Preseason so far.

Afternoon Lads.

Just wanted to see your thoughts on the preseason so far.

My main points are:

The Patriots are looking very scary indeed. The switch to the 4-3 looks to have done the trick and they are now gettign consistent pressure on the opposing QB. Ocho looks to have settled in well and they have a cracking o-line which leads to a superb running game.

Mark Sanchez seems to have improved over the summer. Granted, he has some stud receivers to throw to but he looks more composed and accurate in the pocket. Plaxico looks motivated and in great shape.

John Gruden is a pretty good analyst on ESPN. I like his attitude and no nonsense commentary.

The Texans' offense looks like a well-oiled machine. I thought they might struggle after losing Vonta Leach but the running game is working extremely well. Schaub looks in good shape and Johnson seems like he's as sharp as ever.

The review of all scoring plays is really, really annoying.

Some rookies look to be making a good impact. Marcell Dareus has a sack in each of his games so far, Adrian Clayborn seems to be camped out the the backfield against the opposition, Mark Herzlich looked really tough last night, Julio Jones has made a few plays, JJ Watt looks to be a total monster and Cameron Heyward looks to be a great fit in Pittsburgh.

Any other thoughts, lads?

Problems at Arrowhead - Haley has generally steered clear of divas but when he took Baldwin he knew he came with baggage and inside 3 weeks he's caused trouble. I think the Chargers will be stronger this year so instead of being a year where we could push on and be a real force I think we'll struggle.
8-8 or thereabouts.

Eagles - rusty or chinks in the armoury ? Either way they have some work to do, Vick and VY have had problems in the 2 games so far, pens are hurting them and they aren't running the ball as effeciently as they would like, I'd still have them in the 'hype' bracket.

Packers - done nothing wrong, retained nearly all their roster and have IR players back this year, a scary prospect for everyone in NFC.

Pats - doing what they always do, look very impressive and racking up a bunch of points, usually find one too good for them at the business end though.

Cards - Kolb needs more practice time with his offence but I think he'll be a success in the desert, Fitz got the contract he deserved and looks set to be a one team man for his entire career.
I've backed these at 100/1 for the big one simply because I think they only have the Rams to beat in the West and with the other NFC divs being quite competitive if they do get a run going they could end up with a record that gives them homefield advantage, unlikely but there are worse 100/1 shots out there.

John Gruden is a good judge.
Adam Schefter is officially NFL God.

Completely agree regarding the scoring play reviews. The biggest problem I have with it is that it takes the emphasis away from the coach to challenge the play. The decision making of the various HCs was something I always found interesting and an element of that has just been removed. Anything which takes away opportunities to see Tom Coughlin march dementedly onto the field has to be a bad thing.

The other significant change, moving the kick-offs up to the 35 is equally ridiculous. At the moment there are still a reasonable number of returns but that is only because those returning the kicks are trying to play themselves into a roster spot. I predict that come the regular season it'll be around 90% touchbacks.

The Eagles look more like a collection of players rather than a team and their performance against the run hasn't looked great. Still odds on for the NFC East though.

Colt McCoy has looked excellent so far and has barely put a foot wrong, 19 of 28 for 231 yards, 4TDs 0INTs. I can't see Hillis repeating last season's success so to see McCoy in good form must be promising for Browns fans.

If Manning doesn't recover in time for the first game I'd be terrified if I were a Colts fan, I might even be hoping that Irsay's joke wasn't a joke. Even if Manning plays that game I can't imagine he will be game ready without any pre-season at all.

How much longer will Pete Carroll be able to keep saying that Jackson is the starter when Whitehurst has gained a better grasp of the system in two weeks than Jackson did in 4 years?

It's going to be a very, very long season for the Bengals.

I thought the Texans looked good against the Jets last week (but then it's always nice to see someone beating the Jets.)

I was very impressed by the Giants last night. Nothing hugely spectacular, just did things right, in particular their number 2 QB. I hope for the Bear's sake they do better come the regular season as it was painful to watch at times.

Games watched:
Jacksonville Jaguars @ New England Patriots
Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Kansas City Chiefs (1st Q)
New York Jets @ Houston Texans (1st half)

New England Patriots @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers
New Orleans Saints @ Houston Texans
Cincinnati Bengals @ New York Jets
Chicago Bears @ New York Giants (1st half)

Blaine Gabbert:
He didn’t play particularly well or poorly and in his first outing as an NFL QB was a respectable 9/16 for 85 yards (5.3YPA) against what amounted to our (Patriots) 2nd team defense. There were a number of drives which stalled and ended in a FG but he was able to move the ball somewhat. As Missouri ran a spread I was most interested to see how Gabbert looked in his drops plus if he can’t connect on basic 3 step drops then…

His initial passes were all PA if I remember correctly and his first 3 step drop was an overthrown pass on a comeback route. He had another 3 step drop where he immediately went to the checkdown. His footwork looked poor on one replay which I noted and not unsurprisingly I thought he looked better out of the gun. Anyone watching could have seen that he was locking on to his primary read and not going through his progressions-immediate checkdown + forcing throws into dangerous coverage.

On the positive side he made nearly every throw you would expect him to make-hitch, quick out etc. Plus he made one nice throw early on off of PA where he split the coverage on a deep cross.

Houston Texans DL:
I’m intrigued to see how the Texans do in run defense as their DL is very light for a 34.
Smith, 295lbs (LE)
Watt, 290lbs (RE)
Cody, 300lbs (NT)

Wade Phillips has brought his 1gap scheme with him from Dallas which is based more on penetration than the more traditional 34 but even so that is a very light DL, even lighter than the one he had in Dallas. I’ve seen them twice now and although they have made some plays vs. the run I’ve seen them gashed a few times as well and can see this being a problem for them in the regular season. I’m not convinced about 300lbs Shaun Cody at NT in particular-you could get away with Jay Ratliff in Dallas because he had two 315lbs+ ends in Olshansky and Spears either side of him but the Texans ends are substantially lighter. It was a similar story vs. the Saints so maybe something to watch.

Cincinnati Bengals QB situation:
Had my first look at another rookie QB in Andy Dalton and if the Jets game is anything to go by that offense is going to be pretty impotent with him under C. Way too many throws either behind receivers or, more commonly, high and these weren’t difficult passes to complete. Fair enough the weather plays a part but still…not impressed. He had two interceptions, the first of which was blamed by the commentators on AJ Green but the catch was made more difficult by a pass which was again too high, there was no scapegoat for the second. I can’t remember what it was about but I do remember so hard at something the Bengals commentary team said when trying to squeeze out every last bit of praise for Dalton. It was the QB equivalent of he does a good job putting one foot in front of the other when walking.

New York Jets receivers:
Santonio Holmes was the WR prize of the off season and Mason is a good possession receiver but I don’t see how they are suddenly loaded at the position TBH. Burress will have his place in the team as a red zone threat but I don’t see him as a deep threat in any way. He’s a physical player who will use his body and be a matchup problem for smaller corners but he’s not a burner. He did have a nice TD vs. the Bengals but notice that the coverage was provided by Fred Bennett. I expect he’ll prove me wrong now.

Can't seem to remember much from the TB @ KC game other than having a dull headache and I could write pages on the Patriots but it would probably only be interesting to me and other Pats fans-so I wont.

My thoughts...

Not sure about the scoring reviews... I had heard about this but having not watched a full game in the usual sense I am a little unaware of the mechanics.
Does it mean that every scoring play is reviewed by default, or that the coaches have the option to without using there challenges up (i.e. if there is the tiny bit of a question over the score then there going to challenge it because it's "free")

Colt McCoy has impressed me a lot. Seems in control, accurate and has been getting the ball into the hands of receivers who you wouldn't think were up to much e.g. Evan Moore.

Patriots have been deadly when there starters are on the field and even Ryan Mallet was impressive in game 1 (I always liked him as you may have figured out through the blur of my constant dislike of Cam Newton being drafted #1!) though regressed a bit in game 2.

Andy Dalton is not ready to play QB for the Bengals. They should cut there losses, give Gradkowski the start for about half the year before phasing Dalton in after he has a bit more time under the coaching staff.
Likewise Ponder and Locker should remain well and truly behind McNabb and Hasselbeck as they haven't been that wonderful and would benefit from the learning experience.

Happy at how sharp the Pack have looked, particularly in no huddle. Matt Flynn has also impressed me a lot.

Texans offence is up to full scheme, but i'm not entirely convinced at how helpful the switch to 3-4 has been.

Mike Vick needed the bad game he had in week 2, simply to quell the hype and he should come back strong for the season.

Colts are doomed without Manning.

Don't like the 35 yard kickoff like GB said... though I could have predicted this when it was announced as the kickers already used to get it in the endzone most of the time on kicks... your going to see kickoff going through the goalposts this year...

Thought last night's Ravens v Redskins game was a cracker. Some good offense by both teams, but the guts shown by Taylor to call the play rather than spike the ball in the dying seconds was impressive.

Newton looked terrible last night, as did the panthers secondary

Games watched:
Carolina Panthers @ Cincinnati Bengals (1st Q)
Cleveland Browns @ Philadelphia Eagles (4S)
Washington Redskins @ Baltimore Ravens

New England Patriots @ Detroit Lions

Andy Dalton

Dalton had an improved stat line vs. the Panthers but I’m not convinced he showed much improvement on the field. On the Bengals 1st drive he overthrew Simpson with his first pass of the night. On his second pass he hit Gresham over the middle on 3rd and 9 for a first down. Gresham found an opening in the defense, hitched and Dalton made an easy completion to keep the drive going. His third pass was a screen to Shipley which went for 4 yards. The drive finished with a fumbled handoff between Dalton and Benson which was recovered by Carolina.

On the Bengals second drive the first pass was a PA dump off to Benson which ended up going for 15 yards. He then had a nice deep pass to AJ Green on a go route but unfortunately Green couldn’t catch it in bounds. If you were being a perfectionist then Dalton could have led his receiver upfield and Green might possibly have done a better job of getting his feet down in bounds. Dalton also completed another short pass to Shipley and one to Gresham on a TE screen before the end of the 1st quarter.


Phil Taylor

I thought that Phil Taylor looked like a handful vs. the Eagles but the only thing I would caution is that he was lined up across from two other rookies in Danny Watkins and Jason Kelce. Taylor was so dominant when the Eagles attempted to block him 1 vs. 1 that they ended up doubling him by the end of the 1st quarter. He beat both Watkins and Kelce on separate plays early in the 1st quarter and then drew a holding penalty. Vick ended up being hit about 3 times, forcing a fumble, sacked once and was under a lot of pressure. Kelce in particular had a rough night with the holding penalty and also a miss snap but the whole right side of the Eagles OL seemed to breakdown at times as there seemed to be miscommunication between the RT King Dunlap and RG Watkins on a couple of plays which allowed rushers to have a free run at Vick.


Washington Redskins defense

The Redskins defense was a mix of good and bad the other night. They were quite aggressive at times with 5 and 6 man rushes, zone blitzes, overload blitzes, sending the CB and safety and rotating coverage which they had some success with. The Redskins were also able to get some pressure with 3 and 4 man rushes which should be encouraging. Brian Orakpo and Ryan Kerrigan made plays from the OLB position with both looking good rushing the QB and in run defense with multiple TFL, QB hits and sacks between them. I thought Kerrigan also looked decent when in coverage which bodes well for his development from DE to standing up. On the down side he also had two neutral zone infractions.

CB DeAngelo Hall was living up to his reputation as a 1 good play:2/3 bad ones type of player. Hall is an aggressive corner and he jumped Boldin’s hitch route for the interception which he ran back for a TD. Hall was playing off man coverage and had eyes on the QB so it initially reads like zone, reads the QB, diagnosed the PA and quick 3 step pass, keys back to the receiver and as soon as Boldin plants and turned he was in position to jump the pass. Note that Kerrigan also quickly saw the PA and was in Flacco’s face putting pressure on the QB and blocking line of sight. Nice play all round. However Hall also gave up receptions for 1st downs when he went looking for other big plays and was beat on a go route for the Lee Evans TD. There was a 3rd down play where Hall appears to be in off man again shaded outside the receiver. The WR breaks his route quickly to the outside and Hall goes looking for the ball inside. If Hall had played his man he would have been in position to limit the play and possibly stop the Ravens getting a 1st down but as it was the play went for a big gain. The TD actually wasn’t one of his worst plays on the night as he simply failed to jam at the LOS and disrupt the route, got beat for speed when Evans got an unimpeded release and Flacco dropped a well thrown pass into the EZ. The coverage was still tight but unfortunately Hall just didn’t get his head around to have a chance of breaking up the pass.

The bad on the night for the Redskins defense was the fact they gave up a number of penalties (8 for 52 yards) which sustained Ravens drives and resulted in them giving up more points than they should have. They have to eliminate these mistakes.

New England Patriots OL

What a difference a week makes as last week I was singing their praises but unfortunately they had a poor game, along with half the team it has to be said, vs. the Lions. I attempted to chart for pass protection and ended up with 5 QB pressures, 3 QB hits and 2 sacks for the 1st team OL. All three tackles on the night, Light, Solder and Vollmer struggled with the Lions defensive ends with Avril in particular giving Vollmer some trouble. None performed well but OC Dan Koppen seemed to have the fewest negative plays followed by Matt Light who was only on the field for a couple of series after returning from injury. Solder appeared to struggle the most. It probably wasn’t as bad as it looked but it’s not exactly encouraging.