BLITZKRIEG
~LACUNA LEGIONS~
Don't know where to start really, I guess I'll start with Beck....
- Beck came out, and completed a few decent passes, but all in all, he was basically the same old John Beck we already know. Nothing impressive, and he was only in for a few series. He fumbled the ball once on a sack, but luckily recovered, and has also had two balls that were batted down at the LOS. He did nothing to secure a roster spot in my opinion....
- Henne played extremely well in my opinion He looks comfortable, poised, and uses his arm as a weapon. Sure, he has a few poor throws here / there, but I was really impressed with the way he conducted himself. He lead the Phinz to FG's, their only points of the night....
- McCown did play, but it was mostly against the 3rd stringers. Needless to say, he was lass than spectacular, and certainly wasn't anything to write home about. I expected a little more from him after coming into the game as the last QB of the night. He and Beck are on very thin ice right now in my opinion. Neither of them look prepared for a starting job....
OVERALL GRADE : D
WINNER - Henne was superior....
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OL - I'm not sure what anyone else witnessed, but I see a ton of room for improvement. The pass protection was below average, the running game struggled big time, and they were basically not physical enough. I notice big trouble on the left side in general. a lot of onlookers are saying that Jake had a great game, but I certainly wouldn't call it that. He was average at best, and if I had to grade the entire line, I'd give them a D.....
DL - This starting unit came out great, and played quite well for the most part. The Buc's offense struggled to do much of anything against the first team, and I was happy with what I saw from the starting unit. The back-up's are another story however, they need more work, and I noticed quite a difference in the two units. The pass rush / coverage went soft when the majority of the back-up's started playing. OVERALL GRADE : C
SECONDARY - The entire starting secondary played very well. They were flying around / ball hawking which is something I like to see. I'd have to say all in all this is a more aggressive unit than what we've been use to seeing in the past. Sure, there were a couple of coverage mistakes llate in the game last night, but for the most part, these guys were solid / tight. OVERALL GRADE : B
RB's / FB's - Ronnie looked decent, but with an OL that can't open holes, there's really not much there to gain. He took what he could get, but nothing more really. Hey! How about Ricky?? I'll be honest, Ricky Williams looks as good as I've seen him in years. He's still fast, shifty, and powerful. He can still make plays on instinct, and he should without question be a large part of the Phinz offense this season. He looked great....
There's a deep sleeper RB out there named J. Parmele. This kid is only a rookie, but he's got very good size, and he runs downhill. I was impressed with the work he was given, and how he played. I certainly see why the FO drafted him, he could be a good one in time...
The FB's had very little work, but R. Mauia caught a nice flare out from Beck in the first couple of series. Man, both Mauia / Grigsby are bolwling balls, if they can open some holes / block, we'll be in good shape at FB....
RICKY : A / OVERALL GRADE : B
WR's - Hmm, this is a tough one. Neither Ginn / Wilford weren't given many chances to make plays, and in the end, I can't recall if I even saw Ginn make a single catch. Anyway, there is obviously some work to be done here. The biggest standout last night in my opinion was WR D. Bess. I don't want to jump the gun or anything, but this kid could be our next Welker. He's very quick, and knows how to get open. He had several catches down the stretch where he reminded me a lot of Welker, we'll see, he's only a rookie....
As for guys like Hagan / Camarillo / Kircus / Foster / Wynn, they all did very little in terms of helping move the chains. If there was anything I missed, it couldn't have been earth shattering. The passing attack as a whole, was really pretty pitiful last night, so I think you get the picture when it comes to the WR's. OVERALL GRADE : D
SPECIAL TEAMS : PK D. Carpenter kicked well, hitting on two FG attempts, and I couldn't see anything wrong with him. He looks good. As for the kick-off / punt coverage units, they looked like they could use some work. OVERALL GRADE : C
COACHING - There were a lot of penalties last night, but beyond that, the team looked pretty well prepared. Most of the problems we're seeing right now are in the area of getting execution / timing down, and just getting comfortable with eachother as a team. There are still three more pre-season games in which to be played, so I'm not going to go very hard on Sparano at this early stage, he's done well for with what he's working with in my opinion. I'll give the guy a D. {Would have been C without all the penalties}.....
FINAL TEAM GRADE : D
CLOSING THOUGHTS
--------------------
This offense has a very, very long way to go. The reality of the situation, is that unless our OL gets more physical / stronger in the trenches, it's going to end up being another long season in 2008. Right now, the OL is not looking very good in any area, they aren't opening many holes, and the pocket has been crumbling around the QB's in pass protection. There is time, so maybe within the next few weeks, so hopefully we'll start to see some gradual improvement. It might not hurt to add L. Bentley either....
I think the defense will be alright, not some dominating force, but certainly a focused, fundamentally sound defense. For now, that's about all I'm willing to give them. They just need time to gel, and as the weeks progress, we should start to see them come together more as a unit....
Until next time, later.....
IN TUNA WE TRUST.....
- Beck came out, and completed a few decent passes, but all in all, he was basically the same old John Beck we already know. Nothing impressive, and he was only in for a few series. He fumbled the ball once on a sack, but luckily recovered, and has also had two balls that were batted down at the LOS. He did nothing to secure a roster spot in my opinion....
- Henne played extremely well in my opinion He looks comfortable, poised, and uses his arm as a weapon. Sure, he has a few poor throws here / there, but I was really impressed with the way he conducted himself. He lead the Phinz to FG's, their only points of the night....
- McCown did play, but it was mostly against the 3rd stringers. Needless to say, he was lass than spectacular, and certainly wasn't anything to write home about. I expected a little more from him after coming into the game as the last QB of the night. He and Beck are on very thin ice right now in my opinion. Neither of them look prepared for a starting job....
OVERALL GRADE : D
WINNER - Henne was superior....
------------------------
OL - I'm not sure what anyone else witnessed, but I see a ton of room for improvement. The pass protection was below average, the running game struggled big time, and they were basically not physical enough. I notice big trouble on the left side in general. a lot of onlookers are saying that Jake had a great game, but I certainly wouldn't call it that. He was average at best, and if I had to grade the entire line, I'd give them a D.....
DL - This starting unit came out great, and played quite well for the most part. The Buc's offense struggled to do much of anything against the first team, and I was happy with what I saw from the starting unit. The back-up's are another story however, they need more work, and I noticed quite a difference in the two units. The pass rush / coverage went soft when the majority of the back-up's started playing. OVERALL GRADE : C
SECONDARY - The entire starting secondary played very well. They were flying around / ball hawking which is something I like to see. I'd have to say all in all this is a more aggressive unit than what we've been use to seeing in the past. Sure, there were a couple of coverage mistakes llate in the game last night, but for the most part, these guys were solid / tight. OVERALL GRADE : B
RB's / FB's - Ronnie looked decent, but with an OL that can't open holes, there's really not much there to gain. He took what he could get, but nothing more really. Hey! How about Ricky?? I'll be honest, Ricky Williams looks as good as I've seen him in years. He's still fast, shifty, and powerful. He can still make plays on instinct, and he should without question be a large part of the Phinz offense this season. He looked great....
There's a deep sleeper RB out there named J. Parmele. This kid is only a rookie, but he's got very good size, and he runs downhill. I was impressed with the work he was given, and how he played. I certainly see why the FO drafted him, he could be a good one in time...
The FB's had very little work, but R. Mauia caught a nice flare out from Beck in the first couple of series. Man, both Mauia / Grigsby are bolwling balls, if they can open some holes / block, we'll be in good shape at FB....
RICKY : A / OVERALL GRADE : B
WR's - Hmm, this is a tough one. Neither Ginn / Wilford weren't given many chances to make plays, and in the end, I can't recall if I even saw Ginn make a single catch. Anyway, there is obviously some work to be done here. The biggest standout last night in my opinion was WR D. Bess. I don't want to jump the gun or anything, but this kid could be our next Welker. He's very quick, and knows how to get open. He had several catches down the stretch where he reminded me a lot of Welker, we'll see, he's only a rookie....
As for guys like Hagan / Camarillo / Kircus / Foster / Wynn, they all did very little in terms of helping move the chains. If there was anything I missed, it couldn't have been earth shattering. The passing attack as a whole, was really pretty pitiful last night, so I think you get the picture when it comes to the WR's. OVERALL GRADE : D
SPECIAL TEAMS : PK D. Carpenter kicked well, hitting on two FG attempts, and I couldn't see anything wrong with him. He looks good. As for the kick-off / punt coverage units, they looked like they could use some work. OVERALL GRADE : C
COACHING - There were a lot of penalties last night, but beyond that, the team looked pretty well prepared. Most of the problems we're seeing right now are in the area of getting execution / timing down, and just getting comfortable with eachother as a team. There are still three more pre-season games in which to be played, so I'm not going to go very hard on Sparano at this early stage, he's done well for with what he's working with in my opinion. I'll give the guy a D. {Would have been C without all the penalties}.....
FINAL TEAM GRADE : D
CLOSING THOUGHTS
--------------------
This offense has a very, very long way to go. The reality of the situation, is that unless our OL gets more physical / stronger in the trenches, it's going to end up being another long season in 2008. Right now, the OL is not looking very good in any area, they aren't opening many holes, and the pocket has been crumbling around the QB's in pass protection. There is time, so maybe within the next few weeks, so hopefully we'll start to see some gradual improvement. It might not hurt to add L. Bentley either....
I think the defense will be alright, not some dominating force, but certainly a focused, fundamentally sound defense. For now, that's about all I'm willing to give them. They just need time to gel, and as the weeks progress, we should start to see them come together more as a unit....
Until next time, later.....
IN TUNA WE TRUST.....
