Bob in STL

Agree. especially when the Cardinals are a model Baseball franchise with many pennants and World Series titles. The Rams are bad but they did win a Super Bowl. The Blues are the epitiome of average year after year. This city does not however, measure its pride by its sports teams. It is a nice city, not the best and not the worst o(or even close to it).

I can speak for Central California, cities like Fresno and Stockton are in the San Joaquin Valley. Most of the cities in this region are based on the agriculture and have grown way too fast. There is a lack things that big cities should have such as: history, culture, a downtown area, sports, art, symphonies, concerts, good schools, restaurants, etc. Most of the middle California desert was converted to fertile farmland by irrigation. Lots ands lots of flat, irrigated farmland. The area is filled with bad air from pesticides, dust and fertilizers. Most of the year is very hot. Dry climates are now turning humid due to irrigation. There are many migrant workers in these cities. Lots of crime. The "haves" are associated with agriculture and live like kings ... the "have nots" do all the dirty work and are hurting. It is hard to get to the middle. Stockton, Fresno and others in this valley have good points but they are not the kind of cities that resonate the California style.

Concur. We need to draft a tackle in round 1 or 2 and another one in later rounds. We also should sign a free agent veteran tackle. Bell is still a project even as a RT. Meredith is another project. Scott is nothing more than a backup, if that. We need lots of help. Past regimes have taken the OL way to lightly. I want to stress again that we need a veteran free agent that can play one of the tackle spots. Lessons should have been learned from last year.

I have never heard the facts but I do think this situation had something to do with Marty not getting hired. Whether it was Ralph's call, Buddy's, or both.

These list are usually crap. Anywhere in the midwest or Great Lakes must be bad according to this list. I live in St. Louis. Most of the area is very nice, yet it ranked 6th? Buffalo is a great town yet it ranks behind Toledo, Gary and others????? Chicago is one of my favorite cities .. it should never make a list like this.

Yeah right, on passing plays they sit down for tea and let the other 10 players handle it.

Something bad happened in San Diego. Marty was fired after a 14-2 season. Nix was there and he saw it, whatever it was. Nix is still friends with Marty but but he chose not to hire him. But you probably no more about this than Buddy.

Sadly I view that list and this is what I think of: 1. Lack of consistency - many of our best players were let go with gas in the tank. 2. Neglected offensive line. 3. No QB for a decade Coaches - two rookies and a retread No wonder this was our worst decade ever.

+10

too small for a 3-4 OLB.

Seems like he could have been looked at on the field?

At least they contributed something. Not unusual to have a few guys who's main contribution is special teams.

Mrs. Edwards, Trent's pay is comensurate with the position in which he was selected in the draft and in his years in service. His performance on the field has not done much to insure that his pay will be much higher in the future. I agree that your son has been the victim of both poor coaching and management. He has played behind one of the worst OL's in the league. I don't think everyone will agree that your son is completely loyal to his teammates or to the teams fans. First of all he is not a passionate guy about football. He stated as much when he said he is not a Bills fan or a football fan. His actions show he is not a student of the game. His status with his teammates is not too high right now either. Perhaps that is why he stands by himself on the sidelines. When he was given the job as QB some of the players were upset and wanted Losman in there (yes, that Losman). When he lost his job to Fitzpatrick (yes, that Fitzpatrick) many of the players rallied around their new QB and the team play was in fact elevated. When the head coach was fired the interim coach went with Fitzpatrick, not Trent. Something tells the casual observer that the rest of the team has lost confidence in your son. He seems like a good kid and maybe he will do better elsewhere. Who knows, Chan might give him another chance and maybe things will work out.

To me Clausen does not have the look of a Manning or Elway. I say no more trading up and no more chasing players because of needs. Why not sit tight and draft the best player at #9 and at 41. We have so many needs that chances are high that this player will fill one. If not, then trade down and get more picks.

No. Fitz gives you more leadership.

If Jax picks Clausen instead of Tebow the few fans that they still have will all move to Gainesville.

2008 - Did you think that the Dolphins would go from 1-15 to 11-5 with a rookie HC? 2009 - Did you think the Jets would make the playoffs with a rookie HC and rookie QB? How many experts in the media believed this? I think we will be a competitive team and finish around .500. Why? -- Losing Jauron is addition by subtraction. This team will have a new attitude. -- Gailey is a going to be a major improvement for our offense. -- Buddy will fill some of the holes in year 1. -- No way can we have a repeat on the number of injuries we had last year.

I would like to see us bring in a vet and then draft a LT in one of the first 3 rounds. I don't see Bell, Meredith or Scott being the answer on the left side. Bell did not even play football in high school. He is going into his 3rd year he is still almost as green as a player like Bulaga would be ... That kid has been playing football his entire life. Bell seems mentally weak and had huge problems with snap counts, linning up onsides, crowd noise, etc. I want to be wrong and I hope he turns into a stud at LT.

It is hard to predict how these guys will play in the NFL. Thankfully we pay Buddy Nix and Whaley the big $$ for making this call ... If Buddy agrees with this then expect to see us take a NT or LB at #9 ... unless we have a trade down opportunity.

Buddy's Value Chart will differ from that of DraftTek's. I see pick McClain or a top OT at #9 rather than a QB or Morgan. At #41 a LB looks good if we don't get McClain at #9.

Only problem right now our LB core lacks talent and is undersized for the 3-4. There is no gaurentee that DE's like Maybin, Ellis, Schobel oreKelsey can play the 3-4 effectively. Schobel sounded intrigued by it. Maybin should be able to convert. If an potential impact player like McClain is sitting there at #9 I say you take him.

I sure missed it? He looked completely unprepared to play LT.

Maybe there were no formal interviews but how do you know that Whaley was not contacted very early on? Maybe they wanted the experience of Nix, a known commodity to Ralph and Brandon, with Whaley coming in as his assistant and heir apparent? This could have been in the works for quite some time. Maybe "Smithers" does not want to run the football side? He was stuck with it when Marv bailed. Maybe "Smithers" is smarter than you think?

Assuming we sign Incognito I think we have four solid players (counting Wood, Levitre and Hangartner) on the inside to battle for 3 starting positions. I do not think moving Levitre to tackle is a good move. I think we need to draft a player that can man the Left OT spot for years to come. I suspect that will take a first or second rounder. To be safe we need to bring in a veteran OT from free agency if possible. We can't rely on a rookie and Bell/ Meredith/ Scott for LT like last year. After that we can have Butler battle with Bell, Meredith and Scott for RT. Butler can be valuable, even as a backup, in that he can also swing to OG. I suspect we will draft more players for OL depth in the mid to late rounds. We need as much competition as possible. Thanks to the improvements in the interrior that were made last year, this line is getting close to a top-flight unit. It is critical we get someone good to play LT.

Schoebel just commented on the defensive scheme that they had been playing and how difficult is is to stop the run is someone misses an assignment. Look beyond the stats if you can. When you consider all the injuries and the crap they had at LB last season it was a miracle that our defense did as well as they did. They kept us in a lot of games.