BLITZKRIEG
~LACUNA LEGIONS~
For me, this has been the most disappointing Phinz season ever. This is a team that was expected to be much improved from a year ago, and now that we're 1-6, and losing to "losing teams" in the process, all that's left is a overrated group of mediocre talent on both sides of the ball. A group of players that never seem prepared, and are extremely inconsistant....
Let's not foget about our new look coaching staff. Not to put too fine of a point on it, they suck. Mularkey doesn't know the word balance, and Capers changes / improvements have been invisible to these eyes. In fact, our defense is much worse under Capers than it was under Smith a year ago....
It's clear that we're one of the weakest LOS{line of scrimmage} teams in the league this year, and both areas need a major house cleaning during the off-season. We're wasting solid weapons on offense, and we're unable to stop anyone on the opposite side either. The run defense has been atrocious, and the pass defense is without question a major weakness still. The pass rush isn't there, and when we blitz, we never get into the backfield. I could go on forever talking about the problems we have on both sides of the ball. There are holes everywhere on the team...
My main beef however, is with Saban. He's lost complete control of this team. You can see it every Sunday, he's always alone, and the fire that he displayed a year ago on the sidlines has now dwindled away into nothing but a pile a ashes. He needs to start getting more involved in discipline, because this team is showing none on either side of the ball in my opinion. There's the missed FG's, the poor tackling, the dropped passes, and defensive meltdowns, and just a total lack of direction....
I can blame players too, but it's the coaches that deserve most of the blame for not having this team better organized / prepared. They look like the weakest team in the league right now, no joke, even the teams that are bad have beaten us. Teams like the Jets, who weren't expected to compete this year due to major changes, are better than we are. The same goes for the Bills, Lions, Browns, Texans, Titans, and Packers. As much as it pains me to say it, we could end up 1-15 when all is said and done....
The worst part about it all is that Saban is still stuck at square one when it comes to reshaping / reforming this team. The roster still needs tons of work, and so does the coaching staff. With an overall record of 10-13, we've gone nowhere / done nothing with Saban yet, and it may take at least 3-4 more years before a complete overhaul is in it's closing stages. I can only hope that as a result of this year, Saban will make the necessary changes, and start from scratch in 2007. That's really what I feel this team needs to do in order to get significantly better. They need to get rid of the high priced / high profile underachievers, and start bringing in hungry / young football players who have something to play for. The old players are tired looking, and the window of opportunity has now closed for most of them now....
Starting fresh will be a building experience, and a painful one for a couple of years, but it's a necessary one in my opinion. I mean how many more years can we keep transforming this team with end of the road veterans, castaways, underachievers, and expecting them to be the difference makers??...
For my money, time and loyalty, the best thing Saban could do this offseason is clean house. Clean it as much as possible, trim all the fat, and then get down to work in rebuilding this team from the inside out. I don't care about sacrificing a couple of years when the benefits start coming back to us, and nobody will when we're starting resemble a truly dedicated football team....
Some may see my opinions as too drastic based on just one losing season under Saban, but if we keep doing what we've been doing over the last two years, we'll never get out of the AFC East cellar. Saban should have cleaned house form day one in my opinion, but he chose to ride with what he was left with instead. It got him a winning season, but now he's got to be kicking himself for not cleaning house sooner. It's time in my opinion......
PHINZ RULE!!!!!
Let's not foget about our new look coaching staff. Not to put too fine of a point on it, they suck. Mularkey doesn't know the word balance, and Capers changes / improvements have been invisible to these eyes. In fact, our defense is much worse under Capers than it was under Smith a year ago....
It's clear that we're one of the weakest LOS{line of scrimmage} teams in the league this year, and both areas need a major house cleaning during the off-season. We're wasting solid weapons on offense, and we're unable to stop anyone on the opposite side either. The run defense has been atrocious, and the pass defense is without question a major weakness still. The pass rush isn't there, and when we blitz, we never get into the backfield. I could go on forever talking about the problems we have on both sides of the ball. There are holes everywhere on the team...
My main beef however, is with Saban. He's lost complete control of this team. You can see it every Sunday, he's always alone, and the fire that he displayed a year ago on the sidlines has now dwindled away into nothing but a pile a ashes. He needs to start getting more involved in discipline, because this team is showing none on either side of the ball in my opinion. There's the missed FG's, the poor tackling, the dropped passes, and defensive meltdowns, and just a total lack of direction....
I can blame players too, but it's the coaches that deserve most of the blame for not having this team better organized / prepared. They look like the weakest team in the league right now, no joke, even the teams that are bad have beaten us. Teams like the Jets, who weren't expected to compete this year due to major changes, are better than we are. The same goes for the Bills, Lions, Browns, Texans, Titans, and Packers. As much as it pains me to say it, we could end up 1-15 when all is said and done....
The worst part about it all is that Saban is still stuck at square one when it comes to reshaping / reforming this team. The roster still needs tons of work, and so does the coaching staff. With an overall record of 10-13, we've gone nowhere / done nothing with Saban yet, and it may take at least 3-4 more years before a complete overhaul is in it's closing stages. I can only hope that as a result of this year, Saban will make the necessary changes, and start from scratch in 2007. That's really what I feel this team needs to do in order to get significantly better. They need to get rid of the high priced / high profile underachievers, and start bringing in hungry / young football players who have something to play for. The old players are tired looking, and the window of opportunity has now closed for most of them now....
Starting fresh will be a building experience, and a painful one for a couple of years, but it's a necessary one in my opinion. I mean how many more years can we keep transforming this team with end of the road veterans, castaways, underachievers, and expecting them to be the difference makers??...
For my money, time and loyalty, the best thing Saban could do this offseason is clean house. Clean it as much as possible, trim all the fat, and then get down to work in rebuilding this team from the inside out. I don't care about sacrificing a couple of years when the benefits start coming back to us, and nobody will when we're starting resemble a truly dedicated football team....
Some may see my opinions as too drastic based on just one losing season under Saban, but if we keep doing what we've been doing over the last two years, we'll never get out of the AFC East cellar. Saban should have cleaned house form day one in my opinion, but he chose to ride with what he was left with instead. It got him a winning season, but now he's got to be kicking himself for not cleaning house sooner. It's time in my opinion......
PHINZ RULE!!!!!
