Tortured Soul

We ended up with Gregg Williams, but not because we draged our feet. Lewis was still on the market when GW was hired. Well said, Lori.

I don't think we get the 8th pick in the second. I think we have the 11th or thereabout. Peterson is expected to leave as a free aget, I think. It's a shame that they won't even be able to use their pick to take a step forward.

Interesting idea, but flesh it out. Divide candidates into three categories: former head coaches, assistants, and college coaches. Who would you add to each category that's not currently being considered?

I don't want to get political, but $6 million to cure a disease killing babies and $50+ million to build luxury suites at a football stadium. Thanks, Pataki.

Don't they hold hands in the teaser for the next episode?

Didn't they lose it in the Jason Campbell trade?

Treseel will be preseason 1 or 2. He may leave OSU, but not there. And for the sake of my alma mater, UM, get him out. And Lloyd Carr, but that's a different topic.

He didn't just beat us. He blew us out. The talent on the Saints is very questionable. Odds are Aaron Brooks shouldn't be a starting QB anywhere in this league. Beyond that, how many players would you trade straight up for their oppostie on the Bills? Bentley, Horn...? Belichik shouldn't be used as a model though becuase he's an exception to every rule ever. And we can do better than haslett.

Has anyone heard anything about their relationship? Seemingly, it could help us attract him, but it could also hurt. It''s interesting, though, to think about this in the context of Mularkey saying his uncertain status was going to hurt him attracting FA''s.

Yes!

Sure, sounds nice. But I'd take an offense like Den, Indy or NE, too. I don't see this great preference for Pit.

First, a GM can be held accountable for salary slotting if he's the reason they were slotted 4th in the first place. Plus, he could've traded down. But that's really beside the point. No, the failure is not totally TD's fault - and the best evidence of this is that Big Mike will have to take a substantial paycut or be cut. But you also have to hold TD accountable for such other things as TD's failure to find an adequate backup in the later rounds, etc. I think this team was relatively injury-free for the Donahoe tenure. And if you don't believe my point about people able to make excuses for any of TD's moves, just read the thread defending Gregg Williams. In isolation, anything can be explained. Eventually, a pattern develops. And I do hold hold Ralph accountable. But he's never going to get fired. I think Marv will look at a guy who's badly out of shape and question his character and dedication.

I'm just wondering if by the logic of this thread - does this make Freeney a bad pick because people were calling him a reach? If that's a bad pick, then I don't want to be good. A GM has to be held accountable for the bottom line and nothing else. Maybe Big Mike failed because he had two stupid head coaches that didn't use him right. But Maybe GW and MM have failed (so far) because they have lazy players. So you can't necessarily call either one a bad move in isolation. And as long as that holds, and no move move on its own can be THE move that ruined the team, then how can you hold TD responsible? It's the bottom line.

I'd put Parcells in the first category. I thought Mularkey could've been in the first category, too, after Pittsburgh. For god's sake, he got Maddox to the Pro Bowl. But I would take any last one of the coaches on that list over Mularkey, without exception.

TO may has an attitude, but he doesn't belong in the same category as Marcus Vick, who pulled a gun on some kids, let alone Rae Carruth. TO has never given any less than his best on the field.

I don't know if we're saying the same thing, but Evans doesn't know how to use his speed like Smith does. Smith can go over the middle and get lost running between bigger LBs and turn a six-yard pass into a 30-yard game regularly. Evans did that once this season when the DB fell down, but other than that, all his long gains were on deep passes, usually fly patterns.

Mort said on Sportscenter that it's going to drop about 3 mil this offseason.

The Pats' OL is a 3rd rounder, a 1st rounder (32nd overall), a 5th rounder, a 7th rounder, and an UDFA. Just because you don't need a 1st-round QB to win the Superbowl doesn't mean you need to spend top-10 picks on the OL.

It's hard to prove tat because players at the level of Jones and Pace rarely switch teams. For example, Jones and Pace have never switched teams. The ones that do switch are generally a level below and do not always perform as well. If I had to win one game, I'd pick the Denver Oline, with all their years together, over this year's All Pro line, having never played a snap together.

Despite analysis like "Gandy blows," I disagree with every last thing you write. This was not Donahoe's philosophy because we have not had the same group of players playing together for any length of time. This year, we started with two new faces - Gandy and Bennie, and added a third fresh face - Peters. In 2004, when we started Jennings, Tucker, Teague, Villarial, and Big Mike, four of the five having played for the team the prior year, we had the best line of the Donahoe era. This sounds like a quickly-assembled line for 2006. Then again, we won't be competing for a Super Bowl in 2006. In 2007 and beyond, it will seem like a seasoned, experienced line that plays like a unit. Peters may not be a pro-bowler. Then again, only one of the four pro-bowl starting tackles will be playing this week, so maybe that isn't so important. And I don't mean to tell you stuff I'm sure you already know, but Indy and NE have exactly one Pro Bowl lineman between them. Denver has zero. But that's the whole point of my post. Great lines don't come from great players. They come from continuity and schemes. And you should really know by now who LeCharles Bentley is.

The general theory of building through the offensive line is something that almost anyone on this board will agree with. But I'm not sure that means throwing boatloads of money at the position. I can't do a detailed study of this, but anecdotally, it seems that many big-money free agents (Runyan sticks out in my head) don't perform as well in their new place. Teams with the best lines have two things going for them. The first is schemes. Denver, New England, etc. can rotate rookies in and out of the line-up without missing a beat. It doesn't seem like we can ever spend enough to make our team as good as theirs. The second is continuity. Seattle, Indianapolis, etc. have had the same group of lineman playing alongside each other for years. Indy had Tarik Glenn in place even before the drafted Manning. Their tackles and center have been playing together for five years. Hutch and Jones in Sea have been there five years, too. That's why I think the best thing we can do is set our line this offseason, maybe something like Peters, Preston, Bentley, Gandy, and a second rounder, and let them grow together.

Here's my contention: Grimm knows he's close to the top job, even if he's not there yet (he may be, we'll see in the next couple of weeks). So why would he come to a team with an offense that's a total mess - no foundation for the offensive line, no certainty if Moulds will be back, at best a rookie TE coming off a major knee injury, and a young QB that has already consumed the career of one OC (who, BTW, was a QB coach prior to that). I'm not saying he couldn't turn this offense around, given time, I'm just saying he wouldn't be willing to wait. Unless we make one never-before-made guarantee. Turn the offense around and you can have Mularkey's job.

I don't think he changed his draft position at all from that game. He was top-5 before and top-5 now. And I'd always prefer a guy who makes plays to win than a guy with the same talent who doesn't win as much.

I thought fletcher was the heart of the Superbowl defense. His last year was the last time they made the Superbowl. People talking about Lawrence Smith, I think, proves the point that there really haven't been any free agent finds.

Can someone who followed these players elaborate on the Vick-McPhearson comparison? Thanks