ckparrothead
Premium Member
Alright I gotta say that I'm not all that happy with how our first teams looked out there. For what its worth, I'll try and recap because I know that a lot of people dont live in FL and had trouble with the internet feed.
The first series was Titans offense against Dolphins D, 8 snaps from their own 35 yd line, first teams. They nickel and dimed us. For some reason, our guys were not only refusing to tackle them, but for the most part were just satisfied with merely TOUCHING them...Zach Thomas included. I'm sorry but our guys are probably thinking to themselves "I touched him, in a game he'd have been down" but that just not true because we're talking about EDDIE GEORGE here, and our guys usually were not in position to square up on him which you need to do against Eddie George. Larry Chester didn't make himself standout much. We weren't putting pressure on with the front four. It almost seemed like our guys entered the series half-@ssed and didn't decide to play until later. The Titans scored on a 19 yd dumpoff to Eddie George and the homer announcers tried to say that in a real game Zach would have had George but the truth of the matter is no, its a game of inches and George had enough inches to catch that ball cleanly hitting or no and Zach probably wouldn't have caught up cuz of the angles. The bright spot on this series? Arturo Freeman looked very impressive...very impressive to me.
The next series was also frustrating. It was our offense against their defense. Jay Fiedler did not play at all, it was the Ray Lucas show. And if the defense looked like they began their first series half-@ssed, the offense did as well. One of the first plays Lucas tosses a bullet to the flats where Rob Konrad is wide open and ready to run untouched for probably 5-10 yards. What happens? Lucas guns it too much which everyone screams about, and Rob "I think I'll turn around and start running before I've actually caught the ball" Konrad lets the ball go in and out of his wide open hands. Lucas was having accuracy issues left and right, overthrowing very badly an open Ricky Williams crossing in the middle when the pressure was on, leaving our superstar Chris Chambers hanging to be pummelled by 3 defenders (he almost came up with the ball anyway and one of the defenders had his mits all over the ball too...impressive to me), and etc. We didn't run the ball much but when we did, it was not good...give Ricky credit he bowls but he wouldn't have averaged 3 yrds if there was hitting. The REALLY disappointing part had to be Brent Smith. He was getting absolutely manhandled by Jevon Kearse. I realize Kearse is the freak and all but I'm not sure there was a single play where Kearse rushed to the outside and did NOT totally beat Brent Smith. He sacked Lucas, maybe twice don't know, and another time give Lucas credit for the presence he stepped up just enough to get the ball off without Kearse pummelling him. But there were bright spots. A few small completions and then the Titans threw a monster blitz package at us which we picked up beautifully in no small part thanks to Ricky Williams' blocking, Lucas stepped up and lofted a 20 yarder to Chambers on a fade route on the sidelines, who was just inching past Dainon Sidney who was on single zone coverage, and Chambers catches the ball and just gets his feet in the lines before falling out of bounds with two defenders coming at him.
Then we started tossing in the backups. I think it was the same drill. Overall I won't go over anymore play by play description but just to say what stood out and an overall feel. The backups played well, both sides of the ball for us with the exception being Zak Kustok who though he made a very nice looking scramble for about 20 yards, also just was throwing errant passes all over the place including a real wobbling duck that sat in the air forever that a 70 yr old blind man could have hobbled from one side of the field to the other to intercept. I'll concentrate on offense right here. Leonard Henry had some impressive runs and I can definitely see where some people have claimed he looks very tough to bring down as he showed that on some plays. On another play though he ran into a blocker and got completely bounced backwards onto his butt so there's consistency issues there. Randy McMichael looked very athletic had 1 or 2 catches not for big yardage but you can tell he's fast and he DID have some excellent downfield blocking on Zak Kustok's big run. However he also had a bad play play where it was either him or Albert Johnson (probably McMichael from what I've heard he's been known to line up in the wrong spot) but the ran right into each other with their routes. The OL started looking better. Sulecio Stanford and Margin Hooks made two good plays as Stanford got wide open and caught a ball and had to dive for it but popped back up within a milisecond and was running for extra yardage. Margin Hooks took a pass thrown at the 1 foot line and though he had two defenders with leverage against him he used sheer strength to bull his way in.
Tim Levcik looked real good in my opinion and reminded me a lot of Rich Gannon without the mobility. This was the first opportunity I had to see him but I'm already very high on him just from this performance. At first I was saying to myself, this kids arm doesn't look as strong as everyone says it is. But then I realized, its because he actually VARIES his throws according to whats NECESSARY, an idea that seems to be completely lost on Ray Lucas who throws his fast ball for every pass. Levcik was doing it all, sidearming short ones, throwing a nice looking long ball to Sulecio who had gotten wide open (props to Levcik for recognizing that the DB had tripped and throwing it to Sulecio on the run), and then throwing the gun when needed which included a laser beam that split two defenders...the aforementioned Margin Hooks reception where Margin bulled into the end zone. This kid better be on the roster come season opener. He won't be hidden on the psquad. I didn't see any accuracy problems whatsoever, and he seemed to have a good grasp on the plays and knew where to throw, varying his targets.
The first team offense came back onto the field a second time and looked a little better but couldn't put the ball in the endzone in the two minute drill. Konrad caught a nice pass while getting pounded by a defender. Chambers looks like Tim Brown to me, Tim Brown in his prime...But anyway, the OL did better I believe. Don't think anyone in particular stood out. If I dont mention them its cuz they didn't stand out to me.
Second team defense a number of players stood out. That new kid Jason Moore I think his name is, made a very nice interception...kept his eyes on the QB the whole time and made the play. I would say keep an eye on him just cuz this is the second time I've heard he's been impressive. Henry Taylor was doing quite well he made a number of plays in the backfield and was beating their second team very nicely. Seaverns stood out to me a little bit he seems like he hits the whole nicely and also is not half bad at being able to hold his ground against a big OLman. James Atkins was solid, can't really think of anyone else who stood out.
There was an odd period where the first team defense stepped back onto the field while the Titans had mainly their second stringers in there at the skill positions (I think the OL was same). Neil O"Donnell was doing the passing, Skip Hicks, Holcombe, and Alexander doing the running. McCareins was in there catching but I think Dyson might have been in there. If there was an absolute brightest spot of the scrimmage it was this portion. We absolutely hammered them on defense. I think the reason we had all 1st string in there is to try out some new kinks along the defensive line rotation. We put four defensive ends in the game during the 2 minute drill. Thats right, 4 DEs just as I had speculated might be done if Ernest Grant doesn't look good as a pass rusher and Dave Bowens continues to impress. For those doubters it was right there in front of us. David Bowens, Jay Williams, Rob Burnett, and Jason Taylor at the DL, stunting and twisting using their incredible speed and guess what happened. We sacked the QB. A lot. They absolutely could NOT block this 4 man rush during the 2 minute drills. Seriously it was unbelievable. They even tried to take advantage by running the ball, didn't work. As I said before both Rob Burnett and Jay Williams on their respective teams were often moved to DT during nickel rushes, and I speculated that we may see this exact setup should Dave Bowens continue to impress (which he did some more...as did all four of the DEs that played, plus Larry Chester when he came back in the game he really made his presence felt). Some said that I was crazy that we need at least one beefy man in there, however I would not be surprised to see exactly this formation during 2 minute drills during the season. It looked pretty deadly.
Who's Hot (in no particular order): Tim Levcik, Randy McMichael, Chris Chambers, Henry Taylor, Todd Wade, Leonard Henry, the 4-DE DL, Chester, Seaverns, Hooks, the second team OL (who made MARLON BARNES look good), and Stanford.
Who's Not (in no particular order: Brent Smith (who looked aweful), Ray Lucas, Zach Thomas (IMO, he wasn't trying during the first series), Rob Konrad, Randy McMichael (he's schizo, looks good then looks like a bonehead), Zebbie Letheridge, and Tim Bowens (out yet again).
Thats my opinion and I'm stickin to it.
The first series was Titans offense against Dolphins D, 8 snaps from their own 35 yd line, first teams. They nickel and dimed us. For some reason, our guys were not only refusing to tackle them, but for the most part were just satisfied with merely TOUCHING them...Zach Thomas included. I'm sorry but our guys are probably thinking to themselves "I touched him, in a game he'd have been down" but that just not true because we're talking about EDDIE GEORGE here, and our guys usually were not in position to square up on him which you need to do against Eddie George. Larry Chester didn't make himself standout much. We weren't putting pressure on with the front four. It almost seemed like our guys entered the series half-@ssed and didn't decide to play until later. The Titans scored on a 19 yd dumpoff to Eddie George and the homer announcers tried to say that in a real game Zach would have had George but the truth of the matter is no, its a game of inches and George had enough inches to catch that ball cleanly hitting or no and Zach probably wouldn't have caught up cuz of the angles. The bright spot on this series? Arturo Freeman looked very impressive...very impressive to me.
The next series was also frustrating. It was our offense against their defense. Jay Fiedler did not play at all, it was the Ray Lucas show. And if the defense looked like they began their first series half-@ssed, the offense did as well. One of the first plays Lucas tosses a bullet to the flats where Rob Konrad is wide open and ready to run untouched for probably 5-10 yards. What happens? Lucas guns it too much which everyone screams about, and Rob "I think I'll turn around and start running before I've actually caught the ball" Konrad lets the ball go in and out of his wide open hands. Lucas was having accuracy issues left and right, overthrowing very badly an open Ricky Williams crossing in the middle when the pressure was on, leaving our superstar Chris Chambers hanging to be pummelled by 3 defenders (he almost came up with the ball anyway and one of the defenders had his mits all over the ball too...impressive to me), and etc. We didn't run the ball much but when we did, it was not good...give Ricky credit he bowls but he wouldn't have averaged 3 yrds if there was hitting. The REALLY disappointing part had to be Brent Smith. He was getting absolutely manhandled by Jevon Kearse. I realize Kearse is the freak and all but I'm not sure there was a single play where Kearse rushed to the outside and did NOT totally beat Brent Smith. He sacked Lucas, maybe twice don't know, and another time give Lucas credit for the presence he stepped up just enough to get the ball off without Kearse pummelling him. But there were bright spots. A few small completions and then the Titans threw a monster blitz package at us which we picked up beautifully in no small part thanks to Ricky Williams' blocking, Lucas stepped up and lofted a 20 yarder to Chambers on a fade route on the sidelines, who was just inching past Dainon Sidney who was on single zone coverage, and Chambers catches the ball and just gets his feet in the lines before falling out of bounds with two defenders coming at him.
Then we started tossing in the backups. I think it was the same drill. Overall I won't go over anymore play by play description but just to say what stood out and an overall feel. The backups played well, both sides of the ball for us with the exception being Zak Kustok who though he made a very nice looking scramble for about 20 yards, also just was throwing errant passes all over the place including a real wobbling duck that sat in the air forever that a 70 yr old blind man could have hobbled from one side of the field to the other to intercept. I'll concentrate on offense right here. Leonard Henry had some impressive runs and I can definitely see where some people have claimed he looks very tough to bring down as he showed that on some plays. On another play though he ran into a blocker and got completely bounced backwards onto his butt so there's consistency issues there. Randy McMichael looked very athletic had 1 or 2 catches not for big yardage but you can tell he's fast and he DID have some excellent downfield blocking on Zak Kustok's big run. However he also had a bad play play where it was either him or Albert Johnson (probably McMichael from what I've heard he's been known to line up in the wrong spot) but the ran right into each other with their routes. The OL started looking better. Sulecio Stanford and Margin Hooks made two good plays as Stanford got wide open and caught a ball and had to dive for it but popped back up within a milisecond and was running for extra yardage. Margin Hooks took a pass thrown at the 1 foot line and though he had two defenders with leverage against him he used sheer strength to bull his way in.
Tim Levcik looked real good in my opinion and reminded me a lot of Rich Gannon without the mobility. This was the first opportunity I had to see him but I'm already very high on him just from this performance. At first I was saying to myself, this kids arm doesn't look as strong as everyone says it is. But then I realized, its because he actually VARIES his throws according to whats NECESSARY, an idea that seems to be completely lost on Ray Lucas who throws his fast ball for every pass. Levcik was doing it all, sidearming short ones, throwing a nice looking long ball to Sulecio who had gotten wide open (props to Levcik for recognizing that the DB had tripped and throwing it to Sulecio on the run), and then throwing the gun when needed which included a laser beam that split two defenders...the aforementioned Margin Hooks reception where Margin bulled into the end zone. This kid better be on the roster come season opener. He won't be hidden on the psquad. I didn't see any accuracy problems whatsoever, and he seemed to have a good grasp on the plays and knew where to throw, varying his targets.
The first team offense came back onto the field a second time and looked a little better but couldn't put the ball in the endzone in the two minute drill. Konrad caught a nice pass while getting pounded by a defender. Chambers looks like Tim Brown to me, Tim Brown in his prime...But anyway, the OL did better I believe. Don't think anyone in particular stood out. If I dont mention them its cuz they didn't stand out to me.
Second team defense a number of players stood out. That new kid Jason Moore I think his name is, made a very nice interception...kept his eyes on the QB the whole time and made the play. I would say keep an eye on him just cuz this is the second time I've heard he's been impressive. Henry Taylor was doing quite well he made a number of plays in the backfield and was beating their second team very nicely. Seaverns stood out to me a little bit he seems like he hits the whole nicely and also is not half bad at being able to hold his ground against a big OLman. James Atkins was solid, can't really think of anyone else who stood out.
There was an odd period where the first team defense stepped back onto the field while the Titans had mainly their second stringers in there at the skill positions (I think the OL was same). Neil O"Donnell was doing the passing, Skip Hicks, Holcombe, and Alexander doing the running. McCareins was in there catching but I think Dyson might have been in there. If there was an absolute brightest spot of the scrimmage it was this portion. We absolutely hammered them on defense. I think the reason we had all 1st string in there is to try out some new kinks along the defensive line rotation. We put four defensive ends in the game during the 2 minute drill. Thats right, 4 DEs just as I had speculated might be done if Ernest Grant doesn't look good as a pass rusher and Dave Bowens continues to impress. For those doubters it was right there in front of us. David Bowens, Jay Williams, Rob Burnett, and Jason Taylor at the DL, stunting and twisting using their incredible speed and guess what happened. We sacked the QB. A lot. They absolutely could NOT block this 4 man rush during the 2 minute drills. Seriously it was unbelievable. They even tried to take advantage by running the ball, didn't work. As I said before both Rob Burnett and Jay Williams on their respective teams were often moved to DT during nickel rushes, and I speculated that we may see this exact setup should Dave Bowens continue to impress (which he did some more...as did all four of the DEs that played, plus Larry Chester when he came back in the game he really made his presence felt). Some said that I was crazy that we need at least one beefy man in there, however I would not be surprised to see exactly this formation during 2 minute drills during the season. It looked pretty deadly.
Who's Hot (in no particular order): Tim Levcik, Randy McMichael, Chris Chambers, Henry Taylor, Todd Wade, Leonard Henry, the 4-DE DL, Chester, Seaverns, Hooks, the second team OL (who made MARLON BARNES look good), and Stanford.
Who's Not (in no particular order: Brent Smith (who looked aweful), Ray Lucas, Zach Thomas (IMO, he wasn't trying during the first series), Rob Konrad, Randy McMichael (he's schizo, looks good then looks like a bonehead), Zebbie Letheridge, and Tim Bowens (out yet again).
Thats my opinion and I'm stickin to it.