Interesting point...

We got rid of a bunch of players from last year like Smith/Ward/Kemo/Farrior/Gay/McFadden(not that he did anything for us)...

...but we didn't get anybody that is really going to contribute significantly this season...

...and we had some major issues with pass rush, coverage, and redzone scoring last year, and what we saw yesterday might suggest that those will be the same issues as last season.

I hope I am wrong, but it looks like our team isn't going to be better than last season, and we all know how that ended.

 

The people we though was going to contribute are either hurt (Spence, DeCastro) or not starter material yet (Adams, Rainey). The backups to those you mentioned above have not shown they are better than the ones we lost. Time will tell though.

Another point, I don't think they trust Rainey just yet. He's such a small guy and one hit he would loose the ball.

 

The problem is we had so many needs and OL was #1 so we addressed that- unfortunately DD tore his MCL and Adams is still learning. Letting Hines go - aside from a team leader standpoint- was not a big deal to me. We are stacked at WR. Defensively, we lost alot of older players (Smith, Farrior) and we have the players to replace them- its just going to take some time. Replacing Gay with Lewis is a wash to me.

 

There are only so many RG IIIs to go around.

 

While the written on the wall doesn't suggest that we are rebiulding rather than reloading in a sense we are rebuilding because we have alot of new/different pieces and a new offensive coordinator to boot. This team has alot of talent and depth and we lost a few inspiring pieces to the puzzle, but theres still alot of veterans on this team and they need to step up big time and adjust and get everyone clicking BEN being the one. We are going to be there PLAYOFFS that is we just need that first win to boost the confedence level and that comes this week against the JETS.