Are we getting our moneys worth?

[rake]

I just wanted to try and make it clear how our staff has been doing at loading up on good football players. Here is what we have been blessed with personnel wise over the past 5 years:


2002 - TWO STARTERS - Peppers is a sometimes star but both he and Foster blow hot and cold and we have yet to see Foster make it through an entire season. Though Peppers CAN be one of a few occasional impact guys we have added since ’02 he is not a #2 overall guy IMO and won’t be . .. probably until his next contract year

2003 - ONE STARTER - Gross, Seidman, Branch, and Moorehead - Though Gross is not bad he was drafted very high to be what he has turned out to be. The other three are mediocre at best and would only ever be backups on the better teams in the league.

2004 - TWO STARTERS - Gamble = our one better than average starter from this class, Wharton = done for ‘06 and will have to rehab a shredded knee, Colbert = apparently many here think we should have already cut him, Gaines = dumbass, Carstens = backup DT/currently hurt, Carter is a guy that we will probably not be able to resign so don’t get too attached.

2005 - Davis, Mathis, and Seward - Jury is still out on all three but early indications are there are no real impact guys or difference makers here but two of them are probably at least starter quality. We did do well to go get Wahl and Lucas, however neither played well last Sunday. This was clearly our best year of the five.

2006 - So far we’ve got a KR who has already used up one of the few kick returns for a TD that a guy will get in his career in a meaningless preseason game. We have a nickel who looks like he will at least be decent to good as a consistent contributor for the next few years. That’s about it for this year . . . All the others are wait and see projects who may or may not pan out in years to come.
Key is the only FA who really looks like he will be worth a damn and even he will not be an impact guy. Our most likely prospect to takeover for Spoon is an injury prone dude who is already injured. Morgan will probably be nursed along and then shelved for the year (and possibly career) on his very next inevitable boo-boo. We have lost our starting LT for the season from an already too thin O-line. And the drive train to our entire team and best overall player by far is already got two bad hammys. How much of the '06 season is our most consistent difference maker going to miss?


After the first game of the season we are in an all too familiar hole. I’m fed up with starting the season with an embarrassing loss and depleted forces. I know that bad luck is no fault of our staff and they have done a little better job gathering talent than I was thinking before I started this thread BUT. . .
Seems to me we have added two starting caliber guys a year with less than one being an impact player. If we want to win Super Bowls like everybody and their Momma was espousing before Sunday our staff probably needs to show better prowess at stocking (and KEEPING) talent, and we GOTS to have some better luck to help start off the season on the right foot some fuckin' day. :banginghe :banginghe :banginghe

 

[Black&Blue]

Yeah, it's frustrating. Any loss is hard to take, but a loss like that is manhood-robbing. Fortunately, our main problems from Sunday are very fixable. We've had occasional games like this in the past, but always seem to bounce back and patch up most of our mistakes.

As for this year's draft, it's too early to judge. Way too early. As far as I'm concerned, we upgraded our personnel in virtually every area. Johnson is better than Colbert. Hartwig is better than Mitchell. Foster/Williams beats the combo of Foster/Davis. Mathis will be better than Reyes in the longhaul. Kemo is going to help this year, but a zone blocking team like Atlanta plays into his weaknesses.

Also, let's not downplay the absence of Smith. Having a guy who can score from any point on the field doesn't hurt. We didn't run the WR screen once on Sunday, but that play is a staple when 89 is healthy. When he is back, we will be a different offense. There is no question, in my mind, that this team is better than last year. Unfortunately, that doesn't exempt us from the reality of losing games. Every team will lose games this year, but the key is to stay balanced and not look too far ahead or too far behind.

 

[Coach Micool]

Our staff, over the years, whether it's the current or past regime, seem to be fixated on 'potential talent if healthy'.

We've let good talent walk and kept oft hurt doods who, if healthy are good. Too bad tho, the same doods with the ifs, seem to give us less than a season average of onfield play because they just can't stay healthy. The list is long. Somehow somebody has to be accountable for this, whether it's hurney, fox or richardson. You cannot win championships very often with half your cap paying doods to stand on the sidelines in civilian clothes even tho their talent level is great.