But it was my wife. Same thing I guess… they both nag me. Plus I felt a little guilty for writing that much and not being an actual blogger. But what else is a Football fan to do mid June???

hard.

Sorry I thought speed and pass rushing had something to do with defense.

Fox’s plan with Jake equates to 2 NFC Championships and a Superbowl… Which Brees has come short of. But as I said Brees is the better QB, the stats don’t lie.

Shockey… I can’t argue this. King is inferior. And your comments about Julius are definite concerns for Panther fans. But why can’t you see Meeks making the Panther’s D better? He took a small Colt’s defense and got them to dominate by using speed to overcome their size. This is exactly the same type personnel the Panthers have… but many analyst say with even more talent then what he had in Indianapolis.

The Panthers sweeped the Saints last year. But the 2nd game was very close. Unfortunately for you, your D and a Houdini act by Steve Smith allowed the Panthers to overcome your high powered offense. However I will say… If you are right about your D improving and the Panther D not improving… then you WILL either split or sweep the Panthers. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

I’d be more inclined to think the pass-happy offense is WHY he managed to put up 4.8. A lot of his yardage has come on quick-hitting counters and draws, when the defense was thinking pass. I personally see Thomas as a slightly shorter version of Ryan Grant. Not franchise caliber workhorse by any means, just a slightly above average contributor. I don’t outright doubt he could have the same level of success in a run-heavy offense, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he struggled. That being said, DeAngelo Williams struggled up until last season and was a much more heavily touted back coming out of college than either Thomas or Grant, so you never know.

The flipside — which you failed to touch upon — would be Williams filling Thomas’s role in a pass-heavy offense. I honestly don’t see much of a problem there at all. While I agree that both fit their respective teams’ needs well, I think Williams would have an easier time of it, if the two were juxtaposed. Both due to the less demanding workload he’d be faced with, as well as his superior athleticism.

Put it this way. If they were both making the same amount of money and a Williams-for-Thomas trade was proposed, I’d be all over it. Primarily in hopes that it would lead to a more balanced offensive attack. With moola and Payton’s video game mentality both factored in, I’ll stick with our discount dynamo.

I hear ya… But you better put 3 DBs on Steve Smith this time.

He’s been a terribly inconsistent QB throughout his career, especially in big games. To my recollection, the only QB more geared to extremes over their entire career in the last decade or so was Jake Plummer. Maybe it has something to do with the name Jake.

Outside of Brooks being injured (which wasn’t revealed until months later), I could never understand the criticism of Jim Haslett for not switching to Delhomme down the stretch of the 2002 season. Even in hindsight, can you imagine the flack he would have taken for such a move, had Delhomme turned in the same dismal results? “OMFG, how do you BENCH your starting QB for an undrafted POS like that?” That’s all you would have heard on talk radio shows for months. In fact, Haslett probably would have been fired over it. And rightfully so, for being so spineless.

Tough pill to swallow at the time, but I’d much rather a coach who sticks by his guns than caves in to the demands of fans. That goes triple when it’s a completely unproven, in-state product they’re clamoring for during crunch time.

I had one of those, also. Little “x” for a birdy eye and the tongue hanging out.

But maybe that’s based on proximity.