X-Era
11-12-2006, 04:42 PM
Our defense played very well today. Our special teams also played well.
We thought we had no chance, but in fact we stayed in the game right up till the end. This was a solid effort against a great team.
We were not perfect by any means, we made some mistakes, but we played tough, confident, solid football the whole game.
Many here said we would be blown out. Well, many are happy to be wrong.
We now KNOW that there are spots on this team that MUST improve to have a decent team. Heres my list:
1) Pass protection- we gave up sacks almost every single time we went into obvious throwing downs. JP had NO chance on all but one sack. He did hang onto the ball too long on one sack where he should have thrown it away. Pennington was owned today. Mathis is a great pass rusher but still, he blew several blocks that cost us sacks.
2) TE- They continue to be a detriment to the team. Royal got BLOWN by and gave up a Freeney sack. Why he was trying to solely block Freeney in the first place is another question. Everett is a one man walking penalty. We need that guy cut tomorrow. His critical penalty that backed us into third and long might have been the killer of the game. Nuefeld had a dumb penalty. Our TE coach will get canned and we need to gut the lot of them and start over.
3) 2nd WR- Evans had a great game but Peerless dropped one and was otherwise non-existant. We seriously need another gamebreaking playmaker WR
4) Spikes continues to be too quiet. I watched one play in the 3rd with 8:26 left where he couldnt get off a block and blew a tackle. If he isnt going to be a top player, then pay him accordingly and make it a priority to add a top D player.
5) JP Losman- you will find his name in both sections, he made good plays, also made a few underthrows. The big thing is that he needs to show that he can be counted on at some point. He is still learning but he has to own the team and be the leader. He has plenty of reasons why, but its time to start heading in the right direction and become that leader. I really think he will develop still when our talent gets better.
On the plus side:
1) Anthony Thomas- He makes tacklers miss, he breaks tackles, he drags tacklers for tough yards. He had an outstanding game today.
2) Both CB's played real well. McGee had a career day, hes a player and he should be kept. Clements had a good game as well and Im starting to think resigning him would be smart.
3) Crowell was another player who had a career day. I seriously think hes one of our building blocks at OLB.
4) Fletch is a stud I am now convinced. Id like a guy like June, or Buster Davis but Fletch is better than both, lets resign him.
5) Coaching- lets face it we should have been blown out and yet we were in the game the whole time. Fewel had his unit ready to play, thats a fact. I wasnt enough because our talent level isnt good enough yet. We came to play today, the coaches deserve props.
6) Losman- there were plenty of chances for him to turn the ball over but he still did a good job with ball security. Its an improvement and another sign hes developing. He also made several nice throws.
7) Run blocking- We blew the Colts back on the line of scrimmage. We were able to run both left and right meaning our guys did well. The left side is starting to be good. I want o-line change to improve our pass blocking, but running is critical and we are doing pretty well with this unit after the change.
8) Peters is a franchise LT, it makes this need null and void. I know Im stating this a bit early but he kept Freeney in check, Freeneys sack came against Royal, not Peters. Hes a stud to build our o-line around.
Overall, the team was tough, solid, never gave up, came up with big plays, and played well enough to win. This is a team game, our team isnt good enough to beat an undefeated team like the Colts but this game shows we have alot left to prove and we are starting to get it. It was a great game, a great showing from our team.
We thought we had no chance, but in fact we stayed in the game right up till the end. This was a solid effort against a great team.
We were not perfect by any means, we made some mistakes, but we played tough, confident, solid football the whole game.
Many here said we would be blown out. Well, many are happy to be wrong.
We now KNOW that there are spots on this team that MUST improve to have a decent team. Heres my list:
1) Pass protection- we gave up sacks almost every single time we went into obvious throwing downs. JP had NO chance on all but one sack. He did hang onto the ball too long on one sack where he should have thrown it away. Pennington was owned today. Mathis is a great pass rusher but still, he blew several blocks that cost us sacks.
2) TE- They continue to be a detriment to the team. Royal got BLOWN by and gave up a Freeney sack. Why he was trying to solely block Freeney in the first place is another question. Everett is a one man walking penalty. We need that guy cut tomorrow. His critical penalty that backed us into third and long might have been the killer of the game. Nuefeld had a dumb penalty. Our TE coach will get canned and we need to gut the lot of them and start over.
3) 2nd WR- Evans had a great game but Peerless dropped one and was otherwise non-existant. We seriously need another gamebreaking playmaker WR
4) Spikes continues to be too quiet. I watched one play in the 3rd with 8:26 left where he couldnt get off a block and blew a tackle. If he isnt going to be a top player, then pay him accordingly and make it a priority to add a top D player.
5) JP Losman- you will find his name in both sections, he made good plays, also made a few underthrows. The big thing is that he needs to show that he can be counted on at some point. He is still learning but he has to own the team and be the leader. He has plenty of reasons why, but its time to start heading in the right direction and become that leader. I really think he will develop still when our talent gets better.
On the plus side:
1) Anthony Thomas- He makes tacklers miss, he breaks tackles, he drags tacklers for tough yards. He had an outstanding game today.
2) Both CB's played real well. McGee had a career day, hes a player and he should be kept. Clements had a good game as well and Im starting to think resigning him would be smart.
3) Crowell was another player who had a career day. I seriously think hes one of our building blocks at OLB.
4) Fletch is a stud I am now convinced. Id like a guy like June, or Buster Davis but Fletch is better than both, lets resign him.
5) Coaching- lets face it we should have been blown out and yet we were in the game the whole time. Fewel had his unit ready to play, thats a fact. I wasnt enough because our talent level isnt good enough yet. We came to play today, the coaches deserve props.
6) Losman- there were plenty of chances for him to turn the ball over but he still did a good job with ball security. Its an improvement and another sign hes developing. He also made several nice throws.
7) Run blocking- We blew the Colts back on the line of scrimmage. We were able to run both left and right meaning our guys did well. The left side is starting to be good. I want o-line change to improve our pass blocking, but running is critical and we are doing pretty well with this unit after the change.
8) Peters is a franchise LT, it makes this need null and void. I know Im stating this a bit early but he kept Freeney in check, Freeneys sack came against Royal, not Peters. Hes a stud to build our o-line around.
Overall, the team was tough, solid, never gave up, came up with big plays, and played well enough to win. This is a team game, our team isnt good enough to beat an undefeated team like the Colts but this game shows we have alot left to prove and we are starting to get it. It was a great game, a great showing from our team.