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Some positives


redlichtie

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Amid all the wailing and world is falling it's worth pointing out that there were some positives to take from yesterday. Cheif among them for me was the performance of Brian Winters, borderline dominated against one of the stoutest DL in the league. Very encouraging performance, hopefully it's the beginning of him putting it together over a whole season and making the RG position his own. Sometimes guys take 2 or 3 years to develope and aren't necessarily a bust because they didn't make the pro bowl as a rookie.

Also thought Lawrence Thomas deserves a shout out, making the active roster on such a loaded DL was a big deal in itself, but he also made a couple of key plays and looks a real keeper, if the plan was to keep him for week one while Sheldon was out and then try to sneak him onto the PS then I think it may have spectacularly backfired....still, decent problem to have.

Thought James Carpenter picked up where he left off as well, despite a disrupted offseason he too looked excellent. Was worried about the OL but as a unit they did pretty well.

Encouraging start for Darron Lee too, the speed and quickness flashed a couple of times and looked sure in the tackle(an area we are still susceptible to breakdowns) Clearly more to come as his role increases but a promising debut.

Jalin Marshall had a good debut and but for a hold might have had a spectacular TD catch in the first quarter, certainly had his man beat. Hopefully he gets more looks on offense as his confidence(and confidence in him) grows.

looks like we no longer need a punter. Edwards flipped field position a couple of times, too bad we couldn't capitalise on it properly.

If we are to be successful this year some of these unheralded guys will need to step up, hopefully Jordan Jenkins, Robby Anderson and Charone Peake will get the opportunity to contribute in the coming weeks.

 

 

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The funny thing is that we were all worried about how the rookies, young players and some unknown or unproven (like Winters, etc), but they stepped up fine. The problem was that the veterans dropped the ball (literally and figuratively).

The good news is that you have to assume that the Vets will eventually shake off the rust and we have some really promising players that are playing well. Yeah, they will make mistakes, but the future looks bright for them.

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2 minutes ago, joewilly12 said:

Take the positives into Thursday night and get the win against the Bills 

I haven't read of any injury concerns for us after Sunday, which on a short week is good news.

Buffalo, on the other hand, had their LT go down with an ankle injury, to add to all their other woes.

Plus we get Sheldon back.

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4 minutes ago, bostonmajet said:

The funny thing is that we were all worried about how the rookies, young players and some unknown or unproven (like Winters, etc), but they stepped up fine. The problem was that the veterans dropped the ball (literally and figuratively).

The good news is that you have to assume that the Vets will eventually shake off the rust and we have some really promising players that are playing well. Yeah, they will make mistakes, but the future looks bright for them.

Good post.  I think the thing you can be most excited about is that there's is some young talent on this team.   There's a quality young talent that can be a contender if one of these young QB's can find their way we can be very good in 3 years or so...

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10 minutes ago, jamesr said:

Update : Sammy Watkins is being bothered by his foot again, initially thought he'd broken it again. Likely won't be 100% Thursday.

Bills coach Rex Ryan says Sammy Watkins (foot) is "sore," but that the team has no plans to shut him down.

"Hopefully he'll progress through the week and be ready," Ryan said of Watkins' Week 2 outlook. "I'm confident he'll be OK." Clearly Watkins' status shouldn't be taken for granted, but it seems more likely than not that he suits up against the Jets on Thursday. The problem, of course, is that Watkins has played at less than 100 percent many times in the past, and often hasn't been effective. He's shaping up as a boom-or-bust WR2 until he gets over the residual soreness from his spring foot injury.
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42 minutes ago, joewilly12 said:

Bills coach Rex Ryan says Sammy Watkins (foot) is "sore," but that the team has no plans to shut him down.

"Hopefully he'll progress through the week and be ready," Ryan said of Watkins' Week 2 outlook. "I'm confident he'll be OK." Clearly Watkins' status shouldn't be taken for granted, but it seems more likely than not that he suits up against the Jets on Thursday. The problem, of course, is that Watkins has played at less than 100 percent many times in the past, and often hasn't been effective. He's shaping up as a boom-or-bust WR2 until he gets over the residual soreness from his spring foot injury.

Says the same coach who said they had no plans to part ways with Karlos Williams earlier in pre-season. ;-) 

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8 hours ago, redlichtie said:

Amid all the wailing and world is falling it's worth pointing out that there were some positives to take from yesterday. Cheif among them for me was the performance of Brian Winters, borderline dominated against one of the stoutest DL in the league. Very encouraging performance, hopefully it's the beginning of him putting it together over a whole season and making the RG position his own. Sometimes guys take 2 or 3 years to develope and aren't necessarily a bust because they didn't make the pro bowl as a rookie.

Also thought Lawrence Thomas deserves a shout out, making the active roster on such a loaded DL was a big deal in itself, but he also made a couple of key plays and looks a real keeper, if the plan was to keep him for week one while Sheldon was out and then try to sneak him onto the PS then I think it may have spectacularly backfired....still, decent problem to have.

Thought James Carpenter picked up where he left off as well, despite a disrupted offseason he too looked excellent. Was worried about the OL but as a unit they did pretty well.

Encouraging start for Darron Lee too, the speed and quickness flashed a couple of times and looked sure in the tackle(an area we are still susceptible to breakdowns) Clearly more to come as his role increases but a promising debut.

Jalin Marshall had a good debut and but for a hold might have had a spectacular TD catch in the first quarter, certainly had his man beat. Hopefully he gets more looks on offense as his confidence(and confidence in him) grows.

looks like we no longer need a punter. Edwards flipped field position a couple of times, too bad we couldn't capitalise on it properly.

If we are to be successful this year some of these unheralded guys will need to step up, hopefully Jordan Jenkins, Robby Anderson and Charone Peake will get the opportunity to contribute in the coming weeks.

 

 

Great points.  I agree with all of them.  Reading the part about Winters kind of reminded me of Jonathan Goodwin.  Was a back up for us for a few years before going to the Saints and developing as a Pro Bowl guard.

J. Marshall would have been in position for the TD, but I'm glad Enunwa got his first.  

on Lee, I was excited to see his closing speed on that open field tackle but he did gets pushed around on a couple of plays. It's a trade off though.  Harris doesn't get pushed but he's not making that tackle that Lee made yesterday either.

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47 minutes ago, Pcola said:

Great points.  I agree with all of them.  Reading the part about Winters kind of reminded me of Jonathan Goodwin.  Was a back up for us for a few years before going to the Saints and developing as a Pro Bowl guard.

J. Marshall would have been in position for the TD, but I'm glad Enunwa got his first.  

on Lee, I was excited to see his closing speed on that open field tackle but he did gets pushed around on a couple of plays. It's a trade off though.  Harris doesn't get pushed but he's not making that tackle that Lee made yesterday either.

Good point about Goodwin....Matt Slauson too was very successful in Chicago after he kind of got run out if town here. It's only one game but Winters putting together a 16 game season of performances like yesterday would be a huge bonus and one less offseason position needing an upgrade

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Oh yeah, there were a ton a positives:

  1. Oline was a big surprise.
  2. Front 7 even w/o Sheldon was awesome.
  3. Special teams (excluding kicking game obviously) was good.
  4. Enunwa looks ready to fill in for a lacking TE and if Marshall or Decker were ever to go down for a while.
  5. Forte/Powell combo looks legit.

That's what makes the couple negatives from the game sting that much more.  We could have a great team here if not for the weak links.  If fixed in time, this won't be a wasted season.

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I think the concerns were limited to kicking game, red zone offense, Williams with a couple of mental lapses, and Dalton/Green just being in sync.

Each are fixable.  If Folk's struggles continue, we can always bring Martin back. 

On the red zone offense, it's almost like we have too many options.  Last year was easy, Marshall or Decker.  I think we tried to get cute on the second trip inside the red zone.

On Williams, if his lapses continue, plug in Burris sooner than later.

And if we run into an issue again like QB/WR yesterday, play less zone and more man to man.  We could have used Revis on LaFell and double or triple Green.

with the Bills game in 3 days, there is no time to dwell.  We are better than the Bills team we are facing and just about every position outside of TE.

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