Kultarr

Jamie Martin.

Dare I mention it? Smubster, the little smurf is a UFA this year. What do you think?

In Denver and New England they don't go around with a scale and a measuring tape and draft guys because the guy is "freaking ginormous!" like they have in Buffalo for too many years now. These teams know what they are about and go and study lineman for months on film and the guy's study habits and work ethic and find ones with the natural talent and instincts that mesh in with their systems and schemes -- even if the guy is deficient in some ways, if he has the right attributes for their scheme, they can plug him in. In other words, it isn't quite so simple as just grabbing a couple of fat slobs in the 7th round and as UDFAs and "Poof!" whip together a great OL -- and, yes, I know you weren't saying that it was that simple.

Can I join the club too?

Actually, Jamie Martin seems like a good free agent possibility. He has some experience and Fairchild has worked with him. Of course, without improving the OL, it's doesn't matter. They could clone Joe Montana and still be an atrocious offense.

Cross is and always has been a 49er rah-rah homer. I've heard him be overly critical of the Bills in the past, something I've just attributed to a bit of jealousy over the Bills successfulness in the past. (The 49ers organization took a KO blow well before Buffalo did and still hasn't gotten up from the mat.)

OK. Not "never". He just wasn't exactly George Allen.

Holmgren had way too much on his plate. Everything from GM down to being the OC. Allen got rid of his buddy Whitsett (Whitsett was a sports administrator and he and Holmgren did not get along); they brought Ruskell and Reinfeldt into the front office and told Holmgren to just coach. Holmgren says he and Ruskell just "get along" and that it was a "like a good marriage".

I think Polian is being credited for John Butler's prowess of never making deals with his draft picks to a degree. And, Marv is being credited with being the ultimate puppet master. I don't buy it. Polian, Butler, Levy, Smith, Adams, Wilson, etc. were a team that worked pretty well together in the early years. (Up until Jeffrey Littmann and Polian butted heads anyway.) They got rid of "talents with issues" (Harmon, Burkett, etc.) and built a team.

Would you rather talk about the QB position?

I think they mean that Polian is just Marv's puppet.

It's all about the QB.

Mostly agree, but it isn't completely impossible to start putting the staff in place before the head coach officially signs. Also, my personal druthers, I wouldn't mind going 1 year with, say, a suboptimal (or green) OC or RB coach, if I had the peace of mind that I had one of the top 5 head coaches out there locked up. In other words, I'd rather start at the top and have a great head coach first and then fill in the staff (including replacing people not up to the challenge) later, than the other way around. If the head coach is bumbling his way around, it's quite likely that the staff is going to look bad too. (Actually, that applies not only to football.)

Still, were we really going to "miss out" on Mularkey? Who else was hot to trot for him? TD had gone the distance before and still managed to landed Triple-G. And, frankly, to land Weis, it would've been worth it to give up a draft pick or two.

If you look at Charlie Weis's career, he has always been a difference maker. He's like a coaching Midas. Donahoe said around the time he hired Mularkey that he went with someone he didn't know well the first time, so the second time he wanted to go with someone more familiar. Familiarity won over coaching greatness. Brilliant.

Martz and Davis would be a classic pairing. Talk about a looney bin. Reminds me of a joke. "Two peanuts walked into a bar. One was a salted."

MM just got tired of the new direction. RW: "So, what do you think, Mike?" MM: "Well, I..." RW: "Aw, shut up and sit down already!" ML: "blah, blah, blah" RW: "Good ideas. Muppets for coaches! Brilliant! LA is nice. What do you think Mike?" MM: "Uh, well." RW&ML: "Aw, just shut up and sit down already!"

"blown anyway"?!?

My first thought too. BUt, you gotta admit it is hilarious.

I'll never understand how anyone could pass over Charlie Weis for Mike Mularkey.

That wasn't a scheme. That was being stupid.

Do we really want a guy named Ferry Pewell as DC? Yikes!

At least the period .......... key ........... isn't stuck. Nor were there ; random ; semicolons ; tossed into the ; prose ......................

Ralph is so cheap he hangs his wet paper towels on the clothes line so he can use them again.