 1 play can take you from super bowl contender to top 5 draft pick, and I hope the fan base and front office can continue with the patience and methodical approach that has turned us from one of the worst franchises of late to a future seasonal contender.