The Stars That Wouldn’t Align
Posted by Gayle Saunders on September 1, 2009 · 1 Comment
Through my studies of football, reading of books, articles, stats and trends, it’s my opinion that the best way to win Championships and lots of them, is to create what I call the Big 3.
The Stars That Wouldn't Align
Let’s look at what are arguably the greatest teams in football history. The San Francisco 49ers during the Joe Montana, Jerry Rice & Roger Craig years, the Dallas Cowboys during the Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin & Emmitt Smith years, the Pittsburgh Steelers during the Terry Bradshaw, Lynn Swann & Franco Harris years and even the Denver Broncos when they won back to back Championships had the big arm in Elway, the receivers in Shannon Sharpe & Rod Smith and the great running back in Terrell Davis.
Now certainly teams like the Tom Brady Patriots have learned to win with great coaching, great players, how to be in close ball games and have a clutch kicker to make it when it counts. Ask Buffalo how important that is. I am willing to wager however that if Tom Terrific had a Pro Bowl or Hall of Fame caliber Running Back in 2007, he doesn’t get crushed in the Super Bowl by such a heavy pass rush and goes down as the greatest ever.
Again, there is always more than one way to skin a cat. There is a ton of philosophies and many of them proven ways to work. In my opinion, I want to build the core of my offense first. I want these guys to work together the most. The rule changes have given offenses, especially good passing offenses, a much better opportunity to succeed. As a GM, Owner, Coach or whomever, my goal would be to draft a quarterback that has all the tools and potential to be great. My goal would be to work through the first few years of ironing out the wrinkles until the game slows down for him.
The next thing I would do is make sure he is protected, go out and draft the best Left Tackle that I can find. One with grace and power, smooth feet and knows how to use them. Hopefully he will be good right away so that my young QB, who is still learning the hardest position in all of professional sports, has the time he needs to go over all his reads.
After I have both of those I would need to make sure he has targets. A few receivers, one big stud and one Wes Welker type, a quick shifty wide out who will provide a quick underneath option to make yards after the catch. The other I want to be big, tall can go up and get it in the Red Zone or the deep ball. Think ‘Larry Fitzgerald’ or ‘Andre Johnson’ as a perfect model.
Once I have all those pieces for my offense, I would go out and draft the best running back I can find. One who is tough between the tackles, shifty and elusive that will put doubt and indecision in the eyes of the defense as to whether they should defend the run or pass. I want a guy who can make you miss you in tight spots near the goal line so he can ensure that we punch it in for a TD. He shouldn’t have too much wear and tear though, no injury history and display an attitude and work ethic that is impressive and professional.
Defense does win Championships and without a good defense you won’t go very far, but as I build my team, I will look and find Free Agent gems and draft multiple players over the next few years to build that side of the ball up. I would go out and get a D’ Coordinator who is a defensive minded coach, a former head coach, to add a system that has been proven to work in this league and then go out and fill in the cracks as I find them. It may take 2-4 years but in about year 3 to 4 my QB will probably start going to Pro Bowls along with the big stud WR, my O-line will be a rock and my running back will be dynamic, my better than average Tight Ends can block and catch and my quick slashing WR picks up big 3rd Downs when I need them.
My Big 3 would be in place and I would feel really good about the supporting cast, young, talented, athletic and complete…
Sorry Pat Bowlen, look what you could have had.
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there is only one major problem with your plan for sucess layed ouyt here. You propose that all of these “stud” acquisitions be made via the draft. To get all of these accessories (sp) you need to be perrenially Awful for at least 3 years (unless you end up with a Herschel Walker trade bounty of Draft picks). I doubt that a fan base would appeciate that. By the time you acquire the recquisite players, your “quality” QB will have had at least 2 sub-par years and will be heavily questioned by pundits regarding his durability (from getting pounded prior to Young Anthony Munoz coming to watch his blind side) and his accuracy (due to the Todd Pinkston’s he has had in his recieving corp) not to mention the fact that he’s coming up on a new contract and is he really worth it?
Now the quick solution is Free agency, but you have to have a good pro personnel guy making these moves and not just Dan Snyder. The more I look at the situation, it is a butterknife solution to a Hydra Scenario.