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Quote:

Originally Posted by DrSpaceman (Post 80264)

I have a much more positive opinion now than I did during the preseason.

I still think he could have spent money to find a right tackle and do more for the OL though. I also think he should have kept Melvin, you can never have too many good corners and the money was there to use. And its not like this is a stellar group of corners to begin with. They are young and may be good, but not like we could afford to just pass on talent that is there

His draft this year has produced it seems two starts and long time starters, if not Pro Bowlers, in Leonard in and Nelson at the very least.

The RBs as a group are upgraded over last year

grant looks good as the #2 WR and Ebron, though I wish they would use him more, was a great signing to complement Doyle as a tight end.

Keeping Melvin would have been nice, but I don't think we could have done so for the amount the Raiders ultimately paid. I recall reading the guy was demanding multiple years at $10M each, whereas he signed with the Raiders for one year at $6.5M. Perhaps Ballard would have done that contract. Anyway, he'll be a free agent at the end of the year again. Here's what Ballard had to say about Melvin:

“I love Rashaan Melvin,” Ballard says. “I love what he stands for and how he’s gritted his way through his career. At the end of the day, we felt like Rashaan’s best fit was going to be in a system that played a lot of press coverage.”

I think Melvin basically wanted out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FatDT (Post 80267)

What I think you are confusing is the point of the criticism. Criticism doesn't mean anyone wants Ballard fired, or thinks Ballard is the worst GM, or another Ryan Grigson. It's just pointing out obvious things that you can see with your eyes.

No one wants or should want Ballard to fail. I think he has made some bad choices, along with some good ones. He is new at this and I don't think you can reasonably argue that he hasn't made mistakes along the way. Ballard himself would not argue that point.

This game showcased a few things in Ballard's favor.

- Keeping Hunt was something most people didn't agree with. Especially over Simon. Hunt has played great through 2 games, after years of doing almost nothing (especially at DE). I hope he can keep it up.

- Leonard. Looking like a fantastic pick in round 2.

- You can criticize taking a guard at #6, but you can't criticize the way Nelson has played.

- Eberflus' defense looked good against solid competition, showing why he was kept despite the shit show w/McDaniels. The no-name DL playing so well was especially a surprise.

- RBs look like good fits for what Reich wants to do.

- Ebron seems like a bargain so far.

What about my original post makes you think that I don't understand what criticism is? I didn't say anyone was calling for his head. I said almost exactly what you said - he made a lot of difficult and unpopular decisions, and lots of them seem to be working out at this (admittedly) early point. I'm just excited about it, that's all.

overall I think he has done a good job, there are certainly things to criticize, but there always are. I would like to have seen a better FA oline pickup, but thats been beat to death already.

what I like is he seems to have a plan and is sticking to it. Its not necessarliy on our Fan-timeline, but he is working toward an end.

grigson may have had a plan but deviated with our quicker-than-expected success at the beginning. He tried to go for it with a bunch of FAs and it blew up on him. Of course, having a terrible coaching staff didnt help, but technically he was responsible for that as well.

I am glad the team seems to have competent people in the right places now and we can hopefully keep trending upwards