xwalker
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I've only been through it twice at this point; therefore, these are more initial impressions than absolute opinions, if that makes sense.
With these young players I'm looking for good plays and not that worried about mistakes at this point. Young players will make less mistakes once they are surrounded by veterans.
I'm going to do this one by memory with no reference back to the roster so there will be a few names I can't remember.
Rico - He looks like the real deal physically. I was impressed with his blocking. He has excellent power to block once he has his hands on the defender. His issue is that he'll occasionally over commit to one side and the defender will juke to the other side. That's just a matter of getting a lot more reps. He runs really well in the open field for a guy his size and he looked good catching the ball. He needs as many reps as he can get.
Tapper - Very quick/fast. He is very raw as a 4-3 DE. He did stutter-step back to the inside a time or two, but generally, like many young pass rushers, he was steered past the pocket. He has to learn when to plant his foot and turn the corner to the inside. He looked good against the run. He needs as many reps as he can get. Again, his speed is really impressive.
Taco - Smooth, gliding athlete with excellent length (tall with long arms). He was double-teamed a few times. He had the OT beat cleanly on one play but the RB was there to cut him off. He used a spin move that got close a few times. He was good against the run on the snaps that I recall. People that think he is Tyrone Crawford type DE are sadly mistaken. He is way more athletic that Crawford. He has much better balance than a guy like Tapper. He needs as many reps as he can get.
Neal (DT) - He got a lot of penetration into the backfield. He has a very stubby build, listed at 6-0, 298.
Carroll (DT, 6-3, 300) - He has some similarities to Neal. Good quickness for a 300 pound man. He did get out of position and lose the leverage battle down by the goal line, but that was a technique issue.
Ash (DT) - He played a lot of snaps and is a Very Large Human. He might be the biggest guy on the team. He rarely got penetration so he's likely not a Marinelli type 1-tech. He does move well when pursuing down the line and can hold his ground. He spent to much effort hand fighting and not enough just leaning his big body into the OL. I would like to have seen him when AZ was at the one yard line.
Byron Bell (RG) - He struggled with Robert Nkemdiche, but then again La'el also had his hands full with Nkemdiche. Bell seemed OK against other defenders.
Cooper (LG) - He looked good, but we'll need to see him against a higher level of competition. He seems to be moving really well.
La'el (RT) - He looked good. Very powerful as expected. He does need to learn that many running plays require precise timing and spacing more than brute force. He tends to over-focus on beating the #$#% out of defenders. It is delightful to see a RT with power after years of Doug Free and his extreme lack of power.
Smith (RB) - I'm not sure what to make of this player. I've seen many young RBs look good in the preseason and then do nothing in the regular season. I do think he is the type of utility player they would like as the 3rd RB on game day because of his special teams ability, but I don't think they would ever want him to play a lot of snaps at RB. He's more high-cut (long-legs) than most RBs.
Keith Smith (FB) - He has carved out a nice role for himself with hard work and scheme knowledge. He is a good utility player which is something the Garrett era Cowboys really like.
Cleary (LT) - He struggled at times. I expected a little better.
Skipper (OG, RT) - He seems more like a RT than OG to me, but he looked OK in both roles. I think he might be more talented than Cleary but obviously Cleary has had a couple of years of NFL coaching which puts him ahead at this minute. They'll have to break Skipper of holding because he would have been called for it multiple times if this was a regular season game. He tends to hold after the play has passed by which is totally unnecessary. His height does not seem to be a problem as he plays with decent amount of bend.
Looney (OC) - He looked good. He's a good backup OC, IMO.
#61 (OC) - Looked OK. Seemed to snap the ball OK and know assignments. Probably too small.
#65 (RG) - Looked decent with some upside. Besides the number, his physical build also reminds me of Leary.
Demontre Moore (DE) - Looked decent. You can see some talent there. Other than character issues, I think he is a guy that would like to free lance from the scheme which is something Marinelli won't tolerate. Moore played some from a standing position which is not something Marinelli has done much in the past.
Ivie - He didn't do much but I didn't see anything terrible either. I can see that he has a decent ability to shed blocks and move down the line against the run.
Wilson (LB) - He was aggressive but made some mistakes. He let himself be trapped inside on outside runs a couple of times; although, a DB might have had ultimate outside contain responsibility on that TD run.
Awuzie (CB) - The physical ability stands out to me. He has a very sold build. He had some ups and downs but it's basically chaos when most of the defense is 1st/2nd year players. People are silly to criticize him for batting down a pass instead of intercepting it.
Wilber (LB) - I've always thought his biggest issue was being soft. He has some physical ability, but has always been a bit passive. This year he seems very chippy both in the game and in practice. Maybe he figured out that he has been too soft. He's a serviceable SLB and top ST player.
White (CB) - He looked really good on some plays. I think he can be a decent CB as long as they keep him matched up on the bigger WRs and avoid having him on Desean Jackson type guys with extreme lateral agility.
Woods (S) - I didn't notice him much either way, but Safety is the hardest position to review on the broadcast footage. He does look a bit smallish.
Byron Jones (S) - I noticed him make many good plays. There was a play that I initially thought he screwed up, but after review I think the screw-up was on another player. Jones can really run and he's not afraid to tackle.
#35 (S) - Had a couple or really solid tackles. No way to know in this type of game where he is in terms of scheme knowledge or instincts.
Andy Jones (WR) - Looked solid. It's obvious that he's had time in the scheme and NFL coaching as compared to the rookies. He gave good effort in blocking also.
Noah Brown (WR) - He looked a bit lost at times. I need to go back to focus on him a bit more. He has a very solid build and seems to run fairly well.
McFadden (RB) - He needs space to operate which he didn't get much of with the 3rd string OL.
Morris (RB) - He looks like he can still run the ball OK. Not spectacular but reliable. If Zeke missed time they would probably prefer him over Smith or some other young RB, but on normal games days with Zeke and McFadden as 1 and 2, they probably prefer to have a young RB on the 46 man game day roster.
Hillman (RB) - I saw a flash or two but I didn't focus on him. He looked bigger than his listed size.
Moore (QB) - He looked OK to me. For a backup QB, I prefer a guy that knows the scheme to a guy with better physical ability that doesn't know the scheme.
Other (QB) - I've seen worse. He can run fairly well.
Brown (CB) - Looked fine. He took a chance on knocking down a pass and missed but it was on a crossing route where there are many defenders behind him to clean it up.
Brice Butler (WR) - He clearly has size and speed but I still don't really trust him. Something just seems off about him. I expect some big plays and some big disappointments from him.
Other TEs (Not Rico) - Meh. Nothing stood out to me but I also didn't notice any significant problems.
#56 (DE) - He flashed a couple of times. I can't remember for certain, but I think he might have rushed from a standing position a few times. Moore (#58) definitely rushed from a standing position.
#78 (OL) - I remember his snaps at LT; although, he might have played some at OG also. He is big but he looks more like a Guard than Tackle to me. He has a sloppy build and his technique/footwork seems a bit sloppy.
LBs (not mentioned above) - Very hard to tell. Too many young players made this game somewhat chaos and the LBs were right in the middle of the chaos. Lotulelei appeared to play a lot of snaps.
Showers (S) - He had a big hit on a player that had run past everyone else.
I'm anxious to see Jaylon play in the next game. I really wanted to see him play 1 snap in this game but Garrett is very conservative with injury issues.
AZ Players:
Robert Nkemdiche - If this guy can get his head on straight, he has Wow ability.
#22 Logan (RB) - Something interesting about him. Very quick. He's also very odd looking as if his shoulder pads are too big or he has no neck.
With these young players I'm looking for good plays and not that worried about mistakes at this point. Young players will make less mistakes once they are surrounded by veterans.
I'm going to do this one by memory with no reference back to the roster so there will be a few names I can't remember.
Rico - He looks like the real deal physically. I was impressed with his blocking. He has excellent power to block once he has his hands on the defender. His issue is that he'll occasionally over commit to one side and the defender will juke to the other side. That's just a matter of getting a lot more reps. He runs really well in the open field for a guy his size and he looked good catching the ball. He needs as many reps as he can get.
Tapper - Very quick/fast. He is very raw as a 4-3 DE. He did stutter-step back to the inside a time or two, but generally, like many young pass rushers, he was steered past the pocket. He has to learn when to plant his foot and turn the corner to the inside. He looked good against the run. He needs as many reps as he can get. Again, his speed is really impressive.
Taco - Smooth, gliding athlete with excellent length (tall with long arms). He was double-teamed a few times. He had the OT beat cleanly on one play but the RB was there to cut him off. He used a spin move that got close a few times. He was good against the run on the snaps that I recall. People that think he is Tyrone Crawford type DE are sadly mistaken. He is way more athletic that Crawford. He has much better balance than a guy like Tapper. He needs as many reps as he can get.
Neal (DT) - He got a lot of penetration into the backfield. He has a very stubby build, listed at 6-0, 298.
Carroll (DT, 6-3, 300) - He has some similarities to Neal. Good quickness for a 300 pound man. He did get out of position and lose the leverage battle down by the goal line, but that was a technique issue.
Ash (DT) - He played a lot of snaps and is a Very Large Human. He might be the biggest guy on the team. He rarely got penetration so he's likely not a Marinelli type 1-tech. He does move well when pursuing down the line and can hold his ground. He spent to much effort hand fighting and not enough just leaning his big body into the OL. I would like to have seen him when AZ was at the one yard line.
Byron Bell (RG) - He struggled with Robert Nkemdiche, but then again La'el also had his hands full with Nkemdiche. Bell seemed OK against other defenders.
Cooper (LG) - He looked good, but we'll need to see him against a higher level of competition. He seems to be moving really well.
La'el (RT) - He looked good. Very powerful as expected. He does need to learn that many running plays require precise timing and spacing more than brute force. He tends to over-focus on beating the #$#% out of defenders. It is delightful to see a RT with power after years of Doug Free and his extreme lack of power.
Smith (RB) - I'm not sure what to make of this player. I've seen many young RBs look good in the preseason and then do nothing in the regular season. I do think he is the type of utility player they would like as the 3rd RB on game day because of his special teams ability, but I don't think they would ever want him to play a lot of snaps at RB. He's more high-cut (long-legs) than most RBs.
Keith Smith (FB) - He has carved out a nice role for himself with hard work and scheme knowledge. He is a good utility player which is something the Garrett era Cowboys really like.
Cleary (LT) - He struggled at times. I expected a little better.
Skipper (OG, RT) - He seems more like a RT than OG to me, but he looked OK in both roles. I think he might be more talented than Cleary but obviously Cleary has had a couple of years of NFL coaching which puts him ahead at this minute. They'll have to break Skipper of holding because he would have been called for it multiple times if this was a regular season game. He tends to hold after the play has passed by which is totally unnecessary. His height does not seem to be a problem as he plays with decent amount of bend.
Looney (OC) - He looked good. He's a good backup OC, IMO.
#61 (OC) - Looked OK. Seemed to snap the ball OK and know assignments. Probably too small.
#65 (RG) - Looked decent with some upside. Besides the number, his physical build also reminds me of Leary.
Demontre Moore (DE) - Looked decent. You can see some talent there. Other than character issues, I think he is a guy that would like to free lance from the scheme which is something Marinelli won't tolerate. Moore played some from a standing position which is not something Marinelli has done much in the past.
Ivie - He didn't do much but I didn't see anything terrible either. I can see that he has a decent ability to shed blocks and move down the line against the run.
Wilson (LB) - He was aggressive but made some mistakes. He let himself be trapped inside on outside runs a couple of times; although, a DB might have had ultimate outside contain responsibility on that TD run.
Awuzie (CB) - The physical ability stands out to me. He has a very sold build. He had some ups and downs but it's basically chaos when most of the defense is 1st/2nd year players. People are silly to criticize him for batting down a pass instead of intercepting it.
Wilber (LB) - I've always thought his biggest issue was being soft. He has some physical ability, but has always been a bit passive. This year he seems very chippy both in the game and in practice. Maybe he figured out that he has been too soft. He's a serviceable SLB and top ST player.
White (CB) - He looked really good on some plays. I think he can be a decent CB as long as they keep him matched up on the bigger WRs and avoid having him on Desean Jackson type guys with extreme lateral agility.
Woods (S) - I didn't notice him much either way, but Safety is the hardest position to review on the broadcast footage. He does look a bit smallish.
Byron Jones (S) - I noticed him make many good plays. There was a play that I initially thought he screwed up, but after review I think the screw-up was on another player. Jones can really run and he's not afraid to tackle.
#35 (S) - Had a couple or really solid tackles. No way to know in this type of game where he is in terms of scheme knowledge or instincts.
Andy Jones (WR) - Looked solid. It's obvious that he's had time in the scheme and NFL coaching as compared to the rookies. He gave good effort in blocking also.
Noah Brown (WR) - He looked a bit lost at times. I need to go back to focus on him a bit more. He has a very solid build and seems to run fairly well.
McFadden (RB) - He needs space to operate which he didn't get much of with the 3rd string OL.
Morris (RB) - He looks like he can still run the ball OK. Not spectacular but reliable. If Zeke missed time they would probably prefer him over Smith or some other young RB, but on normal games days with Zeke and McFadden as 1 and 2, they probably prefer to have a young RB on the 46 man game day roster.
Hillman (RB) - I saw a flash or two but I didn't focus on him. He looked bigger than his listed size.
Moore (QB) - He looked OK to me. For a backup QB, I prefer a guy that knows the scheme to a guy with better physical ability that doesn't know the scheme.
Other (QB) - I've seen worse. He can run fairly well.
Brown (CB) - Looked fine. He took a chance on knocking down a pass and missed but it was on a crossing route where there are many defenders behind him to clean it up.
Brice Butler (WR) - He clearly has size and speed but I still don't really trust him. Something just seems off about him. I expect some big plays and some big disappointments from him.
Other TEs (Not Rico) - Meh. Nothing stood out to me but I also didn't notice any significant problems.
#56 (DE) - He flashed a couple of times. I can't remember for certain, but I think he might have rushed from a standing position a few times. Moore (#58) definitely rushed from a standing position.
#78 (OL) - I remember his snaps at LT; although, he might have played some at OG also. He is big but he looks more like a Guard than Tackle to me. He has a sloppy build and his technique/footwork seems a bit sloppy.
LBs (not mentioned above) - Very hard to tell. Too many young players made this game somewhat chaos and the LBs were right in the middle of the chaos. Lotulelei appeared to play a lot of snaps.
Showers (S) - He had a big hit on a player that had run past everyone else.
I'm anxious to see Jaylon play in the next game. I really wanted to see him play 1 snap in this game but Garrett is very conservative with injury issues.
AZ Players:
Robert Nkemdiche - If this guy can get his head on straight, he has Wow ability.
#22 Logan (RB) - Something interesting about him. Very quick. He's also very odd looking as if his shoulder pads are too big or he has no neck.
