Week 1 Impressions

[Details-Details]

I thought this might be a good idea, we'll see if anyone agrees.

What i propose, and i'll get the ball rolling is forum members write up some impressions of a team they watched over the weekend, whatever sticks out at you, how the team is different from last year, expectations fro this year now that youve seen them play in a rela game. i doubt we'll cover all the teams, but if we get some info out on a few I thinkit could be very helpful

The team I'm going to discuss first is Oakland.

I hope to get responses and feedback or differing opinions. On that note, let the thread begin!

Oakland – This D has the chance to be pretty good this year. Seymour is obviously going to be a big contributor, Ellis is another nice addition who caused some difficultly for the SD O-Line. Tommy Kelly, last years most perplexing free agent signing is also showing life. The defensive backfield could be special. Asoumughe (sp?) is the best in the biz, Michael Huff a former 1st round pick out of Texas could make large strides this year and Johnson at the other corner was making plays vs SD, the question is whether he can keep it up the whole year, he’ll have to as teams will try to stay away from Asoumughe.
The offense on the other hand could sputter as prominently displayed in the MNF contest. They run the ball a lot and they better because JaMarcus couldn’t even hit Brett Myers wife if he tried. McFadden looks like a beast when he runs, wouldn’t want to get in fronot of him when he gets a full head of steam, SCARY big and fast.

I think OAK’s homefield will show up this year as it did last night, they have something to be excited about out there for the first time in a long while.

I think Oak-town has a much improved team and will sneak up on some teams especially if Jamarcus can improve as the year goes on, he’s got a cannon but has no accuracy at this point in his career. They must also stay away from the penalties, very important there. STAY DISCIPLINED!

With as much as they run the ball, and with a stout D we could see a lot of UNDERS out of this team this year. I’d be tempted to take the Under in most situations as long as its around 37.5. They’ll have to grind it out all year, but could end up with 6 or 7 wins if they can play their style of football.

They travel to KC next week in a huge rivalry game. Currently OAK sits at +3 and the O/U at 39.

Leaning Oak & the Under!

[bluedevil12]

Jets

Maybe a homer, but I don't think anyone would disagree that they looked better than anyone could have imagined. Their defense did not allow a point against what was supposed to be a formidable offense and playoff contender. They really contained Slaton, shut down Andre, and pressured Schaub all game. They did all of that without their best two pass rushers who were suspended (Shaun Ellis and Calvin Pace). Kris Jenkins played his game and overpowered the center and guards often, Bart Scott and David Harris both looked like superstars, if those three up the middle can continue their play, this defense will be awesome. On the offensive side of the ball, the offensive line did not live up to expectations. Other than two big touchdown runs by Thomas Jones (38 and 39 yarders) he averaged well under 2 yards a carry, probably closer to 1 ypc. This unit was great last year, and they return all 5 starters so I expect them to pick it up in the coming weeks. Sanchez threw two ill-advised passes (one for a pick, one fell incomplete), but overall looked great. The receivers showed that they are respectable. Cotchery played really well, Keller showed that he can be #2 target, and Stuckey has already shown he is a good slot/3rd wide out. The special teams did not make any spectacular plays or blow any plays. I was expecting about 7 wins before last game, and I know it is still early but I definitely think 9-10 wins is within reach if their defense continues to pressure the QB and win the battle at the LOS.

[Daws1089]

great write up bluedevil. Very informative and I agree on all of it. When they get everyone back, look out!


I'll write about Green Bay and New England


I found Greeb Bay's transition to the 3-4 to be very smooth. They demonstrated that in the preseason, but they really looked great in the 3-4 on sunday night. The front 3 got a ton of penetration and made a decent bears o-line look mediocre. The secondary was flying all over the place, I look for this defense to be top 10 all season long. They really didnt give up any big plays either. I'd like to see some more out of matthews though.
The Packers offense was a little less potent as many thought, but that doesn't mean it can't be. They made an effort to run the ball which surprised a lot of people. They will need to straighten out the RT position. Barbre was horrendous as a pass blocker. He got a little better in the 2nd half, but rodgers had no time to throw. That won't fly when GB faces MINN or any other defense with stout d-lines. Overall, GB was solid and I think they have a good shot at winning the division. it was big to win a divisional game in week 1. I expect another solid performance and win over cincinatti in week 2.

I think New England was exposed a bit in the game last night by Buffalo. The lack of play makers on their defense is clear to see. Without Harrison, Vrabel, Bruschi, Seymour and Mayo, the run defense is porrous. They also looked extremely slow to the ball as a unit. I'd be very worried about this defense this year. Shawn Springs at CB? yikes. Brady also looked giddy in the pocket. I'm sure he's worried about getting hit again and Jaworski pointed out how he wasn't planting the front foot, but he did get more comfy as the game went on. Pats o-line looked weak though, lots of penetration so I can see Brady gettting sacked a bunch this year. I was a huge fan against that roughing the passer call on wilfork. He hit him above the knees and didnt lead with helmet, was wilfork just supposed to 2 hand touch him or what? Those penalties will be called this year bc the refs want to make a point to not hit the qb low and I can see those calls having a big impact on games.

[Reggie Hamlin]

Blue devil Great write up on Oakland

I will do the giants



The Giants looked good in week 1 despite the negative press the passing game has gotten here in NY. You know, Without plax they can't win lost 5 in row when he left bla bla bla .Well the rookie got it done 3 balls for 58 yds and a TD .Steve Smith 6 rec for 80yds Boss looked good caught 3 balls for 20+ yds a catch and he does it without all the extra crap that the last TE would do. Eli distributed the ball well and the offense looked ok .

The running game is what it is better than average .Bradshaw looked better than
last year I really like him and Jacobs is Jacobs he softens them up and and Ahmad
cleans the plate .

The D well with Osi back no question they look extremely better than last year
Washinton is no offensive jaggernaut but that game was not as close as the score
stated. Justin Tuck had a key sack and won Defensive player of the week Honors.


If one of these young receivers can step up and be that guy in the red zone
the Giants will be a very tough team to beat .

[Details-Details]

Thanks for the feed back so far guys, lets keep it goin!



Chicago Bears

HOMER ALERT!

Bears lost a tough one in the season debut vs Green bay, in a defensive struggle where players were flying around on both sides of the ball on both teams. Green Bay prevailed by exploiting what is the Bears biggest weakess, their secondary.

The Bears secondary is BAD. Vasher a former pro bowler has been dinged up in the past couple years after signing a big contract. It seems like he'd rather be wearing a flashy suit and doing the post game show than playing in the game. Zach Bowman is the back up, who the Bears are high on, might even be in their best interest to cut ties with Vasher. On the other side is Charles Tillman, he's a real warrior out there, solid CB, great tackler and has a knack for stripping the ball. Safety Danieal Manning looked ok, and his felloe safety Kevin Payne was pretty average helping blow the coverage on the big TD to Jennings.

Linebacker corps is deep, thankfully. Urlacher out for the year is a big blow to the team emotionally, but on the field I think theyll be ok. Urlacher has been on the back end of his career in 2006 and Briggs is without question the big man on defense. Hillenmeyer replaces Urlacher, he is better suited to the MLB position b/c he lacks speed, he's filled this role before, I think he'll perofrm adequately.

D-Line played pretty well and I think more is expected. Ogunleye is in a contract year. Mark Anderson had a great rookie year, disappeared last year, but I think he'll take a step forward. Alex Brown is solid and reliable. Tommy Harris and Anthony Adams on the inside are above average.

All this being said, they need to get to the QB to be effective and not give up big plays in the passing game.

The offense now led by Cutler can't look any worse than they did vs. GB. The O-Line had their first game together with Bear Vets Kruetz & Garza being joined by newcomers Orlando Pace, Chris Williams (1st round draft pick sat out last year), and Frank Omiyale. They should start gelling a little better and start opening holes for Forte.

TE situation is solid. Dez Clark is solid, although now banged up, Greg Olsen WILL be a bigger factor the rest of the year.

The WRs are below average, but Cutler should help them look respectable. Hester is always a threat to make a big play and Cutler throws a nice deep ball.

Cutler must play better and not turn the ball over.

Coaching is a question mark. Offensively Ron Turner is predictable. Lovie is an ok coach at best.

Tried to keep emotion out of the evaluation, its tough. I do think they will improve greatly in the next few games.

They have Pitt next, who in the last 6 years has destroyed the NFC, but at least theyll be without Polamalu!

[daft_picks]

TITANS

The Titans have the talent pool and coaching experience to beat anybody in the league, when they lose more often than not it is because they beat themselves. Case in point first NFL game of the season, special teams miscues essentially lost us the game.

Still week one so too early to get a full read, but the Titans run Defense was stifling versus the Steelers. Look for very few teams to have good success on the ground. Where the titans are susceptible is through the air when their coverage breaks down and they can't get good pressure on the QB. This is where missing Haynesworth hurts us the most. I still think our defense is at least top 10, we are good at creating turnovers and DO have the ability to pressure the QB.

When the Titans break down on D it is usually because the offense cannot sustain drives and stay on the field. Look for the Titans passing game to make big strides as the year moves on. With Kenny Britt and Nate Washington joining the relatively reliable Justin Gage our receiving core is likely to be better than it has in a few years. Keep your eyes open for Jared Cook our new TE when he returns from injury, hopefully this week. I really think the Titans will be able to pass well this year so team's will have to respect it.

Running wise we have CJ 4.24 and Big Fat Lendale White (who is no longer fat). Most of you probably watched the Titans Steelers game and were not surprised to see CJ stuffed at the line often but break a few runs to the outside when he could turn his speed on. What most impressed me running wise though was the new found mobility of white. By shedding 20+ pounds and being in better shape I believe he is more of a threat up the middle than ever before. Our run game is always something a team has to plan for, we have run more than anybody in the league these past 2 seasons. I think CJ is in for a monster year.

Being the first game the rust was evident, but the Titans could have easily won that game had they not missed a FG and had one blocked. We lost the game in the end by leaving points off the board and our defense being tired and unable to put pressure on Big Ben.

All of this being said the Titans are notorious grinders, most of our wins (and losses) come down to the last quarter, we do not blow out many teams nor get blown out very often. The talent is there, we have THE most experienced coach in the NFL, and our schedule only gets easier from here. It is nice to get one of your toughest games out of the way week one.

Look for lots of close games and the Titans to finish the season around 10-6, hopefully 11-5 if we play our cards (games) right. Despite a first week loss I feel the Titans looked good and most of their mistakes are correctable and do not require season-long overhauls. If we fix special teams and tighten up our pass coverage we should be fine.

I like the Titans to beat the Texans handily this weekend. The last 2 years the Titans have won their matches against the Texans at home by more than 7, and after last week I think they will be fired up and ready to go. NOT to talk trash on the Jets just saying if they can put such a hurt on the Texans in their own stadium I think we can go to work on them

Anyone else who's not a homer feel free to add to this. :thumbs:

[Kevin]

Superb idea Details! This is one of the best threads I've ever seen in a forum! Keep it rolling fellas!

I'll pitch in with my 2 cents later as well.

[scottshapell]

Well, i have gone through NFL week 1 impressions, they seem to be quite interesting part of the NFL Season.

[Underdog88]

Don't know how I missed this thread.....

I thought this might be a good idea, we'll see if anyone agrees.

What i propose, and i'll get the ball rolling is forum members write up some impressions of a team they watched over the weekend, whatever sticks out at you, how the team is different from last year, expectations fro this year now that youve seen them play in a rela game. i doubt we'll cover all the teams, but if we get some info out on a few I thinkit could be very helpful

Love this idea! Great contribution to the forum Details :thumbs:



Bills- I guess I'm finally ready to talk about them. Offensively, they looked better than many anticipated. Starting with the offensive line, they struggled with penalties (many drive killers), as Bell couldn't figure out how to line up. Levitre played well as did c Hangartner. One thing that Bell & Butler showed is that they can get out there and throw some blocks on screen plays. A subtle part of the game but that's something the Bills have lacked for a while now. I think it will help Trent tremendously. Though they allowed some sacks & pressure, given the youth of them overall I think the oline did a pretty good job. There were many questions about how AVP would handle the playcalling. Overall I think he called a beautiful game- true it wasn't what many had thought it should be (ie why didn't we throw downfield) but realistically what fans want rarely translates into effective playcalling. Trent was taking what the Pats would give him and wasn't making ill-advised throws. I love the fact that Trent looked comfortable rolling out. As I said before penalties killed some drives, but dropped passes really hurt as well. Shouman & TO both dropped 3rd down passes that would have kept the offense on the field. Schouman overall played well, and is an effective blocking te. Nelson is much better offensively though, I hope he can work on his blocking because I think the Bills could have success with 2 te sets inside the red zone. Fred Jackson played great, if you watch Buffalo you already knew that he is a quick back with big play potential. I do think Lynch was missed though, as he adds that power running game to close out games/control the clock. I'm not going to jump on to for no producing, as the Pats are great at taking a key player out of the game. I do think that without him there the bills offense struggles. He's gonna get his.......

Defensively, I think the front 4 played well. Schobel played his best game in about 3 years, which was great to see as I had my doubts of how effective he would be. I think cb play was petty good considering the caliber of wr they had to face. McGee made some beautiful open field tackles and really is establishing himself as a a leader in the secondary. Whitner is not what he was supposed to be imo, and really hasn't shown much. McKelvin played decent. The biggest problem defensively for the Bills will be the LBs. Poz is once again out with a broken arm, which leaves a thin crew. Mitchell is now the best lb out there, and Ellison will see even more playing time. Personally I think Ellison is the worst starting linebacker in the NFL. Brady froze him a couple times with pump fakes, he's small, not fast and can't cover an above average te. I think the Bills will struggle when facing teams with an effective te.... Though the special teams let the Bills down, they still are a very solid crew. Great punting game, should help out when battling for field position....

[Underdog88]

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