C-Gold's preseason notes cont.

[C-Gold]

Saints/Texans
- I like Gary Kubiak and I like the offense that he and Alex Gibbs run in Houston. Last year the Texans lost their starting QB, Stud WR, Starting RB, they didn't have a great line and the coaching staff still brought them to 8-8. The Texans were still a respectable 8-8 and consider they were in the very tough AFC South that had 3 other playoff teams in the division keeping them company.
- Last year Matt Schaub had an 87.2 QB rating his first year in the system before being injured and Sage Rosenfels was decent as a backup. Kubiak and Gibbs run a QB friendly offense that is designed to be efficient, run the ball, and work without needing an abundance of talent ( I like that formula).
- Matt Schaub starts the game off by going straight after Saints corner Jason David who was covering Kevin Walter. Schaub throws a TD pass to Walter ( it was the 3rd pass in a row on Jason David), and Schaub didn’t even go through his progressions, he had a 7 step drop, looked at Walter the entire time, and delivered a strike for the TD. It seems like teams have little to no respect for Jason David.
- Reggie "Ragina" Bush runs like a wimp. This guy was so over hyped by ESPN his entire career and it seems like he is always trying to kick his runs to the outside for the homerun. That works out great in college against PAC-10 defenses when you can simply outrun everyone, but in the NFL not so much.
- The Saints look to have a very strong offense and they addressed their defense this off season by bringing in Jonathan Vilma at LB, Randall Gay and Aaron Glenn at corner, and drafting Sedrick Ellis and Tracy Porter. The Saints were especially weak against the Pass and they brought in talent on each level of defense. They already have good ends with Will Smith and Charles Grant, but they bulked up the line with Sedrick Ellis, they improved at LB with Vilma, and they brought in 3 corners to improve against the pass. I like that approach to improve every level of that defense. The Saints still don't have a good defense, but they should be better.
- Both defenses looked weak in this game. I don't know if it was because of vanilla schemes, but I was not impressed.
- 3rd round draft pick Anquawan Molden looked pretty good for the Texans. He was beat on a few throws but had real tight coverage. Sometimes a perfect throw beats perfect coverage.
- Steve Slaton looked alright running the ball. If Ahman Green has to miss time again, I would much rather have Slaton running the ball than Ron Dayne. People were questioning Slaton out of college because of the gimmick offense he ran in, but he ran much tougher than Ragina Bush.
- The thing I want to point out about Reggie Bush, is that he never learned how to play RB in college. He relied too much on his athletic ability, and he just outran people on the edges. He needs to adapt his game. Bush is an awesome receiver, excellent return man, and he is real good on outside runs, but he will have to run tougher. ESPN already loves him for a TD where he hurdled the defender in this game, but he had a very weak game in my opinion. When Reggie was coming out of college, I always compared him to a poor man's Bryan Westbrook and he certainly isn't anywhere near as good as Westbrook now going into his 3rd year.
- During Halftime of this game, they showed footage from the Vikings practice. They were running live 7 on 7 drills and Tavaris Jackson threw an interception, and later on in

 

[C-Gold]

Tampa Bay vs New England
- I also like Jon Gruden as a head coach. Last year he obviously had the good defense, but it was his job to get something out of the offense. The offense overall finished below league average with a slightly below avg. passing game, and an above leage average rushing attack. If it didn't work out, look at all the arguments against the Bucs "outcast" offense:
- People complain Jeff Garcia is too old ( and he was new to the team) and got hurt.
- Cadallac Williams was injured, Michael Pittman got injured, E. Grahmn was an unknown 3rd stringer.
- Joey Galloway is old and has grey hair and a grey beard.
- Ike Hillard is slow and getting older.
- The offensive line was bad the last few years.
- So if Tampa Bay's offense was terrible, Jon Gruden would have plenty of excuses. Now the Bucs were below average on offense, but for what he had, I think Gruden did a good job. I also think that the negative perceptions and discrimination allowed Tampa GM Bruce Allen to acquire those guys, but credit Gruden for following through with the dirty work because a lot of coaches in the league would fail with those guys.
- Tampa's starting offense led by backup Brian Greise had a nice 17 play, 80 yard drive to start the game. I thought Griese looked alright. Luke Mccown came in after Griese and looked better than I thought. I watched him play against the Saints last year, and in limited action and he hasn't been bad at all. Can he keep it up?
- Josh Johnson was in a series and ran on both of his pass plays ( 1 was a sack). People are excited about him because of his 43 TD-1 INT season in D3 and his mobility, but in the limited action he really didn't look ready.
- The biggest thing for Tampa was the addition of Antoinio Bryant. Bryant is a guy with big talent and a big attitude that has bounced around the league. If they can keep him under control, it will give them a solid 3rd option with Galloway and Hilliard that opponents will have to honor. He looked pretty good in this game and is a guy that can beat man coverage.
- Matt Cassell got the start for an injured Tom Brady looked terrible. The first ball he threw was intercepted " although the call was challenged and reversed". He later botched a snap which was picked up and run back for a TD. He just didn't run the offense very well.
- The Patriots later played rookie Kevin O'Connell and he looked bad too. His first play in was a roll out and he threw an interception on a pass that was totally inexcusable for throwing. He looked real young and inexperienced for throwing that ball. If Tom Brady has to miss time, the Patriots are in real trouble.
- Patriots WR Chad Jackson was finally healthy and playing, and physically he is a monster. I hope he was studying the playbook during that time he was injured. He could be a deep sleeper if he turns things around and I will be rooting for him.

 

[C-Gold]

I was also thinking it might be logical for the Patriots to trade for a backup QB. If Brady can't play, Cassell/Mcconnell won't work. I didn't get to see guitierz, but Tampa might be an ideal team to trade with. Greise/Simms/Mckown at backup means somebody might be expendable. Bellicheck is familar with Phil Simms, maybe he would trade for his son?

 

[C-Gold]

Pitt/Buff

- Early on it looks like Big Ben was being rushed to throw the ball. It looked like good pressure from the edges and his tackles seemed suspect in pass blocking. With that being said, Big Ben is good at feeling and avoiding pressure.
- Trent Edwards looks promising as he threw 2 TD passes to Robert Royal. It isn't just so much about the results, but he is intelligent, poised and has good skills. If you want to look at all of the very young quarterbacks, Edwards is at least in the top half among his peers, J. Russell, B. Quinn, Alex Smith, Brodie Croyle, Tavaris Jackson, John Beck, Troy Smith and might be the best real young QB at this point.
- Santonio Holmes looked real good and could have a real break out year. He is a deep threat, runs good short/intermediate routes, understands the passing game, is talented catching the ball, running after the catch.
- Byron Leftwhich was just recently signed and looked terrible on his first play action. Now I am not one to normally bring up a QB's play action fake, but Byrons was just lazy carrying out his fake. Byron looked terrible with inaccurate throws, tipped balls, a throw into triple coverage, a fumble and the same shoddy mechanics. He was being chased by a Bills DE, and he tried to use the stiff arm and fumbled. If you haven't noticed, I am not a very big fan of Byron Leftwhich. It isn't even just about his play, but his work ethic and bad attitude make it worse. Byron was probably another guy who was just better than everybody else as he worked his way up Pop Warner, High school and college and didn't give it his all. He just looked frustrated at this point in his career, and I consider Charlie Batch a better and more reliable backup. Dennis Dixon got into the game and looked better than a 5th round rookie should. Don't get me wrong, he was very raw but he had a nice run and didn't have that deer in headlines look like many other young 3rd string QB's have.
- The Steelers ran a lot of basic stuff on defense but in the regular season they will run those exotic blitzes. Lawrence Timmons had two bone crushing hits and might not even start ( last week I highlighted the depth at LB the Steelers have).
- The Steelers kick and punt return coverage looked real good until Leotis McKelvin returned a kickoff for an electrifying TD.
- The Steelers have good quality on the RB depth chart. Parker, Mendenhall, Davenport, Moore might be the best 4 RB's up and down the chart. Parker is the speed guy, Mendenhall is speed/power, Davenport is an underrated big power guy, and M. Moore is a good shifty 3rd down guy.
- I like the Steelers talent overall. They have one of the best QB's, a great RB group, strong WR core and TE, their O-line might is what I question, but the defense is stacked with talent as well. I used to think SD might be the most talented team overall minus the QB, but Pitt is up there as well. Their depth is an added bonus that increases their chances of making it through the regular season into the playoffs.

 

[C-Gold]

Minn/Bal
- The Ravens gave up a TD on blown coverage from Fabian Washington and the safety up top. If you are ever going to have these communication gaps, you want to get them out in the pre season.
- Troy Smith called an audible early on that allowed Ray Rice to have a 32 yard run. Quarterbacks need to get more credit for successful rushing audibles like that. It won't show up in Troy Smith's stats, but it helped his team to win.
- After watching the Texans today, I can say that Ray Rice is better than Steve Slayton. I was very impressed with Ray Rice this game and he was averaging 10 yards per carry for much of the game against a strong Vikings run defense. Rice easily looked like he should be starting, and at the very least splitting carries with Willis.
- Tavaras Jackson gets hit and injured by Ray Lewis and another Raven on a 9 yard run. Taking big hits to pick up rushing yards isn't smart for a QB in the regular season, and is stupidity on stilts for a young guy in the preseason. The real interesting thing about the play was that one of the announcers pointed out his knee buckiling and saying that he suspects his MCL was damanged, and the other announcer had this " you can see that from here attitude"? He really did sprain his MCL and the call was spot on.
- Troy Smith plays with an attitude and pushed Jared Allen after a tackle by the sidelines/out of bounds. If I am a QB, I wouldn't be jawing at one of the leagues sack masters. Troy Smith didn't look very good at all. He had one throw where he almost got Yamon Figures killed by Darren Sharper.
- With 3:23 left in the 2nd quarter, Troy Smith only had 3 passing yards when you took away the sack yards. That is horrible and even worse when you consider he was playing against the leagues worst secondary in PRE SEASON! He did have two nice runs and about 40 rushing yards, but we are talking about the QB position here. Troy Smith threw an interception and then tried to take out Jared Allen's knees and was flagged for a 15 yard penalty. I really was hoping Allen would retaliate after the dirty play.
- The QB play in this game was awful. Jackson wasn't good, and Smith and Bollier were just terrible.
- Jared Johnson and Bart Scott had two bone crushing hits in a row. Johnson quietly had 94 tackles last year for Baltimore, and Bart Scott seems to be pretty underrated nationally as well.
- The Vikings backup offensive lineman Tim Mattran was highlighted by Mike Mayock. Mattran was the valedictorian of his High School and was a 4 year Academic All American at Stanford. I wonder if he is the smartest person in the NFL?
- John David Booty looked pretty weak as well. Going into this year, If I had to guess a later round QB that might be a sleeper, I liked JDB but I have not been impressed thus far. He threw a pick 6, looked rushed, and was getting sacked a lot.
- The Vikings have a lot of talent on this roster minus the QB position. They have good real lines. Honestly, their O-line is real good as Chester Taylor averaged 5.4 per carry and Peterson 5.6 last year.
- Darren Sharper looked real good for Minnesota. He was ball hawking like usual and he isn't just one of the smartest safeties, but he still looks pretty athletic to me. The QB play in this game was horrible, but the people that impressed me the most were Sharper and Ray Rice.

 

[C-Gold]

I will probably do a season preview in the next couple weeks. Until then, C-Gold suckas :hugesmile

 

[Wave-O]

I will probably do a season preview in the next couple weeks. Until then, C-Gold suckas :hugesmile

Looking forward to the read. :toast:

 

[C-Gold]

I also have a blog, but so far I have been posting my blog stuff on here as well. I am not sure how I am going to work it all, but I've been watching a bunch of tape.

 

[Wave-O]

I also have a blog, but so far I have been posting my blog stuff on here as well. I am not sure how I am going to work it all, but I've been watching a bunch of tape.

C-Gold,

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when I say N.Y Jets 2008 season. Playoffs? Not even close? Last in the AFC east?
I'm not a Green Bay ship jumper but a life long fan since the Gastineau & Klecko good old days.

Thanks,:toast:

Wave-O

 

[Jetplane]

CG> just a question... my "tape"s are usually NFL replay's because I am not around to actually take in most of the games due to business. Is there any way or ARCHIVES that you've found you can watch? I do not have TiVo or anything to the like.

 

[Wave-O]

CG> just a question... my "tape"s are usually NFL replay's because I am not around to actually take in most of the games due to business. Is there any way or ARCHIVES that you've found you can watch? I do not have TiVo or anything to the like.

I was thinking the same thing. My tapes are watching the NFL Network all week re-playing the last weekends games. I'm watching the Jets vs. Giants right now.

 

[C-Gold]

C-Gold,

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when I say N.Y Jets 2008 season. Playoffs? Not even close? Last in the AFC east?
I'm not a Green Bay ship jumper but a life long fan since the Gastineau & Klecko good old days.

Thanks,:toast:

Wave-O

The first thing I think of with the Jets is "fade". Screw the Brett Favre hype. This team is NOT making the playoffs.

AFC: Patriots, Indy, Pitt, SD are pretty much locks to make the playoffs barring serious injury to Manning, Brady, Big Ben and Rivers/LT.

That leaves 2 teams fighting for the remaining spots. A lot of people really like Jacksonville, then you have Tennesse, an underrated Houston team, Cleveland, Cincinatti, Denver, and maybe Buffalo or some other team contends.

If the Playoffs are NE, Indy, Pitt, SD, Jax, that leaves 1 more spot! I would love to bet against the Jets making the playoffs. I'd bet you there are a ton of people that "bought the hype" and I would love to sell to them.

I understand they have a weak division and an easier schedule and I frankly haven't gone through and predicted a W/L record yet, but I highly doubt they make the playoffs, and every idiot on the radio is talking about them and if they can make the playoffs or not. Did you see their run defense last year? It was horrible and Brett Favre isn't playing defense.

With that being said, they should still finish above Miami and Buffalo, but that isn't saying much. The AFC south could very well send 3 playoff teams again this year.

 

[C-Gold]

CG> just a question... my "tape"s are usually NFL replay's because I am not around to actually take in most of the games due to business. Is there any way or ARCHIVES that you've found you can watch? I do not have TiVo or anything to the like.

I have a DVR and I record the games from the NFLN. They aren't quite NFL replays, they are the games replayed ( no the condensed 1 hour versions).

I sit back, enjoy, and take notes. :aktion033

 

[Huego]

C-Gold, I'm taking the 49ers to win NFC west.

Got them at +650.

With Seahhawks having so many injuries already, I think it's worth a shot.


Your thoughts on this play would be appreciated.

 

[C-Gold]

Seattle has the best...

- QB in the NFC West.
- Coach in the NFC West
- Best defense in the NFC West.
- They are also very good at defending their home and home field advantage.
( those 4 things will make them difficult to unseat. You can't say that about other favorites in other divisions. Maybe SD, but I think Mike Shannihan is a better coach than Norv. Jay Cutler also might be better than Rivers. NE is probably the only other team that has the best QB, Coach and defense compared to the other 3 teams in the division.

They have what could be an interesting 3 headed monster at RB with Morris ( all around), Jones ( shiftyiness), Ducket Power.

If you will read my post preseason notes, I LOVE their LB core as it is the best in the NFC.

Lofa, best MLB?
JP, Best OLB?
Leory Hill, most underrated?
They also have a hard hitting "heater" on the bench and a Texans 1st round bust LB who has the talent but didn't work out.

I really don't like SF. Their QB situation is a mess. They just converted to Mike Martz ( how will that work out), and I am NOT fan of Mike Nolan.

Arizona looks like the #2 of the division. I was fading the 49ers last year when everybody called them a "sleeper team". I am NOT a big fan of that tyrant Mike Nolan.

 

[Jetplane]

Thank God someone see's how good Seattle is... > They are always underrated... someone said they aren't even gonna make .500 this year!

 

[C-Gold]

East coast folk don't watch them and don't analyize them. That is really stupid too because out of the teams that play at 4pm, they are who you "should" be watching to learn something.

 

[Jetplane]

Haha, you are such a gangster. I'm curious to know more about how you feel about Tampa Bay in their current stage. I have them DOMINATING the Texans this week. Lines have it at PK... my stats say -6

 

[C-Gold]

I don't phuck with the pre sea.

I was pointing out in my Bucs/Pats write up though that they do have some depth at QB with Gaycia, Griese, Luke. Little simms. I didn't see gutierez in the eagles game, but if I am the pats, don't you consider trading for simms?

Last year I had carolina winning the south but they went through 4 qbs. I really WANT to pick the saints to win the south with those additions they made on d, but that pass defense is still going to suck. I am starting to come around to thinking the Bucs. I will have to run some more projections, but the south will be interesting to pick.

 

[Jetplane]

I'm eager to see how the Buc's D holds up this year... keep an eye out >