One positive thing about the preseason game

I happened to be at the game.. and I'm not saying we arent deeper than the colts in places..


But what I noticed was that Indy's backup QBs are TERRIBLE. They might be the only team in the league where if their starting QB goes down, they have no chance at winning another game.

Originally posted by Gore_21:

Originally posted by DynastyChile:
Why are we throwing Anthony Davis out there already again? His pass protection clearly is not even close to where in needs to be.

He played a good chunk of the game because he needs reps. Hopefully it helps him get ready for the start of the season. I agree he isn't ready but getting "live" reps can only help him get better. Every issue with him can be fixed. It's mostly technical... he looked good with run blocking but he needs to learn to pass protect better. Mainly with speed rushers going around him. It's only been 1 game so I am not worried. Heck, Kwame was getting beat by speed rushers left and right 3 years into starting. We know we have a problem then.

Definitely see your point. But for someone with so young and perhaps fragile, I hope rushing him in like this doesn't hurt his growth. The dude is only 20, thats pretty young to just NAME him the starter, especially when he's next to someone as bad as Chilo. Go watch the anthony dixon higlights, and look when Carr hit him in the flat to the right. Davis didnt even get a hand on him on an inside rush is looked like.

look at the 3:50 mark in that video that is posted a couple threads down in the Dixon highlight

here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZxzPkLDQbM

[ Edited by DynastyChile on Aug 16, 2010 at 11:21:50 ]

I agree some good depth showed up in certain areas. Dixon, Reggie Smith, Mays, Kristick, Briggs, all played well.

One area where the depth appears to be lacking is WR. With Crabtree out, there was no one getting open. I am not sure if it was because it was a pre-season game and Raye didn't want to show too much, or a lack of talent but WR does not look strong.

I will look forward to next week and see what happens if 15 can play.

I like it that Sing left Davis out on the line for a whole half. This will give him lots of reps and build his stamina up. It will also give Solari lots of tape to go over all of these details with Davis.

Looks like Iupati did well in his first preseason game and Baas did pretty well in the Center position. I did not hear how Rachal was doing but if he does well then we have 4/5s of the line settling in and only have Davis to work on. Davis as he is right now is still an improvment on last years RT.

Originally posted by Ninefan56:
I like it that Sing left Davis out on the line for a whole half. This will give him lots of reps and build his stamina up. It will also give Solari lots of tape to go over all of these details with Davis.

Looks like Iupati did well in his first preseason game and Baas did pretty well in the Center position. I did not hear how Rachal was doing but if he does well then we have 4/5s of the line settling in and only have Davis to work on. Davis as he is right now is still an improvment on last years RT.

Rachal struggled a bit as well, but this was the first game and it was against a very mobile Indy DL. In short, a very good experience for the young guys. There will be a lot to learn from this experience.

Originally posted by dj43:

Originally posted by Ninefan56:
I like it that Sing left Davis out on the line for a whole half. This will give him lots of reps and build his stamina up. It will also give Solari lots of tape to go over all of these details with Davis.

Looks like Iupati did well in his first preseason game and Baas did pretty well in the Center position. I did not hear how Rachal was doing but if he does well then we have 4/5s of the line settling in and only have Davis to work on. Davis as he is right now is still an improvment on last years RT.

Rachal struggled a bit as well, but this was the first game and it was against a very mobile Indy DL. In short, a very good experience for the young guys. There will be a lot to learn from this experience.

Great point. There's always a tradeoff in terms of line-play...if you go small/mobile on the o-line, you match up better with defenses like the Colts (small and mobile) in terms of pass protection and zone-blocking. However, our line is built to maul. That means we can usually have our way in the run game (which we pretty much did), but it also means they have an advantage in the passing game (quickness off the edge), and they took advantage of it (especially against Carr). Our bigger o-line will always be at a disadvantage against smaller/quicker d-lines in terms of pass protection.

Point being, in a regular season game against the Colts, we likely won't be doing a ton of passing, and certainly not a lot of 7-step drops (like we saw Alex and Carr doing)...we'd primarly pound the rock between the tackles with Gore and Dixon, make them bring that safety in to the box, then gash them deep when possible with Vernon/Crabs/Morgan/Ginn.

[ Edited by GhostofFredDean74 on Aug 16, 2010 at 12:34:55 ]

Originally posted by SybErkRimInAL:

Originally posted by Gore_21:
Pre season is more about figuring out the depth chart and what you have for backups. Like the Colts announcers said they have only won 4 pre season games in the last 4 years. They are looking to develop guys... if they wanted to win they would leave Peyton in longer.

Agreed though... we have a lot of depth.

this.

I can't stand when people get all hyped up about a win in preseason. Raider fan type s**t. All the raider fans I know were hyped up that they beat the cowboys.

I thought he was just pointing out that our backups were more talented than theirs, which bodes well for the overall level of competition happening in camp, and for what should follow.

Originally posted by dj43:

Originally posted by Ninefan56:
I like it that Sing left Davis out on the line for a whole half. This will give him lots of reps and build his stamina up. It will also give Solari lots of tape to go over all of these details with Davis.

Looks like Iupati did well in his first preseason game and Baas did pretty well in the Center position. I did not hear how Rachal was doing but if he does well then we have 4/5s of the line settling in and only have Davis to work on. Davis as he is right now is still an improvment on last years RT.

Rachal struggled a bit as well, but this was the first game and it was against a very mobile Indy DL. In short, a very good experience for the young guys. There will be a lot to learn from this experience.

The depth we had was amazing, we basically handed the colts backups their a$$es. It doesn't mean a ton now because only the #1's really play in regular games, but it does help that if we have someone go down, there wont be a huge drop off by the replacement. I even thought Kristick played better than Wilhelm.

Overall the best part of this game is it shows we have allot of young guys (rookies and 2nd year) that have talent and could be potential starters come next year.

RJF is looking like a great back up and a good lock to replace Franklin. Tukuofu and Mitchell look like they will contribute more than Balmer ever did. Briggs is looking like a good replacement for Manny when we lose him next year. Reggie Smith can take over for Lewis when he retires, and possibly Goldson if the team truly cant sign him and VD together. Taylor and Mays looked solid but still need some more experience. And just to feed you Smith haters out there, our backup QBs looked like they can handle themselves decently if called upon.

There is no question that this team should win the west. May not be top contenders just yet in the NFC, but I dont see a team even close to us in the west. The only DL that could give us trouble would be the Cards, but their defensive backs struggled allot in their preseason game. I'm F-N pumped!!!!!

Originally posted by Kilgore_Trout:

Originally posted by SybErkRimInAL:

Originally posted by Gore_21:
Pre season is more about figuring out the depth chart and what you have for backups. Like the Colts announcers said they have only won 4 pre season games in the last 4 years. They are looking to develop guys... if they wanted to win they would leave Peyton in longer.

Agreed though... we have a lot of depth.

this.

I can't stand when people get all hyped up about a win in preseason. Raider fan type s**t. All the raider fans I know were hyped up that they beat the cowboys.

I thought he was just pointing out that our backups were more talented than theirs, which bodes well for the overall level of competition happening in camp, and for what should follow.

Those commentators were completely biased FYI and have to point out any saving grace they can. The colts have probably the biggest drop off in talent after their first teamers. But thats not horrible because their first teamers are REALLY good. The commentators were trying to spin a humiliating 3 quarters for the fans. EVERY team throws in a base packages when the starters are out, we did the same. So comparing backups vs backups is something to get hyped about, especially with our youth in our backups. Would you rather have Painter over Carr, nope! Would you rather have mike hart over dixon, nope! would you rather have whoever their tackle was that we destroyed over Boone who held his own against the backups, nope! Totally comparable, and definately something to get hyped about. Does our backups being better mean we will win more games than the colts, obviously not, but it can't hurt our chances if we have to call upon our depth.

Originally posted by GhostofFredDean74:

Originally posted by dj43:

Originally posted by Ninefan56:
I like it that Sing left Davis out on the line for a whole half. This will give him lots of reps and build his stamina up. It will also give Solari lots of tape to go over all of these details with Davis.

Looks like Iupati did well in his first preseason game and Baas did pretty well in the Center position. I did not hear how Rachal was doing but if he does well then we have 4/5s of the line settling in and only have Davis to work on. Davis as he is right now is still an improvment on last years RT.

Rachal struggled a bit as well, but this was the first game and it was against a very mobile Indy DL. In short, a very good experience for the young guys. There will be a lot to learn from this experience.

Great point. There's always a tradeoff in terms of line-play...if you go small/mobile on the o-line, you match up better with defenses like the Colts (small and mobile) in terms of pass protection and zone-blocking. However, our line is built to maul. That means we can usually have our way in the run game (which we pretty much did), but it also means they have an advantage in the passing game (quickness off the edge), and they took advantage of it (especially against Carr). Our bigger o-line will always be at a disadvantage against smaller/quicker d-lines in terms of pass protection.

Point being, in a regular season game against the Colts, we likely won't be doing a ton of passing, and certainly not a lot of 7-step drops (like we saw Alex and Carr doing)...we'd primarly pound the rock between the tackles with Gore and Dixon, make them bring that safety in to the box, then gash them deep when possible with Vernon/Crabs/Morgan/Ginn.

BINGO