Two things will determine how far this team goes:
1. Offensive line.
2. Defensive front seven.
Before the first preseason I was worried about #1 (surprise, surprise ๐ ), and not worried about #2. Now I'm a small bit less worried about #1, and a bit more worried about #2.
OL I won't be surprised if we see Tausch/Sitton/Wells/Bulaga/Newhouse before the end of the year.
DL I'm more concerned with depth for the rotation than anything else.
But for now, I'm still waiting until October before deciding to go toward giddiness or bitchiness.
"dfosterf" wrote:
Precisely that.
+1
"Rockmolder" wrote:
I recall someone being heavy into drafting an OLB. Something a retired marine and college professor did not want any part off.
1st round - Jerry Hughes.
2nd round - Charles Brown.
I could've been great.
"dfosterf" wrote:
You just remember this, my fine young lad.. I've seen and heard all influences upon you as you hone your expertise...
This game is won and lost in the trench, both offensively and defensively. Shit happens on the oustide, but it is mostly, ultimately...shit.
Inside out, inside out. Not flashy, not fun, and really hard to do. Madden has to suck if that is what you are looking at. It is, however, the thing that makes great teams great.
imo
"Wade" wrote:
You can make up for weaknesses. Like we did in 2008. And 2009. Our offense has never been the problem. Yes, the O-line was horrible last year, but we still had one of the best offenses in the league.
And I know, the best way to build a team is from the line back. If you can get your QB some time, you can have the Bears' WR corps, the Colts' running game and Tarvaris Jackson at QB and you'll still look somewhat decent.
Thing is, there are so many combinations to get your offense going. There's so much you can scheme to relieve some pressure from your O-line.
What's Bulaga going to do, anyway, that's going to make this O-line that much better all of a sudden? He's not beating out Clifton just yet, he's going to play LG. The big knock on Charles Brown was his body, his size, that he wasn't ready to play LT from the get-go. In essence, we're giving Bulaga the year of grooming, as well.
And you have to consider OLBs in the 3-4 as DEs in the 4-3, which makes it a trench pick, as well.
You have to bring some very, very exotic blitzes if you want to get pressure with one overrated OLB and another one who, regardless of who it's going to be, is just not very good at getting to the passer. This forces you to throw either go the vanilla way and get your behind carved up by good QBs or blitz all day and get your behind carved up by good QBs.
And after that whole rant, I still have no idea whether we agree or disagree here, but hey, I had fun typing it.