03-25-2021, 09:30 AM
(03-25-2021, 12:45 AM)Joelist Wrote: Hi!
Here are in my opinion reasons for guarded optimism (in no particular order):
a) Turner is gone. He was not only a cancer but a terrible coach - under his tutelage linemen actually regressed. This was the first sign of intelligent life in the front office this offseason.
b) Pollack is in. We have a good line coach note with a good track record. And lest we forget we saw improved play the one season he was here, and he was respected (not to mention that under his tutelage Price was actually shaping up nicely prior to the second injury). With Pollack I don't feel like OL draft picks will be wasted the way I did with Turner.
c) So far Free Agency has actually made sense and felt like there is a plan of getting the coaches players who are strong in the scheme the coaches want to run. For example, we have basically restocked the secondary with players who actually are sound in zone coverage as opposed to our past idea of taking players best suited for man and putting them in zone. Likewise on the DL we appear to be concentrating on players who actually both generate pass rush AND finish the play.
On OL I think they handled the nature of the FA class as best as was realistically possible. The Guard pool was crazy expensive at the top and not deep so what they are doing again makes sense. Also Reiff is no contest a pretty significant upgrade at RT and fits right into the scheme Pollack favors.
Are things perfect? No. Remember I said GUARDED optimism. We still need reinforcements on the interior OL and the WR room after Tee and Tyler badly needs more playmakers. So we need to see the rest of Free Agency and the draft to tell the story of the offseason. But so far not bad.
Turner is gone, but Lou is still here coaching this defense is my biggest issue. If this defense is giving up 25+ppg after game 4 the guy should be fired. I just don't think he's competent and I think he's the scale of Turner.
Pollack was a good hire once again. Crazy you let him go when a new coach comes on board and after that new head coaches option fails miserably you bring back Pollack. Pretty sure this wasnt Zac's call. I like it though but we can't rely on Pollack to fix a pile of crap, and that's exactly what he has to work with.
As far as the draft and free agency, I think the team thought if they could bring in enough guys who've played in Lou's scheme the defense will be ranked at least near 20th in the league. As far as the offensive side, I think you're going to see 7 offensive picks and maybe 1 defensive pick in the draft. This team has to get talent for JoeyB. You have 2 good WR, the TE's are mehh, and Mixon is only a good runner if he has a good OL.
I do think they've done some things well in FA. However, they still need to keep on adding pieces. I'll be curious to see if we keep adding in FA or wait until after the June 1st cuts.
