On Langston Moore and the Chris Cooper swap and other musings

[spanky1]

Like Mitch and others, I think Moore is underated. Cincinnati tried like hell to hide him when we picked him up. Unfortunately for Langston, we have some depth and Gabe Watson is more of the quintessional NT. We are somewhat exposed at DE. Berry is slow off the mark this year. Cooper was really liked by Seattle.... his availability was necessitated by the signing of Branch. It's a numbers game and they had to let someone loose......very similar to the Cincinnati situation. He'll surface somewhere real soon. Cooper has more to offer us in terms of depth than Moore did.

Wilson and Rolle need to play better.....especially if we are to have any chance against Atlanta.

Bryant Johnsoon needs to be put into play more often than he has been.

I'm actually encouraged by our O-Line's improved play. I'm not sure that they are the "dog's breakfast" of the league as far as O-Lines go.

Stepanovich isn't near the bottom of the pile in terms of C's as many think he is.

If Oliver Ross can stay healthy, he'll quite everyone down.

JJ Arrington is gaining NFL experience and increased confidence quickly. Everyone that was throwing him under the bus will eventually be eating crow.....a la Adrian Wilson and Bryant Johnson detractors in the past.

Gerald Hayes will be the best MLB we've seen on this team ever.

I'd like to see Leinart in some live regular season action.....but am willing to wait until after the bye week if necessary.

As 2007 draft approaches, I'm starting to focus on a RTOF in round 1 and a DB in round 2. I'd like to have an additional high 2nd rounder via trade....and as much as I love BJ, he might be the bait we'll need to use.....and if we made him available, we'd get this compensation....I have zero doubt.

 

[Redrage]

Re. Hayes: I'm still an Eric Hill guy.

 

[MadCardDisease]

Gerald Hayes will be the best MLB we've seen on this team ever.

I've been very high on Hayes since the day we drafted him. I love having him at MLB and I believe he really helps with the run defense. I never really understood why people were so down on the guy. Currently he is our best LB until Dansby gets back to full health.

 

[devilfan02]

Stepanovich is horrible. He is indeed one of the worst centers in the league. I sat next to former Cardinal Bill Miller at the game last Sunday and he agreed. Miller said he's a nice kid but not a good center

 

[MrY]

JJ Arrington is gaining NFL experience and increased confidence quickly. Everyone that was throwing him under the bus will eventually be eating crow.....a la Adrian Wilson and Bryant Johnson detractors in the past.

You heard it here first from Spanky...my apology Russ...

 

[Redsz]

I still can't believe Johnsons crazy YPC. It's like 35 yds per catch.

 

[BullheadCardFan]

I've been very high on Hayes since the day we drafted him. I love having him at MLB and I believe he really helps with the run defense. I never really understood why people were so down on the guy. Currently he is our best LB until Dansby gets back to full health.

I'm looking for Hayes to continue to improve as he gets more playing time and works himself into game shape ... he missed a lot of work being injured .. he has already shown that he has a nose for the ball and can fill holes ... he is still off a half step on counter plays, but with more experience he will be able to read them better ... Hayes is already a big upgrade over Darling ..

 

[BullheadCardFan]

Stepanovich is horrible. He is indeed one of the worst centers in the league. I sat next to former Cardinal Bill Miller at the game last Sunday and he agreed. Miller said he's a nice kid but not a good center

I am very disappointed in Step .. I thought he would be a much better player than he is ... he is the weak link on a very weak Oline ...

 

[devilfan02]

I'm not sure how anyone can say Step is anywhere close to an average center. He spends 2/3 of the game on the ground cause he gets blown up nearly every play. He's def the weak link of this line, why we didn't go after Mawae or Bentley is beyond me. Center is a CRUCIUAL position on the OL

 

[ChandlerCard]

2007 draft? I'm not looking past this Sunday...

 

[CardLogic]

2007 draft? I'm not looking past this Sunday...

 

[SeaChicken]

The Seahawks liked Cooper very much. He really had a good preseason which is why the Seahawks hung on to 10 DLs coming out of camp which is pretty much unheard of for them. But when Branch came available, it was pretty obvious where the cut had to come from and Cooper was at the bottom of a deep bunch.

Loved the guys work ethic. Hopefully he'll be very successful for you guys in 12 of the next 13 games this year.

 

[Billy Flynt]

I'd like to see Leinart in some live regular season action.....but am willing to wait until after the bye week if necessary.

I like this timeframe - assuming we are not in any blow out games (either way) we'll know by week 10 whether we are realistically looking at playoff chances. If we are that means Warner has played well - if not then it's time to get ML some PT.

 

[lobo]

I'm not sure how anyone can say Step is anywhere close to an average center. He spends 2/3 of the game on the ground cause he gets blown up nearly every play. He's def the weak link of this line, why we didn't go after Mawae or Bentley is beyond me. Center is a CRUCIUAL position on the OL

gosh, i wanted us to get mawae in the worst way...who knows what would have happened to bentley....center is in the top three of tough positions on the field...goes totally unnoticed until there is a problem...and guess what!!!!!

the really top ones are around for a long long time...it's interesting...running backs have just so many runs (hits) in them...the great ones like smith, peyton are "freaks" of nature for the poundings they took...once they hit the magic number it is game over and they just can't do it anymore...centers are different and they talke a brutal pounding as well....earl campbell was a great runner until he wasn't anymore..he hit the number and that was it!!!

we will have to wait until next year to upgrade this position...

 

[Snakester]

Releasing Moore was just stupid. He was a solid player that was just getting better and better. The only DT's that I would keep over Moore are Dockett and Gabe Watson. Neither Clancy or Lewis are better than Moore.

 

[BigRedArk]

2007 draft? I'm not looking past this Sunday...

 

[kerouac9]

JJ Arrington is gaining NFL experience and increased confidence quickly. Everyone that was throwing him under the bus will eventually be eating crow.....a la Adrian Wilson and Bryant Johnson detractors in the past.

That must be why Arrington was not on the field when Edge was getting spelled in the second quarter last Sunday, and Marcel Shipp in all his mediocrity was on the field.

spanky1: all analyses false or your money back.

 

[BACH]

Neither Clancy or Lewis are better than Moore.

You're joking, right?

Moore hasn't been picked up by another team, yet. Clancy started over Moore, he was rated the 3rd best DT in the league by KC Joyner and the Giants publicly whined about losing Clancy.

 

[Duckjake]

You're joking, right?

Moore hasn't been picked up by another team, yet. Clancy started over Moore, he was rated the 3rd best DT in the league by KC Joyner and the Giants publicly whined about losing Clancy.

The only thing that matters is what happened on the field in the first 3 games this season. Moore was playing, imo, better than Clancy and Lewis wasn't playing at all. Clancy hasn't done anything special except get credit for Okeafor's sack of Bulger.

Green praised Moore on the 22nd of Sept. so Moore must have done something we don't know about. Either that or its just Green keeping his reputation intact for cutting people right after telling the media how good the player was.

 

[BACH]

The only thing that matters is what happened on the field in the first 3 games this season. Moore was playing, imo, better than Clancy and Lewis wasn't playing at all. Clancy hasn't done anything special except get credit for Okeafor's sack of Bulger.

Green praised Moore on the 22nd of Sept. so Moore must have done something we don't know about. Either that or its just Green keeping his reputation intact for cutting people right after telling the media how good the player was.

Okay, I guess we just disagree,then. Clancy doesn't put up good numbers, but he plays very well. Just look Dockett. He's playing better than he ever has. I credit Clancy for that, because even when Dockett is dominating, it's still Clancy drawing the double-team.

 

[JeffGollin]

Okay, I guess we just disagree,then. Clancy doesn't put up good numbers, but he plays very well. Just look Dockett. He's playing better than he ever has. I credit Clancy for that, because even when Dockett is dominating, it's still Clancy drawing the double-team.

I agree. NT isn't exactly a "stat" position.

 

[BACH]

I agree. NT isn't exactly a "stat" position.

Casey Hampton. Arguably the best DT in football and the defensive MVP for the Steelers - 25 tackles last season!

 

[Russ Smith]

That must be why Arrington was not on the field when Edge was getting spelled in the second quarter last Sunday, and Marcel Shipp in all his mediocrity was on the field.

spanky1: all analyses false or your money back.

At least twice in the first half Arrington was on the field for Edge because I heard Pasch say "JJ Arrington in at tailback." I think one was a pass play and the other was a penalty and then Edge came back in. Shipp hasn't had a carry yet and has 1 catch, JJ has 2 carries and 0 catches and is the primary KR. I'd say right now both guys are doing about what we expected when we signed Edge but it's pretty clear JJ is the backup not Shipp.

That said, I thought Spanky's comment was odd because JJ clearly had his worst game as a KR Sunday(since the fumble in Seattle didn't count) because he had 2 returns where he didn't reach the 20 and probably should have downed both balls.

 

[Duckjake]

Okay, I guess we just disagree,then. Clancy doesn't put up good numbers, but he plays very well. Just look Dockett. He's playing better than he ever has. I credit Clancy for that, because even when Dockett is dominating, it's still Clancy drawing the double-team.

Yeah, we could argue this forever because I thought Dockett played even better when Moore was in for Clancy. And we can't compare any kind of stats because tackle stats are so nebulous and the Cards flip their DT's so much with Dockett playing next to Berry one series and then next to Okeafor that you can't use the defensive yardage stats either.

What we do know is that Green suddenly didn't want Moore any longer. What we don't know is why.

 

[kerouac9]

At least twice in the first half Arrington was on the field for Edge because I heard Pasch say "JJ Arrington in at tailback." I think one was a pass play and the other was a penalty and then Edge came back in. Shipp hasn't had a carry yet and has 1 catch, JJ has 2 carries and 0 catches and is the primary KR. I'd say right now both guys are doing about what we expected when we signed Edge but it's pretty clear JJ is the backup not Shipp.

That said, I thought Spanky's comment was odd because JJ clearly had his worst game as a KR Sunday(since the fumble in Seattle didn't count) because he had 2 returns where he didn't reach the 20 and probably should have downed both balls.

I noted that Shipp came in for Edge last game because Warner laid Shipp out in a serious way over the middle in the second quarter. I don't really understand how you can say that "it's clear" that JJ is the backup, since Shipp has all of one more touch than J.J. does and was the captian of the special teams last Sunday. I'm saying this as a guy that likes Arrington a lot and would prefer that Shipp go find a job selling cars, but that's not what I'm seeing.

I just think that it's way too early to start rubbing people's faces in J.J. Arrington and saying "I told you so," but I guess that Spanky has to do something now that he can't try selling John Bronson making the team and supplanting both 'Femi and Hodgins.