Of course the ownership is to blame for hoarding money in an uncapped year. But they did bring talent aboard when Denney Green was HC/GM. He didn't use it properly and was promptly replaced, but the talent remained. Whiz inherited that talent, enough of it to get him to the Superbowl in his second year here.
Remember though, that Whiz did not exactly know what to do with that talent initially. He tried to serve us a dose of Brian St.Pierre for a starting QB, when he had both Warner and Leinart on the roster. When that failed, he chose Leinart over Warner, and it was not until Leinart was injured that he started Warner. It was like Whiz had to be beaten over t he head before he admitted that Warner clearly gave him the best chance to succeed. This took Whiz two off-seasons, two training camps, two pre-seasons, and 6 games into his second year to make this decision. Not exactly a QB ghuru in my opinion.
At the same time, he brought in Timmy Hightower, and about a third of the way into THT's first season, he began starting him over Edge as our RB. This despite the fact that Edge was not a fumbler, was a great blocker, and had more YPC over the season than THT did. Remember it was Edge who was the RB during the playoff run, not THT. My point is, that while Beanie is now in his second year, and has shown considerable ability in the very few carries he has compared to THT, Tim still is the starting RB, (austensibly becasue of his ability to block), contrary to the Edge/THT situation. Thus far THT has about 3 times as manny carries as Beanie, yet THT has fumbled the ball far more than Beanie has, and cost us more momentum changes and crippling turnovers that Beanie has.
What I am saying, is that Whiz apparently has a constantly changing set of rules, and that he applies them differently for different players. This has happened all across the board with our players, and I believe firmly that it has cost us players that we really needed to keep. I am not going to say that Whiz plays favorites, but that he constantly changes the rules depending on who he has chosen to be his starter in any given situation. Players don't only not like this, they hate it. They want to be recognized for their work and effort on a level playing field, and that changes with Whiz.
I'll give you another example. Daryl Washington was thrown into the fire immediately. Still, he acquitted himself very well. He was benched in favor of Gerald Hayes when Hayes returned from IR, despite the fact that he had 10 tackles, (two for a loss), and an interception in the previous game. Whiz, when asked why Hayes was starting simply said that DW had lined up in the wrong spot once during that standout game. Hayes has not, and will not ever have a game like that. But he has been around long enough to know in his sleep where to line up. Is it fair? I don't think so, and neither do many of the players. If his missed line-up had cost us the game, maybe I could see him being singled out, but he has not started since. Gerald Hayes is not exactly going to be our savior at the ILB position, but in Whiz's world, he trumps DW.
The same situation applies at Nose Tackle. Whiz continues to start Robinson who is no longer able to stop the run, or command a double team, despite the fact that he is the most knowlegable of our players at the position. In a game, he is practically worthless, yet he gets the bulk of the work during games, and is the starter. Dan Williams has clearly been outplaying him. Watson and Branch were clearly the best players at the position in TC, (at least according to what the board members who attended camp wrote in their reports to us). After being called lazy and overweight, they both took it upon themselves to get their minds and bodies right with Lott. Both came into this off season fit, and trim. Yet neither has started, (except for Branch who subplanted Campbell two games ago as the starting DE). Clearly, when they have been in the game, Watson, Branch, and Williams have all outplayed Robinson in the middle. So-----what rules are they violating now, that keeps them from being regular starters? How does Adrian Wilson remain a starter over Rashad Johnson? Why is Joey Porter being run out there to start at rush LB? Sure they both know the system, but neither has done anything this year to warrant their continued starting spots at their positions. This doesn't sit well with players, and it is not something that is new with Whiz.
Remember, Q was the warrior soul of this team. The FO saw this an immediately gave him a contract extension. Fitz, however received a much more lucrative one, and Q was upset that there was no such effort made to work on a similar one for him. It is only this year, that Fitz has equaled his number of catches. Haley took time to work with Fitz and make him better. I don't know this, but I suspect that if Whiz had done anything at all to encourage Q, or to give him reason to believe that he thought Q (worth the effort), maybe things would have been different with him too. Maybe he wouldn't have demanded a trade. As a HC, you just can't allow special treatment to one player over another who is just as valuable. Q was the Ray Lewis of this whole team, and every player on the team understood that he played harder than he needed to. He gave his all when it was not necessarily prudent to do so. No one worked or played harder than he did. Still, he was not given the same respect that Fits got, (and I am not talking about the difference in pay). It was clear that he was not valued the same as Warner, Fitz, or Wilson, even from a personal standpoint. What a shame and a waste of talent. Whiz had become very strongly rooted in this organization----so why did he not exert a little muscle or at least seem to care about Q's situation? It may have made huge differences.
As I said, Players wish to be given credit for their work, not taken for granted, or treated lesser than others who are not performing up to the level that they are. So long as Whiz continues to befuddle everyone with his misuse of talent, and lack of recognition for good work, we will continue to degrade as a real force to recon with. Whiz has reached the same power-level that Denney Green had here. While Denney brought us talent, Whiz has not. Further he has not worked fairly to keep the talent we have in my estimation. His constant tinkering with rules will run off nearly everyone who is worth keeping if not curbed.
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