Ravenslifer

Well, when you put it that way... but still, we won with Trent Dilfer. I'd say we're still in the conversation.

He may have had bad overall teams, but he's always had Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark, Demaryius Thomas, and now Wes Welker. It would be one thing if he was putting up 300+ yards and 3-4 TDs and losing shootouts in the playoffs, but the fact is he won a Superbowl throwing 4 TDs to 7 picks, and in the postseason he has 36 TDs but 22 picks - good numbers, but not GOAT numbers. Not to mention, in his postseason losses, he's played very poorly. I think that's the point - if he was playing well and the team around him wasn't, there wouldn't be this talk, but he has historically played very poorly in his postseason losses.

We won the Superbowl with Trent Dilfer. Nothing the Seahawks could do in this game would top that.

IDK - the word on him was always "struggles in the playoffs", "struggles in bad weather". Seems like that's holding up today. What I'm more interested in is how many Bronco fans and Manning fans are going to be blaming the weather.

Not for anything more than vet minimum - you hit the nail on the head when you said "if he can stay healthy". He would probably still be in St. Louis if not for all the injuries, but you're talking about a guy who's played in 15 games the last 3 seasons. We really need a dependable starting receiver, and I don't think you can count on Amendola to stay healthy.

Probably already been done, but - Myth: Flacco is not an accurate quarterback when it comes to short passes. Fact: Joe has never completed fewer than 64 percent of his passes between 1-10 yards. This year he completed 68 percent.

Looking at it another way, while completion percentage doesn't tell the whole story, in 2009 and 2010, when we had slow receivers like Heap, Mase, and Housh, and were running a lot of underneath stuff in the passing game, he finished 10th and 12th in the league in completion percentage. Even 2011, in the worst year of his career as far as completion percentage goes, he still completed 65 percent of his passes between 1-10 yards.

Gates went to the probowl with less than 1000 yards receiving twice. And Rivers' lone probowl appearance with Cameron, he threw for fewer yards, fewer TDs, a lower completion percentage, and had just one less interception than Joe had in 2010 - btw a year in which, Joe did NOT make the probowl. In Drew Brees' lone probowl appearance under Cam, the same holds true across the board except for completion percentage. These guys made the probowl with less than 3500 yards passing. Alex Smith made the pro bowl this year, and the same holds true for him. So I'd hardly use players going to the probowl as a measure of Cam Cameron's, or any coordinator's, success.

The Browns are talking to Kubiak and the Cowboys to Linehan. And I have to believe this delay in announcement means there's division among who wants whom for the job.

I'm thinking that's what it was - they interviewed 4-5 guys we know of, trimmed the list down, and now are on their second round. Kirby must have been impressive even though he was one of the last interviews.

If it was to be a promotion from within, I'd actually prefer TE coach, Wade Harmon to JIm Hostler. Think about this, Harmon has been here since Todd Heap was drafted, and lead Heap to 2 pro bowls, and the 5th most receptions, receiving yards, and 4th most receiving TDs from 2002-2010. Now think of the TEs that have been in the league during that period, and then remember that Heap did this catching passes from Jeff Blake, Anthony Wright, Chris Redman and Kyle Boller. And I would like the TEs to be featured much more prominently and creatively next season.

What I meant was he's not a starter and they are, so obviously you should pay more to keep them around - but you can find ILBs in the draft, and there are good TEs in the draft. You don't just find a returner of Jacoby's caliber every day - which to me means he'd be harder to replace. Obviously the smart move, if all 3 are asking for a contract that's about equal, respective to their values (i.e. Daryl Smith wants a starting ILB contract while Jones asks for number 3 money), is to lock up the starters and then hope for Jones, but I'm saying I'd consider signing him first depending on the asking price of the 3. I could easily see Pitta and his agent start negotiations around top 5 TE salary, and in the interim I might just decide to sign Jones if the value is right rather than risk losing both.

I hope they find a way to bring him back - he'll just be 30 this year, has a good rapport with Joe, and brings several dimensions to this football team. If the price is right, I'd say he's the second most irreplaceable free agent behind Monroe. As good as Daryl Smith and Dennis Pitta have been and will continue to be, Jacoby brings something we just can't anywhere else.

Nice catch, I completely missed that.

I don't know how other people feel, but this is exactly my issue with Hostler. Not that he's good or bad, but simply that he's a complete unknown - he could be good, he could be bad, but more importantly, I don't have any clue what his offensive philosophy is our how it would work out. Now one thing I have noticed in the past is that whenever one of our position coaches gets the DC job, generally his former position does really well the next year; so if that were to continue it would mean the receivers would have a great season next year. But they might not - Kubiak, and to a lesser extent Shannahan, are more known in terms of the kinds of things they like to do on offense, and they've proven to work. I would just feel more comfortable with a proven commodity at OC rather than taking a shot in the dark on someone who has almost no experience playcalling, and I think that's how a lot of people who would rather not see Hostler as the OC feel. Additionally, I think we need some kind of QB guru either as OC who brings in a QB coach or at the very least a competent QB coach to be brought in - if this offseason is going to be about Joe and making him the best QB he can be, then I absolutely feel he needs a teacher, and Hostler definitely won't be that. So if it is Hostler, I'd only hope they bring in a good QB coach for Joe.

Plus no Q, and no Pitta and Jacoby for a good portion of the season, starting a rookie wide receiver and a 35 year old tight end, and his star running back got hurt. It was a bad, bad offense, but I find it hard to believe even the best coaches in the NFL could have done much better.

I think he will - I think at least 6 receivers and 3 TEs will come off the board before him. He's probably the smallest of the 1st-2nd round graded receivers, and the way teams draft that will hurt him. I also think he'll run about a 4.5 40-time, which again will not make his stock rise much.

Kept around for at least a year longer than he should have been, though, and that's my fear. That they'll give Hostler a "shot" just because he's been here, when the reality of the situation is he has 1 year of experience as an OC, and that was a crummy year. He's definitely much more of a shot in the dark than young Shannahan, and if it were me, after the year that just went by, I'd want to hire a guy with a proven track record. Kyle's only 34 but has already been an OC for 5 seasons, and did pretty well in both places he was at (until RGIII got hurt). Hostler, you either look at his one year in San Fran and say he's a terrible OC, or you discount it, in which case he's basically like Caldwell, an unknown without experience at the position. Hostler, to me, is a very high risk type of hire, compared to Shannahan, and IDK if that's the route we should take after the year that was.

You're talking about the staff that kept Cam Cameron for 5 years.

You don't think Lee could do that?

You can move away from the run and still use Rice - that's what I love about Rice, he's got the ability to be a great slot receiver as well as a RB. As long as Rice gets his touches, I don't think it matters if it's a handoff or a short run.

They'd be smart to take Shanahan - the problem with Hostler is you either have to go by his one, terrible, year as OC in San Fran, or say he has no experience entirely. IDK why they'd go that route for a second consecutive season, especially with the results they had this year - admittedly a lot had to do with personnel issues, but I can't believe they saw what I saw this year and want someone who has no experience running the show again.

I bet there have been - think about this, we're defining an "interview" probably as someone who's actually been spotted around here in physical contact with the coaches. How easy is to to call or e-mal a guy to gauge his interest in the job and what his vision for this offense would be, and nobody would ever know about it unless one of the two parties blabbed.

He's not elite, but he's a solid starting receiver, better than a lot of starting receivers that have come through the league, and when paired next to a top-10 all time talent (Moss, Megatron) he does well. And I think at this point in their respective careers he's better than Marlon because he's a very crafty route runner and knows how to make plays, like of like Mase at the end of his career. I just look at where Linehan had success, and there was always at least one GOAT receiver on his team. Or to sum it up, I think Cam's a better OC than Linehan.

All that was said is that Harbs' has "a profile in mind" as to what he wants his next OC to be. No details on what that actually is.