Thoughts on where our team is now

I take some comfort in the fact that good teams find a way to win even when they play poorly. We have played poorly all year and yet we are 3-2 and only one game out of first. If we can get it turned around and start playing well we can take the division.

Our passing game is not bad. Steve Smith is one of the best wide outs in the league. If Moose were still here it would be awesome. I hope Gardner gets more involved because he seems to bring more than Colbert and Proehl. Jake is erratic and makes some good throws and some horrible ones. Relying on him to win games is risky at best.

Our running game is very weak so far. Other than Davis's ability to punch it in from close we are not getting much done. If Foster could hang on to the ball I would want him to get more touches. The thing is that our run blocking seemed better last year than it has been so far this year. Wahle is not having much impact it seems. Maybe we need to pull him more. In any event we need to get this fixed quickly.

Our defense is just plain sad. Julius Peppers is not doing much. The Cards have a weak OL and they handled Peppers pretty easily. Honestly Rucker is doing much better than him right now. Our linebackers are not making much impact. Our secondary would be sad if not for Lucas. He and Mcree look like our best players back there to me. Gamble gets beat a lot and Minter has had little impact.

Maybe the OL needs more time to gel and our running game will start to click. As for our defense I question its heart. Jenkins or not they have enough talent to be much better than what they have shown. I can buy Favre picking us apart but now Josh Mccown thows for almost 400 yards on us? Aside from an occasional big play our D is getting pushed around and beaten.

 

Our team is probably on an airplane

 

Our LBers played pretty good today.

 

Now you've done it. Mags will put out a contract on your ass.

 

16 out of 26 teams gave up 20 or more points today. I'm not sure that we are as bad as we think. Maybe we don't rank so high, but we aren't that bad as far as PA. Look what NO gave to GB. I'm beginning to think I under estimated GB's offense somewhat last week. Also the Cards are not nearly as bad as I thought.

We do need a little help on the D line. Maybe Piper can get us one of those Vol front four to come here.

 

My biggest beef with the team so far is there complete lack of intensity. They just don't look pumped for the games thus far.

 

Gamble played like ass again. He's got a big target on his back.

We got some pressure late in the game, but it's all around the end with Ruck and sometimes Pep. Several times when we beat the blocking, McNown just took two steps inside.

We continue to play pretty good run D and seem to be able to tighten our coverage when it really, really matters the last two weeks. We held them to 3 points in the second half, so give the D some credit.

Zona was picked by a lot of people to win that division because of those two recievers.

 

Did anyone notice that Ruckers took the same route on nearly every pass rush? The tackle simple just let him go behind the QB. The one time he did a quick reverse move he actually got his hands on the QB. The other thing is the tendancy to try and bump the opposition onto the ground with your shoulder pads. Nobody wraps up and we made ESPN highlites because of it. Don't these coaches even try and correct simple fundamentals. I liked the article in the Observer about Lucas asking to cover No.11. Why not put our best DB on their best WR?

 

we should be 5-0

 

I noticed that with Rucker too. He just looped around behind the QB every time it seemed. If he had cut back inside a few times it might have helped. How many times did Mccown just stand there and survey the field for eight or ten seconds? We are going to have to find a pass rush if we are going to start playing good defense again. I would stop using Peppers in pass coverage and have him pass rush every down. I would even live with him leaving his gap open from time to time if he would just get after the QB more.