I definitely think Kovacs has a shot to make this team as a special teams ace. His tacking is very good. He teamed up with Kaddu (IIRC) for a nice tackle in that 2nd half on punt coverage after Fields boomed one 60 yards plus. It was our best moment on punt coverage and for a special teams unit seemingly struggling on coverage teams, hopefully the coaches paid extra special attention. I'm not sure about Kaddu as a rush end though. He's nothing special in my book. Off the line, he can be fairly decent, in coverage... sometimes in run support. Certainly has better wheels than Trusnik. But once he's engaged by a big tackle or even a tight end, he's not getting off that block. Our backup lbers right now are really wide open. I'm rooting for Robinson inside. Freeny on the outside. Beyond that, we could add a free agent around the 53 man cuts and probably come out ahead over what we have now in Spitler/Trusnik.
Finally getting to watch the Jax-Miami game now. So far we've had two drives on offense and our offensive line looks terrible. I dont know how Tannehill can be faulted for this too much.
Our defense looks BA though. Jacksonville has gotten absolutely nothing through the first two drives. Our linebackers look beast. Love all the dreads. Sideline to sideline speed improvement is obvious as is improved pass rush.
I've never seen it with Josh Kaddu. I thought as he came out that he has a chance to be a good special teams guy but that I don't have a lot of hope for him as a linebacker. He was one of those guys that made his bones in college being a rush linebacker but who wasn't special in any other real linebacker skills and since you'd have a tough time imagining him have success as a rusher in the pros, you end up with a guy you're just not sure how to get on the field. I've not been a fan of Freeny. I've gotten a sense that he's having a better preseason than I've seen him have in the past. I haven't really dissected him though. He's another guy that was a rusher in college and has been making a transition, so if the light has come up then god bless but I'm not sure I see it yet. Maybe you're right. Lee Robinson I agree there's definitely something there.
It should be very tough. They have some good players there. Desmond Bryant is a great interior nickel rusher. Paul Kruger we know can rush the passer, but what we could be finding out is that Jabaal Sheard and Barkevious Mingo can as well. We know that Phil Taylor and Ahtyba Rubin are beasts. At least, we should know that. We know that D'Qwell Jackson is a good linebacker. Or at least, we should know that. We know T.J. Ward is an excellent safety and that Joe Haden is an excellent corner. There's a lot of pieces there. The obvious holes are at corner and free safety. At corner, they acquired Chris Owens in free agency and he was a guy I had targeted as an underrated free agent acquisition. I've heard he's impressed a lot during camp but he didn't play in the first preseason game for whatever reason. I'd have a lot less confidence in Trevin Wade or Buster Skrine if I were them. As for the free safety position I consider it a lot like our own Chris Clemons. They like Tashaun Gipson, and he's performed OK, but he could also be a weakness to be exploited at times. The other weakness on the defense is potentially the run defense, as Paul Kruger is not a great run defender and their linebackers may be better against the pass than the run.
I agree. Hopefully we have our RG issues resolved well prior to the game. http://www.dawgsbynature.com/2013/8/11/4612250/what-is-the-browns-strength-in-2013 A lot is going to depend on how well our OLine gels and can handle the Browns DLine early to help the offense get going, especially as we are slow starters over the past season to date. I still like our chances of winning if we can control their passrush/pressure and win the turn over battle. Their offense isn't scary at all.
Yeah I think they're trying to white wash the wide receiver position a little bit. For THAT unit, I like that they got Davone Bess. He inserts reliability into a unit that is high on big play ability but very, very low on reliability and consistency. It's a very different profile from what we had in Miami when I thought Brian Hartline and Davone Bess don't coexist well, and between the two I would rather have Brian Hartline. However, Josh Gordon being set to miss like 4 games or whatever is going to be a big deal because while he's gone they only have Greg Little, Travis Benjamin and Davone Bess. Greg Little is probably always going to flatter to deceive. I think he did that right in the preseason game too. Weeden throws a bullet to Jordan Cameron who can't hang on and pops it up, Greg Little makes a ridiculous jump and play on the ball to come down with it and convert the 3rd down. But then they get into the end zone and Weeden throws an absolutely perfect strike on a little corner route (looked like, could be wrong) and Greg Little just doesn't finish the play. As for Travis Benjamin, I'm not sure what he is other than a pure speed guy. And the tight ends unit, I see what they WANT, I just don't know if they're going to get it. How reliable is Jordan Cameron really going to be? It's a big question mark because the guy only has a certain number of catches since high school. They could find they are relying more and more on Kellen Davis as a tight end and he showed himself to not be wholly dependable either. They're both real tall and real athletic, but you wonder if they're going to finish plays. And if they don't finish plays, they operate in sections of the field where a screwup can have dire consequences. They could be dangerous to both sides of the ball...sort of like Greg Little and Travis Benjamin. I was disappointed in what Michael Lombardi did with the skill unit. I thought it was somewhere between neglect or perhaps even an intentional effort to hang Weeden out to dry so that he could start fresh with his own guy there, because he most certainly did not like Weeden coming out of college.
