Well, a good read but there are still caveats that we'll face...I just don't want to get my hopes up and suddenly we look like we did against Tampa against the Jests...
I personally don't care whether a team wins or loses in the preseason (just look at the Pats and Colts preseason record) because all I look at is how hard the players play. Obviously teams are running at about half speed in showing their game plan but you can still see if a team has a fire inside to win games. That is what I see with this year's Fins because they fly to the ball and seem to be just having fun and attacking. Keep that up with the fact that teams are overlooking the 1-15 Fins and there could be some surprises this season.
The questions about Ricky or Pennington are not about their ability to play. The questions revolve around their ability play a season. At 31, would Williams be as effective in week 8 as he is in week 1 assuming full time play? Can Pennington avoid the injuries that have sidetracked his career? These guys are veterans, they're going to look good but it's looking good in week 16 that matters. O-line looked very good, it will be fun watching that young group of guys develop throughout the season. Other than the one bad decision to throw a pass to a well covered back in the flat Henne did well, better than I expected. Next week I'd like to see a TD drive to put a cherry on things.
Great read! So true as well. Even under Saban we looked pretty sluggish in the pre-season. The team finally has something to build on and believe in. When a new coaching staff takes over, having a good performance early on is so crucial if you want the players to buy into the system. It's finally happened. Now move on to the next battle and get even better.
Love Cohen's stuff, he wrote the great article on Zach when he left for Dallas. I don't care to much about the record in preseason. I'm more interested in how a team progresses and I think its safe to say that this team has gelled pretty well so far. I've been impressed with the offensive line play. Our top offensive linemen, Vernon Carey, is doing a good job at Right Tackle while two rookies, Long and Thomas, have adjusted pretty well thus far. The biggest thing about these rookies and veterans success is that they have faced tough defenses. They faced Tampa Bay who was the number two defense in the league last year and in Jacksonville who is always one of the top defenses. At the Running Back spot, I've been very impressed with Ricky Williams. He looks very good out there, displaying good vision and power. Ronnie hasn't done much but I'm glad to see him out there after the ACL injury. I expect Ronnie to be eased in the lineup, getting just enough carries for him. I wouldn't be surprised to see Ricky start this year while Ronnie is slowly getting going as mentioned previously. I also believe that Parmele can be a good third down back for us. However, I think he needs to improve his hands. At the WR spot, I am very happy that Hagan and Ginn have been improving. Hagan has looked pretty good in the past training camps but something seems different this year. I'm looking forward to seeing him catch the ball on Sundays. Ginn has improved his strength, route running and playing speed according to Sparano. Sparano made a comment about Ginn's playing speed, saying that he is now learning to run full speed at all times, opposed to not running his fastest until after he caught the ball. On to Davone Bess, I liked him a lot coming out of Hawaii. Not the fastest guy but has glue-hands and runs good routes imo. I think that he will be a good slot receiver for us one day. As for Wilford, I'm not sure what to say. We've all been disappointed with him. He's been almost invisible in camp, dropping every ball possible. Hell, he even dropped a lob pass with no defender on him. I expect him to improve and be a part of the offense come regular season. Defensively, I've been very impressed. I wasn't sure what to expect from Ferguson. He's manhandled Satele in training camp and Satele is no slouch either. I love Merling and Langford out there. Soliai has gotten his work ethic together this off-season and it sure is paying off. He had that beautiful strip at the goal line vs the Jaguars. I have been amazed with him. Moving on to Roth, he's been good out there. He could very well end up starting and pushing Anderson out of the lineup, forcing the staff to move Porter back to his old spot where he excelled in Pittsburgh.
Sparano's presser is up..a good one too.. also, there is a short video called 1994 clock game that is fun to watch.. I never get tired of watching the pain...
http://www.jaguars.com/news/article.aspx?id=7151 i like getting the other teams perspective after a solid performance.
