I too think our running success will go down (statistically-speaking) this year because of our harder schedule. We played a lot of teams that were terrible against the run last year (not just counting us). And this year, we face many of the top defenses against the run from last year. So, I expect us to struggle to put up similar numbers. Doesn’t mean we won’t have success with the run or that we should get away from it. But it just means fans shouldn’t expect us to set all-new team records again.

Also, I suspect teams are going to have a lot more film on us. They’re going to study Jeff Davidson’s offense and blocking schemes. And they’re going to challenge Delhomme based on his horrible playoff game to once again show he can win with his arm by stacking the line against the run. I suspect they’ll also test our O-linemen and their durability, hoping to make us fall back to a backup player who won’t be as good in the blocking, thereby disrupting us offensively. That’s what we’ll need to guard against.

If Barnidge sees the field, he’ll likely be in two TE sets…or obvious passing downs. Assuming he sees increased playing time over Rosario, I do hope he has a breakout year. We need to see what we’ve got in him to determine who we eventually keep and try to resign. Jeff King is playing on a one-year contract right now. Do we keep him next year? Probably not if Barnidge can show he’s got starting talent in both aspects of a TE’s contribution to the offense (i.e., run-blocking and pass-catching).

I also agree that Delhomme has a lot to prove. Not simply to the fans, but also himself. He’s going to be tested early and often. Opposing defenses are going to challenge him to see if he’s still got it. If Jake struggles to find the open receiver when they stack the line, then we’re in for a vicious cycle of further questioning his skills. If he lights it up, hopefully he shuts up a lot of the naysayers…again.

Marshall took a lot of steps backward last year and made several mistakes. If he doesn’t get that stuff corrected, he won’t be starting at anything very long. He looked great early in his career. Personally, I think he’s got talent. He’s much more of a ballhawk than any of the other guys have shown themselves to be in how he aggressively goes after the ball. But those risks sometimes backfire on him. He’s got the potential to really help us defensively…or really hurt us. But I do like his tackling ability (it’s better than Ken Lucas) and that should help on containing the edge along with Gamble. But that’s assuming he gets to be our starting CB. And that may not be the case.

As for Dan Connor, he has the misfortune of playing a position behind one of the greats (Jon Beason) right now. But that doesn’t mean he can’t be a force on special teams. He was just coming into that role before his injury last year. And, given the rules changes they’re making about no longer using wedges in the return game, that means opposing teams are going to spread the field and use faster, more elusive guys (rather than the big fellas who typically form a wedge) to try and return the ball. We need someone quick like Dan Connor, Mike Goodson, or maybe Captain Munnerlyn, etc. to combat that strategy. And, any improvements we can make on containing runbacks on special teams helps our weakened defense tremendously in field position. We’ve already got Rhys Lloyd and his booming leg to help. And Jason Baker’s a pretty decent punter at pinning opponents back. But some gunners and tacklers on special teams can help a lot, too. And Dan Connor can contribute there even if he isn’t a starter on defense.

But that’s just my nickel’s worth (I think),
—Neil

Lets see if he can put it together.