Harry Hog Football - Was it all Archuletta's fault????- From HT in Las Vegas...

Was it all Archuletta's fault????- From HT in Las Vegas...

Thursday, 22 March 2007

The poor guy never had a chance. Now don't get me wrong. I thought it was a bad signing the minute we made it, but not because the man can't play ball. And We were right, it was a total bust, beyond bust because he was payed so much not just to suck, but then to sit. He was constantly burned and embarrassed, allowing deep completion after deep completion. All year our defense was up and down.

       First off I don't want lay the blame at his feet for the failures of the defense. The fate of our entire defense rested squarely on the shoulders of Sean Springs. And that was a very heavy weight considering that for the first nine games, those started by Brunell, we scored over twenty points only three times (twice of those reaching only 22). And much worse we managed only three offensive points on three occasions, all three against our own damn division rivals. When he was in we only allowed the Saints ten points, and we held the Panthers to thirteen. With him in the game we would at least be able to compete, but still when you may not score ten? That's a pretty heavy load: try to hold your opponents under three and a half points? No wonder his shoulder broke by the end of the season. He's not Atlas. All that being said, when he did go down Carlos Rogers and Kenny Wright were doomed. Left on their own a good number two corner and a more than adequate third were forced to start as the top two. They could have used a little back up from a cover safety, and that was Archuletta's job. Needless to repeat he failed at it miserably. But who's fault was that?
     Initially we'd like to blame it on him, I mean for Christ's sake he was the one that sucked, how can you blame someone else for him flailing like a fool at receivers leaving him in their dust? But we must look at others, Greg Williams mostly from what I've read. Adam Archuletta was a pro-bowler for the Rams just two years ago, does everyone really think he just forgot how to play football? that's ridiculous. Greg Williams pushed for and signed the wrong player. Adam is a great run stopper, he's great at flying around the field, a bit free wheeling and causing big plays. So disruptive that he managed to amass a great number of picks even many season as well as put up huge tackle numbers. Great player to sign right? Of course, you'd have to be retarded not to want to get that useful a player. The problem is we already have Sean Taylor. Taylor is that same player, except younger and more athletic. And of course we didn't plan on replacing Taylor. But instead of recognizing the useless waste of money having to two huge checks going to two guys who play the same exact position, we signed him and moved him over to cover safety.

       That was THE big mistake. He had never been used as a cover safety, and it was something he wasn't prepared to do. Although great as a weapon, at pure defense he is a huge liability. From what I hear they realized this mistake before the beginning of the season even, but they were forced to live with it because of the injury to Prealou. When Springs was in, the deficiency was not so bad that it could not be covered for, but when our back-ups needed help it was not there. They had two rabid, playmaking big hitters and not a soul trained at strong, reliable coverage. Hell, the more competent of the two was Sean Taylor, and that is not all what he is known for.

       We lost Ryan Clark as compensation for Randel El I believe, and I know we let Walt Harris go so we could have another "wanna be Santana Moss" and Harris could get to the Pro- Bowl. I like the signing of Randel El because even though when acting strictly as a receiver he's a Moss knock-off, he brought so much more. He brought a trick-play-passing threat, as well as an elite return specialist. Most importantly he brought a ring. On a team where many have seen the play-offs only once, I think it was important to bring in someone with that immediate clout, emanating from the trophy secured on their finger. However though I hold no ill will towards him, Lloyd was almost as bad a signing as Adam.

       I think we must be honest, although not a promising as Sean Taylor, Archuletta has always been a solid, pro-bowl level player. I think Greg Williams should apologize to everyone involved, and they should all do the same for letting it happen. In one off-season we wasted money on a third small receiver, a second huge name big play safety, and of course on Furia (we needed a solid Don Warren style blocking tight-end, we already have one of the top receiving TE's in the league in Chris Cooley) who only played what, two or three games anyway? That's a lot of bad judgment.

     Still, even after I've said all of that in his defense, Adam Archuletta received a ludicrise amount of money and sucked. Badly. The very least he could have done was not complain through-out the season, even to the press by the end. He knew we already had Sean Taylor, and he knew that he would therefore be asked to do much more work covering receivers than he ever had. He knew all of that and he still accepted the richest safety contract in the league for ten millions dollars a year. No excuses, no whining; he should have played better, and if it was beyond his comfort zone he should have worked harder. If he wanted to play football and if what he knew that what would be required of him were deeds he thought to be beyond his capabilities, he should have signed with someone else.
                                                                                                               -HT-
                                                                                                              Hunter Terry
                                                                                                              Las Vegas, NV

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written by Danny, March 23, 2007

We went a little insane with the signings last year. It seems everytime we have success, we screw it up in the offseason by replacing all the good players, and throwing in a ton of overpaid busts.