Stephen Neal

[Ichiro]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this, but Neal struggled all night vs Gerard Warren. Warren was in the backfield all the time disrupting running plays and putting pressure on Brady. This is not the first time Neal has been less than good against Warren. Neal is a good player on pulls and screens but against a gap shooting DT he is bad.
Another nightmare matchup on Sunday vs Sam Adams

 

[GoWhalers]

Don't forget, Warren was a high 1st round pick who probably only floundered because he was on the horrendous Browns. That's a lot of physical talent to match up against an undrafted former college wrestler.

Secondly, Warren may have disrupted a lot of running plays (I don't remember specifically), but no way he was a force in the passing game. Brady had a LOT of time against Denver, provided by the O-line.

Coverage sacks and thrown-away balls were the story last night. Whether that's because of bad routes, bad receivers, bad relationships, I don't know, but you can't pin that on the O-line.

 

[Brownfan80]

Neal seems to be an up and down guy. I'm sure he'll even out.

 

[zippo59]

It still kills me the way this offensive line makes Denver's defensive line full of Brown's rejects look like All-Pros.