Zordon;5020112 said:
Good point. I made this thread not to pout but hope some of you'd bring some light into the equation.
I think the fact that the NFC seems to be on the rise concerns me and makes me wonder if our best chance was 2006-2010.
You have to guard against making too much of deals that teams make. Trades like the one for Harvin, and the one for Boldin, look really good
on paper, but often times don't equate to having a great season. Look at the Eagles two years ago. Signed or traded for one big name after another. How'd that work out? For years, the Commanders signed big name FA's left and right. Where'd that get them? In fact, if you go back and look at SB winners over the last several years, most of them were built and developed from within. Yes, the Saints got Brees and the Pack got Woodson, but both came with major question marks at the time. They just both happened to work out really well. And it's not like Woodson made the Pack a great team. They barely made the playoffs that year, then got hot once they were in. They also had a lot of guys play well that they drafted or picked up as UDFA's, not trades or big name FA's.
Now, does this make the Cowboys' situation better? No. They need to manage the cap better, or more accurately, they need their big money players playing up to their contracts. But most teams are up against it when it comes to the cap. That's a big reason why only eight teams gave out franchise tags this year. Many teams have 10-12 guys taking up 80% or more of their cap - the Ravens and Steelers being two of them. Sure, there are some teams that have a good cap situation, but those are teams that typically don't push the cap (and aren't that good), or teams like SF and Seattle who have a lot of young players playing very well, but are still on their rookie deals. They'll be up against it soon enough. The point is, don't get too stressed out about deals other teams are making, or their cap situation.
None of it guarantees a good season. Too many factors (age, injuries, attitudes, schedule, etc) can take a team that looks great on paper and cause them to have a poor season. Even if they have a really good season, it doesn't guarantee a championship. Anybody think the Giants, who at one point in 2011 lost four straight games (and would have been five if not for a collapse by the Cowboys), would beat the 15-1 Packers in the playoffs, in GB? Not me.
And as for the deals themselves, well, there's something that strikes me very odd about the Boldin deal. They gave him up for a 6th round pick. I know he's 32. I know the Ravens have their own cap issues. But if the brain trust of Ozzie Newsome and Steve Bischotti are willing to give him up for that little compensation...something's wrong there. If they were really happy with Boldin, they'd have found a way to make the money work, kinda like the Cowboys are doing with Spencer. They have a rep as being one the smarter FO's in the game, and they saw fit to let him go basically for a song. Maybe I'm missing something, but I gotta believe they think he's pretty much done.
