Hawkscanner
New member
jammerhawk":ub8oa4c8 said:The D still swarms to meet the ball. Once they figure out the opposing attack they limit the yardage given up. We have seen our 2nd string clearly outplay every other team's 2's. The 1's have been playing very vanilla, and when it's real expect to see the real D, the one we have come to expect.
Have been pleasantly surprised with the play of Bass & Griffin, and Hill is beginning to show why the team liked him. It's hard to crack this roster on D and the team will cut lots of good players. Doubt there will be many surprise changes in personnel. In another thread I thought the team is not yet happy with the talent at 3tech and we may see some others cycled through before that's set. The injury to McDowell screwed up their plans.
Still curious as to which reserve CBs will be kept after the top 3 of Sherm, Lane, and Griffin competition is still on. I believe Nieko Thorape is one though. Do know that the top 4 DBs are Earl, Kam, McDougald, and Hill, usually there is one more but none is special yet. With luck Shead may be back for the playoff run stretch and the team's depth marketedly improved as a result.
The linebacker depth looks solid and there will be a loss of talent when the cuts happen.
I am really liking the results on the field so far.
Yeah Jammer, let's flip over to the other side of the field and talk about the defense. I would have written up a full post on observations surrounding the defense, but I kind of ran out of steam.
I've been pleasantly surprised (that's how I would have put it as well) by David Bass, Shaq Griffin, and Delano Hill in particular as well.
David Bass -- I honestly hadn't really known anything about him before Preseason began. Against San Diego, it was like all of a sudden #47 comes FLYING out of nowhere to make a play on Kellen Clemens and I was like, "Who the heck is that?!" Friday night, he ends up sacking Pat Mahomes. This guy is interesting. I went back and checked out his draft profile from 2013, and he ended up running a 4.33 in the 20 yard shuttle (which was #1 at the combine for DE). So he is QUICK. He's got all the measureables you like in a DE and reminds me in some ways a bit of young Michael Sinclair.
Shaq Griffin -- I cannot say enough of how impressed I've been by this young guy. Of all our draft choices this year, he might just turn out to be the most important (the most key) to the team this year. It's early, but he has the look of a guy whom I believe could morph into a shut down corner in his own right. He's got the best mentor in the world he could ever have starting across from him. He's got better overall speed than Sherman, so I'm thinking give him a couple of years and he could be lights out good.
Delano Hill-- Very pleasantly surprised by this young guy, but I guess I honestly shouldn't be. After all, guys like Frank Clark were saying how very good of a player Hill was ... that he just has a nose for the football and is a very sure tackler. You can do those things and do them consistently, you're going to go a long ways on this team.
Regarding the reserve CB battle, I would have to agree in giving the nod to Thorpe at this point.
Hey -- one thing that I've heard basically nobody talking about from Friday night -- how about K.J. WRIGHT?!? Man, there was one play that KJ came in like a missile to make the stop and I immediately sat up and was like, "THAT's the Old K.J. that we've grown to know and love!" Guess the "process" has done wonders for him, eh?