Amazing stuff here.
We actually have a thread going that seeks solutions instead of bitching about problems. 1 out of 50 isn't that bad, I guess. On the bitching note, and simultaneously on a solution note, I just read a very pithy remark by a well-respected (at least by me) poster on my former favorite forum. I think he summed things up pretty accurately. He said:
"Ted Thompson has drafted many excellent project players. The kind of player that can very reasonably be expected to produce in two to three years. This strategy has rebuilt the core of this team. This time is over, we need impact players in the draft. Period. "
I thought that was well-put, and one thing about Ted's strategy that creates some further problems for us wasn't mentioned... Some guys are further along then others, it is difficult to discern where the potential has been reached in a given player, especially when the guy might be playing injured, alongside someone who is failing in HIS performance, etc. I guess what I am saying is that we have an end-product that is inconsistent largely due to a more than average mixed-bag of developmental talent.
Pack's harsh critique of our linebackers is especially worrisome to me. We have a GM and a lot of his staff (I read their bio's in GBP website) that are either former linebackers, linebacker coaches, or both. Here is what I'm afraid of, and here goes a very esoteric analogy. Jonsey,the sonarman in the movie "The Hunt For Red October", said that his submarine detection software was originally developed to detect seismic anomolies, and would "Run Back To Momma" when detecting an unidentified source in the water, characterizing just about anything as a seismic event... I have this sense that when Ted Thompson and co. are in doubt as to what to do to fix a problem... well, they "Run Back To Momma" and start grabbing linebackers. I think that if they do that this year, we will FAIL miserably in repairing this football team defensively. I grew up with Vince, so I'm going to do my own version of the Jonsey analogy, and go with what I know since the day I started actually understanding this game almost 50 years ago. My seismic anomoly on this football team is on those lines...we can argue about a good blocking TE, etc. , but we will turn this football team around RFN if we put the heart, soul and future of this football team where it really would do the most good...again, on the lines. It is an age old axiom in this league for one reason, and one reason only...It is right, and it always has been. Boring, but so true.
Here is the prediction as to this forum, this offseason. Watch the biggest Ted Thompson critics. Here I am speaking of the BF crotch-sniffers. I'm not calling anyone specifically that...some of us know who they are, even if they don't. I say they all have certain tendencies, just like Jonsey's computer. My bet is that they will all be calling for whacky FA aquisitions, will initially be calling for vague help on the lines, and then as soon as the draft picture starts clearing, will be advocating skill position players, with an ebb and flow in lockstep with the Mel Kiper's of this world.