[silverbear]

Originally Posted by LaTunaNostra

Good stuff, Silver Bear and Rack....

In our time, me and Rack have had some epic battles, mostly over on the Ranch in the good ol' days... he is one of my favorites in here, and he knows it...

We're both sarcastic, but that just adds a little spice to things...

SB, I really don't want to interrupt your diatribe (always enjoy them) , but you seem to feel that Bill's prime criteria in the FS position is mistake free ball. Since he has been here, comments he has made overall on dbs would support that contention (if that is indeed what you are contending). I am referring to comments such as those made re Derek Ross, and the dog chasing a car style of playing defensive back.

I remember those too... the thing is, he has made similar (if somewhat milder) claims about Davis... yes, I DO think that for the FS position in particular, he places a high premium on not making mental mistakes... conversely, he doesn't care for players who freelance... that has been one of the criticisms of Davis, that he's too prone to that sort of thing...

Of course, that may well be a fixable problem, and Davis might be capable of being trained to have some more discipline in carrying out his assignments... I'm certainly not ruling the guy out as the potential starter by the time the season starts, I just think that the signing of Reese means he's the guy Davis will have to beat out...

But I think Tuna, if he trusts the player enough, does value a gambler at the position. When the rest of the secondary is up to par, he seems to have liked that icing-on-the-cake ball hawking type..as an example I give you (NE) one Willie "Big Play" Clay, a Tuna player in the Ray Buchanon mode. He also has played the rawest of car hunting dogs, (Kevin Williams in NY) and only benched them when they displayed poor tackling skills, not necessarily poor judgement, which you are going to get from any young player to some extent with that position.

An interesting take... don't know that I agree with it entirely, but working to support your theory are Parcells' public comments about how the ball comes to Davis...

It would seem to me the key word in your theory is TRUST... tell me, exactly what has Davis done, or what would he have to do, to earn that trust?? You certainly can't be arguing that Parcells already trusts Davis, the guy hasn't done enough in the league to earn that trust, and of course Parcells has had some criticisms of his play in the past...

I think the final decision depends more on the supporting cast than what either Reese or Davis do, unless of course, one plays absolutely lights out ball in camp. If Henry and T-New jive well, and Glenn able to spell either as well as play nickel, perhaps what Tuna will be looking for is more 'impact" than we could afford to gamble on last year. That dog who chases the car just might fit better.

My gut tells me that when push comes to shove, Parcells will make the conservative decision... he'll go with the proven commodity... that just seems to be his tendency, and yes, sometimes it's a weakness on his part, this reluctance to trust callow youth...

And sure, Reese appears to give the last line of defense security, but the info you quoted mentions Reese is not that strong against the run. That's always the cardinal sin for Parcells

Reese isn't as strong against the run as he is against the pass, but he's not this huge liability in that area... and Parcells has consistently said that he wants somebody with cover skills to play FS...

I have a question. The FS usually makes the defensive calls for the secondary. Has that been a strength of Reese's game?

I don't know... I rather doubt it, at least while he was with the Bills... betya Lawyer Milloy had that job...