cdz12250
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- Joined
- Sep 24, 2004
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Just not this year. We now have the beginning of a foundation to be a champion, but we have to be realistic. The fact that the team is not very good right now speaks for itself. We can ***** and moan, but I think our time is better spent talking about how we get there. There is no instant gratification in the NFL. It takes time to build a champion.
Think: We get Daunte Culpepper, a franchise QB who hurts you with his feet as well as his arm. Yet we expect him to be 100% both physically and mentally, back from both his post-Moss slump and an injury that has ended many a career. And we want him at the top of his game after just a few months of rehab, a few preseason games, and coming to a new team and new coordinator. Is that realistic? No. Will he be back at reasonably close to what he was in 2004? Probably. Just takes more time.
We draft Jason Allen and we expect the kid not only to start right away, but to save the secondary singlehandedly after we lost Madison and Surtain. Is that realistic? No. Will he eventually figure his position out so he can use his physical skills without being tentative? Probably. Just takes more time.
We expect Ronnie Brown, a power runner who busts through holes, to be a 1,000-yard rusher behind an offensive line that can't open the holes now and will never be better than mediocre (except for probably Vernon). Realistic? No. Addressable? Sure. Think of our spot in the draft order if we keep going as we are.
We expect Coach Mularkey, who doesn't know this personnel, to produce a champion offense right away. Realistic? No.
But will it all get better as time goes on? Yes. Is Coach Saban enough of a personnel guy to know where the personnel holes we can all see are, and to address them in the offseason and the draft? yes; that's why he doesn't like to trade away draft picks. Even this team, as it is right now, will improve week to week, and the worst we 'll end up with is an improved core with the serious deficiencies we all know about, which will be addressed with the high draft picks we'll end up with.
And then we'll have a team with a franchise quarterback, an excellent backup, much better o-linemen and DBs, Ronnie and maybe Ricky, and a fine, though aging, defensive unit that will still have a couple of seasons left in it.
And then you're realistically talking Super Bowl. All it will take is a little more time.
Think: We get Daunte Culpepper, a franchise QB who hurts you with his feet as well as his arm. Yet we expect him to be 100% both physically and mentally, back from both his post-Moss slump and an injury that has ended many a career. And we want him at the top of his game after just a few months of rehab, a few preseason games, and coming to a new team and new coordinator. Is that realistic? No. Will he be back at reasonably close to what he was in 2004? Probably. Just takes more time.
We draft Jason Allen and we expect the kid not only to start right away, but to save the secondary singlehandedly after we lost Madison and Surtain. Is that realistic? No. Will he eventually figure his position out so he can use his physical skills without being tentative? Probably. Just takes more time.
We expect Ronnie Brown, a power runner who busts through holes, to be a 1,000-yard rusher behind an offensive line that can't open the holes now and will never be better than mediocre (except for probably Vernon). Realistic? No. Addressable? Sure. Think of our spot in the draft order if we keep going as we are.
We expect Coach Mularkey, who doesn't know this personnel, to produce a champion offense right away. Realistic? No.
But will it all get better as time goes on? Yes. Is Coach Saban enough of a personnel guy to know where the personnel holes we can all see are, and to address them in the offseason and the draft? yes; that's why he doesn't like to trade away draft picks. Even this team, as it is right now, will improve week to week, and the worst we 'll end up with is an improved core with the serious deficiencies we all know about, which will be addressed with the high draft picks we'll end up with.
And then we'll have a team with a franchise quarterback, an excellent backup, much better o-linemen and DBs, Ronnie and maybe Ricky, and a fine, though aging, defensive unit that will still have a couple of seasons left in it.
And then you're realistically talking Super Bowl. All it will take is a little more time.
