For those even remotely interested, rather than the hilarious bunch who think Culpepper should be benched and even more hilariously think that Ronnie Brown is a #2 back.........
For those even remotely bothered.
This is what I thought of last night. I was impressed with Culpepper. As someone trying to recover from 2 torn ligaments, I have no good idea how he can stand on the field knowing what might happen. He looked rusty for sure, especially early on, but for 2 and a half quarters, I thought he was excellent. He made 5/6 very good throws, including a beautiful little dink to Wes Welker. The picks were unfortunate and he missed four or five wide open receivers, including Chambers for 6. He also locked in on his primary target far too much and missed wide open men underneath, most often Welker and Ronnie Brown. But he's only going to get better. Any talk of Harrington taking over is frankly ******ed. But he hung tough and the drive before the Lehan hands to the face killer penalty, he was TOTALLY and UTTERLY in control of the game. The offensive line were by turns awful and excellent. The run blocking was non existent, but the pass blocking was excellent. Kudos to Brown, whose blitz recognition puts him in the very top echelon of backs and he has perfect form. He made Troy Polamalu a total non-entity till the pick.
Lonnie Shelton really struggled all night. I thought Vernon Carey played very well. At WR, it was shame that Chambers and McMichael weren't more involved, but Booker showed why he's valuable and Welker showed why he absolutely had to be part of the team.
On defense, it's been our achilles heel for years, but we just can't get off the field in 3rd and long situations. The bend but don't break defense is still there. Zach Thomas showed his age on a number of plays last night - the long Parker run where he missed the tackle and the Miller TD where Heath fakled him inside and then beat him to go to the house. Pass coverage was never his strong point and Channing Crowder should have chipped him as he broke from the line, but…….We played a lot of 3-4 last night, disguised as 4-3, so I can understand why pressure on Batch wasn't more substantial. It seemed like we wanted to flood the linebacking area and try and shut down Parker. Truck was excellent and Kevin Carter was strong at the point. Crowder was disappointing, whilst the secondary was woeful. Will Allen was at fault for the Nate Washington TD, biting on the flanker screen to Santonio Holmes and Tillman was late over.
The Lehan penalty was a killer, whilst neither Hill nor Goodman did much to distinguish themselves. Once again Yeremiah Bell looked the best player in the secondary, but struggles to get PT. Clearly the holdout and learning 2 spots is killing Jason Allen. Welker was outstanding on returns and Donnie Jones showed why he was a Pro Bowl alternate. His punting was tremendous and I hope Ronnie Brown gave him the TD ball for his 1st score, because it was Jones that changed field position and forced the Steelers to punt to Welker who took it in close.
Coaching wise, the rule about not seeing the red flag is nonsense. Absolute nonsense. Clearly Saban got the flag out about 5 seconds before the kick. How can the refs, if they're doing they're jobs properly, i.e. watching the kick, see Saban? Nonsense. Disappointed in the 3rd and 2 call with 8 mins left up by three that was an ugly pitch to Ronnie that lost ground. Why get cute after we'd moved the ball so well? Made no sense. I thought the officiating was horrible. Horrible. Aside from the Miller blown call, on a key 3rd down in the 4th Q, Andre Goodman was blocked in the back when about to tackle Willie Parker. Unsurprisingly Madden and Michaels (these 2 are awful) missed it, but the umpire was right on it and missed it. No excuse. Also the holding penalty on Goodman that took it inside the 5 on the same drive as Lehan's penalty…….that was clearly uncatchable.
So overall, I'm not too disappointed. Pep was always going to be rusty. We led the SB champs in one of the toughest stadiums in the game with 6 minutes left. The season ends in February people, not on September 8th.
For those even remotely bothered.
This is what I thought of last night. I was impressed with Culpepper. As someone trying to recover from 2 torn ligaments, I have no good idea how he can stand on the field knowing what might happen. He looked rusty for sure, especially early on, but for 2 and a half quarters, I thought he was excellent. He made 5/6 very good throws, including a beautiful little dink to Wes Welker. The picks were unfortunate and he missed four or five wide open receivers, including Chambers for 6. He also locked in on his primary target far too much and missed wide open men underneath, most often Welker and Ronnie Brown. But he's only going to get better. Any talk of Harrington taking over is frankly ******ed. But he hung tough and the drive before the Lehan hands to the face killer penalty, he was TOTALLY and UTTERLY in control of the game. The offensive line were by turns awful and excellent. The run blocking was non existent, but the pass blocking was excellent. Kudos to Brown, whose blitz recognition puts him in the very top echelon of backs and he has perfect form. He made Troy Polamalu a total non-entity till the pick.
Lonnie Shelton really struggled all night. I thought Vernon Carey played very well. At WR, it was shame that Chambers and McMichael weren't more involved, but Booker showed why he's valuable and Welker showed why he absolutely had to be part of the team.
On defense, it's been our achilles heel for years, but we just can't get off the field in 3rd and long situations. The bend but don't break defense is still there. Zach Thomas showed his age on a number of plays last night - the long Parker run where he missed the tackle and the Miller TD where Heath fakled him inside and then beat him to go to the house. Pass coverage was never his strong point and Channing Crowder should have chipped him as he broke from the line, but…….We played a lot of 3-4 last night, disguised as 4-3, so I can understand why pressure on Batch wasn't more substantial. It seemed like we wanted to flood the linebacking area and try and shut down Parker. Truck was excellent and Kevin Carter was strong at the point. Crowder was disappointing, whilst the secondary was woeful. Will Allen was at fault for the Nate Washington TD, biting on the flanker screen to Santonio Holmes and Tillman was late over.
The Lehan penalty was a killer, whilst neither Hill nor Goodman did much to distinguish themselves. Once again Yeremiah Bell looked the best player in the secondary, but struggles to get PT. Clearly the holdout and learning 2 spots is killing Jason Allen. Welker was outstanding on returns and Donnie Jones showed why he was a Pro Bowl alternate. His punting was tremendous and I hope Ronnie Brown gave him the TD ball for his 1st score, because it was Jones that changed field position and forced the Steelers to punt to Welker who took it in close.
Coaching wise, the rule about not seeing the red flag is nonsense. Absolute nonsense. Clearly Saban got the flag out about 5 seconds before the kick. How can the refs, if they're doing they're jobs properly, i.e. watching the kick, see Saban? Nonsense. Disappointed in the 3rd and 2 call with 8 mins left up by three that was an ugly pitch to Ronnie that lost ground. Why get cute after we'd moved the ball so well? Made no sense. I thought the officiating was horrible. Horrible. Aside from the Miller blown call, on a key 3rd down in the 4th Q, Andre Goodman was blocked in the back when about to tackle Willie Parker. Unsurprisingly Madden and Michaels (these 2 are awful) missed it, but the umpire was right on it and missed it. No excuse. Also the holding penalty on Goodman that took it inside the 5 on the same drive as Lehan's penalty…….that was clearly uncatchable.
So overall, I'm not too disappointed. Pep was always going to be rusty. We led the SB champs in one of the toughest stadiums in the game with 6 minutes left. The season ends in February people, not on September 8th.
