I’ve been watching some games, and here some comments about some of the teams and players.
I always look for teams with dominant defenses. Of the games I watched so far none of them were dominant. All of there were basically OK. Decent offenses can move the ball down the field consistently, but the defenses could do a decent job of limiting TDs in the red zone.
In the last few years, I feel like longer offensive drives are more common specifically, those that are close to 10 minutes, with 10 or more plays don’t seem as uncommon. Those over ten minutes may not be as rare as well.
Speaking of which, the Giants offense, so far, seem to be really good at this. I’ve watched their last three games, and they limit negative plays and do a good job of mixing runs and passes. Daniel Jones running has been effective, and crucial in terms of moving the chains.
Re: Tua Tagavailoa
He looks better this year. I sort of like his throwing motion and footwork, but his arm strength seems to be at the absolute minimum of what a QB would need. Think of a QB like Chad Pennington. Like Pennington, an injury weakening his arm strength just a little could end his career (or relegate him to a backup). Also, his ball security is not as good as I would want it to be.
Re: Geno Smith
I watched the last three games–versus the Chargers, Cardinals, and Saints. One thing I noticed: For every game he threw at least one pass that could have or should have been intercepted. Most of these were out routes. If he keeps doing this, I would say the chances of him turning over the ball in a playoff situation would be high, and I wouldn’t consider him a Super Bowl QB. (Man, he had some nice throws against the Saints.)
Seahawks defense, especially run defense, which includes containing Jones, did a really good job today. They looked good overall. It seems like they’re really turned a corner–moving from awful to solid (but not great) defense. (I want to see how they look against a really good offense because I consider them better than good.)
I think the Giants are legitimately good team. They’re the type of team I would not want to face in the playoffs. In the second half, they seem to really try to pound opponents, and they have success driving the ball down the field. (I think they dominated time of possession in the second half.) They can wear out opposing defenses. One weakness is that they need better WRs. If they can do this, they could be even more dangerous.
Carroll went for it, twice in the same drive. In this type of game, I thought he should have taken the 3 points. On the other hand, if the Hawks had a long drive and the Giants defense seemed tired, I could see going for it on 4th.
Geno had one or two throws in traffic, and it looks like a good defender could pick the ball off. It’s a bit scary to me. I’d like to see him have several games where there isn’t any of these type of plays. On a positive note, while the Hawks pass pro was solid, the Giants did put pressure. I was impressed by Geno’s poise in these situations.
Back to the Giants. The two fumbles on the kick/punt returns were hue, especially the second one. Take that away, and the Giants could have won. To be fair, the Hawks fumbled on their 2 yard line, which lead to a Giants TD. Take that away, and maybe the Giants don’t score. (Also, Tyler Lockett dropped an easy TD pass.)
1. This game reminded me of the Bills-Giants Super Bowl in the early 90s or something like the Patriots vs. the Greatest Show on Turf Super Bowl. That is, the underdogs dared their opponents to run, and their opponents didn’t really oblige–not enough, anyway.
The Packers did run the ball, and they ran well. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had great numbers. But they should have ran more in my view. Bad things seemed to happen because of they passed more than they should. It was like the Bills believed the Packers might have success running, but they’d go back to passing quite a bit, and then the Bills would either get turnovers or really stymie the Packer offense.
2. With about 10 minutes to go, and a 17 point lead, the Bills seemed to get cocky in my view. That is, they kept passing and seemed to ignore using up the clock. I think Allen had two INTs after this point. This is the kind of thing that will cause them to lose in the playoffs.
I’ve been watching some games, and here some comments about some of the teams and players.
I always look for teams with dominant defenses. Of the games I watched so far none of them were dominant. All of there were basically OK. Decent offenses can move the ball down the field consistently, but the defenses could do a decent job of limiting TDs in the red zone.
In the last few years, I feel like longer offensive drives are more common specifically, those that are close to 10 minutes, with 10 or more plays don’t seem as uncommon. Those over ten minutes may not be as rare as well.
Speaking of which, the Giants offense, so far, seem to be really good at this. I’ve watched their last three games, and they limit negative plays and do a good job of mixing runs and passes. Daniel Jones running has been effective, and crucial in terms of moving the chains.
Re: Tua Tagavailoa
He looks better this year. I sort of like his throwing motion and footwork, but his arm strength seems to be at the absolute minimum of what a QB would need. Think of a QB like Chad Pennington. Like Pennington, an injury weakening his arm strength just a little could end his career (or relegate him to a backup). Also, his ball security is not as good as I would want it to be.
Re: Geno Smith
I watched the last three games–versus the Chargers, Cardinals, and Saints. One thing I noticed: For every game he threw at least one pass that could have or should have been intercepted. Most of these were out routes. If he keeps doing this, I would say the chances of him turning over the ball in a playoff situation would be high, and I wouldn’t consider him a Super Bowl QB. (Man, he had some nice throws against the Saints.)
Giants@Seahawks
Comments
Packers@Bills
Two comments:
1. This game reminded me of the Bills-Giants Super Bowl in the early 90s or something like the Patriots vs. the Greatest Show on Turf Super Bowl. That is, the underdogs dared their opponents to run, and their opponents didn’t really oblige–not enough, anyway.
The Packers did run the ball, and they ran well. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had great numbers. But they should have ran more in my view. Bad things seemed to happen because of they passed more than they should. It was like the Bills believed the Packers might have success running, but they’d go back to passing quite a bit, and then the Bills would either get turnovers or really stymie the Packer offense.
2. With about 10 minutes to go, and a 17 point lead, the Bills seemed to get cocky in my view. That is, they kept passing and seemed to ignore using up the clock. I think Allen had two INTs after this point. This is the kind of thing that will cause them to lose in the playoffs.