Preseason

[hermes]

First game was against the TItans
http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/recap?gameId=310813010

we lost 14-3

i didn't see the game at all, did anyone do good?

[Tha Juice]

Just some things that stuck out to me during last nights game.

+Positives+
+ DeMarcus Love- I like what I saw from him at T even if he was playing against 2nd & 3rd stringers. Moved his feet well and kept his man in front on him. Mike Mayock even mentioned his play during the game.

+ Erin Henderson- I don't know if it was just me but it seemed like he was involved in every tackle. He was the 1st purple jersey in the picture when the Titans fumbled and the ball got kicked back 15 yards. Didn't recover but great hustle.

+ Special Teams play was pretty solid for the most part.

=Not great/ Not terrible=
= Christian Ponder had some solid passes when he was out of the pocket but when he was in the pocket he looked very rattled.

= Bernard Berrian- While he didn't catch everything he looked to be a lot more involved and was running some good intermediate routes. Definitely needs to step it up still but I was ok with his play in the first pre-season game.

= Kyle Rudolph was open on 2 different plays where the QB failed to see him down the field. Would like to see him get more footballs thrown his way.

= Brandon Burton had a couple nice plays. On one of them he lost the ball in the air but recovered and knocked it out of the WRs hands. He also had another play where he had great coverage on his guy and made a good play at the ball. Looking forward to see more of this guy.

-Negatives-
- Chris Cook. Couldn't tackle and I believe both touchdowns the Titans scored, Cook was exploited.

- DB's -It's going to be crucial for Winfield and Griffin to play well this year or else we're screwed.

[The Duke]

I streamed the game as that was the only way for me to see it. Thats what I will likely have to do this year, as we dont have many national games since Farve is not here anymore
I mod the Toronto Raptors site, but I'm a Viking NFL fan.

Positives:
-Erin Henderson was highly involved.
-Ballard showed some nice agreesiveness (got to like what you saw from him)
-E Griffen looked very solid in the role he played
-Ponder played better then Webb (hopeing Webb converts to a WR to utilize his skills set)
-Booker outplayed Gerhart
-Jayer Johnson played well, hopefully beats out Cam for Punt Return duties
-No injuries

Negatives:
-Brian Robison did not have a good game (but most of his starting line was not playing anyways)
Gerhart didnt have a strong game
-OL got run over hard (hopefully Herrera is healthy to start the season)
-Our starting DBs didnt play so we got abused there (no one stepped up in that game)
-DL was average but was missing significant players

Average:
McNabb played average, expected early on
Cluwe and Longwell good as expected

Want to See (More):
-Mistral Raymond if healthy
-Ponder with 2nd team (he played with 3rd team in 1st game)
-Kyle Rudolph and Brandon Burton

[The J Rocka]

Our secondary is going to give me head pains. We are pretty much ****ed at the safety position and at corner Winfield is another year older along with Cedric Griffin coming off a major injury. Nothing more needs to be said about the OL.

[The Duke]

Game 2 - Seahawks review:

Positives:
-E Griffen looked very very solid in the role he played (again) vs 1st team
-Entire 1st team DL line had a very good game
-Awasom. Guion and Evans dominated while they where in the game
-Sherrels had a good game. Yes, he did fumble, but got the interception about 3 plays later. He than had some really good open field tackles.
-Longwell/Kluwe strong game
-Excellent Special Teams Play
-Chris Cook had a solid game
-Bradon Burton looked solid as well with open tackles
-Jenkins played fair for when he was in
-McNabb looked comfortable out there
-Kyle Rudolph had a some nice catches for gains
-Gerhart show some nice moves and agreesiveness
-The defensive play calling was good on 1st team
-No injuries

Negatives:
-OL still struggled but an improvement over last week.
-2nd/3rd string DB's need some more ball recognition

Average:
-In large part Ponder and Webb played very fair

[The Duke]

Game vs Cowboys.

Frazier revealed on Thursday that Webb will follow McNabb and the first-team offense, which is expected to play into the third quarter against the Cowboys, in Saturday's rotation.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/26/2375773/nfl-preseason-preview-dallas-1.html#ixzz1W9czcVPb

Soooo... traditionally game 3 ... you set most of your roster based on what you are thinking you will enter week 1 with. Its looking like Webb will be week 1 backup.

[The Duke]

Fast recovery: In front of several teammates after Thursday's practice, defensive end Everson Griffen told fellow end Jared Allen he could run a 4.4-second 40-yard dash.

Allen bet him $100 he couldn't.

The stopwatch of assistant special-teams coach Chris White recorded Griffen at 4.6 seconds.

He lost the bet, but you get the point; the 6-foot-3, 273-pound Griffen is talented.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/Vikings-guard-Anthony-Herrera-to-get-first-start-Saturday-since-tearing-ACL-08178512

I really want Everson Griffen to get the starting LDE position by the bye week, if not before.

[Worm Guts]

it's always been obvious that Griffen has a ton a physical talent. He's got to prove he can play up to it.

[Worm Guts]

Ponder is alot faster than would have thought, but he's also alot more uncomfortable in the pocket than I would like

[The Duke]

Faster against 2nd/3rd stringers... he would have got flatten at least twice yesteday against starters.