Apologies for the delay in posting. By the time the game was over, I had absolutely zero energy.
For the first time in a long time, I'd say we had a pretty favorable offseason. Last year's excitement over getting Trevor Lawrence was more than offset by the horror that was Urban Blight. But this year, though the fans didn't get what they wanted in Baalke's firing, we DID get a new head coach with Super Bowl bona fides in Doug Pederson. He seems universally respected by national observers, and that was reflected in the words of the pre game commentators on NBC. His hiring was compounded by a comparatively strong free agency period, and further bolstered by what I believe was a solid draft. So considering we're coming off a league worst record for two years in a row, many Jaguars fans were looking forward to this season more than you might otherwise expect. Of course, getting satisfaction from the tremendous football withdrawal got delayed by inclement weather.
Anyway, here are my thoughts on the game.
1. Great to see Boselli walk across the field as a member of the 2022 Hall of Fame class. He looked pretty happy walking across the field. Congrats again, Boselli.
2. It was NOT great to see the first series pn both sides of the ball. The defense allowed the big pass play on the first play, and got gashed in the running game. They did hold them to a FG, which I suppose was good, but generally it was not a good showing. I was disappointed with Devon Hamilton on on a big run. The sieve like run defense continued on the second drive. Offensively, we went three and out. If you don't understand preseason football or were just looking for many positive signs, you left those first two series disappointed.
3. Glad to hear Tyson Campbell is okay. Also good to see Andre Cisco starting at S.
4. What was NOT good to see was two former Jaguars WRs-Keelan Cole and Tyron Johnson-showing more burst and big play ability than our current group.
5. Understanding neither Robinson nor Etienne played, rating the RBs based solely upon who played last night, Cottrill played the best, followed by Sargeant, Arnstead abd Conner. Cottrell showed the same big play and receiving ability he displayed last offseason, even if he seemed a bit brittle last night. Sargeant had some decent moments and showed good hands, including a nice one hand grab on a pass that may not have been intended for him. Armstead didn't stand out too much. Conner had some tough runs, but did not have a lot of room. I will say the RBs seemed to be utilized in the passing game more than in the past.
6. Special teams: Nice to see a made FG. Santoso looked huge, and he seemed to hit the ball well, but his kick just stayed outside. Fry made his kick. Cook was used way too much, because the offense couldn't get anything going. There seemed to be no egregious lapses in coverage.
7. Rookie watch:
A. Travon Walker: Admittedly, I was less than enthusiastic about the Walker pick. Since then, I've heard some good things about the pick, but I largely dismissed the reports as being premature minicamp optimism. But if last night is any indication, we seemed to have gotten the gamble on potential over production right. The very first play, Walker got a good pressure on the QB, although he got a roughing the passer penalty. Can anyone tell me what exactly he did on that play?!? The hit didn't seem to be late. I couldn't tell if he made contact with Stidham's helmet. His hands were around Stidham's shoulder pads, but it didn't appear to be a horse collar. The ref did not elaborate on what exactly Walker did. In any event, he affected the QB on that play and got a sack in the next series. He appeared to show a strong punch to the tackle's chect and disengaged well to get the QB as he stepped up. Was last night enough to show Walker is ready for a future Canton enshrinement? No, but it's an encouraging start.
B. Devin Lloyd-Did not play due to the hamstring injury.
C. Luke Fortner-I did not watch him closely. There weren't any errant snaps, nor did I see any penalties called against him. On the other hand, there didn't seem to be much room inside running the ball.
D. Chad Muma-With Devin Lloyd and Oluakon out for the game, Muma got a lot of my focus in this game. Though the raiders ran a few successful screens, I maintain that the breaches in the defense were NOT his fault. He seemed to diagnose the screen passes early on. One pne play, while he did not make the tackle, he slowed the RB down so he could be tackled after a minimal gain. On another screen. again he diagnosed the play quickly and was in position to make a stop immediately, but he got blocked. On yet anothe one, his assignment seemed to take him away from the direction of the screen. In the running game, he showed the ability t reach the sideline in pursuit on a run to the right. However, I did not notice him in runs straight at him. There were too many missed gap assignments, but I don't know how many were attributable to him, nor do I know how he fared when he had to stack and shed a blocker. Bottom line is I saw some good things-but still an incomplete. I'm not prepared to blame Muma for all of the failures in the run defense the way some are.
E. Snoop Conner-See RB discussion above.
F. Gregory Junior-Did not notice him
G. Buster Brown-Did not notice him.
H. Willie Johnson-Was a star of the game. The UDFA out of Marshall showed a smooth change of direction and a sudden burst a few times during the game, including on an 88 yard punt return that was called back due to penalty. He helped himself last night.
I. Kevin Austin-Got a lot of buzz and the most prominent UDFA signing this year, but hasn't done much of anything. I barely noticed him last night.
J. LeJuan Winningham-he had been getting the buzz that Austin was getting. He had a catch last night, but nothing that really stood out.
K. Grant Morgan-In the pregame show, Jeff Lageman identified LB Grant Morgan as a player to watch. I looked for him and did not notice him until late in the game. He showed very good closing speed on a sack where the QB moved outside of the pocket. He looked like he was shot out of a cannon.
8. Arden Key looks like he will contribute to the pass eush.
9. TE Luke Farrell had a couple of nice catches.
10. Bottom line: It's preseason and I'm not too worried. There's no game planning, many of the starters didn't play. But it's somewhat concerning for this team to declare the defensive emphasis will be stopping the run and for the defense to perform so poorly on that area, even for the first preseason game. We play Cleveland next and they have a very strong running game. We will have had the advantage of playing in a game already. I am hoping to see a better run defense. But thank God football season is back!!!
It's worth noting, and I mentioned it in the game day thread, the play calling by McDaniels.
Even the announcers commented that McDaniels and Pederson spoke before the game and agreed to keep everything basic/vanilla and that Doug was probably pretty annoyed by McDaniels play calling. I'd have to re-watch it, but from what I recall LV definitely had quite a bit of creativity to their plays and seemed to be calling it like a true game with real implications for winning. To further this point, it was also pointed out later in the game (when we started to slow them down in the second half) that we were probably sick of them scoring and started calling some more creative blitz packages.
Walker looked great, so did Cisco, and the kickers weren't as god awful on their couple attempts as camp has shown. I'm happy overall with last night considering all of the circumstances.
I hate it when the other team shows big lay ability.
(08-05-2022, 09:46 AM)flsprtsgod Wrote: [ -> ]I hate it when the other team shows big lay ability.
D'oh!
I can’t draw any conclusions when so few starters are playing.
There was another thread on the board talking about the defensive and specifically the defensive line that I had planned on responding to but will do here instead. While I'm excited about the potential and versatility of our line, we are bringing back a lot of guys from last year's team. And last year's team was terrible at stopping the run and getting pressure. As a Vanderbilt grad, we always hear "we have an experienced group coming back that has been here for a few years" and your first thought is "well is that a good thing!?". Yes the coaching last year was awful. Under this new coaching staff I know we are all expecting that with a new scheme and better development, we'll see a lot of improvement from returning players. But on the otherhand, maybe some of these guys, such as Davon Hamilton, actually aren't all that good. All these guys (Brown, RRH, Gotsis, Smoot, etc.... ) all seem to have moments and will make good plays but maybe as a collective or maybe in the totality of their play, they are just average players. Or better served as backup rotational guys at best. When you look across the depth chart, it feels like this should be a pretty solid group. And while I'm hopeful we'll see much better play, I don't think we should be shocked if we wake up midseason and realize they still aren't strong against the run. Or if our pass rush doesn't take a huge leap forward. There could still be a lot more talent acquisition needed.
I was only able to see a few plays with Connor. He looked strong and runs hard. But one of things you noticed in his college highlights is that he doesn't change direction all that quickly. And has a little Fournette to him. Give him an opening and he can be really explosive. But doesn't often make something out of nothing. If he wasn't getting much good blocking not surprised to hear he wasn't very productive.
But at the end of the day, it's just preseason. Feels like these games get worse and worse with each passing year. Hard to take much of anything away from them.
(08-05-2022, 09:15 AM)Bullseye Wrote: [ -> ]For the first time in a long time, I'd say we had a pretty favorable offseason. Last year's excitement over getting Trevor Lawrence was more than offset by the horror that was Urban Blight.
Anyway, here are my thoughts on the game.
1. Great to see Boselli walk across the field as a member of the 2022 Hall of Fame class. He looked pretty happy walking across the field. Congrats again, Boselli.
2. It was NOT great to see the first series pn both sides of the ball. The defense allowed the big pass play on the first play, and got gashed in the running game. They did hold them to a FG, which I suppose was good, but generally it was not a good showing. I was disappointed with Devon Hamilton on on a big run. The sieve like run defense continued on the second drive. Offensively, we went three and out. If you don't understand preseason football or were just looking for many positive signs, you left those first two series disappointed.
3. Glad to hear Tyson Campbell is okay. Also good to see Andre Cisco starting at S. Eventually we may be pretty good on the back half of the defense.
4. What was NOT good to see was two former Jaguars WRs-Keelan Cole and Tyron Johnson-showing more burst and big play ability than our current group.
5. Conner had some tough runs, but did not have a lot of room. I will say the RBs seemed to be utilized in the passing game more than in the past. It was tough sledding running the ball last night mainly because we got whipped at the line of scrimmage. The O-line is going to be a work in progress to begin the season. Well, until they can work as a unit.
7. Rookie watch:
A. Travon Walker: Admittedly, I was less than enthusiastic about the Walker pick. Since then, I've heard some good things about the pick, but I largely dismissed the reports as being premature minicamp optimism. But if last night is any indication, we seemed to have gotten the gamble on potential over production right. The very first play, Walker got a good pressure on the QB, although he got a roughing the passer penalty. This is the pre-pre season refs are going to be paranoid about protecting the QB's. If his arm was 6 inches lower no flag. It was a fluke the pass was even completed as it fluttered out of Stidham's hand because he was hit as he threw. Can anyone tell me what exactly he did on that play?!? The hit didn't seem to be late. I couldn't tell if he made contact with Stidham's helmet. His hands were around Stidham's shoulder pads, but it didn't appear to be a horse collar. The ref did not elaborate on what exactly Walker did. In any event, he affected the QB on that play and got a sack in the next series. He appeared to show a strong punch to the tackle's chect and disengaged well to get the QB as he stepped up. Was last night enough to show Walker is ready for a future Canton enshrinement? No, but it's an encouraging start. Agreed, a good first step. After the sack he got a lot of o-line attention. This will be much harder to do with Josh on the other side during the season.
C. Luke Fortner-I did not watch him closely. There weren't any errant snaps, nor did I see any penalties called against him. On the other hand, there didn't seem to be much room inside running the ball. Luke appeared to play well the times I watched him. We will be ok there with the rest of the starters in.
D. Chad Muma-With Devin Lloyd and Oluakon out for the game, Muma got a lot of my focus in this game. Though the raiders ran a few successful screens, I maintain that the breaches in the defense were NOT his fault. He seemed to diagnose the screen passes early on. One pne play, while he did not make the tackle, he slowed the RB down so he could be tackled after a minimal gain. On another screen. again he diagnosed the play quickly and was in position to make a stop immediately, but he got blocked. On yet anothe one, his assignment seemed to take him away from the direction of the screen. In the running game, he showed the ability t reach the sideline in pursuit on a run to the right. However, I did not notice him in runs straight at him. There were too many missed gap assignments, but I don't know how many were attributable to him, nor do I know how he fared when he had to stack and shed a blocker. Bottom line is I saw some good things-but still an incomplete. I'm not prepared to blame Muma for all of the failures in the run defense the way some are.
H. Willie Johnson-Was a star of the game. The UDFA out of Marshall showed a smooth change of direction and a sudden burst a few times during the game, including on an 88 yard punt return that was called back due to penalty. He helped himself last night. Holding call on that play was bogus. Happens all the time in fact saw the same thing un-called on a couple Raider returns.
I. Kevin Austin-Got a lot of buzz and the most prominent UDFA signing this year, but hasn't done much of anything. I barely noticed him last night. When he was in he seemed to run along side the DB.
8. Arden Key looks like he will contribute to the pass eush. Yep, quality depth.
10. Bottom line: It's preseason and I'm not too worried. There's no game planning, many of the starters didn't play. But it's somewhat concerning for this team to declare the defensive emphasis will be stopping the run and for the defense to perform so poorly on that area, even for the first preseason game. We play Cleveland next and they have a very strong running game. We will have had the advantage of playing in a game already. I am hoping to see a better run defense. But thank God football season is back!!!
Summary: Really nice write up there...Was I disappointed? Yes, I would have preferred a more competitive showing.
QB's
Stidham has played in McDaniel's system before with the Patriots and it showed. The reads were second nature to him and he was accurate. A quality backup for the Raiders. Luton on the other hand has yet to put it together and was limited by our O-line not being able to open any holes for the RB's. He also missed a few passes badly.
.
Trenches
Both lines were stonewalled pretty effectively by the Raiders. No one got pancaked or anything just moved around some. Just goes to show on both lines our depth has a ways to go. This will determine our success this year, so maybe it was a good thing they now know how much work they need to do.
Recievers
They got open a few times, had a step down the sidelines a few times. A little improvement, but vanilla routes so not a lot to say here. The TE catches didn't excite me as after they got up 20 points the Raiders did as agreed (and not BEFORE they were up 20) and played a prevent type D so yea the TE was open underneath.
Personnel
Last night was depth on depth. The Raiders personnel that played last night were superior to ours. We will get there in a few year if we stay the path.
Defense has some speed. Game plans will help but overall we have a long way to go. I hope to finally see progress this year. Oh sweet arrow of pointing up please come to our team and provide some hope.
(08-05-2022, 10:40 AM)rfc17 Wrote: [ -> ]There was another thread on the board talking about the defensive and specifically the defensive line that I had planned on responding to but will do here instead. While I'm excited about the potential and versatility of our line, we are bringing back a lot of guys from last year's team. And last year's team was terrible at stopping the run and getting pressure. As a Vanderbilt grad, we always hear "we have an experienced group coming back that has been here for a few years" and your first thought is "well is that a good thing!?". Yes the coaching last year was awful. Under this new coaching staff I know we are all expecting that with a new scheme and better development, we'll see a lot of improvement from returning players. But on the otherhand, maybe some of these guys, such as Davon Hamilton, actually aren't all that good. All these guys (Brown, RRH, Gotsis, Smoot, etc.... ) all seem to have moments and will make good plays but maybe as a collective or maybe in the totality of their play, they are just average players. Or better served as backup rotational guys at best. When you look across the depth chart, it feels like this should be a pretty solid group. And while I'm hopeful we'll see much better play, I don't think we should be shocked if we wake up midseason and realize they still aren't strong against the run. Or if our pass rush doesn't take a huge leap forward. There could still be a lot more talent acquisition needed.
I was only able to see a few plays with Connor. He looked strong and runs hard. But one of things you noticed in his college highlights is that he doesn't change direction all that quickly. And has a little Fournette to him. Give him an opening and he can be really explosive. But doesn't often make something out of nothing. If he wasn't getting much good blocking not surprised to hear he wasn't very productive.
But at the end of the day, it's just preseason. Feels like these games get worse and worse with each passing year. Hard to take much of anything away from them.
Nothing against your alma mater. It certainly doesn't need my imprimatur to be long established as an outstanding school. But it's never a good thing for an NFL DL to be compared in any way to Vandy's DL.
As for Devon Hamilton, I had always been high on his athletic ability for a man his size. However, there seems too many times where that combination of size and athleticism does not translate into stoutness at the line of scrimmage. Hopefully I am just overreacting to a disappointing preseason performance, but I think of the game last night and the games against the Rams and 49ers last year, and wonder. But that scrutiny falls to the others you mentioned too.
I recall a few years back when the big preseason controversy was the Jaguars passing offense not scoring any TDs with Brunell. There was angst throughout the fan base as the masses worried about the offense being able to score. The regular season started and it all went away. I suspect (hope?) we see something similar with the run defense this year.
(08-05-2022, 10:52 AM)Jag149 Wrote: [ -> ] (08-05-2022, 09:15 AM)Bullseye Wrote: [ -> ]3. Glad to hear Tyson Campbell is okay. Also good to see Andre Cisco starting at S. Eventually we may be pretty good on the back half of the defense.
5. Conner had some tough runs, but did not have a lot of room. I will say the RBs seemed to be utilized in the passing game more than in the past. It was tough sledding running the ball last night mainly because we got whipped at the line of scrimmage. The O-line is going to be a work in progress to begin the season. Well, until they can work as a unit.
7. Rookie watch:
A. Travon Walker: Admittedly, I was less than enthusiastic about the Walker pick. Since then, I've heard some good things about the pick, but I largely dismissed the reports as being premature minicamp optimism. But if last night is any indication, we seemed to have gotten the gamble on potential over production right. The very first play, Walker got a good pressure on the QB, although he got a roughing the passer penalty. This is the pre-pre season refs are going to be paranoid about protecting the QB's. If his arm was 6 inches lower no flag. It was a fluke the pass was even completed as it fluttered out of Stidham's hand because he was hit as he threw. Can anyone tell me what exactly he did on that play?!? The hit didn't seem to be late. I couldn't tell if he made contact with Stidham's helmet. His hands were around Stidham's shoulder pads, but it didn't appear to be a horse collar. The ref did not elaborate on what exactly Walker did. In any event, he affected the QB on that play and got a sack in the next series. He appeared to show a strong punch to the tackle's chect and disengaged well to get the QB as he stepped up. Was last night enough to show Walker is ready for a future Canton enshrinement? No, but it's an encouraging start. Agreed, a good first step. After the sack he got a lot of o-line attention. This will be much harder to do with Josh on the other side during the season.
C. Luke Fortner-I did not watch him closely. There weren't any errant snaps, nor did I see any penalties called against him. On the other hand, there didn't seem to be much room inside running the ball. Luke appeared to play well the times I watched him. We will be ok there with the rest of the starters in.
D. Chad Muma-With Devin Lloyd and Oluakon out for the game, Muma got a lot of my focus in this game. Though the raiders ran a few successful screens, I maintain that the breaches in the defense were NOT his fault. He seemed to diagnose the screen passes early on. One pne play, while he did not make the tackle, he slowed the RB down so he could be tackled after a minimal gain. On another screen. again he diagnosed the play quickly and was in position to make a stop immediately, but he got blocked. On yet anothe one, his assignment seemed to take him away from the direction of the screen. In the running game, he showed the ability t reach the sideline in pursuit on a run to the right. However, I did not notice him in runs straight at him. There were too many missed gap assignments, but I don't know how many were attributable to him, nor do I know how he fared when he had to stack and shed a blocker. Bottom line is I saw some good things-but still an incomplete. I'm not prepared to blame Muma for all of the failures in the run defense the way some are.
H. Willie Johnson-Was a star of the game. The UDFA out of Marshall showed a smooth change of direction and a sudden burst a few times during the game, including on an 88 yard punt return that was called back due to penalty. He helped himself last night. Holding call on that play was bogus. Happens all the time in fact saw the same thing un-called on a couple Raider returns.
I. Kevin Austin-Got a lot of buzz and the most prominent UDFA signing this year, but hasn't done much of anything. I barely noticed him last night. When he was in he seemed to run along side the DB.
8. Arden Key looks like he will contribute to the pass eush. Yep, quality depth.
10. Bottom line: It's preseason and I'm not too worried. There's no game planning, many of the starters didn't play. But it's somewhat concerning for this team to declare the defensive emphasis will be stopping the run and for the defense to perform so poorly on that area, even for the first preseason game. We play Cleveland next and they have a very strong running game. We will have had the advantage of playing in a game already. I am hoping to see a better run defense. But thank God football season is back!!!
Summary: Really nice write up there...Was I disappointed? Yes, I would have preferred a more competitive showing.
QB's
Stidham has played in McDaniel's system before with the Patriots and it showed. The reads were second nature to him and he was accurate. A quality backup for the Raiders. Luton on the other hand has yet to put it together and was limited by our O-line not being able to open any holes for the RB's. He also missed a few passes badly.
.
Trenches
Both lines were stonewalled pretty effectively by the Raiders. No one got pancaked or anything just moved around some. Just goes to show on both lines our depth has a ways to go. This will determine our success this year, so maybe it was a good thing they now know how much work they need to do.
Recievers
They got open a few times, had a step down the sidelines a few times. A little improvement, but vanilla routes so not a lot to say here. The TE catches didn't excite me as after they got up 20 points the Raiders did as agreed (and not BEFORE they were up 20) and played a prevent type D so yea the TE was open underneath.
Personnel
Last night was depth on depth. The Raiders personnel that played last night were superior to ours. We will get there in a few year if we stay the path.
3. We may be good back there, especially if they get some help from the pass rush and the offense. If they could play with more leads, I think they'll create more turnovers.
5. I am hoping a full starting lineup will help us with running the ball. Physically, a guy like Scherff should be able to win some matchups, which should make running a little easier. With Trevor at QB and the other skill players in the lineup, maybe opposing defenses can't load the bo to stop the run.
7 A. Emphasizing roughing the passer in the preseason is one thing, but my thought is that paranoia was ridiculous. Of course, my eyesight isn't what it was, and readily cede I simply may have missed it. If anyone else has another perspective, I welcome the correction.
H. I actually think the holding call was legit based n the replay. I don't think 35 needed to hold the guy, TBH.
I. For all the talk about his speed, in most of the college footage of him I saw, he didn't get much separation.
To the extent our poor performance was attributable to Pederson and co holding their cards close to the vest because we play the Raiders later in the year and don't want to tip their hands, I'm okay with it. But to the extent the performance was a function of personnel limitations, I don't like it.
(08-05-2022, 10:31 AM)RicoTx Wrote: [ -> ]I can’t draw any conclusions when so few starters are playing.
That is fair and understandable. You can't judge the overall strength of a team based upon the first preseason game of the season.
My wife and I attended the game. As expected, the game itself was boring and meaningless. The best things were that Campbell's injury was minor. This team can't afford to lose most likely their best cornerback. I was most pleased to see the 3 rookies (Walker, Muma and Fortner) get significant playing time. I'd expect each of them to keep improving as they adjust to the speed of the NFL game. Walker will need to learn pass rushing moves, but once he does the sky is the limit for him. In the meantime, he'll be an asset in run defense. Without Lawrence, Kirk or Etienne playing, there's no way to yet evaluate the offense. I look forward to seeing all 3 in the next game.
(08-05-2022, 11:20 AM)Bullseye Wrote: [ -> ]3. We may be good back there, especially if they get some help from the pass rush and the offense. If they could play with more leads, I think they'll create more turnovers.
5. I am hoping a full starting lineup will help us with running the ball. Physically, a guy like Scherff should be able to win some matchups, which should make running a little easier. With Trevor at QB and the other skill players in the lineup, maybe opposing defenses can't load the bo to stop the run.
7 A. Emphasizing roughing the passer in the preseason is one thing, but my thought is that paranoia was ridiculous. Of course, my eyesight isn't what it was, and readily cede I simply may have missed it. If anyone else has another perspective, I welcome the correction.
H. I actually think the holding call was legit based n the replay. I don't think 35 needed to hold the guy, TBH.
I. For all the talk about his speed, in most of the college footage of him I saw, he didn't get much separation.
To the extent our poor performance was attributable to Pederson and co holding their cards close to the vest because we play the Raiders later in the year and don't want to tip their hands, I'm okay with it. But to the extent the performance was a function of personnel limitations, I don't like it.
(08-05-2022, 10:31 AM)RicoTx Wrote: [ -> ]I can’t draw any conclusions when so few starters are playing.
That is fair and understandable. You can't judge the overall strength of a team based upon the first preseason game of the season.
I think that's just one of those plays that going to get called a lot of the time, and maybe more often during preseason. While I think his arm did stay below the head and neck area, the angle of Walker and Stidham kind of leaning back did give the look of Walker hitting him high, probably even moreso from the refs angle. It's probably a bad call, but I don't think it was egregious.
I went to the game the highlight was meeting Boselli pre game. Everything else made me wish I did not see what I saw. We have some players but the depth of this roster is bad. This is why I think we'll struggle this year.
Can you please replace the Subject line from Impressions from the HOF Game to Depressions from the HOF Game.
Our D is young. Going to take a year to 2 to really gel.
(08-05-2022, 01:14 PM)ICTEisREAL Wrote: [ -> ]I went to the game the highlight was meeting Boselli pre game. Everything else made me wish I did not see what I saw. We have some players but the depth of this roster is bad. This is why I think we'll struggle this year.
I disagree with this assessment. How many times will the ENTIRE second or third team be playing at the same time? The guys that were playing last night were rotational pieces and will never all see the field at the same time. Pre-season is hard enough to evaluate but when you’re talking about an extra game where pretty much nobody is playing it’s extremely difficult to extrapolate very much of anything.
I’d at least like to see the starters play some before I form any opinions. Hell, in all likelihood neither of the QBs we saw last night will be on the roster on game one and neither will most of WRs that played last night.
(08-05-2022, 01:14 PM)CTEisREAL Wrote: [ -> ]I went to the game the highlight was meeting Boselli pre game. Everything else made me wish I did not see what I saw. We have some players but the depth of this roster is bad. This is why I think we'll struggle this year.
I look at it like this.
We finished with the worst record in the league before Urban Decay was hired to be our coach, and then with him, we had the worst record in the league.
We are now a year removed from Urban Neglect and we have Doug Pederson as our coach.
Assuming no major infusion of talent, what is the difference in wins and losses Pederson should reasonably be expected to have?
(08-05-2022, 01:23 PM)Bullseye Wrote: [ -> ] (08-05-2022, 01:14 PM)CTEisREAL Wrote: [ -> ]I went to the game the highlight was meeting Boselli pre game. Everything else made me wish I did not see what I saw. We have some players but the depth of this roster is bad. This is why I think we'll struggle this year.
I look at it like this.
We finished with the worst record in the league before Urban Decay was hired to be our coach, and then with him, we had the worst record in the league.
We are now a year removed from Urban Neglect and we have Doug Pederson as our coach.
Assuming no major infusion of talent, what is the difference in wins and losses Pederson should reasonably be expected to have?
This question reminds me of the scene in Moneyball when the owner asked the coach. I believe 6 wins this year is this working. Now this is after one game where the newbee rookies and scrubs played. This estimate will change as we get closer.
We saw a defensive line with one starter (Walker) and maybe no starters at LB go against an offensive line with most of its starters and its starting running back. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Hopefully there are things on the game tape that those reserve players can learn from.
(08-05-2022, 01:23 PM)Bullseye Wrote: [ -> ] (08-05-2022, 01:14 PM)CTEisREAL Wrote: [ -> ]I went to the game the highlight was meeting Boselli pre game. Everything else made me wish I did not see what I saw. We have some players but the depth of this roster is bad. This is why I think we'll struggle this year.
I look at it like this.
We finished with the worst record in the league before Urban Decay was hired to be our coach, and then with him, we had the worst record in the league.
We are now a year removed from Urban Neglect and we have Doug Pederson as our coach.
Assuming no major infusion of talent, what is the difference in wins and losses Pederson should reasonably be expected to have?
Meyer was *so* monumentally dysfunctional, I think just having a professional coaching staff alone is worth 3 or 4 more wins. I also do think this team is more talented than they were last year although depth is still suspect as CTEisREAL said. However, the WR corps is going to be below average when it's said and done even if Kirk puts up near pro-bowl numbers. There's just not enough horses there. We have to hope our TEs make their mark. I do also think our defense is going to be really good by the time we're into the second part of the season. Arrow is pointing up even if we only flirt with .500 this year.
(08-05-2022, 01:44 PM)mikesez Wrote: [ -> ]We saw a defensive line with one starter (Walker) and maybe no starters at LB go against an offensive line with most of its starters and its starting running back. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Hopefully there are things on the game tape that those reserve players can learn from.
I'm just getting a chance to watch right now and this is what I'm seeing early on ^
Jags upgraded NT (Fatukasi), ILB (Oluokun and Lloyd) and NB ( Williams) and none of those guys were on the field with the raiders using 4 of their 5 starters on the OL and Josh Jacobs running.
The run defense will look different with those upgrades on the field. (although Tre Herndon plays pretty good run D at nickel - the other 3 should be noticeable improvements and Williams is obviously a better cover guy at NB than Herndon)