You're setting yourself up as the arbiter of what's "immaturity" based on your personal outlook; do you not see how that could be a problem? Everyone has their perspective; that perspective generates a personal view, and that forms an opinion - for EACH PERSON. There are plenty of opinions I disagree with, but I'll be damned if I won't stand up for those folks' right to express those opinions just as much as the ones I agree with - about FOOTBALL. NOT about other members here. You see, when you criticize others here for believing as they do and saying it, you're criticizing individuals just like yourself, but with differing opinions...now, you're not talking about football anymore - you're talking about your brothers and sisters here. And what's worse: you're trying to control what they say, if not what they think. Do you get that?
Steelers have a "great" OL? He is "propped up" by the rest of the team? Great QBs make plays to win games, and that's what Ben does. It's what Rodgers does, Manning does, Brady does, Brees does, Ryan does - **** even Sanchez has done. He's inconsistent but showed marked improvement and plays well when the pressure is on. Henne tends to crumble like a house of cards with 2 years of fading down the stretch, being prone to bad TO's at bad times, and not making plays when it counts. So maybe you think he can be fine next year if we make sure he has an all star at every position. Some of us don't and that's fine.
Two questions 1) If Ben is so important to that team's success how come they were 3-1 and looked fine without him? 2) If not Henne, then who? And do you think this mystery QB would win with the current cast we have on offense?
1) Because it was the regular season - first 4 games no less? Because they played 2 clearly inferior teams, and the other win was the unpredictable week 1 going against a dome team at home? Without Ben the Steeler's do not beat the Ravens and Jets and make the Super Bowl. Sorry, that 3-1 is just pointless. 2) Blaine Gabbert, Cam Newton, Ryan Mallet, Jake Locker, Kyle Orton, Kevin Kolb, Vince Young. And yes I think another QB could do better or I wouldn't be looking to upgrade. Plus, it's about finding a QB for the future, not just next season. I want more than just a warm body back there. Henne just doesn't impress me in any way, sorry. Your getting sucked into into Trent Edwards syndrome.
Really? Blaine Gabbert, Cam Newton, Ryan Mallet, Jake Locker, Kyle Orton, Kevin Kolb and Vince Young could come in and magically win with the current cast we have on offense? Must be nice living in fantasy land. Wake up man. Each and everyone of those guys needs a supporting cast around them just like Henne. Henne has not been set up to succeed at all. I'm all for upgrading the QB position. I'm all for looking to the future. I'm all for trying to find that elusive great QB who can take us to the promised land. But Orton, Kolb and Young are not those guys. And the fact of the matter is Henne probably isn't either. But you don't make a change for the sake of making a change and that's what bringing in any of those guys would be. As for QBs in the draft I only see three real prospects this year, Gabbert, McElroy and Dalton and even then none of those guys strike me as this elusive franchise saver. The point is that if you want a QB to succeed you need to create an infrastructure around him that facilitates success. Not waiting for a QB to mature and develop and the constant revolving door at that position is what has led us to this decade long hole we've been in. It's just ludicrous the fact that for years the fan base complained that we kept bringing in vets and not developing our own young QBs and then when we try to develop our own young QB the fan base revolts because it's not going as fast as planned and wants us to go out and find a vet thus rendering the last 3 years completely pointless. How much longer can this fan base subsist on demanding instant gratification and insisting we build for the future? It just doesn't work both ways.
Every QB in the league has a supporting cast to some degree. This is still the ultimate team sport. But the most important cog in the machine is the QB, and if you think we have one right now ... well that's your opinion. I think its every bit as delusional as you may think of mine or Padre's stance. We've seen Henne can't win with this supporting cast, so why not give another QB a try? As I noted as well, it's about more than just next season. It has been since Marino retired and still is. Why? Because we settle for mediocre QB talent instead of going for the throat via the draft, as is my personal preference. Maybe it backfires, but it's time to try. Personally I like Newton. Agree or disagree, that's your right. As it is ours to think Henne is what we see him as - a ****ty QB. My point is that you will never know how good your car is if you don't have a QB who can't drive it well to begin with, and Henne really hasn't. He doesn't add anything to this team. Also, getting a QB isn't an "either/or" proposition. We can still draft a Newton in the first and add more players through the draft and FA. We can still add Young and draft a stud in the first round. You believe that we would be better served hoping Henne has indeed been mismanaged but is "fixable" and who can still salvage his career. I think we are looking at our own Miami version of Trent Edwards, and think that our #1 priority is finding someone better. So be it, that's not negative or anything, its what we think is apparent and needs to be done.
Since you went with the car analogy, let me ask you this. Say you're in the market for a new car and you want a ferrari. However the only thing available for purchase is a Ford Taurus and a Toyota Corolla. Do you purchase the inferior car just to be buying a car or do you wait until a ferrari becomes available for purchase? It's the same principle here. Does the QB position need to be addressed? Yes. But we're not going to be successful in addressing it by bringing in inferior talent. I'm not opposed to Chad Henne not being the starter next year if he's not the best QB on our roster. I am opposed to cutting Chad Henne. I am opposed to brining in someone like Young, Hasselbeck, Gradkowski, Kolb, Orton, Favre, Delhomme, or McNabb who's not going to get any better results out of this team than Henne. The only one I would even consider from that list is Orton, which we would have to trade for, thus putting us right back in the vicious circle of the past decade. Bottom line is, it's not a matter of not needing an upgrade at QB it's the fact that this just isn't a good year to need a QB because there's not adequate talent available.
Well, I don't believe we ever will just suck with Sparano as the Head Coach, what I do think is our ceiling reverts back to the post Marino Era's 10 win seasons. This is a huge offseason Tx, with the Jets on the brink of losing a slew of free agents, and the Bills improving but not quite there yet, if we are to catch the patriots it starts this offseason.
