Lots of changes, and not all good.
Coaching:
College guy joins the nfl and brings a bunch of ncaa coaches with him. We've seen it before, and rarely does it work the first year (major credit to Butch over at the browns). Spurrier has 8 of sixteen assistants without a lick of nfl experience.
In additon he thinks he can do it all, and is going to be the offensive coordinator. He does have a great pick up in the defensive coordinator, lewis from the ravens, so this may save him, but his crew from florida U. is on a steep learning curve. In additon he saved virtually noone from shottsies crew, so lack of player insight. I'm sensing too much cockiness early. A problem.
Needless to say at this point, the guy has been a scoring machine in college, and is widely regarded as a genius. Dotcom is staying out of things for now, we'll see what happens when the going gets tough.
One small point, although he's done well so far pre's, we see a team or 2 every year rip up pre's, but are no better than a 50-50 shot to do well in the regular season.
No upgrade from shottsie yet.
QB- A free for all with Spurriers old college kids. Stay posted on this. Early on it looks like Mathews will wind up with the pill, so I'll concentrate there. He is an average qb, with little leadership skills. Chi couldn't wait to bench him, then dump him. Althugh he's accurate, his poor judgement causes int's and play breakdowns. This is tough to fix. Sure, he's rocking pre's, so did Matt Hasselbeck last year, only to give way to Dilfer. And Trent Green did also, followed by a miserable season.
Owner Snyder likes the new kid Ramsey, so watch out (see Jeff George). If things don't go well, and they won't, Patrick Ramsey out of tulane first rounder is going to see some action. Keep in mind spurriers college approach of pulling qb's midgame. Should be fun watching this battle of the wills. Sage Rosenfels? Danny wuerfal?
Stable, but in trouble.
RB- Steven davis is pure money. 2 years ago his incredible season could be discounted due to an amazing oline. Last year no such luck, he did it all alone. This year he's playing with another new oline, and a new FB blocker to boot. His reconstructed contract basically forces him out after this year, so may effect his style.
I expect some regression, particularly if spurrier decides to go ariborne. Davis needs a lot of reps.
stable at the top.
WR- See ya michael westbrook, hows your wrist? This perenial problem is behind them, now they've got new ones. Rookie sensation Rod Gardner is the only bright spot, but early word is he may not fit in. Very strange. Does Spurrier really believe he can get tossoffs like riedel anthony and jaques green to suddenly start catching passes they couldn't in tbay? My rating on those 2 is very low. One other possibility is Kevin Locket out of KC, he's at least average. Not only that, they're tossing aside TE Rasby (poor hands) and inserting Flemister, the kid has some potential so may be upside there, but its all brand new. All in all this crew is one of the leagues worst. Tie that to qb trouble, and who will score the points (in the regular season)?
Stable well below average.
Oline. More problems. JOn Janson is a star and will soon be heading many times to the pro bowl. Young cris samuals has already been there. But thats it. they bring in larry moore, starting guard at indy and move him to center, his natural spot, but he's average. then they bring in Jets backup (albeit from a strong oline) David Louverne, and another backup, Rod Jones.
An average rating for this crowd, and early trouble til they mesh.
Downgrade.
Now for the good news, the defense. Thank you Marv lewis, they gave you a lot of talent to work with and you're the man for it.
d-line. Haven't seen Marco Coleman hit the waiver wire yet, may have missed it. He's a bit old but still has talent. But they're looking at the 3-4 allignment due to strength at lb and weakness on the line. They picked up Darryl Gardner recently from Mia. Word is he's fat and unmotivated, that's why they booted him. So this should tell us how desperate wash is here. They also picked up renaldo winn from the cap casualty jags, hes average. Dan wilkinson is pretty good, but not a superstar, and bruce smith is, well, too old.
Its not a pretty picture. Keep your eyes on this, its the defensive achilles heel. Another area rated at the bottom of the league.
Downgrade.
Linebacker- Hearing a lot of slop about this being the best lb crew in the league, maybe ever. Ho hum. some rag hypes it, and before you know it everyone likes to say it. First off Jerrimiah trotter out of philly is truley great, no doubt. But in my eyes Lavar Arrington has a lot to prove. His flashes of pure instinct aside, he's been out of position too much, pro bowl overrating due to hype brought on by college overrating. Don't get me wrong, the kid is a killer once he gets a bead on a tackle, and his lack of intelligence is being overcome be experience, so this could be a big year for him.
But 5 time pro bowl Jessie Armstead is really the one I consider the weak link here. Skins didn't steal him, giants let him go, he's lost a couple of steps the word out of NY is, and I concur.
They also have two former starters playing back up who have solid skills, Kevin Mitchel, and Antoio pierce, who'se only in his second year, with strong upside.
So they may be a shade off all the hype but the depth is strong.
Big Upgrade.
secondary- Very very strong here, and underrated. Champ bailey 2 time pro bowl in 4 years, and deserved every bit of it. Best in league? Fred Smoot was huge in his rookie year, exceptionally rare for a rookie db to make such an impact, played on pure skill. Now that he has learned the position, tremedous upside. The safties are a bit weaker, but sam shade still has major talent, however watch to see if he's losing a step. David tyrell considered the weak link, but in only his third year so just getting used to things. I have a lot of confidence he will perform. After that there is little depth, so watch out for injuries.
Stable at the top.
Kicker- Brett Conway has leg, 2 hits from over 50, and accuracy. Not a superstar, but a keeper. Punting may need some help but still average.
Conclusion: The skins will be poor on offense, particularly early as they settle everyone in. that's right, even after racking up a million point in pre's (see the chiefs and seahawks last year) The qb situation will not develop for them, just don't have the talent, or the wr's to throw to which will make the qb's look even worse. If davis loses heart due to not enough reps, contract dispute, and/or poor interior oline (the favorite area for the straight ahead runner), he may not care anymore and wait for the offseason.
The defense back 7 or 8 if 3-4 align, is one of the tops in the league. Even a poor dline won't keep them from stopping the opposition.
This situation is setting up some great unders. With everyone expecting the spurrier air magic, and points, points, points philosophy, totals will be set high. He won't score, and Lewis will keep the defense from allowing the opposition to.
Coaching:
College guy joins the nfl and brings a bunch of ncaa coaches with him. We've seen it before, and rarely does it work the first year (major credit to Butch over at the browns). Spurrier has 8 of sixteen assistants without a lick of nfl experience.
In additon he thinks he can do it all, and is going to be the offensive coordinator. He does have a great pick up in the defensive coordinator, lewis from the ravens, so this may save him, but his crew from florida U. is on a steep learning curve. In additon he saved virtually noone from shottsies crew, so lack of player insight. I'm sensing too much cockiness early. A problem.
Needless to say at this point, the guy has been a scoring machine in college, and is widely regarded as a genius. Dotcom is staying out of things for now, we'll see what happens when the going gets tough.
One small point, although he's done well so far pre's, we see a team or 2 every year rip up pre's, but are no better than a 50-50 shot to do well in the regular season.
No upgrade from shottsie yet.
QB- A free for all with Spurriers old college kids. Stay posted on this. Early on it looks like Mathews will wind up with the pill, so I'll concentrate there. He is an average qb, with little leadership skills. Chi couldn't wait to bench him, then dump him. Althugh he's accurate, his poor judgement causes int's and play breakdowns. This is tough to fix. Sure, he's rocking pre's, so did Matt Hasselbeck last year, only to give way to Dilfer. And Trent Green did also, followed by a miserable season.
Owner Snyder likes the new kid Ramsey, so watch out (see Jeff George). If things don't go well, and they won't, Patrick Ramsey out of tulane first rounder is going to see some action. Keep in mind spurriers college approach of pulling qb's midgame. Should be fun watching this battle of the wills. Sage Rosenfels? Danny wuerfal?
Stable, but in trouble.
RB- Steven davis is pure money. 2 years ago his incredible season could be discounted due to an amazing oline. Last year no such luck, he did it all alone. This year he's playing with another new oline, and a new FB blocker to boot. His reconstructed contract basically forces him out after this year, so may effect his style.
I expect some regression, particularly if spurrier decides to go ariborne. Davis needs a lot of reps.
stable at the top.
WR- See ya michael westbrook, hows your wrist? This perenial problem is behind them, now they've got new ones. Rookie sensation Rod Gardner is the only bright spot, but early word is he may not fit in. Very strange. Does Spurrier really believe he can get tossoffs like riedel anthony and jaques green to suddenly start catching passes they couldn't in tbay? My rating on those 2 is very low. One other possibility is Kevin Locket out of KC, he's at least average. Not only that, they're tossing aside TE Rasby (poor hands) and inserting Flemister, the kid has some potential so may be upside there, but its all brand new. All in all this crew is one of the leagues worst. Tie that to qb trouble, and who will score the points (in the regular season)?
Stable well below average.
Oline. More problems. JOn Janson is a star and will soon be heading many times to the pro bowl. Young cris samuals has already been there. But thats it. they bring in larry moore, starting guard at indy and move him to center, his natural spot, but he's average. then they bring in Jets backup (albeit from a strong oline) David Louverne, and another backup, Rod Jones.
An average rating for this crowd, and early trouble til they mesh.
Downgrade.
Now for the good news, the defense. Thank you Marv lewis, they gave you a lot of talent to work with and you're the man for it.
d-line. Haven't seen Marco Coleman hit the waiver wire yet, may have missed it. He's a bit old but still has talent. But they're looking at the 3-4 allignment due to strength at lb and weakness on the line. They picked up Darryl Gardner recently from Mia. Word is he's fat and unmotivated, that's why they booted him. So this should tell us how desperate wash is here. They also picked up renaldo winn from the cap casualty jags, hes average. Dan wilkinson is pretty good, but not a superstar, and bruce smith is, well, too old.
Its not a pretty picture. Keep your eyes on this, its the defensive achilles heel. Another area rated at the bottom of the league.
Downgrade.
Linebacker- Hearing a lot of slop about this being the best lb crew in the league, maybe ever. Ho hum. some rag hypes it, and before you know it everyone likes to say it. First off Jerrimiah trotter out of philly is truley great, no doubt. But in my eyes Lavar Arrington has a lot to prove. His flashes of pure instinct aside, he's been out of position too much, pro bowl overrating due to hype brought on by college overrating. Don't get me wrong, the kid is a killer once he gets a bead on a tackle, and his lack of intelligence is being overcome be experience, so this could be a big year for him.
But 5 time pro bowl Jessie Armstead is really the one I consider the weak link here. Skins didn't steal him, giants let him go, he's lost a couple of steps the word out of NY is, and I concur.
They also have two former starters playing back up who have solid skills, Kevin Mitchel, and Antoio pierce, who'se only in his second year, with strong upside.
So they may be a shade off all the hype but the depth is strong.
Big Upgrade.
secondary- Very very strong here, and underrated. Champ bailey 2 time pro bowl in 4 years, and deserved every bit of it. Best in league? Fred Smoot was huge in his rookie year, exceptionally rare for a rookie db to make such an impact, played on pure skill. Now that he has learned the position, tremedous upside. The safties are a bit weaker, but sam shade still has major talent, however watch to see if he's losing a step. David tyrell considered the weak link, but in only his third year so just getting used to things. I have a lot of confidence he will perform. After that there is little depth, so watch out for injuries.
Stable at the top.
Kicker- Brett Conway has leg, 2 hits from over 50, and accuracy. Not a superstar, but a keeper. Punting may need some help but still average.
Conclusion: The skins will be poor on offense, particularly early as they settle everyone in. that's right, even after racking up a million point in pre's (see the chiefs and seahawks last year) The qb situation will not develop for them, just don't have the talent, or the wr's to throw to which will make the qb's look even worse. If davis loses heart due to not enough reps, contract dispute, and/or poor interior oline (the favorite area for the straight ahead runner), he may not care anymore and wait for the offseason.
The defense back 7 or 8 if 3-4 align, is one of the tops in the league. Even a poor dline won't keep them from stopping the opposition.
This situation is setting up some great unders. With everyone expecting the spurrier air magic, and points, points, points philosophy, totals will be set high. He won't score, and Lewis will keep the defense from allowing the opposition to.
