That’s all Kemo brought to the table. His tackles were not spectacular and he never got QB pressure or a sack. He is little more than a big guy that people had to run around.

- Eagles
- Redskins
- Giants

None of whom had a dominant, game changing DT. They all use servicible DTs with very powerful DEs to anchor the line.

I agree we need to find a run stopper, but I don’t think DT is the be all and end all.

In our version of the 4-3, you like pressure from the DTs but you really want them to close off the center of the field and force running plays to the outside, where they can be snuffed out by the linebackers. You also want your DTs to collapse the pocket, but that’s almost secondary to keeping the running game in check. Pressure should come from the DEs on the edge, and they also need the speed to shed blocks and chase down runners who are trying to get outside.

In the 3-4, the DT again closes off the middle, but the big responsibility of the DEs is also to stop the run. Pressure comes from the linebackers, and to watch some teams play that defense it’s almost a 5-2, the way they line their OLBs up on the line of scrimmage.

We want pressure from our DTs, but if we can just keep the running backs from going through the center that will be more than good enough, assuming Peppers and Brown/Brayton/Johnson can apply pressure from the edges.

I don’t think it’s a rule that the D can’t sub with a no huddle, it’s just that there isn’t time. On the other hand, I do believe it’s a rule that if the offense subs they have to give time for the defense to sub as well.

the risk is 12 men on the field. A no huddle doesn’t disallow it, but it just doesn’t give you the time you need.

I just like that quote!

Kenny Moore also studied with Ricky Proehl, a fellow Wake Forest alumn, at his Proehl-ific sports complex in the off-season to work on route running and catching the ball. I’d say all that hard work paid off for him. Too bad Dwayne Jarrett hasn’t done something similar. If we could transplant Kenny’s perseverance and attitude into Dwayne’s physically-gifted body, we could have another Pro Bowl WR down the road and a fully viable replacement for Muhsin Muhammad.

But that’s just my two-cents,
—Neil

I just think you’re overly pessimistic. I don’t care enough about you to gin up some genuine outrage. :)

Delhomme is fine. He’s a good game manager who’s had a very few meltdown games in his career, including the playoff game last year. You can disagree with my opinion, but stats show that he’s better than most when it counts and I can’t take anyone serious when they look at the last game and ignore the 16 other games he played in 2008.

You say that Fox has never had back to back winning seasons. Well what’s wrong with looking at the other side of that? Maybe it undermines the notion that he’s not capable of this being the first? The guy’s a winner, plain and simple.

And I’m sorry, I did read something into the Lions/Raiders/Bucs statement. I guess the completely negative tone you had adopted got under my skin a little. For what it’s worth, I think we had a good draft this year even though we didn’t have a number one pick.

And you really do come across as overly pessimistic. Maybe it’s not intentional. You might love the team, but if you do occasionally it will be nice to see something positive. There are a lot of good things to look forward to. For instance…

The offense will be great. The line returns intact, the depth is gone but the talent level behind the starters is better. Williams hasn’t lost a beat. I think Stewart will play, and if he doesn’t Goodson has looked great playing against starters. Smitty and Moose are veterans and now we have a good third option in Moore. Davidson and Delhomme have an additional year of working together, and I suspect that the playoff game has taught Davidson a valuable lesson (don’t rely on Jake’s arm until the 4th).

The defense may not have it all together by opening day, but they’ve got a LOT of talent and there’s no reason to think they’ll take that much longer to get it. Have you seen the train wrecks in Atlanta or Philly in comparison? Hell, our lousy stats in preseason are still better than what we were doing at the end of last year. Our ends are better than last year, and our tackles may have lost a run stuffer but they gain speed now. So Beason/Connor will have to work harder, but the trade-off is more pressure from the center. And if either of the new guys works out, so much the better.

Take a look at the journeymen that Meeks worked with at DT in Indianapolis. With Lewis and my next door neighbor’s great aunt Sally we improve on that. Then look at the linebackers and convince me we don’t have more talent. As soon as Gamble and Harris start “getting” the scheme (and I know it’s getting late for that), our secondary should be deadly. Anyone can attack a vanilla cover-2, but you can bet we have our share of plays just like Indy does, and we didn’t show any of them in preseason. Despite that, our first strings still outscored their first strings.

This team has been flat, it’s not been competitive, and they look like they’re going through the motions. And that’s all about the first string, players who have been in the league for a while and who know what counts. When the games start to count, they’ll turn it up. Think for a second that Moose would have let Jake’s first throw go through his hands like he did against the Steelers if the game was counting? I doubt it, I bet he was thinking more about being safe than catching the ball, but in the regular season that gets turned around.

This team went 12-4 last year, and 4-2 against the South. They haven’t made the personnel moves that Atlanta and New Orleans have because they didn’t need to, they’re loaded and everyone knows it.

So start believing. The players do, the coaches do, and you should to. It’s sure a lot more fun that crying doom and gloom everywhere. :)

I do have concerns about the team and that list is very easy to write up. Right now my biggest concern would be our secondary. But I’m hoping the bigger DT we picked up should help provide a boost to the secondary

J-Stew doesn’t need to chew sunflower seeds…. he looks at them and the kernals jump out of the shells and submit; too afraid of being driven int the ground.