My surprise players so far in 2005

[spanky1]

On Defense:

Okeafor...expected more.
Darling....proves his worth for yet another year.
Huff.......didn't like this signing at first, but then didn't think he'd play outside either.

On Offense:

Wells......expected more. I guess I bought into "the great athlete" comments over the last two years.
Step.......injury aside, I believed that we would see better leadership from a play calling perspective.
Brown.... while I expected him to start, I thought it might take the full year for him to develop. He is progressing game by game. Will turn out to be our steal of the draft a la Dansby and Dockett were last year.
Ross.......expected way more.
Johnson...based on his progress during TC, I thought that this was his year to silence the critics.
Arrington..saw him as the answer to our RB problems......but then again, didn't expect the O-Line to be so far behind the 8 ball that they are.

On Special Teams:

Rackers...picked him as my FF, but never in my wildest dreams did I see him as a likely Pro Bowl pick.

On Coaching:

Rowen....disappointing me from a play calling perspective as well as a player developer. Where is his so called special talents in coaching up TE's?
Lindsay....the O-Line problems are more his fault than anyone else.

Again......JMHO

 

[john h]

On Defense:

Okeafor...expected more.
Darling....proves his worth for yet another year.
Huff.......didn't like this signing at first, but then didn't think he'd play outside either.

On Offense:

Wells......expected more. I guess I bought into "the great athlete" comments over the last two years.
Step.......injury aside, I believed that we would see better leadership from a play calling perspective.
Brown.... while I expected him to start, I thought it might take the full year for him to develop. He is progressing game by game. Will turn out to be our steal of the draft a la Dansby and Dockett were last year.
Ross.......expected way more.
Johnson...based on his progress during TC, I thought that this was his year to silence the critics.
Arrington..saw him as the answer to our RB problems......but then again, didn't expect the O-Line to be so far behind the 8 ball that they are.

On Special Teams:

Rackers...picked him as my FF, but never in my wildest dreams did I see him as a likely Pro Bowl pick.

On Coaching:

Rowen....disappointing me from a play calling perspective as well as a player developer. Where is his so called special talents in coaching up TE's?
Lindsay....the O-Line problems are more his fault than anyone else.

Again......JMHO

I agree the coach of the OL is not much help but the real problem comes with the guy who selected them in the first place. Could be no coach can make a bug into a knight in shinning armor.

 

[Russ Smith]

Rowen....disappointing me from a play calling perspective as well as a player developer. Where is his so called special talents in coaching up TE's?
Lindsay....the O-Line problems are more his fault than anyone else.

Again......JMHO

Playcalling agreed, but coaching TE's? THere's one TE on our roster than any NFL team deemed worthy of drafting, Teyo Johnson, and he's been here a few weeks and is learning a totally different system. Hard to fault Rowen for that, especially when Carl "longtime friend of Green" Hargrave is the TE coach.


Lindsay is certainly not a good OL coach but he's not the one who drafted, signed and built this OL. He inherited a mish mash of players and certainly hasn't made it better, but there is one player on this OL who was drafted earlier than the 4th round, Big, and he coincidentally is our best OL.

Wells was what a 6th or 7th rounder, Step a 4th, Brown a 4th, Wakefield an undrafted free agent DL, Ross was a 5th rounder who Dallas cut and who started his college career at Iowa State on the DL(as a juco transfer).

 

[spanky1]

Playcalling agreed, but coaching TE's? THere's one TE on our roster than any NFL team deemed worthy of drafting, Teyo Johnson, and he's been here a few weeks and is learning a totally different system. Hard to fault Rowen for that, especially when Carl "longtime friend of Green" Hargrave is the TE coach.


Lindsay is certainly not a good OL coach but he's not the one who drafted, signed and built this OL. He inherited a mish mash of players and certainly hasn't made it better, but there is one player on this OL who was drafted earlier than the 4th round, Big, and he coincidentally is our best OL.

Wells was what a 6th or 7th rounder, Step a 4th, Brown a 4th, Wakefield an undrafted free agent DL, Ross was a 5th rounder who Dallas cut and who started his college career at Iowa State on the DL(as a juco transfer).

Russ,

The Atlanta Falcons have an outstanding O-LIne and I don't believe that anyone of them was higher than a 5th round pick. Our troubles are based on coaching, not where the players were picked.

Again,

JHMO

 

[Russ Smith]

Russ,

The Atlanta Falcons have an outstanding O-LIne and I don't believe that anyone of them was higher than a 5th round pick. Our troubles are based on coaching, not where the players were picked.

Again,

JHMO

Close, per NFL.com RT Todd Weiner(great name) was a 2nd round pick, the C a 5th rounder, and the other 3 7th rounders.

To be honest I consider Atlanta to be an outlier they have one of the great OL coaches in history, Gibbs, and they have the best running QB in NFL history in Vick. If Vick weren't there they'd be a totally different running team not only would they not get all the yards from Vick, but teams wouldn't account for the QB and leave one less guy to handle Dunn. Dunn really benefits from having Vick although he's a very good player in his own right.

But you are right Atlanta is an example of a good OL that wasn't highly drafted. I think San Diego is similar.

Believe me I'm not defending Lindsay I just don't beleive the problem is just coaching I think there's a talent issue as well.

 

[duckfallas]

Playcalling has been questionable. Like the sweep to the right where Shipp got stuffed for a loss. You run to the right on a sweep? I'll tell you what I would have called. Play action bootleg to suck the defense into the middle and then let McCown take on some sissy cornerback or saftey around the corner. I'll take that matchup anytime. But Rowen calls a sweep to the right? Very bad call.

I'd like to see more designed running plays for McCown. He's way faster than Arrington.

 

[joeshmo]

Okeafor...expected more.

I think he is doing very well, especially now that he is playing mostly as a DE instead of dropping back into a LB role like he did a lot before the bye week becuase of all the LB injuries.