Thoughts From Tonight's Game

[Dharma Initiative]

I really only watched 3 quarters but here's what I thought about those:

1. Ryan is going to be very good this season. You can just sense it with his every pass. I absolutely loved how he went over and ripped Antone a new one for not turning on that pass.

2. That roughing the kicker was an atrocious call. If we have to move the umpire back over to the defensive side to fix that then do it.

3. Biermann...what more can you say? Guy has a sack/fumble two games in a row and appears to be the missing piece across from Abraham. Abe also looks good and is quick off the snap. Babineaux was blowing up the line pretty well in the beginning himself.

4. I'm glad Weatherspoon got beat like that on that touchdown pass. It was a learning experience type of play and one I'm glad he saw during a preseason game and can improve from it.

5. O-line is still shakey. I'm hoping out draftees can step in and fill in the weak links.

6. Antone Smith has all of the physical tools you look for. He's almost as fast as Norwood and much stronger. However he has failed to impress me on the field yet.

7. I think Wilson will be a decent backup after Redman is gone. He tried a little hard to make things happen and that didn't work. But the guy is good on the move.

8. I'm 99% sure you won't see Chevis on this team come opening day. He got beat a few times last week and didn't look good this week either. I know he was covering Moss a lot, but he wasn't even in a decent range of him out there. With the signing of Dunta, re-signing of Williams, Owens and Grimes potential, and drafting Franks I think Jackons will be finding a new team. He had all the chances in the world last season to get a starting position of nickel and didn't grab either.

9. Defense got embarrassed...a lot. But there was a lot of youth in the backups. And we didn't have 3 probable starters on the field in Robinson, Williams, and Jerry out there.

10. Mike Smith is getting more and more passionate each season. I remember he was pretty passive his first season. Last year he came out of his shell a little and so far he seems to be as determined as Ryan to get everything right.

Edited August 20, 2010 by Dharma Initiative

[Creative]

On number 9 you said, "I think Owens will be finding a new team" when it should be Jackson. Just wanted to let you know so nobody else gets confused while reading this. :P

I agree, and wanted to add something.. our kicking needs work.

[Dharma Initiative]

On number 9 you said, "I think Owens will be finding a new team" when it should be Jackson. Just wanted to let you know so nobody else gets confused while reading this. :P

I agree, and wanted to add something.. our kicking needs work.

Thanks, fixed it.

And yes the kicking has me a little worried. Last year everyone used the excuse that "Elam always does bad in preseason"...that didn't work out too well then.

[AF89]

Great article man.

Its silly how man people are calling for Mularkey's based on tonights game. If you want it for prevoius games thats fine but if you had faith in him a mere few hours ago then this game shouldn't have changed your mind. Seems to me MM was just being careful not to show too much (remember no hurryup offense today). Expect to see more once the reg season gets under way.

[The Falcon Jedi]

I pretty much agree with everything you stated. This team really has a lot of work to go to compete for the Division. I thought we were farther along than this (based on all the media hype Ive been reading all off-season) but it's pretty clear that there is a lot of improvement to be done on both sides of the ball.

Offensively, we moved the chains pretty well - until we got close to the goal-line. We stalled out again the closer we got to the red-zone. That MUST be fixed.

Defensively, looks like the same Defense we had last season. I didnt see any improvement from last season. Brady is going to get his throws, but we should have stopped the running game much better than we did. That was inexcusable.

[caver50]

The worst problem we had tonight was (poor) tackling. I wasn't impressed with Smith

or Nance and I don't understand why Franks had to fair catch everything kicked his way

except the last kick and he had no room to run. Frankly I was supprised how easy NE ran on us. Didn't see that comming.