Birdlives said:
I don't have time read through everything said but we'll start here. Pucillo was on a terrible offensive team last year so as depth he's ain't good. I believe that is your contention here.
No, my contention is that EVERY offense he's played on has been pretty bad... and generally, that goes directly to the quality of the offensive LINE play...
However, Kosier, who started for the SF and Detroit offenses, he's stellar.
Kindly point me to where I said that Kosier was "stellar"... absent that, I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't distort my arguments that way...
The TRUTH is, I'm a little leery of Kosier... but another truth is that he was a good deal more highly sought after in this free agent market than Pucillo was...
You speak of the Skins having no depth at O-line? They have about as much as anyone else.
No, they don't... in fact, their depth situation on the OL is one of the worst in the league... for sure, the Cowboys have better quality backups, with more NFL experience, than the Skins do...
They have a solid defensive backfield with 7 good or starting quality DB's in Springs, Rogers, Wright, Jimoh, Talyor, Archuleta, and Prileou.
1) Calling Jimoh "solid" is a stretch... he's the definition of a "fringe" ballplayer...
2) You misspelled "Prioleau"... how can we be expected to take you seriously, when you can't even spell the names of the players on your own team correctly...
3) Even if I gave you Jimoh, 7 DBs is the bare MINIMUM number a team needs, when most teams have defensive sets that require the use of 7 DBs at the same time... so if even one of those 7 goes down, then you're stuck with the likes of Christian Morton, Dmitri Patterson, Curry Burns et al...
They have great depth at WR and RB, as well as D-Line.
I dunno that your depth on the DL is that great, but I'll give you the depth at WR and RB... never said they lacked depth everywhere...
Now let's turn it around for a minute. What quality depth do the cowboys have at RB,
Marion Barber III started 2 games for the Cowboys as a rookie, gained 538 yards and scored 5 TDs... he's the primary backup to Julius Jones, and combined, they totalled over 1500 yards (1531, to be exact)...
After Terrell Owens and Terry Glenn, we have Patrick Crayton (a 3rd year player who has already caused you Skins fans a few nightmares)... then we have rookie draftee Skyler Green, a quick, smallish WR who will likely be our starting kick returner as well... then we have Miles Austin and Sam Hurd, two very intriguing undrafted rookie free agents... then we have Terrence Copper and Jamaica Rector returning... Rector is an intriguing story, Parcells is considering trying him at CB as well... not switching him to CB fulltime, mind you, but having him try some double duty... Copper is nothing more than a solid special teamer, but will likely be our 5th WR... a sleeper might be JR Tolver, and finally, we come to Ahmad Merritt, who is very fast, but doesn't seem to offer much in the way of receiving ability... I expect he'll be an early cut...
So basically, you've got TO, Glenn and Crayton, all of them at least semi-proven, then (in my order of preference), you've got Austin, Rector, Hurd, Copper and Tolver vying for 2 roster spots...
Either Al Johnson or Andre Gurode will win the starting center job... if it's Johnson, Gurode will be the top backup at guard and center... Andre has 44 starts in the NFL, in 4 seasons... Jason Fabini, Rob Petitti and Marc Colombo will be competing for the starting job at RT, the others will be backups... Petitti started all 16 games as a rookie last year (and struggled late, but there are valid reasons for that), Fabini has started in all 114 games he's played in the NFL, Colombo is a former first round pick by the Bears whose career has been derailed by injury, but who is now healthy... even he's started 7 of the 23 games he's played in his career... there's 5 players, 3 of whom will start, all of whom are better than any backup the Skins have...
Stephen Peterman is a 3rd year player, a former 3rd round draft pick who has also seen his career hurt by injuries... this is a make or break year for him... Cory Procter, Shannon Snell and Matt Tarullo are just roster filler, but they're each better than all but 2 of your backups (that being Tyson Walter and Mike Pucillo)...
ROTFLMAO... son, you just proved that you don't know jack about the Cowboys, 'cause we're VERY deep at those positions, and most of the depth is young depth...
On the DL, you have Marcus Spears and Chris Canty, both 300 pounders, starting at DE... after them, you've got Greg Ellis, a veteran who's led the team in sacks the last 5 seasons, and Jason Hatcher, a rookie draft pick who is drawing comparisons to Leon Lett (and who will also eventually play at around 300 pounds)... ;ast year's rookie draft pick Jay Ratliff can play DE or DT... they're so deep at DE that it's entirely possible that Kenyon Coleman will NOT make the team (he only started 5 games for the Boys last year)...
It's not QUITE as good at NT, where Jason Ferguson is the veteran starter... after him, the job will come down to a battle between this year's draftee Montavious Stanley, NFLE signee Samuel Taulealea, a 340 pounder who reportedly has incredible leg strength, 2nd year player Thomas Johnson and the aforementioned Ratliff...
At LB, the starters will likely be DeMarcus Ware, Bradie James, Akin Ayodele and Bobby Carpenter... for depth, they have Al Singleton, who started 33 games for the Boys the last 3 years; Scott Shanle, who started 11 games for the Boys the last 2 years; Kevin Burnett, a 2nd round draft pick last year who was hurt most of the season; special teams standout Rocky Boiman, who's started 10 of the 54 NFL games he's played in... sleepers include Ryan Fowler, a 3rd year player who started 3 games for the Boys last season when the injury bug bit, highly regarded undrafted rookie free agents Kai Parham from Virginia and Oliver Hoyte from Notre Dame, and fringe prospect JJ Horne, a rookie out of Pitt... so we have at least 4 semi-proven backups for the 4 starters in Singleton, Shanle, Burnett and Boiman... no depth problems here...
My impression based on your posts in here is that you equate stats and lack of knowlege of our players with a lack of depth.
Once again, a Skins fan desperately wants to think that I don't know his team's roster... well, hoss, I've got news for you-- where I live, in the Shenandoah Valley, Skins coverage is EVERYWHERE-- in the Washington Post, in the local papers, our local TV stations are the DC stations... and since my nephew/roommate is a lifelong Skins fan, the only time we DON'T watch their games is if the Boys are playing at the same time, and even then, we do a LOT of switching between games...
Certainly that's the case when you state that Chris Clemons isn't a good back up LB and base this analysis on stats.
Never said he wasn't good, I said he was one dimensional... and you can dis stats all you want, but I have used them for years, I've learned how to use them to analyze what went on down on the field, and I am confident that I can give you a good read on how the game went, even if I didn't see it, by reading the stats sheet...
But my criticisms of Clemons run a bit deeper than that; you see, I'm a devoted draftaholic, and have reams of scouting reports to refer to from when a player came out of college (which in Chris' case, was 2003)... my favorite sources are Kiper's book, and Ourlads'...
Kiper talks about Chris' regrettable tendency toward being injury prone, saying "With injuries downgrading his production or forcing him to miss time in two of his three seasons, durability is a concern"... and lo and behold, Chris has already missed 12 games in the last 2 years... clearly, durability is STILL a concern with him... Kiper goes on to remark on how inconsistent Clemons was in college, saying "When he was at full strength, he was fairvly productive ina very offense-laden SEC, although his performance level did vary some along the way"...
Summing up, Kiper considers Clemons to be rather injury prone, and rather inconsistent...
Ourlads is considerably more critical, saying "Not especially strong in the legs or upper body. Needs to use his hands better whent taking on blocks-- gets tied up too much. Often looks to duck around contact. Susceptible to low blocks. Not an immediate mover (Bear's insert-- this means he doesn't read the play well off the snap, what the pros often call "recognition")... somewhat hesitant... he takes bad angles at times and is an inconsistent tackler... not fluid in his change of direction. Needs work in coverage"...
Wow, what GLOWING scouting reports...
Two years ago you probably said the same thing about Lemar Marshall and Antonio Pierce and look at them now.
And yet another false assumption... never trashed either one of them, both were clearly better than any backup linebacker the Skins currently have...
Bottom line it. It's a coaches league.
Jimmy Johnson disagrees with you, he has always said you win with PLAYMAKERS in this league...
But as for your coaching, I see you Skins fans getting all giddy over Al Saunders, but there's one, LITTLE problem-- Saunders runs a 2 back offense, the Skins prefer more 2 TE sets... so either the offense will change significantly, in which case all you Skins' fans' talk about "continuity" will be right out the window, or Saunders will change his approach, in which case there has to be some doubt about how well he'll fare making such a change...
the Steelers and Patriots have been mentioned as teams that draft well. Really?
Yes, really...
Because the other thing they have in common is some of the best coaching in the NFL.
Yeah, good players will help make a coach look good... LOL...
Other teams rely primarily on the draft and not free agency and they still haven't won anything. Why? Inferior coaching.
Nope, inferior drafting, questionable personnel decisions in free agency... look at the consistently bad teams, and you'll see a bad front office, bringing in players of lower quality...
You can throw all the stats around you want but the reality is, the superior coaches will get good production out of the players they have regardless of whether they are UDFA's or top end picks.
Ultimately, there's only so much any coach can do to make chicken salad from chicken s***,,,
In the end, we'll be just fine because we have some of the best coaches in the NFL.
That's right, homer, your coaches will magically overcome injuries (if they happen)... you keep right on whistlin' past the graveyard, and ignore the fact that the guys you'll have to be bringing off the bench in those situations are inadequate by NFL standards... doesn't matter, Coach Joe will wave his magic wand over them, and make them PLAYERS...
Considering Parcells lost Payton, relies on Zimmer as DC, and hasn't won anything without Belichik, can you say the same thing?
Well, nobody can predict this year, but since the Boys were just BARELY behind the Skins last year (both in their record and in most statistical categories), and have had an even better offseason personnel-wise than the Skins have, I have every confidence they'll fare at least as well as the Skins do (again, the wild card being injury, any team can be decimated by too many injuries)... and for the long term, you bet your bippy (wow, did I just date myself, LOL) that I like the way the Boys are building a solid base of YOUNG talent, over the Skins' approach...
