SO Im looking at this weekends matchup, Fins O versus Ravens D and a 6 year old memory that I have long hidden away pounces out again... We picked Bryan Thomas at 22 and the Ravens pick ED REED at 24, yes I know so did 23 other teams but it just really irks me...I know we have other draft day blunders, well alot of draft day blunders but this one really twists me up inside...
The draft is a joke. You really don't know what you're going to get. All the scouting in the world is not going to make up for bad draft picks (i.e Gholston). Reed has had the opportunity to be coached by some of the best Defensive Coaches in the league, for example Rex Ryan, who just might be coming to NY. This is what it really boils down to, not the number people are taken at, it's what they're given to work with.
You cannot tell if a player is a bust after 1 season. Give Gholston the benefit of a new and improved coaching staff and a yr of experience.
We already shelled out a good some of money to Gholston so bringing him back next season is a given. Hope the new coach can get something out of him. I really got tired of Bryan Thomas and his disappearing act.
That was just for comparison sake. What I'm trying to get at here, is that Ed Reed had the opportunity to work with Rex Ryan, and Gholston; well...Gholston got to work with Bob Sutton.
In the loooong list of draft day fvckups, passing on Reed is right up there. Anyone who watched CFB that year knew he was gonna be an All-Pro. Many good players came out of The U, but watching him play college ball there was truly awesome. He's always played like a man among boys. sean taylor came close to him at the college level, but Reed was more consistent and seemingly didnt ever blow a coverage. It's mind boggling that so many teams passed on him.
For those going on about Gholston / Thomas etc... notice how with the exception of Calvin Pace, all of our outside linebackers in the past 8 years haven't been anything spectacular? If we get coaches who will blitz, I'll bet anything Thomas and Gholston start looking real good real fast. We need a defensive coordinator similar to Jim Johnson here.
The reason it irks all Jets fans so much is because We just drafted two great DE 2 years ago, Abe was unstoppable, and Ellis was coming into his own as well. What we needed was secondary help, badly mind you. We had 3 guys excpected to make great impacts in the secondary up at our pick. Lito Sheppard, Mike Rumph, and Ed Reed. I won't lie the guy I really thought we needed was Sheppard at the time. But if we took Reed I would have been just fine with it. I was a little weary of Rumph, but felt we wouldnt have had a choice if he was the only guy on the board. Then who do we pick? Bryan Thomas, I wasn't big on the deepness of the draft at the time, and never looked at him. I believe he was expected to be a late 2nd round guy at the time. I remember this board lit up after the pick. Everyone wanted a secondary pick, mostly Reed. Reed has kicked serious ass in his career while thomas has had one average year, (contract year, go figure) and earned the nickname "The Cactus" seriously how much of a backlash was that draft? Bryan Thomas Jon Mcgraw Chris Baker Alan Harper Jonathon Goodwin only 2 guys still on the roster, neither one should be starting. Mcgraw was a major flop. The guy they decided made it ok to pass on Ed Reed. The man was made of Glass. As I said Thomas did only one decent year, his contract year. Good ridance cactus.
The Dolphins have a lot of heart and thats the only reason I give them a chance. Fact is if we didnt collapse this team would not be in the playoffs and probably would have finished in third place in the AFC East. Thats the bottom line. I could see the Dolphins winning this game just on a hunch but talent wise...............please. The Ravens should win this game by double digits.
they already played this year and even though the ravens won it was a close game... I still think the ravens will win big, too much D for Chad to deal with.
The story book season ends here for the Dolphins and Pennington. The Ravens D will be in there backfield All afternoon.
You are probably right, if the phins are going to have any chance, they need to follow what the Giants did and run everything to the outside. I'm not sure they can pull it off, the way the G-Men did though.
Dolphins are not really fish. They are mammals. The spelling bee chant is bad enough. I wish Jets fans would also stop with the "squish the fish" line because it makes us look ignorant. By the way, dolphins are a rare type of animal in that they will engage in homosexual activities from time to time. Not that there's anything wrong with that. It is the 2000s and all. [YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fqncj3G6tg&feature=related[/YOUTUBE]
