markshark84 wrote:Irn-Bru wrote:I was against keeping Banks on the roster going into this year, and I hope by now the coaches agree with me. They took a gamble on him and lost, and it's time to give up on the idea that he has long-term potential. With the rule change on kickoffs and our porous defense, he only has half the chances to do anything, and while that's been enough to make a half-dozen boneheaded plays he has yet to create a positive game-changing moment.
Meanwhile, the trick plays on offense with him have gone from "that wasn't too bad, I guess" to flacid.
Whatever edge he brought on returns is gone — I'm guessing due to the injuries he's battled. And with our best receivers either injured or not performing, we badly need that roster spot for a real NFL WR.
If I'm Shanahan, I call Banks into my office this morning, thank him for everything he's done the past three years, cut him, and give Terrence Austin a call.
Agree about cutting Banks. He has done nothing for us this year. I cringe everytime he touches the ball; whether it is because he runs all over the field for 1 yd or less or because I am afraid he will fumble.
I used to love BB, but with the rule changes, there is no longer a reason to keep a "return specialist" unless they can also play another position well. Banks can't play the WR position and has not produced in the pistol or triple option formations.
Right now we need to either cut Robinson, Briscoe, or Banks and bring in another WR because our current WRs just can't catch the ball. It is embarassing and will hurt RGIII's confidence. Did you see all the bad screen and short passes RGIII threw yesterday --- I can almost gauarantee that the horrendous WR play was a factor in hurting his rythm on those plays.
Mark, Banks is really a non-issue in the greater scheme of things ... he's just one of the symptoms of the disease. And that disease is the incompetent personnel decisions and or how the staff chooses to use the players.
Let's take a few of the areas and analyze them ... starting with receivers (since you mentioned Banks). Briscoe, Robinson, Hankerson ... none of these three have actually produced much of anything .. and certainly no one should expect a Victor Cruz or a Nicks to pop out of this group at this point. But we released our 2011 leading receiver Gaffney, who turned out to be a sure handed possession receiver in a struggling offense that was highlighted by a carousel of incompetence at the QB position. We also chose to release Anthony Armstrong who really didn't see much action at all last year (inexplicably) even though in 2010 he was emerging as a real dangerous weapon ... 2010 he had 44 catches, 871 yards, 3 TD's, and 19.8 yard per catch average. That's a huge average ... and AA would have had more TD catches were he ever to actually have received passes in stride instead of having to sit down and field most of these deep balls like a center fielder, as I clearly recall. So why he was just not used in 2011 is probably because neither Rex or Beck were actually able to complete a pass beyond 10-15 yards past the line .. and Armstrong collected dust on the sideline. We could use that type of deep threat now, since no one else seems to be capable of getting behind coverage except the old man, Moss, who occasionally does. If Robinson does, you can expect him to drop it. So I'm sorry ... but I'm having a real hard time with the idea that Banks is this glaring problem with Briscoe and Robinson doing nothing. To be honest .. when you have a speciality player like Banks, the defense keys on him on those rare cases that he actually lines up in the regular offense, which isn't very often, and is usually a big tip off that he's in there for a reason ... DUH. It would be like putting RG3 out there as a holder for a FG attempt ... FAKE ... WATCH THE FAKE. This is the level of cleverness of our offensive coach, which isn't very clever at all, really ... who's rather predictable behavior has been mentioned on more than one occasion by opposing defenses, and why we are seeing a week to week decline in offensive production, even with the Black Jesus, and his disciple "Moses" Morris who parts defenses like the Red Sea.
Now, the secondary ... horrible, pathetic, embarrassing, take your pick ... is this really Hasletts fault? Did he choose Williams or Meriweather as the better players over Landry .. or was that a business decision? Did he choose to trade Justine Tryon because he was overflowing with great DBs? And who picked Tanard Jackson, knowing he might very well not even be permitted to play this year? Two weeks from now, New England will have solid cover guy and former Bucs DB playing for them, for a 4th round pick. Hall and Doughty are the only DBs on the roster from 2010. The changes made here have not worked out so well .. actually .. it's an unmitigated disaster. We simply do not have a Free Safety ... and neither of our other safeties can cover a TE. Our DB's sometimes look like the three stooges ... and three or four times each game we see the opposition's #1 or #2 receiver running free in the secondary with no defender even in the television frame. And this happening with a brand new Secondary Coach just hired this season too?
Now the front 7 ... supposed to be our major strength and was supposed to be where we had great depth .... take away Rak and Carriker, and we cannot make the slightest push against anyone's offensive line ... all opponents need to do is handle Kerrigan, and they have all day to throw, and it wouldn't matter if we had an entire backfield filled with several Greens and Baileys ... and let's face it ... we still do not have the dominant type of linebackers that make a 34 defense great ... you need speed and ability to cover, and we are being picked apart in those areas too.
And just who was it that insisted on rebuilding our 43 defense into a 34 defense, requiring wholesale personnel changes in the front 7, at the expense of the secondary and offensive personnel which desperately needed that focus? That's why we've had to manage a patchwork o-line .. and use other peoples 3's and 4's as our 1's and 2's at both receiver and secondary.
You just can't absorb the number of personnel errors that we've seen over the past three years ... and the few really good players added cannot make up for the dozen disastrous decisions. The larry Johnson type deals ... we sign him to a three year deal, and then release him after 2 games and 5 carries. Then there was the NcNabb fiasco, and the Beck fiasco .. the list goes on and on and on. Is everyone's memory 60 seconds long? Am I the only one who remembers these major fiascos and foolish maneuvers?
Well ... they've been continuing right through this year too. We have the kicker fiasco ... starting with Gano .. we bring in Rackers .... we keep Gano ... and the moment Cundiff hits the waiver wire, we sign him and drop Gano like an empty coke bottle ... and everyone was saying "Huh? This doesn't look like a very smart move .. why would they do that?" And of course, we know what the results were .... ANOTHER FIASCO.
Now God forbid that anyone named Dan or Vinny would have presided over all of these FIASCOS .... the McNabbs, Becks, Grossmans, Johnsons, Cundiffs, etc., etc., because the experts here would have been ragging on these things ENDLESSLY and MERCILESSLY ..... but because it is Super Bowl Mike ... it's just a few wrinkles that the man needs time to iron out?
NO .... he's the source of the wrinkles, and his XBOX Madden 2012 offensive coordinator son has now found a way to not score points with a fourth QB in less than three years ... and we know FOR CERTAIN that it is not RG3's inability or lack of talent.
But using RG3 as a receiver? Let our receiver be the QB and send our franchise QB out as a receiver? Really? Really, Kyle? Really Mike? Well, the big shocker here was not that they'd do such an asinine thing ... that's no surprise at all ... what floored me was that Mike Shanahan actually for once admitted that ... "After looking at that on film, it was a dumb thing to do, and we won't be doing that again". Really Mike .... you had to see that on film? Had to see a free safety load up and deliver a body blast to your franchise QB down field to realize it was a dumb thing to do? Most people, Mike, with an IQ larger than their egos and shoe size could have told you it was a dumb thing to do, before the game even started. But for those of us who have actually been paying attention ... we were not surprised .... because over the course of the past 2 1/2 seasons, we've seen a lot of dumb things done .... we're getting so used to it .. some of us actually are now forgetting what dumb looks like.
Sorry for the rant ... but somebody has to say it.
