OFF-SEASON TALK (Rumors, Draft, Trades, Free Agents ect.)

You know, thinking more about it, you are right. I was shocked by the trade up deal TT made for Clay. A trade I thought was mistake at the time now can be called a bargain.
TT was a LB - maybe he will focus again there.

ESPN is talking about Flynn and San Francisco.

And he proved he wasn't a leader with his whining publicly on twitter about the photo last season..

See, I'm willing to give our corners a pass for this season because you need a pass rush in order to help your secondary. It's unreasonable to ask a defensive back to cover someone for 4, 5, 6 seconds or more, yet that's what we did most of the time.

Our linebackers too benefit from a solid pass rush. Part of the reason why Hawk regressed so much this season is there was no one up front getting any kind of push. It's a hell of a lot harder to get off a block from a lineman AND try to stop the runner than it is to just try and stop the runner. It all starts up front and our defensive line just got beat over and over again. Improve that defensive line and pass rush and most of our defensive problems will take care of themselves.

THAT I would like to see. I've been watching Kill Bill instead of NFL network or ESPN today.

It's tough to say anything bad about Smitty after the season he had, but Flynn would be a HUGE improvement.

We should have a bunch of draft picks this year for him to do some wheeling and dealing. I was thinking Franchising Flynn was a fantasy but with Philbin going to Miami..... He knows Fylnn, Flynn knows his system, sounds like the perfect setup for a first round trade if there ever was one.

Agreed!

Many think Cleveland will have interest, I don't know. My dark horse is Seattle - former Packer brass Snyder is GM.

Schneider.

Cleveland, Miami and Seattle are full of ex-Packer staff

We can do it again next year

Outside of Wilfork I am not sure anyone on the Pats d line truly scares me? They are a good big front no doubt but I still never felt like they replaced Seymour either. I think they are a better run stopping unit then pass rushers though.

But, yeah why compare the two.

Is Nick Collins slated to come back next season?

This defense only surrendered 240 points when Erik Walden, A.J. Hawk and Charlie Peprah were playing out of their mind in 2010 (plus Cullen Jenkins). And it's not like those three were that great when they were playing out of their mind... I just think they either need some personnel changes or the aforementioned players need some swift kicks in the you-know-what.

Also, I'm not sure if the NFL lockout has anything to do with it but there was some hideous tackling from many teams this season. That's the big thing that must be corrected. I don't want to jump the gun on Capers because honestly, there has been some hideous defense all around the league in 2011.

You sure SF would go for that? It would sort of be saying "goodbye" to Alex Smith.

New England was banged up in their secondary too. You'd be surprised running down their roster and seeing how many undrafted free agents and rookies they have due to all the injuries and cuts.


This team went 15-1, they had no reason to be ranked dead last in defense. Had this defense been this bad, last year there is no way they would have even won 8 games, cause you all know that the defense last year is what helped them win the Super Bowl. They never trailed more than 7 points in a single game last year, because the defense could force stops and did it when they needed them.

The lock out probably had something to do with it, but I wouldn't blame it all on that. Just look at the Houston defense, last year that team was in the bottom 5 on defense and in just one season they are in the top 5 under Wade Phillips, who proves once again he's a much better coordinator than head coach.

Remember though, the only way Capers or Moss leaves is for a HC position, (unless MM lets them go voluntarily). They cannot be hired away for anything but a promotion. Yes Moss is the ILB coach, but MM hung that "assistant head coach" title on him a while ago, (common move for head coaches) which means he also cannot be hired away as anything but a head coach.

Personally I'm happy to be keeping our current staff. One year with a championship defense, one year with a bad one, I'm all for giving Dom a chance to clean it up next year with hopefully better personnel.

So it seems Capers isn't leaving. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.