We're officially full tilt.

[lightsout]

Saw somebody say it elsewhere here and figured this deserved it's own thread.

 

With the draft and now picking up McCoy, are we realizing the window of opportunity and the concentration of talent on the roster? I hope so because we have a few years with this group intact at best. Future is bright but this is absolutely a "we need to field a NFC Championship caliber team now" kind of off season to me.

[DeAngelo Beason]

We've solved about 25% of the problems from last year.  

The other 75% of the issues revolve around Cam's shoulder.

[AppHeel]

This was kinda what I expected the mindset to be going into last season. Tepper's first year as owner seemed like a clear prove it year for both Ron and Marty. They did some things, but it was pretty much status quo. Can't argue with a 6-2 start and Cam getting hurt derailed the season, but they didn't really make adjustments until it was too late so it didn't feel like a make or break year.

Fortunately for them, Tepper gave them another year and boy the tone has definitely changed. Ron assuming more defensive playcalling responsibilities and Marty going out and addressing most major key needs both in the draft and free agency has been a breath of fresh air.

Can definitely sense that the football brain trust knows they have to make it happen this season in order for there to be a next one.

[Seltzer]

15 minutes ago, DeAngelo Beason said:

We've solved about 25% of the problems from last year.  

The other 75% of the issues revolve around Cam's shoulder.

Valid point but I would phrase it more as we solved 60% of the problems from last year in addressing both lines.  The offensive line got Cam, Heinicke, and Allen all hurt in secession.  The defensive line could not get home without blitzing and then still couldn't a good portion of the time.  This also put more pressure on the secondary.

20% of the problem was with Cam's shoulder.  This is still up in the air, but it looks promising.

20% of the problem was with the secondary.  Some of this will hopefully be helped with Cockrell returning (he was projected as a starter), and some will be helped with a hopefully better pass rush.  The secondary wasn't great, but they also got hung out to dry a lot by a pass rush that included a lot of blitzers who couldn't get home.  It is incredibly hard to play man coverage for long in the NFL.  There is too much space and too little contact allowed. I still hope we look at options at safety and nickel to upgrade.

Having said that, while I think those percentages are more correct for last year, Cam's health is still the most important factor for our ultimate success this year.

 

[Moo Daeng]

28 minutes ago, DeAngelo Beason said:

We've solved about 25% of the problems from last year.  

The other 75% of the issues revolve around Cam's shoulder.

Which was cleaned out. We shall see how effective the efforts to fix these things pans out. Everything is a proposed solution until it comes to be.

[WOW!!]

23 minutes ago, Seltzer said:

Valid point but I would phrase it more as we solved 60% of the problems from last year in addressing both lines.  The offensive line got Cam, Heinicke, and Allen all hurt in secession.  The defensive line could not get home without blitzing and then still couldn't a good portion of the time.  This also put more pressure on the secondary.

20% of the problem was with Cam's shoulder.  This is still up in the air, but it looks promising.

20% of the problem was with the secondary.  Some of this will hopefully be helped with Cockrell returning (he was projected as a starter), and some will be helped with a hopefully better pass rush.  The secondary wasn't great, but they also got hung out to dry a lot by a pass rush that included a lot of blitzers who couldn't get home.  It is incredibly hard to play man coverage for long in the NFL.  There is too much space and too little contact allowed. I still hope we look at options at safety and nickel to upgrade.

Having said that, while I think those percentages are more correct for last year, Cam's health is still the most important factor for our ultimate success this year.

 

I agree with this.. The trenches was atleast half if not more of the problem.. Fuxing the trenches was a major if not the number 1 mission this offseason.. And on paper it looks like we did that. 

[trueblade]

I'm excited. I just hope we can get through July and August with no major injuries.

[trucpfan]

2 hours ago, lightsout said:

Saw somebody say it elsewhere here and figured this deserved it's own thread.

 

With the draft and now picking up McCoy, are we realizing the window of opportunity and the concentration of talent on the roster? I hope so because we have a few years with this group intact at best. Future is bright but this is absolutely a "we need to field a NFC Championship caliber team now" kind of off season to me.

I see this off-season different I see it more like a Tepper getting into the grove of things and Marty working his ass off as far as understanding how to manage a cap and acquire talent better then his previous  stint. He actually learned from his time off and is a world better. But the true difference I see is a owner who understands you have to make moves to win in this fast changing league. The owner has a excellent business mind and the type of players we’ve went after are directly tied to his business being successful. The best C available, the best D lineman available, moving up to get what we considered the best T available Resigning Williams given his potential prior to the injury (probowl level). It’s doesn’t seem to be we need to win now as much as it’s a Boss: hey what would help you be most successful Employee: a productive assistant new computer etc Boss: ok done now go out and be great. I believe Tepper is going to do this for any coach and Gm he has driving this train he seems to know what it takes and everything we’ve done has been within reason WE (the fans) are just not use to our owner showing a willingness to directly go after what we need. We’ve become accustomed to settling for fixing a few holes or needs but never attacking our weaknesses with top notch players. New owner new mentality as far as how to achieve what’s considered a successful business in football which would be wins and our owner has done what it takes to make sure we can be successful.

[KBRed]

I could really use a pie chart right now with all of these percentages.

[DeAngelo Beason]

15 hours ago, Seltzer said:

Valid point but I would phrase it more as we solved 60% of the problems from last year in addressing both lines.  The offensive line got Cam, Heinicke, and Allen all hurt in secession.  The defensive line could not get home without blitzing and then still couldn't a good portion of the time.  This also put more pressure on the secondary.

20% of the problem was with Cam's shoulder.  This is still up in the air, but it looks promising.

20% of the problem was with the secondary.  Some of this will hopefully be helped with Cockrell returning (he was projected as a starter), and some will be helped with a hopefully better pass rush.  The secondary wasn't great, but they also got hung out to dry a lot by a pass rush that included a lot of blitzers who couldn't get home.  It is incredibly hard to play man coverage for long in the NFL.  There is too much space and too little contact allowed. I still hope we look at options at safety and nickel to upgrade.

Having said that, while I think those percentages are more correct for last year, Cam's health is still the most important factor for our ultimate success this year.

 

I'm not sure.  I guess we would be splitting hairs going back and forth, but that football team looked REALLY good last year until Cam's shoulder started to weaken...  Sh*t rolls down hill...  I think it affected the rest of the team.

[shaqattaq]

15 hours ago, Seltzer said:

Having said that, while I think those percentages are more correct for last year, Cam's health is still the most important factor for our ultimate success this year.

I agree 100%, but Hurndog has at least addressed the possibility that Cam's shoulder doesn't last the season by drafting Grier, who a lot of people think could become a starting caliber QB in the NFL. Do our playoff chances drop a ton if Cam goes down? Damn straight, bit I feel better with Grier than Heinike going into games if that happens. So while our QB problems aren't "fixed" (I hope that the off-season surgery took care of that), we're a little better than we were.

[Panthero]

Still weak in the secondary. Depth, nickle, and FS all need attention. We are a playoff team now, but i dont see a deep run.....yet. 

[DeAngelo Beason]

15 hours ago, Moo Daeng said:

Which was cleaned out. We shall see how effective the efforts to fix these things pans out. Everything is a proposed solution until it comes to be.

We've solved many problems ON PAPER.  It's always on paper until the games are played.  Point is the signings have all been seemingly high caliber players in positions of great need, and at solid value.

[ncsfinest21]

 I see us doing more running this year to relieve Cam from throwing so much and getting hit. With the O Line we have CMC will get through alot. Expect him to average 4.5 to 6 yds a carry. Also, Cam will have a extra.5 to 1.5 secs compared to last year in the pocket. With Hogan playing the slot, him and CMC will be lethal underneath and Moore and Samuel can open up everything else. As long as Cam can air it out the whole defense will be in disarray.