Carolina Questions

im surprised rock hasnt tried to earn a spot as a returner. Yea we have thrash now, but I figured rock would be next before simon, since rock did do returns last year. Simon might inch out the spot before rock.

1) You know, KT didn't do as badly as I thought he would. Peppers did get by him on one play for a sack, but if you actually watched the play it really looked more like the RG didn't bix him up coming inside (this is what the WP reported this morning as well). Otherwise, KT looked like a starter. He was not the problem in terms of the lack of holes for the RBs; that was a problem pretty much across the board.

2) Ramsey looked very bad at the beginning. Two fumbled snaps, one pick, and most of his throws were either two hard or unneccessarily overthrown. He looked nervous, tentative, and just plain bad at times. Still, I think there is a silver lining here; after Ramsey took a big shot from either a DE or LB coming off the right side, I think he really seemed to calm down. He made two very nice completions to Lavernues Coles (who came up limping after both, I'm really worried about him), and looked somewhat like what we saw at the beginning of last season, if only for awhile. My guess is that this guy is just flat-out gunshy after getting pulverized last year. If we don't see significant improvement in the next preseason game, though, I'd be more concerned.

3) He has to. He looked very good on a couple of returns (was Chad Morton injured?), though we didn't see much of him at RB. Rock Cartwright, except for one run, looked bad. He looked slow hitting the holes, and entirely too tentative for a second or third string defense. I think he will be the first RB to get cut, because let's face it, he's not a natural RB. He's an FB, and there is no true FB in Gibbs' offense.

4) I say our WRs will be, in this order: Coles, Gardner, McCants, Thrash, Jacobs (if this guy shows up! He played last night, and didn't do anything), and Scott. Didn't see much of Cloman last night, and Dillard looks small, slow, and very unsure of himself.

Thanks Monkmaniac, and everyone else

The more time Betts misses the better chance Rock has. This story with Betts is getting a little old. Always banged up. He needs to get in there and start producing.

If the quarterbacks weren't "completely totally awful" they were pretty darn close. They just aren't on the same page as the receivers. Sure, there are completions here and there, but there's no consistency, no rhythym, and there really was no progress from the HoF game to last night's game. I gave them a pass against Denver for only being in camp about a week. Now, it's been more than two weeks, and at times they look like an expansion team that hasn't even had the opportunity for minicamps. This time, Hasslebeck was equally as bad as Brunell and Ramsey.

Julius Peppers was an excellent test for Kenyatta Jones. On one particular play, Peppers delivered a blast to Jones that sent him on his heels. He did sack the QB once, and provided pressure at other times, but there was a lot of shifting along the O-line, so I can't say exactly who was lined up against Peppers every single time. Overall, it could be said that Jones held his own, and to be sure, Peppers would probably have given even Jon Jansen a lick or two.

Gari Scott and John Simon have to be giving both Taylor Jacobs and Rock Cartwright a run for their money, due mainly to their contributions on special teams. Scott seems to be able to find the ball on offense too, while there just may not be enough room on the roster for both Rock and Simon. With all the H-backs and TEs, Gibbs will certainly not be able to have six wideouts on the team.

rock is too slow for returns with simon, scott, thrash and morton around... i bet smoot would be a better return guy than rock (smoot practices returns, rock hasn't been doing that). Rock HAS had more luck at RB than simon though, and i'm still thinking mccullough will get cut before him, simply because rock could do something against 1st strings last year and mccullough has only been doing 3rd stringers...

I really don't like the idea of Smoot returning punts. Seems like an unnecessary risk

yeah, honestly smoot isn't really that good at it, he catches balls away from his body (unlike WRs) and tends to drop more... same problem champ had.