pwn3dyo said:
Pathetic but true. He destroyed the secondary, ignored the o-line, passed on Brees, apparently it took him 4 weeks to realize Culpepper wasnt healthy, he hired Mularkey and now is on the verge of going 1-5.
As for the original post. Saban is right for playing who he thinks will do the best, and isn't threatened by the media, fans, etc....One of the only good qualities he has shown.
Hopefully Phins can come back...
What we were when Saban arrived:
-We were in bad cap shape. Made worse by huge cap dollars invested on one side of the ball. On top of that, those players were all gettting old at the same time.
-We had no youth to speak of on defense and ZERO for depth up front.
-We did'nt have a 2nd rounder and we had traded one of our thirds for a bag of crap so we could not replenish the team correctly.
-Our O-line was a disaster area, worse then it is now.
-We had NOTHING at quarterback.
-We had no running back.
How long SHOULD it take to fill all these holes? According to some people a few weeks. Like I said above, you can't add depth and youth to the D-line
AND fix the secondary
AND get a Q.B.
AND get a runner
AND add to the O-line overnight. ESPECIALLY when wer'e over the cap and strapped for draft picks.
What Saban has done:
-He brought in two competent Q.B.'s (one of whom will be a franchise player again when he is healthy). What did we have at the position when Saban arrived? NOTHING!
-He drafted a talented youg runner. What did we have when he arrived? Not a hell of a lot unless you consider Sammy Morris "the answer".
-He is attempting to rebuild the O-line. It takes some time. You don't go out and get Walter Jones in free agency. Premier offensive takles NEVER get to become free agents. Marginal good starters (see Jonas Jennings) get cap crippling contracts. Remember, when he got here we had EASILY the worst offensive line in football. Are we a lot better? Not right now but I'm willing to be patient and let Saban bring in some younger players and let Houck coach them up.
BTW, I like Joe Toledo. I just hope he can get and STAY healthy.
-Our skilled guys were ok when he got here but he had no depth at reciever. He added Hagan in this draft and I'm sure he'll continue to add to the position.
-What did we have on the D-line when Saban arrived? Taylor, Dave Bowens, a broken down Tim Bowens and Zgonina. No depth at all. He drafted Matt Roth (who is getting better all the time) and brought in Carter, Holliday, Traylor and Big Daddy for depth. He also took some chances with the Wright's. He got a Vickerson and an Evans but they were LATE round picks so anything we get from them is a bonus.
I love people acting like 5th round picks are huge investments and if they don't go to the Pro Bowl Saban is a failure and they are busts. Let's be a little realistic.
-What did we have at linebacker? Well, a 300 year old Junior and a Zach Thomas. He stole Channing Crowder, brought in Spragan picked up a couple of various guys to add depth as cheap free agents. This position is one we have not been able to address like Saban wants. We simply have not had the ammo at the draft table or the cap room to address all our needs.
-The secondary? Well, we had an injury prone VERY expensive Pat Surtain coming off of his worst season. We did not have the cap room to be able to continue to have all of our cap on one side of the ball. Someone had to go. Sam Madison was cheaper and coming off of a better year then Surtain so he stayed for the last year of his contract.
He's brought in a slew of new guys and drafted a guy (Allen) who will be solid. No, Allen is not seeing the field yet
but calling him a bust after 5 weeks is absurd.
In case you have not noticed, our secondary has actually played pretty well the last few weeks considering the lack of pressure we are getting from our front 4 at times. Corners don't grow on trees. It takes some time to build a secondary.
This was an expensive, aging all at once, very thin, cap strapped football team. They were coming off a 4-12 season. Now, when things get a little tough in the rebuilding process people want to fire Saban. Does firing the coach/GM every 2 years sound like the way to build a football team?
I know I repeated myself a few times in that little rant but sometimes I think people are so damn stubborn they have to be hit over the head with a sledgehammer. When Saban got here this team SUCKED. You can't turn chicken **** into chicken salad over night.
Rebuilding takes patience. Times will be tough.
Saban is in for the longterm.
