fin-atic said:
I agree a great back does make everyone better. But I think when you have a great line it makes all the backs better. Like Denver's system, and Pittsburgh. If Brown bombs (and some think he will) or if he gets injured then what? By only improving that one position it kinds of puts your eggs in one basket. Without Brown we are the same team offensively as last year.
We're no where near the same offense as last year. Last year we were run by Ferrster or whoever the hell you spell his name. We had chaos in the offensive chemistry. We had an absolutely horrible o-line coach and scheme.
Saban upgraded the offense the second he hired Houck and Linehan. Just a new scheme that isn't designed to run Ricky Williams up the middle 40 times a game even AFTER he retired will improve us to an average offense at worst.
Last year's pathetic offensive showing was an abjuration that is the culmination of Wanny's absolute and complete ineptitude at putting together an offensive philosphy and the coaching staff to execute it.
That's right, our offensive woes last year IMO were 75% coaching. We've got the talent to be a very good passing team. We have for a few years now. Wanny's handcuffing and conservative "don't loose" approach has hidden this. We've got Chambers, Booker, McMike, Gilmore, and even a few decent young WRs. AJ Feeley has a very good arm, and IMO projects rather well to a vertical offense that Linehan will want to run.
Our questions on offense last year were OL and RB mostly. Ronnie Brown makes both better in many ways. Brown is an excellent blocking back, and will give AJ more time on passing throws. Instant OL upgrade. Ronnie Brown can run over people between the tackles, and has the blazing speed to take it outside. Brown also has very, very good hands providing AJ a saftey valve on plays that he is pressured. Brown's recieving skills also prevent teams from just stacking 8 or 9 in the box against us as well. Both of those factors make the OL better by giving AJ an outlet to prevent sacks, and the forced throws that resulted in so many pick-6 plays.
The OL itself is an enigma, IMO. Wise's inneptitude at coaching the young guys became more and more evident over the years. Wise made his reputation on a veteran line with many, many talented players in his Cowboys years. Give the man average or even "good" players... or worse
young players, and he showed that all he could accomplish was the steady decline of the O-Line. His scheme was confusing, ineffective, and set up anyone but a world class OL player for failure.
Houck in contrast has a reputation of being one of the top 2 OL coaches in the entire league. He has a knack for taking young linemen and turning them into very reliable starters. The OL won't be world class, sure... but I have every reason to believe they will be more than servicable.
The defense, while very good for a long time, is on a steady decline relative to the increasing age of our stars. This decline was evident last year, injuries or no. Our entire D went to crap because our 2 DL guys were out? Maybe, but I doubt it.
In summary, our offense is young and has a larger amount of talent then last year would indicate. Our defense, however, is ever aging and the replacements we have signed are quite obviously only stop-gap measures. The defense is being rejuvinated, and it is being transformed from a somewhat vanilla don't break defense into an agressive, smash-mouth, in-your-face, game changing monster.
Needless to say, I'm LOVING it.
