kyle021 Posted November 21, 2016 Report Share Posted November 21, 2016 I have been pretty mum the last month around here about the team. In large part because I agree with the majority of the board. Let me tell you. I was extremely pissed at halftime today. Prior to half time I was so pissed I threw the remote at the wall prior to changing to the cowboy game. Few minutes later I clicked back over and Vinatarie missed aFG and MM marched us for a TD. Also, Mariota suddenly has a beautiful deep ball Matthews is the real deal. I clamored for signing him. Thought he was going to be Crabtree esque for us and he has but he doesn't have his Cooper to make him that much better. This is the first game in 7 weeks he hasn't grabbed A TD and he was clutch all day. Him and MM are on the same page and Sharpe is developing. I will admit that I'm partial to Wright. Loved what we "might" get from him when we drafted him and was stoked after his 1000 yard year 3 years ago. However he is just way to inconsistent. When he is on he is money. But he is a ghost at times and MM can't count on him. Remember Sterling Sheppard last year? That's the type of slot guy I believe we were looking for in the draft but wasn't ready for us where we wanted him and settled for Sharpe in 5. That's OK but we still need a consistent slot machine. Look for that to be addressed and one guy I have my eye on is a Woods from Buffalo. He is very reliable, athletic and steady. Good route runner too. However Woods, just like Matthews has underwhelmed due to poor QB play. This offseason we should forget about going after a star #1 & focus solely on DB's and ILB and another DL and OLB. We will have a great pick at our first round if we stay inside the top 7. Guys like Barnett, Harris, Lawson, Allen, McDowell, Williams at DE and OLB will be there as well as a S in the mold of Peppers, Adams, Hooker, Baker and CB like Wilson, Humphrey, Lattimore, Tabor, Jones and King and ILB like Foster, Davis and Cunningham All of those guys are instant Day one impacts but one position stands out to me more. Defensive End. Klug has fizzled out and Jones/Blackson are more run stuffers and two down guys. We truly need another 3 down DE to pair with Casey. We can address that with Richardson or Short in FA or we can make a move to get Allen or hope he drops to our pick or McDowell is there. The DL play has fallen off and teams are double teaming Casey and making DQ and Blackson try to earn their way to the passer and it's killing us. As much as CB is a need I would say a dynamic DE is bigger and we can grab a CB with our latter first with equal value or one in the third with equal value if we improve the rush. Doing so will give Rak and Morgan easier time getting to the target and making our DB look good. Getting a stud DE and CB would be gravy and a home run but what would we do at SS and ILB? this brings to my point that we need to address CB and SS inFA with Berry and Gilmore and attack DE with either Allen or McDowell first and a lock at ILBlike Cunningham or Davis second assuming Foster is gone. Doing such brings all of the decencies we saw today to strengths and propels this team to the next level. This season has been awesome. No one likes to lose but we are so fortunate to be playing meaningful games right now. Good to great QB will continue to expose us and we continue to lose these games like today until we get that game changer at DE and ILB and a lock down CB in FA and the draft. MM has shown he can get by with 18,19,82 and 29. Get the kid a reliable slot WR in FA and or take a chance on another WR like Floyd just to complete the only missing part on offense. I'm so damn thankful that our 4-5 biggest position of need are so damn deep in the draft. CB, DE, ILB, SS, WR what is going to help us find a stud CB or S in FA is the fact this draft is littered with them and teams will afford to not resign their own and allocate their money to another player on the team and teams will be able to cut their expensive quality guy to add a quality cheaper option in the draft to allocate elsewhere. Anyways. Today was heart breaking. I'm sorry guys. I'm right there with you. We are close though and we have a stud GM and QB and OL as well as promising players on defense. We just need that one last drop of paint to complete the Mona Lisa Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EagleEye Posted November 21, 2016 Report Share Posted November 21, 2016 OL to be good has to win against a weak D. This game was all OL for the slow start and the 4th down. Consistency starts with the OL. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyle021 Posted November 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2016 32 minutes ago, 8MM said: OL to be good has to win against a weak D. This game was all OL for the slow start and the 4th down. Consistency starts with the OL. Kline is good. He can stay. I think Spain is replaceable. Ron Leary from D would be a perfect fit. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EagleEye Posted November 21, 2016 Report Share Posted November 21, 2016 I just think they need more time to be really good, esp against good DL's. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TitanDuckFan Posted November 21, 2016 Report Share Posted November 21, 2016 With the way DLB treats rookie CBs to limited playing time, I think Free Agency is the way to go to get what we need at CB. Just spend the money. (Even though I doubt JRob will do that) I say take the best ILB (with some coverage skills) available in the draft if we want immediate impact. Maybe even go after a second one in the later rounds if there's a blitz/pass rush specialist available in the 3rd or later. Or if there's a hybrid SS/ILB like Cravens or Jones there for the taking in any round. Right now we're having to use our safeties to get pressure on too many downs. The right ILB would solve that and free up Byard to lock down TEs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
socaltitan Posted November 21, 2016 Report Share Posted November 21, 2016 JR has said while he was with NE a long time, he wants to carve out his own identity for TEN. It'll be interesting to see approach to CB. NE has never really greatly prioritized CB. They never resigned Asante Samuel. They drafted McCourty, but later moved him to S. McCourty's the only CB NE spent a round 1 pick on during BB tenure. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyle021 Posted November 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2016 If we draft corners in the first and LeBeau doesn't play them for the fact they are rooks and puts out struggling vets then there is the real problem. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyle021 Posted November 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2016 32 minutes ago, socaltitan said: JR has said while he was with NE a long time, he wants to carve out his own identity for TEN. It'll be interesting to see approach to CB. NE has never really greatly prioritized CB. They never resigned Asante Samuel. They drafted McCourty, but later moved him to S. McCourty's the only CB NE spent a round 1 pick on during BB tenure. Aqib Talib? Revis? they prioritize. They sign vets. I still think we go hard after Gilmore and a guy like Bouye and even Berry and use our firsts on ILB and DE do that and the D is set for years Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
socaltitan Posted November 21, 2016 Report Share Posted November 21, 2016 Revis was there 1 yr. Talib was traded for while still on his rookie deal. They didn't keep him long term. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jd8 Posted November 21, 2016 Report Share Posted November 21, 2016 57 minutes ago, TitanDuckFan said: With the way DLB treats rookie CBs to limited playing time, I think Free Agency is the way to go to get what we need at CB. Just spend the money. (Even though I doubt JRob will do that) I say take the best ILB (with some coverage skills) available in the draft if we want immediate impact. Maybe even go after a second one in the later rounds if there's a blitz/pass rush specialist available in the 3rd or later. Or if there's a hybrid SS/ILB like Cravens or Jones there for the taking in any round. Right now we're having to use our safeties to get pressure on too many downs. The right ILB would solve that and free up Byard to lock down TEs. I keep hearing this but I'm not sure we really have the answer on how he would treat a top prospect at Corner. Back at his time with The Steelers they never drafted CBs high. The higher draft picks usually went everywhere but CBs. He also has talked about the complex scheme and how it usually takes over a year to really get comfortable in his scheme. But The only DB I can even recall them drafting in the first round when Lebeau was DC is Polumalu and he played early and often. They didn't prioritize CBs in his scheme I can't think of any in the first and the only actual CB that comes to mind in the 2nd is Bryant McFadden and he was a bottom of the 2nd guy so not really one that would be considered to start and have an impact day one like a top of the first round guy. They really just didn't draft CBs high so it's hard to tell but I do think if we got a top 15 guy like Humphrey or Lattimore I think they would definitely be starting on the outside day one especially considering what we have at CB. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AussieTitanFan08 Posted November 21, 2016 Report Share Posted November 21, 2016 I wonder if the defense really continues to struggle down the home stretch whether JRob would consider moving DLB into retirement. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EagleEye Posted November 21, 2016 Report Share Posted November 21, 2016 3 minutes ago, AussieTitanFan08 said: I wonder if the defense really continues to struggle down the home stretch whether JRob would consider moving DLB into retirement. Very true. I hope JRob has someone better in mind. DLB is too old and too nice now to be an effective DC. I doubt he would chastise the defensive players for screwing up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OILERMAN Posted November 21, 2016 Report Share Posted November 21, 2016 5 hours ago, Kyle021 said: Kline is good. He can stay. I think Spain is replaceable. Ron Leary from D would be a perfect fit. Hopefully Tretola wins a starting job next off season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justafan Posted November 21, 2016 Report Share Posted November 21, 2016 They still have a bunch of holes. It's easy to forget that last year the roster needed wholesale upgrades. They patched up the worst spots that were bleeding and decided to get by with the units they felt were average. I think you have to find an upgrade to Cox at CB. It doesn't matter how you do it. Personally, I think you have the flexibility to get one in the draft because you have veterans here who can play as needed. Having said that, early rounds should go to continue building this front 7. Remember, JROB is an aggressive trading machine too. Very possible he goes after one of these young RFA's or something like that. It's a long ways off but you can easily see the holes so i'm sure the FO is working hard to make a good plan to deal with it all. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
scine09 Posted November 21, 2016 Report Share Posted November 21, 2016 The good news is that the holes exist pretty much exclusively on one side of the ball, they have either the most or close to the most picks next year, they have a ton of cap space and, most importantly, have the most important position on the field taken care of. In my mind while they blew chances this year they will be a legit contender in the AFC next year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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