NFCW Blog: Sando and Kolb's ceiling

[Duckjake]

I dont know why Bill cant get Blue Bell, I have some in my freezer that I just bought.. Its great.. Didnt know Mr B liked it..

Blue Bell not Blue Bunny.

Actually I didn't know that they had started selling in Arizona. For a long time they restricted sales to a very limited area mostly in Texas and Oklahoma.

Coors used to do that with their beer.

 

[Catfish]

my biggest fear isn't will Kolb be good or bad... i think he'll be anywhere from decent to good. I my biggest fear is that this defense will be ATROCIOUS. It has literally ZERO play-makers. There's not ONE unit that has any strength to it whatsoever. The D-line has Dockett who's good (but I don't think he's as great as many do) and then Campbell who's okay and everything else is completely unproven/grossly out of shape. I believe the Linebacking corps is amongst the worst in the league for teams that run the 3-4 depending on guys who looked completely gassed, lost or outclassed last year while only bringing one "established" vet in from another team who hasn't played well in 3 years and the Defensive backfield... oh man... PP is a rookie who will play like one, Rhodes will be good, Wilson was already slowed last year by injury and will be again this year if he can even play and and i have zero confidence in the other corners who have nothing to establish themselves in the league. That's a whole lot of blegh and for those who wish to believe the guys already on our team can make big strides, I say this... we're having a season where those guys haven't gotten a full year of tutelage they need in the off-season to get better. that will be at least somewhat of a detriment to their development.

And beyond that... and even scarier... is this management team hasn't had the greatest drafts since they've been together as they only have one player left from the 2007 draft class (Levi Brown, who sucks), a good portion of the 2008 draft class is either gone or hasn't done much to distinguish themselves and at the LB position, we've had to cut 2nd and 3rd round picks while not seeing one player at that position step up to the plate since RG/Wiz took over the draft.

I just think this offense could be decent, but I have very little hope for a defense that is devoid of starters, depth and play-making abilities.

I

I wouldn't go so far as to say we have NO playmakers on the D. I do believe we had very few last year, (at least playing in the positions they were assigned). It just may be that having a new DC, who genuinely seems to be working very hard to determine everything he can about each defensive player, could go far toward putting whatever talent we DO have in the BEST position to succeed. That certainly was NOT the case last year.

 

[Bert]

I

I wouldn't go so far as to say we have NO playmakers on the D. I do believe we had very few last year, (at least playing in the positions they were assigned). It just may be that having a new DC, who genuinely seems to be working very hard to determine everything he can about each defensive player, could go far toward putting whatever talent we DO have in the BEST position to succeed. That certainly was NOT the case last year.

Well said Catfish. This is my hope as well. We may not have a #1 defense, but looking at our roster I dont feel like we have such terrible talent that we should be the bottom of the league.

I'm also hopeful that Horton can get more out of these guys than BD did.

 

[Duckjake]

Well said Catfish. This is my hope as well. We may not have a #1 defense, but looking at our roster I dont feel like we have such terrible talent that we should be the bottom of the league.

I'm also hopeful that Horton can get more out of these guys than BD did.

I am too. But I don't think we're going to see much change until preseason game 3 . Thursday it looked like Davis was helping out by calling in the Defensive plays. There just hasn't been time for Horton to install anything. I do like his attitude. Didn't he say that there is already plenty of film on the type defense they want to run so no sense in playing Vanilla in pre season (so they'll be getting after 'em)?

This is yet another thing making this pre season far more than just 4 games where we don't care about anything other than nobody gets hurt. There's a lot of interesting things to watch.

 

[Bert]

I am too. But I don't think we're going to see much change until preseason game 3 . Thursday it looked like Davis was helping out by calling in the Defensive plays. There just hasn't been time for Horton to install anything. I do like his attitude. Didn't he say that there is already plenty of film on the type defense they want to run so no sense in playing Vanilla in pre season (so they'll be getting after 'em)?

This is yet another thing making this pre season far more than just 4 games where we don't care about anything other than nobody gets hurt. There's a lot of interesting things to watch.

Good points DJ.

It's a small thing but I also like that Horton is up in the booth. I just think that's where DC's belong, you see the game better and theres less going on. I'm not a DC but it seems like most of the great ones stay up in the booth rather than running around down on the field trying to yell instructions to everyone. Wasn't Davis always on the field or am I misremembering?

 

[kerouac9]

my biggest fear isn't will Kolb be good or bad... i think he'll be anywhere from decent to good. I my biggest fear is that this defense will be ATROCIOUS. It has literally ZERO play-makers. There's not ONE unit that has any strength to it whatsoever. The D-line has Dockett who's good (but I don't think he's as great as many do) and then Campbell who's okay and everything else is completely unproven/grossly out of shape. I believe the Linebacking corps is amongst the worst in the league for teams that run the 3-4 depending on guys who looked completely gassed, lost or outclassed last year while only bringing one "established" vet in from another team who hasn't played well in 3 years and the Defensive backfield... oh man... PP is a rookie who will play like one, Rhodes will be good, Wilson was already slowed last year by injury and will be again this year if he can even play and and i have zero confidence in the other corners who have nothing to establish themselves in the league. That's a whole lot of blegh and for those who wish to believe the guys already on our team can make big strides, I say this... we're having a season where those guys haven't gotten a full year of tutelage they need in the off-season to get better. that will be at least somewhat of a detriment to their development.

And beyond that... and even scarier... is this management team hasn't had the greatest drafts since they've been together as they only have one player left from the 2007 draft class (Levi Brown, who sucks), a good portion of the 2008 draft class is either gone or hasn't done much to distinguish themselves and at the LB position, we've had to cut 2nd and 3rd round picks while not seeing one player at that position step up to the plate since RG/Wiz took over the draft.

I just think this offense could be decent, but I have very little hope for a defense that is devoid of starters, depth and play-making abilities.

That's the thing. Who on our defense will opposing DCs worry about? It used to be Adrian Wilson, but he hasn't played like that since he had a suspension hanging over him. We all hope it's Schofield, but I think asking him to be more than a complementary player at this point is misplaced.

People are still laying the defense's troubles at the feet of Bill Davis, but if they go back and watch the tape they'll see that on most of the big plays there was a player in position to make a play, either on the ball or with the tackle. Unfortunately, the players weren't able to get in position.

Oh, and we traded away one of our three best defensive players this offseason.

We have complementary pieces in place: Rhodes, Toler, Washington, Campbell, Dockett (his position is complementary even if his performance is above-average), Bradley, etc. But who keeps opposing offensive coordinators up at night?

It's not going to be the scheme.

Meanwhile the offense is taking advantage of the defense in training camp at a time when traditionally defenses are well ahead of the game. That's not a good sign.

 

[Duckjake]

We all hope it's Schofield, but I think asking him to be more than a complementary player at this point is misplaced.

If he gets blocked by a 5'7" 185lb return guy on a blitz he might not even make it as a complementary player.

 

[Bert]

If he gets blocked by a 5'7" 185lb return guy on a blitz he might not even make it as a complementary player.

I still cant figure out why he didn't just punt LSH out of his way?

 

[Duckjake]

I still cant figure out why he didn't just punt LSH out of his way?

LOL

What the heck is our OC thinking asking LSH to block a guy who is 70lbs heavier anyway? Jeez guys you're risking a player who won a fan a house!

And we were concerned about PP21 returning kickoffs.