well, while we're all sharing our hopes and fears.
not worried.
1. LB. no other position have we just gone apecaca over lately. ware, carpenter, ellis back and forth, james, that dude we drafted and he's not played yet due to injuries and i wonder if he's even still around. in any event, LB's has always been bp's strength in calls so since we've taken 'em high the last 2 years, i think we're fine.
2. CB. newman a year older, hoping that will translate to more confident. henry and the rest of the secondary here have all proven what they can do. like lb, this is one area we could take a hit and it not be "terminal".
3. QB. yes, QB. i've seen enough lousy qb's holding up a trophy to realize drew is far superior to those players. so it's not drew i'm worried about in as much as BP running 99.999 times a game to make the announcers overuse the phrase "ball control" and "old school" and then the OL. (later on) while i don't care for drew it's not because of drew but my own preference of what i wish we'd do at this position.
hopeful.
1. TE. not worried about witten. who would be? he's arguably the best TE in the league now and at least in the top 3. proven commodity we will resign. what makes me nervous is the greater reliance on a (2)TE offense when 2 of our 3 TE's are brand new to the team, 1 brand new to the NFL. parcells can usually pick a good TE also (or so i hear at the fat farms) (did i say that???) so i think we'll be ok once they gel.
2. RB. again much of this can and will depend on how the (2) TE set helps the OL and how TO demands his own set of attention. we've got some promise but some mystery here, so hopefull it is.
3. WR. glenn did just about the impossible last year and his own track record shows it's more a matter of when, not if, he goes down this year. TO is a good addition (yes, i said it - hate the man but will give him every opportunity to prove things one way or another) but crayton (while a favorite of mine) must still prove he can play and be consistant, not flashy. man, a 2nd rounder for javon walker. fasano or walker? next years 2nd or walker??? i'd hate taken walker and this would be in the "not worried" category.
4. Safety. Depending quite a bit on some luck to compliment roy williams. we seem to rely on him more than we should to do both positions which makes people go nuts and say he's overrated. he's not overrated he's just asked to do too much. if watkins can step up and use that "yes bumped my head on the blimp" height to good use, maybe we've got that problem fixed.
worried.
1. OL. (raise your hand if surprised. if your hand is up, you new here?) unlike LB and CB this has proven a direct hit to this position can and will be terminal. while it's hard to sleep with the warm fuzzies this gives me, it's still a major point of concern. we bring in fabini to fight to start and now he's fallen to 3rd string already to the fans and writers. did petitti and colombo get that much better or was he a bad pickup? too early to call, but a legitimate concern. petitti is my hope for our future and i hope he can turn into the anchor we need. i don't think he'll ever have as rough a year overall as he did in his 1st one. make or break him? i'll go "make" as he fought it out every step of the way.
2. DL. fegie is a bp boatanchor that's quite costly for performance. our lone proven player is being asked to move around and rookies are asked to step up. there's a whole lot of hope here and not a lot of experience left with glover gone and ellis (who for his entire career was loved by all - questioned bp and now many fans hate him - go figure) being an experiement - what "proven" players do we have on the line? we've got some sexy names and some talent - but we have that every year and they still have to pan out. if this can't step it up, bledsoe will never have a chance.
so - the game is won in the trenches and that seems to be where we're taking the most chances. hence, my concerns for the coming year.
