biggest concerns going into the new season:

[roth74va]

Originally Posted by 4mrusmc

Something that has troubled me during the preseason is the inability to cover well in punt and kick-off coverages. Look for this to be a serious problem, and one that will no doubtably irritate Danny Smith, and us fans. But, it seemed too often that our special teams were allowing other teams to return a kick-off or punt around the 40 yard line. And most notably was the inability to make a first contact tackle.

I think most of your issues will be cleared up, we had tons of people playing teams that are no longer on the team. During the preseason they let anyone/everyone try to prove themselves on teams, most of whom arent ever gonna see the field in a real game.

Great thread though, Im gonna go with defensive backs. Gtripp wrote a great article recently that touched on this, so Im really just agreeing. Hopefully Rogers injury is ok, and he can contribute. Smoot is an adequate nickel corner IMO, but if either Rogers/Hall gets hurt, Smoot as a starter would hurt. I also dont think Tryon/Barnes/Westbrook(in that order) are ready to contribute either. Hopefully we can stay healthy, if so I feel like our defense should create lots of problems for our opponents.