With Jason Garrett at the helm? Not fucking likely.

Stacked isn't the right word. They do have Major Wright, Zack Bowman, Craig Steltz (good on special teams), Tim Jennings is only 26.

I've watched Jennings for years and believe me: there's a reason the Colts let him go.

The Colts sign almost all their cornerbacks to 4-year rookie deals, then let them go and draft someone else, its what they've done for years. Regardless, I watch the Colts a fair amount and I don't remember thinking anything (good or bad) about Tim Jennings, so you may be right. But players sometimes get better with a change of scenery, and at 26 he's entering his prime, so its natural that he'd be better now. All that aside, he's really stepped up the last few games.

Honestly I wouldn't mind if most of the players I mentioned got dumped. My main contention to what you said was that Lovie wasn't the problem and they should dump Urlacher and Briggs. It's not all Lovie's fault but as I said his coaching style just isn't working anymore.

in response to having a convo with a classmate today about Cutler. he says essentially "yeah, he's not great but he's still a top 15 QB"... and i thought, "wait, really?". so i made my list to see. this isnt a "best so far this season" thing (obviously a few have had injuries or some bad games, etc). more of a "if everything is equal and everyone is healthy, who would i want for the next 6 months as my QB" list.

1. Peyton Manning
2. Drew Brees
3. Tom Brady
--
4. Philip Rivers
5. Aaron Rodgers
6. Ben Roethlisberger
7. Eli Manning
8. Michael Vick
--
9. Tony Romo
10. Matt Schaub
11. Bret Favre
12. Matt Ryan
13. Joe Flacco
14. Carson Palmer
15. Vince Young
--
16. David Garrard
17. Kyle Orton
18. Jay Cutler

idk idk

All right I'll concede that I wouldn't just "dump" Urlacher or Briggs, but I also wouldn't extend them unless it was for a bargain price. I also don't think Lovie is the problem. He needs better players to work with (like in 2006) and he'll be fine. Not having a healthy/good defensive line since 2006 and no superstar players in your secondary will kill your success. The biggest sin, however, are the numerous "win-now" actions the management has pulled over the years. That includes signing a washed up Orlando Pace, signing Julius Peppers, trading two first round picks for Cutler, and trading for Gaines Adams (tragic end to that). The team hasn't even drafted all that poorly; the problem is they never have any picks.

Couldn't agree more with the bold (though Peppers is still a great sign IMO, and maybe Cutler but they did give up too much).

And I agree Lovie isn't the problem, but I don't think he's part of the solution. Tommie Harris was one of the best defensive players in the league a few years ago, and now he's barely playing half the snaps. Obviously he needs to play better, but its on the coach to get the best out of his players (look at Shanahan with Haynesworth, who is playing well now), and part of that is knowing how good your players really are, and Lovie has always thought the Bears were way more talented than they are. Look at the Vikings and Cowboys (and Lions to a lesser extent), ultra-talented, but shit records. Then look at the a team like the Bucs, not too much talent, but the coach knows their limitations and how to get them to play well.

Also, I think one of the big problem's is the "bend but don't break" defense. It works against young teams like the Bills and Panthers cause they shoot themselves in the foot (Packers game too), but it's set up for failure against good, experienced quarterbacks (Seattle game is a good example), cause they won't make the same mistakes.

Good list, at this point I'd put Rivers in the first tier, he's outperforming everyone this year.

Also, personally I'd take Ryan over Favre, mainly for consistency's sake (might move Young up to behind Ryan). And I'd put Palmer at the bottom, his season is being saved by TO... I just think he's lost most of what he used to have.

Also, why Orton so low? I'd put him up with Ryan and Flacco.

romo is SO overrated.

Romo is too low (should be ahead of Manning and especially Vick who the only justification you can have for him is performance so far this season). But the biggest issue with your list is Carson Palmer's position. He is pretty much done from what I've seen this year. Even with all the receiver talent he has he's stunk up the joint (garbage time stats hide this). I'd put him behind 16-18. Vince is probably too low too (and Favre is too high based on his age and beaten upness).

I think Lovie is part of the problem because he just sucks at managing games. He coaches with his gut not with his head.

No he really isn't. In fact there was a strong contingent of Dallas fans before he went out with an injury who bitched constantly about him and how he sucked and was overrated. That tends to be the reaction around a lot of the country but it is emphatically false. Romo has played very well for the past 3 years and pretty well over the course of his career. Indeed he's almost certainly played better than Roethlisburger but Roethlisburger has that elusive "winning QB" quality.

Well they went to the Super Bowl with him. I've said many times before in here I don't think the head coach really matters too much. The pool of possible head coaches is small enough when you get to the NFL that there really aren't any head coaches that aren't extremely intelligent and know the game inside and out. Head coach success and failure can almost always simply be traced to the quality of players he's working with.

that and he plays for dallas

Speaking of America's former team, can we make the weekly "America's Game" shit a former feature of Fox Sundays?