I didnt mind the trade when it first happened for exactly that reason. Al cant draft and while the jury is out on McFadden, JaMarcus hasnt shown much improvement in 3 years and Heyward looks like he cant catch a cold. The risks were minimal. Seymour is 29 but 3 or 4 years of a good player is equal to a bust who will be out of the league in that time or underpreforming the whole time like we seem to get. Yes, the defense looked better than expected. For once we didnt let LT run for about 120+ and were very competitive which is a step in the right direction. I hope Russell can show something soon because those throws were just awful. I hate to admit it but, I was hoping Gradkowski would stay in when he came in for a few plays. On another bright spot though WR Louis Murphy looked pretty good. i had low expectations for him and was pleasantly surprised.
I just hope Chaz Schilens comes back by Week 3 against Denver and doesn't have any lingering effects from his broken foot. He was tearing up camp and preseason and looked like our clear-cut #1 WR. Nnamdi even said he was becoming a handful to cover. You can't ask 2 rookies to go out there and make plays, but Murphy did look pretty good for the most part, Heyward-Bey was getting jammed all night and Jamarcus was throwing scared after the pick he threw... every pass just out of reach, which either means the receiver is going to not make the catch, or he's going to get the **** knocked out of him by a lurking safety.
I heard the same thing about Schillens he would help out tremendously. Wasnt he like a 7th round gem? I think Al can pick good players just not early in the draft. Do you know why Javon Walker didnt play again? Whats with this guy? Last I knew he was available and would seem to be a good veteran presence to all these rookies but no playing time. Im guessing hurt again like always.
Yes, he was a 7th round pick last season who turned into a real stud ala Marques Colston. I think Al does still have a good eye for talent, but he just seems to really miss the boat when it comes to first rounders. I really like what I saw from Tyvon Branch last night, we may finally have a legit safety. Add in Trevor Scott's pass rushing ability and the 08 draft could be one of the best we've had in years. This defense is actually close to being a solid unit from top to bottom, and I think we saw that last night. As for Walker, as far as they know he's basically "healthy" but the coaching staff doesn't seem in any hurry to bring him back into the mix. He's never been the same since his rash of injuries, and I doubt he would make much of an impact at this point.
Branch did look good to me too he made some nice plays. I would love to finally have someone back there who can actually tackle for a change. And another guy I thought looked good was Chris Johnson. Having to play opposite Aso, they were throwing at him a lot and he did well. Its a shame about Walker, last I read he had been showing flashes of his old self and then zip. Im starting to believe he was another DeAngelo Hall who we paid a kings ransom to do nothing. Our D looks much improved but that passing offense is crap. We need to dust off grandpa Gannon who took with him our passing offense when Brooks knocked him out 6 years ago. Im giving Russell this year to grow but d*** he needs to work on accuracy this losing sucks. Well on the bright side, we wont have to watch Terdell Sands anymore
