sven233

It's hard to expect too much out of normal rookie TEs. But I don't believe Kincaid is a normal rookie TE. The way he moves, his releases, and the way he gets in and out of his breaks and creates separation, I have a feeling he is going to make a huge impact this season. With the way the Jets play defense, and with their primary weakness on defense being in coverage with their LBs, I would not be shocked to see Kincaid have somewhat of a statement game right off the bat. I think he, and whoever is playing the slot, will be the key to moving the ball consistently on offense. I would not be shocked one bit if he ended up being our leading pass catcher Week 1. I don't think they have anyone that can match up with him inside. That may sound like lofty expectations for a rookie, but he doesn't run routes like a rookie.

He should have been lit up a couple times, but for some reason, the Lions defenders almost tried to get out of the way instead of hitting him. But, they know that even if the hit is 100% legal, the refs would call them, so I guess they probably did what they thought they should have to do.

Illegal formation, false start, and holding all on one play..... Not one of them called. This is insanity!!!!

He is now lined up completely behind the center and leaving early every play!

FALSE FREAKING START AGAIN!!!!!

Spencer Brown taking notes for sure....

Why are they not calling 74 for anything????????? This is insane!!!

74 just reaching and grabbing on every single play. I guess lining up 3 yards in the backfield every play before the snap isn't enough of an advantage for him. He should have like 10 penalties by now. It's insane he keeps getting away with this crap.

Maybe not on the previous couple plays, but definitely on the last one.

Goff not being able to throw it 60 yards prevented them from even having a chance there.

Except it was their 2nd possession. Regardless, no less important.

Every Lions lineman was laying on the ground on the 2nd down play. Looked odd. Nice fake, though.

Defense in the NFL has evolved a ton over the years. It's partly because of the rules and partly because of just how good QBs have gotten. It's so much tougher to just throw a defense out there and blitz the heck out of a QB and beat them physically. Offensive schemes, film study, coaching, and the physical abilities of these QBs, especially the great ones, have them knowing exactly where and when to throw the ball no matter where the pressure is coming from. You send the house, you are going to get burned more than you would have a decade+ ago. That said, while the Tampa 2 defense that Frazier, and several other coordinators have played for a while now, are becoming a lot less effective as well, again just because of how good these QBs are getting. Going to sit back and not allow teams to beat you over the top? Again, the top QBs are so good that they will just sit back in the pocket and pick you apart underneath and outside the numbers. Sure, this type of defense still can work against average to below average QBs. Frazier has proven that over the last few years. That is why our defense was consistently ranked high season over season. During the season, you play enough QBs that aren't quite good enough physically to beat you play after play all the way down the field. However, that is why we have also been shredded in the Playoffs. All of a sudden, you are playing the best of the best when it comes to QBs in the Playoffs and they are more than equipped to physically and mentally dissect that bend but don't break defense as they are more than willing to take what you give them underneath and dink and dunk you to death. So, what do you do on defense in today's NFL to try and slow down these great QBs? It's the million dollar question. If you can't blitz the heck out of them, and you can't sit back and wait for them to make a mistake, what do you do? In my opinion it's neither. Today, more than ever, the NFL has become a chess match between the offense and defense. Offenses are literally scheming up plays to get certain players the ball on a certain part of the field on a regular basis. Defenses are trying to find a way to keep up with these offensive schemes and designs and, unfortunately, playing defense there is only so much you can do in trying to react to what the offense is doing to you. Offenses can do so much more schematically to try and force the defenses hand. But that goes back to what can defenses do to try and stop these innovative offenses. If it's me, I'm scheming offenses right back. Instead of sending everyone on a blitz or sitting back and covering deep, I'm using simulated pressures and disguised coverages more than ever before and not allowing QBs to know what I'm doing before the snap. I'm doing whatever I can to make the QBs think that there is going to be extra pressure coming on every play and only actually sending that pressure occasionally. I'm showing different looks pre-snap every play and dropping into a different coverage post-snap all while showing these different simulated pressure packages and making these QBs try and figure it all out while dropping back to pass. Instead of a physical grind on these QBs, in a league where you can hardly breathe on them anyway, I am going to try and beat them down mentally. All it takes is to find a way to make these great QBs make a couple of mistakes a game to change the outcome. Games against great teams and great QBs are more often than not super close and the difference comes down to those 1 or 2 big plays in a game that can change everything. The days of just physically beating up a QB are just gone (except for Mike White......shout out to that guy's toughness) and just sitting back waiting for these top QBs to make a mistake are long gone. It's time to test them mentally. Sure, the good ones are still going to beat you on some plays. They're that good. But, making them process so much information on every single play could take it's toll mentally throughout the course of a game that it forces them to make some big mistakes as well. I think in today's league, against this level of talent we are seeing at the QB position, this is the best you can hope for. You just have to hope your superstar is better than their superstar. And with Allen being the athletic freak he is, I'll take my chances against anyone.

You hold onto him and work to develop him unless you can trade him for an above average MLB. If you can get someone serviceable in here at MLB, as much as I want to be patient with Elam because he does have talent, we need to worry about this season first.

There is not 1 LB, not named Milano, that can cover on this team. And now Spector is banged up. MLB situation has never been worse on this team.

Isabella has had a rough go of it today. May have played his way to the practice squad. Guess we'll see.

Will have to go back and look at the coverage, but I think Dodson was supposed to carry the TE deep and didn't get any depth at all. Luckily there was a terrible drop.

Dodson is just plain terrible. Beane owes it to this team to do everything he can to bring in a serviceable MLB. There just isn't one on this team.

Something to note and keep an eye on..... I didn't see McDermott with a play sheet. Wonder if he was calling that series or not. Might want to keep an eye on it.

Wouldn't be surprised to see him invited back to the practice squad in a few weeks once the necessary wait period is over. Disappointed it didn't work out now, though. Worth the swing and I hope Beane keeps swinging in instances like this. You never know when one of these feel good stories will actually hit.

According to many on this board, Edmunds is flat out awful so we should just send Kincaid at him a few times and we'll go right down the field and score to allow us to get out starters out after a quick series.

Hard to tell from a video like this because we don't have the context. The trainers may have very well told him this is what you are doing, now do it at half speed or whatever. Regardless, it's good to see him moving laterally. He could have been doing this for weeks now behind closed doors, but this might be the first time we are seeing it. We'll know more sooner than later. Once cut-down day comes, we'll know where he stands. My guess is that he misses at least the first 4 games and we'll see where we're at. No rush. Need him in January and February.

No worries guys..... Heard he was working on switching to MLB after his time with the Jets was over. He must be ready.

They always do a great job over at Cover 1 with these video breakdowns. It definitely reinforced what I saw on the initial watch and the re-watch I did. He wasn't perfect, but it was pretty close to it. While this video was about Torrance and the outstanding job he did, I couldn't help but turn my attention to Kincaid as he was in the shots many times. First off, the kid's going to be a star. His route running with his releases and cuts out of his breaks were so fluid. There isn't a LB in the league that is going to cover him 1 on 1 consistently. He's that good already. We have been waiting for our own version of Kelce and, while he may not be on that level yet, I definitely can see him getting there at some point. He is going to be a match-up nightmare for years to come. When I watched his tape leading up to the draft, I immediately made the Kelce comparison, but it just sounds crazy to say that. But watching the way he runs routes......he's open more often than not and just creates so much separation that you can't help but wonder if he will be the next great one. He wasn't great at blocking on the few snaps I watched him in this breakdown, but I'll say this.....he's a willing blocker. He wants to do it and tries to do his best. Unfortunately, he is just not strong enough right now to even be average. He got wrecked on a block attempt in this breakdown. So, I don't think you will see him do it often. They will pick their spots in the run game in 12 personnel, but they are not going to force it on him. Just let him run. Anyway, that was a bit of a tangent, but I couldn't help but notice him during this breakdown in the few plays he was on the screen. There wasn't a lot to like in yesterday's game, but these 2 rookies were not part of the problem. They were excellent.

I know it's late in the process. I know cap space is limited. But man, if I'm Beane, I am scouring the FA list and bringing in a MLB. Sure, it will be tough to learn the defense in 2-3 weeks, but it is hard to believe there isn't a better option than what is on this team out there somewhere. Average would be a huge upgrade at this point. Your presumed starter playing into the 4th quarter of the preseason is not a great look. There has to be something worth trying. Same with tackle. Chances are with Shell retiring and Doyle going down tonight, Beane will have to look at the options there as well, but those 2 spots are going to kill us.