Originally posted by Rascal:
I totally get what you are saying and I can't disagree on the importance of pass rush.
But, I am going to introduce another line of argument here. That is no matter how stout your D is (pass rush inclusive), a great team with a great offense is still going to score on you and perhaps even score on you big. That didn't just happen to us, it happened to the Seahawks too when they played the Falcons. The question is what do you do at that point when you are down by 17, down by 22 at the half ? Your D might be able to get the offense back on the field, but they are not going to win the game for you. What you need is an explosive offense that can put points on the board and ultimately outscore your opponent to win football games. In quite a number of games, we have had those slow starts, we were getting 3 and outs and couldn't finish drives, not to mention our lingering issue in the red zone. I would argue if we had more weapons, it would help to take us over the edge. We almost did it in the Super Bowl, we climbed all the way back with over 20 unanswered points or something along those lines ?
I mentioned this before but I think we could be at a crossroads here. I don't think we will be that Alex Smith type team as much anymore. The run the ball, play good defense and special teams. Don't get me wrong it's a great way to play the game but I think we will be a much more explosive team with Colin. We have a chance to really load up on offense with a TE high and a WR high and let the defense go a little bit. If we wanted to we could be a team that starts trying to win shootouts and we see a lot of 30-27, 35-28 games. Or we can use this draft to build the defense back up and take a FS, DE, maybe NT, SS, CB and maybe wait until the mids rounds for a TE and/or WR. I don't see us as wanting to win that way. I don't think we will let the defense just slip and be like say the Lions or Saints where you try to outscore your oponnent every game and trade TD for TD. Our defense won't be like 2011 but it will still be solid. Same with the ST. We already put a lot of effort into getting the ST back on track. We will try to win with an improved and possibly explosive offense with a solid d and st. Might not see those 20-10 games anymore... could be more like 30-21 but as long as we are winning.
Anyways, I agree though some seem like we absolutely need to get a starting DE and possibly SS in this draft and that's not really true unless we plan on cutting Whitner. Like I mentioned right now the DE will just be depth and probably the same with SS. We have this year and next year's draft to replace Whitner and 2, maybe 3 drafts to replace Justin. Doesn't mean it wouldn't be nice to get someone to groom to take over but we can always wait until next year to get that high pick future starter. We need depth but we don't need a starter. I would say we absolutely need a starting FS in my mind though. If they want to trade down with one 31 or 34 and work the draft or use it for a 1st next year I am fine with that. As long as we come away with a starting FS and a #2 TE to me that's all that is required for now.