{Before his 1st career start} I trust Savage next 2 games to be equal to what we've had out there, which is just enough. But the "Better than Brock" luster wont last long. And there's still plenty question marks with Savage to trust him as long term starter. The very ENCOURAGING thing is without playing for a long period of time, while dealing with various ailments and setbacks, and with little to NO rep time to prepare, Savage still showed good knowledge of the system, pocket awareness and ball placement. And they didnt scale back the playbook. All during a critical game and comeback. That can mean he just HAS it, where its fine tuning work ahead instead of a repair and patch-up job.
He showed more against a good pass defense in 2.5 quarters than Brock has all season. Saying he will be better isn't really a stretch in my opinion.
He needs a whole season of playing against the NEs/DENs/SEAs/DALs of the league. All he's seen is a subpar Jags defense and a competent Cincy defense. Do I have faith that he'll do well this postseason? Hell no. Do I have faith in him going forward? I guess. Do we really have a choice?
The question should be,"Do you have faith in this O line?" and the answer is hell no!!! Why is Allen still playing? Abushi out played Allen IMHO. This offseason, you need to draft a stud left tackle and play him at the right side until Dwane Brown relinquishes the left side. Then you sign the best possible free agent gaurd available.
Yeah, Brown's replacement is top priority next draft. Then draft another top prospect within 2 years ('18-'19). We're almost halfway through Brock's guaranteed money. Hopefully cheap-Savage can hold the fort next year.
I have faith he'll protect the ball better than Brock and occasionally make a key downfield throw that Brock wouldn't I'm not worried about an interception every pass play anymore
Bring Brock in when they get to the RZ. Or sign Peyton as the starting QB for the playoffs for the Brock sideshow. The meltdown will be delicious.
Actually as far as passing yards allowed goes, Jacksonville is 3 and Cincy 11. So Savage actually has had better competition than Brock, who wasn't even able to put up good stats against the likes of San Diego, Chicago, and Indy in Indy.
Jayson Braddock @JaysonBraddock Bengals D has only given up 1 TD in 5 out of their last 6 games. The other game, only gave up 2. Going up against a defense that was playing really well. He had 163 in second half.
I actually don't have faith in the play calling. For an offensive guru, O'Brien sure seems clueless and has no creativity what so ever. You would think with the QB he drafted and who has been here the longest, they would open up the playbook
The problem is that this upcoming draft is a terrible OT draft. We probably won't see an OT go in the top 15 unless either the Wisconsin or Notre Dame left tackle decides to come out. But the ND one has said he's going back to school and the Wisconsin tackle is getting hip surgery after his bowl game and is leaning towards staying as well. I don't want them reaching on an OT in the first if that prospect is ranked way below another prospect at safety or elsewhere. This is also not a great OL free agent class. The FA guard class originally included DeCastro but he signed a big extension with the Steelers in September. The FA OT class includes Riley Reiff, Matt Kalil, and Menelik Watson. So I think you go into next year with Brown at LT, XSF at LG, Mancz at C, Nick Martin at RG, and Lamm at RT while taking a couple of offensive linemen in the middle rounds of the draft to throw into the mix. Allen probably stays as depth because you'd only save 750,000 dollars by cutting him. I think Newton is probably gone due to the brutal injuries and cutting him saves 3.25 million dollars.
I trust Savage bc he can sit in the pocket...take a shot...and deliver the football without fear... I trust Savage bc he can throw a perfect ball to his RB in the face of an all out blitz... I trust Savage bc he has been in this system for 3 years...
The elite O-lineman are always easy to hash out... however, there's a ton of projection issues with everybody in the middle. The Titans were thought to have screwed up a few O-line picks over the years... and now they have one of the best. The Texans 2nd best O-lineman going into this year was a former 6th round draft pick. The key is to have a commitment to making the line better (Which the Texans front office does have, based on their last 2 drafts), and have a coaching tree in place to get the most out of them. The line will get better with the addition of Martin by itself.
I still don't have much faith in Savage, but without question he puts the team in the best spot to win games of what we have right now so we have to keep rolling with him.
