Pre-season week 2 analysis

[SJ76]

Ok so let's start witht the Colts and Giants. Luck still looks like the real deal and David Wilson looks to be a gamer as well. Eli didn't play a ton, but the Giants have weapons for sure. TY Hilton looks like the real deal too. Can Reggie Wayne still play at 35? Appartantly so. Does Indy have a feature RB? Do they even need one?

Rams Packers was a snooze fest. All I hear is that "the Rams offense is going to be stout" and "Bradford looked pretty good", but what i saw was a team struggling in the red zone, especially when Sam fumbled. AGAIN. Funny how we (Rams) addressed the need of WR in the draft, but did we really address our red zone issue? Meanwhile Eddie Lacy actually did look good, while the Rams RB's still struggled to get important yards. What are the Rams going to do in the red zone? We drafted a slot guy at #8 overall and our O-line still looks shitty and we have no stud RB. However the Pack offense looked good minus their 2 top WR's and the Rams defense held them to no TD's. But I expected some TD's in the Rams' first home game.

Chargers Bears was interesting. It looked like Chicago's defense is awesome, but I think it's more like San Diego's O-line is not good! And I don't know who is worse, Jay Cutler or Phillip Rivers. Both have talent, but I think both have O-lines that are just not that good. Matt Forte did look good and Ryan Matthews even looked ok, but I can tell you I will not be drafting Matthews in the 1st round again. lol

AZ and Dallas looked like another snooze fest with field goals and turnovers galore. Romo = another good QB with no O-line. See a trend here? *light bulb* - GM's across the country. AZ's defense might be sneaky good this year. No clue on Dallas.

Houston Miami was interesting because Schaub, Case Keenum, and Ryan Tannehill all looked pretty good. Houston's defense held Miami's run game in check, but both teams had their way in the passing game. Feel free to add more details.

Cleveland certainly looks legit and could be a sleeper in the AFC north. Detroit was minus Megatron, but all QB's in this game were pretty good as well. Cleveland had 3 passing TD's - 2 to TE Cameron Jordan (sleeper TE?) I like Cleveland. They have a solid RB, some weapons, a young QB, and a solid D. Sleeper D for sure. Detroit? Head coach will be fired midway thru the season.

Ravens ATL was a good game and both teams looked liek their old self. Steven Jackson looked pretty beastlike and ATL's offense did not sputter like the week before. Ravens D was sleeping, but it's early.



If anyone watched ther other games, please chime in.

 

[jacobarch]

I hold my reservations during the pre season because it means absolutely nothing. The pats have gone 0-4 in the pre season and went to multiple superbowls. The Rams went 4-0 when spags was the coach and we went 2-14....So what does that tell you? Pre season means nothing dude, and people year after year put way to much hype in the preseason. I'm not trying to take any jabs at you but I just don't get how people don't know this by now....

 

[SJ76]

Not saying the preseason is meaningfun or not, it is what it is... Football.

And we still can't score in the red zone.

 

[fastforward]

I saw the first 23 minutes of the Vikings - Bills game. Kolb vs Ponder/Cassel. Way worse than either of our games. Those are 2 offenses that will struggle. Kolb was boo-ed, often, and the Vikings can't snap the ball. The defenses looked good but it's hard to tell when the offenses are that bad. I know it's pre-season and AP wasn't playing, but both teams looked like 4th place teams.

The Cowboys looked better than the Cardinals despite the scoreline. They won't turn the ball over like that very often. Romo looked really good. Orton looked awful.

Most back-up QBs have looked awful this pre-season. They look like they're not spending time with the WRs they're playing with (?). This includes the 49ers where Tolzein is battling McCoy. I've seen good things from both in the past but not in the last 2 weeks. The 49ers 4th choice looks a lock to make the team, meaning 1 of these 2 will be cut. I'd still bring in the guy who loses as he'll be better than Clemens or Davis.

A reminder that it's been pre-season for our opponents as well. The Packers played us without their top WRs and starting CBs. We were only missing Saffold. They also took the ball away from Rodgers to try other things whilst Rodgers was still in. If it had been 'for real' it could have been very ugly.

For me pre-season matters from an individual point of view rather than the team. Players who look really good or bad in games often look the same way during the season. I don't get to see camp and I wouldn't be able to evaluate it anyway. As starters Bradford and Givens have shone. The rest are yet to show up.

 

[RamCub]

SJ76 - Agree about Detroit's head coach. I posted on another thread that Jim Schwartz would be the first head coach fired this year!

 

[Retroram52]

SJ76. As usual you may have identified our weaknesses that continue. The one glaring is this redzone issue that continues to creep in. We simply have not got past our past of relying on FGs for scoring and it appears to be in the back of everyone's minds even in the preseason. When you get that close and miss on three downs or fumble, you ought be sat down for the rest of the game. I hope I am wrong here and I am using caution before I pronounce sentence on the Rams O.

 

[Scooby-Doo]

I hold my reservations during the pre season because it means absolutely nothing. The pats have gone 0-4 in the pre season and went to multiple superbowls. The Rams went 4-0 when spags was the coach and we went 2-14....So what does that tell you? Pre season means nothing dude, and people year after year put way to much hype in the preseason. I'm not trying to take any jabs at you but I just don't get how people don't know this by now....

I don't think he is analyzing the preseason game by wins and losses. He is looking at the play of the starters. The reason teams like the pats can go 0-4 in the preseason is because they could care less about the final score. I'm sure the starters look fine in there 4 or 5 series and then it's on to the backups. Bad teams may win preseason games because the coach might be trying to bring a taste of victory to the team and put more of an emphasis on winning. Although most teams are running vanilla offenses and defenses, I do think things like timing and being in position are important factors to measure in the preseason. If the starters are having difficulty scoring in the red zone then that is an area for concern. I have the same concerns in AZ.

I do agree that the preseason record means nothing, but there are a lot of things to take for the games and work on.

 

[shopson67]

I saw the first 23 minutes of the Vikings - Bills game. Kolb vs Ponder/Cassel. Way worse than either of our games. Those are 2 offenses that will struggle. Kolb was boo-ed, often, and the Vikings can't snap the ball. The defenses looked good but it's hard to tell when the offenses are that bad. I know it's pre-season and AP wasn't playing, but both teams looked like 4th place teams.

You have to consider that Buffalo was playing without Stevie Johnson, starting TE Scott Chandler, likely starter WR TJ Graham, and starting MLB Kiko Alonso, among others. Kolb will also lose the job to EJ Manuel very soon. EJ has been much better than Kolb this preseason.

The Vikes will be much better with AP, but the passing game is going to be shaky.