[QUOTE=wolfeskins]lavar has been hurt and has missed the last 9 games, kinda makes me laugh when you say he's played below salary[/QUOTE]
Same deal with Barrow, I don't get it when people write him off as being a bust. Was it his fault he got hurt? Barrow has been a quality MLB for years now and has always been very healthy. He misses one season with an injury and all of a sudden he's a bust and a big mistake on our part?

The only offseason move you can blame Gibbs for is, you guessed it... Brunell! That is the only aquisition I heard anyone question at the time we did it, so thats the only one people should really complain about. In my opinion, if you were all aboard when they did the inital deal, it means you would have done the same thing. I'm sure that's not true in all cases, but I didnt really see the "Why did we sign Barrow" threads when he got signed. He cant be classifyed as a bust, dissapointing yes, a bust, no.

You remember the calls of relief when we signed Ray Brown to the team?

And no, I'm calling Portis a good move. 1-10 scale of sarcasm here. Just don't like how he's been (mis)used the last few game. We've gotten away from him.

[QUOTE=Kevikazi]I'm not too high on Taylor right now. Yes...he's improved a lot in playing his position. But, he got a bone-headed 15 yd penalty against the Steelers last night and I think he had another one called against him a few games back. Until he learns to control his emotions and not get any dumb penalties...I wouldn't consider him a "probowl" material.[/QUOTE]
I know sometimes these penalties do hurt, but in my opinion ST is playing good hard-nosed smash-mouth football "you come into my house, you step on my turf, you pay the price". Safeties like Taylor and the oft-maligned Matt Bowen ingrain themselves in receiver's memories as being "the guy that knocked me clear to Friday the last time we played the skins". Our D needs players like ST that are agressive and lay down the law in the middle. When opposing offenses recognize our defensive middle as "sacred turf" and start making a conscious effort to [b]stay away[/b] from the middle that gives us one more element of having a dominating and intimidating defense and I don't think you can have that without an occasional penalty, stupid or otherwise.

I thought Ray Brown has been quite a good pick up rembering who he has been up against might be old but age isn't everything

brunell is no good but who could have guessed it. the real error there is the price that we paid for him in money and draft pick. the draft was pretty solid too, definitely working our way up. i just dont think we can expect anything but gradual improvement this season, it's clear that gibbs needs a season but it seems like it's getting better. sure the points aren't there but heck, they will be.

go skins!

the points will come and we will be back on top
gibbs came into and i hate to say a bad team
but the one thing i like is we dont quit every game is a fight
which hasnt always been the last few years

barrow had 177 tackles last year, he was a great signing, but shit happened... either way, he's older and we don't have 43mill tied up in him, so i consider it another fiore type gamble... if he's back next year, great... we'll have 4 really good LBs, and that might even kill the need to get at least one DE...

Ray Brown was brought in for depth after Jansen got hurt. Unfortunately, he was better than the new starter, so he was moved up, and Jones isn't even with the team any more. Even if you don't factor in his age, he has still played pretty solid...not great, but solid.
I really like Wilson at RT though, and I hope he stays there, even when Thomas comes back.

Gibbs one big blunder was Brunell...obviously! But still, most NFL guys didn't think he would be [I]that [/I] bad...even the ones that said he had lost it somewhat...

There were several teams that wanted Brunell, but like every other FA we go after, we won. There were several NFL guys who were wrong about Brunell.

cpayne5:

Maybe other NFL personnel folks were wrong about Brunell too, but only one team has to eat that monster contract they gave him. Oh yeah, and there was the small matter of that draft pick we lost too...


Longtimeskinsfan:

There have been and are some humongous hitters who have played safety in the NFL over the years. Nevertheless, I really doubt that quality WRs and TEs will fear to go into the middle against Sean Taylor. They went there against Jack Tatum and Ronnie Lott and Gary Fencik and do so today against John Lynch and Roy Williams and Brian Dawkins and ...


arrington-QB kliller:

Samuel's contract is NOT up. It has one more year to go with a salary of something near $11M for next year. (That is the cap number and much of it is salary due to him; that's why is is not eager to renegotiate at the moment.)

[QUOTE=sportscurmudgeon]cpayne5:

Maybe other NFL personnel folks were wrong about Brunell too, but only one team has to eat that monster contract they gave him. Oh yeah, and there was the small matter of that draft pick we lost too...
[/QUOTE]

True, the ones that were most wrong are the ones that won the bidding (us), I guess.

The problem with Brunell was obviously we paid too much, and we went after him too aggressively. He probably would have been released by the Jags, and I doubt there would have been much of a bidding war for his services.

[QUOTE=sportscurmudgeon]
They went there against Jack Tatum and Ronnie Lott and Gary Fencik and do so today against John Lynch and Roy Williams and Brian Dawkins and ...
[/QUOTE]Yep because they are paid to do a job. But ask any WR, TE, RB, SE if they enjoyed playing Oakland or Houston or San Fran or Chicago during those years and I'll wager they would all roll their eyes into the back of their heads. I've seen receivers literally drop balls because a guy like a Tatum or Lott was two steps away. That's intimidation and that can be a very powerful force on the field of play.