I claim that we are better at every position, aside from Columbo, that last year. My look on O. OL- Long is as good as it gets. Hard to get better than the best. Cog played very well last year while adapting to LG, and will be better. Pouncey was the best interior OL in the draft, and will be better than Berger. Carey had injury problems last year. If healthy, will be much better than any RG from last year, and allows Pouncey to pull. Columbo is questionable, and I hope for the best. Losing Murtha was not a good thing, although our depth is still better than last season. QB- Henne appears to be a different player, and has played much better than past pre-seasons. Many have taken shots at him, and deservedly so. However, he is in the top 20, of people on this planet, to do what he does. I expect him to rise to #12-15. Moore is much better than Thiggy. TE- Fasano is a top ten TE overall, regardless of what some may think. Rosario is a huge upgrade at 2nd TE, where we had absolutely nothing last year. RB- We lost R&R, and some believe we have downgraded to Bush&Thomas, blaming the OL. There were many teams, with worse OL able to run. Polite took a fall from blocking the year before, and LJ is as good, likely better overall for this team. IF Bush remains healthy, he will be special. WR- Best for last. Marshall and Henne have bonded, and Marshall will be much better. Bess had a VG year but, should be better with an increase in the passing game. Hartline was our best player on O for 7 games last season, before the injury. He will be better. Gates has blown by defenders all pre-season. When he and Henne click, he will be a huge addition. Wallace is solid and a VG ST's player. Moore is icing on the cake with his speed. We have gotten MUCH better at WR. I have to include Daboll taking over as OC, although I'm sure many would have preferred to keep Henning.
Eh, we shall see SB, I'm not a ledge climber, but do think our preseason foreshadows our regular season offense, and we looked good on O in the preseason. I like that we have Garner and Cook ready to step in if they are needed on the right side of the offensive line.
Clark Witten Gates Davis Cooley Miller Lewis Daniels Winslow Olsen Gonzalez Finley I disagree. I can name more. 12 is good enough.
In all due respect, that is fair but, only if you can tell me why they are better "overall." PFF grades Fasano at #4, including pass and blocking. What are you basing your 12 on?
Not necessarily so IF anyone can offer anything to prove them wrong. I respect and admire anyone liking this player and that over what we have, with reason. I have a bit of a problem with just naming names.
PFF assigns a grade based not on stats but based on their effectiveness in doing their job on each play. Fasano is a great blocker and a below to average receiver. Did they outright say he was the 4th best TE in the league, or is he ranked that high based on their point system? If he's ranked that high based on points, a guy who is a great blocker, combined with the protections we called, it doesn't surprise me that he's high. But, if you throw Fasano on the Texans offense or the Bears, he's nothing special (well, no TE is special to Mike Martz). He'd be an all pro in 1958.
If you are only considering pass catching, seam busting TEs, then yeah, Fasano is not going to break the top 15. But add in blocking and he's easily top 10. Given how weak our right side of the line is, we need Fasano
2) The Total Package When people think of tight ends they think of big name players like Antonio Gates, Dallas Clark and Vernon Davis. I bet if I tried to tell them that Anthony Fasano is a more complete tight end than any of those three they would think I’m crazy. Good thing they leave the grading up to us because Fasano is the real deal even if he isn’t a “big” name. In the run game, Fasano could almost be seen as a third offensive tackle. Whether it’s a big-bodied defensive tackle or a speedy defensive end coming off the edge, he has shown the ability to hold his ground and dominate at the point of attack. He finished 2010 as our fourth best tight end overall. While blocking may be his strong suit, don’t sleep on him in the passing game. He doesn’t put up gaudy numbers, but he’s sure handed – in 2010 there were 41 catchable balls thrown his way and He caught 39 of them. This is what they said. .
I like Fasano's game and have always thought he did a better job than most give hime credit for. I'm happy to see I'm not alone.
There is no way Fasano is a below average reciever. Did you read the article? He dropped 2 passes in 41 attempts last season. The scheme dictated he wasn't targeted like we would expect an elite TE's to be targeted. I think SB is on to something.
Yessir, for all of the worry about Colombo, Fasano is the counter, the real issue on the OL is Carey at RG as there is no real way to give him any help. I'm curious to see if Daboll manages to carve out a Evan Moore type of role for Rosario as I suspect early in the season Fasano will be Colombo's "buddy".
Good points. Luck for us we the Pats don't have a top tier pass rusher but in Week 2 we'll have to deal with Mario Williams. The Browns, Chargers and Jets all lack an individual pass rush threat, its the Eagles, Cowboys, Chiefs, Giants & Redskins who we have to worry about protection wise. Bess, Marshall & Bush are all effective blitz beaters and one of the few things DThomas has done well is thus far is pickup blitzers. I'm more worried about how we're going to establish a credible run threat against the fronts we'll be facing than I am about how we're going to keep people out of Henne's face.
I'm expecting our passing game to be much improved. This will limit all the 8-9 men in the box, which we've seen A LOT in the past, and make life easier on the OL and RB. I'm thinking this will also free up Fasano to be more of a receiver, and Daboll does like throwing to the TE. I can see him having 50-60 catches. Carey is a Big body inside. IF he's healthy, we just may be able to run up the gut better than most are thinking. Columbo is easily my biggest concern on O. Maybe it was the injury that caused his poor play last year, and maybe Sparano knows something I'm not seeing. It would be a VG surprise for me. We shall see.
I really don't agree with the methodology that PFF uses to get their overall ratings. They use this cumulative measure which I don't think reflects the impact of the players. I think they're excellent at counting plays and more obvious things like drops (sometimes), passes defended, missed tackles, etc.So when it comes to PFF and all stats really, there's some things that can be measured empirically and some things that will always require individual interpretation.
I agree, to a degree. I would say that if you or I, or a number of posters here, watched players every play of every game, we would have a very fair run down of a player. Yes?
Great blocker. Sure handed receiver. Complete, yes. Impact guy, no. Again, he only shines on a team like the Dolphins when that's what we want him to do. His skillset is anachronistic in the NFL and fast becoming obsolete.
