Gspotter

wow, Spags was nothing special? He was the first person to apply pressure since John Fox who was nothing special. Rather than argue the obtuse, let me just say, "Spags was special when it came to the last SB we won." You may be correct though, nothing special.

OH how I miss Spags....

I wonder if this new girl thinks Tiki has the shining

having an intermediate passing game against good teams is all the difference. Short ball makes for tight defensive sets.

Fishgut, at this point, I suspect we could continue to disagree on a number of things, but I'm going to let this thread go already. Let's just say that I'm hoping that my total assessment of JR (thus far) is premature. I know that last season was a fizzle the made watching the team a bit less enjoyable and I've suffered through the 70's with them. I did appreciate today's signing of that safety, that's a nice start. If we add the right kind of linebackers, perhaps neither of us will have anything to complain about.

blunatic and I are on the same page. I just want this team to succeed and I believe our WR's will be better this year and by that I mean clutch players in big moments not merely big in shit games. I'd like to hear about Barden's progress too. On the D side, wow, where to start. We are really not impressive and the pass rush thing is concept that we need to revive: let's have more of the 4 aces again. It made all the difference with Tuck, Strah, OSi, and the other dude. I really want to be excited again about this team. This past year was a big thud from start to finish. ONly a few high points against Dallas and that was fun, but we need to have bigger play potential.

this is getting to be a circle jerk. If you don't understand how passing games impact the running game, then you have homework to do. If you believe that I'm saying that we need Plaxico instead of our current WR's then you need to reread things. The presence that Plax brought to the game kept defenses from playing closer to the line as well as coverage. It's much easier to stop 27 because of that and so that stats bear out that we were lesser. It's not injuries and it's fairly clear that our leadership spent once on a FA that made a huge difference and now we aren't, so last year was a training wheels year for our WR core.

No, prior to the playoff game we played them in close proximity to losing Plaxico and that is when Philly put out their blueprint. We didn't fare much better in the playoff game either. No threat, full box, no ability to manage that with our large back being stuffed and strung out I'm starting to think that you might be Jerry Reese the way you defend him...jk. I don't see the vision for the team...no extensive pass rush, no specific type of threat, just a fiscally responsible way to refill drafted talent. I don't think that alone does it which is why time is a factor in this opinion and Billicheck (for example) brings in vets ala Parcells style so you have proven people on the field. We may have to agree to disagree because I think that our GM is marginal and shows no vision, just maintenence.

our pasing game dictates our running ability in this case. See the Philly game where they wrote a blue print on taking away all our power since they no longer had to respect our receiving threats. I believe that's fairly well established. Now Eli has to make faster choices, through sooner and viola Steve Smith is the best receiver we've ever had..... EA wasn't perfect, no doubt, but he did build a SB winning team, let's see if JR can do the same, thus far, he's into year three and his last two are stinkers.

fishgut, The running game is the result of a weak passing game and if we have not deep threat (perceived or otherwise) coverage is dictated, thus the Eagles blueprint against us from the year before. Our running game hasn't been the same since we became a team that can be single covered. Smith isn't fast and playing slot isn't a bad position to be in for favorable coverage. Running game suffers; passing game becomes intermediate. As for Plax, he dropped off because he still did draw serious attention. We never developed a balance beyond Toomer who's production was waining quite a bit. As for the DC hire, you cannot allow your GM to get a free pass. Perhaps we've gotten used to JR, forgotten how EA ran things. We have a real challenge here: where's the vision, what's the identity, how are we meeting our needs and why on Earth are we not in the running for bigger names? One of our biggest moves (Burress) changed our fortunes dramatically. Now we need D talent tlike that... YOu can't just draft a championship, that wasn't the difference in the D's we got when we brought EA's vision to life. Read the scouting report on Eli, throws high...hmm, maybe EA understand the game. This GM deserves more time, but not much more. Outside of the residue of EA's final campaign, JR has had two stinker seasons....

yes, the running attack was dismantled. Look at the productivity and so what was different? Formula had a lot to do with our ability to change up in running. You saw it when we had Ward, he was helped drive our success and yet he wasn't able to do it alone. Without him though, neither could we... As for Plax to Smith comparisons, that's not a story told by the numbers alone. I don't recall a lot of game winning receptions by Smith, so he's good for the numbers, but he's a slot player and so he's there where they're vulnerable. I doubt anyone would say that they'd rather have Smith than Burress. as for Sheridan, if you believe that the coach is picking the DC without oversight from JR, then you are crazy. The Sheridan hire was catastrophic and the evidence is clear on that front . The rationale why we picked him was based upon the continuity that we were to have from Spags system, but a little easier to manage or so it was said. We should have picked an experienced leader since Sheridan had not the personality for the job to match his predecessor. It's difficult to play for a cerebral coach once you've had a fiery one. It's easy to go the other way, but not to a more tame guy who wants to be in the box.

while I admit that I'm being harsh about JR, it's not all without merit. Yes, as Sep points out, his drafting has gone fairly well, but that's one tactic. Let's step out a few frames: we've decided to be cap friendly on the front end rather than on the back end. JR won with a team that was largely composed of EA's starters, not too surprising there. Since that SB run, we've dismantled the running attack that defined us and our numbers show it. We lost our unique WR threat and sacrificed a season with a core that was devoid of a deep threat. We followed that up with a defensive hire for DC that was the worst choice sine Parcells successor at head coach and then picked up FA's like CC Brown. I can understand Canty, kind of Bernard, but we just whiffed on this one. I've sen little in the way of progressive thinking by JR. What I see is a man who is a watered down version of the Eagles cap friendly approach and his vision for the team seems to be teetering between cap friendliness and draft first and last. We really could have used some veteran talent brought in at LB and though nobody would pay a big, old name tons of money, I would have taken Joey Porter in one second even if he's not a MLB, he's experienced and without Kenny Phillips (should things go south with that knee), then who's the leader? Without a real force of experience and leadership, we can all site back and prepare for a season that's one and done at best.

for Sinorice? I'm not trying to pile on, but did I miss something? Why is he even still part of our team? We parted with defensive talent that wasn't good but meant more to the team than him. I'm confused, perhaps there's something I don't know or understand: I'm open to learning if that's the case. I'm starting to think that Jerry Reese is a numb-nut. So far, lose Shockey, let Carr go, sign Rocky Bernard and Canty, let Pierce go and not really fill him. Is Jerry trying to be the GM who dies with the most amount of salary cap?

that's part of the equation but placement is also part of the equation too, not sure if that's what I'm seeing here!

I begin to see Jerry Reese as a guy who's done little more than screw up EA's vision. Our D stunk and what we replenished last year turned out to be almost total duds; coaching wasn't much better; the philosophy of not signing a big name free agent WR crippled us last season alone (in the early going) despite Steve Smith's big records, he wasn't a game changer. Also, we did lose Shockey under his watch too. I'd say that Jerry Reese should be graded harshly for his performance....I'm wildly disappointed in him.

what this team needs is a yoga instructor, all these hammies year after year. It's just all that so-so stretching that goes on and that's one hydration and two parts stretching. It's time to see a football team take that much more seriously in coordination with its muscle building excercises.

That SOB has caused us some real problems. During his tenure, we've some very poor outings against the Beagles. Frankly, we haven't done so well against them while they've had McFlab. I miss beating them more often...it's time already.

Thank you Clarence, thank you very much. There was a time and a place where we all lived Jack-free but he's a bum penny, so here we are...

I would start by cutting Jack... not much trade value amongst other fan bases, but he's been our Sinorice Moss for too long.

If only we could fire the team, replace the coach, and clone Chase Blackburn, we might have a chance...might, I say.

He may not be an all-time player, but he's an all-time Giant in my opinion. No matter where he goes, he's with us

crazeddogs, that was marvelous, one of my favorites. I wouldn't go so far as to wish a meteor to crash on Jack, but if it had to happen to someone, well.... this is typical and never ending. What's funny is that he was all about running out Fassell and lined up to be Tom's (or as the called him : the General) fluffer. Don't worry, he'll be railing about getting rid of someone else, it's his schtick. Best to just ignore him and be thankful you don't live by this bottom feeder.

Joe, that's a great point, besides nobody thought Roethlesberger would have quite this level of success.

I hear Bettis also broke the Watergate scandal. He's quite an investigative reporter. Word on the street is that he is also Cowher's priest too

It's difficult for people like Egg to deal with...you have to be special to win a SB, especially in the modern era. Ah yes, it was difficult when we won a SB three years ago.