Quote:
Originally Posted by skinster
I think it is important to always look to the future of our team. What do you guys think is our biggest weakness that we must address to be raised to the next level? Of course there is room for improvement at most positions, but it is unrealistic to be able to address all our areas of weakness in a reasonable amount of time. I think we are 2 positions away from becoming real contenders; I feel like we are weakest on the OL and DL (more DL).
I'll be the first to admit that I said in the offseason that our WR's were atrocious and unable to produce, I also said that the McNabb trade was not worth the second and third picks, but I have had a change of heart. I still think we are among the worst receiving cores in the league, but I do not think it matters as much as I used to because McNabb has been absolutely incredible. He makes our passing game at least respectable despite having almost nothing to work with.
So back to where we need to improve to be raised into legitimate contenders. The DL and OL. From what I can see the DL is getting zero push. Teams are able to pass all over us because the quarterbacks are not getting the pocket collapsed on them in time. Our blitzes are also not as effective because of the weak push in the trenches. I watch the push that other teams get on us and it upsets me that we seem to never collapse the pocket like others seem to do to us. Fortunately we have McNabb who has be phenomenal at avoiding the pressure, but I can't help but think that we'd put up another td every game if we had a stronger OL push to help us with the run game (I do not think we get adequate push there either...Indy was an exception because they are so small) and give McNabb more time. I also feel that we have gotten extremely lucky on defense so far. It seems that offenses are able to drive on us every game, but somehow something always happens where their points don't reflect how they are dominating us. I feel that if we had a stronger DL everything would change. Our LB's DB's WR's RB's TE's QB's and FB's might not all be perfect, but I feel as if they are good enough that if we improve in the trenches we should be a legitimate playoff team, no questions asked.
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Sorry forgot to add what I wanted to say about how much improvement is needed. I think that we need two quality interior linemen (doesnt matter which positions), and one impact DL and one quality DL (doesn't matter what positions).
I think our OL doesn't need to dominate anything, they just need to be good enough so that Mcnabb can do his thing and so that we have a little more confidence in our run game. I am not worried so much about Brown or Williams for next year, they will both improve, just the interior who I do not see getting anything but worse.
I think that we need one DL which will wreak havoc and push the pocket/draw the double team, and one DL which can benefit from the other wreaking havoc. The second DL needs to just be good enough that he can get a reasonable amount of push, and I do not see anyone on our roster that is adequate to fill either of these roles in my mind (this is all said assuming Haynsworth is gone next year).