I agree RW has missed a few gimmes this season, but that happens to the best of them. Turns out it's hard to complete passes against the top 1/10th of the top1% of defensive football players.

I think Russ is a very good QB, but he's also still very young and should continue to improve. His injuries were a big part of why he got sacked so much this year. On the one hand, we can argue he needs to learn to get rid of the ball faster when things go wrong, but on the other, we've seen him make a lot of miraculous plays after somehow escaping a hard pass rush, so I'm not so sure we really want him to change that. I think he just needs to get fully healthy again.

There's talk of trading Sherman? Really? Sure, he has a big mouth, and he gives up a play now and then, but for the most part, QB's go out of their way to avoid throwing at him, and that's the ultimate testament to how good he is. I think the Hawks corners are all really good (the fact nobody throws at Sherman puts a lot of heat on the guy on the other side, and Shead made a lot more plays than he gave up). What makes them (and the rest of the defense) look great is the play of the starting safeties.

Without either ET or KC on the field, the defense goes from elite to mediocre, particularly in pass coverage. When those guys are both out there, one of them is in on almost every play, because they both have incredible ball hawking skills and quickness.

Carroll's defense is highly dependent on great safety play, and that explains why he and Schneider spend so much money there. I would argue they need to look for a solid backup for those guys (one of which is likely to be hurt at any given time, considering how they play) in the draft, so we don't experience such a dramatic dropoff when one of them can't play. If there are two good safeties on the field, it makes everyone else better. Can anyone who watched the defense just before Earl got hurt and after, or who has watched them play without Kam, argue differently?

Bummer we're sitting around, arguing what went wrong, instead of getting ready for another NFC Championship game....