Zod is here to calm the waters of the huddle....

[rodeo]

all peppers did was agree with what everyone here has been saying for years. and he's right.

whenever a player voices your concerns they become the bad guy. you people are insane.

[Cyberjag]

If he gets on a team with a good D-Line already, he can do very good things. (but if a team already has a good d-line why would they want him)

Doing it on his own like he had to try to do here past couple of seasons wasn't easy.

Well that's kind of the point. Great players make those around them better. Peppers didn't exactly elevate the play of the DL when he had to assume a leadership position, did he? I think leadership is the one thing that's never come easy for him and when he's struggled to get it, he blames the coaches.

Everyone wants to see a more aggressive scheme. But it takes execution too, and when the best player on our worst unit is blaming the coaches NOW, as opposed to early on in his career, it just smells funny to me.

[carpanfan96]

Peppers is blaming the system because he wants you to believe that his complete disappearing act is based on something other than his lack of desire. He played for Trgovac in 2003 and 2004 and didn't seem to have any problems with the system then. I remember in 2004 specifically where he picked off a pass and ran 99 yards before being tackled at the 1 (at Denver), when he picked off another pass and ran it 40 yards for a TD (against Tampa), and when he returned a fumble 70 yards for a score (at Atlanta).

I don't think the scheme has changed much since then. In fact, we know it hasn't because Fox probably hasn't even changed his underwear since he got here in 2002. The only thing that has changed is Peppers desire. He just wants someone to give him that huge contract so he can disappear for the next 3 years before he's out of the league for good.

You could say that expect we offered him a contract that would've made him the highest paid Defensive player in league history. Our scheme has changed since pep got here. We're running more and more of this soft zone every year. we used to be aggressive and force turnovers and be in the top 5 in sacks. not so the last two years with this soft zone.

[X-Clown]

You don't lose a player of Pepper's skills and not miss him alot. He is also the last member of the 2003 Superbowl defensive line. Since then we have slowly declines except for a nice turnaround in 2005.

We really do need to look at our parts and how to put them together to their best use. Frankly we need a new scheme. We no longer can rely on our players to dominate the line without better schemes and more misdirection. Look at Philly for example. They have no real dominant players on the defensive line but get pressure with their scheme.

We need a scheme change whether it is Trgo, Fox or someone else running it. They knew Peppers wasn't coming back for some time I suspect so it isn't a surprise or something they shouldn't have prepared for. With the money we save from letting Lucas go, and trading Peppers we really need to get some quality FAs if they are available. If we can't get some terrific DEs, we need to upgrade the DT position significantly. We need to set things up like Minnesota. 2 huge DTs in the interior and speed rushers on the outside. Johnson and a beefed up Taylor could actually do the job if we could find another big tackle on the right side. Brayton and Lewis in the rotation as well could give up good results in the pass rushing department. Start using our safeties and backers to blitz and pick up a stud man coverage guy and we could actually come out better than we were this year.

It could happen!!

Haynesworth FTW