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When I first started perusing this board, I was a Wys fan - actually I'm still a Wys fan - hey, he's a realist I thought, he makes cogent, lucid arguments - I've even hyped him over on TBD. But now I know why he gets under everybody's skin ... he's a 1-trick pony, actually a 3-trick pony with his steady repetition of mantras that would make a yogi proud:
1. Bledsoe sucks so bad I guess I can't even remember the yahoos we had for 4 sucky years.
My take: look, the way Bledsoe started last year, how could we not get caught up in the hype? He stood back in the pocket , took a beating physically due to our ill-coached and youthful line, yet ALWAYS bounced up and still rifled passes 40 yards downfield with precision. He's a lot like Kelly, a brash ego that can carry a team for a while. We need to make sure he doesn't feel the need to do that all the time - then his arm becomes a scary weapon to keep the defense at bay. I know when he was a Pat, he was the 1 QB that scared me in the division. If we gave him time, he'd eat us up with pinpoint throws.
2. Jerry Gray's defense became a top 10 defense at the end of the year - who needs to upgrade the D?
My take: I partially agree with Wys here. The defense progressed the 2nd half of the year, almost in unison with the offense showing signs of regress. The one overriding FACT that he continually overlooks in all his discussion about statistics is the complete inability of that same defense to create turnovers or big plays. There were 3 causes for this. Putrid run-D in the center of the line, lack of a consistent pass rush, and a mediocre LB corps to cut off screens and short passing games. It looks like TD fixed the first 2 problems. Fat Sam's job is to duplicate what Fat Ted did. Occupy the middle - he'll do fine and now Edward and Bannon will be decent backups instead of overmatched starters. We all know how good Spikes will be but I don't think we'll be able to judge Posey's value till we see real schemes and gameplans - at least the coaches seem to rave about his skills. Our 1 glaring weakness is still the pass rush, however. TD is trying a quick cheap fix with Jones and McKenzie - early returns don't look great. this is where Lebeau's schemes and our LB talent should help somewhat. Unfortunately, we have a HUUUGE game the first week against the Pats and I'm not sure that we'll have gelled yet.
3. We look horrible in preseason - we'll probably suck.
My take: I do worry that we didn't match up well in the simple 1-on-1 schemes with the Titans, but they have experienced, veteran OL and DL ... ours' are relatively freshfaced except for Ruben, Fat Sam and Phat Pat. I have no doubt, barring injury, that we'll look a whole lot better when we meet them in the regular season than we did last week. Gameplanning, experience and confidence go a long way when you combine it with the talent we have. I claim that Ruel, our new OL coach will be the biggest positive in our offense since ... Bledsoe. You can already see better technique in run-blocking from the interior of the line. If you remember, most of Henry's yards last year came after he turned the corner. At least in the preseason, the interior guys seem to be learning effective ways to seal off their man. We have the obvious talent to be a good pass blocking team but don't yet have the experience. I know Wys screamed about Bledsoe taking too much time to throw last week - and he probably needs to get in the mindset to dump off passes from time to time - but if you compared his pocket to that of McNair and even the Titan backups- yikes! It wasn't close. Look, it's hard to look good when you're constantly facing a long field due to penalties. If we stay that undisciplined in the regular season, you could have a All-star team in there and not be very successful.
One thing I think people will be pleasantly surprised at this year is how our wideouts will make the cruscial block to spring Henry for a big gain. I remember at least half a dozen instances where I'd be watching Henry about to break free and Peerless vainly trying to shield his guy from an area. Reed and Shaw will finish those blocks.
I'm sorry Wys, I didn't mean for this to be a diatribe against you - I like your realism, but jeez, sometimes I think all you see is the cloud inside the silver lining. Anyway, your comments gave me a chance to introduce myself to the forum. This is a great place for some lively debate.:punchu:
1. Bledsoe sucks so bad I guess I can't even remember the yahoos we had for 4 sucky years.
My take: look, the way Bledsoe started last year, how could we not get caught up in the hype? He stood back in the pocket , took a beating physically due to our ill-coached and youthful line, yet ALWAYS bounced up and still rifled passes 40 yards downfield with precision. He's a lot like Kelly, a brash ego that can carry a team for a while. We need to make sure he doesn't feel the need to do that all the time - then his arm becomes a scary weapon to keep the defense at bay. I know when he was a Pat, he was the 1 QB that scared me in the division. If we gave him time, he'd eat us up with pinpoint throws.
2. Jerry Gray's defense became a top 10 defense at the end of the year - who needs to upgrade the D?
My take: I partially agree with Wys here. The defense progressed the 2nd half of the year, almost in unison with the offense showing signs of regress. The one overriding FACT that he continually overlooks in all his discussion about statistics is the complete inability of that same defense to create turnovers or big plays. There were 3 causes for this. Putrid run-D in the center of the line, lack of a consistent pass rush, and a mediocre LB corps to cut off screens and short passing games. It looks like TD fixed the first 2 problems. Fat Sam's job is to duplicate what Fat Ted did. Occupy the middle - he'll do fine and now Edward and Bannon will be decent backups instead of overmatched starters. We all know how good Spikes will be but I don't think we'll be able to judge Posey's value till we see real schemes and gameplans - at least the coaches seem to rave about his skills. Our 1 glaring weakness is still the pass rush, however. TD is trying a quick cheap fix with Jones and McKenzie - early returns don't look great. this is where Lebeau's schemes and our LB talent should help somewhat. Unfortunately, we have a HUUUGE game the first week against the Pats and I'm not sure that we'll have gelled yet.
3. We look horrible in preseason - we'll probably suck.
My take: I do worry that we didn't match up well in the simple 1-on-1 schemes with the Titans, but they have experienced, veteran OL and DL ... ours' are relatively freshfaced except for Ruben, Fat Sam and Phat Pat. I have no doubt, barring injury, that we'll look a whole lot better when we meet them in the regular season than we did last week. Gameplanning, experience and confidence go a long way when you combine it with the talent we have. I claim that Ruel, our new OL coach will be the biggest positive in our offense since ... Bledsoe. You can already see better technique in run-blocking from the interior of the line. If you remember, most of Henry's yards last year came after he turned the corner. At least in the preseason, the interior guys seem to be learning effective ways to seal off their man. We have the obvious talent to be a good pass blocking team but don't yet have the experience. I know Wys screamed about Bledsoe taking too much time to throw last week - and he probably needs to get in the mindset to dump off passes from time to time - but if you compared his pocket to that of McNair and even the Titan backups- yikes! It wasn't close. Look, it's hard to look good when you're constantly facing a long field due to penalties. If we stay that undisciplined in the regular season, you could have a All-star team in there and not be very successful.
One thing I think people will be pleasantly surprised at this year is how our wideouts will make the cruscial block to spring Henry for a big gain. I remember at least half a dozen instances where I'd be watching Henry about to break free and Peerless vainly trying to shield his guy from an area. Reed and Shaw will finish those blocks.
I'm sorry Wys, I didn't mean for this to be a diatribe against you - I like your realism, but jeez, sometimes I think all you see is the cloud inside the silver lining. Anyway, your comments gave me a chance to introduce myself to the forum. This is a great place for some lively debate.:punchu:
You gotta double the size of that to make it a Wys-style post.
:welcome back, Ð
...., 
In Marv We Trust 
The Past Is Now The Future 
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