Hi, guys. Watched the game last night on NFL Channel. It sure is frustrating to have missed those Ram offense series. What the hell ...
I don't have anything brilliant here. In a number of ways, I was very encouraged. The run D was outstanding. The OL has become a team strength, doing decently in its toughest test so far this year. Keenum threw very well, and sometimes aggressively, hitting very small windows. I think Goff looks good, though of course I couldn't see a couple of his series. Britt looks fairly good, and Kendricks is solid as always. You know the drill.
Now, here's my takeaway so far. This team is seriously improved. Strengths like the DL have been deepened. The development of the OL is a fine sight to see. Our RBs are studs. 'Tree showed some instincts last night. (Historically, he is slow to do that until the light goes on.) Our QBs look better than we have had since Sam was healthy, what was it, 3 years ago? Even our WRs and TEs are better.
Of course, as everyone says, we were a few plays from 10-6 last year with all our problems at OL, QB, and WR. Improve those areas, and we just have to be threatening the playoffs, right?
I don't think so. I see no evidence--so far--that we have improved the 2 critical areas which, IMO, have and will continue to doom us.
1. Moving the chains with the medium pass: 8-20 yards. ONCE AGAIN last night, we were gawd-awful on 3rd down. It kept us out of the EZ at least twice.
Now, we HAVE shown some improvement in this during the off season. And DEN is about the best pass D out there. But, we showed NOTHING on 3rd down against that defense. Nothing. And without 3rd down plays, we will, I fear, underperform again.
I think that the ultimate reason for this failure lies with our WRs. They simply do not get open downfield quickly enough to let the QBs beat blitzes and pressure. We now have, IMO, a WR core that is OK. But we STILL do not have a WR who can win strongly and quickly enough to give our QBs a decent chance. (And why we paid Tavon for another 4 years bewilders me. He is NOT the answer to our needs!)
2. Defensive inconsistency: not necessarily in that game, but through the pre-season. I really liked our defense last night. But, DEN was doing weird stuff refusing to pass, and then, later when they did pass, we started giving up 3rd downs again. We are stuck in NFL quicksand: converting almost no 3rd downs ourselves and failing to get off the field defending on 3rd down.
I think our defense has a ton of talent. But I really do not trust Williams, or Fisher, to establish the consistency that a really fine defensive unit shows. Our run D looked great last night. It should ALWAYS look that solid. But Williams will run our guys around in exotic sets that put people into poor positions and offenses will run us ragged.
Then there is the matter of our pass defense. I have yet to see Williams realize that he HAS a superb pass rush in his front 4 and deploy the secondary to stress the quick completion routes, giving Quinn and Donald and the rest a chance to get sacks. I am sick to death of seeing blitzes ahead of soft coverages that concede the 1 down throw before a pass rush could possibly get there.
Ultimately, I don't trust the coaching staff. I don't trust them to get this team ready to play with competitive discipline, week after week. And that's why we'll be frustrated again this year.
Oh, we'll look great at times. We'll beat some good teams and have some really impressive dominance in some games against mediocre teams.
But we'll also lose games we would be expected to win. And we won't win big games. And, again, we'll go 7-9 or so.
That's what I expect. I would LOVE to be wrong. I think the talent is there for a play off run.
But talent is not decisive in this league. Football is the ultimate team game requiring a team to play with coordinated, disciplined intensity. And I simply do not trust this coaching staff to lead this team to that level of execution.
In the NBA, they talk about the hell of being pretty good, but not good enough to win playoff series. I think we are stuck in that hell of mediocrity, and will be until we have a better coach. And if Fisher proves me wrong, I will delightedly confess my error and give him the credit I fear he will never earn.
