[Ice]

My first thought… what running game? I can see why the coaches are not thrilled with our RB’s. Ugh.

McCown showed some great awareness in his TD pass. Watch that drive and you’ll be pretty happy. Not ‘QB of the future’ happy, but ‘good enough to get us some wins’ happy.

Manziel wasn’t bad or good. That’s not good for us. If he’s special, he needs to start showing it on the field. I congratulate him on being our most productive RB though.

If you recorded the game last night (it wasn’t on live here in FL) it is a great opportunity to see Cameron Erving in action. He played for Joe Thomas at LT yesterday. He did a pretty good job.

Gilbert IMO is in danger of losing his job. I’m not talking about the 3rd CB job (which I think he’s already lost), I’m talking about him getting cut if he doesn’t improve.

Replacing Kosar in the booth with Solomon Wilcotts is a huge insult. Kosar being Kosar is what I’ve loved about the broadcasts. Wilcotts is a Bengals fan, was a Bengals player, and has no business here. Go screw up player’s names somewhere else.

Damn it is good to have Mack and Gibson back.

[durakbane]

I have to wait until NFL network re-broadcast it…in a couple days.

I’ve heard the defense didn’t look great, the RBs were worse. The WRs and QBs were ok and that rookie TE looks pretty good.

But, as we all know, we have to be very careful when we evaluate these pre-season games. Key goals should be: being injury free, watching how well they execute the game plan (getting the plays off on time, being in position, and etc.), and some basic fundamentals like crisp passes, lack of dropped balls, good tackling, and etc.

I know I am speaking to the choir on that, but I am one that tends to get excited watching the team (or players) do well in the pre-season then get sucker punched during the regular season.

[soup]

It’s preseason – from what I read 1st string oline was in for 1 series. RB’s are fine. When your scheme calls for 4 yard pass after 4 yard pass your run game will suffer naturally.

Freedom!!!

[Ice]

I disagree, I actually learned a lot from that game. There were plenty of interesting 1 on 1 matchups that we could use to gauge player progress. For example, Gilbert got absolutely roasted by Pierre Garcon more than once. One of those passes Gilbert wasn’t within 10 yards of Garcon, the player he was supposed to be covering 1 on 1. Garcon dropped the pass but you can bet that when the games matter those WR’s won’t drop those easy TD’s. Another time Gilbert got beat and instead of persuing and making the play he decided to pull up and look at the refs begging for an offensive interference call that wasn’t going to come.

On the good side, Erving looked comfortable at LT and many times was left on an island and held off the defender. He’s not Joe Thomas, but this guy can play anywhere and you can bet he’s gonna be someone out for a starting job and make our line better.

I also liked watching Shelton. He has that Samoan motor that just doesn’t quit. Soup, you are really gonna like him. Other high motor guys are Solomon and Hartline. Both of them seem to instinctively know the right place to be, and both of them play like their jobs depend on it.

[soup]

I’m sure I’ll love Shelton, but I still believe pre-season is garbage. Maybe I’m just fed up with the dysfunction of this “team.” I said it when we hired him – Pettine has never lead a defense that has stopped the run. Our pass D looks great…..because teams run all over us and don’t pass. I see more of the same this year. 45 passes of the 4 yard variety. 15 runs switching between 3 RB’s to avoid any sort of rhythm and 12 PPG scored. I’ll watch all (or most) of the regular season games. When we are getting killed at the end I’ll be switching earlier than I used to – and finding a game worth watching.

All that said – Farmer and Pettine better stay for 3 more years before their firing – though my opinion is that they’ll be fired after this season of patheticness and the process of cutting all recent draft picks for vets, re-drafting the same positions over and over – will continue the cycle of suck.

In short, watching pre-season won’t change the fact we didn’t bother to get a QB.

Freedom!!!

[durakbane]

Finally got to watch the game.

I did NOT watch past the first half…beyond the 1st and 2nd stringers at that point.

1. I am NOT worried about our run defense. Shelton looked very good which just adds to, what I believe, was an under-performing line last year. Over-aggressive LBs is the biggest risk and I’d be alright with an overly aggressive front seven. Experience and veteran leadership will help temper aggressiveness. Where I am more worried is our LBs in support of the run defense. If we are banking on Robertson, Mingo, or Orchard in our run defense, we are in trouble. That’s where our d-line can help. Shelton, Taylor, Bryant, and Starks should be able to help mitigate the weakness of our LB in run support.

2. Manziel looked good. He’s not the starter and shouldn’t be, but he looked poised and wasn’t ‘run first.’ He was pass first. Again, he should not be the starter, but he wasn’t the disaster that JFF was. Let’s hope that he stays the course.

3. I am NOT worried about the run offense. We dumped our starting o-line early (Thomas didn’t even play)…I saw RBs falling forward which to me is individual effort. Our running game will really become more effective as the ‘grind of the game’ wears a defense down in the 3rd and 4th quarter.

4. Hartline looked good…which made the QBs look good. I love the idea of a good possession receiver that can help move the sticks. Give a QB time (good O-line), a respectable running game, and a dependable possession received, and I will give you an offense that chews up the clock and keeps teams in the game. Hartline is that possession receiver.

5. Defilppo will be the right fit. We don’t have enough talent on offense to play the game ‘our way’ and expect the other team to try and stop us. Our offense needs to do enough to keep things close. I know that is typically a statement made for defenses, but I think our defense will be good enough to win games as long as our offense doesn’t lose them.

6. Gilbert is perfect….as a back-up. It might seem wrong, but I think his rookie season was a completely throw away. He is firmly the 3rd (and hopefully) the 4th CB. He needs to be groomed more. Haden and Williams is a great 1-2. “The other Williams” is perfect as a 3. As long as we do not need Gilbert at 1 or 2, and I think he will evolve into a top CB for this team. Much like Manziel, it is all about development rather than expectation or hype.

7. For the first time in a long time, we are going to cut some players that other teams will want. I am specifically talking about our D-Line. As stated earlier, it under-performed last year. The best thing you can do for an under-performing position, is add competition. Shelton, Starks, and Cooper do that.

That’s my opinion after watching one-half of the first pre-season game.

[Author]

Posts