I think the WRs may sort of be the problem. I know Bruce, because of his supposedly great route running, should be pretty decent at creating separation, even in his advanced age, however the remaining WRs have to prove they can do the same. Battle and Johnson, as you point out, have tended to disappear at times. A WR only disappears if the QB doesn’t see them, they’re not in the right place at the right time, or if they don’t create enough separation. I think Johnson and Battle are problem falling victim to the latter two more than the first. O’Sullivan, for all the poor decisions he’s made, has had plenty of time to find WRs. He’s just not finding any he deems are open enough (or where they’re supposed to be).

I don’t know how good Williams’ route running is or how good he is at creating separation, but showing interest in him should be taken very carefully. It makes little sense to get into a bidding war for him. I would definitely throw my hat in the ring, but I’m not sure how much he’d be worth.

DeBartolo had money to dump. He didn’t have to deal with all the penalties and ramifications that showed up 5 to 7 years later. The Yorks spent the better part of their regime so far correcting the issues borne by DeBartolo and Co., so it’s only fair to wait and see where they from now before judging them. I think they’ve learned quite a bit about running a team over the past 5 years or so, and it kind of shows. The front office is finally stable. The owners aren’t meddling with the day-to-day football activities. The salary cap situation is one of the best in the NFL (not to mention the constant manipulation of it to adjust next year’s cap figure).

You can accuse the Yorks of being newbies or inexperienced, but you can’t accuse them of not being bold or not trying. They hired a first time head coach and gave him autonomy. That autonomy has resulted in a fully restructured front office and a slightly better on-the-field product. Who’s to say their next choice won’t improve upon that? Not endorsing the idea, but can you imagine if the Yorks lured Holmgren in to run the front office (much like the Dolphins did with Parcells)?

I think the defensive line can be solid enough to be picked up by the secondary and linebackers if they weren’t on the field so much. Fixing the offensive line is definitely a must, but there is very little the team can do mid-season to do that. I think the interior of the line is a little weak (not physically, but in terms of play), and perhaps McCloughan’s theory that good guards are easy to come by is a starting to show some holes.