RuntheDamnBall

It is, but his incentive is to be better than he was last year, win over his teammates and be an NFL quarterback. If he doesn't do it here, it's going to be a lot harder for him to do it elsewhere. Presuming this front office is going to do something about the line, the competition will help JP focus and he will come out on top. And JP winning this kind of competition would almost mean more to his teammates than to him personally. He is by far the more talented prospect. Time for him to put it all together and let it all hang out. He knows no experience in the offseason, even if he's busting his ass, can compete with his on-field experience. Now he has a whole offseason to reflect on this season's experiences. I think he's going to rebound.

[genuflect] Can we get Bruschi's undies also?

Hmm, baseball's a little different, though. I think it's almost essential to have managerial experience to be a big league manager these days. There are obvious exceptions, but not a lot of them. Football, we're looking at offensive and defensive coordinators, not head coaches yet. We're looking for guys who have had some pro success in some regard, really. Picking from the NE tree can't hurt. Not only would we be getting guys who have been master motivators for a three-time champion, we would be stealing from those same (in-division, no less) champs. Win-win.

True enough, but a white guy driving the same Jaguar is unlikely to be pulled over needlessly. There is a bit of a stigma in our society still that a black man with riches has not earned them legally. I think we've rightly eliminated most of the brutal aspects of racism in this country, but it's been traded for that harder-to-fight racism that lives in everyone who fears difference -- and I think that lies in all of us to an extent. It's also something that's encoded in pop culture and upbringing and the things that surround us daily. And I don't think it's limited to white-on-black racism; there are preconceived notions that every race or ethnicity has about another. It's in everyone's best interests to look at the person and their actions first and the skin color or ethnicity far down the line.

Well, restructuring and renegotiating, I think, are two different things. The former implies moving the money around to be more cap-palatable or to delay cap hits. The latter I believe implies a pay cut or an extension at a lower salary. Edit: problem with the first scenario is (I am pretty sure) we pay his accelerated signing bonus cap hit, and then will still be paying for his next contract on top of that. Not the worst option if your figures for the coming year look good and you're way under the cap, though. Maybe a cap god can help out here. I think vet minimum with heavy incentives for starting 14 games or more and Pro Bowl would be really helpful. Of course, we have no idea if the guy is already set for life financially or not, maybe money wouldn't matter.

But could he not 1) be cut and re-signed, or 2) extended at vet minimum with incentives? I would assume his bonus money would not be as hard to swallow if we followed the second example. I am not sold on MW's desire, but I do think he has the ability if he or the coaches can convince himself to take his game to another level. It has to hurt McNally to not see that happening after two years together. Then again, his first impression of Mike was as a slob who came into their first camp together horribly out of shape... Seems he and McNally have never really been on the same page, or if they have it's only been for that brief glimmer in late '04.

That's not fair. We've had quite a few QBs during our descent.

Gilbride had not had much success in previous years and was run out of town just about everywhere he'd been of late. No free pass on that one. It's kind of like our current situation. Mularkey's supposed to be a great offensive mind, well then, let's do something with the g.d. offense then. If he doesn't succeed with it now, he deserves to be run out of town.

A great line and really a pretty special crop of backs, and this is with Staley suffering some injury or another on a regular basis. Parker's turning out to be a decent find (was he the "4th string back" who ripped us up last year?) and Bettis, that guy is just a bruiser. I'd really like to see us use Gates and McGahee relentlessly. And pass to McGahee more. I'm no coach but I can probably get most of you to agree that would be kickass. [/13 year-old me] Shaud Williams is too much finesse, not enough muscle for regular work. He definitely can make some things happen out there in good situations, but he should not be the guy spelling McGahee on 3rd down.

I guess one benefit to this guy being a big softie is that he is doesn't seem to have an overinflated sense of his value. From Sportsline

Even better, TO loves players like TO. It's a win-win situation.

Go play in a tuna can somewhere.

Go Thurman! Edit: just noticed, no RW.

Karma is gonna hit us hard when Marv hires this guy.

Hear me out here, but doesn't bugging her and having it inevitably come out to the public compromise both her, her sources, and future ability to gain new sources?

Are you talking about Jerman? Because that guy is capital-A AWFUL. Peters handled Julius Peppers and several other top tackles in the pass rush. He was work to do in the run game. He was on the practice squad last year. The kid has progressed amazingly. To say he hasn't shown anything is pure folly.

That's because of the sh-- playcalling. They were sending Willis head-on between the tackles nine times out of ten. Any time he went to the outside he busted for 5 or more - or longer, only to have it negated by a WR holding call.

And look at those Cardinals now. They're coming on like gangbusters.

I think Cotrell's prospects could be pretty interesting if we drafted Mario Williams and shifted to the 3-4. I'm getting the feeling that Ferguson will not fall to us, and if we get a dominating end, and a raw but talented DT and shift to 3-4 we've suddenly got depth at the line and a pretty fearsome pass rush with Schobel, Adams and Williams. LBs are easier to come by, and with Crowell's emergence and either a cheap upgrade or more defined role for Posey I think Cotrell could do some damage. Just a thought. A lot of chips would have to fall our way for it to work though and there would still be questions about run support, ie could this personnel do it?

The thing is, you take that and air it out in public and it becomes a team problem. Tiki shouldn't have done that. He should have talked to the coaches in private afterwards and said "This is what we need to do to get better. I could see things out on the field that they were doing / we could have done and I know how we can adjust and win games like this." Telling the (rabid NY sports) media your coach just f---ed up is not a good idea. Ever. I'd expect Tiki to be smarter. He knows that as a player RBs can't take many more years of abuse. His team is depending on him if they're going to make it during his career.

That Pepsi machine's high motor, it's got all the moves, and have you seen its 40 time? Git 'er done, Marv.

I'm sure Grimm wasn't just sitting around picking his nose watching Pittsburgh succeed. If we're going with Mularkey, and for the record I'm not happy about that, we should have a guy who knows how to set up successful blocking schemes and personnel in his system. Grimm comes highly recommended and touted by a lot of people, not just Pittsburgh people. I'd definitely rather give him a shot than a lot of others, and it just might be the only kind of situation that works (promoting a guy who's never held the post). Other, "name" candidates may see the job as either below them (ie they're looking for a HC job and that's it) or perceive less benefit to taking this job when Mularkey's skating on thin ice anyway.

I thought aging vet Holcomb was our QB of the future who can lead this team to the big game... Should we dump him or is he part of our 4-12 plans?

Catch the ones at the bottom? This guy is as fun to read as TMQ used to be when I first started reading him.

Obviously, the teams that don't hire top-notch coaching talent, black or white, have their miserable records to show for it. Hint hint.