CBS Sports: Top Impact Rookies for 2012 NFL Season

[NoVaSkins21]

So this Brinson guy winds up bead DEAD WRONG and he probably wouldn't own up to it if given the opportunity. Claiborne was barely a blip compared to RG3, but I'll take that #6 impact right now.

[moondog]

I have never understood this perspective... sure the Colts were 2 -14 last year...but have people forgotten how good they were the previous 10 years?? Was there a sudden loss of all that talent just because Manning went down and they didn't know how to win without him? Look, Manning (Peyton that is) is without question one of the all-time greats. And that undoubtedly had an impact on the team. But they were a 10, 14, 12, and 13 win team going back to 2007. They were a perennial playoff team!. We were bottom of NFC east every year for the past 6 years except for 2007 when we were 3rd!

Just how were we the better team for RGIII to step into?

They were old and tired man. The majority of starters on that team were guys who'd been around with the Peyton Manning Colts for a long time. Manning was carrying a team devoid of talent and yes, he is that good. Your argument claims exactly that. With Peyton, it was a double digit win team every year. Take him away and the talent was poor enough to culminate in the worst record in the league. On top of that, they cut like half of their starters. Brackett, Clark and Addai among others.

I'm not trying to start an argument over who is the better QB or get all of our guys riled up about RGIII. I'm stating how good this QB class and the entire class in general was. But what I can promise you is that almost to a man, everyone on HERE agreed we had the better team coming in. We had a very solid defense last year that everyone thought would be the foundation of the team. We were all very confident in our running game and felt our receivers were a huge upgrade from last year.

The fact that our defense was not the strong suit and that our running game was very successful not due to guys named Helu or even Royster was very surprising. But I'm simply stating that on paper, almost everyone here agreed the Redskins were the better team and I still think we are. I'm simply giving the Colts and Luck props for getting to 11 wins.

You ask how were we the better team for RGIII to step into? I say just look at all the position groups man, it's not rocket science.

QB: Luck vs. RGIII - no question who has more talent but the results they could produce on the field were close enough that it was always a debate who should be taken first. I wanted RGIII and think we would have taken him #1. If you poled every team in the league and got an honest opinion, it would probably be a pretty close split who they would have taken #1. Toss up.

RB: Vick Ballard, Delone Carter & Mewelde Moore vs. Helu, Royster and Morris. Even before preseason when none of us knew what we had in Morris, this one is not even close. Advantage Redskins.

WR: Reggie Wayne, Austin Collie, T.Y. Hilton & Donnie Avery vs. Garcon, Morgan, Moss & Hankerson. This one is a little closer and Reggie Wayne is still a stud. But no one in preseason was taking their receivers over ours and I would still take our corps any day. Much better run blockers and outside of Hilton, our guys are much more explosive after the catch and down the field. Advantage Redskins.

TE: Coby Fleener & Dwayne Allen vs. Fred Davis & Logan Paulson. Preseason I would have had a hard time not liking us here with Davis, but the combined talent and depth of Fleener and Allen is huge. I think this one is definitely an advantage for the Colts. Advantage Colts.

OL: Anthony Costanzo, Joe Reitz, Samson Satele, Mike McGlynn & Winston Justice vs. Williams, Lichtensteiger, Montgomery, Chester & Polumbus. Neither O-line struck fear into offenses when thinking about it before the season. Williams is by far the best on either team. Coming into the season, Montgomery had a pretty poor year last season, Lichtensteiger was coming off a serious injury and Polumbus was and still is a big question mark. Obviously looking back, Lichtensteiger proved to be very solid and Montgomery had a Pro-Bowl caliber year. But coming in, I'd say this is close to a toss up, perhaps slight advantage Redskins given Trent Williams and how we closed out last year with 5 straight 100 yard rushers (rookies to boot) in our last 5 games.

Less Detail but here's defense:

Cory Redding, Antonio Johnson and Clifton Geathers at Dline. Robert Mathis, Jerrell Freeman, Kevin Connor and Dwight Freeney at LB'er. Vontae Davis, Tom Zbikowski, Antoine Bethea and Darius Butler in the secondary.

Our front 7 was a huge strength last year, probably the biggest strength of our entire team. The only difference makers they had up front in Freeney and Mathis both changed to OLB in a 3-4 and I don't think anyone bought them at those positions. Vontae Davis is a stud but other than that, their safeties, much like ours, are nothing to get excited about and who the hell is Darius Butler? We were also expecting Jackson and Meriweather to be our starters at safety but even without them, I'd take our defense over there's any day going into the season.

So please explain to me how there is much, if any, argument about how we weren't the better team to step into? We won more than twice as many games last with John Beck and Grossman and were much more competitive in the games we lost. This is a no brainer man. I think we were the better team looking at it coming into the season and I still think we're the better team now. But I give a lot of credit to the Colts FO and their players for getting it turned around so quickly.

[Rex Tomb]

BWHAHAHA - about the only "impact" Claiborne will be making is on his couch cushions!