jewagr007

Here We Go....

Ok....from last year..who are we missing due to injury?

1) C. Grant (ankle)- Not much talk about him going on right now so it is either the tipical team keeping it out of the press because he is fine ( I call this the "sleeper" tactic) or he is worse then we thought. It is hard to say right now how he is doing. We addressed this with McCray and I feel he will do better than avaerage as a bzckup till Grant is ready (if he is not right now).

2) MM (knee)- Story on Mike right now is he is doing back peddle drills and seems to be coming along better than expected with his rehab. Will he be ready for camp? Doubt it! Will he be ready for preseason? Maybe! I think he will be ready for the season and even if he is 80% he is still better than the rest of the crew. If he can't go by seasons start we addressed that in picking up Gay. With Gay starting and Young on the other side I feeel we will be ok till his return. The reason I say this directly ties to #3 and #4...read below.

3) J. Vilma (knee)- Will he be ready to step in and take over in the middle for our "D" ???? If he is not ready are we really hurting at the LB position? I say no! The LB core last year was solid, not great, but solid non the less. Will Vilma be a great addition if he returns to full health? Absolutly!

4) "D" Line - Other than Grant, whom we are not sure of right now but have addressed that position already, no other injuries to speak of. So why am I bringing it up again you ask? PASS RUSH!!!!!! Why did the Colts nor the Patriots win the SB? PASS RUSH!!!!! We had no pass rush last year. Give any NFL Quarterback more than 3 seconds to look down field and find targets he will find one and he will KILL you! What do we need to better our "D" all around. You guessed it..PASS RUSH!!!!!! Did we address this? Ladies and Gentlemen...I give you S.Ellis! Those of you that have not, I beg of you, go find and watch film on this guy. He is a quarterbacks nightmare! Pass Rush is what he does! Can he stop the run...yes...but his forte' is the pass rush. I can't wait to see him lined up next to Young. And if we get Grant back healthy I believe we double our sack total and shave over 2ypc off of last years numbers. That is a huge improvement and will also help to improve our secondary. i will not even go into the depth but they are not to shabby either.

Taking all of this into consideration....i believe our defense will be much inproved even if the 2 injuries from last year are not ready to go. I think Payton and the FO did a great job at addressing the holes with keeping in mind that the holes may not even be there if MM and Grant are healthy.

Injuries...right now who cares...it is all speculation and what if...but I say that right now..we are way better than last year as far as talent goes and i am looking forward to seeing this crew getting on the field. With new faces all over the place there will be an adjustment period but make no mistake....THIS "D" WILL BE TOUGH!!!!!!


Jason David...aka "you want some butter with that toast"

maximkat

007, I have to respectfully disagree on a few things with your post. Specifically this I mean seriously, what other teams would Shanle and Simoneau be starting for? Which few? Any? The LB corp has been below average at best for years. Maybe I saw 16 different games then you last year lol.

You say that injuries are just speculation, but your entire post really is speculation as well. We have no way of knowing whether Gay, Vilma, McCray, or Ellis will have a major impact or how MM and Grant come back from their injuries until September 7th. In fact most of our posts here, from now until the season starts, will really be speculation and a lot of hopes and prayers. We obviously all would love to see all our free agents and draft picks and even undrafted free agents make an impact. I hate to burst bubbles but I can easily garauntee they all will not. It's usually why I'm fairly quiet during the offseason. I'd rather not fill my head with what-ifs long before we even start.

this board does rock though, i love B&G

And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course. -- Kahlil Gibran

pakowitz

"Grant, who said the injury was diagnosed a few days after it occurred, said renowned orthopedist Dr. James Andrews performed the surgery Jan. 15, reattaching the ligament and cleaning out bone chips. Grant has not run since the 2007 season ended.

"I've done cardio and run in the pool," Grant said. "I work out and lift. But by OTAs (spring camp), I'll be able to run. I'll pretty much get myself back in the groove. You can't really run on it because of the place it is, in the front. You just take your time with it. I think April 12 they're going to release me to start running."

this is from an article in February.. if Grant was right about his release date then he should be ready to go by minicamps

to come back from a torn ACL 4 months a head of schedule would be an incredible feat.. i dont know if it can be done.. im just hoping that he will be ready by week 5 or 6.. if even that happens i will be pretty happy..

one other thing... usama young wont be starting at corner... you can just forget that right now.. he isnt far enough along in his development to even be considered for the starting gig... david will be starting and Gay most likely will be the other..


“We are aware and comfortable with his (Vilma) progress in returning from the injury,” Loomis said in announcing the acquisition. “We’ve consulted with our medical staff and spent time investigating the particulars surrounding the injury, and we’re confident he will return to the standard of play that he set through the first 3 years of his career.”

As for his health, Vilma says he should be fine short-term and long-term. Last season, neither Vilma nor the Jets made any details about his knee injury public.

"The knee is actually doing very well," he said. "I had the surgery in November, so it's about four months since the operation and it's feeling very good. I started jogging two weeks ago and I've been doing leg curls. I'm trying to take it easy."

Vilma passed all the medical tests administered by the Saints before the trade was in place.

"The knee shouldn't be a problem long-term," he said. "I just have to take care of it. There was a dead piece of bone in my knee. In the Cincinnati game, it decided to fall [away]. Unfortunately, I've never had a season-ending injury before. I'm just glad the knee is taken care of."






we have beat this subject to death since about 3 months before the draft.. ur a lil late to the pass rush party.. just sayin..







david should be much better this year after playing the previous 3 years in a zone heavy defense... now if we could just get bullocks to start playing up to his potential...

I Live In Beastmode!

CantonLegend

nice post pak but coach payton is very optimistic about josh bullocks...hes said over and over that he is pleased with the play and youth of our safeties...if he likes bullocks then i guess i do too but like many of the ppl on this forum i am a bit skeptical because of his play last season....also i think usama has the potential if he shows up at training camp and performs well to start this season..not at first but he can rotate in i believe....simply because he has good speed he will be a valuable asset to our multiple corner sets such as nickel and dime....i dont know if we run ne other pass sets than those but if we do im sure he will be out there on them and be our gunner on ST

"deal with it or you can go play the saints and get trounced by 30 and you won't have to worry about it."-colin cowherd

triman

I think that the addition of B.McCray is going to surrprise some people .This guy had 10 sacks two years ago . If he can return to form it will be a excellent addition . Sedric Elliis is going to benefit all of our DEs by getting push up the middle ,this makes it difficult for the QB to step up in the pocket and easier for the DEs to pressure from the outside . The results are that more throws are rushed ,more sacks result and less completions and more INTs. We are two players better in our pass rush department . Don't be surprised if D. Pressley makes some contribution in the pass rush this year also. B. Young being healthy is an underated improvement from last year also. I am very optimistic about our DLINE this upcoming season.