What's crazy is, this offense absolutely does have it in them to tack 30+ on anyone but the bye. The only game in which an outside team seemed to legitimately shut them down was the Giants. Other than that, we had the scrimmage-level effort failboat against Dallas. Only thing hurting this offense week to week is Kubiak/Dennison's D-level gameplanning, Schaub's erratic season, and the bewildering hot and cold relationship Kubiak seems to have with Foster. The defense is what it is, and I don't think there's much improvement possible with this collection. There are a couple basic things (never leave Jackson in man coverage without safety help behind him) that would help, but the root problem is, we have no less than 5 positions on defense where we're trotting out alarmingly out of their depth starters. I hate to say it, but I see a guy that has poor anticipation for what his man will do out of his break and worse, a guy that has no recovery speed. One can be improved on to a degree. The other can't. He's decent in the flats, marginal in zone coverage, but he's never going to be adequate in covering his guy one on one. Seriously, his lack of recovery speed is shockingly poor. All CBs need to be able to close the gap when a receiver comes out of his break. Jackson can't. At all. Ever. 5 tackles (2 solo) Our pair of starting DTs combined for 3 (2 solo). I don't get the scores of posters that are so convinced Cushing is done. He looks exactly the same on the field. He's out of position right now, doesn't have Ryans next to him, and teams are getting almost all their yards bombing it downfield. Why the focus on Cushing when he's still one of only 3-4 defensive players that aren't abysmal?
Last year, I'd agree with you. This year, I see Dennison having improved the running game (big assist to Foster for upgrading the position as well), but the passing game, which was so well-designed under the duo of Kubiak/Baby Shan, is a little unimaginative for my liking. It seems more and more that Schaub has to fit the ball into tighter spaces. Last year, it seemed that guys were running open a lot more. I think a lot of this is due to the drop-off in the TE play with Daniels/Dreessen/James not attracting the attention that a healthy OD would. As for Cushing, I don't see him as the problem at all. The position he's playing takes away a lot of his natural playmaking ability. Besides a couple of times when DeMeco stuffed someone behind the LOS, how many "big" plays did you see him make? Not a lot of career INTs or pass deflections; it's just the nature of that position. You hope the DTs can keep him clean so he can run down the ball, but that's about it. Also, there was a play where Rivers overthrew Crayton on a deep ball where Cushing was easily 30 yards downfield in coverage. He's out of position (formation wise, probably not talent wise) and that's what causing his drop in production. Although, correct me if I'm wrong, I did see him line up outside a few times yesterday with Diles in the middle. Maybe it's something that they do on certain plays (even with DeMeco), but I thought it was interesting. Bottom line, we need to go on a run. Someone/something has got to spark these guys out of their funk. I'm so sick of seeing Schaub seemingly sleepwalk through the game, that too cool for school attitude is permeating the team. I'm not sure if it's going to be a speech or pep talk or what, but something has got to shake this team out of their doldrums.
Because most of us had unrealistic expectations as to his meaning to the defense when he returned. I truly thought he would be the difference between this year's "defense" and last year's. Unfortunately, he is only 1 man, who is now a man playing out of position, and he can't do it all himself. I was all for defending Kareem Jackson and chocking it up to rookie mistakes. He's just not good. That was an undrafted free agent receiver who Jackson made to look like Jerry Rice. I've never seen a receiver so wide freaking open when it wasn't a blown coverage. Jackson was just burnt toast all over that field. Screw "just going to go with our guys" Go out there and find some one that can at least cover a brick f***ing wall!
The window of opportunity for Jacoby Jones to become a #2 receiver in the NFL has closed, IMO. He will be nothing more than a return man and a slot receiver the rest of his days here. So much speed and athleticism, but he has waffle hands and is a poor blocker.
That's interesting. I wonder if it's personal (see the Oakland benching). While Kubiak would get CRUCIFIED for benching him, I wonder if the lack of touches against the colts and in the 2nd half yesterday is Kubiak trying to make a point in a more subtle way. I don't know. But yeah, it IS bewildering.
I much rather have Jacoby start than Kevin Walter. Walter has started the last three games and hasn't caught a single pass. That is just terrible. Jones is inconsistent at times but he still gives you big play ability something Walter doesn't. I don't care how a good blocker Walter is but I want a receiver who can create separation and catch the ball not block. I also like what I saw from James Casey. OD hasn't had the explosion coming back from the knee injury. They need to find ways to get Casey more playing time even if that means reducing Dressen and Daniels snap counts.
It used to be fun ripping this Coaching staff and Front office because I thought they were the only thing holding this team back. They have major issues everywhere though. I'm hoping we lose every remaining game. That's the only way this joke of a coaching staff gets the boot IMO. It's really not funny anymore.
Casey had a great game and OD will be gone next year IMO. Casey is the future, and Dressen is playing well above expectations too. Jacoby is simply too inconsistent. Walter didn't catch a pass, but he wasn't thrown to a lot either. Matt doesn't trust Jacoby, and I can't blame him for that. Like it or not, KW is our #2 for the next 2-3 years. And in our system, a blocking WR is hugely important. If Jones wasn't our only real option at KR/PR (I STILL hold my breath when he catches them... a little less now at least), he'd probably be expendable.
i was lucky enough to see the game up here, so now I know wtf everyone is b#tching about...Kubiak seems to be Jeckle & Hyde and so does schaub...the defense is what it is, but I don't think its as bad as the Cowboys... I will say that its a long season and there is still plenty of football left to play...They better gameplan better or else its sitting and watching the playoffs from home again...
Doesn't trust Walter? I would trust him and DA 100 times out of a 100 compared to Jacoby. I don't think he's a great deep threat, but he's awesome running the underneath routes. An element of our attack that has been missing in this iteration of the Gulf Coast Offense.
I am sure Walter hasn't caught a single pass because he hasn't been open for whatever reason. If he was open, Schaub would have found him at least once. Dressen is a solid backup TE. Jacoby is inconsistent but so is Walter. I can't believe a starting wide receiver could go three games without catching a single ball. I don't care how good a blocker is he. He got paid a lot of money this offseason and needs to produce. At least Jones gives you big play abilty with yards after the catch.
For the amount of money KW signed for this off-season, it's pretty much unacceptable to me for him to go 3 games without a SINGLE catch. There has to be an issue there that we don't know about, whether it's Schaub not finding him on the field, Walter not doing enough to get open, or defenses keying in on him. All I know is when he's out there making plays, and getting the ball, it makes our entire offense that much more potent.
Bingo - balls are being directed Andre's way even though he is injured and not the same "freak" well all have come to know and love. Take a look at the Oakland game; we spread the ball around much more in that game because Andre wasn't there. With all the attention that he demands from opposing defenses, sometimes he demands as much or more attention from the offense (HC, OC, and QB). If Andre is going to be double/triple teamed, we HAVE to go to our second and third reads. It'll loosen things up for AJ and the offense will flow better. Plus, we won't see the all-too-common Schaub forcing a ball into triple coverage INT as often!
I think another thing to consider is that KW might not be Matt's actual 2nd read. With the pressure opposing teams are getting on him, his read seems to be Andre, TE, RB... *SACKED*
Kevin Walter has looked pretty bad to me actually. He looks extremely slow. Matt threw a couple good balls to him yesterday that he just could not get to (luckily he was bailed out by a couple pass interference calls). He doesn't look as explosive to me as before and is having a tough time creating separation.
That's not his game. Have him work underneath with a TE or WR and he's gold. Having him go deep is just a waste of a play, IMO. A PI is probably the best result you can hope for.
