Carl can't justify the ticket prices if we are rebuilding, so we go through this half-assed process year after year and call it retooling.

I'm reposting myself from another thread, my apologies. But it's my response to the rebuilding question:


"This year was NOT a rebuilding year.

That lie needs to be put to rest. You don't rebuild by choosing to play Huard for half the season, and only benching him due to injury. The franchise and Herm said explicitly that they were trying to "win now."

A team that was actually rebuilding would have made their #1 priority the grooming of a QB. End of story.

This was a WASTED year. We know almost nothing about Croyle. We will have to make a decision, potentially, about whether or not to draft a top-10 QB while Croyle is just a big ??. The franchise and Herm are directly, and completely, responsible for this.

This SHOULD HAVE BEEN a rebuilding year. Croyle over Huard, Smith over Priest, Medlock over washed up vet kicker, etc. But it wasn't.

So, we'll have to do it next year. And we can only pray that they don't go out and get a vet QB. If they do this, the franchise is done. Another decade of mediocrity and losing.

Until we have a QB in place we are just floundering.

I trust Herm to evaluate talent...sort of. I don't trust him to build a structure, and system, in which that talent is maximized. And I believe strongly that his conservatism will never take us where we want to go.

He will upgrade the roster in terms of talent. But we will be looking for a new coach in 2 years. Someone who isn't stuck in the 70's. Because if we aren't building a team to compete with Belicheck and Dungy - meaning one that has a good defense AND an agressive, dynamic, offense - then we are still just wasting our time."

I think this a solid evaluation..especially us looking for a new coach in 2 years. Herm might build a decent talent base for a better coach to maximize.

Whatever happened to Medlock? Did someone else put him on their practice squad?

You can't draft like Vermeil/Stiles/Carl did for 4 years, give big signing bonuses to Kendrell Bell, Pat Surtain, Eric Hicks, and Greg Wesley, and magically expect to be a contender a few years later. The roster was badly mismanaged, and it will take 3 or 4 offseasons to fix it.

The first offseason the team let bad contracts expire and signed Ty Law to what in reality was only a 2 year stopgap contract. The second offseason, they signed a LT, drafted a WR and RB, and improved the D. The third offseason, the offense will be gutted and we'll add a corner and next year Croyle and Bowe will get a chance to play 16 games.

To rebuild correctly takes time.

They seem like a match made in heaven to me.