Rate the Starting Unit

[Grinners]

Looked to me like we started mixing in some additional protection for some of the obvious passing situations. Looks more like what I think we'll see in the reg season.

That challenge was a total jobbing. Guess they were concerned the AZ fans would split and not buy more beers and stuff.

There was one play I recall that was an obvious passing situation and Rivers called the right side player (H-Back?) back to block and pointed to a rusher on the left. That move gave Rivers more time and he picked apart the D. I loved that move.
Looks like Rivers also has more power to address situational awareness than he did with Norv.

[SDFan]

King Dunlap leaves and Harris replaces him?

Not Starks?

Still don't think Max makes the team

cause Harris is on the bubble and has spent most this preseason on the right side. doubt it would be Harris if that were a real game. they probably already had Starks ready to go in with different personnel group and saw no reason to change the plan. I watched Starks a bunch and it does seem he moves like molassas, but gets the job done effectively. IMO he makes this team for sure because of his experience.

[TABF]

Roto:


Philip Rivers completed 10-of-18 passes for 71 yards and an interception in Saturday's preseason game against the Cardinals.
Rivers averaged just 3.9 yards-per-attempt and completed the majority of his passes on short-to-intermediate throws. His interception came on a deflected pass to Jasper Brinkley and he finished with a brutal 41.7 quarterback rating. Through three preseason games, Rivers has completed 20-of-33 passes for 166 yards and two interceptions. He remains a mid

Computer generated crap. I received a note like this after my fantasy draft.

[QSmokey]

My ignorant impressions:

1) Rivers, on the whole, gets a C+ from me. I think he is going to do better in the McCoy system, but he sure isn't going to run up the numbers like he did in year's past. Of course, I don't think he's going to getting bounced around as much, either. So it's a trade-off.

2) Muffews is running hard and looks quicker to me. I still cringe every time he takes a hit (fear of injury) and...sigh...another fumble. The only good thing about that fumble was the Keystone Cops side show that followed. Who was that Cardinal DB, anyway? And is his application at McDonald's up to date? I mean, really, not only does he try to scoop the ball up and run with it - which is almost NEVER a good strategy - but he laterals the ball the his own 5-yard! LOL! What followed next kept me laughing for about 5 minutes. Nice punch out by Gates to complete the play. Pure comedy.

3) I actually noticed Larry English last night...for the first time in 4 years...PS or regular season. He actually looked decent/good. Let's see if the guy can stay out of the trainer's room and/or the operating room.

4) I haven't watched the ends of either of the first two games, so I was anxious to see Brad Sorenson. He was as everyone described: Poised, eyes down the field, and he seems to have a pretty good arm. Although...am I the only one who thinks he has kind of a funky throwing motion? One complaint: He might lock on to his primary target a bit too much.

5) Freeney looks very good to me. I think he has plenty left in his tank.

6) Don't know what to think of the OL. I really don't. Other than it will be our Achilles' Heel in '13, almost certainly.

7) Like Tutu. Always have. He's WAY better than Meachump and Royal. He deserves a spot on the team...AND playing time.

8) Impressed with Brandon Taylor..against the 3rd-stringers, anyway. Take that FWIW.

P.S. Just watched that fumble/lateral/fumble/TD again. Gates has a nice hold on the DB's leg and tries to 'tackle' him by pulling it up, higher and higher. Then he releases and does the punch out thing. Still laughing.

[Coachmarkos]

I'm not worried about the Chiefs.

1. Andy Reid doesn't run the ball.
2. Their best player is an oft injured running back.
3. Their QB is best in a run first offense.
4. Did you see the Chiefs play last year? They were bad. I mean...Raiders bad. They had the first pick for a reason. Andy Reid and Alex Smith don't launch them near the top of this division.

[Panamamike]

Reid does not run the ball a lot, but he involves the backs a lot in the passing game. He tends to run a lot of screen passes, and KC does have some backs that can excel at that. I personally think they are the most over rated as per expectations for improvement in the league. Time will tell.

[ArtistFormerlyKnownAsBKR]

There was one play I recall that was an obvious passing situation and Rivers called the right side player (H-Back?) back to block and pointed to a rusher on the left. That move gave Rivers more time and he picked apart the D. I loved that move.
Looks like Rivers also has more power to address situational awareness than he did with Norv.

That may have been. I guess what I meant to say was that there were several plays in those situations where he had two guys in the backfield. I don't believe we saw those configurations as much in the first two games. (Maybe I was just paying more attention last night) And those formations weren't too common under Norv. To your point, he may have only called for additional pro on the one play, but it seems like he at least has the option to do so in those sets, which we haven't seen as much in the past.

When things play out in the reg season, I reserve the right to take a different angle, but right now I'm feeling like this Whisenhunt offense and some of the Pitt-looking stuff I've seen in the PS games, looks like a nice fit with Rivers. Eager to see more of Woodhead in there. I think he could be a real under the radar signing for us. And I'm also really excited about what we're seeing with Green. If he gets opportunities I think he can be a nice new wrinkle.

[thelightningwill]

Rate our Starters v AZ 8/24/13 pre season

Either something magical happened over the last ten days or the natural ebb and flow of a NFL football team has given us a false positive of our team.

Starters looked good on offense, I think mainly because of our tempo. Rivers stats were 'meh', but he managed well and lead at a pros-pro level. OL looked solid, Mathews had an A+ day until the fumble. tons of different pass catchers got work with the ones (none of them named Meachum).

The starting D showed some descent pressure, Front seven were solid and the corners need to tackle one/one better. JJ didn't look great on the edge. We benefited from some timely AZ offensive penalties.

Special Teams... Much better gents!

Coaching was great until we challenged a call that we won but benefited the other team.

What does meh mean?

[Den60]

Don't know.

I post multiple opinions from multiple sites. I don't fully agree with any one site.

Im not sure why PFF has become the source for all things football.

Certain "expert" posters used to use the football scientist in the same way. And for the most part the scientist had the same difficulty with 2 position groups. The dbs and the OL

I was being sarcastical. You need to sign up for QSmokeys seminar: "Internet Humor and You."

[Den60]

cause Harris is on the bubble and has spent most this preseason on the right side. doubt it would be Harris if that were a real game. they probably already had Starks ready to go in with different personnel group and saw no reason to change the plan. I watched Starks a bunch and it does seem he moves like molassas, but gets the job done effectively. IMO he makes this team for sure because of his experience.

When I watch Starks I keep pushing the >> button, thinking that the DRV is running in slow motion...

[thelightningwill]

On offense our starters have managed just 10 points in about 4 quarters of play this PS. To me that ain't great. Mathews (an AJ bust) has been outstanding. If he can stay healthy then I think we can run the ball effectively. If he doesn't stay healthy we have some issues. The protection for Rivers is fine as long as we keep defenses off balance. If we get behind and opposing defenses can pin their ears back we are going to have problems.

On defense I don't think there is anyone on here who doesn't feel our starters are good. Where those of us part ways is when the issue comes to depth. We are paper thin nearly across the board of defense. English (yet another AJ bust) has looked good in PS. He is counted on heavily this year. I have to say that one should be concerned about how much yardage we gave up on the ground today. I don't think Denver is going to be as good running the ball this year (but they have a good QB) but KC is a team that can run the ball.

ST: We have had one good game against a team that looks to be poorly coached. The performance today comes after a completely abysmal performance last week. It is not unusual for a team to rebound in PS after something like that, just out of embarrassment.

I don't feel our starters on defense are good. I don't feel they are bad either. I think that, with the exception of Weddle, all our starters are unproven. Most are young and some have a history of missing a lot of games. Same goes for the backups.
Basically, what I'm saying is I have no idea if our defense is good or horrible or somewhere in between.

[Den60]

What does meh mean?

Indifference; to be used when one simply does not care.