I am most looking forward to having some evidence of what Gase and the new staff are going to do rather than listening to every armchair HC/GM here tell us what they think is going to happen. Of course we won't see the entire playbook until the regular season starts but at least through the next four weeks of preseason we will get a hint of what Gase brings to the table and whether his reputation will bring results on the field.
I am looking for a few things, in no particular order:
1) Will the OL look like they are getting it together? According to the reports, they have been shuffled around throughout training camp so hopefully we will see the best 5 out there and they will be able to build some chemistry through the rest of training camp.
2) Will the linebackers and secondary show us anything to pin our hopes on? I am not looking for shutdown corners and for the linebackers to stuff every running play but I would like to see them reduce the number of big plays and to show us some glimmer of hope.
3) Will the offense be able to sustain drives? Hopefully the balance between run and pass plays will be figured out so they can keep the defense rested and wear down the opponent. I am also looking to see who gets the touches and how they spread the ball around. But, most importantly, I don't want to hear about DB's yelling out the play before the ball is snapped and being right 90% of the time.
4) Will the coaching staff stick to the gameplan or will they panic and make stupid decisions when things don't go right? This is Gase's first shot at being a HC so I hope that he is able to keep a level head and not do anything stupid.
5) Will the posters on FH realize that this is preseason and that a lot of the players that will see action tonight are simply auditioning for practice squad spots or for other teams to notice them so that perhaps they can latch on to another team when they are eventually cut? I'm sure that Gase and his staff want to get a good look at several players and play them in different situations/positions to find out what their strengths are against players wearing a different color jersey that don't already know their tendencies.
6) Will the stupid penalties be eliminated or at least greatly reduced? For example, with Vernon gone, we won't see the boneheaded late hits that extend opponent drives. Will the rest of the team play disciplined enough to not put themselves in a hole?
would still be nice to see though
