Normally I am not a thread starter for good reason. Most of my opinions are already expressed on our radio show, but what I want to put out now I actually want feedback for. When I watched the Steelers in game one, they dominated the first half, they looked like the defending SB champions. Then in the second half and ever since they look beatable, mortal even. Big Ben is still Big Ben, Lebau is still the master of the blitz, what is the difference? Troy Polamalu is the difference. Football is a team sport, but superstars make teams better just by being on the field. Teams know Troy is there and they go away from him, yet he still makes incredible plays. We have fan favorites, we even have last yrs sack leader in Porter, but do we have a player of Troy's caliber on our Defense? No. He even has great hair. He uses head and shoulders and it does 7 great things to give him...oh I'm going off track. Now when you think of the Bengals, whats the difference this yr from last? Heck they lost T.J. and are still off to a great start. Palmer was hurt last year...ah, there we go. Romo looks blah this year, Witten looks less impressive, No Owens. Its a common denominator that every team has or didn't have, a leader. Who on our team is the leader? Ronnie Brown is a beast, but doesn't really take games over on his own. Pennington was great, but even he proved when the game was on the line he didn't want the ball or the game in his hands. Ginn is not the playmaking WR we need, and like I predicted before the season even began don't be surprised to see him as the third option soon. I love the front office, but this yrs FA picks seem to have all been busts so far, and the draft this yr has been a bust compared to last year. It almost makes you wonder if Tuna didn't loosen the leash up this year compared to last. In conclusion I guess I am just trying to say that until we have playmakers to go along with our role players we will always come up short, IMO. Flame away...
Well look at what happened when Bob Sanders went down for Indianapolis (and when he came back in the playoffs) in 2006? I would say a top flight safety can really make or break a defense.
Spot on E. I was thinking along the same lines during the game that we don't have an identity. We're identified with the wildcat but when this fails (or we gave up on!) we don't have anything/one else to go to (bit like the way I play madden....)
We have a team full of solid players, but no difference makers. In this day and age you need difference makers on both sides of the ball to win consistently, and win it all. Hopefully Henne can be that difference maker on offense. If he doesnt pan out, we are in trouble.
Well, our "solid players" have not been playing very solidly, Ronnie's fumble at the one, blown coverages, a scheme that puts a ILB in coverage on all pro Te's. And consider this, with Penny we had several different targets on offense the way the Eagles used to do with no real #1 Wr, with Henne, he is going to need someone to bail him out and always be open even on shorter, check down passes, that guy will be D Bess and in Yr2 we all will see whether he is a playmaker or not.
And the Eagles never got to the SB until the added TO. Not to mentiond they had the defensive difference maker in Dawkins. If Henne looks to be an NFL worther QB, we need to get him a real #1 wideout, and/or a TE. Davone Bess is great stuff, but he isnt going to carry the load, and he isnt going to make the BIG play. My point was pretty much that even when we play solid, we still dont have a big play ability. Its rare as hell, and thats not something that wins games in todays NFL - the ideal of playing with defense and a running game is gone. One or the other can help, but you still need those big plays.
If the phins gave him the ball 19-22 times he can take games over. The D needs a playmaker your right about that. I was hoping that Bell would be that guy for us
yup that quote stood out to me as well.....he doesnt take over games cause the offensive coordinator never lets him!!!!! as for the superstar on defense, i agree. we need to draft eric berry. and id do anything for that to happen!!!!! (it wont, but id love it) oh and E........try using spaces, hitting the tab key, and starting a new paragraph for once.........
Amen Sick. Nice thread E. We do need field generals and playmakers, hopefully someone(s) will step up and fill the role.
When Ronnie laid himself out to catch that pass from Henne the way a WR should I said he's stepping up his game and trying to be the leader now. Let's hope that I'm right because this team does not have any true leadership.
Well TO was not there in the playoffs. He missed all of those games. He came back for the Superbowl only. However, I sort of agree with the whole subject. I don't think the Superstar is needed, but they certainly make it a lot easier. You can definitely find the teams that won without the superstars, but they are few and far between
ronnie is a play maker and can take over a game. I thinkw e are looking for that wr playmaker though as both ginn and bess can go off but lack the consistency to do it. We do lack a huge playmaker/leader on the defensive side of the ball.
Ronnie is a difference maker. I think Henne has an outside shot of being one though probably not this year. Vontae Davis and Sean Smith certainly have the ability. Phillip Merling and Kendall Langford are coming close. I think we need to understand that the Parcells regime didnt come here to tweak the team. They came here to gut it and rebuild it in their image. The first two years they didnt go after the difference makers but if I'm right year three is when we will see them do just that. I think we will get an OLB and WR superstar next year. One thing I have to remind everyone of is we still havent seen the Parcells defense unveiled. The Parcells defense is predicated on linebackers. We have left that position for last. I think next year we bring in at least three linebackers and then you will see just what a Parcells defense is capable of
Right now we have a team full of roll players with Ronnie Brown being the closest thing we have to a playmaker. They need a leader and someone who will take control. I really hope Henne can live up to the hype and take control because we really need that.
IMO there are certain positions where a star player can have that huge effect. On defense I believe that S has become one of those along with a pass rusher, a NT (in a 3-4) and in with an exceptional player, a MLB. On offense, those positions can be QB (obviously), WR/TE and RB. The only guy we have an offense that can really be that guy right now is Brown. IMO they have done a poor job of utilizing his talents. The other guy who could have a big effect is Ginn. He isn't an elite talent but his speed is elite. They really should try targeting him deep more often. I see Brown, Ginn and, in smaller doses, Cobbs as the only guys that can get us chunk yardage.
The problem is we're getting cute with the subs. It should be more Ronnie. There are times where neither Ronnie or Ricky are on the field. That's just ridiculous. Cam Cameron for all his follies knew how to use Ronnie.
I agree with your assessment that Polamalu is the difference in Pittsburgh, Palmer in Cincy. After that our opinions take similar but differing routes. I'll get to that in a minute. With Polamalu, the Bears would have never beat the Steelers. In the following video, at the 3:26 mark, Tyrone Carter gives up the game tieing TD while playing in place of Polamalu. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEsmtqlxeYQ"]YouTube - PITTSBURGH STEELERS VS CHICAGO BEARS 2009 WEEK 2 HIGHLIGHTS[/ame] If Troy was playing, the Steelers are 2-0. End of story. I didn't see a lot of the Bengals game this past week. But with it being as close as it was, it's hard to think that Troy being out wasn't a major factor in the Bengals game winning drive. With Palmer, like any legitimate starting QB in the NFL, there will always be a let down when he is not in the game. However, I credit the Bengals defense for their imporvement just as much as Palmers return. They have gotten consistent pressure on the QB, and they are starting to stack up the talent in the LB and DB department. Roy Williams is having a good year so far, FWIW. Now to the parts where I see things differently. In Dallas, they have a 3 headed monster at RB. When healthy (which they obviously aren't right now) they should be able to run the ball on absolutely anyone. This should be their identity. They don't need Terrell Owens to be successful on offense. The media makes way too much out of his departure and puts all this perceived pressure on Roy Williams to fill that role. But when you are 3 deep at RB with guys who can do it all, you need to feed them. They may be down to just Choice at the time being, and Romo may have to carry more of the load. But that is a temporary solution to a temporary problem. They have playmakers. Barber, Jones, Choise, and Witten are 1st class NFL material. Their WRs aren't too bad either. For them it's all about staying within their means, and not giving in to the media's preceptions of what kind of team they 'should' be. In Miami, we do lack playmakers and game changers. On offense we need Ronnie to score more touchdowns and get more carries. We also need to find way to get Ginn the ball in stride and let him run to the endzone untouched. The Eagles seem to be able to do it with DeSean Jackson. They get him the ball breaking across the field and he simply turns up field for the TD. I know it's starting to sound very cliche, but we will see what Ginn can do with Henne throwing the ball. I believe we do have a playmaker in Ginn. He's obviously not the type that can win those jump ball situations in the endzone, and neither is DeSean Jackson. We need to do a better job of using Ginn's strengths to get more out of him. On defense, it's unfair to start throwing around the B word in reference to our draft from this year. Smith and Davis are rookies. Smith is doing very well, and Davis has been decent in his time in the field. Our problem is at safety. I don't know if its the scheme, or the players. (Probably both) But we need a hard hitting, ball hawking, instinctive monster roaming the field at safety. Yeremiah is a decent tackle, but doesn't get picks. Gibril Wilson is sub-par at pretty much everything from what we've seen. Bottom line. We need a playmaking safety, and a QB who can get the ball downfield. We may have one of them already. Lord help us find the other.
i think we will have some big play 'players' in the short term in Smith/Davis and Clemons ... but they need time ... at least this year. it's in the WR, DE, OLB, ILB positions that we are lacking ...
Gish...the three headed monster in Dallas was active the week they lost to NY, who is another team I could use in this example. No Plax....no big play wideout and they are not the same team. All be it still a very good team.
To me ILB and Wr and Te are priority needs, we have 13 games to sort through the younger OLB like Moses and Wake, if they are just "okay" then great, let's look at some of the young bucks in the draft. And here would be a good place to point out that we went from picking #1 overall with a spare #2 in 08 to picking #25th overall with one spare #2. Point being, in Dallas the Cowboys had to tank for them to be in position to draft Demarcus Ware, the cornerstone in their defense, if we draft mid teens to early 20's, it is doubtful we can pick up an elite type of passrushing OLB. They go top ten every year, rarely does a great passrushing prospect make it to 15, it can happen, but even the Jags took Harvey #9, the Redskins Orakpo at #12.
If you look at why Dallas lost, it's because Romo didn't play within himself. Barber was averaging 6.89ypc. Jones was averaging 13.71ypc. And Romo threw 3 picks (one pick was off Witten's shoe, but still) They were running successfully, and Romo blew it.
Our DL overall is a point of strength, I think. We've got a great mix of young and older guys rotating at DE. Ferguson does well for the "right now" and Soliai has been playing really well when he comes in. We're good at both DL and OL. Running Back is also a point of strength. IMO Brown ought to be considered a guy who can take over a game. Right now we have the #3 ranked running attack. http://www.profootballweekly.com/nfl/statistics/teams/ And that's mostly due to Ronnie Brown. Bur Ricky and Cobbs have done some considerable work, too. IMO this is what we need: Our rookie CBs to gain experience Chad Henne to take advantage of this opportunity and play up to expectations. If these two things happen we will be looking like an up and coming team for next year. It may come way too late for any playoff aspirations for this year, but it'll be something to build off of for next year.
