I want to see Martin get some reps. Maybe this means they're going to sign another ILB? Edit: Ruud signed. Good move.
Ruud is a good pick-up. He's not starting caliber, but he will be a great depth guy who can give us 10-15 snaps of hard-nosed, intense football. His coverage skills are atrocious so I'm guessing he will be used to spell Bradie James on run plays....especially because James is going to be the lone linebacker in nickel and dime sets now that Cushing is down. As far as Holliday goes, this had to be done. He was getting worse and worse with each coming week, and it was only a matter of time before one of his terrible decisions cost us dearly. He literally changed our offensive game plans since he never got the ball back to the 20. It got to the point where I was just praying he could get past the 15 on Monday night.
That's my thought as well. When is the last time we had special teams that ranked above league average? This won't fix the terrible blocking and even worse coverage.
I've harped on this for years. The special teams has been average or worse since the beginning yet this guy is constantly praised as one of the best ST coaches in the league. LOL
Same here. Marciano is terrible and has nothing to show for improvement in the entire history of the team. I doubt they'll do anything mid-season, but he has to go at the end of this one (which hopefully won't be until sometime in Feb).
So much for that preseason hype. 'Dynamic returner!' 'We'll regret this move if we cut him!' 'Next Devin Hester!' Oh well. Tough luck, good luck.
Dead last in Kickoff returns. Holliday kind of sucked but it wasn't all on him. Our blockers were getting beat and there were always at least a couple of guys waiting for Holliday well short of the 20. I remember last year, our kickoff returns sucked in the preseason. We tried a bunch of guys back there and nothing really worked. Then Manning took over in the regular season and was killing it until he got injured. Then McMannis took over and he was OK. This year is kind of the opposite. Returns were great in the preseason and then sucked in the regular season. Martin returned a little in college but wasn't all that great at it. He does have a lot of punt return experience though. Posey has almost no return experience at all. Forsett was pretty decent on kickoff returns his first 3 years in the league. Demps is still on the roster, right? He can return a little. He has a 26 yard return average over his career and carried the return load in Philly 3 years ago. He had 30 yards per return last year on the few returns that he got.
Once a solid LB that has hopped around the last few years. 2005 - 2010 - Tampa 2011 - Tennessee 2012 - Seattle 2012 - New Orleans 2012 - Houston He brings depth and experience. Good or great signing? Ehh, wait and see.
Holliday obviously wasn't cutting it but our ST hasn't been good for a long time now. Ruud is a depth move, Dobbins will start in Cushing's spot.
Ruud had three really good seasons in Tampa. Hopefully he can regain that form again. Obviously injuries have hindered his playing ability lately.
