He never should have left Cincinnati for that staph-infected, river-on-fire hell anyway…
The shameful thing is that most people consider that an upgrade.
Even more shameful was Steinbach’s inability to block Kimo Von Oelhoffen in 2005.
Well Detroit looked pretty solid this preseason. I am cautiously optimistic about a 8+ win season.
Depends on injury of course. And, let’s be honest, the Secondary still has massive weaknesses. Yesterday’s score really had as much to do with the fact Brady just played like crap uncharacteristically. He under threw at least 6 open receivers in the first half. and easily should have had two more touchdowns.
But I’m putting my line at 8-9 wins and possibly 2nd place in division.
It had to do with accurate throws by all the Lion QBs. Sftafford was 12 out of 14, with the misses hitting receivers hands. Even Stanton controlled the ball and moved through the Pat defense.
Brady was not sharp though.
49ers took a step backwards against the Texans. Make that a reverse triple-jump. The O-Line exspecially looked like crap. Defense couldn’t make a stop (it was OK against the run at least). Generally horrid all around.
Smith didn’t have time to make any throws, Kaepernick was rushing throws, not on the same page as his receivers, and throwing so hard nobody could make a catch.
grrrr
That’s what I mean, with Brady sharp the score would have been 41-34
I missed the Bears game last night for a big Fantasy Draft party but upon reading the recaps and commentary, I’m starting to get irrationally encouraged about the Offensive Line. The reviews are bordering on glowing, and that’s not coming from typically glass half-full homers. Some of the most critical local beat writers have been very positive on the performance. Granted, this is all preseason, and the positivity is relative to what was was projected to be a unmitigated disaster, but it’s tough to not start drinking the Mike Tice flavored Kool-aid.
In contrast, the WRs are looking to be a mess. What I was originally a rosy optimist about is looking to make me foolish. Roy Williams has been a complete dog in training camp. We’re hoping he’s just coasting and big timing it, which sucks but if he’s successful in flipping the switch it might not matter. We don’t need 2006 Roy Williams, but if we get 2009 Mike Sims-Walker we’ll be better off than we were last year. I’m pretty doubtful we’ll even get 2010 Roy Williams at this point. It almost seems like Williams has an issue catching balls thrown with Cutler’s zip. There’s no doubt that Williams lazy attitude isn’t sitting well in this locker room, this organization won’t accept that stuff and Martz might be on the hook for vouching for him.
Unfortunately none of the other WRs seem to have stepped up either. Hester has been pretty good, Bennett again was reliable as a Swiss time piece and the undrafted rookie Sanzenbacher will make the team and provide another impact slot option. The guys at the top however are in bad shape, Williams is a mess and Knox hasn’t exactly battled his way back into the starting lineup. Sam Hurd hasn’t hardly been heard from, heh. We’d better be able to run the damn ball.
From the Sun-Times:
So the Vernon Gholston experiment is over without much fanfare. Can’t say it’s a shock but it would really have been nice for him to show that he wasn’t a complete waste of meat by at least becoming a 4th DE. It’s a pretty low bar to clear for a former 1st rounder making close to the league minimum. The Bears are currently batting 2 of 3 on their FA signings with Akoye and Barber being solid wins. Gholston is a complete zero. Roy Williams is still TBD but a flame out there could drag us down to .500.
The Bears once again prove to be largely incapable of not fucking up basic bookkeeping. Chester Taylor was supposedly told by Lovie that he was released this morning, following the team benching him for the 3rd preseason game unexpectedly on Saturday to avoid injury, and he left the facility. His agent then gets a call from the team shortly after countermanding that and saying that he wasn’t released. I’m not sure how the Bears can keep screwing this stuff up. I’m hoping that this change of heart indicates that a potential trade for a last round draft pick is in the works with one of those RB depleted teams out there. Maybe the Cardinals or Bungles could use him.
49ers RB Frank Gore, who held out a few days and wanted a DeAngelo Williams-level contract, has agreed to a three-year extension, worth 21 million, with 13½ million guaranteed. That’s one year more than I would have preferred, but decent overall. The fewer distractions, the better.
I hope Gore’s body holds up, even if I don’t think it actually will. Kendall Hunter has leapfrogged Anthony [del]“Boobie”[/del] “Happy Feet” Dixon as backup, which is good news. Dixon is good, but Hunter has better vision, and hits the hole with more conviction.
In truly bizarre news, the Bears offensive line again actually looks good. Granted it’s just the Browns in the 4th preseason game, but I’m not on the verge of panic any more.
Also, Chester Taylor played, played hard and was very effective. Guess he’s auditioning for a trade too.
When the Bears drafted Steven Paea I was pretty down on the pick, leading up to the draft he was one of my “Your Guys”. Thus far in the preseason he’s sucked. Not a occasion where I’m happy to be right, hopefully he finds his stride at some point because I have a hunch we’re going to need that depth on the D line.
Alex Brown will save the day!!! Maybe it’s my overexposure to Chicago sports, but I always enjoy watching is how quickly they cycle through the flavor of the day. Whether it is Andy Fantuz, Vernon Gholsten, Roy Williams, Chester Taylor (whose handling by the Bears was yet another joke at the expense of that front office), Harvey Unga, Devin Aromashadu, or Dane Sanzenbacher, there is always someone who will come in and make the franchise shine. The next “shiny new toy” in Chicago sports can always be the source of amusement.
Eh, sports coverage here sucks. There’s virtually no distinction between what’s reported in the Sun-Times and Tribune from day to day. The headlines are almost verbatim, and supposedly these are competing papers. ESPN Chicago basically reprints the same stuff on their blogs, it’s a giant echo chamber. There isn’t even an interesting blog out there that I can rely on. Pretty sad.
I don’t think it’s so much a “shiny new toy” overreaction from the fans, it’s just that the sport reporting is so uncreative and lazy that there’s next to nothing else to talk about.
You can say that about US sports coverage in general. People have been jabbering about what a great defensive end Dwight Freeney is for years, because he gets a lot of sacks.
If every other defensive end gave up playing the run they’d have lots of sacks too; Freeney averages 30 tackles a season. Jared Allen averages about the same number of sacks, but makes 60 tackles a season.
It’s the same thing with, say, Matt Ryan. Blah, blah, blah, he’s a great young quarterback. No, he’s a good young quarterback. Sure, he threw 28 touchdowns last year, but he also averaged just 6.5 yards per attempt.
I’m not even asking for quality of analysis. I expect that to be awful. I’d settle for variety.
Carolina’s starting Newton in their season opener?!? Man, the Panthers are really testing my love for them, and it’s only pre-season.
Would you rather see Clausen complete 50% of his passes or Newton complete 45 and maybe pick up a couple rushing first downs?
Pats just cut Brandon Merriweather. Don’t understand that move at all.
OK, everybody, who made your team’s 53-man roster, and who got cut, that surprised/confused/offended you?
My 49ers:
I’m not terribly happy that fullback Moran Norris made the team. He doesn’t catch, doesn’t run, and is quickly losing his ability to block. I guess rookie converted DE, Bruce Miller isn’t yet up to speed (he did look fidgetty pre-snap on Thursday’s game and whiffed on a blitz pickup). He will act as a third TE sometimes, though.
I’m a little surprised that cornerback Phillip Adams got cut. He was recovering from one of those Theisman-level broken legs, but looked good from what I could see.
I’m very happy reserve D-Linemen Ian Williams, Will Tukuafu, and especially Demarcus Dobbs made the cut. Dobbs absolutely dominated in the preseason games. Against lesser competition, that’s what you want to see. He might not suit up much this season, but he would not have cleared waivers.
The Pats don’t just cut players like that either. You’ve gotta think there’s a big problem with him. Someone like the Bengals or the Raiders will pick him up and get buned.