Help Me Out Here

[Knight of God]

I have to admit that I wasn't really on board with TD until right before the draft. The draft itself turned me a whole new way and has made me think of him not as just a GM, but as a guy who really scouts and is sort of a "player snob". Over the years I have watched him draft guys who were known for injuries and look at Moore now and Jerry is said to be at least 98%. We haven't had as many true busts as in the past and quite a few FA's have played pretty well. I'm starting to really see that TD thrives on confusing the media, fans, but more importantly...other teams.

Not may folks knew he was going to take Jerry over Matthews, but I am starting to get him on a different level. "We build through the draft." anyone else remember that? I am starting to think that he is actually doing just that.

Now he's imperfect and doesn't strike gold every move, but I have seen one thing that is most important. He knows HIS players pretty well. He could have traded White back in '08 or even '09. Could have signed LJ Smith instead of trading for Gonzalez. So many moves and he has found ways for them to work.

QB has a weak arm, RB is fat and slow, need a DE, DT's are too small (that one is me), LB's aren't regular playmakers, Dunta was a waste, Decoud had a bad year...yayayayayayayah. All that and we went 13-3 and lost in the playoffs to the team who beat up on the Steelers for a Super Bowl win.

Here is the real truth.

-Ryan is one of the smartest QB's in the league and is getting better every year. I hear he's working on that arm strength.

-Turner is a powerback and is a lot like Jamal Lewis now. He can still carry the ball and has a scatback and Johnson to help him. I think we will resign Snelling or get another guy at value. Also...Turner still wasn't 100% last year either. Nah, he sacrificed his body for 13-3 and a 1000+ yd season.

-Jones>Jenkins. Faster, more athletic, more physical, younger.

-Gonzalez is old, but not inept. Still can play and Palmer isn't a bad back-up.

-The OL wasn't that bad and the guys we have right now + our resigns looks very solid. If Baker doesn't pan out, Svitek would love to play some.

-DE? Whenever the best FA's available are guys like Edwards and Charles Johnson you have to ask yourself. "Is this REALLY a long term solution?" We are upgraded already with matthews. He's an easy upgrade to Anderson.

-Peters is 295lbs but looks and plays like a 320lb guy. Jerry is super muscular and I have heard that he has worked on cardio this offseason. Babineaux is a different kind of DT, in a class with Coleman and is still only getting better.

-If we resign Nicholas and not Peterson we are still well off. Weatherspoon, Lofton, Nicholas, Dent, Wire, and Adkins are a corps of speed and strength. Look those guys up and they are all faster and stronger than you'd think. Wire is an ex-SS which is already an advantage. Dent is faster than you'd think having run a low of 4.68 and is as strong as a great deal of DE's! Actually Wire is pretty strong too having benched 225lbs 28 times I think and seems to have that SS speed still at 4.56. All of those guys are powerfully strong individuals and built like comic book superheroes.

-Robinson was actually thrown away from a lot last year and Grimes made them pay. Franks and Owens aren't that bad. If they were then how did we go 13-3? Williams may or may not be back, so you tell me.

-Decoud has similar numbers to the year before and had WAY more help at safety. He played more FS before, but was in the SS role quite a bit last year. He laid wood quite a bit as well.

-Bryant will most likely be resigned. Not sure about Koenen. Bosher may be a good fit, we'll have to see.

We are one of the best teams in the NFC and getting better, but it takes time. Our defense and lack of pass rush didn't kill us last year. Our offense couldn't stay on the field. I think we fixed that problem.

[JayOzOne]

Good analysis, Knight. I'm more than confident that the team will be more consistent this year. The addition of Jones and Quizz will help the offense immensely. If we can sustain two more drives this year, we're probably going to lead the league in scoring and own time of possession. Also, our defensive measurable statistics will improve a lot.

I think that's what TD foresees, balance and dynamics (offense to defense, pass to rush, D-Line to D-backs, everywhere...), even more than the ability to strike quickly.

On the other side of the ball, if Jerry is healthy, we also have Simon and Babs to form a problem for opposing offensive lines. Plus, Robinson should be much better this season and Grimes continues to improve. I expect Weatherspoon to be a beast. However, Jerry is the key, in my opinion to having a successful season vs. a good one. He's got to hold two interior linemen up and help the edge rushers and Babs to get to the QB.

A lot of our fans are full of gloom and doom, but nobody wants us to fail. Because of that, it's more comfortable to talk about our faults than our strengths. I am very happy that those conversations seem to be stretching credulity instead of having the ring of truth that they had in years past. I'm ticked that everybody is starting out late this year, but I'm optimistic that this will be the year we step forward on a grand scale.

[Atlfanstckndenver]

good read

[Karst41]

Great Post.

Williams has to be replaced, I hate it because he is a very solid player,

whose knees are gone.

DE is my concern.

We all became enamored with Kroy, but we now see that he has some distractions.

Getting married and having a child is one thing, but being a low paid player and

renting a mansion is highly disconnecting.

Should we sign a DE we have to be careful on the money because we have a long

list of our own FA's to sign, and Julio Jones contract will be a staggering amount of

money, and that alone could very well erase any splashes in the FA Market.

[Knight of God]

Great Post.

Williams has to be replaced, I hate it because he is a very solid player,

whose knees are gone.

DE is my concern.

We all became enamored with Kroy, but we now see that he has some distractions.

Getting married and having a child is one thing, but being a low paid player and

renting a mansion is highly disconnecting.

Should we sign a DE we have to be careful on the money because we have a long

list of our own FA's to sign, and Julio Jones contract will be a staggering amount of

money, and that alone could very well erase any splashes in the FA Market.

I understand about Biermann and I know that celebrity is a no-no here, but we still have pretty good guys in rotation. Don't be so quick to slam Biermann, he isn't Anderson.

[Hustle Up]

Great Post.

Williams has to be replaced, I hate it because he is a very solid player,

whose knees are gone.

DE is my concern.

We all became enamored with Kroy, but we now see that he has some distractions.

Getting married and having a child is one thing, but being a low paid player and

renting a mansion is highly disconnecting.

Should we sign a DE we have to be careful on the money because we have a long

list of our own FA's to sign, and Julio Jones contract will be a staggering amount of

money, and that alone could very well erase any splashes in the FA Market.

I don't think so, the new rookie wage scale is a big decrease from previous years. They just leaked out that a guy like Cam Newton would get about $35mil which is a big reduction from the $50+ mil Sam Bradford got the year before.