Time for this franchise to turn around and win a Super Bowl.

Chuck Oliver asked Coach Plank straight out on the GF Coaches Show last night what the deal was, and I can't quote what Coach said, but basically it sounded like it was a matter of defensive scheme and what they were trying to do at each position, combined with the rash of DB injuries.

Now for conjecture and/or reading between the lines, I think they also really like what Frank Trentadue has shown them. They want a DB at the New Jack Swing LB spot, which apparently was supposed to be Willie Gary with Milligan and Crocker at DB, and then moving Eric over to Mac, but Trentadue was really bringing the wood and was a better bull rusher from the inside than Johnson is just based on physics. Also Trentadue is a veteran Mack LB, so he doesn't have the learning curve EJ is faced with, since the Mac position purpose is significantly different.

So they wind up with a guy who is really athletic and they love having on the team, but with no good spot at which to stick him. With the active roster limit being what it is you couldn't afford to dress him as a special teams guy, needing as many DBs as possible and having one-way guys both at Mac LB and FB. Heck, they're playing the backup QB on kick coverage! (Which Plank also took credit for on the radio last night saying he was surprisingly aggressive in camp for a QB - sounds to me like a guy who wants to get on the field any way he can. I mean how often do you have an unnecessary roughness penalty on a quarterback?? That was awesome!!  )

Coach absolutely gushed over Johnson when Chuck asked, so it sure doesn't sound like it's a behavior/personality problem at all, but Coach did seem very emphatically interested in trying to get him on the field this week. He stopped short of commiting to it, but said something to the effect that he intended to do "everything I can" to get him on the field this week, so I wouldn't be at all surprised to see #9 out there.

Now where is another question altogether.



"I could go and have a suite and watch the Atlanta Falcons or the Georgia Force play or anything else. But I'm the kind of guy, if I'm going to go there, I'm going to complain and be unhappy about the way the team's playing. So I'd rather own the damn thing and try to fix it. Even if I can't, I'll try to make it better. I thought it would be more fun and I thought I could add more value in that way."

-Arthur Blank