Game Balls

For much of the first half it was Steve Smith, Steve Smith, Steve Smith, so that really hasn't changed. Some of you are just seeing what you want to see, not what's actually there.

 

I do not want us to stop going to Smith a lot. I could be seeing more than is really there but they sure looked a lot better to me. They just seemed more confident as a group. Jake was able to come off Smith for the two TDs to Carter which is IMHO improvement.

 

They did play well, but basically you were saying that we got away from "feed the stud" this year when the truth is that we did not. Steve Smith had 7 receptions for 118 yards. Our next leading receiver had 35 yards. That's no different from how our box scores have looked for the last several years.


To further the point:
2007 vs. Stl - 387 total yards, 186 yards rushing
2006 vs. Stl - 411 total yards, 242 yards rushing

 

The TE stat sheet sure looked different

 

I think the biggest difference was a healthy offensive line.

I agree with Collin that it didn't seem alot different. We destroyed St louis last year. I have that game on DVR and have watched it a dozen times.

We set a Panthers all time single game rushing record in 2006 against them. 15-0 was a TD, 2 FG, and a safety. We had 7 sacks.

I think a big part of not playing well last year was our oline, and I hope we can keep going the way we started. Momentum and morale is alot, and the simple fact that the players have faith in Davidson more than Henning can go a long ways.

Plus, the confidence of winning the season opener in a hostile environment is a plus. Alot different than last year, when we got run down like botches, and lost our starting center, starting LT, and starting MLB. Plus - smitty was down.

I do think the use of the TE is going to be different.

Anyway, fun day yesterday.

 

Other than the extra passes to the TE the biggest difference to me was an effective running game in the second half. The stuff to Smith looked identical to Hennings stuff to Smith. Basically Jake chucked it in his direction and hoped Smith could beat the defenders for it.

 

One thing different, and again, this isn't Henning thing, just a comparison to last year, was what we did in the red zone.

5 trips. Two touchdown passes (neither to Smitty), two FGs, and one fumble.

It didn't look that different, but the execution was better. Even against the Rams last year, we were sloppy. Other than the fumbles, we were more effecient.

 

Basically, we own the Rams.

Glad to see us being able to run it out with Witherspoon and Draft on the other side.

 

execution is better. I'll always take that.

Yeah, I agree, if the idea is "it's the Rams, we have their number, so don't get too excited about this defense". I disagree if the idea is "don't say anything negative about Dan Henning." Don't see why being excited about the new offense is a slight against him, or that we're just pretending things were good yesterday because all of us are irrational against Henning.

 

No, it didn't. Just so you know, having to repeat myself is one of the things that puts my annoyance meter immediately into the red, and I've already addressed this subject twice. King caught 5 balls for 35 yards. That is not an unusual total for our TEs, as Mangum had 4 and 5 catch games last season, and that was when we actually had a good #2 WR.


magnus:
It's about the facts. Some people want to pretend that it was an entirely new offense and take the opportunity to dump on Henning. The fact is that the offense looked surprisingly like it has the last couple of years, because very little had seemingly changed. That's not to take anything away from Davidson, because I've already said I don't know how Henning or anyone else could have done better, but it annoys me when people say that the offense was so radically different when the exact opposite is true. I want people to see reality instead of allowing their imagination to get out of control.