Quote:
Originally Posted by Saccopoo
I'd agree with everything, but if Joe Mays is starting, that doesn't bode well for our defense. He's poor in coverage and is just a dude. And I do think that teams were taking advantage of our lack of productivity at that spot in the field and it forced us to put Berry more into the box than he should be at this point in his career.
Because of the tomato cans we had at MLB, Berry was essentially turned into LaRon Landry, and for a guy with Berry's speed and athleticism, that's not a good thing for the back half of the defense.
Having shit at the MLB position hurt this team.
I'm not so much worried about Fisher and Allen. I think that they are both going to be much better than who they were last season and Fisher did improve markedly by the end of the season. He has to stay healthy though, as well as Stephenson, or we are really screwed.
I think you are a little overstated on the expectations (or lack thereof) on Smith. New system, entirely new coaches from top to bottom, new players, what was essentially a rookie offensive line outside of Albert, a rookie TE and a hobbled one, etc. The guy was walking into a situation that was exceedingly detrimental to kicking ass and he did remarkably well. If those situations, against better teams, you are going to see "game manager" more than you are against what you saw in the playoff game. For this season, I think you see that Alex Smith and that offense (and hopefully a Dwayne Bowe who doesn't shit the game away by bad play after bad play) versus the "game manager" type of performances.
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I think you are undervaluing Joe Mays. He is better in coverage than Jordan was, and is certainly better in coverage thank Nico Johnson. Johnson's MO has always been that...even at Alabama.
You are certainly more sure of the OL than I am. Whoever starts at RG will be a downgrade IMO over last year...at least in the first half of the year. Fisher really needs to be consistent at LT, or KC is in trouble.
I believe Junior will give KC something they missed in the slot last year....size and hands. He is good in the red zone and I believe in his targets last year, Junior didn't drop a ball. KC will need AJ or Kyle Williams to step up as well as Kelce to take the O to the next level.
As far as the D goes....the CBs will need to play with more intelligence than last season. Flowers, Lewis, Demps, Robinson, Berry, Smith and Cooper all had moments of complete idiocy last season. You are going to get beat. The NFL has made sure of that. Just be where you are supposed to be. Hopefully our new players in the secondary can simply do that.