I think it's because that was the years they went to and won the Superbowl...that's my guess anyway. He's trying to prove a point about run defense and its importance towards winning a Superbowl...or 3.

Well when you bring in a Shaun Rogers and have Corey Williams and Robaire Smith along your defensive front* and actually regress from 27th to 28th in the NFL in rushing D it sure doesn't cast your defensive coordinator in a good light.

* Both quality 3-4 DE's. See: http://profootballfocus.com/by_posit...=25&numgames=1

Anyone besides another Patriot asshat.

Actually I don't really put Crennel in that same "we're smarter than everybody else so fuck you" group of "Patriot Way" douches like Pioli, Mcdouche, etc. I like Crennel but I don't think he's very progressive in his thinking as a DC, and if anything the stats back that up.

If I was brininging in a new DC I'd have to look hard at up and comers on Capers, Phillips, Rex Ryan, Nolan, or even Ron Riveras staff.

funny, "Kiss of Death" is actually playing right now right when I was reading this. I'm on Split Lip Rayfield's website.

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Because they won the SB in '01, '03 & '04. His point stands. They were 31st in '02 and didn't win the SB in '02. They were 9-7 in '02.

Reading these posts, gotta feel that McClain makes the most sense as the 1st pick in the draft.

'02 was the nightmare known as "Steve Martin". The impact of the upgrade from him to Washington was immediately obvious. That's what the Chiefs are going to need to find if they really want to be competitive for titles.

I've mentioned this a few times, but I was actually impressed with what he was able to do with the personnel he had to work with, particularly since he didn't start his install until 2 weeks before the season. The line became almost below average over the course of the season, which I attribute largely to scheme and playcalling. Whether it was happy accident or not, he 'discovered' Charles' value as a weapon, and went with it, particularly notable because he's always been a pass-happy coordinator. He got production out of midseason waver-wire wide receivers and scrap heap tight ends. There were early flashes of scoring as the season progressed (Dallas, Jacksonville, Pittsburgh) and then the two highest scoring games of the year came in the last three weeks.

It was not "good" by any stretch of the imagination, and that's not what I'm saying, but I think it did show some possibility for the future if the front office side of the franchise equation is able to put competitive players on the field, instead of a patchwork team of journeymen and castoffs. The system they want to run has already shown that it can work here, potentially; the real issue is whether or not Pioli and friends give them enough pieces to compete.

TJax will destroy next year. It always takes DEs a year to adjust to the NFL, everybody knows this

Bump. In lieu of Whitlock's recent article I hope everyone pays attention to this.

And this: