bobobonators

Carroll is also jacked up on the sidelines all the time. Maybe hes on PED's too? Teams take on the personality of their coaches many times. Look at harbaugh and the niners. The saints with payton The Bills with marrone. Obviously.

I would be ecstatic about Watkings and pleased with Matthews.

If you think the Hawks have some sort of cutting edge advantage with a PED program that other teams like the Cowboys, Niners, Giants, Jets, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. don't have you're in la-la land. Do you honestly think the Hawks players are revolutionizing the league with a PED program while other teams like the niners and Pats drink creatine from a sippy cup?

Maybe he thinks April still coaches us too?

Yup. Agree completely. The same could be said about Russell Wilson. As great as he is, you could probably argue that any QB in the top 15-18 would've had similar success this season. They're definitely not a 1 man show on either side of the ball.

Are you advocating that the Bills should not resign both Dareus and Byrd? When Dareus hits FA, you bet you're butt he's going to want top 5 money for a DT. 110% guaranteed.

Don't like that. What in the world did Syracuse ever do that warrants hiring their entire staff?

Agree 100%. Lets hope Marrone passing on Ryan Nassib for EJ Manuel will produce similar results!!!

Well I agree with you. Spiller is turning 27 this season in August. When his contract runs out he'll be 29. Whoever signs him at that point will be getting a whole lot of puking after he turns 30

LMAO!

As far as I'm aware, CJ Spiller is signed through and including the 2015 season. So if that's the case, next year will be a HUGE year for CJ in my eyes. If CJ can't reproduce what he was able to do in 2012 under Gailey with Hackett in back-to-back seasons then maybe we can try and trade him going into his final year (2015) to a contender like the Saints who would actually know how to utilize his talents.

Completely agree. I still think that Carroll's time at USC really gave him a major advantage in talent evaluation with respect to the new wave of players that were coming into the NFL. College coaches spend more time recruiting players than they do coaching.

Dareus we need to extend; CJ not so sure. B/c there's a very good chance that the Hughes we saw last year under Pettine will not be the same Hughes we'll see next year under Schwartz. It's the entire personnel vs. scheme argument and it's worth having IMO

We'll see, but probably pretty satisfied. No doubt we need to see an improvement vs. the run.

If Hughes falls off and returns to his Colts form, will this be an indictment on Schwartz? Or will it show us just how good Pettine was? I'm always of the belief that you cater your scheme to match your personnel. Of course Schwartz has his own way of going about things, but if he becomes so stubborn that certain players can't succeed then there's a problem. Under Pettine, we saw multiple players on this team have some of their best seasons ever: McKelvin; A. Williams, Hughes, Dareus, etc. - it seems to me that Pettine's influence caused almost all of the ships to rise, not just 1 or 2. We'll see what Schwartz does.

I constantly find myself drooling whenever I think of the Hawks and how good their team was this year, and quite frankly how solid they have been over the last 3-4 years (since Carroll came on). The Hawks have drafted really well since 2010, but one draft in particular stands out to me: In 2010 (Carroll's first year), the Hawks drafted RD 1 - Okung; RD 1 - Earl Thomas; RD 2 - Golden Tate; RD 4 - Walter Thurmond; RD 5 - Kam Chancellor 4 of those 5 players were critical components of this team and even Walter Thurmond contributed substantially as the Nickel CB earlier this year. You can't possibly do it any better than the Hawks did it in 2010. Yes getting Lynch in a trade turned out to be a good move for them and yes drafting RW in the 3rd round pretty much put them over the top, but that 2010 draft set the foundation for a team that would come to win the Super Bowl 4 years later IMO. Icing on the cake thereafter for the Hawks was another solid draft in 2011: landing Richard Sherman in the 5th round; KJ Wright in the 4th round; and Byron Maxwell in the 6th; and lastly Malcolm Smith in the 7th. Looking past Sherman, all those other players also made major contributions to this Hawks team that won the Super Bowl and are all very solid players. And last, but certainly not least, another gem of a draft in 2012 which pretty much propelled the Seattle Seahawks over that final hump: Rd 1 - Bruce Irvin; Rd 2 - Bobby Wagner; Rd 3 - Russell Wilson; Rd 4 - Robert Turbin. I mean WOW is all I have to say. Tip of the cap to Carroll and Schneider - some of the best drafting I've seen in a long, long time. Will Marrone and Whaley's 2013 Draft be the beginning of OUR Super Bowl run? Hopefully 4 years from now I'll be able to create the same thread and state how EJ Manuel in Rd 1; Robert Woods in Rd 2; and Kiko Alonso in Rd 2 put us on the path to greatness.

B/c you have the luxury of hindsight now to determine who truly was the BPA.

Or maybe trade him and TJ to Indy for TY; that way we finally get the WR we were supposed to have gotten on draft day.

I would keep Hughes and pretty much only play him at DE on passing downs. He can still probably produce more than the player you'd get in return for him.

I voted for OL, but I'm really still all over the place. Is Watkins somehow still there at #9? Is Manziel there at 9? Ideally I would want us to possibly try and trade down to the late teens and take Yankey to play LG for the next 10yrs.

Same here.

Eh, no big deal. My TV was unplugged during the entire super bowl and everyone at my house still rocked out that night.

I really hope Blake Bortles is there at #9. That way we can trade down, pick up an extra 2nd round pick, and let another team draft that potential backup NFL QB.

though there are exceptions to everything, I feel that in today's NFL, it is easier to succeed (have a winning record/get into the playoffs) with a good offense and average defense as opposed to an average offense and a good defense. The Hawks didn't just have a good defense this season, they had one of the best defenses in the history of the game(when you take into account how it's so much harder nowadays for teams to play defense).

it's so hard to have this discussion in football. there are so many factors that go into winning a single game it becomes unfair to put it all on the QB - whether it's a win or a loss. Putting it all on the QB (win or lose) is just lazy reporting/commentating. It's easy to do and that's why it's done and it makes for great radio/television.