where are the weaknesses? is it doom and gloom?

[HSCBandit07]

our DT's

[HSCBandit07]

Can't be worse than Lewis and Kemo can it? I never disliked either but they weren't exactly stars either.

We were spoiled with Peppers, Rucker, Jenkins, and Buckner. I can see some early struggles but some definite upside to this group

[Snake]

I worry about injurys more then anything to our dline. We are very thin there.

[ncbobcat]

Two areas of concern are DT and FB. If they work out great, but I would like us to sign another big body like Henderson and a veteran FB. Sorry, but Fiammetta's talent is all on paper to this point based of college production. His limited play has shown me nothing. If Louis is a bust or is injured, our run defense will be at best like last year pre-Hollis Thomas.

I do feel better than pre-draft because as much as the staff wants to point to BPA, they addressed MOST of our needs. Coincidence? I think not. Typically, they truely do BPA regardless of need, but this draft took BPA AT need positions.

[KillerKat]

Two areas of concern are DT and FB. If they work out great, but I would like us to sign another big body like Henderson and a veteran FB. Sorry, but Fiammetta's talent is all on paper to this point based of college production. His limited play has shown me nothing. If Louis is a bust or is injured, our run defense will be at best like last year pre-Hollis Thomas.

I do feel better than pre-draft because as much as the staff wants to point to BPA, they addressed MOST of our needs. Coincidence? I think not. Typically, they truely do BPA regardless of need, but this draft took BPA AT need positions.

We signed an undrafted rookie free agent Rashawn Jackson who was rated as the #1 or #2 FB in the entire FB class.

[ncbobcat]

We signed an undrafted rookie free agent Rashawn Jackson who was rated as the #1 or #2 FB in the entire FB class.

Sorry, but FB depth doesn't make up for lack of experience. Before anyone trys to point it out, Sutton IS NOT a FB.

[ChucktownK]

Meeks will handle this group. I'm very confident since he was able to turn the D around so quickly last year with such little time spent with them.

[chbright]

kemo in 2007 and 2008 was so under-rated. people forget how we got crushed by the giants rushing game (yet our running game kept us in it too) without him. 2009 roles around he goes down and teams again run all over us till fatass hollis thomas comes in to plug the void in the middle. i get why hollis and kemo arnt here: injury issues in the past. i like thomas, but i dont want to relie on him, he doesnt have a habit of making it a full season. kemo was money and injuries concerns. lewis' performance (not horrible but not good), pay and age got him cut, fine.

as for the pass defense, um it was good, but teams early didnt need to really pass the ball as much because they could run all over us. beason, like ray lewis and any mlb, benifits from a NT that anchors the point of attack. kemo and thomas were perfect for that and we sucked without them. here is hoping that the faith in leonard is well placed, and he doesnt go down again (or you better have hollis on speed dial). if he is down then ed johnson is next. a meeks guy thats an undersized NT, but played well under meeks for 1 year and was gone the next. not inspiring right there.

we lost a guy that put up double digit sacks for all but 1 year and who, when he wanted to be, was unblockable (ask farve). where is that guy on the current roster, brown, really? brown may be a nice little pass rusher, but lets be clear, he is not close to pep when pep wants to dominate. atleast he runs full out and you wont question his effort like pep in the cowboys game. the hardy of 08 disappeared for the 2009 season and all of the 2010 workouts/bowl games. maybe he comes back or that was a fluke.

at DT, leonard better be able to fill the kemo/thomas role and stay on the field. yet again we have gone into the season with 1 true NT. we dont really have anyone that generated pressure up the middle last year, and only irvin was expected to (sorry leonard is a fire plug nothing more). so where is the pressure inside going to come from? who is going to get pressure up the middle so a qb can not just step up to avoid johnson and brown? hayden? tyler? irvin? we didnt have a chance at a DT to fit the pass rusher mold this year (well mitchell from zona but he went early) and passed on a backup NT in cam thomas. unlike wr (i'll get to them later), we are trying the shotgun appproach again at UT, with the same underwhelming group (plus ed johnson) that didnt work out......

CB is still a question with marshall in/out. stays its good, gone we gota find a #2 again. i dont see captin as a #2, but a fiesty nickle that i am thrilled to have there. the hole godfrey martin cluster f**k needs to be cleared up, an likely 1 needs to go back to CB. maybe martin is that #2 CB with another year under his belt learning a new position (remember he was a college safety and it showed when he got the start at FS when godfrey was hurt).

the draft and signing have taken a shotgun like aproach to finding a #2 and #3 wr: get a bunch and expect atleast 1 out of 6 turn into a solid guy to put across from smith. between jarrett, lafell, moore, jackson, wright, gettis, edwards, and hell goodson, only 1 needs to step up. unlike DT we added a ton of guys here in hopes of 1 working out now. lots of new blood in wright, gettis, edwards, and lafell. add in late fill in jackson (like tyler last year) and we have alot of new blood from the 2008 TC to come in and turn into a #2. will 1 work, not 100% sure, but its better than sticking to not fixing the problem or not bringing in fresh new tallent in droves. its the biggest issue on offense imo, and has the most doubt on offense entering TC. its a collection of guys that have had chances to prove they can be the #2 guy, or guys with no experiance.

FB, bah, of the 22 starters on D and O, least concerned about the FB. heck they dont always figure into the base package if we go 2 TE. TE is a small concern, no one great, but great for how we use them (aka king blocking is great for the running game, and thats really all that matters to fox and davidson). dante is jack of all trades, te/fb and a good reciever. best rb stable in the league. OL = beast with depth no worries other than RG starter where we have 2 solid guys (alteast when they had to play do to injuries) and a huge potential guy.

qb, well we know we have a spot starter or better in moore. he has proven that much. clausen comes from the wies system, which davidson also came from. clasuesn will get the playbook. now can he come in and be ryan or flacco (dont want turnover machine sanchez)? idk but with moore around he doesnt have to. we need a qb that can make 5 big 3rd down conversions a game to keep drives alive and take care of the ball for the offense to succeed. last year the offense struggled b/c of jake the turnover machine who couldnt sustain drives. moore can do what is required. can he lead a big comback carry an offense all game? idk, but really he nor clausen should need to light it up with the running game. the running game is the bread and butter of the offense and carries the responsibility of cranking out scores as well as manigable 2nd and 3rd downs for the offense. qb is a not the major concern of the team. of the offense sure its a big question in games we cant run or must pass to get back in a game (aka defense sucks), nut we have atleast 1 guy that can manage a game and not be captin turnover.

imo the success of the team hinges more on the DL meeting or exceeding expectations for this team to do well. if they dont its gona be a long season of possibly exciting high scoring affairs. i dont think we have the saints, or cards offense to keep us in games quite yet unlike those teams, we dont have the wrs or top 3 qb to get quick strikes at will. yeah the running game can, but we cant keep teams honest (raiders game with jake in 2008 as a grim reminder on how teams can take a running game away). really leonard needs to anchor the entire line 1st and formost. the shear number of rushers will dampen the loss of peppers to a degree, and if they all step up, the line on passing downs would not fall off (and much better than say games where pep just coasted).