Players Who Stood Out and Others Who Stood Around

cardsfanmd

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In retrospect, last night may not have been as bad aI originally thought. I still think our D will be poor this year, not only because Billy Davis is a proven failure as a DC, but mainly because we have no good pass rushers on the edge.

I watched intently last night and checked the game tape this morning a bit as well, and was pleasantly surprised by a few guys, and of course disgusted with a few others.

Guys I Liked:

D

Neil Rackers- Good KOs sure, but that onsides kick was one of the ballsiest things I have seen from a K in a while. I know I give the guy grief for choking, but he really is tough as nails and has no problem sacrificing his body for the team. I hearby and willing to take the good with the bad from here on out (until he starts blowing late-game FGs again :) ).

Will Davis- He wasn't playing against first stringers, but the kid was an impact player the entire second half both on D and on STs. He was our only OLB able to get consistent pressure on the QB and played the run nicely as well. I'm not saying he's ready to start, but I do expect some decent contributions from his this season (30 tackles, 3 sacks). For a 6th round pick whom many pundits predicted to go undrafted this kid is already overachieving.

Reggie Walker- Here's two games in a row where this kid has shown up in a big way. Pongo got hurt early and this kid did a hell of a job replacing him IMO. He had 3 stops at or behind the LOS IIRC and his play at the goalline was easily the defensive highlight of the game (if they are allowed one). I expect to se he and Togafau stick around this year.

Darnell Dockett- I saw somewhere on the board where people were calling him lazy yesterday, but I surely didn't see it. Say what you want about him, but 9-0 always brings his lunch pail and is ready to go. I love his energy and the fact that he never slows down before the whistle.

A-Dub- As usual, his pass coverage was less-than-stellar, but there is no safety on earth who plays the run and short passing game better. The man has the heart of a lion and attacks the ball carrier like none other. i still wonder how many PBs he would have been selected to had he been drafted into a Tampa 2 as an OLB

Clark Haggans- Not great, but he was the best of the worst as far as our 1st string LBs go.

Greg Toler- He had no big plays, but was tight on his assignment and plays the run like a safety. Considering he was essentially playing HS ball last year, I love how this kid is developing and cant wait to see him force Captian Loveboat (Ralph Brown) off the field.

Aaron Francisco- I think it's well documented that your coverage skills aren't PB worthy, but you play at full speed for 60 minutes every game, hit like a ton of bricks and have no regard for your own health. I respect that.

Rodney Leslie- The truth of the matter is that he has been better than a few guys who i think will get a roster spot over him :coughalanbranchkennyiwebemacough:. Tough strong guy who never seems to get pushed off the line, sheds blockers well, takes on doubles and remains stout and gets to the ballcarrier. Good job.

O

Aaron Rodgers- Damn you're good. I hate you.

Sean Morey- You cant help but love this guy. His effort is just amazing. He is in on every STs tackle and was really impressive catching the ball last night. Great block on the final TD by Wright.

Jason Wright- Very very nice. Very good on STs as usual and great TD to set up the win. very nice pass protection all day and way to show some niftyness in the open field.

Herman Johnson- Another damn fine 5th round draft pick. What's every bit impressive as his stature is his hard work out there. This kid never stops hustling and has a mean streak that I love. Constantly moving and getting downfield to help his teammates. I dont know where he'll fit in the starting lineup anytime soon (though he may replace Levi in a few years??), but I do think he'll be ready when called upon.

Jereme Urban- I know his fumble hurt, but he did his best to make up for it and converted numerous 3rd downs. I know many didn't notice it, but he blocks his tail off and without him, Beanie doesn't score that 1st TD.

Sendlein- I know Kurt never moves in there (in a positive way anyhow), but Matty was able to step up into the pocket all night because Lyle kept his man in check.

Reggie Wells- He really is the best LG in the NFCW IMO. Great leader, hard worker and finally... a good player.

Larod Stephens-Howling- The little engine that could just keeps chugging along. Whats more impressive than his cutback ability and yardage on the ground is how good he has been in pass protection.

Hightower- Sadly for him, Beanie is as good as we'd hoped, but it doesn't change what Timmy's been doing. He will still start the season, split carries and still get the goalline stuff IMO. As long as Kurt is starting, we will thorw a ton, because all of his audibles lead to a pass play. When the 4th quarters come around (and if Matty sees the field prior to that) I really expect to see this guy close out a lot of games for us. Great effort, great running and good pass protection last night.

Early Doucet- A few piss poor drops, but a few big plays and Q-like trucks of people to compensate. He will be a capable #2 very soon IMO.

OG Matty Leinart- I have been calling this one for a few years now and was almost happy enough to cry for him last night. It's disgusted me to hear him being trashed on the radio and in the press for not gettiung on the field. The kid played his ass off last night and was nothing short of great. It's getting to be time to dust off those #7's and rock them with pride again.

Melvin Fowler- Very good job man, welcome to the team. Great downfield blocks and very steady. Better than most of our starters from the past 2 decades.

Beanie- Yeah, you're an effing animal. Congrats on the TDs. Glad to have you back.

Onrea Jones- I know he's not a scrawny little white guy and the epitome of an underdog WR in the NFL, but his play has been very good IMO. Great size, hands, toughness and RAC. Hopefully he clears waivers and makes it back to the PS.

The Not-So-Hot Guys-

D


DRC- The kid needs to stop dancing, take his fronts out and get his skinny ass in his books and his head into the meetings. Too gifted to be embarrassed like that. Outside of his fantastic show of athleticism in the opening drive on Donald Driver (where he absolutely should have picked the ball off) he really made a fool of himself for the remainder of the game.

Babe Watson- When he stops getting bulled off the line I'll give him his "G" status back. I love the guy and worry that maybe his knee is still screwing him, because he just hasn't seemed to be close to the player he was turning into prior to the injury.

Ralph Brown- Maybe he needs to rent a boat and some hookers and blow some steam or something because he just looks timid, frustrated, slow and confused out there. Damn I miss Rod Hood.

Karlos Dansby- The effort wasn't there and it was obvious. If you dont want to play, why take the field??

Rolle- You had a nice tackle on the end around, but how the hell do you get embarrassed like that on a deep play by 94yr old donald Driver. If your're gonna hang on him so blatently while he dusts you dont let him have the satisfaction of catching the ball too.

O

Lance Long- Not only did he blow like 8 million A$FN bucks that I bet on him here, he did nothing to distinguish himself as an NFL player last night. I like the kid, but he is gonna have to be Fitz-like next week if he intends to remain on this team. I look for him to be in a Cheifs/Bears/Ravens jersey in the near future.

Brandon Keith- I am still waiting to see the guy who's undercarriage everyone has been swinging from like Tarzan the past few years. When i watch #72 I see a lazy guy who is never moving through the whistle.

Kurt Warner- Let me be the first to say that i really didn't think Kurt was that bad last night. My issue was the fumbles, when he had ample time to get rid of the ball. The man is 400 years old, shouldn't he know that he isn't escaping from any type of pressure? The pick was pretty bad as well, but has his normal receivers been there things would have been much different IMO.
 
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Vermont Maverick

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Nice post. Good thoughts. Especially on Will Davis, Reggie Walker, the Wells brothers, and Onrea Jones (though I doubt he makes this team).

On Herman Johnson, the WR screen TD to Doucet: Herman put a swim move on the DEFENSIVE player to let him into the backfield to chase Leinart (who was already releasing the ball), so that Herman could bust his but out to get downfield to block. Unfortunately there was no one that he could line up to hit. Very headsup play however.

Also:
Can we just put the Brian St. Pierre has a shot at the backup job to bed, now. Thanks. He's going to have a hard time beating out Palko. Wow, has Matt grown up. I really think that making him work to win his place has been immense. Great work Wiz.

Rod Hood, at $3 Million, should have been kept. A third corner plays plenty, and we will miss him.
 

Stout

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I really disagree about Doucet. You can forgive a lot of mistakes in a young WR, but you can never, ever forgive bad hands. If the kid can't catch, then he'll be worthless. We shall see. He's shown enough--barely--to not get cut, but he's not shown near enough to see the field on any kind of meaningful down of football.
 
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cardsfanmd

cardsfanmd

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Good stuff!
Glad you liked it. Had you disagreed I would have insulted you. Then when you responded, I would have cried and made a thread announcing my retirement from the board in order to get some free nuthugging and backpatting from people I only know over the internet. Oh wait...
 
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cardsfanmd

cardsfanmd

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I really disagree about Doucet. You can forgive a lot of mistakes in a young WR, but you can never, ever forgive bad hands. If the kid can't catch, then he'll be worthless. We shall see. He's shown enough--barely--to not get cut, but he's not shown near enough to see the field on any kind of meaningful down of football.

You may be right, I just dont think we've seen enough of him yet to say he has bad hands. What we have seen enough to know thusfar is that he's tough across the middle and doesn't mind running through traffic like a little Q. he is also a pretty good STer. 90% of good recievers take a few years to develop, so i'm hoping that's the case here.
 

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Here are my thoughts.

Will Davis- He wasn't playing against first stringers, but the kid was an impact player the entire second half both on D and on STs. He was our only OLB able to get consistent pressure on the QB and played the run nicely as well. I'm not saying he's ready to start, but I do expect some decent contributions from his this season (30 tackles, 3 sacks). For a 6th round pick whom many pundits predicted to go undrafted this kid is already overachieving.

I've thought Will has done some nice things in every pre-season game and seems to be improving every game. I think we have to remember that he played out of position in college and was hurt too. It may take him a while to figure everything out but I have high hopes for him. I commented about him after the first practice in Flagstaff that I really liked his size.

Brandon Keith- I am still waiting to see the guy who's undercarriage everyone has been swinging from like Tarzan the past few years. When i watch #72 I see a lazy guy who is never moving through the whistle.

I still have hope for Keith. He may be like a Reggie Wells who we were told had lot's of talent and was our best offensive lineman and would then come out and give indifferent performances. It took him a couple of years to truely get it, and I'm thinking that Keith may run along the same lines.
 

Stout

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You may be right, I just dont think we've seen enough of him yet to say he has bad hands. What we have seen enough to know thusfar is that he's tough across the middle and doesn't mind running through traffic like a little Q. he is also a pretty good STer. 90% of good recievers take a few years to develop, so i'm hoping that's the case here.

The only way he'll show me he doesn't have bad hands is if I don't see him drop another pass. I'll say again, people can make all the excuses in the world about receivers taking time to develop, etc, but you do NOT develop HANDS. That is the single attribute that a receiver either has or does not have. Right now, I have serious questions about Doucet's hands.
 

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The only way he'll show me he doesn't have bad hands is if I don't see him drop another pass. I'll say again, people can make all the excuses in the world about receivers taking time to develop, etc, but you do NOT develop HANDS. That is the single attribute that a receiver either has or does not have. Right now, I have serious questions about Doucet's hands.

Well, Urban's hands suck too...probably worse.
 
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cardsfanmd

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My only complaint of Leinart is that he seems to put his receivers in a position to get massacred when the catch the ball.
 

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My only complaint of Leinart is that he seems to put his receivers in a position to get massacred when the catch the ball.


Been saying this since he entered the league. Sure, all QB's at times will put a WR is a compromising position... BUT, Leinart throws soft passes that allow the defenders to close just at the precise time the WR is focused on catching the ball, often times his passes are high which require the WR to stretch/leap, further placing them in serious danger. I made a comment 2 years ago that if Matty becomes the everyday QB, both the careers of Fitz and Q will be seriously cut short...
 

Arizona's Finest

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My only complaint of Leinart is that he seems to put his receivers in a position to get massacred when the catch the ball.

I noticed that last night too. Great write up MD. We still on for Jax?

I also think that could be the system. Kurt laid Larry out a couple times last night and of course there was the famous Q hit in NY last year. It might be a by product of all the crossing routes.
 

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Been saying this since he entered the league. Sure, all QB's at times will put a WR is a compromising position... BUT, Leinart throws soft passes that allow the defenders to close just at the precise time the WR is focused on catching the ball, often times his passes are high which require the WR to stretch/leap, further placing them in serious danger. I made a comment 2 years ago that if Matty becomes the everyday QB, both the careers of Fitz and Q will be seriously cut short...

I agree. The soft passes can be and will be will be corrected with coaching. Leinart has shown he definately has the arm when he wants to put zip on it.

His high throws are due to accuracy. Lets face it, Leinart isn't as accurate as Warner, but playing time could help in this department.
 

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I agree. The soft passes can be and will be will be corrected with coaching. Leinart has shown he definately has the arm when he wants to put zip on it.

His high throws are due to accuracy. Lets face it, Leinart isn't as accurate as Warner, but playing time could help in this department.

He's got a bit of an unorthodox throwing form, where he drops his left shoulder/elbow as he releasing the ball... If he could correct that motion and learn to "stay on top" of the ball as he's throwing, he would be much more accurate and able to throw with more zip.
 
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cardsfanmd

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I agree. The soft passes can be and will be will be corrected with coaching. Leinart has shown he definately has the arm when he wants to put zip on it.

His high throws are due to accuracy. Lets face it, Leinart isn't as accurate as Warner, but playing time could help in this department.

Yes, but Warner is probably one of the top 5 most accurate passers in history.
 

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Yes, but Warner is probably one of the top 5 most accurate passers in history.

Perhaps, but all the rule changes have made objective comparisons impossible. It's significantly easier for a QB to complete 65% of his passes in today's game than it was 20 years ago. The league decided it didn't want field goal contests years ago, and changed the rules accordingly.
 

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He's got a bit of an unorthodox throwing form, where he drops his left shoulder/elbow as he releasing the ball... If he could correct that motion and learn to "stay on top" of the ball as he's throwing, he would be much more accurate and able to throw with more zip.

We...get...it. Just go ahead and tell us that you hope Leinart never works out. It'll save us the bother of even arguing this any more. The kid shows up, has a fabulous game, and all you want to do is nitpick. Warner shows up, has an atrocious game, and all you want to do is make excuses. Past that, you want to take as many shots as possible as to why he isn't ready to be a good QB. I never realized you were an NFL QBs coach.

Warner had a good throw or two, Leinart had a mistake or two. That's a rational middle ground. Can you make it to that rational middle ground?
 

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We...get...it. Just go ahead and tell us that you hope Leinart never works out. It'll save us the bother of even arguing this any more. The kid shows up, has a fabulous game, and all you want to do is nitpick. Warner shows up, has an atrocious game, and all you want to do is make excuses. Past that, you want to take as many shots as possible as to why he isn't ready to be a good QB. I never realized you were an NFL QBs coach.

Warner had a good throw or two, Leinart had a mistake or two. That's a rational middle ground. Can you make it to that rational middle ground?

ouch...tell us how u really feel
 
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cardsfanmd

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Perhaps, but all the rule changes have made objective comparisons impossible. It's significantly easier for a QB to complete 65% of his passes in today's game than it was 20 years ago. The league decided it didn't want field goal contests years ago, and changed the rules accordingly.

What QBs can you think of who could progress through their reads and and fire out a strike to hit their receiver in stride as quickly as Kurt? I would love to see the stats on what his receivers get after the catch in comparison to other QBs.
 

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Nice writeup!

I thought Will Davis had an outstanding game both on defense and special teams.

As you mentioned Kurt had a good game throwing the ball, but the fumbles really hurt, especially in the red zone. Turnover wise, Matt also had an interception and a fumble and could easily have had a second pick at the end. Matt is definitely more adept at avoiding pressure and getting the pass off. Kurt seems mired in cement when he tries to move.

Oliver Ross played a lot of left tackle and still seemed to struggle against the Packer second-teamers.

It really seemed like GB was intent on going after DRC, especially when they saw he was predominantly in man coverage with little or no safety help.
 

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