Thoughts on Preseason Game #2

[BossChief]

Positives:

Charles looked like he trusts the knee and that he hasnt lost his explosion, vision or strength in his runs. Definitely a good sign.

Cassel looked like he is trying to take the next step in his development (sad that at 30 that is even an issue) by trying to push the ball more on intermediate routes. His arm looks visibly stronger and his accuracy seems to have improved...as does his poise, albeit not by leaps and bounds.

Playcalling is much better on offense. I know, I know preseason blah blah...but the plays are in on time and most of the time have been effective.

Hillis looks to be ready for another 2010 year...dude reminds me of a more talented Mike Alstott...hopefully he continues to secure the ball and isnt careless with it in crucial situations like he was in 2010...if he does, our running backs will be in beast mode.

Jerrell Powe looks to be a guy that should probably get some sub package work and is probably deserving of more than that. He is seemingly disruptive on a lot of plays he is in for and if this team is gonna blitz more and use man coverage as much as they are, he can be an asset in a "Jay Ratliff" type role as a penetrating nose when we blitz.

Allen looked to be in beast mode and should be promoted immediately to starting left guard.

Dexter McCluster is kicking big time ass out there and is arguably our best receiver (until Bowe gets his back into the swing of things. He is getting consistent separation and is catching almost everything thrown his way. If he keeps it up, he will provide a valuable weapon to this offense.

Kevin Boss is looking like a stud pickup more and more aqnd should allow our offense to use he and Moeaki similarly to how Gronk/Hernandez get used in NE. Really good value signing.

Dontari Poe is already starting to flash, if you look close enough. He is splitting doubles and beating blocks regularly and had a couple pressures tonight. They need to put him at the3 nose and keep him there...LIKE THEY SAID THEY WERE GONNA DO.

The negatives:

Stanzi looked like hot garbage. No redeemable features were on display tonight. Just a poor showing.

Dorsey/Torbino/Jackson all looked like ass. Not sure what was up tonight with them, but they all looked soft.

The whole secondary...even Berry looked bad tonight and whats really bad is that the Rams have one of the weakest receiving cores in the league and we couldnt even slow them down.

Did I mention Stanzi?...biggest opportunity of his life to show something and he really played poorly.

Bailey...where the **** was he?

Albert has a rough game, too...gave up a couple pressures and a sack iirc. Its a shame...I figured he would be looking very impressive this time of the year in a contract year.

Baldwin...another of "my guys" that underachieved tonight...although I think a large part of that is because he is a guy you just need to throw a few passes a game to him and let him go get it and these guys arent doing that for the kid....they need to show some confidence in him by making it a point to do that.

I hope Romeo turns it up a couple notches in practice this week to get the starters some good work before next week...thats the game that these guys need to be almost ready to line up in a regular season game and if we look out of rythem...that will almost undoubtedly carryover into the regular season.

This team has a lot of work to do to start to realize their potential and if we dont get it going pretty fast, Clay is gonna end up looking like a genius at the end of the year.