I have been thinking about what the Fins need to get them over the hump and this is what I've come up with (in this order). 1. Free saftey, we need someone that can proved better pass coverage down the field. So far, Wilson has been a total disaster. 2. Franchise QB, Chad P is a nice stop gap but his inability to get the ball down the field or deliver it quickly enough to allow the receiver to do something with it is like a ball and chain around the offenses ankle. Our running game would be devastating IF we could get defenses to play us honestly. 3. Stud middle linebacker, CC s a good number two guy but you can't pair him with Akin and expect to be effective there. 4. A down lineman that can pressure the QB. 5. a number 1 and number 2 WR. all we have on the roster right now are a bunch of 3-5 guys. 6. Dynamic TE. 7. Strong Safety, Bell has not looked to hot out there either.
My list: 1. A ball hawking, instinctive free safety that can OWN the middle of the field, and then some. 2. A big, physical WR to compliment Ted Ginn. (Might be Patrick Turner, but I doubt it.) 3. A beast MLB who has more than one strength. 4. A beast OLB who can do more than just rush the passer. 5. A return specialist who can make opposing fans cry. 6. A viable #3 QB after Pennington leaves/gets injured.
i think Clemons will prove to be a very good S ... and that he will get some playing time as the season continues ... overall, i think the secondary will improve over the next few games .... but agree on the MLB, WR, and a big OLB ... still wish we had taken Johnson ....
I like your list Gish. My only addition is a franchise QB, which I would have to put at the top of the list. And, hey...who knows? Maybe he's already on the roster?
There's a lot of things we would need to be a solid, complete team from top to bottom...but you don't have to be solid from top to bottom to win a SB, you just have to be good enough in certain areas. I think we could be a superbowl caliber team if we had one play-busting cornerback, one very good coverage LB, a genuine #1 WR and an upper-tier QB.
All three units playing well at one time, so far we have been disjointed with different culpability each week. Heading into the season, Special Teams was the issue, after Game 1 the Oline was the issue, after Game 2 the Defense was the issue.
Good post, man. Agree; we may already have that guy on the roster, though: Chris Clemons. He's fast as hell, something that neither Wilson nor Bell are, and I think the time has come to give him a shot...JMO. Sadly, you may be right about this, since I REALLY don't have any confidence that Henne is going to be much more than he is; which is to say, at this point, John Beck - Part II. Henne didn't show one bit of improvement this preaseason from the last. Spot on. I would love to see us draft a guy early for Ayodele's position and sign a young veteran for Channing's. Crowder would be a nice backup; but while he does make a nice play now and again, he is a liability as a starter most of the time. In the 3-4, the pressure is supposed to come from your Linebackers; a 3-4 Lineman who can get sacks is very rare. It would be nice, though; it would give us more options with the Linebackers. I agree on a #1 (that means so many things to different people that I'll just leave it at that), we needed one of the top 5 WRs in this past draft but didn't take any. In doing so we passed on a huge opportunity to add a playmaker from a very deep (in about-equal talent) field of 5-7 guys who could have been impact players for us. But we're loaded with #2-types, IMO; Bess, Hartline, Camarillo...and Turner, who I believe could be a righteous threat for us down the line. There are only so many Tony Gonzalez's and Antonio Gates' to be had, unfortunately; and if you go chasing one in the first round you usually don't get a good return on a very valuable investment, draft picks being the main foundation of the team "building." Besides, the way we use the TE a really great one would find it frustrating, especially with the Wildcat. We could already have two gems in Haynos and Nalbone, though...although I still have my doubts about Haynos. This I disagree with entirely. Bell is quite effective in the SS role; he simply didn't have any help at all on Monday night against the Colts from his counterpart Wilson, and the play of the ILBs was so atrocious that I'm sure it put additional pressure on Bell to try to "be everywhere." Get him a better Safety alongside him, improve the LB play and I think Bell will be just fine.
i already gave Clemons a shout out, but will do so again ... it won't be until next year that our secondary really starts to come thru with Clemons, Davis and Smith ... with Roth out and JT as our plan B to drafting an OLB ... we now find ourselves lacking. Hopefully, Wake can show something by the break ... Roth really hurt us, not that i have been a huge Roth fan, but this was his year to really show his value. i think mixing up Roth, JT and JP would have made a difference, and might have helped some at MLB. i think this hurt us more than most think ... or that the FO will admit. i would have rather started Henne this year, but clearly understand the staff's view that more of the same could go further this year with some improvements. i don't dislike CP, but like all players ... they are what they are, and no matter how smart he is - he limits both the growth and explosiveness of the offense. MLB is terrible ... and have always maintained that CC is a nice '2' ... but is nowhere near a stud MLB, and from what we have seen - he might even be worse than ZT in covering a TE (if that can even be imagined) ... this is the main area we identified during the offseason, we didn't improve it ... and it won't get better during the season. this has got to be the #1 priority this next offseason (FA and draft). on offense, all we need is a big, dominant WR for our style of play ... plain and simple ... tough to find ...
We still need a few more pieces to give us an upper tier NFL team. We are still less than two years into this rebuild and overhaul but a foundation has been put down.
We need Bill or Saprano to get off there @ss and go get us a dependable Wr. make a trade or find one.
