So who looked good last night?

[JSn]

Gostkowski - 53 Yard Field Goal (which made my brain hurt as it remembered the 50 yarder we didn't kick in the SB)

Hanson
Jackson looks like he just MIGHT be getting better.
CJ Jones sucked much less than usual.
O'Connell looks like he has a future in the NFL, if he can get some real game time.

Mayo had a couple of nice plays, in fact there were a few nice individual plays on both sides that weren't very noticeable due to the location of the ball.

What GOOD things did you guys see?

 

[xmarkd400x]

Brady. At least Giselle thought so.

 

[patsgo]

Gostkowski - 53 Yard Field Goal (which made my brain hurt as it remembered the 50 yarder we didn't kick in the SB)

Hanson
Jackson looks like he just MIGHT be getting better.
CJ Jones sucked much less than usual.
O'Connell looks like he has a future in the NFL, if he can get some real game time.

Mayo had a couple of nice plays, in fact there were a few nice individual plays on both sides that weren't very noticeable due to the location of the ball.

What GOOD things did you guys see?

the pilot getting the team out of tampa after that performance

 

[BradyToMoss]

The Tampa cheerleaders..............yowzaaaaaaaaaa

 

[Disco Volante]

Gostkowski = Very nice to see
Hanson = Agreed
Jackson = Hard to get worse, nothing really impressive.
CJ Jones = Didn't suck at all last night. Two nice catches, including one for 17 yards plus a nice punt return.
O'Connel = 6/15 with a INT, again didn't impress me much.

 

[JFK]

Crable looked the best amogst the rookies IMO.

 

[Metaphors]

Cassel was 100% better than against the Ravens. His footwook was excellent and the throws were strong and generally accurate. He still stares down receivers and doesn't see the whole defense effectively, but still a good effort. Cassel is like my wife's minivan in the winter. Takes forever to get going but is serviceable when warmed up. Just fine when my car is in the shop but wouldn't want to rely on it as the primary vehicle for any extended period of time.

Say what you want about Slater and his upright running style, but he knows how to return kicks. Gets up to top speed quickly and hits the hole with authority. Setting Brady up consistently on the plus side of the 30 yd line and seeing Gostkowski kick with confidence...how are you going to keep this team off the scoreboard with any regularity?

Fafita and Kenny Smith continue to get in the opposing backfield on passing downs. They looked less effective against the run but DL play is not my thing so I'll defer to others observations.

 

[MrTibbs]

Mayo was completely torpedoing the rushing lanes and blowing them up. Outside of one missed tackle on the WR slant he played excellent once again. Crable can play also. Cassel is the Rohan Davey experiment part 2. Other then his alleged knowledge of the playbook the guy completely sucks. Has anyone ever seen him throw the ball down the field? I mean not a check down I mean like 15-20 yards to a reciever?

 

[Rob0729]

Cassel was 100% better than against the Ravens. His footwook was excellent and the throws were strong and generally accurate. He still stares down receivers and doesn't see the whole defense effectively, but still a good effort. Cassel is like my wife's minivan in the winter. Takes forever to get going but is serviceable when warmed up. Just fine when my car is in the shop but wouldn't want to rely on it as the primary vehicle for any extended period of time.

Say what you want about Slater and his upright running style, but he knows how to return kicks. Gets up to top speed quickly and hits the hole with authority. Setting Brady up consistently on the plus side of the 30 yd line and seeing Gostkowski kick with confidence...how are you going to keep this team off the scoreboard with any regularity?

Fafita and Kenny Smith continue to get in the opposing backfield on passing downs. They looked less effective against the run but DL play is not my thing so I'll defer to others observations.

Are you really going to include Matt Cassel among the players who looked good last night? When the general consensus was he may have played himself off the roster?

 

[Lloyd_Christmas]

O'Connel = 6/15 with a INT, again didn't impress me much.

I assume you didn't watch the game, because if you did, you have found O'Connel's play to be the only thing that stopped you from slitting your wrists after 2 quarters of Matt "Deer in headlights" Cassell.

I have to admit that I was pretty downtrodden when O'Connel threw a pick on his first passing attempt, especially since I had been screaming at my television for over a quarter for BB to get that baffoon Cassell out of there.

Still, after that mistake, he played very well IMO. When he was in there, the team started to get into some kind of rythm where they were at least making it sporting. With Cassell in there, the team looked flat and just competely lost.

CJ Jones had his moments, but I also saw him drop a couple passes that he should have caught.

Hanson did indeed look good. I hope he makes me eat crow all season.

Sammy Morris didn't look that great, but had limited opportunities.

Crable & Mayo are for real.

Why was the short zone open all night on our defense? Either we were playing prevent or the LBs were not covering the short routes. It was really getting old by the 3rd quarter.

 

[Disco Volante]

I assume you didn't watch the game, because if you did, you have found O'Connel's play to be the only thing that stopped you from slitting your wrists after 2 quarters of Matt "Deer in headlights" Cassell.

I have to admit that I was pretty downtrodden when O'Connel threw a pick on his first passing attempt, especially since I had been screaming at my television for over a quarter for BB to get that baffoon Cassell out of there.

Still, after that mistake, he played very well IMO. When he was in there, the team started to get into some kind of rythm where they were at least making it sporting. With Cassell in there, the team looked flat and just competely lost.

Playing better than Matt Cassel and having a performance that's not wrist slitting worthy is still not exactly impressive.

Didn't say he was horrible, just saying I didn't feel absolutely pumped about the guy based on last night's performance

 

[JSn]

I have to admit that I was pretty downtrodden when O'Connel threw a pick on his first passing attempt, especially since I had been screaming at my television for over a quarter for BB to get that baffoon Cassell out of there.

Yeah, but on that play I loved the way he slipped that defender. Add a completion to that and we'd all be raving about it.

 

[Lloyd_Christmas]

Cassel was 100% better than against the Ravens.

Fafita and Kenny Smith continue to get in the opposing backfield on passing downs.

Holy Shnikeys! He must have sucked some serious A_S_S against the Ravens then. He was horrible last night! I don't care about his mechanics. He has no ability to manage an offense. There was never a glint of danger that he would throw the long ball and the other defense knew it. Just a bunch of predictable runs and dump off passes to build confidence for headlight boy. The play where he audibled and the defense changed and then he got completely flustered was a summation of his entire night. There is NO WAY this clown makes the roster.

Fifta and Smith did look pretty good to me. I like slater on returns as well.

 

[Lloyd_Christmas]

Playing better than Matt Cassel and having a performance that's not wrist slitting worthy is still not exactly impressive.

Didn't say he was horrible, just saying I didn't feel absolutely pumped about the guy based on last night's performance

I can agree to disagree then. He did throw many passes too high (a danger to receivers), sometimes chose to run too quickly, and there was at least once where I saw him stare down his intended receiver from snap to incompletion.

However, I liked his mobility and his willingness to throw downfield. He also seemed to have a command on managing the offense. Something Cassell obviously lacked.

 

[Mark Morse]

I'll accentuate the positives and as hard as it is for me, stay away from the negatives:

Mayo again showed why he is going to be an every down ILB

Crable also showed that he can hold the edge. On one play he was being held and still made the play on the outside. He had a strip sack also.

Ventrone made a nice catch in traffic and looks like he knows how to find those seams in the defense (ala Welker). He put great pressure on as a ST gunner. One play he is ready to make the tackle and gets blocked in the back and no call). With the injury to Meriweather, having him as a DB might be invaluable.

Gostkowski's FG and Hanson punting were good too

Outside of those, I didn't see much else. Maybe when I look at the tape I will see something else

 

[mavfan2390]

O'Connell on that first passing play, made a FANTASTIC move to avoid the rusher... it reminded me of how Brady moves in pocket (of course O' Connell was outside), but then he threw the pick.

Matt Slater was the best special teamer by far, that guy just has a nose for the ball, and also showed some skill returning... he can't block like Willie Andrews, but he should be a beast on the coverage teams.

Mayo and Crable both looked good, I feel a LOT better about our front 7 after this season than I did pre-draft. On the other hand, Redd didn't look too good, and missed a few tackles, I doubt he makes the team.

Hobbs tackles really, really well... I don't think those short/ intermediate throws were his fault, it probably was the play-calling (coupled with the fact that Woods was playing on the right side with Hobbs) but Hobbs reacted well, came up, and made the tackle.

The O-line was horrendous, if one of our main cogs go down during the season we're screwed, there won't be any time for Brady at all. I would love to see Shane Olivea brought in when he gets healthy. He could add some depth and maybe even start.

Wheatley looked good again, and might even be starting come opening day.

 

[p8ryts]

I thought Vince Redd made a few plays on defense and ST. I was disappointed in Gary Guyton, I thought he got run over several times. Mayo looked decent again. O'Connell showed flashes and has potential. I think he makes the team. I think we will see Gutierrez Friday. I prefer him over Cassel. I'm down on Chad Jackson. He terrifies me when he is back on punts. I don't think he has a clue. I used to like CJ JOnes but no longer trust him. It's so bad I prefer Ray Ventrone to either of them.

It still seems we are tipping the runs somehow. When Maroney is in, run is a first good guess, and when the TE motions back to the middle that is usually a run. Maybe Josh will get a HC job and Charlie will get fired at ND and we can rehire him.

Kenny Smith made some plays in the backfield for the second week in a row.

Crable mde some plays but got run over a couple times, it helped that the refs allowed the OL to tackle Crable.

I thought Britt and Kaczur were ok. My concern on the OL is RG. I couldn't see how Welbourn was doing but maybe he can play and plug the gap.

Connolly hurt himself with the shotgun snap, maybe Wendell can do better but that is a practice squad player at best.

Anyway, not to worry. DeOssie was right, a preseason game in Florida after camp ends. We've seen it before and will see it again. Sometimes the team just doesn't make the plane for these games. If you remember correctly, they have trouble making the plane for Miami and Arizona games anyway so the moral is expect a loss in Florida and Arizona and hope for the best because once in a while they win there regardless of how bad they play.

 

[Metaphors]

Are you really going to include Matt Cassel among the players who looked good last night? When the general consensus was he may have played himself off the roster?

It all depends on what you were expecting from Cassel. I looked at his fundamentals since they seems horribly out of whack against the Ravens. Cassel's pass to Moss was a horrific decision and the screen to Maroney was rushed, but other than that he did his job pretty well.

If you judge Cassel by scoring output, he obviously didn't get it done. I just choose not to judge a QB behind a makeshift line in the 2nd preseason game using that criteria. Cassel didn't fumble on the TB side of the field. Cassel didn't snap the ball like a shanked FG. Cassel didn't drop consecutive passes to stall a drive.

I'm not a Cassel cheerleader by any stretch. I think he needs to go if Gutierrez can show any progress at all. I'm just saying that last night he did a pretty solid job given the circumstances.

 

[RayClay]

Besides Mayo/Crable...

Gostkowski, Mark Dillard

 

[jeffbiologist]

What I saw was how valuable Brady/Moss/Welker really are.
CJ dropped a pass, didnt come back for another on 3rd down, lost his feet too early on a 3rd pass and couldnt make a move on a kick.
CJones dropped at least 2 more passes, so making 2(1 nice one by the goal line)is tempered.
Slater has to have at least 2 decent returns to get a roster spot....and hasnt had one yet--despite a good number of chances last nite.
The O-Line was AWFUL. Was it Britt at LT?? Yates is a problem and got hurt. Do we know how hurt Neal is? Did he need complete reconstruction on his knee? CJ took the whole season off after, how long do we give him??
Say what you want but that opening 17(!!!) play opening drive was a bit reminiscent of the SB no? They ran on VINCE!
Woods still looks out of place and didnt make a play at OLB.
The back up DT didnt look good.
Guyton has no place playing LB in the pros right now, may have played himself to the PS.
Nothing MAJOR, but some of these guys on the bubble just made BB's job ALOT easier.