FINALLY, Got to watch the Chiefs game.

[RugbyMuffin]

First off, stupid NFLN putting the game on at 3am. Thank goodness for DTV.

QB Situation:
The QB situation? If we are going to grade this out game by game. Then Warner edges out Leinart on this game. Not by a lot, so I will say again he EDGES out Leinart.
The old man certainly has some zip on the ball, and throws that seem route to Fitzgerald almost perfectly, that veteran's touch only comes with experience. My only knock against him was the fact he cannot move at all. His bootleg was atrocious.
Leinart definately struggled at first. He seems out of sync and cold off the bench. He had some nice read, and throws later on when he got in sync, and the final drive was very nice. His pass to Breaston had some zip on it to say the least, and was a VERY nice throw in traffic.


Running Back:
Edge, as always, was very solid. Had a really nice run off the draw. Hightower played well, but showed he is not unstoppable. He has to get his legs up, he was tripped up to often by a hand tackle. JJ Arrington? Well, first off he looks bigger. Second, you cannot deny the fact he looked good tonight, and was bringing the ball into contact. Contract year for JJ and I think he knows it.

Sidenote: JJ Arrington is going to push Breaston for KR duties.

Oh yeah, gotta love what Tim Castille was doing out on the field too. Kids got some hands, and who doesn't like watching your FB knock safties on there butt ?


Wide Receiver:
Fitzgerald looked like a man amongst boys. It looked effortless to him last night. We just got to drill it into his head that he is not holding a loaf a bread out there. Boldin only had one pass thrown to him, but he had that kid beat. Breaston decided it was time to show why people were calling him our new 3rd WR, because he sure played like it last night. And dare I say, my whipping post J.Urban looked solid as well.


Tight End:
......Still our weakest link on offense right now......waiting for someone to step it up. Sure Ben Patrick can catch but his blocking is atrocious.

Offensive Line:
They looked pretty solid, and as usuall they did a very good job in pass protect. Duece Lutui, sorry, he has to be benched. He is a problem in our running game. I would love to see either Elton Brown get a chance right now, or later on in the season have Brandon Keith go to LT and Gandy play guard. Vallejo played pretty well, too in his back role.


Defensive Line:
Okay, it you have the Q Blues I have a bandwagon to jump on. Calais Campbell! How can you not be excited about this monster. He is 6'8" tall, ONLY 282 lbs with room to spare, and 21 YEARS OLD!!!!!!!! Yeah, he was called offsides, but I have to believe he was a little keyed up about starting. Heck, he was keyed up during his interview. This kid is going to be VERY VERY VERY VERY special.
Antonio Smith looked solid, Robinson does a good job of clogging the middle as well. Kenny Iwembema looked active as well. Branch looked better but still is missing something since Dykes looked to be just as productive as Branch.


Linebackers:
I will say it again. Chike Okeafor is going to makes say "Calvin who?", cause he looked beastly in this game. It was nice to see LaBoy step it up, and Dansby looked real good out there tonight. As for Gerald Hayes? Tough night for him to say the least. I liked what I saw out of Brandon Moore, and Ali Highsmith too.

Defensive Backs:
Catch the ball!!!!!!! Three or four dropped picks. Eric Green had one right in his hands. There was not much to say about the corner backs, they were all solid. Adrian Wilson, is a beast as usual. He is so unfair to have against the run since RB, even big ones like LJ, have no chance against him. Matt Ware played surprisingly solid, Fransisco looked a little better, and a good pick six for Keyes.

Special Teams:
Arrington had a nice run. Breaston was solid. Rackers sucked as usual. And Dirk Johnson is atriocious. There were some good plays on special teams too. Good to see Chris Harrington making plays on special teams.


Finally....... Uhhuhuhuhuhuh, UH huhuhuhuhuhuhu.

You must be registered for see images attach

He said Mike Cox.

Not to proud to say my wife and I were being very immature about this. Imagine the poor announcer.

"Mike Cox really hits that hole hard"

 

[black]

My wife read that last bit of your post and didn't think it was that funny while I was laughing.

 

[RON_IN_OC]

Mike Cox

Did anyone see the Chiefs player named Saint-Dic? I think he's kind of a BIG deal!

 

[Stout]

I was really tired of the KC announcers saying Breeston instead of Breaston. Man, do you sound ******** when you can't pronounce players' names right. I'd give them a pass if he was a no name, but he isn't.

 

[RugbyMuffin]

My wife read that last bit of your post and didn't think it was that funny while I was laughing.

My wife did....she also laughed at the guy named Dingle.

As I said we are very immature.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Special Teams:
Arrington had a nice run. Breaston was solid. Rackers sucked as usual. And Dirk Johnson is atriocious. There were some good plays on special teams too. Good to see Chris Harrington making plays on special teams.

I sometimes wonder if we see the same game sometimes. I know the common thing to say is that Dirk Johnson sucks, but he had 2 booming punts and the punt return team, actually did a good job recovering those punts. Dirk had an ok/good night.

Thanks for your writeup.

 

[JeffGollin]

I pretty much agree with everything you said.

A couple of additions:

1. My impressions were different when I watched the TV feed from what they were listening to Paul and Wolf on the radio. Both are important - each compliments the other. For some strange reason, I get more info out of watching the game first and then listening to the radio second rather than vice versa.
2. I don't think Alan Branch's problem is "lack of motor" but rather due to deficiencies in technique that can be overcome hopefully sooner not later. I (thank God!) never played NT, but I suspect there are different techniques for playing against a power run game, zone run game or when you read "pass play." I believe Alan will continue to have problems with inside zone blocking when he comes out of his stance too high, leaves his gap prematurely and lets enemy blockers put him on roller skates and move him in whichever direction he's already going and, therefore, out of the play. You might say, though, that every player also has a "long range motor" (that manifests itself in the weight room, training table, playbook, film room and practice field - and this is where Branch will have to prove his worth). Nice bat down of the Thigpen pass in the 2Q though.

 

[Pariah]

Thanks for the write-up, Rugby. Insightful.

 

[joeshmo]

Duece Lutui, sorry, he has to be benched. He is a problem in our running game. I would love to see either Elton Brown get a chance right now.

I dont think Wiz has made that change yet because Elton Brown hasnt played well enough to make Wiz do it yet. Both Players are not playing all that well in the preseason games. The only difference is that Brown is looking below average against 2nd and 3rd stringers. I dont think Brown has made the most of this opporunity so far in preseason.

 

[joeshmo]

[*]I don't think Alan Branch's problem is "lack of motor" but rather due to deficiencies in technique that can be overcome hopefully sooner not later. I (thank God!) never played NT, but I suspect there are different techniques for playing against a power run game, zone run game or when you read "pass play." I believe Alan will continue to have problems with inside zone blocking when he comes out of his stance too high, leaves his gap prematurely and lets enemy blockers put him on roller skates and move him in whichever direction he's already going and, therefore, out of the play.

That is a good assesment and one I agree with. I dont think it is a lack of motor but a huge deficiancy in technique. He does come out of his stance way to high more times then not. He gets pushed around on roller skates like you said becuase he continualy shows the OL his backside or his side isntead of using his hands. Once you show an OL your backside or let him gets one hand on your chest and one hand on your back becuase you showed him your side you just lost all of your leverage and the OL has complete control of you.

 

[cgolden]

Nice write up --- I saw it for the first time as well after recording it last night.

 

[Skkorpion]

Dream, I too saw a punter who had quite a good night. Are we seeing the beginnings of another irrational Reggie Wells/piling on by fans?

 

[PoolBoy]

First off, stupid NFLN putting the game on at 3am. Thank goodness for DTV.

QB Situation:
The QB situation? If we are going to grade this out game by game. Then Warner edges out Leinart on this game. Not by a lot, so I will say again he EDGES out Leinart.
Wide Receiver:
Fitzgerald looked like a man amongst boys. It looked effortless to him last night. We just got to drill it into his head that he is not holding a loaf a bread out there. Boldin only had one pass thrown to him, but he had that kid beat. Breaston decided it was time to show why people were calling him our new 3rd WR, because he sure played like it last night. And dare I say, my whipping post J.Urban looked solid as well.

and no one seems to want to admit that it was a badly underthrown ball by kurt.

 

[cgolden]

I sometimes wonder if we see the same game sometimes. I know the common thing to say is that Dirk Johnson sucks, but he had 2 booming punts and the punt return team, actually did a good job recovering those punts. Dirk had an ok/good night.

Dream, I too saw a punter who had quite a good night. Are we seeing the beginnings of another irrational Reggie Wells/piling on by fans?

I know it's sometimes worthless to project one or two games over the course of an entire season but if Dirk kicks like he did against the Chiefs (45.8 avg, 41.3 net avg) he'd have ranked in the top three in the NFL in both categories last year. His night was anything but sub-par.

 

[RugbyMuffin]

and no one seems to want to admit that it was a badly underthrown ball by kurt.

Badly? I dunno about that. It was about 6 inches off.

Whatever I thought it was a very objective look at both QB's. I skipped over Leinart's horrible throw that should have been a pick that he threw to Urban BTW.

 

[cardsloco]

First off, stupid NFLN putting the game on at 3am. Thank goodness for DTV.

QB Situation:
The QB situation? If we are going to grade this out game by game. Then Warner edges out Leinart on this game. Not by a lot, so I will say again he EDGES out Leinart.
The old man certainly has some zip on the ball, and throws that seem route to Fitzgerald almost perfectly, that veteran's touch only comes with experience. My only knock against him was the fact he cannot move at all. His bootleg was atrocious.
Leinart definately struggled at first. He seems out of sync and cold off the bench. He had some nice read, and throws later on when he got in sync, and the final drive was very nice. His pass to Breaston had some zip on it to say the least, and was a VERY nice throw in traffic.


Running Back:
Edge, as always, was very solid. Had a really nice run off the draw. Hightower played well, but showed he is not unstoppable. He has to get his legs up, he was tripped up to often by a hand tackle. JJ Arrington? Well, first off he looks bigger. Second, you cannot deny the fact he looked good tonight, and was bringing the ball into contact. Contract year for JJ and I think he knows it.

Sidenote: JJ Arrington is going to push Breaston for KR duties.

Oh yeah, gotta love what Tim Castille was doing out on the field too. Kids got some hands, and who doesn't like watching your FB knock safties on there butt ?


Wide Receiver:
Fitzgerald looked like a man amongst boys. It looked effortless to him last night. We just got to drill it into his head that he is not holding a loaf a bread out there. Boldin only had one pass thrown to him, but he had that kid beat. Breaston decided it was time to show why people were calling him our new 3rd WR, because he sure played like it last night. And dare I say, my whipping post J.Urban looked solid as well.


Tight End:
......Still our weakest link on offense right now......waiting for someone to step it up. Sure Ben Patrick can catch but his blocking is atrocious.

Offensive Line:
They looked pretty solid, and as usuall they did a very good job in pass protect. Duece Lutui, sorry, he has to be benched. He is a problem in our running game. I would love to see either Elton Brown get a chance right now, or later on in the season have Brandon Keith go to LT and Gandy play guard. Vallejo played pretty well, too in his back role.


Defensive Line:
Okay, it you have the Q Blues I have a bandwagon to jump on. Calais Campbell! How can you not be excited about this monster. He is 6'8" tall, ONLY 282 lbs with room to spare, and 21 YEARS OLD!!!!!!!! Yeah, he was called offsides, but I have to believe he was a little keyed up about starting. Heck, he was keyed up during his interview. This kid is going to be VERY VERY VERY VERY special.
Antonio Smith looked solid, Robinson does a good job of clogging the middle as well. Kenny Iwembema looked active as well. Branch looked better but still is missing something since Dykes looked to be just as productive as Branch.


Linebackers:
I will say it again. Chike Okeafor is going to makes say "Calvin who?", cause he looked beastly in this game. It was nice to see LaBoy step it up, and Dansby looked real good out there tonight. As for Gerald Hayes? Tough night for him to say the least. I liked what I saw out of Brandon Moore, and Ali Highsmith too.

Defensive Backs:
Catch the ball!!!!!!! Three or four dropped picks. Eric Green had one right in his hands. There was not much to say about the corner backs, they were all solid. Adrian Wilson, is a beast as usual. He is so unfair to have against the run since RB, even big ones like LJ, have no chance against him. Matt Ware played surprisingly solid, Fransisco looked a little better, and a good pick six for Keyes.

Special Teams:
Arrington had a nice run. Breaston was solid. Rackers sucked as usual. And Dirk Johnson is atriocious. There were some good plays on special teams too. Good to see Chris Harrington making plays on special teams.


Finally....... Uhhuhuhuhuhuh, UH huhuhuhuhuhuhu.

You must be registered for see images attach

He said Mike Cox.

Not to proud to say my wife and I were being very immature about this. Imagine the poor announcer.

"Mike Cox really hits that hole hard"

Unbiased report, and yes my wife laughed hard when I told her about the announcer.

 

[slanidrac16]

I sometimes wonder if we see the same game sometimes. I know the common thing to say is that Dirk Johnson sucks, but he had 2 booming punts and the punt return team, actually did a good job recovering those punts. Dirk had an ok/good night.

Thanks for your writeup.

It will sure as keck confuse the opponents punt return guy. He won't know whether to line up 50 yards back or 30 yards back.

 

[moklerman]

Nice write-up even though I disagree with the disparity you offered on the QB's.

My only knock against him was the fact he cannot move at all. His bootleg was atrocious.

I agree. I wonder if they'd have tried to do the same thing with Marino or any of the other statue passers?

If the team's going to keep JJ, then stick him on kickoffs and let Breaston focus on the slot position. There's no sense in getting starter hurt. Edge and Hightower are ready and I don't need to see them run any more in the preseason. Let the guard situation play out in front of JJ. If he can produce behind them then he deserves a spot.

 

[joeshmo]

Nice write-up even though I disagree with the disparity you offered on the QB's.

I agree. I wonder if they'd have tried to do the same thing with Marino or any of the other statue passers?

If the team's going to keep JJ, then stick him on kickoffs and let Breaston focus on the slot position. There's no sense in getting starter hurt. Edge and Hightower are ready and I don't need to see them run any more in the preseason. Let the guard situation play out in front of JJ. If he can produce behind them then he deserves a spot.

Breaston should stay as the punt returner because he was actually very good at that. But as a kickoff return man he was below average in the average category. His average is lower then JJ's. Although I think the likely hood of Breaston breaking it off for a TD is higher then JJ I think JJ gives the better shot at getting consitently better field position on kickoffs.

 

[RugbyMuffin]

Nice write-up even though I disagree with the disparity you offered on the QB's.

I agree. I wonder if they'd have tried to do the same thing with Marino or any of the other statue passers?

How surprising.

 

[moklerman]

How surprising.

I can't help it if you value a meaningless 2nd half performance. Unless you also think that Pierre is as ready as Leinart is at this point.

 

[Cards232]

and no one seems to want to admit that it was a badly underthrown ball by kurt.

It was an underthrown ball. It was hardly a badly underthrown ball, but it was underthrown. It was also a bomb on the first play. Cut the guy some slack.

 

[PoolBoy]

It was an underthrown ball. It was hardly a badly underthrown ball, but it was underthrown. It was also a bomb on the first play. Cut the guy some slack.

we don't cut Leinart slack for throwing a TD against 2nd stringers. are stats against the Raiders and Falcons not going to count?

 

[RugbyMuffin]

I can't help it if you value a meaningless 2nd half performance. Unless you also think that Pierre is as ready as Leinart is at this point.

I can't help it you pimp Warner with blinders on. Sorry. I have read your arguements across the board and IMO you are glorifying everything Warner does and down playing everything Leinart does.

If Warner is soooo good why can't he run a bootleg ? It is part of the offense. If he cannot do that than it is a knock against him like it or not. I am not going to say Warner looked like a god amongst men against the Chiefs because he didn't. He look very good and I gave him that credit. I also went on to say Leinart looked shaky and then came back with a nice drive and a nice throw. That is it. You are the one who takes it to a ridiculous level were even the smallest negative comment against Warner needs to be defended to the highest court.


And I am pretty sure Leinart went 7-8 against a first team opponent the week before.

Of course none of this will register and you will continue to pimp Warner to be the next comming so it is a moot point.

 

[moklerman]

If Warner is soooo good why can't he run a bootleg ?

Are you really serious? He's a freakin' pocket passer.

That is it. You are the one who takes it to a ridiculous level were even the smallest negative comment against Warner needs to be defended to the highest court

Wow, I'm the highest court? I didn't disagree with your observations just your judgment. Saying each qb played about equal is simply ridiculous to me. It doesn't mean that I think Warner played great or ready to win the Super Bowl it means that Leinart looked like a rookie and very bad. Do you honestly think he looked ready to lead the team when he was playing with the starters?

Of course none of this will register and you will continue to pimp Warner to be the next comming so it is a moot point.

You're right that I don't place the same value on some of Leinart's stats this preseason but I think that I've actually watched how he's played and what he's been running much more clearly than you have. I don't feel that the offense that Leinart has exhibited success with this preseason is anything resembling the real plays that will be called so his completion percentage is misleading as far as I'm concerned. Perhaps he's been instructed to dump it off or play it close to the vest but between his apparent comfort plays and struggles with what I consider the actual offense I think there is a considerable gap between what Warner looked like in his brief appearance and Leinart's struggles vs. the "1's" in KC.

Now, I can certainly be wrong about these things but it's hardly a case of me blindly supporting Warner. I think you are exhibiting blind support of Leinart much more than I.