Preseason Thoughts

[textaz03]

Well, preseason is in the bag, and the next games we play are all for record now. 

 

I’m not feeling as optimistic as I was before the preseason started. We have a ton of questions and no answers for them. 

 

OLine depth still an issue

QB depth is highly lack luster

QB coaching perhaps? I think this is our weak spot on the staff roster still to this day. Rush has regressed from last season and White hasn’t developed any. 

TE is gonna be a work in progress. Got a couple there who can hold it down but will any of them separate from the pack and take he lead? Will Rico make the squad or be destined for PSquad??

Safety is of huge concern. There is no depth there what so ever. Have we seriously downgraded that position that much? 

Now, I am excited to watch this defense for a change. This pass rush looks to be very good, which is something we have lacked for several years. Gonna enjoy watching DLaw and Gregory wreak havoc.

Byron Jones has settled in as the outside corner opposite of Chido, looks to be comfortable there and had a very solid camp and preseason. The pair should be just as fun to watch as the front 7 is.

Now im worried a little about slot corner, got some questions there that need answered. 

 

 

What are you guys thinking? Next 24-30 hours should be very interesting on how they shape this roster.

[WizardHawk]

Defense is going to be fun to watch. Believe DL is capable of 50 sacks. Love the depth at CB. Adding Earl Thomas would be the icing on the cake there. I'm 30-70 on that happening though.

It's the offense...man, I'm just not seeing it. A vote of no confidence. Hope I'm way off base. 

Honestly, I can see 5-11, just as easily as I can 11-5. 

[DaBoys]

Luckily(I think) we get to face a playoff team in week 1. It'll be a good way to tell just where we stack up.

[matt79511]

Man we better wreak some havoc defensively on some of the league's beat up/overmatched OLs. Got four of them in the first five games (CAR, NYG, SEA, HOU). It's been a long time coming for our pass rush. Excited for the LBs and CBs as well, though Jourdan Lewis' apparent regression/doghouse stint is a bit unnerving.

On offense, we REALLY need big years out of the right side of the OL and Zeke. And maybe a little more misdirection and a few less runs out of 12 and 13 personnel. I have to hope that they have more creativity planned out of 10 personnel and multi-RB sets, because playing these junk tight ends all game seems completely asinine.

[DaBoys]

My thoughts(Ramblings):

Typically the way teams run their CBs, if an outside CB goes down, they don't move the slot CB over and plug someone else in the slot. Most teams leave the slot guy in the slot no matter what. If one of the outside guys go down they just replace the outside guy with their 4th CB. 

 

That's not what we appear to be doing. Chido, and Byron are playing outside with with Brown in the slot. When one of the outside guys has had to come off,  they are moving Brown outside and replacing Brown with Lewis inside. 

Which to me, really shows confidence in Brown. Forcing him to play both spots. Or lack of confidence in Lewis to handle an outside spot.

 

I'm not to worried about our CBs. Our 4th guy off the bench(Lewis) was our starter last year. So we can't be worse. Chido due to injury and Byron due to position, are like brand new additions that hit the ground running.

 

 

Our safeties on the other hand...... I like Xavier Woods but it looks like he will miss a week or 4. I'm starting to come around on Heath, but he'll never be anything but slightly above average yet inconsistant and streaky imo.  Kavon Frazior I like as a box safety, but in coverage? I like UDFA Tyree Robinson but he probably isn't an answer. Jeron Johnson might make the cut over him.

 

I love our DL. Law and RG on the edge with Craw in the middle is nice. It's funny, my disdain for Crawford being on the roster(at his price) is usually through the roof, but it almost completely goes away when he's listed as a 3T instead of blind side edge rusher. I actually like him as an impact player at 3T. I like RG on the blindside better. Or even Dorance Armstrong after what I saw last night. Taco? I think with Law, RG, and Armstrong being around, it's going to push him to be better and he has some imposing physical traits that the other 3 don't have and can't learn. I think he surprises a few peeps.  He may not have the snap count to put up double digits but I bet he doubles his total from last year. Remember it wasn't until his 3rd year at Michigan that he started producing; billed as a late bloomer. Could be here as well.

 

I was excited about our LBs, but LVE  is already hurt and has missed valuable time during his rookie year, while not looking so good before getting hurt. 

I am still skeptical of Jaylon Smith. I'm sorry. I still think it was a bad pick, but I am hoping the off season hype is true. According to everyone he has gone from below average to all pro in one off season. I just don't see it. He certainly wasn't flawless in preseason. Maybe he is "better" though, and that gives me hope.

 

Sean Lee is a beast and as long as he is on the field our Defense can be dominant. Even if it's Joe Thomas or JML lining up at Mike. Speaking of those two, along with Damien Wilson, I am satisfied with our LB depth outside the big 3.

 

Offense? I think Zeke leads the league in rushing, Frederick or no Frederick. So there's that. I think Martin, Collins, and Tyron will be great. Connor I'm nervous about. I think he will miss Frederick more than Dak or Zeke. Good thing he plays inside though and some of his weakness is masked. I am okay with Joe Looney at Center. Those 5 started the Bengals Preseason game, and Rod Smith was doing great behind it.

 I think Dak has a normal Dak year. 20 something TDs,  7 to 12 picks, under 4,000 yards. I think he will miss Witten incredibly but I doubt the loss of Dez affects him much.

 

I think Tavon Austin is going to be a huge disappointment. I know we only gave up a 6th, but fans are buying into the hype, Jerry Jones is comparing him to Michael Irvin, and once again, the hype of Tavon has yet to manifest itself in preseason. The Rams tried every way they could to feature him on offense. He might be better than Switzer but I have a feeling fans are going to be upset by our return.

I like Gallup. He'll be a solid #2 for years to come and is an excellent choice to be the replacement for Twill. 

Hopefully Beasely and Dak can find the 2016 chemistry they had.

And Hurns is great insurance along with Twill. 

So even though we lost Dez, and our roster has a bunch of young guys. I like our depth at WR. Beasely, Twill, Austin, Gallup, Hurns... that's a pretty good 5 deep set.

 

Our TEs suck. 3 of them(Jarwin, Shultz, Swaim) are the exact same guy. Rico is raw but he is the best. I even thought he blocked well last night. He got called for a hold but honestly there wasn't much there. 

 

 

 

[Matts4313]

Quick question - How did our starting offense and defenses do?

[Northland]

We need a TE, and a veteran QB to backup Dak.  I think our passing game is going to be challenging - who is going to step up?  Our TE situation is awful.  Like WH said I can see 5-11 just as easily as 11-5.  Now if Dak goes down, and it's Rush and White, we will be picking high in 2019.  Very high.

[textaz03]

1 hour ago, Matts4313 said:

Quick question - How did our starting offense and defenses do?

Starting defense did great. Starting Offense meh. But hard to judge with the missing pieces. 

[Matts4313]

1 hour ago, textaz03 said:

Starting defense did great. Starting Offense meh. But hard to judge with the missing pieces. 

Exact numbers would be great?

Ill give them to you. 

Offense had 4 drives, they scored on 3 of them. Without Zeke. 

The defense did not let up a single score at all, including field goals.

[DaBoys]

23 minutes ago, Matts4313 said:

Exact numbers would be great?

Ill give them to you. 

Offense had 4 drives, they scored on 3 of them. Without Zeke. 

The defense did not let up a single score at all, including field goals.

I posted the exact numbers for defense in the week 3 GDT. I think it was through 4 quarters plus 1 drive, the starting D hadn't allowed a single point, and had allowed ~150 yards with ~60 rushing and ~90 passing. Very impressive.

 

Seems like the starting Offense had more than 4 drives...? I thought they had close to 4 drives in the Bengals game alone? But either way, I was satisfied. Never got to see it with Zeke, but even after Frederick went down Rod Smith was killing it. 

 

We had the lead in week 1 and 2 when they left the field. 

[Matts4313]

3 hours ago, DaBoys said:

I posted the exact numbers for defense in the week 3 GDT. I think it was through 4 quarters plus 1 drive, the starting D hadn't allowed a single point, and had allowed ~150 yards with ~60 rushing and ~90 passing. Very impressive.

 

Seems like the starting Offense had more than 4 drives...? I thought they had close to 4 drives in the Bengals game alone? But either way, I was satisfied. Never got to see it with Zeke, but even after Frederick went down Rod Smith was killing it. 

 

We had the lead in week 1 and 2 when they left the field. 

Punt, FG, TD against Bengals is what I read. 1 drive for a TD against 9ers. 

[quiller]

On D I am worried about LVE hopefully our depth will cover for him as we are gonna see a ton of drop off and screenplays as our DL is pass rush happy. I think our DB will be fine as is and only improve especially if Brown returns to form And Lewis will also improve as the year goes on

on O the key will be can we get production from Beasley and can our TE block the rest of our WR will be fine I see Austin giving us some production on a side note the word was Austin added the excitement of Dez NOT the production.   Of course this all goes out the window if our OL is not healthy. Especially Smith