SpearSrai

Sick with a capital 'ick'. There's no way... (Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it.)

Now you know how other teams must've reacted to the Boldin trade. "Rice, Flacco, McGahee, and now this...?"

"Strikes fear" and "poses a threat" are two entirely different things. A chihuahua 'poses a threat' to my ankles. A tyrannosaurus rex, on the other hand...

I think the problem is that a lot of us first looked at the Boldin trade like we were adding him to our already existing offense, which would definitely put us over the top. But now that we're starting to realize that Mason may not be brought back, it changes a lot. Boldin AND Mason would be huge, but Boldin replacing Mason is less dramatic of an upgrade. Still important, yes, but I think the guy we're hoping to replace is Clayton, not Mason.

I don't know, but I'm just not feeling it... I guess if teams start bringing Gaither in for interviews, I'll change my mind, but I can't see a team giving up their first rounder for him. We never get that lucky. Yeah, I said it. I want a second 1st round pick. Throw Gaither to the wolves.

what have we proved? I'm not sure which way you're going with this... The Steelers and the Colts, two strong pass rushing teams, went to the Super bowl.

We'll resign Mason. Boldin is an upgrade, and teams must prepare for him. Mason runs a good out pattern, but he doesn't strike fear in corners.

Don't forget Chicago... Even D-Will looked great against them. My point was not that Flacco played more JV defenses last year than other QB's, it was that he played more JV defenses than he will most years.

Yes, yes it is. A team that can rush the passer will win most games.

How are any of those examples not performance-based? 26.5 sacks in two years... over 40 tackles each year... that's only a few less tackles than he was getting in his prime at Pittsburgh. We could afford to throw a little money at this guy for a high-intensity pass-rusher, since it's probably our biggest need right now.

Exactly. We all know that Parcells can be stubborn when he decides he doesn't want a guy around. This is the same guy who traded away his best pass-rusher (Jason Taylor) only to resign him a few years later. Coaches commit (or decommit) to players all the time... the Chargers gave up on Cromartie (we'll see what happens there), the Raiders gave up on Moss (who set an all-time touchdown record the next year), and we keep putting Mark Clayton on the field despite almost no production whatsoever... Porter is only 32, and he's probably at least as good as Suggs at OLB.

That sucks for us, then, because Porter would be a huge asset for us. And who says he can't be a starter?

Last year was an especially bad year for a lot of teams, though. I don't think we'll see this many horrible teams for a while. Even Cleveland got better towards the end, and Detroit, Chicago, KC, etc. can only get better.

If Boldin and Fitzgerald could split touches, I don't see potential for a problem here. Reducing Rice's carries could only help his career here... we need him for the long haul. As for pass rushers... we should definitely go after the recently-cut Porter. I'm sure he'd love to match up against Pitt twice a year, (and Miami once), and he would bring an additional level of intensity to our defense in divisional games. 7 sacks in his last 6.5 games last year, and only 1 year removed from a 17.5 sack season. He would fit perfectly in our scheme, and even if he's an outspoken guy, he definitely wouldn't dominate the locker room.

But it does include games where Flacco was throwing against JV teams, so it balances out.

Oh goody... our very own Jason David!

Well, Kurt Warner had 3700 yds and 26 TD this season. Last year he had 4500 and 30 TD. And obviously we don't have Fitzgerald or Whisenhunt's offense. So let's assume it's going to at least be less than that...

I still say that Schaub is a much better, more accurate passer than Flacco, but let's not stray from the main topic here. Our WR corp may be good as it is, provided we do resign Mason. But if we don't, then yes, we need to address that other spot in the draft or with another FA. There's no way our staff can be happy with Clayton or Stallworth at #2... It's just not possible! (I tell myself.) As for the draft, it's certainly less likely that we'll trade up now, and we do have a history of trading down to try to get back picks, but I have a feeling that someone unexpected is going to fall to our spot, and we'll have no choice but to take him. Maybe a Gresham, Wilson, or Graham (neither are likely, but...that's the point) is sitting there.

4000 and 30 would be insane numbers, considering where we were 5 years ago. If Flacco produces like that, we're looking at a 14 win season. Not that he will...

Playoff wins?

How?

That's not bad, Cleetz, but it has nothing on 5:10 from the original video. And the sick part is that Boldin makes plays like these look routine. Something I learned from this highlight reel: Corners don't like to tackle this guy. They're going to look forward to tackling McClain and Rice after they get a load of this. So many of his touchdowns are just him catching a short pass and putting his head down like a RB. You can't overstate how much this is going to open up the field for us... they'll have to have a safety helping out at all times on him, or else he'll just run over 99% of the CB's in the league, and you can't stop him from catching a WR screen....

Not to mention that we could still retain Mason, and having two Masons would definitely not be a lateral move, even if they were equal. Would trading for Polamalu be a lateral move, because we already have Reed? What a ridiculous contention.

That doesn't prove that they would have signed Walter before they absolutely knew Boldin was traded elsewhere. All it says is that they were working on moves for both guys, and weren't going to bring in both. Again, Walter and Boldin are not equal commodities, so my guess is that Ozzie wouldn't have pulled the trigger on Walter until he knew Boldin was out of reach.

I doubt they would have pulled the Boldin deal simply because Walter was interested. I hope our front office is smarter than that. We got our #1 receiver... Walter and Boldin are not equal commodities. Bodden is "too expensive"? Based on what? There's no salary cap, and we have to use our exemption on someone... who would be a better pickup than Bodden? And are you Bisciotti's accountant? If so, how many millions can he afford to spend, exactly? A better comparison would be the Yankees or Sox, not the Redskins, because we're a consistent playoff team... the Redskins' failings are in spite of their talent, not because of it. And to suggest that people were hysterical because of free agency is simply wrong. Any hysteria was based on the notion that we would not make a play for Boldin or Marshall (both of which would likely end up as trades) and that we were instead going after receivers like Walter. The concern was a result of our 15-year history of not closing on top wideouts, and it was justified. Fortunately, we went against our history, and made a deal for a Pro Bowl receiver on Day 1 of free agency.