I'm sure NFL fans ask themselves that every off-season and the popular answer is probably 'no' unless they are real homers. I am not saying that I think this team is near competing for a championship but I'm also saying you never know until the games are played. Remember when Miami won the division? Holy hell that was unexpected. I know about the easy schedule and all that blah but it happened. You never know until they play the games.
People do not wish to hear it though, for example that is the Falcons real edge over the Dolphins, Dimitroff had more to work with when he came to Atlanta, and once again, RW and RB were here, they added Turner and he has been that feature back they needed to bridge the gap in Ryan's learning curve. Once again showing letting a Vet act as a roadblock is the bane of this franchise, in 08 they ruthlessly evaluated the roster and dumped our two largest "stars" JT and Zach, and reaped rewards for doing so, alas they did not keep up that same momentum and imho, let 2008 fool them into thinking we had more talent then we did have at the time. If there is one indictable offseason in Sparano/Irish/Tuna's time here it is 08 into 09, soo many mistakes were made that offseason it still sort of haunts us as a Franchise, those things do have consequences. To wit: -thinking the remarkable health of 2008 was anything other then the exception to the general rule -adding Grove -adding Wilson -Turner -White -Roth's bizarre holdout -Anthony Armstrong being released Those are holes we are still dealing with on the roster.
Not to underestimate the importance of a quality QB, but there is certainly considerable variability in how teams across the league draft. Our recent experience with Wannstadt and Spielman (to a lesser degree) show that some coaches and GM's are real dogs when it comes to drafting. Others are quite adept. Even the most adept still have a roughly 50-50% success rate. The quarterback is often incidental to this variance league wide. There have been some really good QB's who have floundered because of a lack of talent on their team. Our teams roster should be full of players drafted from 2003 to 2007. The fact there are so few is why we are behind the other quality teams in the league. Likely one of those players would be a QB. In that context, I do want to say that QB is the single most important cog in the wheel of a successful team, just not the only one. Circumstances (the lockout, the situation with Sparano, the questions regarding this years crop of QB's ) have given Henne another year that he might not have otherwise had to show that he can get the job done. If he fail's and Ireland is still GM, I'm sure he (Ireland) will do everything possible to acquire a quality QB.
Great post. A lot of fans dont have that kind of patience and perspective though. Ireland has done a very good job of stocking the roster w/ young, talented players and in a year or two we should be in a position to "red shirt" our draftees instead of drafting to fill holes the way we have for the past several years.
Totally Mr C! I was pimping up that dude big time before the draft. I think he can be a real solid player. I had he and Gates in my mock with our 3rd and 4th. I didn't think he'd last until the 5th and when Pitt took him, I was commenting on how the rich got richer as far as LB position goes.
You said compete, not win. The Packers were not the best team in the NFL. The Saints were at the bottom of their division in 2008, the year before their SB. How they do in pre-season doesn't mean squat to me. The Colts offense was elite. Remember how bad they got gashed on defense in the regular season? Then they made it work in the playoffs. That was unexpected. How were the Bucs on the cusp every year when the two years before their SB, they were bounced out in the Wildcard each time?
Yeah, I hate to say it Pad... but I agree with Al13 here. Saying releasing AA was a mistake is a bit hypocritical; all he would've done was take away targets from Bess and Hartline, both of whom are better talents. JMO. Not to mention today, I'm glad we (will) have Gates on the roster instead of him.
no, not a championship in the 4th year, that would pretty much require the team to of made the playoffs last year,and making the playoffs in the 3rd year of this type of rebuild would of been a great feat considering the starting point.. Ive said from the beginning..This is a 4 year job, and in the 4th year the team should be young, competitive, in good shape salary cap wise, and ready to compete for the playoffs, and have the potential do so consistently for the foreseeable future.. Expecting this team, from where it started, to compete for a superbowl in year 4 is a completely irrational timeline for such expectations, and just by thinking about it in the context of this league, is probably pretty damn rare. I expect us to compete for a playoff spot in year 4..If we make it, anything can happen, football teams are closer in talent then some of your opinions indicate my friend.
The AFC has been top heavy as of late, Pats-Steelers-Colts are 9 for 10 in the 2000's. But the NFC has sent 10 different teams the Super Bowl in the last 10 years. Overall, there's no telling what will happen from year to year, let's see what happens in FA first b/c I think there's going to be a changing of the guard in the AFC in the near future.
I took approach that a team wants to "hit" on as many contributors as possible, regardless of where they are drafted. In the same draft we whiff on Merling (#32 overall), but we walk away with Bess (undrafted). In '09 we whiff on White, but then we got Smith in the same round. I'm not comparing players by position. I'm just listing starters or heavy contributors. Then you'd have to add Matt Cassel and Jay Cutler to teams like the Chiefs and Bears. To determine how well a team drafts, I wanted to focus on how well a team "picks" starters or heavy contributors for those three years.
They were not the best team all year, no. They came in on a hot streak and, as usual with teams on hot streaks, they rode it pretty well. We all knew that? Who is we? Whose expectations? Yeah but that doesn't mean they are expected to be in the Super Bowl every year, considering their defense and lack of a run game. If consistency in winning the division means finishing in a position other than 1st place three out of the four years leading up to the Super Bowl, then yeah.
With a team like Pittsburgh though, their lineup is overall more set than most. Harder for a rookie to earn significant playing time. Just glancing at their 2010 roster on Pro Football Reference web site and I counted 33 players who were on the roster that were drafted by them. For Miami, I counted 22 players we drafted. For comparison, the Packers had 38 of their drafts picks on their roster over the 2010 season. I'm not including UDFAs and we have done well there, but I don't know the Steelers and Packers UDFA contributors well enough to make an accurate numbers comparison. For the Jets I counted 20. Tennessee I counted 32. (They've been said to have a high pct of their roster being their own draft picks.). Pats: 31. Buffalo: 29.
Just wished to point out that the Bucs also "USED A FIRST RD PICK ON A QB!" and it did not work out they wound up acquiring Brad Johnson, who was a Orton Like Qb to put them over the top. Their D though, was consistently good, still took them yrs to make the big dance.
Dilfer? He was 1994 and by the time the Bucs went to a Super Bowl, he had nothing to do with anything related to the Bucs. Had they stuck with Dilfer after '99, they'd have just as likely won the SB with him anyway.
That's a reasonable explanation for the bottom of the roster, maybe. Many of those guys who busted out high they needed. They picked Limas Sweed because they needed him. They picked Ziggy Hood because they needed him. Likewise, those failed O-linemen they desperately needed.
...and that's my point. That's exactly what I had originally stated. Yeah, but moreso, there have been some really good QBs whom have elevated the lack of talent on their team. No hope in doing so unless you have one. I never mentioned that it was the only one, but yes, it is the most important. He obviously has another chance to prove himself and as I mentioned, he will HAVE to prove it THIS year. That's it... and of course, at that point, IF Ireland is still here, he would have to look for another QB, but I'll always hope for the best.
Desperate as they may have been, they still made enough good personnel moves to make the SB in the more competitive conference.
No idea vato, the Steelers defense overall ranked highly, and from what I've read they plan on letting Smith walk or waiving him as they have Hood and Hayword.
Yes, I was more reiterating your points than disputing them. Henne is indeed getting THIS year to prove it and it is somewhat of a gift that he is getting it.
He started, but he was awful. Go ask a Steelers fan, look at PFF, watch tape yourself, however you wanna validate it.
