There are still more teams in the league playing a 4-3 than a 3-4 right now. It's been about 50/50 the last couple years, which is reasonable. It's not so much the talent as it is the teaching. The Patriots could run their normal 2-gap 3-4 quite well if they wanted. Belichick specifically said he had concerns about the shortened off-season so he stuck with the 4-3 because of the overlap with the 4 man line Nickel package.
Agree that Crowder DOES run his mouth better than he EVER played, but as you say, he made some valid points... What he said is probably being THOUGHT by some of the players STILL on the roster... Matt freaking Moore? JP Losman is as good as he is, and that ISN'T meant as a compliment...
It must be humbling to be a 27 year old, former NFL linebacker that no one wants. These should be his prime playing years.
I love how after-the-fact everyone is an expert on what Ireland "should" have done... What I recall about the 2010 draft on the forums is some wanted Dez Bryant if he was on the board. I was one of them. But looking back I did not know how immature Dez was/is. There is good reason a top 5 talent fell to 24. Glad Ireland didn't pull the trigger on him. Putting Dez and Brandon together would have probably been a mix of a psychological thriller and horror flick. Those two together could have brought dysfunction to an all-time low. Fewer were calling for Earl Thomas. That would have been a good call considering our secondary. But most, including some of the highly reputable, were calling for Brandon Graham to be drafted. He looked the part coming out, but only 13 games played and 6 started to go along with an injury makes getting Odrick and Misi a very good call. Most of the draft boards and a lot of the fans were calling for Sergio Kindle to be drafted with pick #12. That would have brilliant. And then there were those that were pushing heavily for Jerry Hughes with pick #28. 17 games, 0 starts and 1 sack later that doesn't seem so bright to me. But of course, no one is going to own up to blowing that call. But I remember. Seems to me I recall most people thought Ireland did a terrific job of turning the #12 pick into those two players at the time. But apparently Ireland is also responsible for player development as well. Interesting how venom turns people into history revisionists in which they knew all along Ireland screwed up taking Odrick/Misi over Graham or Kindle
The difference is, we're not supposed to be experts. Ireland is. And I was one of those guys who wanted Dez or Earl Thomas. And even if those guys were both busts (which they aren't) my point would still be valis. That we were better off getting one really good to great player than moving all the way down to the bottom of round 1, just to pick up a reasonably high 2nd round pick. So instead of getting that one really good player we ended up with two average players who together have contributed just north of nothing their two years here. And that is IReland in a nutshell. Shy away from the risk of great to double up on safe average. That's how you get a team of "nice" players that nonetheless sucks and is 0-6.
Of course, your entire post is based on selective memory, so you should get your draft groups in order before you complain about hindsight. The Earl Thomas contingent was pretty big. The only person vocally against him was KB21, and since he's been on good behavior I won't rehash what he said. The Dez Bryant contingent was also big, but I don't see why you need to bash Brandon Marshall in order to justify being glad we didn't draft Bryant. Have you watched Bryant play? He was every bit worth the draft pick, issues or no issues. That guy is already one of the ten best WRs in the NFL. There were fewer Brandon Graham advocates than Earl Thomas advocates, and they favored moving him to OLB. So while Graham may or may not turn out to be worth his selection, those who wanted him were correct that we needed a. linebacker help, and b. pass rush help. Hughes and Sintim also fit in this niche: the people who wanted them were correct in that we needed to bolster the pass rush somehow. (Odrick is not exactly Warren Sapp out there.) Sergio Kindle… well, if you wanted your first round pick to not only be over-drafted but miss his entire first year due to an accident, he's your guy. People were pleased with Koa Misi, but there was significant "WTF?" type reaction to Jared Odrick at the time. No one was happy with his selection. Yeah, people at the time did know we screwed up by taking Odrick. The reaction to Misi was a muted "Well, he could be pretty good, Ireland's finding acorns again" type response. The people who wanted Dez Bryant or Earl Thomas have so far been proven correct through those two players' on-field performance thus far in their careers.
what is funny is atleast not to my memory nobody said this last year when the d was alot better. on another note crowder probably killed his chances of anyone singing him in the future.
I don't give a rats *** if crowder could line up our guys in the defense, I don't want him anywhere near this football team next year...you got money, have a good time fishin buddy..
