From Pat Kirwan on NFL.com

[DaBillzAhDaShiznit]

I tried like heck to post the link but could not get it to copy, I am sorry about that....

"When I look at the quality of depth, the criteria is narrow. Veterans -- not rookies -- who can come in and perform with limited practice time are very important. Here's what constitutes excellent depth on offense:

A backup quarterback with a proven record of winning.
A third wide receiver who can play well in the three-receiver package and step into the lineup as the starter for a month and be productive.
A second tight end who can create personnel grouping problems for opposing defenses and has the ability to bring an extra dimension to the offense that the starter doesn't have.
At least two veteran offensive linemen with no less than 10 career starts each under their belt.
A backup running back who can give you 80 to 100 yards a week until the starter returns. I like a guy who has done it before at least once or twice.
On defense:

A pass rush specialist or third defensive end.
A third defensive tackle so the starters can rotate.
An excellent third corner to play nickel defense.
A third safety to get into dime defenses.
A backup "mike" (middle) linebacker to call the defenses and line people up.
A special teams difference maker.
And throw in at least one assistant coach with head coaching experience to help the boss. "

I think we have all of these things except for the excellent third corner (although maybe McGee will prove himself), and a backup middle linebacker. For the tight end I was thinking Jason Peters could really add the other dimension as mentioned..
Oh and of course we don't have a proven backup quarterback at this point...

[MDFINFAN]

Who's the 3rd DT and 2nd Difference making TE, also you don't have a proven backup OL..something like Miami. I agree on your 3rd corner, and McGee is a wait and see, but I like him too. BTW who is your pass rush specialist?

[DaBillzAhDaShiznit]

Trust me, I feel ya.....but I am optimistic.....
My thoughts on the pass rush specialist were IF (and that's a pretty big IF) we land Gildon. And the tight end I was thinking of was Jason Peters (the big 300lb animal) who is looking pretty good at this point. The third DT we have is Oliver Gibson who is a solid backup brought over from Cincy...
Marcus Price is a proven backup Olineman...

Care to rebuff my optimism?

I'd like to hear your take on how the Fins work with this list....
I confess I don't know your players or coaches all that well, but I see holes at RB, third receiver (didn't see or hear much from derrius thompson last year), tight end, third cornerback, OLINE period, and the assistant coaches.....please enlighten me..

[Halbert]

What was the name of the article? I can't find it in the list of his articles. http://nfl.com/writers/kirwan

[Earthquake Enyart]

Pat Kerwin couldn't find his ass with both hands.

[Halbert]

Let’s grade the Bills on each of his criteria:

F - A backup quarterback with a proven record of winning. Brown has been around long enough that he might surprise us but right now it looks like disaster if Drew goes down.
A+ - A third wide receiver who can play well in the three-receiver package and step into the lineup as the starter for a month and be productive. Reed, Shaw, and Evans could all play #2-4 WR roles.
F - A second tight end who can create personnel grouping problems for opposing defenses and has the ability to bring an extra dimension to the offense that the starter doesn't have. I don’t even agree that this is realistic in the salary cap age, but if it were we’d be in trouble.
A - At least two veteran offensive linemen with no less than 10 career starts each under their belt. Pucillo and Tucker both have 12 career starts. Can you believe Price only has 7 starts?
A+ - A backup running back who can give you 80 to 100 yards a week until the starter returns. I like a guy who has done it before at least once or twice. McGahee is most likely going to be a stud and Travis already is one.

D - A pass rush specialist or third defensive end. No rush specialist, no proven third (or second) DE. At least the two guys competing for the LDE spot are 2nd rounders.
B - A third defensive tackle so the starters can rotate. They should be able to get good spot duty out of Edward, Bannan, and Sape.
D - An excellent third corner to play nickel defense. Nobody proven.
A+ - A third safety to get into dime defenses. Three former starters competing for one spot
F - A backup "mike" (middle) linebacker to call the defenses and line people up. Can you even recall who backs London up?
D - A special teams difference maker. Somebody has to step up after Sammy left.
B - And throw in at least one assistant coach with head coaching experience to help the boss. Wyche is an A but after that it’s a little green, other than McNally.

[TedMock]

Originally posted by Earthquake Enyart
Pat Kerwin couldn't find his ass with both hands.

That's true. I heard that his arms are real short.

[MDFINFAN]

Originally posted by DaBillzAhDaShiznit
Trust me, I feel ya.....but I am optimistic.....
My thoughts on the pass rush specialist were IF (and that's a pretty big IF) we land Gildon. And the tight end I was thinking of was Jason Peters (the big 300lb animal) who is looking pretty good at this point. The third DT we have is Oliver Gibson who is a solid backup brought over from Cincy...
Marcus Price is a proven backup Olineman...

Care to rebuff my optimism?

I'd like to hear your take on how the Fins work with this list....
I confess I don't know your players or coaches all that well, but I see holes at RB, third receiver (didn't see or hear much from derrius thompson last year), tight end, third cornerback, OLINE period, and the assistant coaches.....please enlighten me..

The weakest area of the team is 1. OL 2. QB. and this is because the OL is new and young, and the QB is ?, but maybe also new.

DThomas should rebound this year and play like he did in Wash. you know Chambers and Boston. You should know our TE Randy McMicheals and 2nd year man Donald Lee, who was another Randy last year as a rookie. So we have a good TE corps, we've added John Jones for vet leadership from the Steelers. Our starting Receivers from WR to TE's are pretty solid, our RB's are too, you just don't know Lenard Henry well, and look out for Fred Russell from Oregon, this kid is a sleeper. Lenards is the X factor who I think can carry the load if Ricky goes down. You know our FB Konrad and of course Morris from the Bills last year.. Again the OL is the ? We got rid of all except 1 starter from last year. Of the new additions, RG probably concerns me the most, but the player there now did do pretty good last year when he had to start or go in for a injured player. This is a young OL with 27 years old being the oldest. So the TC will mean a lot to them to become a unit. Feilder we know at QB, AJ is the X factor. It makes it a little scary, but at the same time, the new additions make it a little exciting too...hopefully they gel like the Rams new D a couple of years back when they won the SB. As far as the players you pointed out, like you said, you're hoping. you in the same situation with them as we are on the OL..as far as corner backs, we have Surtain, Madison, Reggie Howard, (starter from the Panthers last year) and Draftee Will Poole-who's almost looking like a vet already in camp, plus we have Roundtree and Corey Banks, 2 standouts from last year who got pushed out because of the numbers game. I expect them to push people this year. Assistant coaches this year..added Marc Trestman, O corr from the raiders is the Asst. HC and QB coach, something we didn't have last year, Sullivan from Arizona, WR coach, remember when Boston lit it up a couple years back, quess who was the WR coach? Our RB coach is the same, play OC for a while, Parmalee is the TE coach..an x RB..and our OC is a ?, this is his first gig as OC, was our TE coach. Forrester is the name , he's from Indy last year. We've added Antaine Edwards to our secondary completing with Freeman for Safety and the 2nd year man Bellamy is making his present known in the running, this is probably the deepest and quickest group of DB's we've had in a long time, of course Sammy Knight is playing Strong Safety. We do pretty well against your list imho.

[I'M A BELIEVER]

YEAH MDFINFAN,

Although I think you are being a tad optimistic about some of your guys, that is really what it is all about at this time of year.

Both of our teams have made some good move to try to get better.....we won't really know how good those decisions were until late October or early November.....in the meat of the season..
but hell, the Fins have just as good of a chance as anyone.....they have some tools.....now just need to put them together like everyone else has to. What a great ****ing sport, huh?

Tell me this...........If your season is riding on one person to be at their best.....who is it? For B-Lo, it's gotta be Bledsoe.....or maybe Mularky????

[juice]

Originally posted by DaBillzAhDaShiznit

A backup quarterback with a proven record of winning.

A second tight end who can create personnel grouping problems for opposing defenses and has the ability to bring an extra dimension to the offense that the starter doesn't have.

A backup running back who can give you 80 to 100 yards a week until the starter returns. I like a guy who has done it before at least once or twice.

A special teams difference maker.
And throw in at least one assistant coach with head coaching experience to help the boss. "

I think we have all of these things except for the excellent third corner (although maybe McGee will prove himself), and a backup middle linebacker. For the tight end I was thinking Jason Peters could really add the other dimension as mentioned..
Oh and of course we don't have a proven backup quarterback at this point...

What up Shiznit:

Not many teams have the luxury of a backup thats a proven winner.. But a 2nd that can fill in is adequate with a dominant Run game... but it's hard to expect your backup to win games.. being able to execute within the system will get you 2 out of three wins in a good offensive scheme.

TE is somewhat of a mystery with Peters not having played alot but his upside is endless.

A Backup RB who can get you 80-100 yards per game should be your starter... or TRADED to another team.. this could be the case with WM and TH.

Hopefully we can find some talent to replace what we lost on ST... Maybe we have improved the return game also.

[colin]

how many teams have a single back who can et 80 - 100 yards a week?

[zone]

How is McGee not proven?

He tied for 2nd on the team in picks had with 2 had 21 tackles and 1 forced fumble in limited playing time.

He is bar far the best special teams player we have had since Tasker, and IMO looks like the biggest ball hawk on this team.

If he was a starter who knows what he could do, but to label him as the weak link means to me that people were not watching the games very closely last year.

[I'M A BELIEVER]

amen, zone....

I am pretty high on McGee too.....I am sold on him as our nickel back.....can't wait to see what he looks like this year....let's pray there is no sophomore slump!

[Hermanator21]

Hey fin fan... explain to me why or how Bernnie Parmalee is a TE coach ???


Maybe we should sign Derrick Holmes for our TE coach, it makes a lot of sense.

[I'M A BELIEVER]

Parmalee is nothing to brag about.....I think the Fins were worried that almost none of their coaching staff has any NFL experience.....check it out sometime.....pretty odd I think.....that is not to say that NFL experience translates to coaching ability but I think you some among your staff in order to relate to the players...