Some optimism on the 'Shanaplan'

I also don't know that Rex was a terrible move.They didn't break the bank to get him

It was only terrible in that they thought of him as a starter.

Too bad Rexy doesn't have the skills to match his moxy. He'd be a heck of a QB.

I'd like to see Rex back with us next season in a backup role.

I'd like to see Rex back with us next season in a backup role.

I could see that happening. It's not like he's going to be in high demand elsewhere.

I'd like to see Rex back with us next season in a backup role.

i dont care if Rex comes back, but I want 2 young QBs on the roster period. Not 1, 2

We all know what's going to happen though... A rookie QB will be drafted, in all likelihood he'll struggle and have all the typical growing pains in his first year, and our record might still be on the wrong side of 8-8. Add to that a rebuild of the offensive line which also isn't going to be completely in sync.

Then we'll hear from The Crazies that Shanahan's 3-year new coach/rebuilding window has closed, and that he should be fired.

We all know what's going to happen though... A rookie QB will be drafted, in all likelihood he'll struggle and have all the typical growing pains in his first year, and our record might still be on the wrong side of 8-8. Add to that a rebuild of the offensive line which also isn't going to be completely in sync.

Then we'll hear from The Crazies that Shanahan's 3-year new coach/rebuilding window has closed, and that he should be fired.So why is it a good idea to have him involved with the selecting of the right quarterback?

I don't like stats too much, but our performance on D is actually not that bad this season, at least in the stats.

We are giving up the 11th fewest points points per game at 20.5pts/G, which is actually slightly under the 21 points per game in 2009.

We are also giving up 17.6 1st downs a game this season. In 2009, we gave up 17.5 1st downs a game.

Our 3rd down percentage this season is 37%, which is lower than the defense's 40% 3rd down percentage in 2009.

So, some of our stats are back to levels similar to the 2009 levels.It's close, but I'd take the current defense over the 2009 defense. The fundamental problems are similar (can't get off the field), but the pass defense is unquestionably better now, and that makes the ability to limit points much more sustainable. It's a positive change that we don't totally crap the bed anymore when facing an NFC East opponent because you haven't made an adjustment since 1977.

Neither would qualify as a great defense, and neither was capable of carrying even an average offense to the playoffs. The offense still has to get better. I think The Goat's point about the opportunity cost of switching things up on defense is fair though I don't know if anything except a huge decline would have been achieved if we simply focused on nothing but offense.

I also don't know that Rex was a terrible move.They didn't break the bank to get him

Rex is a nothing move...he's solves nothing short term or long term. But when he's the only legitimate guy there's reason to ask "wtf was going through your head Mike?"

It's close, but I'd take the current defense over the 2009 defense. The fundamental problems are similar (can't get off the field), but the pass defense is unquestionably better now, and that makes the ability to limit points much more sustainable. It's a positive change that we don't totally crap the bed anymore when facing an NFC East opponent because you haven't made an adjustment since 1977.

Neither would qualify as a great defense, and neither was capable of carrying even an average offense to the playoffs. The offense still has to get better. I think The Goat's point about the opportunity cost of switching things up on defense is fair though I don't know if anything except a huge decline would have been achieved if we simply focused on nothing but offense.

I didn't mean to imply we would have completely neglected defense GTripp but I see how it read that way...I tend to skip over points when I try writing down my thoughts.

I think Rak would have been our LDE, Carter RDE and added a DT. Of course I've assuming AH is still contributing something because the offense is built around him (re-closing can of worms now). We could have spent, say, half the total number of picks/FAs on defense had we stayed in the 4-3 and likely be better than we are today because this defense isn't going to dominate w/o a real NT.

Rex is a nothing move...he's solves nothing short term or long term. But when he's the only legitimate guy there's reason to ask "wtf was going through your head Mike?"

Well it depends on how you look at it. QB is certainly our biggest need. And it's the most important position on any roster, in my opinion. But it's not the only position that we needed to improve upon.

So I mean yes I wish we had, for example, gotten Locker at #10 but he wasn't there so we could have traded up to ensure we get him. Or we could have said well let's go with the next best QB on our list. Or we could have done what we did and said "OK, we didn't get the QB we wanted. But we have a chance to get the LB, DT, and WR we need."

So maybe that's what they did. Maybe they said you know we like our best LB better than our second best QB so let's do that. Because next year and in future years we don't see LB (or DT or WR, etc) that we really would want. But we do see a QB. So we'll build other areas of our team in 2011 and then we'll get that QB in 2012.