Let's try to clarify.
Quote
TonyHunter87
The only way I will acknowledge improvement is seeing it on the field.
See, that was actually my point in the follow up post. You have to see it on the field.
What I was saying was that fans and pundits so often try to draw premature conclusions based on personnel additions or subtractions. And history tells us abundantly that this is folly.
Players added to improve teams sometimes do. And often don't.
Lost players, even good ones, sometimes weaken teams and often don't.
You have to see it on the field. That's what I objected to in the thread, the widespread assumption that a lack of changes ion personnel dooms us to a repetition of last year. Maybe it will. If we rely on Quick to be a star, well, that won't work. I have no illusions that he is going to blossom.
He COULD however play a minor role in an improved offense. Because, the possibilities for improvement are more complex than whether we run Quick out there.
It is POSSIBLE that a unit can grow through stability and cohesion. That does happen, and it's why teams that repeatedly chop and change rarely grow into contenders.
When I looked at the OL this PS I did what you said. I looked at the performance ON THE FIELD. And I thought, this is different. These guys can actually make a running game grow. Same guys, genuinely improved performance. And key to offensive improvement. I feel I can realistically project from what I saw of our running game ON THE FIELD in PS a solid, consistently productive rushing offense of a kind we haven't seen in years. Honestly. I think I saw that.
Now in such an offense, Quick's blocking could play a modest role. I have no expectation of his becoming a mid-table WR. But he can contribute good blocking and an occasional catch in a quality rushing attack.
ON THE OTHER HAND ... I also see on the field the limitations of our offense. I have written in the last couple of weeks about our continuing impotence on 3rd down. This is a major limit on our team, and as long as we are relying on a guy like Quick, we can only improve so far. That's what seeing the play on the field manifestly tells us.
And yet, even there, I see hope. I see--ON THE FIELD--2 rookies who could raise our ceiling on 3rd down and in the RZ. Spruce and Higbee show genuine promise of doing just that. I see just enough ability in Keenum to imagine our offense rising a notch or 2. I SEE the raw talent in Goff to go far beyond that. All of that carries us beyond a guy like Quick, but it will take time and, again, we'll have to see it on the field.
Maybe the biggest point for me is to see the large picture. Look first at UNITS: DL, OL, secondary, receivers, RBs, etc. FOr example, Ram fans for years misunderstood Brockers. He is not an all star type DT. But he is the classic space eater who makes it far easier for a star like AD to flourish. AD is my favorite Ram since Ike, and a potential guy for the Hall, but you have to see him as used in the unit.
And it's on the unit and O/D levels that I worry the most. I see AD whipping his OT and getting upfield, only to see a RB run past him into space because the defensive scheme is unsound in covering the gaps. Even if an individual produces like crazy--as AD does--it means little unless the unit as a whole is soundly deployed to take advantage. All too bloody often, our units are deployed by the Kommander of the Keystone Kops.
My biggest concern for the team is, as it is for many, our coaching staff. But it isn't about adding players or preferring a running game. Hell as a really old OL/TE, I love the running game, and I believe in it in today's speed-oriented league.
What I look for, ON THE FIELD, is competitive discipline in the team. For 4 years now, Fisher has repeatedly fielded unready teams with shoddy, unsound game plans. Williams is, by my estimation, an erratic, often unsound DC. These are the factors that, in my view, are likely to doom us to a record under .500. No matter how much talent we add or fail to add.
Well, I'll stop. We agree--it has to be on the field. We may, however, be looking at different things and/or seeing them differently.
What I see gives me some limited hope. But I'd feel a lot better with a disciplined coaching staff.
