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Squandered Talent? Maybe, maybe not?

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Then you can decide why (e.g. b/c our coaches suck, or our players are all cancers, or the media smokes crack)

I blame the fans.

[Edited on 28/3/2005 by BrooksMustGo]

Squandered Talent? Maybe, maybe not?

Where the hell have you been BMG?

Squandered Talent? Maybe, maybe not?

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Then you can decide why (e.g. b/c our coaches suck, or our players are all cancers, or the media smokes crack)

I think some of our players are smoking something-and then got the munchies......

Squandered Talent? Maybe, maybe not?

BMG, you\'re alive!

Who, I agree that the reports of professionals about the talent level of a team is good evidence. In fact, sometimes it is the only real evidence other than team performance that we fans can get.

Here is a case: let\'s say a player \"underachieves\" for three years (his first three in the league). At that point, would you say he has a lot of talent, but isn\'t living up to his potential, or would you just admit you were wrong about his talent/potential? It seems to me that it could go eitherway, and one advantage fans have that professionals (like sports writers) don\'t have is that we don\'t have a reputation to uphold. The only reason I note this is that sometimes professionals may have a reason to lean one way or another on a particular player\'s talent level. I don\'t take that point to be too important, but it may be worth noting.

My point, if there was a point, is this - a team that doesn\'t ever live up to its potential, on what grounds do we keep claiming that it has potential?

I agree that the considered views of professionals, like sports writers, announcers, independent coaches, and so on ARE good evidence. How much evidence is it though?

I guess, if I were to list the guys I thought had more talent than they brought to the field (from our starters) last season, I\'d say these are they: McAllister, Stallworth, Holland, Brooks, Gandy, Williams, and Brown.

Guys (of our starters) who played exactly in line with their talent: Bentley, Jacox, Karney, Horn, Grant, Howard, Young, McKenzie, Bellamy.

Guys (of our starters) who played better than their current talent: Bockwoldt.

Guys (of our starters) who are difficult to assess: Green and Watson.

Guys who are just place holders: Riley, Jones, Allen

So, I guess, as of right now, I feel like 7 out of 22 guys underachieved. I wonder what the ratio is like on other teams?

Translation: we have 7 starters who are more talented than they played, IMO, last season. Is that a lot? I don\'t know.

Squandered Talent? Maybe, maybe not?

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I think without a strong offensive line ... it really limits what we can do in the passing game. And the running game to a certain extent. I do believe our line has been much better at run blocking than pass blocking. But in \'04 the offensive line seemed to really lack the ability to open up any running lanes and often let defenders come free in to the backfield on running plays.

Ditto for the defensive line. While we\'ve had great pass rushers on the outside, the weakness up the middle (DTs and LBs) have made them not nearly as effective as they could be.

agreed...but here is something--haslett admited that up until last year they had no set plan for the direction of this team..that to me states organizational problems that filter through the team.

I hold the front office accountable for this lack of organization....and has and the coaches accountable for not holding their players accountabile.

but from there it is on the players. I think we have had players play above their expectations and alot play below...so either we\'re signing players who get lazy with the payday as seen by mr. 11.5 or the coaches haven\'t made the locker room profesional enough..as seen by brooks and horns comments to the media.