IrepDC

You can't even start a season in Madden with only 4 LBs

Who would've guessed when half the board was watching Zach Wilson together last year that we were actually scouting our next WR.

With Mayo and Norris out our LB room is extremely thin. With Mayo and Norris in our LB room was extremely thin.

McTyre seems like he can play inside and outside. Roberts, if he makes it, will be locked into that nickel/dime slot like Moreland was. So you're right in that McTyre likely gets more PT, but the strictly slot role that Moreland held will probably be Roberts' now.

I think it was Darryl Roberts who took Moreland's spot in the CB rotation

The Ravens 3rd stringers were targeting Apke at corner. He's not a good DB. We have plenty though apparently so hopefully we will never see him take a defensive snap again. The scheme around for him is punt team and kickoff team. That's it.

Obligatory "I called it" post on Barnes. He was the main LB I promoted after the 1st round. He's going to be a good one. If I remember correctly, he was picked before our 4th round pick of Forrest so we didn't end up with a real shot at him. Still would've been a great compliment to Davis' game. We'll be in the market for a Barnes type LB in next year's draft.

Apke is okay as long as he stays far away from actual snaps on defense. He's strictly a special teamer. Tough to make a roster like that but he may do it.

We should have a lot of success running to their side. I saw them moving the LOS together the first 2 games. If they can do that against Baltimore, it'll be a good sign for our running game this year.

Cosmi and Scherff should be fun to watch on that right side this year

I wonder if this means we're in a 5-2 alignment or of this is just a goal line package. I'd love if we came out on 1st down in the 5-2 sometimes. Shut down the running opportunities early.

It sounds like Apke has been showing out in practice. I need to see it against another team on GameDay, but if he can just be a serviceable DB backup, that will compliment his value on ST very well. I hope to see him make a play or two against Baltimore. (If he doesn't show up with the same ability on GameDay, I prefer one of the DBs who has shown they can already) It sounds like he might surprise me from the practice reports though.

Yes, that's what I'm saying. The starters would likely be McClaurin, Samuels(in the slot), and Sims/eventually Brown. Two WR sets would still be McClaurin and Samuels most often. In my opinion, Samuel in the slot for 3 WR sets is our best option right now. Humphries hasn't shown us anything to live up to the hype of having chemistry with Fitz. They have actually been out of sync. Without that upside, what does Humphries really add that we couldn't get from the younger guys? If Fitz has to rebuild chemistry with Humphries, he may as well build it with Milne, who we expect/hope to take over that role in the near future anyway. I'm not saying I think it'll happen, but if we do lose one of the younger players, I think by mid season you'll see complaints that Humphries isn't living up to the hype. A good showing this last preseason game could change my opinion, but Humphries hasn't impressed me so far.

Milne could take Humphries spot. For all the hype about him having chemistry with Fitz, we haven't seen it. If they look out of sync this week, I'd give that spot to Milne.

They have been using Parsons near the LOS and his responsibility has usually looked like "See ball/Get ball." Basically Dallas has been using Parsons as a sword to attack, whereas we have been asking Jamin to play a variety of roles. The few times I've seen Parsons get beat have been in coverage. In run support he is downhill and much more experienced/violent at shedding blocks than Davis. Jamin looks much better in coverage which is arguably more of what we needed. Your analysis is pretty accurate.

Yeah that is exactly why I liked this play so much. In a real game, the QB either throws it and he picks it/blows the RB up, or the QB hesitates like this game and one of our DL get a sack. His impact won't always be noticeable to the naked eye but he can do his job to allow his teammates to excel. True he isn't a small guy, but more lower body strength and 5 to 10 lbs would make a HUGE difference when dealing with 6'4 300 lbs olinemen trying to block him. I doubt we ask him to change his physique rather than just continue developing like all professionals do. NFL strength is different and he's still adjusting to it.

You have to give him credit, he broke up passes to the Bengals top two targets in one drive. The third round picks both are showing up.

Jamin looked more decisive last night. He kept his downhill read step more often on run fits, and you could see he was trying to get into every play. The obvious weakness is him still learning to navigate NFL level traffic. He will need to learn from his lumps and develop his technique. We saw him get washed down the lines on a few plays, but I reserve the fact a few times he could have been maintaining his gap. I also noticed a play where he read his run gap then had coverage on the RB. Once he realized his first assignment was good and it was a pass, he flew across the field to track the RB swinging. The QB initially thought he had an easy swing pass then realized Davis was flying in and went to another read. He needs to keep making flash plays like those utilizing his athleticism. There were a few times I saw someone fly across the field, something I noticed with Sweat early, and it was Davis. Realistically, Rivera and Del Rio have the knowledge to help him develop. If he is the type of player to learn from his coaches, we will continue to see moderate growth. His weaknesses right now are teachable and/or him putting on more weight/strength. By mid season, I'd expect a light bulb to go off, if he's what we drafted him for, but he'll need to keep learning and developing his game. We need more of those flash plays to show up as he's developing, too.

Agreed. Maybe I've missed that Reaves has been getting beat in camp. Apke's name has come up both good and bad, but I haven't heard much of Reaves name. If his guy is covered and he's not getting targeted, the coaches will see it. If he's cut, we'll know he wasn't performing as well as his 2020 season.

You're giving credit to Apke for camp but not credit to Reaves for actual gameplay. It's debatable, but I'd go with Reaves. Position flex with guys like McCain mean you can keep the top DBs not all necessarily by position group. And for all the hype Apke gets for special teams, Reaves outperformed him there as well. That's why I go Reaves over Apke. We will have to wait and see how the coaches see it.

If we were a relay track team, I'd agree with you, but Reaves is better at the game of football than guys like Apke or the other corner on that list.

Jeremy Reaves got one of the few kick blocks on special teams and is one of the better safeties on our roster. He'd be making it as a special teams player or a reserve over a few of those guys in my opinion.

Get Milne a couple reps with the ones this game and see how he does. Add a return or two along with Patterson. Let them compete. They're earning those spots in my opinion.

Jamin's development will be interesting to watch. I won't over analyze his couple of drives from last night, but I will be watching to see his improvement in a few areas. What I saw is generally what I'd expect from a rookie playing MLB in his first preseason game. You could tell he is still getting comfortable with just playing and not thinking too much. I noticed him hesitate to trust his eyes on a few plays, resulting in getting caught up in traffic. This will be great film for him to study and see how that slight hesitation makes a difference. Once he starts trusting his eyes, he'll be in a lot more plays. I also saw him get knocked around a few times making his way to the ball lol. Not man handled, or even actually blocked, just bigger bodies knocking him off his path to the ball a bit. He's still learning how to balance all that athleticism with being a linebacker who has to be physical. There's an art to navigating those running lanes and alleys, and even more so on the NFL level. Of course there were good things I saw also, but the preseason isn't for patting yourself on the back- especially for rookies. It's for exposing them to the fire and fine tuning any areas of weakness. I'll start talking about the good things I'm seeing once they are consistent. It'll be fun to see how he looks after a week of film study of himself. I expect him to make strides each week.

We TALK about signing their rookie kicker, he starts missing too.