shammus
09-07-2008, 03:20 PM
I jotted down some notes on what I thought of the individual performances during today's game. Granted, I'm sure there's plenty that I missed but I came away with several "impressions" of our players - both good and those needing improvement.
The bottom line for me is, while I'm disappointed we didn't win, if someone had told me before the game that we'd have a chance to tie the game with a first and goal at the Patriots 5 yd line with time running down, I wouldn't have believed them. We kept with New England and had a chance to send the game into overtime which is saying something. I, like most, expected us to lose by 2-3 touchdowns, if not more. Anyway, all that being said, here's a bit of what I noticed today.
The GOOD
Brodie Croyle - played with confidence and poise today. Thought his passes were crisp and he was looking good when he got hurt. Ran a 2-minute drill offense at the end of the first half and looked pretty good on that scoring drive.
Tamba Hali and Turk McBride - these guys seemed to get consistent push throughout the game. Each had a couple nice tackles for a loss and Hali batted down a pass.
Jamaal Charles - a few nice runs while spelling LJ. His speed really allows him to do things on the field that LJ can't
Derrick Johnson - several nice stops against the run and a huge sack on Matt Kassel which knocked New England out of field goal range
Special Teams - we made a lot of nice tackles in the open field which helped keep NE's starting field position reasonable. Might have been better if not for Novak's short kickoffs. Dimitri Patterson, Erick Waldon and others all looked pretty good on punt/kickoff coverage.
Devard Darling - I'm honestly not sure where to put him. I'll place him here even though that long catch was the first one I've ever seen him make. Still, it gave us a huge chance to send the game into overtime with a 1st and goal at the 5.
The NOT-SO-GOOD
Damon Huard - He just plain holds onto the ball too long. I saw him take 3 sacks, 2 of which he could have thrown away. Then he threw a really crucial interception late in the game. Even his touchdown pass was less than impressive as it was more a great reception by Bowe than a good throw by Huard.
Larry Johnson - not sure if it was the playcalling or bad blocking but LJ didn't have really all that great of a game. You take out the 22 yd run and he's got a 2.5 yd per carry average today
Offensive line - I saw Croyle get absolutely blasted at least four times, the final of which knocked him out of the game. Larry Johnson didn't exactly have a banner day running the ball either. Adrian Jones in particular got knocked into the backfield on a few plays I saw and MacIntosh totally whiffed on a couple as well.
Nick Novak - he did get us on the board with a 40 yd. field goal but his kickoffs were seemingly always caught around the 15 yard line which really cost us in the 3rd quarter when they ran the ball back all the way to our 37.
UGH
I'm going to put Dwayne Bowe in this category which may surprise some people. He had a nice TD reception where he got up really high in the air to haul down a ball thrown well over his head, but he also dropped FOUR catchable balls that I counted. One of which would have been a crucial game tying TD at the end of the game. That one in particular seemed to bounce off his shoulder pads. If he's going to be our go-to receiver of the future, we need to count on him to produce a lot better than he did today.
The bottom line for me is, while I'm disappointed we didn't win, if someone had told me before the game that we'd have a chance to tie the game with a first and goal at the Patriots 5 yd line with time running down, I wouldn't have believed them. We kept with New England and had a chance to send the game into overtime which is saying something. I, like most, expected us to lose by 2-3 touchdowns, if not more. Anyway, all that being said, here's a bit of what I noticed today.
The GOOD
Brodie Croyle - played with confidence and poise today. Thought his passes were crisp and he was looking good when he got hurt. Ran a 2-minute drill offense at the end of the first half and looked pretty good on that scoring drive.
Tamba Hali and Turk McBride - these guys seemed to get consistent push throughout the game. Each had a couple nice tackles for a loss and Hali batted down a pass.
Jamaal Charles - a few nice runs while spelling LJ. His speed really allows him to do things on the field that LJ can't
Derrick Johnson - several nice stops against the run and a huge sack on Matt Kassel which knocked New England out of field goal range
Special Teams - we made a lot of nice tackles in the open field which helped keep NE's starting field position reasonable. Might have been better if not for Novak's short kickoffs. Dimitri Patterson, Erick Waldon and others all looked pretty good on punt/kickoff coverage.
Devard Darling - I'm honestly not sure where to put him. I'll place him here even though that long catch was the first one I've ever seen him make. Still, it gave us a huge chance to send the game into overtime with a 1st and goal at the 5.
The NOT-SO-GOOD
Damon Huard - He just plain holds onto the ball too long. I saw him take 3 sacks, 2 of which he could have thrown away. Then he threw a really crucial interception late in the game. Even his touchdown pass was less than impressive as it was more a great reception by Bowe than a good throw by Huard.
Larry Johnson - not sure if it was the playcalling or bad blocking but LJ didn't have really all that great of a game. You take out the 22 yd run and he's got a 2.5 yd per carry average today
Offensive line - I saw Croyle get absolutely blasted at least four times, the final of which knocked him out of the game. Larry Johnson didn't exactly have a banner day running the ball either. Adrian Jones in particular got knocked into the backfield on a few plays I saw and MacIntosh totally whiffed on a couple as well.
Nick Novak - he did get us on the board with a 40 yd. field goal but his kickoffs were seemingly always caught around the 15 yard line which really cost us in the 3rd quarter when they ran the ball back all the way to our 37.
UGH
I'm going to put Dwayne Bowe in this category which may surprise some people. He had a nice TD reception where he got up really high in the air to haul down a ball thrown well over his head, but he also dropped FOUR catchable balls that I counted. One of which would have been a crucial game tying TD at the end of the game. That one in particular seemed to bounce off his shoulder pads. If he's going to be our go-to receiver of the future, we need to count on him to produce a lot better than he did today.