Quote:
Originally Posted by Beemnseven
If you're speaking of the offense, then yes -- they've definitely underperformed. But I don't think that's the case with the defense.
Let's take the secondary: Clearly, the most disappointing figure has been Carlos Rogers. Here is a very talented guy, taken #9 overall, had many scouting agencies confirming he was the real deal, and he's done nothing but regress. Either he's not as advertised, or he's decided to coast this year, and not play up to his potential. The jury is still out on that question.
We are getting exactly what everyone should have expected with Mike Rumph. Kenny Wright was brought in to be a third down, nickel corner, seeing the field way more than he was ever expected to. Still, I don't think anyone anticipated how bad he was going to be, limited roles or not.
And Shawn Springs? How long did they expect him to perform flawlessly at 100% health? Sometimes, I think certain members of the coaching staff, and all of the personnel decision makers in the front office see his jersey #24 -- and in their minds, they see #28. It's like a mirage. Apparently, they were under the impression that they could count on him year after year to shutdown every receiver that ever lined up against him until he was 42 years old, without the slightest evidence of a slowdown.
That's just the secondary. That doesn't even address the defensive line and linebackers. I could go on, but I'm at lunch...
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Not sure what you're saying... are you saying the D is playing as expected, or are you referring to the injuries that has forced much lesser talented guys into action?
Injuries have killed them, I'll let them off the hook a bit there. But even when most of the guys have been in there they've been disappointing. For the most part this is the same unit that was one of the top units in the league the last 2 years, now they're dragging along the bottom of the league. I was on the Springs is the key bandwagon early on, but now I'm re-thinking that and wondering what the heck is going on.
Hell, we can even go back to August and see that they were horrible then. I'll admit I thought it was just the preseason at that time and they would work things out, afterall they did just that in each of the previous 2 preseasons, but obviously it was a sign of things to come.