Last Night in Perspective

[pzummo]

There's something I don't see anybody commenting on or considering in any of their evaluations from last night. Read through and hear me out before you judge my post.

We started out last night without 5 starters, not to mention another 6 key backups. If this was a regular season game, these guys could've all played. So we have not even evaluated our real starting 22. Think about it. We were without our starting NT (Peria Jerry), starting CB (Dunta Robinson), arguably our other starting CB (Brian Williams), a starting LBer (Mike Peterson), and a starting WR (Michael Jenkins). Not to mention we were without some of our backup players that should be big contributors like Harry Douglas, Jerious Norwood, and Coy Wire.

Even though we were without 4 starters on defense out of the gate, the guys we started absolutely dominated the Chiefs. Their first drive, 3 plays, 2 yards, punt. Their second drive, 2 plays, 4 yards, and a sack/strip/fumble turnover. After these two drives, Babineaux took a seat, Abraham took a seat, Adkins replaced a starter at LBer (Nicholas I think), and many of our offensive and defensive starters took a seat (Ryan, Turner, Roddy, Gonzo, etc.).

If you look a little deeper into the game, KC's 3rd and 4th drives still had their starters lining up against mostly our depth players. Both of those drives ended in 53 yard missed field goals. That's right, even their starters couldn't get to our 30 against our defense, with Babineaux, Abraham, Jerry, Robinson, Williams, and Peterson all spectating from the sidelines.

I'm not trying to say our defense is going to be the best in the NFL. I am trying to put things in the proper perspective. If we are healthy and stay healthy, we could be awesome on both sides of the ball. If we don't stay healthy, we have some very good depth that can step up and make plays.

When's the last time we could take this many starters out of a game and still compete? Seriously, think long and hard about it. Can you remember EVER in our history not having 11 players going into a game and still managing to put a team on the field that even halfway competed, let alone dominate? I can't.

Sorry to rehash these memories, but I think it really puts our current team in an appreciable perspective. When I think back, I remember us losing a DT and the Chiefs rushing for 8 TD's on us. I remember losing our starting QB (Vick) and getting dominated the entire season (twice). I remember a 14-2 Falcons team losing one starting Safety (Eugene Robinson) and getting dominated in the Superbowl. I remember how bad we looked every time Chris Chandelier got hurt and took a seat. I remember the feeling of all our hope for the season buckling when Anderson's knee buckled. I truly cannot remember one team in our history that lost a single contributor, and I came away confident our team could keep rolling with their replacement. Until now.

[sdogg]

Well said.

[.CharlestonChad.]

Here is another perspective no one is considering. It's a **** preseason game. As long as we don't lose any players to injuries, it should be counted as a great success.

[delaigle]

It really hasn't been that long.

Last Tampa Bay game 09.

11 players on IR (some starters and some backups)

plus 3 starters inactive due to injury

[HouseofEuphoria]

+1

I was very very impressed with our defense last night.

Offense looks a wee bit shaky right now, but i know it will improve as the pre-season wears on.

The only thing that concerns me at this very early point is:

Our offenseive line looks to have the same weakness/strength as they did last season: they are

great in the running game but struggle in pass protection.

This was arguably our offenses biggest weakness last year.

I hope to see some improvement by next thursday.