I feel vindicated that alot of my inital opinions match yours when I broke down the film. I completely agree with Kenneth Moore. He went pretty much undiscussed over here, but his route running was crisp, he caught the ball in traffic and wasn’t afraid to go over the middle.

I missed a really funny comment from Gruden the first time but caught it on the replay. When they did a short profile on WR Steve Smith (ours) Gruden said he calls Smith ’Freddy Kruger" because he scares the hell out of him twice a year. Very funny coming from a guy called Chucky!

I keep saying that Godfrey has upside. I really still do believe he is our starter fo most of the next decade unless injuries or drafts. I think that he is raw still but is our best bet to hold down the spot. I don’t believe that Teal will take the spot but he is showing enough to be a legitimate backup for Godfrey and it makes me feel safe when Charles needs a breather. I do like Joe Fields and Nate Salley but one of them is destined for a PS spot. I am NOT a fan of Harris though. It is hard to review his play when he didn’t do ANYTHING but it I think seeing him standing around the pile and not being able to stop some of the longer runs by over committing and not containing is a bad sign about our ability to stop the run at the higher levels if it gets there. I would love to get Martin or Teal some time at Harris’ SS position but they do not feel comfortable at that side. I think we have seen what Harris has to offer and he is mediocre when we need to plan for the future and know that someone will become an upper tier player at the SS spot. I hope Fields and Salley can push Harris and make him play at a higher level

Nice post Jaxon. The thing about that game is that it was only one game. We all got good impressions and very bad impressions from players. This game against Miami and our 4th game (against the Steelers I think?) will tell us how good our backups are and who can challenge for a starting position.

My guess after this game and from what I saw would be (Please Note: this is only if those who played well continue to play well):

OL: Schwartz is not as good as I thought he would be. The guy is not a quality backup by any means. Could be cut.
QB: Delhomme disappointed me and McCown disappointed me. However Moore and Cantwell I thought did well, given the fact that the OL around them sucked at times and led to turnovers. I can easily see Cantwell going to the PS.
RB: I think we are set here for a long while.
TE/FB: Liked what I saw out of Barnidge. Rosario though will probably be cut to fit Fiammetta on the roster. Speaking of Fiammetta, didn’t see much on him, which could be a good or bad thing.
WR: Both Jason Carter and Dwayne Jarrett were extremely disappointing. Carter was expected to make amazing catches while Jarrett was expected to run routes and neither did what they were supposed to do. Moore on the other hand looked good, and he is on his way to getting that 3rd WR spot. I think the Cats could either end the Carter or Jarrett experiment this year.

DL: Everette Brown did well in his first game. His spin move is raw, but can be worked on and could be a deadly move on some linemen. For DT, Nick Hayden is not the answer. Favorite had a good game and Irvin is a work in progress. I think we might see Hayden either get cut or sent to the PS to make room for a veteran DT.
LB: Best group on the D right now and the deepest. If Leman and Ivy continue to play well, and Diggs and especially Landon Johnson (who is injured) do not, my prediction is that one or both may be trade and/or cut to get a veteran DT. Leman was very impressive and Dan Conner is a natural football player.
CB: Sherrod Martin needs to learn to look for the ball. Allowing a 3rd and 17 to be converted is not going to get you into an NFL roster.
S: If Quinton Teal continues to play well, Charles Godfrey may well find his job in jeopardy. Teal could force Godfrey into a CB position, due to Teal’s seemingly good ability to intercept a ball, something this team had problems with last year.

I like looking at one position and evaluating it. With S Godfrey will bounce back but Teal will still push. One INT against a second or third team offense is impressive but not worthy of an immediate move. He got one interception. Woooo. He will get a look by Fox to see how they can utilize him more but I don’t see much more into him moving into Godfrey’s spot.

When you did the film review, did any of the backup DTs from New York look like a possible waiver pick up? I keep hearing that they have the deepest D line and will not be able to keep everyone on the roster.

One of the toughest running games and defenses in the league??? We need to get slapped around now, so we have time to adjust. Most of the other NFC South teams faced softer opponents. Let them go ahead and start the season over confident, while we start with our weaknesses already addressed.

1. I want to see Jake Delhomme show off his arm. The passes he made during the Pre-Season were short completions to the sidelines, some of them lollipops that any corner could have intercepted in press coverage. Jake looked panicky, and he didn’t really concentrate or try to throw beyond the 1st down marker. I’d love to see him convert a couple of 3rds.

2. Open competition between Dan Conner and Na’il Diggs. Conner has already secured the 4th linebacker spot by a large margin, but I would like to see him sprinkled into the 1st team offense just to see how he meshes with the rest of the group. Maybe switch him out with Diggs the next game and the 4th game so that you got a decent amount of film, and then the coaches can watch it and make an intelligent decision on whether to go with the young rookie or the old veteran.

3. More production from Martin. We drafted Sherrod in order for him to take over at nickel corner, but we didn’t see much of him during the game.

4. Ryne Robinson needs to stop being a panzy. Players are going to run at you during special teams. That’s just how it is. I saw him down the ball too many times during the game last week. I can understand that it’s the Pre-Season, and you don’t want to get hurt. At the same time, this is football. The blocking can’t always be perfect. Unless you have a guy right in your face, try to juke. You’re a punt returner, so return the punts.

5. Jonathan Stewart. We’re all worried about him by now. John Fox and his staff have a reputation for giving the least information out to the fans as possible. Is Jonathan’s Achilles really just sore, or is it a deeper injury we all don’t know about? Mike Goodson had a good showing, and he will provide a good change of pace back in the meantime, but fans would love for Stewart to return so we can form the fearsome threesome combo.

I’ll add more when I think of them.