The Good

[j_y19]

OK. I'm over it. Time to move on. There are actually some positives that have developed in recent games. I chose to focus on them going forward.

1. We have key building blocks on the offense in place. While RG3 is not playing well right now, I attribute this more to his injury and lack of prep during the offseason as well as a general sophomore slump. It happens. More times than not. We have all seen the potential of RG3 last year. With his drive, I have no doubt he will fix his issues this offseason. We also have one of the top RBs in the league. In fact, other than Peterson, I would take Morris over any other RB. He is a beast and a punishing runner. Garcon is a very good WR and is an asset to this team. Jordan Reed will be a Pro Bowler before his career is done. He is already uncoverable. He gets open every play. Finally, Trent is a Pro Bowler at LT. We just need to shore up a few glaring weakness on offense and we will be very dangerous.

2. The Defense has made a 180 degree turn. They played very well yesterday. DHall is playing out of his mind this year. The rest of the secondary actually played pretty well also. Sure, we gave up a ton of short passes. But other than the 2 screens for TDs, we actually tackled the receiver almost immediately after the catch. I have to give kudos to Haslett, I thought it was a great game plan against Peyton. I even saw Rambo make a few solo open field tackles with authority. Amerson is looking more comfortable and does a very good job in man/press coverage. He may be a keeper. Kerrigan once again makes a big play with the fumble my Manning. He just does the little things that make a difference because he never stops fighting.

3. Special teams. Well.......we didn't give up a TD yesterday on STs directly, so that's a positive, right? Of course a shank 10 yd punt led to an easy TD, but that's a negative thought and I don't want to go there. Morgan had a nice return, although some would say it was a stupid decision to field a punt on the 5 yard line and any positive yds out of that were pure luck.

That's about it. Believe it or not, I think we really only need to fill 3-4 key holes this next year and we change significantly our competitiveness and consistency. The great news is we will have to money to fix some of these issues. But we need to be realistic. We still will not fix all of them this year. We may have to work with the secondary we have again for one more year. Maybe the young guys continue to develop. We have to replace Fletcher, He is done. We have to address WR. Morgan and Moss are both gone. Robinson is gone also. We have to address our interior OL if for no other reason than to protect the health of RG3. RT is a need to, but Polumbus is no longer the weak link in that unit.

 

[deanpet21]

We also have one of the top RBs in the league. In fact, other than Peterson, I would take Morris over any other RB. He is a beast and a punishing runner.

Are you serious jy19? Morris over McCoy, Gore, Lynch, Forte, Foster, Rice, Johnson, MJD, and Richardson? Wow. You can make the argument that Helu should get more carries over Morris. Helu is the better all around back but Morris is better at breaking tackles.

If some team offered us a first round pick for Morris would we do it?(Like the Colts did for Richardson) I say yes. Thoughts?

 

[j_y19]

We also have one of the top RBs in the league. In fact, other than Peterson, I would take Morris over any other RB. He is a beast and a punishing runner.

Are you serious jy19? Morris over McCoy, Gore, Lynch, Forte, Foster, Rice, Johnson, MJD, and Richardson? Wow. You can make the argument that Helu should get more carries over Morris. Helu is the better all around back but Morris is better at breaking tackles.

If some team offered us a first round pick for Morris would we do it?(Like the Colts did for Richardson) I say yes. Thoughts?

Yup, I'd take morris. All those backs are great backs, but they are all a couple years older. Since the avg career lifespan for a RB is 6 years, many of those guys will not be around in a few years. The only ones you mentioned above that give me pause is McCoy and Lynch.

As far as if someone offered us a 1st for morris, I'd take it in a heartbeat. While I love Morris, RBs are somewhat a dime a dozen. Competent RBs are not hard to find. Now, a Peterson is a different story. But much of the RB's success is the scheme he plays in and the OL supporting him.

 

[Caliskinsfan]

OK. I'm over it. Time to move on. There are actually some positives that have developed in recent games. I chose to focus on them going forward.

1. We have key building blocks on the offense in place. While RG3 is not playing well right now, I attribute this more to his injury and lack of prep during the offseason as well as a general sophomore slump. It happens. More times than not. We have all seen the potential of RG3 last year. With his drive, I have no doubt he will fix his issues this offseason. We also have one of the top RBs in the league. In fact, other than Peterson, I would take Morris over any other RB. He is a beast and a punishing runner. Garcon is a very good WR and is an asset to this team. Jordan Reed will be a Pro Bowler before his career is done. He is already uncoverable. He gets open every play. Finally, Trent is a Pro Bowler at LT. We just need to shore up a few glaring weakness on offense and we will be very dangerous.

2. The Defense has made a 180 degree turn. They played very well yesterday. DHall is playing out of his mind this year. The rest of the secondary actually played pretty well also. Sure, we gave up a ton of short passes. But other than the 2 screens for TDs, we actually tackled the receiver almost immediately after the catch. I have to give kudos to Haslett, I thought it was a great game plan against Peyton. I even saw Rambo make a few solo open field tackles with authority. Amerson is looking more comfortable and does a very good job in man/press coverage. He may be a keeper. Kerrigan once again makes a big play with the fumble my Manning. He just does the little things that make a difference because he never stops fighting.

3. Special teams. Well.......we didn't give up a TD yesterday on STs directly, so that's a positive, right? Of course a shank 10 yd punt led to an easy TD, but that's a negative thought and I don't want to go there. Morgan had a nice return, although some would say it was a stupid decision to field a punt on the 5 yard line and any positive yds out of that were pure luck.

That's about it. Believe it or not, I think we really only need to fill 3-4 key holes this next year and we change significantly our competitiveness and consistency. The great news is we will have to money to fix some of these issues. But we need to be realistic. We still will not fix all of them this year. We may have to work with the secondary we have again for one more year. Maybe the young guys continue to develop. We have to replace Fletcher, He is done. We have to address WR. Morgan and Moss are both gone. Robinson is gone also. We have to address our interior OL if for no other reason than to protect the health of RG3. RT is a need to, but Polumbus is no longer the weak link in that unit.

Excellent points j_y. I still remain optimistic about this teams ability to pull itself together. We've had alot of adversity to overcome, and we do have some excellent talent at certain positions. The key for us will be having our lesser talent step up and just be competitive.

I've already said this, but it bears repeating. We are not an elite team right now. But we do have the ability to be a dangerous good team, this season.

Big picture. With improvements off season, fiscally responsible choices, and a bit of luck, we can realistically make the jump moving forward.

 

[Brock2005]

We have a TON of holes -

Saftey
Oline (pass blocking)
Dline (pass rush)
Corner (DHall is old)
LB (Fletcher's last season)
Reciever (No help for Garcon)

 

[j_y19]

We have a TON of holes -

Saftey
Oline (pass blocking)
Dline (pass rush)
Corner (DHall is old)
LB (Fletcher's last season)
Reciever (No help for Garcon)

Damn, Brock. Here I was trying to be positive and you go and burst my bubble.

The dline is an interesting one. We all expected with the return of Rak that the pass rush would improve, but in reality, it really hasn't that much. We are slightly statistically ahead of last year, but not by much. And as far as dhall goes, he's not even 30 yet so that's not really old. He is an enigma, however. He is playing better this year than he has played in 5 years. I'm hoping he has matured. He seems to be less "meangelo" and more team oriented.

 

[skinsdad62]

Damn, Brock. Here I was trying to be positive and you go and burst my bubble.

The dline is an interesting one. We all expected with the return of Rak that the pass rush would improve, but in reality, it really hasn't that much. We are slightly statistically ahead of last year, but not by much. And as far as dhall goes, he's not even 30 yet so that's not really old. He is an enigma, however. He is playing better this year than he has played in 5 years. I'm hoping he has matured. He seems to be less "meangelo" and more team oriented.

simply not true . we have 20 sacks over 7 games as opposed to 32 over 16 games . we are on pace to get about 42 sacks this season . that would be good for 7th overall last season

add to it we have 5 defensive tds as opposed to 6 all of last year i would say our pass rush is much better with Rak on the field

 

[gkekoa]

We have 20 sacks on the year already. That is good for 18th; however, that doesn't take into account byes that other teams have not had. We are on pace to be top ten in sacks this season
Last season we have 32 on the season. That was 23rd.

 

[j_y19]

We have 20 sacks on the year already. That is good for 18th; however, that doesn't take into account byes that other teams have not had. We are on pace to be top ten in sacks this season
Last season we have 32 on the season. That was 23rd.

I didn't take into account that we had played one less game, so that does skew it.