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Offensively I like alot of what we are seeing. We're playing a ton of young guys on the OL and they are still moving the ball and scoring points. The run blocking has been quite good. Last night they started 3 rookies on the OL against the Vikes starters and Romo had a clean pocket for almost all his throws, and the few run plays they tried worked pretty well.
Defensively there are obvious issues and reasons for concern. Keith Brooking spent all week talking about how the defense would put up its best effort of the preseason because they actually did some preparing/game planning for the Vikes, and the results were terrible.
1) Romo and the passing game look sharp, even without Miles Austin for the 2nd straight game. Felix Jones looks like a guy ready for a major breakout season. We're going to score points in droves this yr. Which is a good thing, because the defense is definitely a work in progress.
2) Kowalski fared quite well at C, and Nagy again showed very well at LG. Tyron Smith had one or two plays where he got had some problems, but overall he was quite good again as well. Doug Free had one bad play that I remember, otherwise he was solid again. When you throw in Costa and Arkin, we have the makings of a very good group of OL for years to come. Kudos to the scouts on guys like Costa, Nagy, Arkin and Kowalski.
3) Bailey and Graham nailed all their FG attempts with ease, although Graham seemed like he had some issues with kickoffs. Mike Mayock brough up an interesting point I hadnt considered, but he said some teams are going to use the 46th active spot on another player rather than a 3rd QB. That could be good news for Buehler, because if they keep Graham (as many are predicting) Buehler could be active on game days for kickoffs and very long field goals, without it being at the expense of another position player. Or maybe Buehler gets moved to PUP to start the season and they see how Graham or Bailey handle all the kicking chores, then decide what to do with Buehler after 6 games.
4) Despite decent showings by Ogletree and Holley, I think the 3rd WR isnt on this roster.
5) The OL in general looks great, but one position that doesnt is backup RT/LT. Parnell is an interesting developmental guy, but he isnt ready. Young looks bad to me. I think this is another position they will have to get a vet to handle.
6) I guess the only positive for the defense is they still havent played a single series with their 11 projected starters on the field. Not having Jenkins, Newman and Spears is a handicap no matter how you slice it. That said, Rob Ryan's defense is clearly not very good right now. The front 7 is getting manhandled in the run game and getting virtually no pass rush. Of particular concern has to be how bad the middle is with Ratliff and James/Brooking (who looked washed up to me last night) and Lee. Ratliff seems to have really regressed as a player and is particularly poor vs the run now. Josh Brent has been a little better than Ratliff IMO, but he hasnt been more than average. Olshansky should be released.
7) I dont see how they can let Phillip Tanner go, as I said last week I dont know how he is catching the ball or at blitz pickups, but as a runner he is clearly talented. If they try to pass him off to the PS, I feel pretty sure somebody is going to scoop him up. DeMarco Murray looked solid in his bebut too. I think we are stocked at RB. It will be interesting to see what happens with Choice, who also looked pretty good last night and had two really nice runs wiped out by penalties (one of which was a b/s call on Kowalski)
8) As I said last night, I think we'll see several new players on the final roster before the Jets game. I can definitely see veterans added at OT and WR, and IMO we may see a veteran DB or two, along with possibly another DL added as well.
I guess we wont see many, if any of the regular players Thursday vs Miami. Hopefully the offense can carry the team for awhile because unless the defense has really been holding back, we're going to give up yards and points for awhile. My expectations have definitely been dampened by what we've seen defensively so far. Hopefully we can tread water for the first 8-10 games, and then maybe by then the defense will pick it up and start to really get Ryan's scheme for the stretch run.
Defensively there are obvious issues and reasons for concern. Keith Brooking spent all week talking about how the defense would put up its best effort of the preseason because they actually did some preparing/game planning for the Vikes, and the results were terrible.
1) Romo and the passing game look sharp, even without Miles Austin for the 2nd straight game. Felix Jones looks like a guy ready for a major breakout season. We're going to score points in droves this yr. Which is a good thing, because the defense is definitely a work in progress.
2) Kowalski fared quite well at C, and Nagy again showed very well at LG. Tyron Smith had one or two plays where he got had some problems, but overall he was quite good again as well. Doug Free had one bad play that I remember, otherwise he was solid again. When you throw in Costa and Arkin, we have the makings of a very good group of OL for years to come. Kudos to the scouts on guys like Costa, Nagy, Arkin and Kowalski.
3) Bailey and Graham nailed all their FG attempts with ease, although Graham seemed like he had some issues with kickoffs. Mike Mayock brough up an interesting point I hadnt considered, but he said some teams are going to use the 46th active spot on another player rather than a 3rd QB. That could be good news for Buehler, because if they keep Graham (as many are predicting) Buehler could be active on game days for kickoffs and very long field goals, without it being at the expense of another position player. Or maybe Buehler gets moved to PUP to start the season and they see how Graham or Bailey handle all the kicking chores, then decide what to do with Buehler after 6 games.
4) Despite decent showings by Ogletree and Holley, I think the 3rd WR isnt on this roster.
5) The OL in general looks great, but one position that doesnt is backup RT/LT. Parnell is an interesting developmental guy, but he isnt ready. Young looks bad to me. I think this is another position they will have to get a vet to handle.
6) I guess the only positive for the defense is they still havent played a single series with their 11 projected starters on the field. Not having Jenkins, Newman and Spears is a handicap no matter how you slice it. That said, Rob Ryan's defense is clearly not very good right now. The front 7 is getting manhandled in the run game and getting virtually no pass rush. Of particular concern has to be how bad the middle is with Ratliff and James/Brooking (who looked washed up to me last night) and Lee. Ratliff seems to have really regressed as a player and is particularly poor vs the run now. Josh Brent has been a little better than Ratliff IMO, but he hasnt been more than average. Olshansky should be released.
7) I dont see how they can let Phillip Tanner go, as I said last week I dont know how he is catching the ball or at blitz pickups, but as a runner he is clearly talented. If they try to pass him off to the PS, I feel pretty sure somebody is going to scoop him up. DeMarco Murray looked solid in his bebut too. I think we are stocked at RB. It will be interesting to see what happens with Choice, who also looked pretty good last night and had two really nice runs wiped out by penalties (one of which was a b/s call on Kowalski)
8) As I said last night, I think we'll see several new players on the final roster before the Jets game. I can definitely see veterans added at OT and WR, and IMO we may see a veteran DB or two, along with possibly another DL added as well.
I guess we wont see many, if any of the regular players Thursday vs Miami. Hopefully the offense can carry the team for awhile because unless the defense has really been holding back, we're going to give up yards and points for awhile. My expectations have definitely been dampened by what we've seen defensively so far. Hopefully we can tread water for the first 8-10 games, and then maybe by then the defense will pick it up and start to really get Ryan's scheme for the stretch run.
