Daseal's Random Thoughts:

[Daseal]

1) I hate seeing ARE returning punts. It seems like he either runs for 20 yards laterally and 0 to -3 yards forward. Put Rock back there. He'll catch the ball and at least fall forward. I'm sick of seeing ARE dance around back there.

2) I'm sick of hearing "Pre-season doesn't matter." We got stomped in the last two games, this board was full of excuses for it. Parts of the pre-season don't matter, things such as the final score or W/L ratio. What does matter is quality of play, especially from your starters. We had bad play, players looked lost, our run defense was bad, etc. That all seemed to translate to Thursday evening.

3) I expected Jim Zorn to experience growing pains. However, I didn't expect his playcalling to be so uninspired. Maybe this says something about JC and the faith Zorn has in him -- I don't know. Something about the short passes right into a tackler every third down short of the sticks I just don't get.

4) Jason Campbell. I know it's a new offense, but he's never looked quite this bad. If we have a top 15 pick, expect Jim Zorn to be taking a QB to groom. Campbell was Gibbs boy, and if he doesn't pick it up don't be surprised to see Zorn go after a guy in the draft. Personally, I like Jason and hope he works out, but if he continues to struggle I see this as a very real possibility.

5) Santana Moss / James Thrash. Stop. Dropping. Balls. You have one job, catch that brown thing whizzing at you. Thrash had a TD and the ball hit him in the shoulder. That is simply inexcusable. Especially in crunch time like that. I really hope these rookie WRs work out so we can ship Moss out.

6) Not everything was bad. The half time adjustments were pretty good. Eli was absolutely abysmal with a little pressure in his face. We got totally smoked in the first half. I don't know why. Rodgers got eaten up by Plax. Smoot I think was okay. Landry was okay.

7) Refs? Hello? PI on smoot? Come on. Toomer extended his arms into his chest for an obvious push off. Brandon Jacobs can slap Marcus Washington across the face and it's fine? The first half seemed like any questionable call went to the Giants.

8) Clock Management. This was terrible. Did we not work on the hurry up? We can't even SPIKE THE BALL EFFICIENTLY. Before half time we didn't use any TOs as the clock was clicking. I was expecting Zorn to call two TOs in a row to make this debacle complete.

9) Anyone still dogging the "So called experts" for picking us 4th in the NFC East? Hell, if we continue to look anything like this, they were giving us far more credit than we deserve. People around here love to bitch when there isn't any fanfare around the team, then never go back and eat crow when they're wrong. I was thinking we'd get 3rd in the division behind the Cowboys/Giants. Now I think the Eagles may shoot ahead, maybe even to 2nd.

I realize it's 1 week. The season is only 1/16th over. It's not the end of the world. Etc. However, there seem to be some problems Im not sure we can fix in a week. We have a tough first five games and it's possible we start 0-5. I'm hunkering in for a long season until I see proof otherwise.

[Smooter]

I completely agree with you about ARE returning punts. He might as well down it.

[SouperMeister]

Originally Posted by Daseal

1) I hate seeing ARE returning punts. It seems like he either runs for 20 yards laterally and 0 to -3 yards forward. Put Rock back there. He'll catch the ball and at least fall forward. I'm sick of seeing ARE dance around back there.
Amen!!! He needs to be shown film of B-Mitch running straight North to South.

4) Jason Campbell. I know it's a new offense, but he's never looked quite this bad. If we have a top 15 pick, expect Jim Zorn to be taking a QB to groom. Campbell was Gibbs boy, and if he doesn't pick it up don't be surprised to see Zorn go after a guy in the draft. Personally, I like Jason and hope he works out, but if he continues to struggle I see this as a very real possibility.
If we end up with a top pick, we MUST use it to address either the O-line or D-line. We got murdered in the trenches on both sides of the ball.

6) Not everything was bad. The half time adjustments were pretty good. Eli was absolutely abysmal with a little pressure in his face. We got totally smoked in the first half. I don't know why. Rodgers got eaten up by Plax. Smoot I think was okay. Landry was okay.
I thought the DBs played reasonably well without the benefit of pressure on Eli in the first half. Rogers should have had 2 INTs (one for a TD) which is pretty good considering the serious injury he returned from ahead of schedule.

7) Refs? Hello? PI on smoot? Come on. Toomer extended his arms into his chest for an obvious push off. Brandon Jacobs can slap Marcus Washington across the face and it's fine? The first half seemed like any questionable call went to the Giants.
Don't forget the quick whistle on Santana's bobbled catch on his back. That should have been a TD. Madden is a waste when it comes to commenting on missed calls. Aikman would have been all over that.

8) Clock Management. This was terrible. Did we not work on the hurry up? We can't even SPIKE THE BALL EFFICIENTLY. Before half time we didn't use any TOs as the clock was clicking. I was expecting Zorn to call two TOs in a row to make this debacle complete.
Campbell and Zorn need to get their heads in the game regarding the clock management, but I put that more on coaching.

9) Anyone still dogging the "So called experts" for picking us 4th in the NFC East? Hell, if we continue to look anything like this, they were giving us far more credit than we deserve. People around here love to bitch when there isn't any fanfare around the team, then never go back and eat crow when they're wrong. I was thinking we'd get 3rd in the division behind the Cowboys/Giants. Now I think the Eagles may shoot ahead, maybe even to 2nd.
We are the only team in the division switching to a new offense. Growing pains should be expected, and a 4th place prediction for this season is reasonable.

I realize it's 1 week. The season is only 1/16th over. It's not the end of the world. Etc. However, there seem to be some problems Im not sure we can fix in a week. We have a tough first five games and it's possible we start 0-5. I'm hunkering in for a long season until I see proof otherwise.

My comments are inline in bold. As soon as I saw the schedule, I also feared an 0-5 start. Arizona deserved to beat us last year, with Rackers missing the winning kick. The Skins have to play with far greater intensity if they hope to be even mildly competitive in the best division in football.

[MTK]

The bogus PI call on Smoot really ticked me off. Toomer clearly pushed off.

I didn't understand the non-calls on Jacobs and on Pierce later on when he got in that scuffle with Kendall. Both of them clearly started shit right in front of a ref no less. I don't get it.

[EternalEnigma21]

My random thought: I wonder if pepper jack cheese would be good melted over a bratwurst...


ARE is unnerving as a punt returner, I agree. I was concerned about the lack of execution by our starters inm preseason. I really hope they put it together. They've got a lot of work to do on offense. It looks like they didn't have much of a camp... You'd think they'd have come in with some sort of gameplan to match their development... That's Zorns fault.

[BDBohnzie]

EE21 - it is good...

The drops on both sides of the ball have to stop.

Put James Thrash back to take punts.

And figure out how to run a 2 minute offense late in the game.

[SmootSmack]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

The bogus PI call on Smoot really ticked me off. Toomer clearly pushed off.

I didn't understand the non-calls on Jacobs and on Pierce later on when he got in that scuffle with Kendall. Both of them clearly started shit right in front of a ref no less. I don't get it.

To be fair, we got lucky when a facemask penalty was called against the Giants at the end of the first half leading up to our TD that really wasn't a facemask.

However, we got totally robbed on the Santana Moss catch. The one where he bobbled it then got up and took off for what should have been a TD. He was touched before he fully caught the ball, after that he was never downed. That was Antonio Freeman all over again and would have turned the game around.

[EternalEnigma21]

Yeah the moss catch was bs. He didn't have the ball until after he was touched.

[SouperMeister]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

To be fair, we got lucky when a facemask penalty was called against the Giants at the end of the first half leading up to our TD that really wasn't a facemask.

However, we got totally robbed on the Santana Moss catch. The one where he bobbled it then got up and took off for what should have been a TD. He was touched before he fully caught the ball, after that he was never downed. That was Antonio Freeman all over again and would have turned the game around.

Did anybody DVR the facemask play? They only replayed the initial contact behind the line of scrimmage (clearly no facemask), but never replayed the actual tackle completed by another player. Agree about the quick whistle on Moss - I thought about Freeman also.

[Paintrain]

great call on ARE.. He drives me nuts back there.. Run the direction the ball came from, it's not that hard!

The refs were pretty bad on some of the extra curriculars for sure. Jacobs should have gotten 15 yds for that slap and Pierce for the Kendall scrape.. The PI in the endzone was garbage also.. I think since Moss was hit and went to the ground, even before possession, that was the correct call.

[jsarno]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

However, we got totally robbed on the Santana Moss catch. The one where he bobbled it then got up and took off for what should have been a TD. He was touched before he fully caught the ball, after that he was never downed. That was Antonio Freeman all over again and would have turned the game around.

I'm surprised more people haven't said this. That is 100% accurate. That was a terrible call.
Instead people are talking about the pass interferance call...which, sorry guys, was the CORRECT CALL. We all know PI will go against the DB 9 times out of 10, and if you can show me that he didn't initiate the contact with toomer, then I'll change my view. Sure toomer pushed off, but only after contact. If that was Moss, you guys would sing a different tune, but because it was our defensive player that got called, we are seeing things incorrectly.

[MTK]

Sorry but a push off is a push off, regardless of who initiated the contact. The PI call was complete horseshit. You can't shove a guy to the ground.

[SUNRA]

Did anyone record the Indy Hall of Fame game or the Buffalo game? The offense we saw yesterday had none of the aggressive playcallling we saw in those games. It seems the problems with JC and the offense began with the Jets. The first two drives were horrid and it took a rookie to manage the clock and throw a TD. I'm not calling for Brennan, but what Brennan does have off the back is the ability to read the blitz and get the ball out as fast as possible. JC must improve within the ten days or he will feel the raft of many people including myself who understands this is a new offense but he has to react quicker and make better decisions under pressure. Let's just hope Zorn and JC can work this thing out before Dallas in three weeks because the score won't be pretty.

[jsarno]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Sorry but a push off is a push off, regardless of who initiated the contact. The PI call was complete horseshit. You can't shove a guy to the ground.

So you're saying it's OK to run into the WR to tie him up and that should be a non call?????

For the record, I would have prefered a double penalty on that call, but I understand the call cause the refs protect the WR...we all know this.

[Bozzy]

I thought Rock did great, especially when we punted to the giants and he tackled their returner immediatly.