kbeath said:
First off I welcome Ricky back and If I gotta here about Ricky playin at 200 or 190 i am going to puk. It is not hard for someone to put on 20lbs if you are in good shape which if he is a yoga instructor he IS! He will be much healthier and more flex. He will be a dynamite 1-2 punch with Ronnie Brown. If we do this for a season or two then it will make Ronnie Brown that much more dangerous. IF and i mean IF our Oline and QB get improved we will compete for the East Crown if you disagree explain how 2 years ago we competed for a wildcard spot with Fiedler and no number 2 wr now we have booker and boston. Our D did take a little hit. We lost Surtain who will hurt but our LB are deeper than ever and our DE's are deeper than ever. We need one more freeagent Dline man than we are in great shape. Dont over exhaggerate what a corner does. New England won the super bowl with a group of wanna bees back there. For DB's coaching is where it is at.
Well, IF is the key word in your post...all things good for the Fins this year have that word attached to them...If RW is back in the 220 range and doesn't get injured on his comeback trail...remember being out of football, he'll be very susceptible to injury. He still has to serve a 4 game susp.
Boston is as big an IF as RW is, except his reason is for injury, rather than just returning to the game. Remeber we were all excited about his potential last season too.
Two years ago, when we came close (again) the Jests were mediocre and so were the Bills, now they are both pretty solid teams, with the edge to the Jests...the Pats are, well...the Pats and until they prove differently, are the team to beat..the thought here is that our division is much better overall than 2 years ago.
The OL stunk last year. They were actually worse than in past years. We have not made any significant additions (save McDougle). The problem is that McDougle is slated to play the RT, which St. Clair played last season and he had arguably the best year of any of the starting OLman...Yes, we now have an OL coach, probably the best in the business. He'll add some and I do expect improvement. But tell me where we've added or changed players that will have a significant impact on the OLs progress ??
Safety - Who are they ?? T. Jones is about equal to slightly less of a player than S. Knight. Who is the other starting safety ?? Tillman ?? Bell ?? Bua ??
All these guys have serious issues as to their abilities.
CB - While I think SM and RH will do fine as our starters, who are the nickel and dime guys ?? Daniels (rookie with questions..he played better at safety in college). Roundtree ?? (is that that Shaft guy ?? )
DTackles...Chester is physically questionable. Trayler, while a good addition, is nothing more than a replacement for Bowens and is 35 years old. He will have to have someone to rotate with him to keep him fresh. Who's that gonna be ?? Carter is a solid pickup...he can play tackle, but is much better as an end in the 3-4 or 4-3 sets. We seem to now have a lot of tweeners... A lot of guys that don't fit exactly into our old D scheme, but Saban keeps saying that we will run a base 4-3...well we don't have the personnel for that or for a base 3-4...If we add a solid DT after June 1, then that area would become more of a strength though, as you said.
LBs - We lost Greenwood and added Spraghan...call that a draw, maybe an edge to Spraghan. ZT is 32 years old and has been injury prone in recent seasons. Seau is 35 years old and coming off a serious injury. That is a solid group. Who are the backups besides Crowder ?? Moore...don't think so...Abendeyo (sp) ?? Jenkins ?? Pope ??
The other question is the fact that we will be running a new offensive and defensive scheme. This will take time to adjust to. Sabans pressure D is a solid D in the current NFL (see NE), but it can be exploited unless everyone KNOWS their exact assignments and responsibilities (see the Eagles TD in the superbowl)...
I just see too many holes and question marks...It's ashamed, but we could be 6-10 and still be a MUCH better team than last year's 4-12 team, but everyone will be crying the blues if we are 6-10..I can not see us any better than 8-8 unless everything, and I mean EVERYTHING goes our way...
