Bretsky mentions one other thing that has bugged me since preseason. The decision NOT to bring back Mercedes. For me it has nothing to do with his talent on the field at this point, but you brought in 2 rookie TEs (3 with sims later) and you don't want a pros pro showing them how its done? Douglas relentlessly studied film. Didn't bother with trash talk, just let his play talk. Was a willing tackler. Everything you want the young guys to emulate....thats who we traded.

I didn't like Gutes from the start, but couldn't argue with on field success. Now I'm starting to think he doesn't know shit about building a locker room. I won't slam the door on him just yet, but the best players on our teams were TT guys (for all you TT bashers). As the TT talent left Gutes spent a ton of money to stay competitive while the young talent didn't come through. As we lost them one by one, Bulaga, Linsley, Adams, Rodgers and soon Jones and Clark we are getting worse results. Gutes ran us against the realistic stretching of the cap to keep winning, but the cupboards were bare.

So here we are, restocking. It had to happen and it will define Gutes. I like a lot of the young talent. I think we have a shot next year to be much better. But without the Rasuls and Mercedes around to teach them, it could go a totally different way.