Crown Royal
Insulin Beware
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Hi everyone - sorry I haven't been around in a long while. I have been working 70-80 hour weeks because of Katrina and Rita, with the rest of my very precious free time spent sleeping and with my closer friends, who have become much more important to me lately (for instance - I have to record the game tomorrow so that I might spend the day with her ).
Anyhow - I want to give a few thoughts on what has happened thus far, because the opportunity for me to actually chime in has become few and far between:
1) OL - You know, I thought the strength of our line would be run blocking, not pass blocking. It ends up being the reverse. Wow - what a bittersweet surprise. I mean, I expected Drew to be on his rear about 10 more times by now, with preseason to judge - not Julius.
2) Julius - Seen a lot of flack going his way - I think it is unfounded. In my humble opinion, after watching each game, I feel he is doing the best that can be expected from any RB. He is getting just about every yard the line is giving him, and taking a few more. The problems is that the mauler of a line we have isn't giving him great holes. Also, for some reason (perhaps that teams know Parcells won't go Pass First in offense) teams are still playing the run, stacking the box, etc. If we are to win tomorrow, it will be with Drew throwing outside and downfield. We are going to be the opposite of most teams - we need to pass to run the ball. Anyhow, I digress - leave Jones alone - he is doing fine.
3) Drew B. - I stand by my original opinions on Drew. He has done a very nice job to this point, and I hope that he continues. But, as is obvious to everyone, it is time to lean on him some more. He is going to have to move from very, very good busdriver to focal point for a while. I don't mind down games - every QB has those. He isn't going to throw 3 TDs, 400 yards everygame. But I want him to consistently play as he has been - good decisions, productive plays, offensive leader. We have (at least) 12 games to go - he has proved to me he has the ability, no show me the consistency.
4) Our WRs are playing very well. Ha I say to all those who freaked out about them. And, BTW - isn't Crayton fun to watch?
5) Ware - So, he's human after all. I've seen a thread here and there about how he might be a bust, and he had better start producing, yadayadayada. That's why TC can suck - a player gets hyped to God level, and when his humanity is exposed, people freak. Ware has consistently gotten better in each game, so I am still happy with him. His problems are he tries to make the big play too many times in the running game, taking the inside and letting the RB bounce out. And he has shown that he covers like a LBer, not like Deion. Go figure.
6) The rest of the rookies - Canty is very good, Spears is good, I am overall happy with our rookies. I hope that Burnett's hip doesn't plague him for his career, and goes away, because I'd like to see him on the field. Barber - still wondering about him. I still think he has more ability than Thompson (who I have never been impressed with), but he is having lots of trouble mentally.
7) Keith Davis - I was on his bandwagon, and I still support my decision. I know he hasn't made plays, and has given some up - but that was to be expected. There is alearning curve there, and anyone who thought different was crazy. Now, if I am seeing the same mistakes by midseason, I will begin to get antsy. But I am still letting the jury decide here.
8) Defense as a whole - Lots and lots of complaining about a defense that has a lot of rookies and we all knew would take a while to come together. But has anyone noticed that the two games we have lost we allowed the least points? And the Raiders aren't a pushover offense, either. But one thing about that Raiders game that seriously disturbed me - we are often pretty good about stopping the run - but they owned us. I am of the old school mentality that if you can't stop the run, you can't stop anything.
9) Closing - I am not completely dissatisfied with this season. If you have read my post, you have seen one theme - anyone who expected great things from this team early on was living in lala land. This club is built to gel later in the season - we all knew there would be growing pains. 2-2 isn't half bad (and, as much as the Washington game hurt - if not for 2 VERY FREAK PLAYS, we would be 3-1). We aren't half as bad as we were last year, and there is a lot of football left. So come off the cliff, grab a Crown Royal on the rocks, and enjoy the game tomorrow.
-CR
Anyhow - I want to give a few thoughts on what has happened thus far, because the opportunity for me to actually chime in has become few and far between:
1) OL - You know, I thought the strength of our line would be run blocking, not pass blocking. It ends up being the reverse. Wow - what a bittersweet surprise. I mean, I expected Drew to be on his rear about 10 more times by now, with preseason to judge - not Julius.
2) Julius - Seen a lot of flack going his way - I think it is unfounded. In my humble opinion, after watching each game, I feel he is doing the best that can be expected from any RB. He is getting just about every yard the line is giving him, and taking a few more. The problems is that the mauler of a line we have isn't giving him great holes. Also, for some reason (perhaps that teams know Parcells won't go Pass First in offense) teams are still playing the run, stacking the box, etc. If we are to win tomorrow, it will be with Drew throwing outside and downfield. We are going to be the opposite of most teams - we need to pass to run the ball. Anyhow, I digress - leave Jones alone - he is doing fine.
3) Drew B. - I stand by my original opinions on Drew. He has done a very nice job to this point, and I hope that he continues. But, as is obvious to everyone, it is time to lean on him some more. He is going to have to move from very, very good busdriver to focal point for a while. I don't mind down games - every QB has those. He isn't going to throw 3 TDs, 400 yards everygame. But I want him to consistently play as he has been - good decisions, productive plays, offensive leader. We have (at least) 12 games to go - he has proved to me he has the ability, no show me the consistency.
4) Our WRs are playing very well. Ha I say to all those who freaked out about them. And, BTW - isn't Crayton fun to watch?
5) Ware - So, he's human after all. I've seen a thread here and there about how he might be a bust, and he had better start producing, yadayadayada. That's why TC can suck - a player gets hyped to God level, and when his humanity is exposed, people freak. Ware has consistently gotten better in each game, so I am still happy with him. His problems are he tries to make the big play too many times in the running game, taking the inside and letting the RB bounce out. And he has shown that he covers like a LBer, not like Deion. Go figure.
6) The rest of the rookies - Canty is very good, Spears is good, I am overall happy with our rookies. I hope that Burnett's hip doesn't plague him for his career, and goes away, because I'd like to see him on the field. Barber - still wondering about him. I still think he has more ability than Thompson (who I have never been impressed with), but he is having lots of trouble mentally.
7) Keith Davis - I was on his bandwagon, and I still support my decision. I know he hasn't made plays, and has given some up - but that was to be expected. There is alearning curve there, and anyone who thought different was crazy. Now, if I am seeing the same mistakes by midseason, I will begin to get antsy. But I am still letting the jury decide here.
8) Defense as a whole - Lots and lots of complaining about a defense that has a lot of rookies and we all knew would take a while to come together. But has anyone noticed that the two games we have lost we allowed the least points? And the Raiders aren't a pushover offense, either. But one thing about that Raiders game that seriously disturbed me - we are often pretty good about stopping the run - but they owned us. I am of the old school mentality that if you can't stop the run, you can't stop anything.
9) Closing - I am not completely dissatisfied with this season. If you have read my post, you have seen one theme - anyone who expected great things from this team early on was living in lala land. This club is built to gel later in the season - we all knew there would be growing pains. 2-2 isn't half bad (and, as much as the Washington game hurt - if not for 2 VERY FREAK PLAYS, we would be 3-1). We aren't half as bad as we were last year, and there is a lot of football left. So come off the cliff, grab a Crown Royal on the rocks, and enjoy the game tomorrow.
-CR