H.B. Blades (merged)

[AmeriplanDentalMan]

Linebacker is the deepest and most talented area of this team. We rock at linebacker. I was not at the game and have not seen the replay, but from what people are saying, our corners are still playing 10 yards off the receivers. Why is this and when is somebody going to call GW OUT on this point. Nobody has had the balls to ever question GW on this subject that we all have been griping about for a whole year.

Please somebody, ask Williams why in the hell do you have cornerbacks playing 10 yards away from the receiver on 3rd and 7? What possible strategy is out there that can explain this phenomena that keeps repeating itself like a bad dream?

[taylorcoreskin]

London Fletcher-Baker= real deal.

:applause:

2 words:

PROBOWL BOUND!

[2006Skins]

I love HB's play and his pedigree but remember most of his work came against a lot of guys who arent gonna be on an NFL roster come Sept 11

as far as starting Defense I think we were explosive to the ball against the run but a bit concerned at #2 corner

Jason cambell had several ball dropped on him or his numbers wjould have better and his protection wasnt very good and of course didnt have a great running attack. I think the offense has to work on chemistry and we will be fine

Remember there are three constants in life...Death, Taxes, and London Fletcher Baker

I agree with everything except the last sentence... #2 corner wasn't much of a problem; both corners were playing 10-15 yards off of the receivers. Campbell was left to make the hot reads and didn't; they interviewed him after the game and that's what he said. Chemistry wasn't the problem; having a banged up line was.

But I like your comment about Fletcher.

[Siven]

:applause:

2 words:

PROBOWL BOUND!

Sorry, but although London Fletcher is crazy good, he has never made the pro bowl. he always gets overshadowed by Ray lewis or Zach Thomas or some other guy. He is one of those guys who is always great, but never gets the recognition he deserves.

[mi6]

Was everyone as impressed with his play tonight as I was? The kid looked just like Fletcher while he was in there.

Frankly, they are spitting images of each other. I am rooting for him making the cut. He would be a good addition, and his upside is good as well.

[Touchdown Redskins]

MLBs should be one thing, if anything, and that is a tackling MACHINE. LF has proved over his career that he is definitely a tackling machine. I'm not going to read too much into Blades, because it's one game, but he did lead the team in tackles with 9 total. Not bad for a rook, eh? Let's hope that Blades learns from LF, Golston/Montgomery learn from Griffin and Salavea, LL learns from ST, Rogers learns (a lot more) from Springs, Heyer learns from Samuels, and JC DOESN'T learn from Mark Brunell.

[HailRiggoRanger]

Blades looked good. Did the other LB, Sartz, even play? I don't remember him doing anything out there.

Also, Macklin's play sucked...Looked like Kenny Wright.

[Teller]

Color me a Horatio Benedict Blades fan.

[da#1skinsfan]

Blades is the truth. That guy will be SOLID. He understood the defense, covered ground well, hit hard as hell, and made a difference all over the field whenever he stepped on it. HUGE plus for the night...that guy is going to be special.

[Major Harris]

i watched him his whole college career. if you can make plays while suiting up for sPitt, you're special. and i said as much when we drafted him. it was a huge steal to get him where we did.

what's with you guys saying you "hope he makes the cut."??? i'm pretty confident he'll be on the squad. did anyone happen to notice if he played any special teams?

[da#1skinsfan]

He did play special teams. He was about 25% of that Derek Frost hit as I recall.

You never know with late round picks man, and you never know whats in the coaches heads. Maybe they think he'll get better experience on the practice squad, who knows. All we can do is sit back, assess these guys as fans and hope for the best. One would have to assume based on what weve seen he is a lock for the team, but who knows.

[Major Harris]

He did play special teams. He was about 25% of that Derek Frost hit as I recall.

You never know with late round picks man, and you never know whats in the coaches heads. Maybe they think he'll get better experience on the practice squad, who knows. All we can do is sit back, assess these guys as fans and hope for the best. One would have to assume based on what weve seen he is a lock for the team, but who knows.

thanks. i wasn't able to watch the whole game. i couldn't remember if he was out there or not.

if he shows the ability to be a solid special teamer, i'd venture to say he's a lock.

[da#1skinsfan]

If you missed that DF hit, catch a replay. I love that guy man, just lays Finnegan out. Im sure someone will post a vid/pic up.

[Teller]

i watched him his whole college career. if you can make plays while suiting up for sPitt, you're special. and i said as much when we drafted him. it was a huge steal to get him where we did.

what's with you guys saying you "hope he makes the cut."??? i'm pretty confident he'll be on the squad. did anyone happen to notice if he played any special teams?

Yes, he did, and got at least one ST assist that I saw.

I agree with you completely Maj. Even before last night, I said that the kid reminded me of London Fletcher -- undersized, not super fast, but has a ridiculous motor and a nose for the ball.

I couldn't be happier with how H.B. played last night. He was on top of his assignments, even when faced with some good play action, and he always seemed to be around the football. I really believe this kid is the MLB of the future when Fletch decides to hang it up. We're going to talk about him for years a la Monte Coleman, in terms of late-round steals.

[Zen-like Todd]

I was very happy with his play, but to say he looked just like Fletcher (other than fact that they are around the same size) is pretty foolish. Fletcher was pure dynamite on the field. When he was being interviewed after we signed him and someone commented on his height, he replied that holes open horizontally, not vertically. After seeing him last night, I'm not going to argue.

Hopefully Blades will apprentice at the feet of Fletcher for the next couple of years and be ready to take over when Fletcher calls it quits. Given our recent dearth of draft picks and marked lack of depth at certain positions (o-line, wr), we sure as hell could stand to pick up a late rounder who develops into a starter down the road.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Blades was definitely money last night.

It'll be nice to know that he'll be out there when Fletchers taking a breather.

[Teller]

I was very happy with his play, but to say he looked just like Fletcher (other than fact that they are around the same size) is pretty foolish. Fletcher was pure dynamite on the field. When he was being interviewed after we signed him and someone commented on his height, he replied that holes open horizontally, not vertically. After seeing him last night, I'm not going to argue.

Hopefully Blades will apprentice at the feet of Fletcher for the next couple of years and be ready to take over when Fletcher calls it quits. Given our recent dearth of draft picks and marked lack of depth at certain positions (o-line, wr), we sure as hell could stand to pick up a late rounder who develops into a starter down the road.

I had almost forgotten how much I enjoyed the stadium.

First of all, I didn't say Blades looked just like Fletcher. I said, even before last night's game that Blades reminds me of Fletcher. And he does. One of the announcers last night even said something to the effect of "If you took the numbers off their jerseys, you wouldn't be able to tell Fletcher and Blades apart."

They are similar players. They're both short for MLBs. And as I said, neither has blinding speed. Both have an uncanny sense for reading and reacting, and both did so quite well last night. I don't disagree that Fletcher is the better player right now. But after last night, I can honestly say I would be comfortable with Blade stepping in if Fletcher goes down. (Knock on wood, he hasn't been hurt in his career.)

It's been a long time since we had a late-round pick who appears to have the potential Blades does. Yeah, sure, it was only one game, but the kid looked damn good.

[da#1skinsfan]

Dont you know by now, its all or nothing here.

If you say someone looked good in one game, it automatically means they are a pro-bowler. If someone had a bad game, they should be cut.

ExtremeSkins, home of the absolute.

[Zen-like Todd]

I had almost forgotten how much I enjoyed the stadium.

Perhaps you'd do better if you would read entire threads.

First of all, I didn't say Blades looked just like Fletcher. I said, even before last night's game that Blades reminds me of Fletcher. And he does. One of the announcers last night even said something to the effect of "If you took the numbers off their jerseys, you wouldn't be able to tell Fletcher and Blades apart."

Congratulations, I never said you did. In fact I wasn't responding to any of your posts whatsoever. My my, someone has an inflated sense of self importance.

[RabidFan]

Dont you know by now, its all or nothing here.

If you say someone looked good in one game, it automatically means they are a pro-bowler. If someone had a bad game, they should be cut.

ExtremeSkins, home of the absolute.

Good Stuff

[skindogger47]

I was impressed with anthony montgomery he blew up the titans first string center 3 times..

The Titans starting center is horrible apparently, I didn't see him do anything but get burned last night. But Monty is a BEAST, no denying it. I KNEW our D line would impress, and we did it without Griff!

[skindogger47]

I really like Blades on special teams. I think he's gonna do some great things this year, like forcing key fumbles and laying people out.

[trimee]

and JC DOESN'T learn from Mark Brunell.

I don't agree with you there. Even though MB has a noodle arm now, He is a super-smart QB who produces some of the fewest turnovers at that position. I would LOVE to have JC learn the smarts of the position from MB, just with the arm strength to stretch the field.

[jnhay]

No, not even close to how well Fletcher played. He did alright, but besides that one real nice blow up shot on Henry, he looked kinda slow and certainly feeling his way. Fletcher impressed me.

He looked like he was full of potential though, being that he played after Fletcher.

[Vi]

I think he did better than expected, which it very nice to see. I wouldn't say he was shockingly good or anything, but he showed enough to assure that there is something there to work with and that's exactly what you are looking for in a second day pick.

Fletcher totally tore things up, though. He is coming just as advertised, which is just what this D needs. I can really see him helping a lot of the problems we had last year.