CheezWizHed

By observation, it looks like they only put Martin in for running down/distance (where we play base) and are trying to limit his exposure to the pass. I'm guessing his pass coverage needs work which is why he has such a limited set of snaps each week. He certainly has made splash plays and looks 2x faster than our other MLBs.

Are you talking about that...wing-back position? HB is usually just used interchangeably with RB in today's NFL. The primary ball carrier. I assume you're talking about the Tyler Ervin, Tayvon Austin role. Sorta Melvin Gordon's role as a RS Freshmen at Wisconsin. I strongly advocated trading for John Ross and putting him in that role. Cordarrelle Patterson is absolutely the PERFECT fit for that role in this offense(and a FA). The offense just changes too much when Ervin goes down and Patterson is much more dangerous with the ball in his hand and an outstanding receiver....for that role. But I'm guessing that's a position they invest a bit more in next year as it's such a huge part of our offense. If you have someone who can really stress the defense there...and in a perfect world, return some kicks, that basically another starter and you can't treat that as a specialist. It opens up the passing game, you freeze the LB'ers in a way that using Lazard just doesn't. Maybe Austin CAN be that guy moving forward. He's versatile, he's a very good punt returner. But I really think John Ross will be cheap and is a little thicker and a little more explosive at this point. Patterson, again, the perfect man for that role, but while he'll be cheap, he'll still likely get 3-4 million. Not sure if they want to spend that. 3. I think Barnes is our best MLB right now, but Martin has the best upside. I just don't think Martin has the full defense figured out, but looks like a good pick for the future. Given Barnes barely played last week, then started taking some of Kirksey's snaps this week, I'm guessing the Packers are ramping him back into the starting spot. Next week's snaps should be pretty interesting. 4. Dude. You can stop patting yourself on the back about Tonyan. Many of us said the same thing. 5. I knew something didn't sound right when I wrote that... I meant the H-back (hybrid TE/FB) position. Deguara, Lovett, Sternberger (out of position a bit), and now Dafney. Dafeny didn't play too much but had some nice run blocks and seemed pretty sure of what he was doing out there. I still think Deguara would've added a major element to our offense with his versatility. Austin was interesting and contributed a lot early (scripted that way I'm sure). But I'm still disappointed to not see a jet sweep out of him. Looked like he still had some wheels.

People in USA watching Chernobyl when it came out May 2019, "lol Russia, we could never bungle something THAT bad." I've not watched the show, but I did have a chance to ride a train 20 miles from Chernobyl when going from Kiev to Minsk back a couple years after the cold war ended (1993). It was interesting to see the Soviet mindset (Belarus and Russia were still pretty well linked) and perspective on the US. I remember the first time someone told me about "all the propaganda" going on in the US and I laughed and thought, "No, its only Russia that puts out propaganda." Right then and there the lightbulb went on. Every country has their own "spin" and we aren't nearly as good as we think we are.

My takes on the game yesterday: - MVS was a stud yesterday. I didn't think he could have this type of game. Excellent hands and no body catches and excellent focus on the ball. Good short/intermediate routes. Frankly, I was stunned to see that game out of him. - Defense - hey I'm going to say it. They were actually decent. Run defense was excellent. Pass defense wasn't great, but passable (pun intended). Stafford is no slouch at QB and we kind of expected this to be a shootout. The first drive was poor, but the rest wasn't the usual horribleness. I have my doubts about the 5 defensive holding penalties on that one drive... I wish I could've seen them with my own eyes. Seems like officials throw out some gimme plays for the underdog team. - Our MLB play remains weak, but it was good to see all three MLBs available. There were three RB screens were the MLB wasn't even in the camera view the entire time the RB had the ball. Overall, play is improving but Kirksey is often a step late. Martin plays fast, but sometimes to the wrong spot. Didn't see much of Barnes. - Vernon Scott had a couple good plays out there (taking Greene's spot?). I think he will be one to watch next year. - We seem to like the half-back role and find guys capable of doing it. I can't even remember who we just added to the roster to fill this spot, but next year will be interesting as we will have about 300 guys coming off the IR to fill that role. (And yesterday's guy seemed to do well too). - Lowry and Keke on the DL, along with the return of "December Clark" has helped improve the unit too. edit - Seems that Barnes played more than I thought; even to the point of Kirksey having some snaps off. It will be interesting to see how this works out the rest of the year. edit2 - Looks like Scott got more opportunities due to Sullivan being benched in the second half, not Greene's injury.

Or Mike Sherman?

When Tonyan stopped to avoid the hit, my heart jumped into my mouth... I thought for sure he gave up a sure 1st down to try to gain more yardage and was going to get tackled behind the 1st down.

One angle I thought for sure that was true. Another..it wasn't so clear.

Why don't we have a camera looking right down the sidelines?

I should delete this for jinxing us.

I can buy that poor drafting leads to an average at best defense for the last 10 years, but given all the athletic players they have, I don't get how they are consistently bad at special teams.

Ok, maybe 38 will be enough...

Vernon Scott has looked pretty decent at safety. Might be a late-round find.

Well, at least Scott doesn't kick-off for us. Crosby can tackle.

Crosby! Career long!

I'm hungry for some chicken because Adams is serving up the Shake 'n Bake!

Not only have the announcers been bad, the camera crew has also been bad. I don't remember another game that had us randomly watching some player instead of a replay of a flag. I've used my Tivo to try to see some of them, but many were off screen. So who knows...

Good grief that was an ugly defense on that series. How many flags did we have???

I caught a bit of NC's college game yesterday. They had a good looking MLB that covered the run and pass very well.

Agreed, his toe came up by the time he actually had possession of the ball.

Like I said earlier... we need 35, not 28. Stafford and our prevent defense is a bad combination.

He's been our 4th OLB all year. Gets ~5 snaps a game.

Get that man some sticky gloves!

Uhm... Yes? Kind of obvious at this point.

I'd prefer a bit more breathing room. Two TDs should do it.

Yes, I'm stunned. Great hands catching the ball today and a lot of short/intermediate routes too. Very different than his norm. I'm liking it.