Well, most of us are pleased that we finally accomplished a non-losing season with an arguably strong finish to what looked like a bust of a injury plagued season. With all of that said, there plenty of holes to fill in our roster. First and foremost, I would say the secondary. Dunta Robinson, our pro bowl CB (and arguably the best player on our team), suffered a major injury this year and it's not certain to what capacity he'll returen...if he ever returns. His absence was noticable, as Quinn Gray and the back-up Jaguars lit up our secondary for 4 TDs and 300 yards through the air. Fred Bennett, rookie CB out of South Carolina, showed signs of promise...but ultimately will need more time on the field to determine whether or not he'll be a cornerstone of our defense. Ultimately, a CB/SS would be our biggest defensive concern at the moment. Watching other teams pick apart our secondary is painful to watch, especially when it's Joey Harrington and the Falcons. Good news on defense would be that DeMeco Ryans continues to be a beast (I just bought a liberty white Ryans jersey by the way) and Mario Williams has proven to be more valuable a player than either Reggie Bush or Vince Young, meaning that we actually made a good 1st round draft selection for a chance. With that said, an OLB to compliment DeMeco and a DE to compliment Mario would be much welcomed. I would also say that we could use a new DC, as Smith has done little to inspire any confidence. However, that's highly unlikely to happen.
Offensively speaking, we are in better shape. Matt Schaub showed moments of greatness and moments of disaster, as all young QBs do. Fortunately, in light his injury, back Sage Rosenfels came out ready to play ball and, as some would argue, actually outplayed Schaub. Our largest offensive concern, in my opinion would be the offensive line. Particularly the everything from the center to the LT. McKinney, while a decent center, is getting into his later years and will be returning from a major injury, I'm not too excited about counting on him. Flanagan, McKinney's backup at Center, more or less played himself in the dog house...definitely not an option next year if you ask me. Our LT tackle, Ephraim Salaam, while exceeding exceptionally low expectations, still put out a substandard season which, depending on how you look at it, took our starting QB out for the season. Watching Matt get blindsided at least once every game was painful. I would say that Chester Pitts, our current LG, is sort of our token average player who is mainly kept around because he is a great team leader and person on and off the field. However, despite being a great guy, he is hardly starter quality. Then again, he was too dreadful at LT, but I would like to see us fill that position with a first round draft pick as I am not to keen on the idea of just praying to God that Charles Spencer (LT, drafted in the 3rd Round of the 2006 draft out of Pittsburgh) returns from a mass array on injuries and just compensating for him while he is absent. We tried that with Tony Boselli, didn't work. Out side of our offensive line, however, the offense actually didn't look that bad. Andre Johnson continues to live up to his reputation as our best offensive player, Kevin Walter really stepped to become a clutch sort of #2 receiver who will go over the middle and make tough catches and take hard hits. Andre Davis, wellll...two kickoffs returned for TDs in one game. I'll let that speak for it's self. Even Ron Dayne, with a little help from mystery man Darius Walker (who posted impressive number in limited playing time), began to put up numbers that would imply that our running game actually exists.
On the whole, we've improved...just not enough. We are in the toughest division in the NFL, and good enough will not be good enough if we are to ever make it to the playoffs.
