What Changes Should We Make Going Into 08?

We need an assistant offensive line coach to work with Joe Bugel to teach the guys how to block once the ball is snapped. The O line needs to get off the ball fster. Other teams made the Seattle defense look ordinary, but we made their whole line look like all-pros. They're good, but Atlanta scored 40 some points on them, albeit in a meaningless game. Is our O line that much weaker than other teams'? We run a very poor 4th and 1 or even 4th and inches play the whole year.

we were missing 2 of our starting 5. that impacts where you line up the tight ends and the overall pass protection shcemes..and we STILL took the lead on the 'hawks..i'm not that concerned about the line (when healthy)

more aggressive play calling.
youth movement (to have a roster full of quality backups now) for the future
10-6

With the off-season coming up for us, Jason Campbell will be able to absorb the playbook more. I say open the playbook and let Jason Campbell do his thing. He's got a cannon for an arm and will be able to hit Moss or Randle El deep. He will learn from the mistakes of this year and, in my opinion, be a force to be reckon with next year. I think we can make a serious playoff run as long as we stay healthy. Defense should be good to go, maybe add another D-Lineman and a CB. Just my thoughts.

Re-sign Collins as back up. Have him work with Campbell all summer and have Saunders create plays to utilize Campbell's strengths. Get DE from draft and pick up Briggs from free agency

Re-sign Collins as back up. Have him work with Campbell all summer and have Saunders create plays to utilize Campbell's strengths. Get DE from draft and pick up Briggs from free agency

Briggs no chance in hell..

Re-sign Collins as back up. Have him work with Campbell all summer and have Saunders create plays to utilize Campbell's strengths. Get DE from draft and pick up Briggs from free agency

If we are going to get a big name player, I would not go after Briggs, but would much rather go out and get someone like Chad Johnson. I really hope Shawn stays, he is a great vet on the D. Also I think we really need to give Reed Doughty a chance at SS. He did a great job and in this defensive scheme, the SS is up near the line. I saw him on many plays since he has been in and is still very young. We need to get our O-line healthy and get some solid young back ups in to groom. I really do like our line when it is healthy, but am getting tired of watching them go down with injuries. We need to understadn that Jansen and Thomas (even though very good o-line) are injury prone and have to prepare for that.

okay i follow you there but back in those days all you had to do was make it to the dance.there was no afc team coming close to the nfc...kinda like now.maybe Billick was a bad pick but the guy is a in your face coach which is what we can probably use now.

the two biggest impact positions we could reasonably upgrade this season (seeing as how tom brady and peyton aren't on the market) are stud WR and stud DE... pickings are slim in FA for the DE, and at WR, CJ probably isn't going to be free (though if he is, he's absolutely a slam dunk as far as vastly improving the team), but guys like javon walker or bryant are gettable (though bryant isn't quite the upgrade we'd need... is has to be a real #1 type talent to make a difference).

drafting a DE might be a good idea, since its not a great FA class (barring a trade of some kind), but at best they'd probably just be a small upgrade over daniels in the first year or two... still, for the long term, it's a pretty important issue to address in some way. (if we had a 10 solo sack guy opposite carter this year, both with get 16 a piece due to the combined pressure. carter's proven to be a good DE, so the DL need isn't dire like it has been for the last 5+ years.

outside of that, a GREAT SS would also prove a huge immediate upgrade, though lack of talent at SS is easier to hide.

for the long term, young OL are VERY important, and heyer was a great find, but we need an actual starter on the bench, and he's still just a good backup right now. i hope alexander moves to guard and we actually use a 2nd or 3rd round pick on an oline-man (OG) this year, cause we're ancient, and it's a disaster waiting to happen. a 2nd round OG can be an immediate starter and good to boot... and we've desperately needed a GOOD 6th OL guy the last two years.

DT and CB could still use guys to replace griffin and springs (whenever they do finally leave). golston and montgomery are decent, but neither is as good as griffin at this point (though griffin was much better the last couple years than he was this season it seems). at CB, a nickel guy with upside is good enough at this point, though that'd leave us exposed IF springs leaves right now (with carlos not fully healthy till half way through next year at best).


the only real reason to argue for briggs is that he's a very good player, a big upgrade over godfrey, and he'd help hide our lack of a #2 DE... however, the price/performance of such a move wouldn't be very good compared to signing a similarly talented WR or DE.

[quote=SmootSmack;403907]If you're not even including playcalling in your assessment (or even if you were), I think there is simply no way anyway can say Billick is a better coach than Gibbs. As for Billick not being at fault for his lackluster offense players, if Billick was the offensive sage that he claims to be then his offenses would be able to perform at a much higher level regardless. Like maybe he could win 3 Super Bowls with 3 different QBs and 3 different RBs. Plus if you say that he's not to blame for offense, then would you say he's not to be credited for defense. That same defense that was the sole reason the Ravens even have a Super Bowl title.

okay i follow you there but back in those days all you had to do was make it to the dance.there was no afc team coming close to the nfc...kinda like now.maybe Billick was a bad pick but the guy is a in your face coach which is what we can probably use now.


the best coach outside of NE is jeff fisher, but he's spoken for :/ cowher's pretty good, but williams would probably be pretty good in his 2nd stint as a HC. I don't think we need billick here.

[quote=prinzeofmoval;403941]


the best coach outside of NE is jeff fisher, but he's spoken for :/ cowher's pretty good, but williams would probably be pretty good in his 2nd stint as a HC. I don't think we need billick here.

Damn TG you're making it look like I made those last comments. I'm suing you for slander/libel ;)