Can't Help But Think....

[gblowfish]

Now that the combine is over and free agency/draft is approaching, I was thinking back on our latest playoff disappointment, and what Dorsey needs to do to reload for 2017.

I went back and looked again at the game stats and recap, and have concluded again that you can't put all the blame on either side of the ball. Both were responsible. We simply lost to a better team who outplayed us on our own field.

On Defense: Chiefs gave up six field goals and lost. But only forced a punt once. That means Tyreek Hill only got one chance to return a punt. KC punted four times.

What about our pass rush that everybody was so excited about going into the season? In a game where we played a reasonably stationary pocket passer (Rapistburger) they got one sack and two QB hits. That was all. Ford, Poe, Houston, Hali and Chris Jones combined for one-half sack (Ford got that). Poe had no tackles at all. Chris Jones had one tackle. Busiest tacklers on the day were Ramik Wilson playing for DJ, and Steven Nelson. Only All Pro to make a big play was Berry with a pick. Nothing really from Peters. Houston was playing hurt, so can't really hang a lot on him. But Poe and Jones had terrible games. Plus the defense gave up 170 rushing to Bell, over 5.5 yards per carry. In January, teams that can run the football win.

On Offense, Alex was about the same in productivity as Rapistburger, but he missed opportunities because of his dink and dunk mindset. Alex has no killer instinct. That's why he's basically Matt Casshole with better wheels. After he got knocked out in Indy, the rest of the season he seemed to play scared.

And as usual, every time we come up against a proven gunslinger like Manning, Brady or Rapistburger, we lose, because of field leadership. Also, our best running back was out for the year with an knee injury. The Steelers had their number one guy.

So if we're ever going to make it to the next level, we have to find our own Brady, or Luck, or Ryan, or Wilson.

Draft should be:
1) QB 2) Middle Linebacker 3) Running Back 4) Wide Receiver then use every other pick on defensive backs. Since we get two injured startingD-Linemen back and an injured starting guard back, don't see any reason to draft those positions. We can't start the year with Ware as our feature back. And I fear DJ is going to be the same as Charles; too old and too injured to be relied on any longer. Need a thumper in the middle to stop the run.

That's what I'd do.

And if you can't get the QB you want in the first round, trade that pick down, suck it with Alex for one more year, and try to get a guy in the first round next year. We have to find our own guy and develop him. That's the only way to break the cycle of mediocre we've come to live with the past forty years.