Position Analysis Preseason Game #1 Steelers
Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 4:58 pm
Watched the complete game on DVR for the first time and came away with these observations-
QB- AR had a good game. He made a bad pass early and was lucky he didn't get the pass INT'd, but after that he looked better then I have ever seen him play. His passes weren't always perfect, but he moved around in the pocket very well. Brett got tunnel vision too often and missed wide open backs on 3rd down twice. Mistakes a vet shouldn't make, but it's preseason.
WR- I like Driver and Jennings, but they are a lot a like. They just don't get great separation. Jones looked like a vet, he looked strong. Holliday showed good concentration on the end zone grab. Martin looked OK.
TE-I think it's time to cut Franks and move on. He doesn't show burst off the line, body catches, and did nothing good. Lee and Alcorn looked OK.
RB-Brandon Jackson looked OK. Not much to work with early, but against scrubs he showed he can break tackles. I think he will be a solid inside runner, but doesn't have speed to break it outside on a regular basis (Morency). Noah is Noah-a guy that catches the Ball well and has some moves in the open field. A career 3rd down type back.
FB- Not much
OL- Passed block pretty well, but were unable to open anything for the RB against the Steeler regulars.
DT- Deep-deep-deep-all had their moments. This is the best and deepest group on the team.
DE- Jenkins beat their 1st and 2nd string OLT easily. KGB should be effective in the reduced roll. Kampman was his usual steady self.
LB- We all know Hawk and Barnett are top shelf, but I was impressed by Poppinga. He looked much less mechanical. The problem here is depth. The 2nd/3rd group was pretty weak.
S-Atari should have been cut on the spot-was out of position several times. Made weak arm tackle attempts on Davenport and got carried 10 yards, pathetic try on Young on the TD, and was beat several times. Underwood got spun around twice and then took bad angles-it's like he lost his instincts (could be the knee yet). I thought the last group of S (Culver/) were better.
CB-Dendy was bad. Blackmon wasn't perfect, but he made some nice open field tackles and played pretty tight coverage. Bush gave up some recepts, but the coverage was pretty good. Walker looked OK. Nobody in this group was lights out, but Blackmon looks active, and Bush and Walker may be fine.
For the amount of times that the DBs are out of position(not just in this game, but last year as well) it has to fall on Kurt Shottenheimer. I know Kurt is a friend oh M3's, but at some point Ted has to tell him that it isn't working. It will be the 2nd time he will be fired in 4 years? with the Pack if it hapens.
No real huge surprises in this game. The Packers will struggle rushing the ball this year. On 3rd and long Favre will be forcing the ball a lot because these receivers don't get a lot of separation. Individually James Jones has done more than I thought. With the deficiencies they have, it could be that AR is the better fit. I say that with a lot of stress on the "could be" part. AR's ability to avoid the rush and buy time could be a big plus. Favre just doesn't do that well at this point in his career. The big question is can AR maintain that level of play against starting defenses?
The defense could be great, but I don't know if they will be able to overcome Shottenhiemer's poor secondary coaching.
QB- AR had a good game. He made a bad pass early and was lucky he didn't get the pass INT'd, but after that he looked better then I have ever seen him play. His passes weren't always perfect, but he moved around in the pocket very well. Brett got tunnel vision too often and missed wide open backs on 3rd down twice. Mistakes a vet shouldn't make, but it's preseason.
WR- I like Driver and Jennings, but they are a lot a like. They just don't get great separation. Jones looked like a vet, he looked strong. Holliday showed good concentration on the end zone grab. Martin looked OK.
TE-I think it's time to cut Franks and move on. He doesn't show burst off the line, body catches, and did nothing good. Lee and Alcorn looked OK.
RB-Brandon Jackson looked OK. Not much to work with early, but against scrubs he showed he can break tackles. I think he will be a solid inside runner, but doesn't have speed to break it outside on a regular basis (Morency). Noah is Noah-a guy that catches the Ball well and has some moves in the open field. A career 3rd down type back.
FB- Not much
OL- Passed block pretty well, but were unable to open anything for the RB against the Steeler regulars.
DT- Deep-deep-deep-all had their moments. This is the best and deepest group on the team.
DE- Jenkins beat their 1st and 2nd string OLT easily. KGB should be effective in the reduced roll. Kampman was his usual steady self.
LB- We all know Hawk and Barnett are top shelf, but I was impressed by Poppinga. He looked much less mechanical. The problem here is depth. The 2nd/3rd group was pretty weak.
S-Atari should have been cut on the spot-was out of position several times. Made weak arm tackle attempts on Davenport and got carried 10 yards, pathetic try on Young on the TD, and was beat several times. Underwood got spun around twice and then took bad angles-it's like he lost his instincts (could be the knee yet). I thought the last group of S (Culver/) were better.
CB-Dendy was bad. Blackmon wasn't perfect, but he made some nice open field tackles and played pretty tight coverage. Bush gave up some recepts, but the coverage was pretty good. Walker looked OK. Nobody in this group was lights out, but Blackmon looks active, and Bush and Walker may be fine.
For the amount of times that the DBs are out of position(not just in this game, but last year as well) it has to fall on Kurt Shottenheimer. I know Kurt is a friend oh M3's, but at some point Ted has to tell him that it isn't working. It will be the 2nd time he will be fired in 4 years? with the Pack if it hapens.
No real huge surprises in this game. The Packers will struggle rushing the ball this year. On 3rd and long Favre will be forcing the ball a lot because these receivers don't get a lot of separation. Individually James Jones has done more than I thought. With the deficiencies they have, it could be that AR is the better fit. I say that with a lot of stress on the "could be" part. AR's ability to avoid the rush and buy time could be a big plus. Favre just doesn't do that well at this point in his career. The big question is can AR maintain that level of play against starting defenses?
The defense could be great, but I don't know if they will be able to overcome Shottenhiemer's poor secondary coaching.