Preseason Game 4 Thoughts
a nice night for football, plus turkey hill was giving away free ice cream at the game. most of the starters didn't play, but found some things to keep me interested.
- kevin kolb seems to be making progress every game. i find it impressive that he sees the field so well and already shows the ability to look off multiple receivers. it's pretty rare for a rookie.
- tony hunt is starting to look more comfortable. he's moving the pile like he did at penn state. i love how he takes on tacklers and drives them forward. it's been a while since we had a back who could do that.
- jeremy bloom looks like he's going to cry. he knows he's doing a sh*tty job of running back kicks and punts, but his fear of getting hit seems to be stronger than his fear of getting cut. not once has he just stuck his head in there and taken what was available.
- nate ilaoa looks like a samoan ron dayne. a gigantic guy who takes choppy steps and doesn't move the pile.
- watched some of the end of the game on TV. i could swear i heard ike reese praising victor abiamiri's "swim move" when victor actually used a "rip move". seemed odd that ike misidentified that, especially because he repeated it while the replay was on. a swim move was what the d-tackle used when max jean-gilles completely whiffed on the block leading to the first sack of feeley.
- what are the birds going to do with chris gocong? can they afford to try to hide him on the defense while he learns how to play in space? he looks pretty good as long as he's heading toward the line of scrimmage. as soon as he has to move laterally or drop into coverage. he looks stiff, uncomfortable, and off-balance. how quickly can this guy learn without getting the reps? why didn't he play the whole game?
- gaither is an upgrade over trotter in that he can drop into coverage and move side to side, but i don't see the logic in making a guy so small the MLB. yes, undersized middle linebackers can succeed in the NFL, but they also tend to play in defenses designed around their skills. ray lewis played his best when the ravens had huge two-gap d-tackles. when they switched to a 3-4 and he started having to deal with blockers, he wasn't nearly as effective. heck, i remember a monday night game 3-4 years ago against the chiefs when ray was dominated -- DOMINATED -- by tony richardson. similarly, the reason zach thomas has been so effective all these years is because miami also tended to have 2-gap d-tackles. the eagles are predominantly a 1-gap team. what the heck are they doing with such an undersized mike?
- kevin kolb seems to be making progress every game. i find it impressive that he sees the field so well and already shows the ability to look off multiple receivers. it's pretty rare for a rookie.
- tony hunt is starting to look more comfortable. he's moving the pile like he did at penn state. i love how he takes on tacklers and drives them forward. it's been a while since we had a back who could do that.
- jeremy bloom looks like he's going to cry. he knows he's doing a sh*tty job of running back kicks and punts, but his fear of getting hit seems to be stronger than his fear of getting cut. not once has he just stuck his head in there and taken what was available.
- nate ilaoa looks like a samoan ron dayne. a gigantic guy who takes choppy steps and doesn't move the pile.
- watched some of the end of the game on TV. i could swear i heard ike reese praising victor abiamiri's "swim move" when victor actually used a "rip move". seemed odd that ike misidentified that, especially because he repeated it while the replay was on. a swim move was what the d-tackle used when max jean-gilles completely whiffed on the block leading to the first sack of feeley.
- what are the birds going to do with chris gocong? can they afford to try to hide him on the defense while he learns how to play in space? he looks pretty good as long as he's heading toward the line of scrimmage. as soon as he has to move laterally or drop into coverage. he looks stiff, uncomfortable, and off-balance. how quickly can this guy learn without getting the reps? why didn't he play the whole game?
- gaither is an upgrade over trotter in that he can drop into coverage and move side to side, but i don't see the logic in making a guy so small the MLB. yes, undersized middle linebackers can succeed in the NFL, but they also tend to play in defenses designed around their skills. ray lewis played his best when the ravens had huge two-gap d-tackles. when they switched to a 3-4 and he started having to deal with blockers, he wasn't nearly as effective. heck, i remember a monday night game 3-4 years ago against the chiefs when ray was dominated -- DOMINATED -- by tony richardson. similarly, the reason zach thomas has been so effective all these years is because miami also tended to have 2-gap d-tackles. the eagles are predominantly a 1-gap team. what the heck are they doing with such an undersized mike?
Labels: football
posted by The Mean Guy at 1:10 AM
4 Comments:
good commentary TMG....I observed a lot of the same things....I like Kolb a lot. Now, there is no controversy or anything like that. But he has the QB swagger. He kind of reminds me of a young Brett Favre, except that Favre has a cannon and forces passes while Kolb's arm may be a little weaker and he finesses things too much. Anyway, as long as he keeps his nose clean and watches what's going on, I like him down the line.
Bloom is just not an NFL player. Tim Dwight may be the best comparison, but Dwight wasn't afraid to mix it up. Bloom will probably face the cut this weekend and don't be surprised to see someone picked up....
Gocong is not a bad football player and his skills can be utilized, especially moving off the edge, but he isn't an outside LB. I have a hard time believing that Stewart Bradley isn't going to get a lot of time this year, maybe in the middle and on the strong-side. Gocong can play, but he is better suited as more of a Mike Vrabel-type player.
I like Quentin Mikell. That is quietly a good signing. He is a football player.
I hope Rocca didn't hurt is chances will bad holds. I've held for extra points. It's not the Iron Man Triathalon.
In general, I liked how the young guys played on the defensive line. I hope that Murrell gets put on the practice squad. I like Abiramiri, too....and Bradley (again)....
The secondary needs help. I saw an interview with Heckert before the game....I really think a hard look is going to be put on cuts on Saturday. I think there may be an Eagle or two on another team at this point. He didn't poker face his desire to get another player or 2.
Good point on Lewis. Another Lewis intangible is that he's a nasty SOB. Defense is about attitude. I think Bumble echoes this in a lot of his posts. Another good point is that while they were playing a 4-3, the Ravens did have massive tackles in front of Lewis...one gap tackles that were in essense two gap tackles in Goose (boy Lewis misses him) and Sam Quincy Adams. The Eagles have small tackles and small inside LB....I kind of don't get this on JJ's part. Makes me think that he has lost it.
I liked that they cut down on the bad penalties (at least for the half I watched).
I think they'll cut Rocca because of the holds. Not sure his punting consistancy has been all that superior to Johnson.
Ike is getting worse as an announcer. Very Theisman-esque in his color commentary. It even got to me a bit.
After watching all 4 pre season games, I surmise that this tema is in big trouble. they don't have an LB on the squad who scares anybody. Spikes is old and runs less effectively, Gocong looks to be a faield experiemtn/bust, gaither is tiny. Their safety core looks bad as well, so they are going to get abused up the middle. Also not at all impressed with the DT outside of the top 2 and is it me or does Kearse look really really mortal? I could see him egtting cut as Abiamirri, Cole, Thomas, and even howard have all played betetr to this point.
This team may cobble 10-6 together due to offense, but they are back to dink and dunk due to no deep speed and McNabb being injured would be devastating. I came to the latter conclusion as I watched Feeley bumble and stumble around and I watched Kolb throw nothing but 5 yard out patterns and remembered he's a rookie.
I do not see good things at all for thsi squad boys, not unless they pick up some LB and S castoffs from other teams. they really stopped no one all pre season, so why should we believe things will suddenly click in a week?
Bumble
did anyone see how absolutely insane kevin kolbs dad was on his interview. hes like the most psychotic parent ever... worse than marvinovich.
~naylor
Post a Comment
<< Home