Food for Thought on a Monday

[Chuck 54]

This is not a bash Parcells thread, but food for thought. Someone posted a few weeks ago the question, "Are we really that much improved under Parcells after 3 years?"

At some positions, definitely NO ...at others, definitely YES ...and certainly the depth seems better overall.

2002 under Campo

QB...Carter
RB...Emmitt
FB...Thomas
WR...AB, Galloway, Darnay Scott, Swinton
TE...Tony McGee & Whalen
OT...Adams, Page, Vollers
OG...Allen, Garman, Lehr
C...Gurode

Our rb depth is better and younger now...our QB is definitely better though much older...our TE is better and our WRs are slightly better.

Our entire OL is worse, imo...that's sad.

Defense:

DE...Ellis, Ek, Zellner
DT...Glover, Myers, Noble
LB...DAT, Hardy, Coakley, Adams
CB...Ross & Edwards
S...Woodson, Roy, & Davis

We're younger on the DL with Canty and Spears, but I'm not sure we're necessarily better...it's hard to know which position to list Ware. Certainly we had better LBs and safeties before Parcells, and we now have better CBs.

In my opinion, that 2002 team really just needed better CBs and a guy like Ware.

On offense, right now I wish we had our current guys with the 2002 OL.

We are better, but I'm not sure I see that we're tons better. The OL is certainly in shambles right now, but explain to me why we let poor Tucker and Pettitti get destroyed by NY and Washington, then we give them help against Carolina and protect Bledsoe, but yesterday we hang poor Pettitti out to dry and don't give him any help throughout the game against Little? Why not have the RB chip the outside for him...did we learn nothing in those previous games?

Final Thought: This is not a knock on Bledsoe...he's been a very pleasant surprise overall, though I'd still prefer a slightly less accomplished QB with more mobility. Bledsoe was the 2nd most sacked QB in the NFL...we didn't protect him well...however, Carr in Houston was sacked almost 20 more times than Bledsoe, yet Bledsoe led the NFL in lost fumbles. Is Bledsoe too old for someone to address protecting the ball better??? Tiki Barber wasn't too old to learn a new technique last year...surely someone can help Bledsoe avoid losing so many fumbles when other QB's get hit even more and don't lose them.

 

[TruBlueCowboy]

This team would waste the 2002 team. It wouldn't even be close. Sorry, you can't tell me we haven't improved the talent. None of those players had success after Dallas. We may have some older players who are getting up there in age, but AT LEAST they had success in this league. We would have crushed Quincy Carter, given 20 yards tops to Emmitt in his last years, and Bledsoe would have picked Ross and Edwards apart with guys like Zellner, Dat, and Coakley the only pass rush he has to worry about.

 

[Chuck 54]

This team would waste the 2002 team. It wouldn't even be close. Sorry, you can't tell me we haven't improved the talent. None of those players had success after Dallas. We may have some older players who are getting up there in age, but AT LEAST they had success in this league. We would have crushed Quincy Carter, given 20 yards tops to Emmitt in his last years, and Bledsoe would have picked Ross and Edwards apart with guys like Zellner, Dat, and Coakley the only pass rush he has to worry about.

I don't think you paid much attention....I indicated that we were better at many positions, but our safeties are clearly worse than in 2002, and surely you can see that our OL was much better. A younger Allen, Adams, Gurode was playing center, and I'd certainly have welcomed Page at RT this year...he was never as bad as Pettitti. Under Parcells, despite 2 #2 picks and a #3 and #6, our OL is worse than ever. That failure is holding an otherwise improved team back.

 

[NovaCowboy]

This team would waste the 2002 team.

This team is incapable of wasting anyone, havent you been paying attention?

 

[chinch]

This team would waste the 2002 team. It wouldn't even be close. Sorry, you can't tell me we haven't improved the talent. None of those players had success after Dallas. We may have some older players who are getting up there in age, but AT LEAST they had success in this league. We would have crushed Quincy Carter, given 20 yards tops to Emmitt in his last years, and Bledsoe would have picked Ross and Edwards apart with guys like Zellner, Dat, and Coakley the only pass rush he has to worry about.

Yup. Huge, huge, huge improvement.

Anyone who believes otherwise is fooling themselves and/or has a Tuna hating agenda.

 

[Chuck 54]

Yup. Huge, huge, huge improvement.

Anyone who believes otherwise is fooling themselves and/or has a Tuna hating agenda.

If this team is huge, huge, hugely improved over the talent that went 10-6 in 2003, then I give Parcells all the credit for building a hugely improved team, but I want to know why he has coached such a hugely improved team to the point where they still don't make the playoffs and don't always show up and give good effort every week.

There was a time that you knew our team was going to give it 100% and show up every week despite being horribly weak in talent. If we are so much better talent wise, then why can't Parcells get them to show up every week?

 

[Drederick Tatum]

Yup. Huge, huge, huge improvement.

Anyone who believes otherwise is fooling themselves and/or has a Tuna hating agenda.

The operative question is not whether this team is better than itself, but is it better than other teams, most importantly teams in your division. I think when you position the question that way, hang it on the wall and look at it... you might have a slightly different outlook.