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Ok...
The first offensive series was beautiful...the misdirections, unpredictable playcalling and Brodie's improvisational skills were all on display, as well as QB audibles...and rookie Will Franklin made a great catch, Cottam sold a great bootleg and made a 15 yard catch...and Charles made a great juke move to pick up a 1st down on 3rd and long with a checkdown catch...
LJ found several holes and would've had pretty respectable numbers had he not been stuffed for a 6 yard loss on one run...he did miss a block or two, didn't pick up an audible and simply dropped the ball on one handoff but recovered...he looked rusty, but when he was actually running the ball his cuts were good and his speed was there, he had bigger holes to run through then he did all of last year and ran for a nifty touchdown on a draw play 3rd and goal...the first drive was the best offensive series we've had since Herm was hired.
Defense was lackluster at best...there were absolutely no QB pressures, and we played the ol' bend don't break, give up 8 yards a pop rather than 25...we didn't stop the run and our scrubs were even worse. We didn't show many blitzes so I just think we were playing base all game but had we been playing an offense that wasn't absolutely pathetic, they would've scored at will...the Bears backup LT kept Hali in check, which is a bad sign IMO...but blah, I was so excited about our first offensive series that I didn't really care, plus Dorsey was out...Pollard and Page seemed to play decently enough, and DJ made a few great plays...but Pat Thomas absolutely stinks. We might as well put Donnie in the middle and play our two fast guys DJ and DeMorrio...
I was impressed with Cottam, Franklin (especially), Charles on offense...I think those three are all going to make significant contributions this season...I think Franklin will have more receiving yards than Darling...maybe even Cottam too...Darling will probably be our #2 but Brodie seemed to have real chemistry with Franklin out there...he made two real tough catches and held on to the ball while being hit...
Bowe made a tremendous 'how did he do that!' catch that was incomplete because he was out of bounds...but that dude is a baller!
As for our 2nd unit...Maurice Price was awesome...he looked really good. Our offensive line pretty much blows but Chan did a great job with bootlegs and getting the QB out of the pocket...both Thigpen and Croyle are pretty friggin' mobile...which is a great change from Damon Huard.
I don't know, I'm optimistic, but I'm excited...I have a little hope now for this team this season...offensively, that 1st series was amazing.
(I won't mention our 2nd series where we were penalized three times and sacked once...)
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