That's a red herring which really doesn't have anything to do with the discussion at hand. The goal for every team out there is to field the best team possible on both sides of the ball. Okay, so every team has problems. What can we do to address ours?
The following are our opponents by week and their rushing offense rank from last season: 9, 1, 16, 4, 5, 31 (tied), 13, 8, 19, 31 (tied), 24, 1, 29, 14, 16, 4. You're right, every team is different. But, in all, there are a few teams on this list which haven't faced significant turnover in their running game or O-Line since last year. Furthermore, we're facing stiff tests right off the bat with five of our first nine opponents featuring a running game that was ranked in the top ten in 2009 (this list includes Minnesota who ranked #13 but clearly has a better running game than their 13th place ranking would indicate). For this reason we should be doing all we can to address the DE situation. Maybe Gerard Warren is the answer for one of those DE slots. But the fact of the matter is that Warren has played in a two gap system before and the results were not ideal. Is Brace the answer? Damione Lewis didn't seem very stout against the run against the Saints either, which might be one of the reasons why Brace spent some time with the first stringers both in mini-camp and today as well. Wright is good against the pass, but was somewhat of a liability against the run last season. So is the answer on staff? Maybe. If it isn't, I would hope that the team is looking outside of their current staff and on the phone with any team that will listen in order to acquire a DE that won't be a liability against the run.
Exactly. If we have liabilities in the trenches on the defensive side of the ball, the better rushing teams in the league are going to be able to sustain long drives which will then keep the best QB in the league off the field for longer periods of time. That won't be good.
All that speed won't matter for anything, though, if the defensive line is getting pushed backward.
If the defense is giving up huge gains and sustained drives off the edges, we're going to need that quarterback and all of those weapons to go on long, sustained drives themselves in order to keep that defense off of the field. That's generally not an ingrediant for a Super Bowl win. On the other hand, if we establish a D-Line that's as stingy against the run as some of our other D-Lines have been in past years to go along with that offense, we're an instant Super Bowl contender.
Thursday night is just a small sample size, though. The times in which Gerard Warren was able to make his presence known in the backfield came on plays in which blocking assignments were missed. Other than that, he looked okay. If the team feels that he or the other DE spot can be upgraded, I certainly hope that they look into ways of doing so.