The oline is even worse than I expected which is tough to digest.
I'm re-watching the game. Maybe the offensive line is decent except for Nate Davis and Shelton. That's certainly not good, but it does look like the tackles are good and Jenkins is solid. Davis didn't play much and was replaced by Bates who looks okay at RG.
Shelton is the weak link of the 5 positions. He looks a lot like what we've had here in Chicago with centers like Lucas Patrick and Sam Mustipher. We just need to get a stud C and that will help that whole IOL.
That being said, re-watching the OL it sure looks like there was confusion as to blocking assignments on the interior. Maybe some of that was changing IOL around. Bates was C, then Shelton, Davis was a no-show most of the summer camp and preseason, Bates the C was played as RG. It looked to me like the blocking assignment confusion (some anyway) may have been RG and C, the positions that were flip-flopping from summer until now. But yeah, Shelton is bad on his own.
That's what it looked like to me during the game too. I remember one play we had three guys on one defender . don't remember how that play ended, but I know it wasn't good.
DEF gets the game ball and a second vote to Flus and Washington for not letting up on the gas.
+1 Just stomped on their throat with this defense.
Deflated football goes to the interior OL. We need a center. Maybe Bates next week? I see Kramer is listed today as our backup C. Could he be any worse than Shelton?
Wasnt Tevin's best game either. Saw some plays he was getting uncharacteristically man-handled. Hoping it was the case of TN has a great D Line.
+1 Just stomped on their throat with this defense.
Deflated football goes to the interior OL. We need a center. Maybe Bates next week? I see Kramer is listed today as our backup C. Could he be any worse than Shelton?
Wasnt Tevin's best game either. Saw some plays he was getting uncharacteristically man-handled. Hoping it was the case of TN has a great D Line.
I agree it wasn't his best game, but we know he can play.
Post by malagabears on Sept 9, 2024 1:40:46 GMT -6
The D gets all of the glory, but a shoutout to ST except Fumblina. What a waste of a draft pick but every team has those. The O sucked badly but hopefully removing Sheldon & Davis from the IOL makes it at least average.
Post by britishbearfan on Sept 9, 2024 5:36:59 GMT -6
Week one of the NFL is always unpredictable, and this was no exception. Here are my thoughts:
Offense: The IOL struggled against the Titans' defensive front, with Jeffrey Simmons and rookie T’Vondre Sweat looking dominant. I hope this week was an abberation and we just underestimated the Titan's DTs as even Teven Jenkins had trouble handling them. But if Shelton continues to underperform I hope they consider a move to Ryan Bates or Doug Kramer at Center. Caleb Williams didn’t have a great first game, but at least he avoided costly mistakes, so I hope he is reading defenses well even if execution wasn’t very good. The dropped TD by Keenan Allen was unfortunate and I suspect we'd be feeling a bit better about the game if he had brought that in. Allen and Moore did seem to be getting open, and I hope Allen's injury isn’t serious. The run game was largely ineffective, and the Titan's seemed to anticipate anything behind the line of scrimmage - probably because we never established the run.
Defense: The defense were dominant, with both the front seven and the secondary performing well. I loved Darrell Taylor's strip sack and Tyrique Stevenson's interception. To me it seemed like the turning point came when their starting guard went down and credit to Eberflus and the D Line for getting after his replacement. Will Levis crumbled under pressure towards the end, and his overall play was pretty bad. Overall I think the Titan's were a better team that we thought and with improved QB play they could be a decent team. If Mason Rudolph had started, I think we might have lost this one.
Special Teams: I really liked watching Tory Taylor punt, although I expect we’ll be seeing more than we'd like of him this season. Santos remains consistent. The highlight on special teams was obviously Daniel Hardy and Jonathan Owens combining for a punt block TD. Velus Jones had another bad muff, though I don’t think he should be cut. He’s still valuable as a gunner and offers versatility as a power back and receiver. But he absolutely can't be allowed to return any more kicks.
This is exactly how I feel about VJJ. 100% hits the nail on the head:
"Why are we putting Velus anywhere near Kickoffs? Look, I like Velus. I might be the only one that does. I think his speed is valuable and his instincts as a ball-carrier are easy to rally behind. But if there’s two things I’d have thought we’d have learned by now, it’s that the man cannot track the ball as it flies through the air over his head and that the poor man is incapable of making a mistake that’s not totally catastrophic. How he managed to not only muff the kickoff, but also kick it straight to a Tennessee gunner is beyond me… but he managed it! I liked what we saw from him as an RB, but I expect to never see him on the field returning kickoffs again — for him to do so would be coaching malpractice. It’s that bad."
This is exactly how I feel about VJJ. 100% hits the nail on the head:
"Why are we putting Velus anywhere near Kickoffs? Look, I like Velus. I might be the only one that does. I think his speed is valuable and his instincts as a ball-carrier are easy to rally behind. But if there’s two things I’d have thought we’d have learned by now, it’s that the man cannot track the ball as it flies through the air over his head and that the poor man is incapable of making a mistake that’s not totally catastrophic. How he managed to not only muff the kickoff, but also kick it straight to a Tennessee gunner is beyond me… but he managed it! I liked what we saw from him as an RB, but I expect to never see him on the field returning kickoffs again — for him to do so would be coaching malpractice. It’s that bad."
Enough ink on V jones. Let’s talk about something that matters. There was a lot of hype about Amegadjie. I know nothing about him, but starting to get interested. He was on the inactive list Sunday. Is he still injured? Or is a guy drafted #75 not worth having on the active roster? Could he transition to guard and replace Davis? After what we saw on the OL against Titans, all options should be on the table.
This is exactly how I feel about VJJ. 100% hits the nail on the head:
"Why are we putting Velus anywhere near Kickoffs? Look, I like Velus. I might be the only one that does. I think his speed is valuable and his instincts as a ball-carrier are easy to rally behind. But if there’s two things I’d have thought we’d have learned by now, it’s that the man cannot track the ball as it flies through the air over his head and that the poor man is incapable of making a mistake that’s not totally catastrophic. How he managed to not only muff the kickoff, but also kick it straight to a Tennessee gunner is beyond me… but he managed it! I liked what we saw from him as an RB, but I expect to never see him on the field returning kickoffs again — for him to do so would be coaching malpractice. It’s that bad."
I don't think he does anything at RB that you cannot get from any number of other RB's. I get he has speed, but to use that speed he has to get past the DL and LB's, and he rarely did.
This is exactly how I feel about VJJ. 100% hits the nail on the head:
"Why are we putting Velus anywhere near Kickoffs? Look, I like Velus. I might be the only one that does. I think his speed is valuable and his instincts as a ball-carrier are easy to rally behind. But if there’s two things I’d have thought we’d have learned by now, it’s that the man cannot track the ball as it flies through the air over his head and that the poor man is incapable of making a mistake that’s not totally catastrophic. How he managed to not only muff the kickoff, but also kick it straight to a Tennessee gunner is beyond me… but he managed it! I liked what we saw from him as an RB, but I expect to never see him on the field returning kickoffs again — for him to do so would be coaching malpractice. It’s that bad."
I don't think he does anything at RB that you cannot get from any number of other RB's. I get he has speed, but to use that speed he has to get past the DL and LB's, and he rarely did.
Exactly. If he's on at RB he's taking snaps from Herbert or Swift, and if he's playing WR than Scott isn't (and I don't trust Scott at all but I'd rather have Scott running routes downfield than VJJ.)
Post by shortfacedbear on Sept 9, 2024 7:34:00 GMT -6
If they're not going to give the center Kramer a shot, then go out and get someone who can legitimately see the field. This whole center thing is a joke.