A New Year - A New Hope

Happy New Year!

With our Redskins out of the post season, there's not much to do in Hogland but look forward to next season, and hope to hell the Eagles and Giants get eliminated quickly.

With things seeming to have settled on the Head Coach front, Jim Zorn does get to stay put after all, we can now start picking apart what went wrong, who needs to be replaced and what positions definitely need some fresh blood.

It's my opinion, and has been all season, that we seriously need to upgrade our aging offensive and defensive lines. These guys are great, they play their hardest, but age is catching up to them. Pete Kendall, Jon Jansen, Andre Carter, Casey Rabach, Ray Thomas, Jason Taylor....these guys are in their early to mid 30's. If they were situational players, I'd say keep 'em, but as starters going against younger, faster and more aggressive players for four quarters a week, it's just not a good situation.

I remember the days of the Over The Hill Gang, and I remember they did great things, but I also remember the downward spiral they found themselves in as those guys got hurt, tired and left the team. We need a youth movement, we need guys that haven't accomplished much yet, someone who's hungry every snap of every game.

I look for upgrades on both sides of the ball where the guys put their hands in the dirt and lock horns. There's no doubt that we need to shore up some secondary positions, develop some talent in the defensive backfield, but I think our most pressing issue is protecting OUR quarterback and getting after opponents' quarterbacks.

I say this with the utmost respect for the players we have and for what they've done, but they are getting just a little long in the tooth. Bugel needs some players that he can coach from the ground up, and put in HIS style of line play.

Vinny, however, is already talking about drafting skill positions on offense. Like we need anymore receivers and tight ends or running backs??? Come on, unless someone just falls into your lap, get the players we NEED Vinny....quit collecting names and start collecting TALENT, NECESSARY TALENT!!!!