What exactly do you want him to tell the media, they suck?

We also had too many holes for this admin to address all weaknesses. One step at a time.

 

That doesn’t necessarily mean that he feels the secondary is where they should be. He was pleasantly surprised, ok, but even with the surprise, I am sure the admin knew this would be an area of weakness. They failed to address the secondary because

1) They couldn’t fix all areas of weakness in one offseason/draft
2) They anticipated a better pass rush, which has been non-existent to this point

We will surely have to address the secondary next offseason one way or the other, including other glaring weaknesses we have, including the LBs and WRs.

 

I wouldn't necessarily say its non-existent. At times we apply pressure to the QB. The amount of times we put heat on Brett Favre in week 1 will attest to that. I think the issue is how the coverage and pass rushers of the D help each other out. Neither of them are both doing their jobs on the same drive.

A coverage team has to provide coverage long enough for the front 7 to get to the QB. Meanwhile, the front 7 have to get to the QB before the WRs get enough seperate from the DBs. If both do their jobs on the same play it'll work out with picks and sacks. If not, either the QB will have all day to throw, or everyone will be open and a pass rush will be non-existent. If the first option is open half the day, it doesn't matter who you have rushing the Passer, he can make that play all day.

Bottom line. We are a young team. Some moving parts are from China, while some are from Tawain. We need to get all of these moving parts to be made in the USA and all moving together at the same time to work.

 

Granted, it is a two way street, but I think we all knew we would have to rely on our front 7 to bail out our secondary, including the admin. I agree with you fully, but seriously, we knew this would happen. Even with good coverage against ARI, which was a rarity, we still didn’t establish the pass rush we built the line for. We are a young team, and I am not too worried, yet. The only comfort I have is realizing that our below average secondary went against two pro bowler WRs and a veteran QB smart enough to make quick reads against our basic defensive schemes. Basic schemes work if you have players that can make plays. We are lacking those players on def. right now. We do have a lot of young guys that will step it up, and this season will highlight those guys.

We were a 1-15 team for a reason, many reasons actually. Let’s not forget that.

 

Remember who we were going against yesterday. Probably the best receiver tandom in the league plus a lot of other talented players. No doubt a lot of mistakes were made, and Goodman and Crocker looked awful. However, Boldin and Fitzgerald are going to make a lot of DB's look bad. I really can't understand Crocker over Jason Allen, and it's very likely Lehan would be starting instead of Goodman if it wasn't for the injury during training camp. Once he's over that completely he very well may replace Goodman. I'm sure we will get better in the secondary next off-season as well. We didn't draft one DB last year because the lines were the first priority.

 

I think it was Coachspeak. He knows they suck and can't do much about it right now, so he makes happy sounds until he can get replacements.

 

Yeah, no argument from me there. Just seems the problem again is pointed towards talent. Saban picked dumb players to execute a complex scheme. Thats where the Jason Allen debauchle comes into play. I don't know what the next regime's priorities are, but it'll probably be LB/CB in the next draft. Thats what I'm hoping. But it could easily be LB/WR and LB/Oline again. As you can see, I'm pretty sure LB will be addressed first next offseason.

 

I think Ireland did a very good job with the draft, I'm not worried about that. And if you remember what he said early on when he got the job I will repeat it (Not in his words)

He said you build the team through the draft, you don't sign high priced FA's, you look for the young cheaper FA's that may develop. When you know your closer to the top, than you sign the big name FA's to put you over the top. And that's pretty much what they did.

I do think they made a mistake by not signing say a guy like Issac Bruce, a vet WR that could take the young Wr's under his wing and teach them. And I do think they made a mistake with the secondary, they thought they could teach them up, but as we have seen, they can't.

 

You can't help but be a little worried after all that has happened here in recent years. I think any one who says they are not worried at all is either trying to reasure themselves or fool other people.
I believe and have confidence this group led by Parcells will eventually get what we need and turn things around but that doesn't change the fact I am still a little worried.

My God, look at what we have been through with Jimmy Johnson, Dave Wannstedt, Nick Saban and Cam Cameron. Yes, even Jimmy Johnson, with his retire then don't retire and then slip his buddy Wannstedt in the back door and then retire again. And don't forget JJ was at the helm when the Dolphins had one of their worst defeats in the history of the franchise.

 

What he said was he was pleasantly surprised by the talent already here...I dont have a problem with that Y Bell is better than Davis and the Corners Goodman/Lehan are better than the FA that were signed to compete...I never got the impression he didnt think they (ireland/BP) needed to improve the secondary.

 

What do you expect him to come out and say?

"We have an awful secondary and will be lucky to hold teams to under 300 yards passing."

 

Well I'll be the bad guy here. Yes I am very worried, I see this first year HC making just as many bad decisions as our last year first year HC. The only true difference is that Sparano has Bill to cover his back; for now. Some are saying that Satele has regressed but Tony's specialty is the o-line. We had just as many moves last year yet the o-line helped RB over 900 total yards in the first six games, don't forget. First two games this year we average 12.+ points per game and in 07 it was 16.+ for the first two and after game 3 it rose to 20.+. Do any here think after playing the Pats on their home turf will give us a rise to 20.+? Thats an 8 point rise in only one game; I think not. Looking at our schedule, after I've seen the first two games, I say we only have the chance to win 2 games this season. Week 13 against the Rams and week 16 against the Chiefs and we'll be lucky to do that unless someone pulls a rabbit out of their hat.:wink2::cry:

 

I know they're great at judging OL, DL, LB, maybe CB but I have qualms about QB and WR.

 

could be that he was pleasantly surprised the secondary weren't in fact mannequins?

 

He was telling the truth. He thought they were a 1 on a scale of 1 (Bad) to 10 (Awesome). After seeing them workout he placed a 2 on them. Thus they are better then he thought. Twice as good actually.

 

I will say that giving contracts to wilford, mccnown, ryan, davis and a few others look to be like some mistakes. But i forgive them because of the unbelievable draft they had.

 

The only reason the secondary wasn't exposed like a cross dresser in a mini skirt last season was because teams didn't have to throw the ball they could run it all day.

But as somebody else said above, if your expectations are already really low an they are slightly better than that - then they are better than expected. I don't think he said they were pro-bowlers or going to shut down the league. Just better than previously thought.

 

He hasn't had issue with piling it on other times. He laid into the WRs many times.

 

But how much of that is due to THIS coaching staff?

 

Can't believe we are discussing this two weeks in to a rebuilding season...

 

Well clearly that was just something for them to say as a reason as to why we did nothing to it in the offseason. Really there wasnt much we could do. sure Assante Samuel moved, and Lito Shepard became "available". but realistically when rebuilding you arent going to give up that many high draft picks or that kind of cash to get one of those guys.

Think about the rest of the DB talent out there this off season, that you werent going to overpay for... there really wasnt much in the way of options. I see our DB's and LB's receiving most of the attention during the next draft. Not to mention our WR's...

 

Its a rebuilding season. When will some of you realize that? Its a rebuilding season. Plain and simple. We didn't look pretty last game and people are overreacting. A week ago, you guys were praising our teams heart and how they were in it til the end. This week, we have a bad performance and some people are calling for Sparano's head.

P.S. It doesn't help a rebuilding team to play a possible playoff team where their strengths are our weaknesses...

 

no worries brother, its what we do when your rebuilding..right? we can have peace, its all about next year from here on on out...

 

My main concern with the team is that Bill Parcells is focused on stocking up on big lineman, but where are the team's defensive backs, wide receivers and other areas of the team that just isn't there?

I think when Parcells coached you could win by physically beating up other teams, with guys like Lawrence Taylor, Carson, etc. on his Giant's team....but you need to be able to throw the ball today, have receivers who can make catches and score. We had these things when Dan Marino was here, but we also had a very inconsistent defense and not much of a passing game.

I hope Parcells can build an overall team. We have had nothing but new coaches and GM's here and lots of turnover in our player personnel. Stable teams (Patriots, Giants, Colts, Broncos) tend to be consistent playoff teams.....we are not going to be a playoff team until we figure this out. :sad:

 

You gotta start somewhere. This team had nothing nada zilch nein. As far as I can tell Parcells' concern was right where it should have been. The last thing we need to worry about is the direction that this organization is headed. It takes time. All we have right now is the cement for the foundation and its being poured as we speak.

 

parcells always builds from the trenches, i'm not gonna argue with his plan

 

When you have a team that is this raw, it is to be expected but yes learning how to coach is in the mix too, considering Sparano is a rookie HC. It's all good though because everyone who is successful at what they do learns something new (or how to do something better) about what they do, everyday.

 

They were in the AFC Championship game 3 years ago.

 

Parcells' approach has generally been focused on DL, OL and LBs. You cannot address every area in one draft. LB will be a major focus next year and lucky for us it's going to be a very nice year for that position. CBs are a dime a dozen, there are always good ones available every year. Drafting no worries. Some of their other decisions have been very questionable to outright failures.

Sparano worries me because he wore sunglasses to press conferences. If Ricky did that he would have been called out for having missed taking his meds to deal with his social anxiety.