12th's Five Reasons To Be Encouraged

[#56fanatic]

Originally Posted by 12thMan

Welll I think it's easy to be negative if that's all you focus on. Like I said, somebody in our division will be 1-3 by Sunday night, and it won't be the Redskins.

We played one good half, and one bad half. Think about that, we didn't stink up an entire game, we blew it in the second half. I think we have some things to correct, yes. But you can't tell me if we beat the Lions, no matter how we beat the Lions, you'll feel good.

my point is this - how many games did we blow last year when leading by 10 or more in the second half. If we are still doing the same as last year(albiet on game) how is that encouraging? I find it discouraging. of course I will be glad that we beat lions. If we have a hard time stopping Manning w/ and injured shoulder and Plaxico, I think we may have trouble stopping Kitna, Williams, Furrey, Johnson. Just a huntch.

I hope I am wrong.

[12thMan]

Originally Posted by #56fanatic

my point is this - how many games did we blow last year when leading by 10 or more in the second half. If we are still doing the same as last year(albiet on game) how is that encouraging? I find it discouraging. of course I will be glad that we beat lions. If we have a hard time stopping Manning w/ and injured shoulder and Plaxico, I think we may have trouble stopping Kitna, Williams, Furrey, Johnson. Just a huntch.

I hope I am wrong.

You're right about last year, but this is a bit of a different team if you ask me. Last year's team didn't start 2-1 either.

I bet we'll have something for the Lions too. And I'm not just saying that. However, if we blow this game against the Lions in similar fashion, then I'm worried. Not concerned, but worried.

[#56fanatic]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

I think it's funny some keep complaining about the lack of pressure from up front but I really don't see it as a major issue especially when compared to recent years. Andre Carter is off to a nice start.

why not complain about pressure - teams that can apply pressure are able to produce more turn overs, win field position battles, force more 3 and outs. Lets compare defensive units from 04 and 05 to 06 and 07. 04 and 05 - consistant pressure style of D - top 5 in 04 and Top 10 in 05. Granted the pressure was not from the front 4 on a consistant basis, but we got to the QB. year 2006 - changes styles to a cover 2 read and react, got beat like a drum week in and week out - couldn't stop the run, nor the pass - set record for fewest turnovers - ended up 31st. This year is still in question.

The pressure or lack of is an issue - even coaches talk about getting pressure on the QB consistantly. No Defense is successful sitting back and letting people pick you apart. Do you think the Lions, Pats, Packers, Cowboys aren't going to air it out and lets those QB's just pick us apart? Not saying it will, but hard to think it wont happen.

[Monkeydad]

Hey, we're 2-1. If we win 2 out of every 3 games for the rest of the year, we'll have 11 or so wins.

We should beat the Lions, Cards, Jets, Bucs, Bills, Vikings the Giants next time and yes, even the Bears who look horrible. Favre looks great but they have no RBs, can they keep THAT up? The Pats and Cowboys won't win every game, maybe we can ensure that. Anything can happen in the NFL.

[MTK]

Again, I think Carter is off to a nice start and has consistently applied good pressure, and I think Washington has done a nice job rushing as well. Has the problem been fixed completely? No, but it's been improved.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Again, I think Carter is off to a nice start and has consistently applied good pressure, and I think Washington has done a nice job rushing as well. Has the problem been fixed completely? No, but it's been improved.

I don't think Carter has consistently applied good pressure.

He's got 2 sacks, on pace for ten, and one great strip of Manning. But going over the stats last year, I noticed a disturbing trend. Carter had one third the hurries of Phillip Daniels. Yeah, hes going against better tackles, but he also takes himself out of a lot of plays with his speed rush. Sure 2-3% of passing plays he beats the LT clean and gets there for the sack. But what about the 90% where he's nowhere near the passer? I personally would trade 4 sacks for 20 hurries from the DE position.

One thing I have to give him, he's been a LOT better against the run this season. You can still beat him by running straight at him, but in general he's doing a better job not overpursuing and taking away cutback lanes beautifully. He's just nothing more than an average pass rusher at best.

[calia]

Sorry, guys. To lose a game to a division rival at home when up by 14 at the half is inexcusable. The truly good teams win games like that. We didn't. To be outscored 21-0 by that crap Giants team in the second half is an embarassment. If we won that game, NY fans would be scraming for Coughlin's head and the G-men would be in a really big hole. (Not to mention, with the jerkweeds they have on that team, they'd probably start in-fighting and their season would implode.) Now, we've given them life and dropped a game that we should have had well in hand. (We even won the turnover battle for a change.) Let's hope that was our worst effort of the season. The only bright spots, as far as I am concerned, were (1) Rock's returns, and (2) Campbell completing some big 3rd and 4th down throws.

[JWsleep]

To the negative commentators in this thread--we've got lots and lots of threads hashing and re-hashing the negatives. No one is denying that they exist. This thread rightly picks out some positives. Yes, we've got things to fix. But we've also got some good things going.

Post the good here, the negatives in one of the umpteen many threads on those issues!

[12thMan]

Originally Posted by JWsleep

To the negative commentators in this thread--we've got lots and lots of threads hashing and re-hashing the negatives. No one is denying that they exist. This thread rightly picks out some positives. Yes, we've got things to fix. But we've also got some good things going.

Post the good here, the negatives in one of the umpteen many threads on those issues!

amen to that.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by JWsleep

To the negative commentators in this thread--we've got lots and lots of threads hashing and re-hashing the negatives. No one is denying that they exist. This thread rightly picks out some positives. Yes, we've got things to fix. But we've also got some good things going.

Post the good here, the negatives in one of the umpteen many threads on those issues!

Yeah seriously, there's enough pissing and moaning around here let's leave at least one thread to focus on the positives.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

I don't think Carter has consistently applied good pressure.

He's got 2 sacks, on pace for ten, and one great strip of Manning. But going over the stats last year, I noticed a disturbing trend. Carter had one third the hurries of Phillip Daniels. Yeah, hes going against better tackles, but he also takes himself out of a lot of plays with his speed rush. Sure 2-3% of passing plays he beats the LT clean and gets there for the sack. But what about the 90% where he's nowhere near the passer? I personally would trade 4 sacks for 20 hurries from the DE position.

One thing I have to give him, he's been a LOT better against the run this season. You can still beat him by running straight at him, but in general he's doing a better job not overpursuing and taking away cutback lanes beautifully. He's just nothing more than an average pass rusher at best.

10 sacks is a nice pace to be on. He seems to have picked right up where he left off last year.

[firstdown]

How about Frost!! He has looked good all year and I'm glade we have stuck with him.

[12thMan]

Originally Posted by firstdown

How about Frost!! He has looked good all year and I'm glade we have stuck with him.

Great call: Frosty is third in the NFL right now. Looks like we got a Pro-Bowler on our hands boys.

Shall we rename this thread: Six things to be encouraged about?

[Southpaw]

Originally Posted by 12thMan

Great call: Frosty is third in the NFL right now. Looks like we got a Pro-Bowler on our hands boys.

If he gets to the Pro Bowl, I hope he doesn't try to run a fake punt and get destroyed by the AFC equivalent of Sean Taylor.

[12thMan]

Originally Posted by Southpaw

If he gets to the Pro Bowl, I hope he doesn't try to run a fake punt and get destroyed by the AFC equivalent of Sean Taylor.

There is no AFC equivalent of Sean Taylor

That was one nasty hit though!