Tiki Barber to sign with Steelers!!! Woah!

[ricardisimo]

Originally Posted by Sixburgher

If size is the only criteria, Sweed should have been an All-Pro by now.

And Sweed's been out of football for three years also, which clearly is to his advantage physically, by the same logic.

[thumper]

Originally Posted by Sixburgher

If size is the only criteria, Sweed should have been an All-Pro by now.

But Plex has proven to be everything Sweed never had: productive. And,
he stays healthy for the most part. I have heard this guy speak on several
occasions since jail, and his head is more right than it ever was. Gone is
the ego-centric, selfish 'tude. And even the old Plex was good enough -
with that 'tude - that most of his teammates liked him a lot. And the 2
biggest pushes for him initially were his two former teams, which says
a lot. Now the Jets have TWO first round WR picks of Pgh. And they are
two good ones. I wouldn't be shocked if those 2 guys became a big part
of a SB run. If the Dirty Sanchez evolves, on schedule, in his 3rd year
as most QBs do, we could be looking at the top AFC team. Of course,
it also come downs to which team is fortunate, especially on the injury
front. Right now, it is a race between Pgh, NY, NE, Indy, Balt, SD and a dark
horse.

[ricardisimo]

And yet football has proven itself to be the exact opposite of baseball, in that you cannot buy championships. That doesn't stop the likes of Jerry Jones and Dan Snyder from trying, but really, when was the last time a team bought its way to the top? New Orleans, kind of sort of with the Brees signing, that's about it. Before that Dallas and San Fran bought a lot of good players during their runs in the 90s, but these were already great teams that just boosted their greatness, mostly trading players back and forth.

New England hasn't won a title since they started making big free agency splashes (from Randy Moss onwards). Before that they were almost completely home-grown, as was/is Indy, Green Bay, the Giants, Buccaneers, Ravens, and of course us. It just doesn't seem to work in this sport, for whatever reason. I do, however, enjoy watching other teams try (and fail.)

[bornaSteelersfan]

This Tiki Barber thing is a rumor and a hoax. The guy has a fumble to TD ratio worse than Mendy or Moore. How could anyone conceive that he could help our team in any way?! I put absolutely no stock in it and would be shocked and ashamed if it happened. I would sooner try to get someone like Ricky Williams.

[Rick5895]

Originally Posted by ricardisimo

And yet football has proven itself to be the exact opposite of baseball, in that you cannot buy championships. That doesn't stop the likes of Jerry Jones and Dan Snyder from trying, but really, when was the last time a team bought its way to the top? New Orleans, kind of sort of with the Brees signing, that's about it. Before that Dallas and San Fran bought a lot of good players during their runs in the 90s, but these were already great teams that just boosted their greatness, mostly trading players back and forth.

New England hasn't won a title since they started making big free agency splashes (from Randy Moss onwards). Before that they were almost completely home-grown, as was/is Indy, Green Bay, the Giants, Buccaneers, Ravens, and of course us. It just doesn't seem to work in this sport, for whatever reason. I do, however, enjoy watching other teams try (and fail.)

Right on the money with this. In football , which is the total team sport, it's about system and team chemistry. Most NFL players are talented, but more often than not it's the system whether on offense or defense that makes them great. Teams and player personnel guys see greatness out of these guys on other teams and think they can bring that player in and get the same reward. Very few players can go anywhere and be great, Woodson did it but he's in the HOF . I am looking forward to seeing how this all might just bite the eagles , Jets and Cheatriots this season.

[thumper]

Originally Posted by Rick5895

Right on the money with this. In football , which is the total team sport, it's about system and team chemistry. Most NFL players are talented, but more often than not it's the system whether on offense or defense that makes them great. Teams and player personnel guys see greatness out of these guys on other teams and think they can bring that player in and get the same reward. Very few players can go anywhere and be great, Woodson did it but he's in the HOF . I am looking forward to seeing how this all might just bite the eagles , Jets and Cheatriots this season.

I don't know. Generally, I agree. Teams loading up with too many big
name free agents FAIL. Skins do it every year. Even when free agency
first started, the Jets were the biggest movers and shakers in FA and
they sucked. That being said, I don't feel the moves that NY, NE and
Philly made fall into this category. I feel the players they added to
the nucleus they had will in fact make them contenders. NE was
14-2 last year. And most of the production came from little known
players, and/or lightly regarded players - at one time - like Welker.
Adding Haynesworth and Chad Johnson will help them. NE will be
a factor, and when we play them, we are going to lose, because they
know how to dice our D and always have. Brady and Belichick are
Steeler killers. We _should_ take a lesson on how NY beat them,
but we won't. They will stubbornly stick to their same plan, and get
torched.

My gut says NE, NY and Philly will ALL be contenders and play off
teams. And the players they added will help them. It doesn't smell
like the way the Skins have been doing it, which is to overpay guys
past their primes. NE has proven they can take in guys with supposed
questionable traits (Dillon, Moss) and make them work. The Eagles
are good every single year and they added a boatload of legit talent.
They have a winning core. Skins never did. They never have anything
to build from, in terms of a foundation. All these teams do. That's
the difference.