To Jake Haters

[rayzor]

franchise QB >>>> 2nd RB everytime.

farve would have been a bad idea. flacco, though....you better believe that would have been a wiser choice. wouldn't matter cause fox would still have jake starting and all these clowns defending jake/fox saying that if flacco would be starting if he was actually better.

here's a list of RBs available after stewart was drafted (the bolded ones i would have been fine with)...

felix jones (rd. 1/p. 22)

rashard mendenhall (1/23)

chris johnson (1/24)

matt forte (2)

ray rice (2)

kevin smith (3)

jamaal charles (3)

steve slaton (3)

tashard choice (4)

ryan torain (5)

tim hightower (5)

marcus thomas (5)

thomas brown (6)

jalen parmele (6)

xavier oman (6)

mike hart (6)

lex hilliard (6)

chauncey washington (7)

justin forsett (7)

corey boyd (7)

allen patrick (7)

am i happy we have stewart? yeah. do i think we would have been fine or better off had we waited to get a RB and went with a QB? absolutely.

think about this....we had an aging QB who had just come off a season ending injury in which his elbow had to be rebuilt in a surgery that really hadn't been done on a starting QB. we had no idea how well he would do. so what do we do? we avoid drafting a QB. why?

winning > chemistry. that "chemistry" is what has this whole team married to the idea that jake is their man regardless of how poorly he does. btw...where is that famous chemistry between jake and smith on the field this year?

[SCP]

lol Jeff Otah isn't an "elite" RT.

The hell you say. He will be a pro bowler soon.

[Sandy Claws]

franchise QB >>>> 2nd RB everytime.

farve would have been a bad idea. flacco, though....you better believe that would have been a wiser choice. wouldn't matter cause fox would still have jake starting and all these clowns defending jake/fox saying that if flacco would be starting if he was actually better.

here's a list of RBs available after stewart was drafted (the bolded ones i would have been fine with)...

felix jones (rd. 1/p. 22)

rashard mendenhall (1/23)

chris johnson (1/24)

matt forte (2)

ray rice (2)

kevin smith (3)

jamaal charles (3)

steve slaton (3)

tashard choice (4)

ryan torain (5)

tim hightower (5)

marcus thomas (5)

thomas brown (6)

jalen parmele (6)

xavier oman (6)

mike hart (6)

lex hilliard (6)

chauncey washington (7)

justin forsett (7)

corey boyd (7)

allen patrick (7)

am i happy we have stewart? yeah. do i think we would have been fine or better off had we waited to get a RB and went with a QB? absolutely.

think about this....we had an aging QB who had just come off a season ending injury in which his elbow had to be rebuilt in a surgery that really hadn't been done on a starting QB. we had no idea how well he would do. so what do we do? we avoid drafting a QB. why?

winning > chemistry. that "chemistry" is what has this whole team married to the idea that jake is their man regardless of how poorly he does. btw...where is that famous chemistry between jake and smith on the field this year?

Well, if nothing else, you certainly have this hind-sight stuff down.

[Cyberjag]

To hell with Flacco, why didn't we draft Brady when we had the chance?

Prior to that draft, Jake was a question mark because of his surgery. But doctors said he was looking good, he was giving positive feedback, and in the only three games he had played in during 2008 he posted 100+ ratings. And at the time, Matt Moore still looked like he could develop into a quality starter in this league.

On the other hand, Foster obviously wasn't the answer and Williams was still viewed largely as a third down back. Please don't rewrite history and pretend that everyone but the coaches knew that Williams would be as good as he turned out--even he acknowledges that he turned the corner over that offseason.

On the line we had one legitimate tackle, but Wharton was a better fit at guard. Given the depth at the position of quality players, it seemed a natural fit to take one. I think it was a higher need than running back.

When Stewart was available at 13, it made a ton of sense to pounce. No one would think otherwise had Williams not turned it on--if that was the case then Stewart would be our number one back right now. He only slipped down as far as he did because of his toe injury, and we had some good knowledge about that.

Then you get the Otah pick. You can fault Hurney for trading up to get him if you want, but it looks like a pretty solid choice. Much more solid than this past years' trade to get Brown.

Hindsight makes for some good drafting, but it isn't fair. If you're going to play armchair GM, please at least try to do it in the context of what our team needs were at the time.

[Carolinafan320]

jake delhomme no longer has the skill to be a starting QB in the NFL. he also makes terrible decisions when under pressure and his passing cant get any worse..he misses wide open receivers quite often..also ive seen high school QB's with better arm strength..

START MATT MOORE

[rayzor]

Well, if nothing else, you certainly have this hind-sight stuff down.

sho nuff.

just a look at who would have been available at RB later had we gone for flacco and why it would have been a good idea to go after a QB.

panthers were making some big gambles in that draft, biggest one was that jake would be better and we didn't need to draft a QB.

[Sam Mills Fan]

The correct move to have made in the '08 draft would have been to draft Flacco and Otah in the first round and picked Steve Slaton or Tashard Choice in the third or fourth round. A team with Joe Flacco at quarterback with DeAngelo Williams and Steve Slaton as the two top backs would have been infinitely better than a team with Jake Delhomme at quarterback with DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart as the two top backs. And I say that as a big Stewart fan. Alternatively, if we could have traded back into the second round, we could have picked up Jonathan Stewart, Jeff Otah, AND Chad Henne. That's yet another better combination than what we ultimately went with.

[Sam Mills Fan]

Also, why in the hell would it have been a bad idea to get Favre? The man has 21 touchdowns to THREE interceptions, his team is 9-1, and he's a legitimate MVP candidate this year. That seems like it would have been a slight upgrade over Jake.

[rayzor]

To hell with Flacco, why didn't we draft Brady when we had the chance?

Prior to that draft, Jake was a question mark because of his surgery. But doctors said he was looking good, he was giving positive feedback, and in the only three games he had played in during 2008 he posted 100+ ratings. And at the time, Matt Moore still looked like he could develop into a quality starter in this league.

On the other hand, Foster obviously wasn't the answer and Williams was still viewed largely as a third down back. Please don't rewrite history and pretend that everyone but the coaches knew that Williams would be as good as he turned out--even he acknowledges that he turned the corner over that offseason.

On the line we had one legitimate tackle, but Wharton was a better fit at guard. Given the depth at the position of quality players, it seemed a natural fit to take one. I think it was a higher need than running back.

When Stewart was available at 13, it made a ton of sense to pounce. No one would think otherwise had Williams not turned it on--if that was the case then Stewart would be our number one back right now. He only slipped down as far as he did because of his toe injury, and we had some good knowledge about that.

Then you get the Otah pick. You can fault Hurney for trading up to get him if you want, but it looks like a pretty solid choice. Much more solid than this past years' trade to get Brown.

Hindsight makes for some good drafting, but it isn't fair. If you're going to play armchair GM, please at least try to do it in the context of what our team needs were at the time.

i was. QB was a legit concern. we didn't know how jake's arm would be in the long term. a procedure like that had only bee done twice on QBs before and neither of them were in positions to really test it out. the results were unknown. you don't go into an unknown unprepared.

hindsight is completely fair when judging someone's performance. they have jobs in which big and very expensive decisions are made. when reviewing a job performance you look back at what they decided on and look at what could have been done better. when looking at the way they have handled the QB situation the past several years, the mistakes they have made should be taken into consideration. it is arguably the most important position on the team and i would have to judge their handling of it as poor. picking up carr was a mistake. not starting moore earlier was a mistake. not drafting a QB to groom for the job was a mistake. keeping jake in all this year was a mistake. not making a decision to see what they have in moore is a mistake. picking up jay feeley was a mistake. IR'ing josh mccown was a mistake. guaranteeing jake $20mil (or whatever) was a mistake. franchising peppers was a mistake.

had those gambles/decisions paid off then no problem. since they didn't they need to be held accountable.

using hindsight when judging someone's performance is completely fair and done all the time. if you can look at decisions that were made and celebrate/reward them then you you can do the same with mistakes made in the past.

[rayzor]

Also, why in the hell would it have been a bad idea to get Favre? The man has 21 touchdowns to THREE interceptions, his team is 9-1, and he's a legitimate MVP candidate this year. That seems like it would have been a slight upgrade over Jake.

he's no long term solution and he isn't too far from breaking down. i don't trust him to finish the season.

he's be better than what we have right now...there's no question about that. still when i look at the situation i'm wanting someone for the long haul.

[Sandy Claws]

just a look at who would have been available at RB later had we gone for flacco and why it would have been a good idea to go after a QB.

panthers were making some big gambles in that draft, biggest one was that jake would be better and we didn't need to draft a QB.

It doesn't matter who we now know would have been available. It's easy to sit here now and look back at the draft and point out players who would have been better picks. Big gambles? I don't think so. The big gamble would have been picking the QB who couldn't beat out Tyler Palko, and in fact didn't even want to compete with him for the spot, so he transferred to a Div AA school.

[Sam Mills Fan]

he's no long term solution and he isn't too far from breaking down. i don't trust him to finish the season.

he's be better than what we have right now...there's no question about that. still when i look at the situation i'm wanting someone for the long haul.

Jake was responsible for us losing in the playoffs last season. If we had Favre on last year's team, I think we could be defending Super Bowl champions right now instead of a team that hasn't won a playoff game since January 2006.

[rayzor]

It doesn't matter who we now know would have been available. It's easy to sit here now and look back at the draft and point out players who would have been better picks. Big gambles? I don't think so. The big gamble would have been picking the QB who couldn't beat out Tyler Palko, and in fact didn't even want to compete with him for the spot, so he transferred to a Div AA school.

you go where you have a chance to play.

his situaion at pit wasn't too far off from what we have here. a QB who had some success early on got entrenched as the starter and the coaching staff was too caught up in their starting QB to notice what they had sitting behind him. it was pitt's mistake. flacco did what he had to to showcase his talent and props to the ravens for noticing what he had and taking a risk on him.

i think we did ok but it could have been better.

[rayzor]

Jake was responsible for us losing in the playoffs last season. If we had Favre on last year's team, I think we could be defending Super Bowl champions right now instead of a team that hasn't won a playoff game since January 2006.

farve broke down late in the season and by the time playoffs came around was pretty much useless.

we would be in the same boat.