Chuck 54
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And how long will it really take to catch them?
At QB, Brunnell is no older than Bledsoe and is more mobile, while garnering a higher QB rating for the season...then they have 2 #1 picks behind him.
Eli Manning is young with tons of upside, a guy who will improve every year.
We have Bledsoe, who is great when protected but has no mobility and lost more fumbles than anyone in the NFL this year...behind him we have 2 undrafted QBs who don't seem to have much going for them.
AT RB, we are young and have versatility in JJ and Barber, but....
Wash. has Clinton Portis, a tough pro bowler who's very young.
NY has an older Tiki Barber, but he had his best year this season and some consider him in the running for MVP.
AT WR, Washington has a young Santana Moss at the ProBowl, with other youngsters developing.
NY has Plaxico, who is a probowler entering his prime, complimented by Toomer.
We have nice players in Glenn and Keyshaun, but they are getting older and nearing the end...Crayton has struggled as 3rd WR most of season because Parcells says he's not a natural guy...that he needs to work every day to get to a good level....this guy is unlikely to ever be a #1 WR and we have no youth on the team other than him.
TE....apples and oranges, but while we homers may think Witten is the best in our division, NY and Wash. aren't crying over Shockey and Cooley who are both also young and productive.
OL....I won't insult your intelligence with any comparisons...we stink, and it can't be fixed in one year....the best linemen we have are an aging LA and an injured Adams...we don't have 1 single young up and comer to be excited about, only guys like Johnson and Gurode (too small & weak or too dumb) and Tucker and Pettitti (undrafted and drafted at the end...serious lack of ability)....and who's behind them? We can only hope to have a better OL next year, but it's highly unlikely Adams will be ready for the start of the season, and you can't replace the entire line and bring in good backups in one year...this is a long term serious shortcoming...we can improve and get better, but it will take years to get our OL equal to NY and WAsh.
And we didn't even talk about Philly who still has McNabb, Westbrook, a young developing WR, good TEs, and an excellent OL when healthy...and Ryan Moats showed something at RB.
Defense?
We CBs who can play with any when healthy, but our secondary still gets killed in big games because we have a serious deficiency at FS and no one to take it over....yet. Beriault and Davis both seem like they could be very good SS's, but that's Roy's spot. Add a legit FS and our secondary is set and in their primes.
DL: Solid up and comers in Canty and Spears, hopefuls in Ratliff and Johnson, but are we a 3-4 or 4-3? Is Ware a DE or a LB? And are Canty and Spears suited to be any better than the Wiley's and Ekubans of the world if they have to play DE in the 4-3? What will we do with Ellis and Glover?
Certainly no one would say we're at the NY level on DL...they have two probowlers at DE who manhandle OTs every week and pummel QBs...we're not there yet, but at least we have young guys who can get there.
We're better than Washington on the DL and better than Philly.
LB: We're worse than Washington....Arrington or Washington would be toasts of the town in Dallas...Brady looks to be the only real LB at this time, but we can still hope in Burnett. Guys like Fowler, Shanlee and Fujita are what they are, and it's just not very impressive. Ware is looking like he can become a beast at pass rushing, but he can't really be viewed as a LB.
When you run the 4-3, your DL can dominate and help you get by with average LBs, but in the 3-4, most people don't even know who the DLmen are....the LBs are the studs making all the big plays. In Dallas, our DL are the guys we watch...our LBs aren't even close to being noticed...we need big time help there. I'd love to see Burnett step up and push Fajita to special teams next year and play opposite Ware....but we need to find a stud/heat seeking missile to play beside Brady. Brady has been a pleasant surprise, but let's face it, when he's your best LB, you're in trouble at the position.
So....our team in younger and better at some positions than last year, and with some improvements, we can compete. But just how far behind NY and Wash. are we really?
In my opinion, we need FS, ILB, future #1 WR, a future QB with some mobility, depth at TE, and 2-3 years of serious attention and luck to rebuild our OL. It won't take 2-3 years to improve our OL and be competitive, but we're years and considerable investment from ever becoming a dominant OL again. By the time we are approaching that status, LA will be retiring.
At QB, Brunnell is no older than Bledsoe and is more mobile, while garnering a higher QB rating for the season...then they have 2 #1 picks behind him.
Eli Manning is young with tons of upside, a guy who will improve every year.
We have Bledsoe, who is great when protected but has no mobility and lost more fumbles than anyone in the NFL this year...behind him we have 2 undrafted QBs who don't seem to have much going for them.
AT RB, we are young and have versatility in JJ and Barber, but....
Wash. has Clinton Portis, a tough pro bowler who's very young.
NY has an older Tiki Barber, but he had his best year this season and some consider him in the running for MVP.
AT WR, Washington has a young Santana Moss at the ProBowl, with other youngsters developing.
NY has Plaxico, who is a probowler entering his prime, complimented by Toomer.
We have nice players in Glenn and Keyshaun, but they are getting older and nearing the end...Crayton has struggled as 3rd WR most of season because Parcells says he's not a natural guy...that he needs to work every day to get to a good level....this guy is unlikely to ever be a #1 WR and we have no youth on the team other than him.
TE....apples and oranges, but while we homers may think Witten is the best in our division, NY and Wash. aren't crying over Shockey and Cooley who are both also young and productive.
OL....I won't insult your intelligence with any comparisons...we stink, and it can't be fixed in one year....the best linemen we have are an aging LA and an injured Adams...we don't have 1 single young up and comer to be excited about, only guys like Johnson and Gurode (too small & weak or too dumb) and Tucker and Pettitti (undrafted and drafted at the end...serious lack of ability)....and who's behind them? We can only hope to have a better OL next year, but it's highly unlikely Adams will be ready for the start of the season, and you can't replace the entire line and bring in good backups in one year...this is a long term serious shortcoming...we can improve and get better, but it will take years to get our OL equal to NY and WAsh.
And we didn't even talk about Philly who still has McNabb, Westbrook, a young developing WR, good TEs, and an excellent OL when healthy...and Ryan Moats showed something at RB.
Defense?
We CBs who can play with any when healthy, but our secondary still gets killed in big games because we have a serious deficiency at FS and no one to take it over....yet. Beriault and Davis both seem like they could be very good SS's, but that's Roy's spot. Add a legit FS and our secondary is set and in their primes.
DL: Solid up and comers in Canty and Spears, hopefuls in Ratliff and Johnson, but are we a 3-4 or 4-3? Is Ware a DE or a LB? And are Canty and Spears suited to be any better than the Wiley's and Ekubans of the world if they have to play DE in the 4-3? What will we do with Ellis and Glover?
Certainly no one would say we're at the NY level on DL...they have two probowlers at DE who manhandle OTs every week and pummel QBs...we're not there yet, but at least we have young guys who can get there.
We're better than Washington on the DL and better than Philly.
LB: We're worse than Washington....Arrington or Washington would be toasts of the town in Dallas...Brady looks to be the only real LB at this time, but we can still hope in Burnett. Guys like Fowler, Shanlee and Fujita are what they are, and it's just not very impressive. Ware is looking like he can become a beast at pass rushing, but he can't really be viewed as a LB.
When you run the 4-3, your DL can dominate and help you get by with average LBs, but in the 3-4, most people don't even know who the DLmen are....the LBs are the studs making all the big plays. In Dallas, our DL are the guys we watch...our LBs aren't even close to being noticed...we need big time help there. I'd love to see Burnett step up and push Fajita to special teams next year and play opposite Ware....but we need to find a stud/heat seeking missile to play beside Brady. Brady has been a pleasant surprise, but let's face it, when he's your best LB, you're in trouble at the position.
So....our team in younger and better at some positions than last year, and with some improvements, we can compete. But just how far behind NY and Wash. are we really?
In my opinion, we need FS, ILB, future #1 WR, a future QB with some mobility, depth at TE, and 2-3 years of serious attention and luck to rebuild our OL. It won't take 2-3 years to improve our OL and be competitive, but we're years and considerable investment from ever becoming a dominant OL again. By the time we are approaching that status, LA will be retiring.
