Well, 4 days away from kickoff it is safe to say our preseason cycle is completed, here are a few thoughts
Injuries:
A) A pity about Brenan Marion's ACL, we signed two Wr to the practice squad that were obscure to say the least, if Marion had stayed healthy, he more than likely would have made it.
B) David Martin was a surprise cut/removal, DMart and his 6 catches over 20yds will be missed.
C) Eric Green...cut in SF as well, we keep on missing on Free Agents and not missing as in "disappointment" rather missing as in "we cut them last week".
Risers:
A) Jason Taylor, originally slated to be a part time pass rushing specialist, JT has the Sam Outside Linebacker role on lock down.
B) Joey Haynos, he can block, he has 5 catches in his career, he takes DMart's role...he can really block well...at 6'8 he could be a redzone target or he may be just a third tackle style Te.
C) Tony McDaniel, a beast in preseason, at one time he was a rising star in J-Ville, he looks to have regained his form as a DT/DE.
D) Q Moses, from bubble guy to rotational DE/OLB
E)Lex Hilliard, from the Bubble to the Roster, Hilliard stayed on Survivor Island, look for him to be used as a HBack, or to be cut be week 3, Ireland will put anyone's flame out with no prior notice..
F) Andrew Gardner, the surprising rook from Georgia Tech is Jake Long's backup, the fmr All ACC player showed nice feet in pass protection but it remains to be seen how his shoulder rehabs from preDraft surgery.
Sparano mentioned Gardner in Traning Camp and said he is a long way away from seeing the field, Gardner went from that to LT in waiting.
Honourable mention Risers, Greg Camarillo, Brian Hartline, Erik Walden
Fallers:
A) Pat White, I'm a White fan, however he did not show much more than a strong arm in the preseason, that famed athleticism never really appeared from him this preseason.
B) Pat Turner, Anytime a USC big body Wr underperforms in the preseason he was given chances via being targeted for passes this preseason, but he more than likely will be inactive on GameDays.
C) Jake Grove, the Oline did not impress anyone this preseason...
D) Will Allen, he had a surprisingly poor preseason cycle.
F) Big Jake Long, he looked vulnerable to speed rushers, again, more than likely a sloppy Technique issue, but a sack a penalty and 2 TFL's is not what we expect from the Big Fella.
Neutral:
Gibril Wilson, he did not play very much this preseason, he was neither very good or very poor, he just logged maybe a Qtr or Half, and was mostly quite.
Cameron Wake, he did show what Sparano claimed they wanted from him "What do we expect from Cameron Wake? He was brought in to rush the passer"
And he did, but the conversion to 3-4 OLB did not go smoothly and Special Teams is not his strong suit, so he may be inactive on some gamedays.
Ted Ginn, like Wilson, did not play very much
And the #1 player who came out of nowhere to make the roster and to be relied on to contribute is:
Shawn Murphy..I defy anyone to tell me they knew it all along with Murph, he had "Bust" written all over him last year...
And without a doubt, the Surprise Starter is:
Sean One Hand Smith, he leap frogged Vontae Davis to secure the starting Cb job across from Will Allen, he is the fresh face in a secondary that averages 6 yrs or more of starting time in the NFL.
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Larryfinfan, Frumundah Finnatic, Fin Fan In Cali and 1 other person like this.
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No love for Hartline.
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Brian Hartline did just fine BK, however it appears he could not beat out Greg C for the starting slot across from Ted Ginn, imho no way he beats out DBess for the slot, so he is the 4th Wr and typically we just use the Te instead of the 4th Wr.
I don't think we could call B London being released as a surprise as we drafted two Wide Receivers with high draft picks, thusly Hartline may not be able to be called an actual Surprise, though he did pass up P Turner.BuckeyeKing likes this. -
my only disagreement is Pat White. I'm not a huge Pat White Supporter, but he was running around with a bunch of players who didn't make the team. He's an athletic freak, yes, but when he's also learning a new play book and trying to be a pocket QB for the first time in his life, he'd be expected to perform exactly how he did.
He didn't rise, but he didn't fall. He just learned.mullingan likes this. -
Well, to me a athletic player will just flash what they can do, White had several opportunities to scramble out of the pocket and did not seem to have that shiftiness and quickness that I thought I would see from White.
He did flash a nice arm with a 50yd pass from the endzone. -
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I'd also put Soliai in the Risers...have my fingers crossed that he will step up this year and keep us from having to use a draft pick or FA money next year to find a NT. That would be HUGE for us
And Wilson played a little more than you are suggesting. You just didn't notice because the camera is usually focused on the football...hint, hint...lol
Green was slated to start and we had to cut him, I'd say that's a disappointment.
Pat White......didn't like the pick at all. With the holes we had on this team, I can't see using that high of a pick on a situational player. However, I don't doubt his athletic ability and am PRAYING that Sparano is just being secretive as to how they will use him. I want Pat White, NOT Ronnie Brown running most of the wildcat plays and would love to see us try and get him the ball in space as much as possible.
Because IMO, unless he gets quite a few touches a game, we won't be seeing the value we need to see out of that pick.Larryfinfan likes this. -
Gibril wilson played a whole quarter just against NO. He sure as hell played more than 1 half this preseason, since he played at least that much against Tampa.
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Funny since Wilson had 13 tackles in the preseason, only 4 less than our top tackler (Kershaw). And only 1 behind Ayodele who was our leading tackler that was a starter.
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That is per game Stitches, he never finished a game, heck, I don't recall him playing in the second half.
As for the stats,keep in mind "officially" Cameron Wake did not exist per the MD.com stat sheet as he is listed as having no tackles, no sacks, no assists.
He was like Knight Ryder... -
Well in college he was pretty much just handed the ball and the coaches said "go!". And obviously that worked out.
But now he has to prove he can stay in the pocket and make plays. He was drafted to play QB, and so far theres been no real sign of him being a 'wildcat' qb yet, so for him it's practically a different game now. -
True, Soliai is a Riser, but I did not wish to go overboard and into the 'rah-rah" zone..
As the Dr pointed out he did finish 2nd in tackles this preseason..
Nope, that is not factual, Green was brought in to compete, he was never promised a starting job, only a shot at one.
Well, to me, "White the run first Qb" looked very much like "White the Qb who doesn't run very well at all".
I loved the pick though, maybe the era of trying to recycle a never was Qb is over in Miami and we have talented players to develop at the position? -
Oh sure, as HC Sparano will say "Pat White is swimming in the deep end of the pool right now" however a player's athletic ability should flash.
for example, Cam Wake did not standout doing things that a OLB does like drop into coverage and setting the edge (though he did okay at them) his passrush was outstanding, at least some part of his talent emerged.
FWIW, I do like White's arm and his make up, I would have loved to see his wheels and field vision during the game. -
Padre I disagree White showed nothing. He showed a willingness to go through his progressions on pass plays. That is more than I could have hoped for.
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And I'd agree "if" White had been solely a pocket Qb in the preseason, but he had several runs, a couple of them naked runs, and he was not as quick as he appeared to be at WVa, he ran for a couple of first downs and was never a threat I thought he would be.
And I have to say the player who is flying under the radar right now is Lousaka Polite, he can catch the ball, block, block on the move, run the ball with power, he was terrible in the Jags game but his curve went upwards from there.
Polite and Haynos make a nice run blocking duo, if we see runs to the outside Haynos and Polite will be lead blocking for them. -
I think Soliai is one of the key players this year. If he continues to play and improve as he has been, that's a huge hole filled right there. If he fails to step up we're heading into next off season in panic mode to replace Ferguson. This is a position to keep an eye on this year
Green started opposite Will Allen at the very beginning of TC and it was his job to lose. Now of course just like us, Sparano and company are thrilled that our two rookie CB's were better players. Green was supposed to be the cushion until at least one of these guys were ready. He didn't get a huge contract, but he wasn't real cheap. When the media writes a story on us in FA he'll be added to the tally of FA's that this FO has missed on, you can bet on that.
I think if you asked Sparano and Ireland they'd tell any of the guys that they missed on and wasted any amount of time and money on, were "disappointing".
Me I'm not all that bent out of shape about it, not after seeing the promise shown by our rookies. They've helped me get over it...lolpadre31 likes this. -
Good write up Padre, I must however be the first (?) to say "I knew it all along" since they kept Murphy on the 53 man roster even though he was inactive every game. They knew they had another potential Donald Thomas there and he just needed more development time and conditioning because of his lack of experience at the position in college.
Actually I didn't know a thing but felt strongly this regime would not have protected Murphy the way they did unless they felt he was something special.Anonymous likes this. -
I knew there was something in Murphy last year, other wise Tony would have let him go.:wink2:Larryfinfan and jetssuck like this.
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His dad used to be one of my favorite baseball players and a class act. I was really hoping this kid would make it. He looked pretty impressive considering the fact he couldn't even sniff the field last year.
And not his fault Donald Thomas is in front of him.
To me if you want to pin point one guy on the team that just dominated and stood out, it would be Thomas. If this guy can stay healthy, I don't think it's outrageous to say that he could be a Prowl Bowl caliber Guard. I think he should be #1 on that "Riser" list. -
Larryfinfan 17-0...Priceless Club Member
I agree with FFIC, I never rated Murphy a bust. We all knew he only played OL for a couple of years in college. He wasn't strong enough for this level and that was evident. That doesn't mean he was a bust...at any rate, Padre...good stuff as usual.
I too am particularly interested in Paul Soliai. His development could really pay dividends this season as we have been fortunate that Fergy has held up with the PT he gets...The idea of rotation of the older guys is to prolong their stamina for the long haul and not lose so much when he's not in there...that wasn't the case last year...It appears that it might just different this year....
One thing I think you could also have mentioned is the obvious failing or falling of Roth. From starting SOLB to being mired in questions about whether he's out due to health (since he supposedly played the entire 2008 season actually quite well with the same injury) or contract reasons. Count me in as one who thinks this could hurt us until he's back and in the fold ?? The questions on JT is his injury history. Perhaps his problems from last season are more due to his poor offseason program in 2008 and lets all hope that is the case....Sure we have some guys that could step into his role until Roth can return, but they are JT or Roth... -
As I recall, no one started any threads about how good Murph was doing though..
I suspect we also will play 4 man fronts more than people think we will, sort of rest via formation, and we have the players for it, Starks and McDaniel are natural 4-3 DT's.
Here is the thing with Matty Roth, we don't know anything, and he is on the 6 game PUP so what can really be said about him?
Now color me cycnical, but if JT is on rollerskates at the Sam, and Q Moses was just a preseason Hero, in Game #5 Roth will make an appearance.
And I do agree, boy we could use Matty Roth facing that Falcons running game, I'd much prefer Roth on the edge than JT trying to fight through a Te and tackle Mike Turner.