Defense played well. Some jugs work it's in line for the secondary. Should have been what, six picks? Seriously. Defensive line looked good, not great, backers and secondary looked tremendous (dropped picks excluded). The kids are rounding into form at a great time. Collins played well, Ryan was all over the place (in a good way, at cb, as a rookie....amazing), and Harmon did a good job play making and cleaning up for Gregory after McCourty went down.
Ol, as much as you could reasonably expect given the injuries. Blount is quickly reminding people why he was taken so high. Brady played well for the most part, tried forcing a few balls and skipped them about ten yards short though...
All that said. The officiating was an absolute joke. This league is quickly resembling the nba in that regard. That is why I stopped watching nba basketball (game six handed to Lakers when the cs tried to repeat). While they didn't seem to favor anyone, the pi emphasis made the game a joke. If the call against us late wasn't uncatchable, how was gronks uncatchable against Carolina?
Some thoughts on your thoughts:
--It is good to see the defense continue on a bit of an upward climb over the past couple of games. I thought they did some good things vs MIA last week (especially when compared to previous games), so that is a positive sign indeed. I still think there are a lot of weaknesses, but there have been improvements of late in certain areas, and that is definitely good news. The pressure on the QB (at times) has been better, as has the run defense. On top of that, the situational aspects such as 3rd down and red zone seem to have improved. I also think the defensive gameplans have been better over the past 2 weeks too.
--Logan Ryan has had a fair to good rookie year. It's certainly a positive sign to see a rookie CB working out. That said, I also think he's got a long way to go too--which is reasonable considering that he's only a first year player. I think the results so far have been optimistic for the future. I also think that he's out of position at times, and still getting adjusted. I think the 2 INT's today were very opportunistic, but they both reminded me of the type of INT's that Arrington got a couple/few yrs ago when he had 7 and everyone claimed that he was "shutdown," etc. The 2 today and the one where McCourty tipped the ball back to him in bounds were smart plays, but there was some luck involved. I'd have to give him a C+ on the year myself, which is pretty positive considering that he's only a rookie. I'd like to take another secondary player again with a 1-3 pick in the spring draft, so that we can keep taking chances on younger, cheap, talent. I think Ryan is coming along nicely at times, but still has a long way to go, and likely will be getting compared to Ty Law over the next week or so--which is ridiculous. Either way though, it's good to see a rookie CB playing fair to good.
--Harmon is much of the same to me, although Deus Irae didn't seem to be too impressed with him during a recent discussion (typing). I was under the impression myself that he was "fair" for his rookie year, which is about the height of what we really can expect due to the whole rookie aspect trying to get acclimated to the system, the faster play of the NFL, etc. I would probably give Harmon a "C," myself, but I'm also admitting to thinking that T.Wilson did a "fair" job in the secondary last year, so keep that in mind.
--Collins seems to be getting more comfortable, but I still don't know exactly what to think. Obviously he's athletic, but I don't think we've seen enough of him just yet to get a good read either way. He looks to be quicker in coverage, and even though he never turned around, he did seem to put his hands up very instinctively on the challenged play that BAL won which occurred on the sideline catch. Obviously, the situations of both Fletcher (groin injury) and Collins will be worth monitoring moving forward over the next couple of games. Hopefully we get that #2 spot and give them a couple weeks to heal up in between games.
--I think we're winning and competing at a high level with smarts, hard work, and creativity in the coaching and scheme, as opposed to talent. I think we're just out-foxing the opposition in many instances, as I think we're pretty limited in talent due to the injuries at certain positions. The hope is of course, that we can get through a handful of games in a row while masking that lack of talent.
--The inconsistency of the officiating is something that has been glaring overall in the NFL, but particularly this season of 2013. Your example of the call that went against Gregory but not against Kuechly is a perfect one.
