Do we need upgrades at wide receiver?

Notice the biggest issue our receivers have had is the lack of seperation. I think this and Brunell's arm go together to explain our anemic pass offense. These guys couldn't get open enough for Brunell's weak ass arm to ever get the ball in there. I thnk Ramsey will help this out as corners and safeties will learn pretty quick that they can't just hang back off of guys and jump the ball before it gets there like they were doing with Brunell(or would havge done if Brunell ever threw at them). Ramsey will start pushing some balls in tight spaces(or try to) and this will make corners and safties play a tighter style to accomodate the quciker balls which will actually create some more seperation as playing tight is a feast or famine situation. We are going to have one game where we bust out and everything changes. Thus ending the thought of ever using Brunell again.

Good point. The speration issue early in the season may have as much to do with the QB as the WR. How many Brunell passes longer than 20 yards were even attempted, much less completed? If the routes are all 10 yard in's, there isn't much chance to blow off the coverage. And with Brunell's demonstrated arm strength, were any teams concerned with a deep ball?

Now that we have a QB who has deep range, the playcalling should (fingers crossed) adjust, sending CB's and safeties downfield, and opening running lanes and mid-range passes up.

Now that we have a QB who has deep range, the playcalling should (fingers crossed) adjust, sending CB's and safeties downfield, and opening running lanes and mid-range passes up.

What I am now worried the most about is Joe's willingness to allow Ramsey to let it fly. Ramsey will need to do this to open up the secondary a bit but if our play calling is anything like last Sunday I may as well be the QB for this team. Those hitches WILL NOT work against the Steelers. A week of preparing for them means the first one we throw gets taken to the house by the CB. What would be money is to run a little pump and chuck on our first pass play.

Lineup Coles, Gardner and Jacobs in the bunch on the left with Coles out wide. On snap have Gardner go into straight up blocking and have Jacobs sell big time on the block. Ramsey can pump to coles on a certain count as Jacobs releases on a fly. He'll be wide open. This WILL WORK. We're talking 80 yard toucdown. They'll be so over-playing the hitches that all three corners and the safeties will be in swarming towards coles on the hitch.

Ok, so now that we finally have Brunell on the bench, we're questioning and criticizing the WR's after ONE full game with Ramsey??? Without a doubt there have been way too many drops, but give it time. Brunells accuracy was for shit, and they've had just one week of work to adjust back to Ramsey's right-handed, strong-armed throwing style. I'm certainly not trying to make excuses for the drops, but a little patience please!!!

Jacobs: Seems he is our current #3 which i think makes him probably the most talented #3 in the league.

Hate to nitpick here, but Antwaan Randle El and Brandon Stokley are miles ahead of Taylor Jacobs as talented #3 WRs go. And really, Thrash sees more time at the #3 spot than Jacobs does.

Jacobs needs much more playing time before we can use his name in any sentence containing the words "best _____ in the league."

Ok, so now that we finally have Brunell on the bench, we're questioning and criticizing the WR's after ONE full game with Ramsey??? ... I'm certainly not trying to make excuses for the drops, but a little patience please!!!

After 10 games, please forgive us if our patience has worn a bit thin.

Plus, there has been criticism of our wide receivers long before Ramsey began playing. Gardner's drops, McCants' inconsistency and immaturity, Coles with injury issues and playing hurt, and Jacobs' inability to crack the starting lineup have been regular topics around here.

It's certainly nothing new.

After 10 games, please forgive us if our patience has worn a bit thin.

Plus, there has been criticism of our wide receivers long before Ramsey began playing. Gardner's drops, McCants' inconsistency and immaturity, Coles with injury issues and playing hurt, and Jacobs' inability to crack the starting lineup have been regular topics around here.

It's certainly nothing new.

I understand, but it seems that now since the QB switch has been made, and Ramsey played...ummm...efficiently (which Brunell failed to do), the focus of the passing game issues (on the Warpath) has been turned to the WR's. Of course there are, and have been issues there, but now there are multiple threads about them, whereas before, it seemed like 90% of the focus was on Brunell's shortcomings and what Ramsey could do.
We have a good group of wide receivers, but they have been struggling, as has the ENTIRE OFFENSE from the play calling on down. Yeah, Portis is pushing 1,000 yards, but TWO rushing TD's after 10 games?!? Come on! It's all of them....but that does not mean they don't have the talent and potential to turn it around and start playing well.

still weve had 9 games of a qb that cudnt hit the side of a barn...

still weve had 9 games of a qb that cudnt hit the side of a barn...

True dat!

I understand, but it seems that now since the QB switch has been made, and Ramsey played...ummm...efficiently (which Brunell failed to do), the focus of the passing game issues (on the Warpath) has been turned to the WR's. Of course there are, and have been issues there, but now there are multiple threads about them, whereas before, it seemed like 90% of the focus was on Brunell's shortcomings and what Ramsey could do.
We have a good group of wide receivers, but they have been struggling, as has the ENTIRE OFFENSE from the play calling on down. Yeah, Portis is pushing 1,000 yards, but TWO rushing TD's after 10 games?!? Come on! It's all of them....but that does not mean they don't have the talent and potential to turn it around and start playing well.

I hear ya, dude. Yes, nobody on offense is safe from criticism. And I agree with you, as mundane as the passing game was against the Eagles, Ramsey was still 1000 times better than Brunell. Ramsey's completion percentage, 21 for 34, is something Brunell couldn't do in 5 games -- and that was with multiple drops from wideouts and running backs.

You're also correct about playcalling. I heard the Eagles were something like 23rd in the NFL against the run. Yet we had a grand total of 51 yards on 22 rushes. I hate to admit that Joe Gibbs called a bad game, but I've never seen him ignore such an obvious weak spot in an opponent and fail to exploit it.

The wideouts are simply another facet of an incompetent, buffoon-like offense that just happens to be the focus of all the bitching this week.

Hmmmm, Ward has an 85.1% completion rate where as both Coles and Gardner are in the 40% range for completions.

Just so you know, those stats are misleading. Those stats also represent QB ACCURACY. Hines Ward's & Co.'s catch percentages are representative of their QB.

Considering how much we've assailed Brunell (who started 9 of 10 games) and Ramsey for their accuracy (who collectively have the worst completion percentage in the league for starters), you can't reference the percentage caught as an indication of the WR's hands.

Roethlisberger has a 69% completion percentage whereas Burnell had a 49% completion percentage. That says it all.