Any Positives From Tonight's Game?

[Beemnseven]

Originally Posted by dmek25

its pretty obvious that saunders and company are showing nothing, and pretty much restricting the offense. i think an onsides kick and a double reverse in a preseason game is a bit much. everyone around here needs to relax until the real deal starts

In his postgame interview, Mark Brunell refuted the notion that "vanilla offense" is what's handicapping them. If the coaches are calling simple plays, then it should not require anything other than simple execution. So far, the starting offense has not demonstrated that. Other than 3 good passing plays (one to Lloyd last week, and two tonight to Randle El), the starters are having trouble going more than 3 play before having to punt.

One other thing -- pointing this out doesn't indicate "panic" or that we all need to "relax." It's an observation, that's all. The only one who showed anything close to panic tonight, was Joe Gibbs. What does that tell you?

[dmek25]

lets look at it this way. straight up formations with little or no motion or movement. alot easier to play defense against. and the point about gibbs doesnt carry alot of weight because ever since coach gibbs has been here, does anyone ever remember a time when he has stated publicly that he was satisfied with his team?

[Longtimefan]

We are experiencing the affects of change. We added quite a few new players, a new [or different] coordinator on offense and a 700 page playbook. When you have a group of players who have not had a lot of reps together to prepare for game like situations it takes time for all the pieces to come together. We also had a short camp with limited contact and players playing in games who were not here from the beginning. We are coming to see the pre-season hype has to be transformed into solid play on the field. I'm going to take all things considered and beleive that as we continue to become familiar with each other things will look better. Right now just about everyone is disappointed with the team for one reason or another but soon I think we'll begin to build on the momentum we established at the end of last season. We have good leadership on this team and I'm convinced that will be our salvation.
Pardon my rant, but I feel these factors are important to consider.

[illdefined]

Originally Posted by illdefined

i miss the red pants. maybe thats it.

Originally Posted by mooby

Maybe we should switch back to the red pants, we've lost our last three games where we've worn all white.

you seconding the motion?

[Beemnseven]

Originally Posted by dmek25

lets look at it this way. straight up formations with little or no motion or movement. alot easier to play defense against. and the point about gibbs doesnt carry alot of weight because ever since coach gibbs has been here, does anyone ever remember a time when he has stated publicly that he was satisfied with his team?

We can look at any way we want. My point is, the players and the coaches don't look at it like, "it's just preseason, don't worry about it," or, "chalk it up to a 'vanilla' offense." That's called fan-speak. Trust me, anyone who puts on a uniform with their name stitched on it can't be anything but ashamed by their performance over the past two games, preseason or not.

And there's a difference between Joe Gibbs' propensity for cautious skepticism and being straight out pissed off at the way his team looked.

[Beemnseven]

Originally Posted by Longtimefan

We are experiencing the affects of change. We added quite a few new players, a new [or different] coordinator on offense and a 700 page playbook. When you have a group of players who have not had a lot of reps together to prepare for game like situations it takes time for all the pieces to come together. We also had a short camp with limited contact and players playing in games who were not here from the beginning. We are coming to see the pre-season hype has to be transformed into solid play on the field. I'm going to take all things considered and beleive that as we continue to become familiar with each other things will look better. Right now just about everyone is disappointed with the team for one reason or another but soon I think we'll begin to build on the momentum we established at the end of last season. We have good leadership on this team and I'm convinced that will be our salvation.
Pardon my rant, but I feel these factors are important to consider.

That's fine, but like everyone has been saying -- we're running a VANILLA offense! You can't dismiss the offense's performance to a complex playbook when all we keep hearing is that the plays are too simple or "vanilla."

[dmek25]

from the looks of the starters that were sitting on the bench in the latter part of the game, they didnt seem to concerned about a whole lot. they understand that players make up a sucessful situation, and some of the players that participated last night will not be around come opening day.all im saying is the final product is far from what we saw last night

[GTripp0012]

Havent seen the game yet because I have no local market here, but I'll catch the NFL Network rerun @ 2 today.

Really, really not worried about the preseason at all.

Is Griffin OK? Has anyone heard?

[dblanch66]

If anyone is actually upset about this game...
It IS preseason. Super Bowl year we went 0-4 and Gibbs was furious the entire training camp. Mark my words, this is all going according to PLAN. Minnesota better look out.

[bigm29]

Originally Posted by dblanch66

If anyone is actually upset about this game...
It IS preseason. Super Bowl year we went 0-4 and Gibbs was furious the entire training camp. Mark my words, this is all going according to PLAN. Minnesota better look out.

the colts went 0-5 in the preseason last year, then won their next 13 games

[Big C]

sellers is looking like an awesome fullback

[RiggoRules]

The biggest positive from last night is that Gibbs is pissed. With his skills, I am confident that will translate into a more motivated team.

Other positives:

* Campbell -- especially the way he came back from the INT. What I love about JC more than anything else is his poise and confidence. He has a presence that Eli Manning will probably never have. JC makes me very excited for the future. I'm a huge opponent of ever using any first round pick on a QB. JC is an exception to that.
* REL's play.
* Riggo's color commentary (he and Patrick should replace the current MNF crew -- Riggo does a better job of what both TK and JT do, he is a 2for1 deal). Sure, the constant plugs for his radio show were a bit over the top, but it was actually self depricating humor.
* No bimbo sideline reporters (btw, when I am elected King of the World, my first act will be to outlaw bimbo sideline reporters). Although I would make one huge exception: http://www.thewarpath.net/warpath-pa...au-thread.html
* Thrash.
* Collins put himself more securely in the #3 slot. Maybe there is a deal to be made w/ the Jets for Bollinger (who is unlikely to make the team). Not a big fan, but he sure as hell is better than TC.
* Sellers is a stud as FB. I really like how Saunders is using TE/FB as opposed to the H-Back approach. It is more specialized and that part of the game is looking pretty good.

On the less than positive side:

* The game looked like crap on my HDTV. OMFG, they even cut off the top scoreboard. It looked worse than the Skins did.
* Patten not only probably cost himself his job, but he put a pretty big dent in any trade value.
* Espy took a step back on a night when he had a chance to win a roster slot outright. He isn't done yet, but he could have been in and those opportunities don't come along that often.
* The defensive and ST break downs. This was both mental error stuff and football fundamental stuff (tackling 101 -- some of these guys should sign up for a subscription to Bill Parcell's Back Yard Drills).
* Not enough close up shots of the smokin hot cheerleaders during the broadcast (although, because of no HD, not that big a deal). I mean come on, the game was ugly. Let's entertain people.

[MightyJoeGibbs]

Originally Posted by bigm29

the colts went 0-5 in the preseason last year, then won their next 13 games

Its not about winning the game we know preseason means shit. Its about sustaining a fucking Offensive series and proving that they can execute and get in the end zone together. Their has been an Impotent Offense looming over this team for the past 5-10 years it cant prolong a drive and get it upfield.
Defense played with both hands spreading their asscheeks open.Sorry for the graphics.

[budw38]

I cannot tell how the team is playing in preseason , didn't we score 40 pts per game under Spurrier , and it was no indication on the perfrormance those years . I'am concerned that A. Carter has not been a factor as a pass rusher in two games .

[JankySpanky80]

What if they're all great actors and throwing these games so teams prepare for us differently. They say its vanilla, so maybe on sept. 11th they'll add some hot fudge......lol