do you know football? i need a couple answers

[cranrab]

i am an admitted casual fan of the NFL. to me, that means i enjoy watching games, know some of the players by name, but don't really know/understand all the strategies and don't always recognize the significant factors.

so, i appeal to the BGOL fam who can answer these 2 questions based on their actual knowledge of the game.

1) what accounts for the drop off in daunte culpepper's game? it can't be blamed on the injury, because he was sucking before the injury. was it because there was a change in coaching philosophy that took him out of his comfort zone in minnesota? and now he's having trouble adjusting in miami?

2) how did tampa bay go from first to worst in their division? is it because the O line is bad? which in turn impacts cadillac's effectiveness? which in turn increases the heat on chris simms? or is there more?

 

[cranrab]

one more

3) i've heard 2 announcers (one was joe theismann) blame retired WR jimmy smith for making the jaguars offense too 1 dimensional in the past. the idea being that w/o jimmy smith as the go-to guy, byron leftwich could have spread the ball around more, thus making the jaguars more dangerous overall.

i may be wrong, but i call bullshit on this theory. i've seen jimmy smith save the jaguars' ass on more than one occasion. i've seen jimmy smith come up with some BIG performances in critical games.

am i wrong? or are the critics right in saying that jimmy smith's presence as the #1 WR made the jaguars O less potent?

 

[RunawaySlave]

I am not an expert, but all three of your questions are basically
QB problems. I cannot tell you specifically what is wrong with
those teams/players, but I do know that ANY successful offense
is based on the strength of it's offensive line. And there has to
be a chemistry between all 5 linemen first. If that chemistry does
not exist, then it will not matter who is carrying the ball, who is
throwing it or who is catching it....


It's why football is the most difficult of all three sports. You
MUST have 11 men working as ONE unit in order to be successful
The minute one clown puts himself about the other 10 is when
the entire thing will break down


Having said all that.....You would have to look at how long the
Tampa Bay OL has been intact. Are there any new additions?
Or recent injuries to existing players??


I want to deal with Dante too. You can throw out game 1 against
Pittsburgh, that was agains tthe defending Super Bowl champions
and the the defending champs almost NEVER lose their home
openers in game 1s

Buffalo is a similar type defense to Pittsburgh. Dante will be fine.
I did notice that he seems incredibly hesitant to throw over the
middle. There were several times when he was about to let a pass
go then held back for some reason

He might just be suffering from Neil O'Donnell desease. That's
where the QB is SO worried about his passing effiency, that he'll
almost never throw into a crowd for fear of incompletions or
INTs....

A good QB cannot be afraid of getting picked off. In fact, he
was to DARE DBs to try to pick him off

 

[tp2001]

For number one I think it could be b/c of the OL. Daunte has the skill players around him to do some damage, but he can't stay in the pocket for a few seconds before he gets steamrolled by a D-Lineman....

The case of Tampa Bay is like this...you keep some of your staple players (Barber, Brooks, Rice, Alstott) but don't bring in players that can play to their level. Their drafting sucks, and the FA market hasn't been that good to them. IMO, McKay made them the team you saw make the playoffs all those years.

J'Ville had a bunch of young receivers last season (Williams and Jones). Now that they have seen what Jimmy Smith has done, they can try and emulate his work ethic. As for now, it is going good for them.

Early in the season though so watch for improvements (or lack thereof)...

 

[Sango]

Just from my football knowledge

1) I have never liked Daunte's decision making abilities. Even when he was in Minn. When you have a player of Randy's caliber it's easy to spot the other receivers that are open. Therefore his passing lanes and gaps in coverage were more evident. His ego & mechanics get in the way of his success far too much. Although it is tough to rebound from any injury, his injury costs him much more b/c he was much more comfortable knowing that he can run out of trouble if need be. It seems as if he's very hesitant. He has a subpar offensive line, but his QB experience at this point should have allowed him to be a bit more impressive. He & his primary target (Chris Chambers) aren't gelling, yet. It takes time to make practice a reality during live games. Plus Ronnie Brownie isn't doing as much, If Ricky was still there it might have been golden for Dante.

2)As for Tampa I think age is catching up to them. Brooks isn't as fast as he once used to be. Rice hasn't made much of an impact. Their rising star is that DE from Louisville, I think White. Rush defense is horrible and the offense doesn't look like a Chucky designed type. An MIA RB and 1man can't carry the load if he's not built for it (CSimms).

3)JackVille's Defense has always been solid...2boulders in the middle, above avg LB core. It's funny how Peterson was let go by the Colts for that white boy in the middle & look at him now. The prob is on Offense, BLeft is not an agile QB but did impress me with his accuracy, reads, & toughness---That's b/c his job WAS on the line. He knows they need to score and they're on verge of an offensive breakout soon. The bigger prob for the O for JVille is their WR core. Even though young & 6'11 lol, they are SLOWwwwwwwwwww... Out of cuts, route running is getting better though. MJones ran a 4.3 on a track & has lengthy strides. He doesn't run routes fast but his understanding of the game is crazy (all those QB years at Arkansas).. BLeft is used to faster route running receivers, reason why he & JSmith worked well. He's adjusting much better and realizing that he too is expendable unless he starts to play like a #7 pick! If Reggie Williams improves to his hype level when he 1st came in, there'll be trouble b/c it looks like Fred's back, his backup is a nice fit with the beast Greg Jones waiting in the wings...