Why is San Diego the best team in the NFL & not Dallas?

[DTK]

Here's the sad part: Which secondary would you rather have?

Jammer, Florence, and Cromartie @ CB and Kiel and Marlon McRee @ S

Newman, Henry, and Glenn @ CB and RW and Keith Davis @ S?

I'd take our secondary over SD's everyday of the week and yet Wade Phillips puts those guys in cover situations more often than Zimmer does our guys.

Granted, our D has done well thus far, but I don't believe we can win it all with how our D is playing currently.

 

[btcutter]

Ryan Leaf....that's all I'll say.

 

[Rockytop6]

I like their players too but hindsight is 20-20. All of those guys were high risk-high reward guys. They all had issues. Let's revisit this in 5 years to see where they stack up.

As for the sweep where you saw McNeil lay out a DB, the DB laid down and McNeil didn't even touch him. LOL But your right, he is a good player. But right now LT is making them all look good.

As for Castillo, you think it has anything to do with Merriman being to his left and Phillips to his right? Or with their big nose tackle tying up blockers. I don't think Merriman or Castillo would be as good here.

You don't think those two players would be as good here? I think you are right. In fact many of the players that are tearing up the league wouldn't do as good here. So where is the blame? By the time he surgically removes the brain and the heart, the player is not as good. Don't tell me how high the D is ranked since Zim has been here. Tell me how many times in critical games have the D given up the game winner in the last series of play.

 

[QT]

I doubt Spears would have the same production if he went to the Chargers. Merriman is a stud. I think he would have done very well here in Dallas.

 

[Billy Bullocks]

You put Ware and Spears in San Diego, and Merriman and Castillo over here, and I'd bet dollars to donuts the results would be similar, if not the same.

Zimmer has no idea how to run a defense, let alone a 3-4. We play passive, scared, and reactionary.

San Diego attacks. Wade Phillips has balls. Mike Zimmer has none.

And there in lies the difference.

I really agree. I gave Zimmer the benefit of the doubt for a long time. Statistically this is a good D. Parcells knows defense, etc, etc. But after the perfomance I've seen out of this defense, I'm absolutely shocked as to what's going on. NY was a lackluster perfomance. Last night speaks for iteslf. I just don't see why we can't have an aggressive gameplan.

 

[Eddie]

I was high on McNeil but was told he was too much of an injury risk.

I guess not.

 

[crazytown41]

Let's also thank the Chargers for taking Q.Jammer or else we would've never drafted Roy and probably Newman the year after.

 

[dbair1967]

Maybe we should hire the Chargers to run our draft next year.

will they then in turn get rid of the people killing this team on Sunday's? IE, Zimmer, Sporano etc etc?

I'd jump all over that if they'd give me Wade Phillips for Zimmer

David

 

[dbair1967]

I doubt Spears would have the same production if he went to the Chargers. Merriman is a stud. I think he would have done very well here in Dallas.

yes, pigs fly and and the cow jumped over the moon

David

 

[QT]

yes, pigs fly and and the cow jumped over the moon

David

Merriman can jump and fly over OL and RBs so does that count? Even Bill said Merriman would have done well here.

 

[kartr]

A big reason is that we passed on their future All-Pros for lesser players the last two drafts. In both the '05 & '06 drafts, the 'Boys were right in front of the Chargers in the draft. In '05, everyone thought we would take the best OLB in the draft. Instead, we took Ware, who has 7 sacks this year & had 8 last year. We passed on Merriman, who was DROY in '05, and will be an All-Pro this year. He had 10 sacks last year, and already has 12.5 this year with 3 games to go. Oh, did I mention he sat out 4 games this year. Hard to tell what his sack totals would be if he hadn't lost a quarter of the season.

Then we come to the DE that BP has been pushing to get more sacks. He wouldn't be pushing if he had drafted Luis Castillo, the player they passed on. Guess who got him-right, the Chargers. He already has 6 sacks this year, which is 4 more than Canty & Spears COMBINED!

This year was more of the same. The 'Boys take Carpenter & Fasano in the 1st & 2nd rds. Neither player has made an impact this year. The Chargers, on the other hand, took CB Antonio Cromarte & OT Marcus McNeil. McNeil is the starting LT & Cromarte the nickle CB this year. McNeil was sitting there for the taking at the 49th pick, but we had so many great OTs that we traded down to #50 & took Fasano. After all, we were going to start using the vaunted two TE offense. Anyone seen much of that this year?

Meanwhile, Carpenter is just now seeing action due to attrition. Everyone in the SD admin. is raving about Cromarte. He no doubt will be starting by next year. During the draft, many in the Florida St. office were saying they hadn't had an athlete of Cromarte's callibur since Dieon. We had so many LBs, we turned Oliver Hoyte into a FB to keep him, but we had to have one in the 1st rd. this year.

I watched McNeil yesterday leading a sweep. He laid out a DB. He can also pass block with the best of them. I have no doubt we should have taken him & that he will be in the Pro-Bowl soon.

Maybe we should hire the Chargers to run our draft next year.

I got ripped for making the same obversations at the beginning of the season. My philosophy is to find pass-rushing DT's and ultimately get pressure from four down linemen of from linebackers, the way Jimmy Johnson did. Chicago and San Diego seem to be doing okay. I still think we need a play-making corner. Newman and Henry are okay, but they don't get enough int's and Roy is still a liability in coverage most of the time. We just don't have enough game changers on defense and we'll never dominate until we do.

 

[Rampage]

a few players. LT, Rivers, that manbeast dt they have, and o yeah a guy named shawn merriman

 

[AsthmaField]

Put Spears and Ware in SD and Merriman and Castillo in Dallas and we might very well still be having the same conversation. I really feel like people would be saying, "Look at Ware and Spears in SD! They're kicking butt!"

IOW, our defensive scheme handcuffs them to a large degree. The way Merriman and Ware are used is world's different.

We need a new 3-4 scheme and new 3-4 defensive coordinator, IMO.

Oh, and a FS wouldn't hurt either.

 

[joseephuss]

I get what you're saying and you may be right, but this means almost every player on our defense would have to be a bust. I dont' buy it. Our FA's have started for other teams. Ware, Ellis, Newman, Williams and maybe one of our DE's would start on any other team. So we have a minimum of 7 guys that have or could start for other teams. If we were to trade defensive personnel straight up with SD, we would not be better. It's the philosophy.

In the 4 games during Merrimans suspension the Chargers got 5,2,2 and 5 sacks in those games. In the 2 games since his return they've gotten 3 and 4.

We label so many guys as busts because they don't flourish in our system. Ekuban had 12.5 in the 5 years he was here. In the 3 years he's been gone he has 14.5. Not stellar by any means, but we do not maximize the talent of the players. Zimmer has been provided several top players. He has all the talent necessary and he gets poor results. Every player that comes into the defense cannot be a bust. After 7 years of below average defense with different players there is one constant and that is Zimmer.

Pick a better example. Ekuban has not flourished anywhere. He was in Dallas for 5 seasons, but really only played 4 seasons. He was injured in the very beginning of the 2001 opener against Tampa and missed the rest of the season due to a back injury. I think that injury caused him to take until the 2003 season to get back to his regular level, which was not that great any way. The guy just is not a pass rushing force no matter who coaches him. Cleveland's defense was just average while he was there and Denver the last two seasons does not put much more pressure on the QB than Dallas does.

I would love to see this board if Dallas drafted Castillo. I remember a lot of media and experts criticizing the Chargers for drafting him. Not for his play, but for the failed steroids test. It would have been a whole lot worse if Dallas drafted him. Merriman is a pretty darn good player, but he had to miss time because of steroids. If he did that in Dallas, I can guarantee that would be the lead story on ESPN every night. I know this board would go crazy if that had happend in Dallas.

I saw a lot of missed tackles and guys on the defense not making plays while everyone on the Saints did make plays. Same thing when Dallas had the ball. No Cowboys were stepping up to make the plays while the Saints were doing their jobs and doing it well. Sometimes that is what it comes down to no matter who is on the sidelines calling the plays. Sometimes you can't rely on the coaches to draw up something that creates so much confusion that no one block you on the way to the QB. Sometimes you have to beat the guy in front of you and make something happen.

 

[kartr]

I like their players too but hindsight is 20-20. All of those guys were high risk-high reward guys. They all had issues. Let's revisit this in 5 years to see where they stack up.

As for the sweep where you saw McNeil lay out a DB, the DB laid down and McNeil didn't even touch him. LOL But your right, he is a good player. But right now LT is making them all look good.

As for Castillo, you think it has anything to do with Merriman being to his left and Phillips to his right? Or with their big nose tackle tying up blockers. I don't think Merriman or Castillo would be as good here.

Those guys would be good anywhere they played and we could have had all three of them. The only question on Phillips was his size. All three players were good in college and they played for different teams. Remember, the Chargers discarded one of their linemen whom we picked up and he was a bust. The primary blame for us picking Wiley up was Bill and Jerry and the blame for us not drafting Phillips,Castillo and Merriman was Bill and Jerry. I had all of them on my guys to draft list plus Kevin Williams of Minnesota. Had they thought like I do, we would have the best defense in the NFL instead of the Chargers. The Chargers secondary is crap, but their strong D-line covers it up. Our secondary is better than theirs, but we don't have the best rush we should,plus we moved Ellis to linebacker(re-invent the wheel). He was effective at LDE already. It's not disloyal to criticize your management, but it is homerism to be a 'yes man'.

 

[kartr]

Do you really think Zimmer is being conservative in spite of Parcells? Zimmer is not aggressive because BP is not aggressive. You don't really think that Zimmer would have the stones to do ANYTHING Parcells wouldn't want him to do. Once we are rid of Parcells, then maybe this defense can do what it was created to do-wreak havoc on opposing offenses.

Exactly.

 

[ringmaster]

A big reason is that we passed on their future All-Pros for lesser players the last two drafts. In both the '05 & '06 drafts, the 'Boys were right in front of the Chargers in the draft. In '05, everyone thought we would take the best OLB in the draft. Instead, we took Ware, who has 7 sacks this year & had 8 last year. We passed on Merriman, who was DROY in '05, and will be an All-Pro this year. He had 10 sacks last year, and already has 12.5 this year with 3 games to go. Oh, did I mention he sat out 4 games this year. Hard to tell what his sack totals would be if he hadn't lost a quarter of the season.

Then we come to the DE that BP has been pushing to get more sacks. He wouldn't be pushing if he had drafted Luis Castillo, the player they passed on. Guess who got him-right, the Chargers. He already has 6 sacks this year, which is 4 more than Canty & Spears COMBINED!

This year was more of the same. The 'Boys take Carpenter & Fasano in the 1st & 2nd rds. Neither player has made an impact this year. The Chargers, on the other hand, took CB Antonio Cromarte & OT Marcus McNeil. McNeil is the starting LT & Cromarte the nickle CB this year. McNeil was sitting there for the taking at the 49th pick, but we had so many great OTs that we traded down to #50 & took Fasano. After all, we were going to start using the vaunted two TE offense. Anyone seen much of that this year?

Meanwhile, Carpenter is just now seeing action due to attrition. Everyone in the SD admin. is raving about Cromarte. He no doubt will be starting by next year. During the draft, many in the Florida St. office were saying they hadn't had an athlete of Cromarte's callibur since Dieon. We had so many LBs, we turned Oliver Hoyte into a FB to keep him, but we had to have one in the 1st rd. this year.

I watched McNeil yesterday leading a sweep. He laid out a DB. He can also pass block with the best of them. I have no doubt we should have taken him & that he will be in the Pro-Bowl soon.

Maybe we should hire the Chargers to run our draft next year.

Here we go again about the roid user.

 

[5Stars]

Exactly.

Then, after Parcells goes, we can get Crankcase back to play QB and we will rule the world....!

:laugh2:

 

[kartr]

I get what you're saying and you may be right, but this means almost every player on our defense would have to be a bust. I dont' buy it. Our FA's have started for other teams. Ware, Ellis, Newman, Williams and maybe one of our DE's would start on any other team. So we have a minimum of 7 guys that have or could start for other teams. If we were to trade defensive personnel straight up with SD, we would not be better. It's the philosophy.

In the 4 games during Merrimans suspension the Chargers got 5,2,2 and 5 sacks in those games. In the 2 games since his return they've gotten 3 and 4.

We label so many guys as busts because they don't flourish in our system. Ekuban had 12.5 in the 5 years he was here. In the 3 years he's been gone he has 14.5. Not stellar by any means, but we do not maximize the talent of the players. Zimmer has been provided several top players. He has all the talent necessary and he gets poor results. Every player that comes into the defense cannot be a bust. After 7 years of below average defense with different players there is one constant and that is Zimmer.

I'm not a Zimmer guy, but it's not all his fault, because he doesn't draft our players, but Bill and Jerry do. We do have talent, but it's not the best it could be and yes, Zimmer doesn't maximize what talent we do have. Zimmer is not responsible for our Offensive line, our qb situation or the fact that we don't have any young, star receivers.

 

[kartr]

You don't think those two players would be as good here? I think you are right. In fact many of the players that are tearing up the league wouldn't do as good here. So where is the blame? By the time he surgically removes the brain and the heart, the player is not as good. Don't tell me how high the D is ranked since Zim has been here. Tell me how many times in critical games have the D given up the game winner in the last series of play.

If Zimmer is not doing his job, it's still Parcells fault, because he could replace him anytime,but hasn't. He evaluates the staff every year and since Zimmer is still here, he must be meeting Parcells stamp of approval.