2009 - Game 1 Thoughts
wow. i am ecstatic with today's win. even if i thought i had a feel for the team coming into this season (i didn't), i don't think there is any way i'd have predicted that the birds would totally dominate a 12 win team in such devastating fashion.
a few things that were plainly evident today:
- this team can rush the passer. wow, can this team rush the passer. cole, parker, abiamiri, clemons, howard -- holy smokes. those guys combined with our two great fat guys clogging up the middle to just dominate what is supposed to be a very good o-line. good omen for the season if this is what the defense can do.
- desean jackson is so f-ing fast. when he runs, we might as well be the guys chasing him. everyone looks like they're running in quicksand. he scares me when he starts celebrating 20 yards from the endzone though... "don't drop the f-ing ball!"
- i only noticed winston justice once today -- on the peppers sack when mcnabb rolled left and probably should have let the ball go or run the ball. he played well.
- peters mashes people off the line. tra was a great pass blocker, but he was never a particularly good run blocker. if peters gets his "timing and cadence" down, big red's proclaimation that peters is the best left tackle in the game might not be too far off. (though i don't really understand why it's taking so long for him to get the timing down on the silent count)
- the panthers had 169 total yards today (about 50 of them on the first drive after that fluky parker facemask). 2.9 yards per rush, 2.4 yards per pass. are you kidding me. this was a team that won 12 games last season!
- quintin mikell trucked a running back on a safety blitz. i had to rewind the dvr to see which "linebacker" had done the pancaking, only to be surprised to see it was a safety. i've never seen a safety do that before.
- the birds can rush the passer, and they have 4 starting caliber cornerbacks. they've consistently been 3 deep on corners, but never this deep. also, how professional is sheldon brown? lito doesn't get his new contract, he pouts, whines, and fakes injury. sheldon takes it like a man, and uses it as motivation. he looks primed to have a pretty damn good season. if he plays like this for the rest of the season, i'd give him his new contract.
- akers must have gone on the lenny dykstra vitamin routine this offseason. he never kicked the ball further than he did today. his opening kick was 4 yards deep in the endzone and his 48 yard field goal would have been good from 60 easily (it was 2/3 of the way up the net when it hit). whatever it takes baby.
- really happy to see the birds have a legitimate nfl fullback on the roster. haven't had one since poor jon ritchie blew out his knee.
some things not to lose sight of in the euphoria of the win:
- drops, it never changes with this team. donovan just throws the ball too hard i guess. don only threw 18 passes today and 3 of them were drops on balls that hit the receiver in the numbers.
- westbrook did not show any explosiveness. coming off injury, probably not in game shape, doesn't have his timing, etc. all of those are probably factors, no doubt, but westbrook's first two steps were s-l-o-w compared to a couple of seasons ago. the good news is that mccoy looked active and spry.
- kevin kolb has no pocket awareness right now. i'm being tough on him too, but let's not be too rough on him. he's basically never played in the nfl. i don't think he's doing any worse than don did his first few games. kolb just doesn't have the athleticism to keep stuff alive while he gets his bearings. that being said, this defense better come prepared to play if don is out next week. there is a pretty darn prolific offense coming to town.
one interesting note: while trying to educate myself a little on the upcoming season over the last week and i read a few things that surprised me, one of them was that darren howard and chris gocong were among the leaders at their positions for "defeating" the opposing player in one on one situations.
i'd be interested to see how our fat guys stack up. i'm really happy with how bunkley and patterson control the middle. i know everyone was very worried when bradley went down, but do you think it's possible that the play of the fat guys possibly made him look better than he actually was? just a thought. i thought he was a good player, but didn't really understand why everyone was panicking when he went down. the guy is not the second coming of ray lewis.
what a way to start a season!
a few things that were plainly evident today:
- this team can rush the passer. wow, can this team rush the passer. cole, parker, abiamiri, clemons, howard -- holy smokes. those guys combined with our two great fat guys clogging up the middle to just dominate what is supposed to be a very good o-line. good omen for the season if this is what the defense can do.
- desean jackson is so f-ing fast. when he runs, we might as well be the guys chasing him. everyone looks like they're running in quicksand. he scares me when he starts celebrating 20 yards from the endzone though... "don't drop the f-ing ball!"
- i only noticed winston justice once today -- on the peppers sack when mcnabb rolled left and probably should have let the ball go or run the ball. he played well.
- peters mashes people off the line. tra was a great pass blocker, but he was never a particularly good run blocker. if peters gets his "timing and cadence" down, big red's proclaimation that peters is the best left tackle in the game might not be too far off. (though i don't really understand why it's taking so long for him to get the timing down on the silent count)
- the panthers had 169 total yards today (about 50 of them on the first drive after that fluky parker facemask). 2.9 yards per rush, 2.4 yards per pass. are you kidding me. this was a team that won 12 games last season!
- quintin mikell trucked a running back on a safety blitz. i had to rewind the dvr to see which "linebacker" had done the pancaking, only to be surprised to see it was a safety. i've never seen a safety do that before.
- the birds can rush the passer, and they have 4 starting caliber cornerbacks. they've consistently been 3 deep on corners, but never this deep. also, how professional is sheldon brown? lito doesn't get his new contract, he pouts, whines, and fakes injury. sheldon takes it like a man, and uses it as motivation. he looks primed to have a pretty damn good season. if he plays like this for the rest of the season, i'd give him his new contract.
- akers must have gone on the lenny dykstra vitamin routine this offseason. he never kicked the ball further than he did today. his opening kick was 4 yards deep in the endzone and his 48 yard field goal would have been good from 60 easily (it was 2/3 of the way up the net when it hit). whatever it takes baby.
- really happy to see the birds have a legitimate nfl fullback on the roster. haven't had one since poor jon ritchie blew out his knee.
some things not to lose sight of in the euphoria of the win:
- drops, it never changes with this team. donovan just throws the ball too hard i guess. don only threw 18 passes today and 3 of them were drops on balls that hit the receiver in the numbers.
- westbrook did not show any explosiveness. coming off injury, probably not in game shape, doesn't have his timing, etc. all of those are probably factors, no doubt, but westbrook's first two steps were s-l-o-w compared to a couple of seasons ago. the good news is that mccoy looked active and spry.
- kevin kolb has no pocket awareness right now. i'm being tough on him too, but let's not be too rough on him. he's basically never played in the nfl. i don't think he's doing any worse than don did his first few games. kolb just doesn't have the athleticism to keep stuff alive while he gets his bearings. that being said, this defense better come prepared to play if don is out next week. there is a pretty darn prolific offense coming to town.
one interesting note: while trying to educate myself a little on the upcoming season over the last week and i read a few things that surprised me, one of them was that darren howard and chris gocong were among the leaders at their positions for "defeating" the opposing player in one on one situations.
i'd be interested to see how our fat guys stack up. i'm really happy with how bunkley and patterson control the middle. i know everyone was very worried when bradley went down, but do you think it's possible that the play of the fat guys possibly made him look better than he actually was? just a thought. i thought he was a good player, but didn't really understand why everyone was panicking when he went down. the guy is not the second coming of ray lewis.
what a way to start a season!
Labels: football
posted by The Mean Guy at 8:04 PM
55 comments
