[Eurotrash]

well, I don't claim to be making any novel observations here, but it just seems like the 4-man rush and even the blitzes haven't been getting to the quarterback nearly enough this year. i mean i would have figured Griese would have been sacked maybe 3-4 times at least that game.


as for your grades of the units, i think they're all pretty fair. although I'm a fan of David Akers, so I'd probably give him an A- [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]


tight ends have been admittedly poor, but with LJ out, that's just to be expected. I think you might be underrating the linebackers slightly, although losing Trotter this season was tough.

Sav Rocca is tough to judge, imo. because sometimes he comes through with some boomers (relatively often, from what i've seen) but then he throws in an occasional shank that Dirk Johnson seemed to avoid. Dirk didn't have the leg that this guy has, but he was certainly more consistent.

as for why they're 2-4, it's just such a combination of bad luck, some bad play calling, a few bad breaks from the officials. like that hold by Herremans when Westbrook ran for the first down. i'm pretty sure i saw a replay a few times of it, and it didn't look like Herremans had any jersey. it just looked like he released his block and the guy hit the deck and a flag was thrown. that first down would have essentially won the game.

obviously it can't be all blamed on things like that, though. too many dropped passes continue to plague this team. that one ball to Thomas Tapeh had at least 10 yards. Brown's drop in the endzone, although he was covered pretty tightly, but an NFL receiver still makes that catch. there was a tough drop by Celek at some point (although i think Celek can be a good player for this offense.) the only guys i don't worry about are Curtis and (oddly enough) Hank Baskett.


but you can really point to so many things. red zone play-calling and execution has been pretty abysmal at times imo. like note PokerFink's post a few posts back about how they don't run it enough in the redzone situations. whether it be Buck or B-Dub, they were running all over the Bears in the early going. and it seemed like they just abandoned that in the redzone.

i don't know. everybody I'm sure will disagree with most of this and just call for Reid's job. and Donovan's, too. but I really think this team can still make the playoffs. the NFC East is going to get both WC spots again. and i look at the remainder of this schedule and I do see 7 games that they can/should win. and i think 9-7 gets it done in the NFC.

of course this is all based on them winning next week at the 'sota. and holding serve at home vs. the Cowgirls. a tough parlay, but not impossible. so let's just hope LJ and Dawkins get healthy as soon as possible.