Originally posted by pasodoc9er:
The thing about the jets/9ers and the last 4 yrs of drafting/ FAing is a lesson in how different teams concentrate on their OL in vastly differing methods. Go back to a miserable jets team(and same for 49ers) when in rd 1, after 5 picks, i thot we had a shot at D'Brickshaw Ferguson. At #6, they took him and we ended up with vernon on next pick. That wasn't bad drafting on our part, because the jets had the one pick ahead of us. The outcome was amazingly different however. D'Brick basically has anchored that OL since arriving, and we struggled with VD for 3 yrs. Finally, he added to the team, but only with intensive coaching by BigMike. Meanwhile, Dbrick has helped make the jets OL the best runblocking OL in nfl , and allowed a rookie Qb to make it to the playoffs and win a game.
2nd difference was that last yr when Faneca FAed, jets went after him like a laser, and between dBrick and faneca, the jets OL was the envy of the league. We on the other hand expressed no interest in Faneca ("way too expensive, we can always pick up an OG in 2nd or 3rd rd."---mcClown) Well, guess what? That isn't true, and if we had taken Faneca at maybe $7 or 8 mil/yr, our OL problems would not be being discussed at present. Yeah, we would still need another starter, but the jets by drafting and solidifying their OL first, made it possible for their rookie qb to have a phenomenal 1st yr.
If we could just get our GM, HC, owner to fix the OL first, then rebuild where we have holes, we would be miles ahead of where we are now...still not knowing if our #1 pick in the draft was a good choice or not. It is a story of disconnects, and noln was as guilty as mcClown. Draft a QB as #1 pick in the league and then surround him with 2nd and 3rd rd draft picks on OL...well, you end up losing 2 yrs of your QB to surgical injury, and 5 yrs later, still have no idea about is he good enough or not.
It is water under the bridge, but i would fervently hope that our GM/HC would see to it that we nail down 2 OLs in rd 1 and FA any all pro OL (either G,T, or C) before anything else is done this yr. I am painfully aware of our other needs, but securing the OL has got to be the # 1 job of draft and FA this yr. 2nd and 3rd rd OGs and OTs ...well, they don't work out. Sure there is an occasional diamond in the rough, but if you want great OLs, draft 'em high in rd 1, and FA an all pro.
If this does not get done this yr, i expect another yr like the last 5. And that would mean, that whether jed likes scot and bigaMike or not, they would be fired at end of 2010. Remember, when we picked in 2009, we took crabs over Oher. Who got the better deal, short term and long term? Obviously i don't think we did , but scot and bigmike think they did well. Oher is a starter and has played well. Crabs held out half a yr, can make great catches, and then pulls a VD and gets stone hands. Two key players, both receivers, one a TE the other a WR were taken by us instead of starting OTs. Our mgmt has to change its tune, and scot has to change his ridiculous "Oh, we can always get an OL in 2nd or 3rd rd". Maybe we can, but not a GOOD or GREAT OT or OG/ C.
scot still labors under the impression that a 2nd or 3rd rounder for OL can be coached up. Well, wrong scot, not in today's nfl. You pick a guy now, and he has to be a really good starter. Drafting cody wallace and then not playing him for 2 yrs? What kind of idiocy is that? Our GM need to pay attn to the best running team in the nfl and do what they did...build the OL first, as Lombardi and Paul Brown did. To not do so will just give us another yr like the last 7...and i don't think scot or bigMike will survive that.
Scot is not GM material.... he's on his sixth year here and the moron keeps surviving to torture us.