Throne Logic
08-18-2003, 12:34 PM
Well, the critical opinions have been stated (and restated). Whereas, I will not disagree with most of the concerns, I do find that I agree with AG, and really don't get too worked up in the preseason. I looked for the positives as I watched the game on tape last night.
I wanted to start a post to focus on the positives (even if there were only a few) Here's some of what I saw.
Drew / Gilbride actually showed improvement on play selections. Not to say that the play calling was great, but the kinds of plays were better. I saw a number of short to middle-distance passes on those first Q drives. Wys was seriously concerned about the short passing game with Drew (and I agree). Drew handled this nicely. The first play was a 10 yarder to Sam Gash, not a 35 yard bomb to Moulds or Reed. The short passes kept coming. I kept waiting for the forced long ball and it did not come until the exact right moment, when Reed was wide open in the End Zone (too bad he dropped it). They may not have scored, but the dropped balls don't concern me as much as the INT's from the second half of last year. Drew threw good balls in this game - at all distances. Other notes: Sam Gash can catch (we knew this). Morris was running very well, no turnovers.
Defensively, there were a number of burns, yes. However, this was an extremely vanilla version of this Defense. I saw Titans gang tackled on a number of occasions. I saw relatively good technique on the tackles, considering that this is notoriously a problem in preseason games. I did not get the feeling that this D was struggling so much as I did get the feeling that the Titan's O was firing on all cylinders. McNair looked really good. Also, the Titans did things that they would not have in the regular season (i.e. 4th and goal in the first quarter, up by 7? You kick the field goal in a real game).
Special Teams looked very solid. Lindell has a better leg than Hollis did. He also hit a long FG. First half return and coverage teams looked better than we've seen in years.
Anyone else have thoughts on the POSITIVE aspects of this game?
I wanted to start a post to focus on the positives (even if there were only a few) Here's some of what I saw.
Drew / Gilbride actually showed improvement on play selections. Not to say that the play calling was great, but the kinds of plays were better. I saw a number of short to middle-distance passes on those first Q drives. Wys was seriously concerned about the short passing game with Drew (and I agree). Drew handled this nicely. The first play was a 10 yarder to Sam Gash, not a 35 yard bomb to Moulds or Reed. The short passes kept coming. I kept waiting for the forced long ball and it did not come until the exact right moment, when Reed was wide open in the End Zone (too bad he dropped it). They may not have scored, but the dropped balls don't concern me as much as the INT's from the second half of last year. Drew threw good balls in this game - at all distances. Other notes: Sam Gash can catch (we knew this). Morris was running very well, no turnovers.
Defensively, there were a number of burns, yes. However, this was an extremely vanilla version of this Defense. I saw Titans gang tackled on a number of occasions. I saw relatively good technique on the tackles, considering that this is notoriously a problem in preseason games. I did not get the feeling that this D was struggling so much as I did get the feeling that the Titan's O was firing on all cylinders. McNair looked really good. Also, the Titans did things that they would not have in the regular season (i.e. 4th and goal in the first quarter, up by 7? You kick the field goal in a real game).
Special Teams looked very solid. Lindell has a better leg than Hollis did. He also hit a long FG. First half return and coverage teams looked better than we've seen in years.
Anyone else have thoughts on the POSITIVE aspects of this game?