06-05-2020, 10:34 AM
(06-03-2020, 08:17 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: It's not like that, at all. Many people seem to think that building a team means just getting rid of poor player in favor of better ones. Much like putting a new engine in your car, or upgrading your graphics card on your gaming pc. But with a sports team, there's much more that goes into it. You have to A, have a master plan, B. select quality players that have the skill sets to fit what you want to accomplish, and C. Bring them together as a cohesive group that knows and trusts one another.
Many times we have seen the "collection of talent' approach fail miserably. (I'm looking at Cleveland, NY Jets, Washington, Miami, etc.) People get all googly eyed when a team "wins" free agency, but unless they truly have a plan, like Tom Coughlin did when he retooled the Jacksonville Jaguars a couple of years ago. That is just about the only "store bought" team that I've ever seen get that close to winning it all.
To be honest, your "snappy little one liner" response actually seems rather short sighted and lazy..
I see it as much more of a jigsaw where it's primarily about fit. With one or two exceptions (and they are superstars) players can't do it all. So it's about putting players in a position which minimizes their weaknesses and plays to their strength. You may have shutdown corners against the pass but if teams can run at will against you (and they did for the first half of the season) that won't matter. You may have a great run defense but teams can then elect to pass over your great run defenders. It's about finding that balance. Maybe the Bengals' focus on stopping the run will work, but maybe we'll then have become too run orientated and teams will beat us in the pass game. We need to strike the right balance. I'm heartened that we seem to have a plan though. Now to see if it's a good one.
