Outlaw Heroes
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Some thoughts following yesterday's game:
THE GOOD
Patrick Crayton - aren't WRs supposed to take 3 years to develop?
Julius Jones - is this what we can expect -- viz. 93 yards and a TD -- against the tougher run defenses in the league? If so, can't wait to see him against the teams that have trouble against the run
Offensive balance - we haven't had this many weapons in a long, long time. The Chargers took away Witten and stacked the line against JuJo. So Crayton, Keyshawn and Glenn made them pay. There's even another weapon waiting in the wings, in the form of Peerless Price.
Big plays from the QB - Bledsoe managed to hang tough and make a few big throws. Notwithstanding BP's predilection for "bus drivers", you need a QB that can do that
Second(ary) to None - OH Henry!! What a find. Don't know what was more impressive: all the plays he kept making, or the fact that SD still preferred to try to pick on him, rather than Newman, after the 9th or 10th big play he came up with. Kind of suggests to me that Newman had his guy covered closer than a kitten to the baby that it smothers. One of the best things about this is that these guys (and A. Glenn) are going to allow us to cover up a lot of the mistakes made by the young guys in the front seven. Which brings us to our next point...
We bought some time - this defense, as many have observed, will take time to gel. Getting a tough W on the road against a playoff team not only will give the D confidence, but it buys another week for things to mesh without our W-L record having to suffer for our growing pains. That's huge.
THE BAD
Pat, pat, pat, SACK - that habit of Bledsoe's of holding on to the ball too long is going to catch up with him (and us) against the better pass rushing teams, and may end up getting him, as well as our playoff hopes, killed in the process
Blitz Pick-up Who's got Sammy Davis? Evidently, nobody. Won't name names. That would be (im)Polite. And it was only one play. But that should never happen.
No Safety Net - Yes, Davis made a nice hit in that goal-line stand. But McCardell's second TD was entirely on him. Can't collapse that aggressively without making sure that no one's getting in behind you.
Negative (or Near-Negative) Running Plays - this team needs to be able to impose its will on its opponent by forcing the run down their throat even though they know it's coming. Yesterday, we weren't able to do that. Read somewhere that Julius had 14 runs of 2 yards or less (5 of which were negative runs). Most of those seemed to come in the second half, where we were trying to grind out the victory on the ground. That's got to change.
THE UGLY
Kick-off Coverage - Cortez may have single-handedly saved two touchdowns. Sproles is shifty, but he aint that good. 'Nuff said.
THE GOOD
Patrick Crayton - aren't WRs supposed to take 3 years to develop?
Julius Jones - is this what we can expect -- viz. 93 yards and a TD -- against the tougher run defenses in the league? If so, can't wait to see him against the teams that have trouble against the run
Offensive balance - we haven't had this many weapons in a long, long time. The Chargers took away Witten and stacked the line against JuJo. So Crayton, Keyshawn and Glenn made them pay. There's even another weapon waiting in the wings, in the form of Peerless Price.
Big plays from the QB - Bledsoe managed to hang tough and make a few big throws. Notwithstanding BP's predilection for "bus drivers", you need a QB that can do that
Second(ary) to None - OH Henry!! What a find. Don't know what was more impressive: all the plays he kept making, or the fact that SD still preferred to try to pick on him, rather than Newman, after the 9th or 10th big play he came up with. Kind of suggests to me that Newman had his guy covered closer than a kitten to the baby that it smothers. One of the best things about this is that these guys (and A. Glenn) are going to allow us to cover up a lot of the mistakes made by the young guys in the front seven. Which brings us to our next point...
We bought some time - this defense, as many have observed, will take time to gel. Getting a tough W on the road against a playoff team not only will give the D confidence, but it buys another week for things to mesh without our W-L record having to suffer for our growing pains. That's huge.
THE BAD
Pat, pat, pat, SACK - that habit of Bledsoe's of holding on to the ball too long is going to catch up with him (and us) against the better pass rushing teams, and may end up getting him, as well as our playoff hopes, killed in the process
Blitz Pick-up Who's got Sammy Davis? Evidently, nobody. Won't name names. That would be (im)Polite. And it was only one play. But that should never happen.
No Safety Net - Yes, Davis made a nice hit in that goal-line stand. But McCardell's second TD was entirely on him. Can't collapse that aggressively without making sure that no one's getting in behind you.
Negative (or Near-Negative) Running Plays - this team needs to be able to impose its will on its opponent by forcing the run down their throat even though they know it's coming. Yesterday, we weren't able to do that. Read somewhere that Julius had 14 runs of 2 yards or less (5 of which were negative runs). Most of those seemed to come in the second half, where we were trying to grind out the victory on the ground. That's got to change.
THE UGLY
Kick-off Coverage - Cortez may have single-handedly saved two touchdowns. Sproles is shifty, but he aint that good. 'Nuff said.