It has been a long couple weeks for us Finatics. With the disappointing loss to the Jets, and the embarassing display against New England, the bye week becomes more unbearable And While we have lost 2 divisional games, at the end of the day we still have 3 more to go and 12 total games. The big difference this year though is that no game looks unwinnable.
The Jets game was completely winnable, we left easy turnovers go, and a stupid Wildcat play to Patrick Cobbs made us have to settle for a long FG. But as a whole, the team played well. Against a decent team.
The Pats game, well... we all saw it. Chad Henne made some poor decisions, but he was not the main reason we lost. 21 points came directly from ST play. Past ST play I put on players, but we have a lot of good ST players, so you have to blame the coach with 3 blocked kicks in 2 weeks. Bonomengo has since been fired.
Losses to 2 hated rivals IMO has caused fans to miss the bigger picture; for the first time in a long time we are not fighting an uphill battle for a winning record. Had I told people we'd be 2 and 2 at the bye with losses to the Vikings and Patriots, there would not be this level of backlash. We have tough games coming up, but the one thing people have to give Coach Sparano credit for is that his teams have played tougher as we get deeper into the season.
The one critism I will give is that the coaching staff can NOT be afraid that Henne will cost us games. Has Henne had a good season so far? Not really, but he hasn't had a bad one. He had 3 INTs against New England, and while 2 were good effort INTs by Rob Ninkovich, none of the INTs were good throws. Henne however has shown he is capable of leading us on scoring drives, and getting us in position to score. But YOU CANNOT WIN IF YOU ARE AFRAID OF YOUR QB. Mark Sanchize has looked so much better after week 1 because the Jets aren't handicapping him. Will he make mistakes? Yeah, we dropped 3 INTs against him, but he will also make plays. I see people saying Sam Bradford is ahead of Henne. I've watched a few Rams games this year, they have NO receiving weapons, but they aren't telling Bradford to just hand the ball off to Steven Jackson. Joe Flacco, who is in year 3 just like Henne, had an AWFUL first 2 weeks, but that has not stopped the Ravens from letting him air it out.
Henne makes one bad throw and our coaching staff goes into a shell. You cannot fear failure, because if you do, failure will happen. I don't know if Henne is our franchise QB or not, but I've seen enough that makes me believe he deserves an open playbook. And for all you Henne haters, Drew Brees did not become an elite QB till year four. He was so bad in his third year (and 2nd as the opening day starter) that he was benched for Doug Flutie and the Chargers drafted Phillip Rivers. Patients is a virtue.
The Wildcat also has to go. It's become too easy to defense against us, and some of the new wrinkles we've used haven't worked. More importantly, in the early season it has been a drive killer. Use it sparingly, develop the young QB, and just run straight forward.
Yeremiah Bell is also having his worst year to date, and that is without the Gibril Wilson excuse. He has been REALLY bad at covering TEs and has been missing quite a few tackles.
Jason Allen and Benny Sapp have also had so-so years. They've had some bright spots, and solid plays, but the negatives have been more noticeable, and more costly.
As for Tim Dobbins and Bobby Carpenter? Well Channing can not come back quick enough, and I really wish AJ Edds had not torn his ACL.
Now with the negatives we've seen in 4 games there are positives.
Our O-Line looks very good. Jake Long is a top 3, and arguably the best, LT in the league today. Only weak spot has been Pat McQuisten the last 2 weeks, and IMO he hasn't really been bad, but he does not have the power rookie John Jerry possesses.
The WRs looks good. Brian Hartline has had some bad drops, but has made his fair share of plays. Davone Bess continues to be a great slot WR, and do I even have to mention how big Brandon Marshal has been for us?
Despite being a whipping boy, Sean Smith has had a nice few games. Yeah he's given up a few catches, but he has done a very nice job covering some above average TEs.
Karlos Dansby and Cam Wake have also been very very good (well, Wake has been a good pass rusher).
The biggest positive however has been Vontae Davis. Vontae has been a shut down corner through 4 games. And has taken away half the field. PLus, he's a willing, and very good, tackler in run support.
So while there is a lot to complain about, there are good things to take out of the first month of the season. A lot of changes can still happen, and there is no reason to think we won't improve as the season goes on. Complain, vent, rant, get everything out of your system now. THere will be more things to complain about as the year goes on, but remember we still have 12 games to prove what kind of team we are.
The Jets game was completely winnable, we left easy turnovers go, and a stupid Wildcat play to Patrick Cobbs made us have to settle for a long FG. But as a whole, the team played well. Against a decent team.
The Pats game, well... we all saw it. Chad Henne made some poor decisions, but he was not the main reason we lost. 21 points came directly from ST play. Past ST play I put on players, but we have a lot of good ST players, so you have to blame the coach with 3 blocked kicks in 2 weeks. Bonomengo has since been fired.
Losses to 2 hated rivals IMO has caused fans to miss the bigger picture; for the first time in a long time we are not fighting an uphill battle for a winning record. Had I told people we'd be 2 and 2 at the bye with losses to the Vikings and Patriots, there would not be this level of backlash. We have tough games coming up, but the one thing people have to give Coach Sparano credit for is that his teams have played tougher as we get deeper into the season.
The one critism I will give is that the coaching staff can NOT be afraid that Henne will cost us games. Has Henne had a good season so far? Not really, but he hasn't had a bad one. He had 3 INTs against New England, and while 2 were good effort INTs by Rob Ninkovich, none of the INTs were good throws. Henne however has shown he is capable of leading us on scoring drives, and getting us in position to score. But YOU CANNOT WIN IF YOU ARE AFRAID OF YOUR QB. Mark Sanchize has looked so much better after week 1 because the Jets aren't handicapping him. Will he make mistakes? Yeah, we dropped 3 INTs against him, but he will also make plays. I see people saying Sam Bradford is ahead of Henne. I've watched a few Rams games this year, they have NO receiving weapons, but they aren't telling Bradford to just hand the ball off to Steven Jackson. Joe Flacco, who is in year 3 just like Henne, had an AWFUL first 2 weeks, but that has not stopped the Ravens from letting him air it out.
Henne makes one bad throw and our coaching staff goes into a shell. You cannot fear failure, because if you do, failure will happen. I don't know if Henne is our franchise QB or not, but I've seen enough that makes me believe he deserves an open playbook. And for all you Henne haters, Drew Brees did not become an elite QB till year four. He was so bad in his third year (and 2nd as the opening day starter) that he was benched for Doug Flutie and the Chargers drafted Phillip Rivers. Patients is a virtue.
The Wildcat also has to go. It's become too easy to defense against us, and some of the new wrinkles we've used haven't worked. More importantly, in the early season it has been a drive killer. Use it sparingly, develop the young QB, and just run straight forward.
Yeremiah Bell is also having his worst year to date, and that is without the Gibril Wilson excuse. He has been REALLY bad at covering TEs and has been missing quite a few tackles.
Jason Allen and Benny Sapp have also had so-so years. They've had some bright spots, and solid plays, but the negatives have been more noticeable, and more costly.
As for Tim Dobbins and Bobby Carpenter? Well Channing can not come back quick enough, and I really wish AJ Edds had not torn his ACL.
Now with the negatives we've seen in 4 games there are positives.
Our O-Line looks very good. Jake Long is a top 3, and arguably the best, LT in the league today. Only weak spot has been Pat McQuisten the last 2 weeks, and IMO he hasn't really been bad, but he does not have the power rookie John Jerry possesses.
The WRs looks good. Brian Hartline has had some bad drops, but has made his fair share of plays. Davone Bess continues to be a great slot WR, and do I even have to mention how big Brandon Marshal has been for us?
Despite being a whipping boy, Sean Smith has had a nice few games. Yeah he's given up a few catches, but he has done a very nice job covering some above average TEs.
Karlos Dansby and Cam Wake have also been very very good (well, Wake has been a good pass rusher).
The biggest positive however has been Vontae Davis. Vontae has been a shut down corner through 4 games. And has taken away half the field. PLus, he's a willing, and very good, tackler in run support.
So while there is a lot to complain about, there are good things to take out of the first month of the season. A lot of changes can still happen, and there is no reason to think we won't improve as the season goes on. Complain, vent, rant, get everything out of your system now. THere will be more things to complain about as the year goes on, but remember we still have 12 games to prove what kind of team we are.
