I watched the game a couple of times and then came here and saw all the comments. I then reviewed the game again to see why my take was so drastically different than the CZ comments but I still saw what I saw in the first reviews.
Offenses don't game plan in the preseason. The answer to the question 'Where is that new scheme that they promised?" is that you won't know until the real games start.
Notice that AZ's offense didn't do much either. Defenses are often ahead of offenses at this time of year.
AZ played their starters on defense for most of the 1st half. It was late in the 2nd quarter when Gallup had Patrick Peterson beaten but the throw was a little off.
Another sidenote: Players can't go on PUP if they didn't start training camp on PUP.
Why should a player's punt return ability affect their ability to make the team as a position player?
Lenoir returned most of the punts in the preseason last year but never touched one in the regular season since he was on the practice squad. He is either good enough to make the team at WR or not. He is unlikely to be active on gameday to start the season regardless.
We saw the same issue when they traded for Tavon Austin. People complained about his fumbling problems which were all on punt returns. The Cowboys traded for him because the OC wanted him, not because the ST coach wanted him.
Tight Ends
I didn't see a problem with the TEs. Jarwin had a fumble but otherwise they appeared to perform their jobs. They all did OK blocking. Jarwin blocked better than I expected.
There might be problems with the TEs BUT this game was not proof of it.
They didn't get a lot of pass targets but they were open several times when the ball didn't go to them.
They made Rico the primary read several times late in the game which is why he had more pass targets than the others.
Rico obviously has some talent; however, I've never seen anybody run some of the routes that he runs. Actually I have seen them but the players were in the 2nd grade.
Rico blocked OK but did end up blocking nobody on a couple of plays which likely means he made a mental error.
OLine
Fleming was a little shaky but the QBs held the ball too long on many snaps. Fleming looked good on many run plays.
They probably should have played Green at OG and let somebody else get reps at OT. I don't know if it's mental or physical but he is not the same player that started 2 games at LT in 2016 with no problems.
Edwards looked OK. He tends to help the RT too much even when La'el was playing which makes the gap between him and the Center vulnerable. Maybe the coaches have over-emphasized that with him.
Looney: OK
C-Will: OK
At one point I noticed that #67 was doing OK at as the 2nd team Center. Immediately after I had that thought, he got injured...
The 2nd/3rd string OLines looked ugly as a group but several of the players did some good things. I've definitely seen years where the bottom of the OLine roster players were worse.
I would give a guy like #63 Campos the snaps that Green has been getting.
Running Backs
DJackson looks good. His burst on runs and catches is nice. He does not have a lot of elusiveness but should be a good 3rd RB. In the long run he is probably more talented than Rod Smith.
Rod Smith
He makes the most of his ability. His blocking is way ahead of the other backups. He is likely at his peak whereas the DJackson and Bo might have more long term upside.
The cause of his fumble might be the easiest fix ever for coaches.
Coach: Rod, come look in this mirror.
RS: OK.
Coach: Do you see Zeke when you look in the mirror?
RS: No.
Coach: Look in this mirror everyday. If you don't see Zeke, then don't hurdle defenders.
RS: OK.
Bo
I feel like he has more talent than what shows up. His receiving has been good and he runs well for his size; however, he runs to high and hesitates too much to be considered a power back. He had a big whiff on a block but that happens with rookies. He has made a couple of good blocks in the previous games. His issues seem like something that could be drastically improved with coaching. Yes, he had great coaching in college but college coaches generally don't try to change an already good player's style.
Olawale
Do they need a FB? He is more of a runner/receiver than most FBs and they already have big RBs.
QBs
I was OK with Rush. He obviously had some issues but he didn't seem rattled and kept trying to make a play instead of just dumping it off for 2 yards like many young QBs do once they've had adversity in a game.
I hate that out route to the sideline. It's high risk for a short gain. I definitely don't like it with a small WR. It's not really the same route that we often see Beasley run. Above all else, I hate that route with Patrick Peterson as the CB. The fault was on the WR (and OC) not the QB, IMO. Often QBs are late on that throw but Rush threw it early, the WR just over-ran it a bit and didn't box out.
The over-throw to Beasley was a miss by the QB. I think he threw it as if Beasley was just running a clean go route instead of the fake that Beasley used to get by the CB. With no delay in the route for the fake, the ball is likely on target. The QB is still at fault but just pointing out why I think he was off on the throw.
Both Rush and White had some good throws into traffic.
On the INT in the endzone, I think Gallup was too vertical in his route. If he goes more horizontal it is a catch.
White is still interesting to me. His head is just spinning as a rookie. He is missing throws he made in college. He is a QB that needs good blocking and the 3rd team OL of any team in preseason games rarely provides great pass protection. He does hold the ball too long.
WRs
Many WRs vary their speed, but most do it by limiting their speed before their break and then exploding out of the break. Gallup does it when running straight. It is subtle and hard to describe. He manages to create extra separation just before the ball arrives. He has 4.45 speed but plays even faster due to nuanced route running.
Hurns is a veteran. Don't worry about what he does in preseason games. He has been good in practice.
The stop and go by Beasley was awesome. That route used his best skill of stop-start quickness to make him a deep threat despite just average deep speed. They'll pick and choose when to call the deeper routes for him. The primary goal is to keep defenses from sitting on his bread and butter short routes.
I said just last week that part of the reason the Cowboys have not used more pick plays is because the WRs they've had were not good at executing them. I had specifucally mentioned that TWill struggled to execute them in the past. We saw that happen in this game with TWill getting penalized after a terrible attempt at a pick play.
On the flip-side we saw a great avoidance of getting picked by CB Lewis (more on that later).
Without game planning it's difficult to judge WRs. We won't really know about guys like Tavon Austin until the real games start.
DE
Gregory awesome. Anybody that thinks he can't play the run didn't watch him in college. On a pound for pound basis he was as good of a run defender in college as you'll ever see. Of the top tier outside pass rushers in his draft class, he was the best run defender.
Think about how a lightweight weight chair or small 2x4 can be wedged under a door knob making it very difficult to force that door open. The force required to open the door is large relative to the weight of the chair or 2x4. That's basically how Randy Gregory was able to be a strong run defender in college against OTs that outweighed him by 75 to 100 pounds. It a similar concept on his ability to bull rush OTs.
Having said the above, in Marinelli's scheme, DLinemen will look silly on occasion against the run. When the DE has the "go" to abandon run contain and shoot the inside gap as a pass rusher, they tend to get blown up if it turns out to be a run play. Gregory's light weight may exacerbate that issue; however, on those plays the LBs have responsibility to cover for the DE in regards to run contain. It is a very key issue in the Marinelli scheme. If they get gashed by a run just inside or outside the OT, it is usually due to a miscommunication on this issue.
Taco looked good and was strong against the run.
Armstrong had good effort to play the run. He looked a bit tired to me which is not uncommon at this point in training camp.
Tapper looked OK. For a speed guy he still has good size and can play the run. He does not have the bend that Armstrong has displayed but his speed offsets that to an extent.
DT
Woods is solid.
Price can hold his ground against double teams. He just can't gain ground against a double like Woods can do on occasion. Price does move really well for a 1tech and gets out wide or down field which is a big requirement for Marinelli.
Ealy played primarily DT. He looks huge for a guy that signed as a DE. He looks like he weighs about 300. He is definitely bigger than Crawford. Ealy got good push rushing from the DT spot and held up OK against the run. I don't see much quickness at his current size. He has ability if he were in peak condition but I think he is lazy.
Jihad Ward - What happened? He barely played. I thought he might be injured but he came back out late in the game after just playing a few snaps earlier. Early in camp he looked good, especially in the 1-on-1 drills. He looked decent in PS game 1. He has interesting physical ability. He is listed at 6-5, 290 but he moves around in the open field like a LB.
#68 has played a lot of snaps. He was the second 3tech after Crawford in this game. He is a very high effort player but I'll be shocked if he makes the team. He is not overly quick and gets blown up by single blocking in the run game. In the 1-on-1 drills that I've seen he gives great effort but has not been close to winning against an OLineman that will make the 53.
Linebackers
Somebody really posted that they think Hitchens was better than Vander Esch. Come on people...
I was a fan of Hitchens from day 1 and he was a great 4th round pick. They would have been in bad shape without him some years. Having said that, Hitchens was a limited player. They never seemed comfortable with him in coverage. In 2016 they often used Justin Durant in coverage situations over Hitchens.
Joe Thomas - Speaking of Hitchens, I find the NFL to be a bit fickle in regards to the fate of players. Thomas is better in coverage than Hitchens. I'll give Hitchens a slight edge as a run defender but the difference is small. In free agency Hitchens got 9M per year and Thomas got less than 2M per.
Jaylon still looks a bit awkward on some movements. On one play he was coming towards the line and needed to stop and get back downfield. It looked awkward. Fortunately I think he can avoid the movements that are awkward for him on most snaps. He is big and fast. His understanding of playing LB in the NFL is light years ahead of the early part of last season. He does still appear to make some mental mistakes but nothing extreme.
March-Lillard might be having the best training camp of any backup type player. He has been all over the place (in a good way). He is not big but that has not been a significant issue for him.
Covington was injured for a while but played some last week and more this week. He looks decent. He has good size and his speed running down field looked really good. He was running right with some Safeties. I would like to see him make the roster.
Cornerback
Awuzie is great.
Byron Jones looks really good at CB. The Kris Richard scheme/technique is a perfect fit for him.
Lewis looked really good. Like we saw last year, he is a great tackler. His coverage was very good. He managed to avoid a pick play without losing a step. He loved playing a trail technique in college and that lends itself to playing against pick plays. He basically uses the WR to shield him from the pick. On the flip-side, that same play where he avoided the pick also showed why Kris Richard likes CBs with more length. Lewis had tight coverage and stopped the WR for a short gain but he couldn't make a play to prevent the catch because he lacks the length to reach around. We've seen Byron Jones reach around and bat the ball away on similar plays.
Brown didn't draw any flags. It has been common for CBs that came to Seattle to take some time to adjust to the Kris Richard kick-step technique. I think that both Brown and Lewis have needed time to adjust to it.
Duke Thomas is smallish but again looked decent.
White still lacks consistency. He'll look good here and there but terrible at other times.
Safety
Frazier looked decent until he got injured.
Heath was OK.
#23 Robinson played SS. He played FS in college. He is big but he didn't play with much umpf. Some LBs were out-running him when they were all chasing a RB downfield.
#20 The veteran Huff took some terrible angles from the FS position.
#40 Had several good plays but a couple of bad ones. I need to review him again.
The biggest enigmas for me are Jihad Ward and Rico.
I thought Ward would play a lot of snaps regardless of his status but he didn't play much. They can keep up to 4 players on the practice squad that have 2 accrued NFL seasons. I can't imagine that they think Ward would clear waivers. Some team will sign a player just because he was a 2nd round pick two years ago.
