It’ll be interesting to see how well our 1st string DL plays when it counts. Even without Jarrad Davis, I suspect our run defense will be pretty stout, the real question is containment against Murray and other opposing QBs, can we prevent them from beating us with their feet?
But the painful part in pre-season was watching the backup OL getting crushed, Cosby and Donnal in particular looked really bad. Donnal is already gone, but I think they’ll have to go with Crosby this season and give him some help, like maybe a TE over there or something. Not every play, sometimes you run it and sometimes you roll the QB out or take a 3-step drop and fire to mitigate the damage. And with any luck Crosby won’t be out there much anyway, they might even use Wiggins as the 3rd OT. Couldn’t be any worse than Crosby was. And finally, maybe Crosby realizes his job is on the line if he doesn’t up his game, whatever that takes. He looked so slow out there, like his conditioning was poor or his technique. Whatever, dude the writing is on the wall, and he might be replaced before the Arizona game.
On the positive side, KeJo is healthy, CJA is an absolute upgrade over Blount, and TyJo is one super fast mofo. If they can, they might put Thompson on the PS and maybe bring him up. The TE situation is vastly improved from what it was last year, and frankly I like Amendola out there. He won’t give you the YAC that Tate did, but he will give you the 1st down.
On defense, they got better everywhere, especially that DL. It would be quite upsetting if guys like Flowers and Daniels don’t provide more pressure on the QB. In addition to Snacks, Hand, Okwara, Kennard, and the rest. Those 2 guys will help free up the others to make plays IMHO. I think our Safeties are better and I don’t think Melvin could be any worse than the whatshisface CB2 was last year.
Sooo, I see a team that oughta be giving up fewer points than last year and scoring more on offense. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more takeaways and fewer giveaways too. Could be wrong of course, usually am. But I think this team is going in the right direction, and if they can stay healthy they could be fighting for a playoff spot and even the division title.