Alpha's All-22 review pre-season game 2

[Goin Breakdown]

2 hours ago, The Frankish Reich said:

But how's your golf game?

Ya got me there. No bueno. 

[Shortchaz]

10 hours ago, EmotionallyUnstable said:

You’d think at this point in his career, he’d just let it rip. No point in playing tentative now 

I think part of what happens to these guys is so many people give them information that they can’t process it in a meaningful way and the circuits just overload. they’re good enough to go through the motions and collect a paycheck but not good enough to excel. 

 

They get paid MILLIONS of dollars in their early twenties before they are successful at the job they are being paid to do. What motivates them to put it all together? Geno smith probably has some insight on this. 
 

One potential positive from college players being paid is it might make it easier to spot the Tom Brady types and the Jamarcus Russell types. 

[GunnerBill]

DAZN which us non-Americans rely on for our all22 has only got seven games from the weekend up so far and the Bills is not one, so not had a chance to go back and watch it yet, which I am interested to do for the series that the "first team" offense was out there to look specifically at the receivers. But I did watch the first half of the game back last night on the tv view and my two additional reflections on what I saw originally:

 

1. Van Demark played a LOT better at right tackle on Saturday than in any of his outings there last year. For all Tylan Grable has had a great camp and pre-season I think RVD is your swing tackle. Grable is here as a developmental tackle on the 53 who is the in-house option for next season if Spencer Brown walks. 

 

2. Javon Solomon HOLY freaking MOLY. I thought he was good on a first view. Focussing in just on him second time around.... my god. He was off the hook. I do not think him passing Von and AJE on the depth chart by the end of the season is off the table if he can play like that. He won his rep almost every single down. 

[MJS]

Any thoughts on Kingsley Jonathan. Many said he sucked the first week, but you and Joe Marino both said he played well. Kind of the same this week. Some posters are saying he sucked, but Joe Marino mentioned he played well again.

 

I'm beginning to think he just has some haters who will always hyper focus on any negative play.  But, I didn't focus on him myself. I think he had a sack and two QB hits.

[Alphadawg7]

2 minutes ago, MJS said:

Any thoughts on Kingsley Jonathan. Many said he sucked the first week, but you and Joe Marino both said he played well. Kind of the same this week. Some posters are saying he sucked, but Joe Marino mentioned he played well again.

 

I'm beginning to think he just has some haters who will always hyper focus on any negative play.  But, I didn't focus on him myself. I think he had a sack and two QB hits.

I didn’t spend much time on him this week as I didn’t have a ton of time to get through the footage with notes and my write up and was just more really into putting more time into Andreessen, Hardy, Dorian, and Solomon when I was on the defensive side of things.

 

 

 

5 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

DAZN which us non-Americans rely on for our all22 has only got seven games from the weekend up so far and the Bills is not one, so not had a chance to go back and watch it yet, which I am interested to do for the series that the "first team" offense was out there to look specifically at the receivers. But I did watch the first half of the game back last night on the tv view and my two additional reflections on what I saw originally:

 

1. Van Demark played a LOT better at right tackle on Saturday than in any of his outings there last year. For all Tylan Grable has had a great camp and pre-season I think RVD is your swing tackle. Grable is here as a developmental tackle on the 53 who is the in-house option for next season if Spencer Brown walks. 

 

2. Javon Solomon HOLY freaking MOLY. I thought he was good on a first view. Focussing in just on him second time around.... my god. He was off the hook. I do not think him passing Von and AJE on the depth chart by the end of the season is off the table if he can play like that. He won his rep almost every single down. 

Solomon is going to be a regular part of our rotation for sure and definitely can see him moving up the depth chart if his stellar play so far translates to the regular season.  

[hondo in seattle]

I don't have high expectations, but I am curious...   How are the two non-football players doing:  Gable Steveson and Travis Clayton?

[The Jokeman]

On 8/19/2024 at 11:54 AM, SoonerBillsFan said:

The upside is a top 3 draft pick. 🤮

Which put us in position to get a very good pass rusher to supplant Von or get a very good tackle to replace Spencer Brown if he elected to leave in UFA.

[ren1701]

On 8/19/2024 at 6:07 PM, Shaw66 said:

Thanks.  Maybe that's the right way to think of Trubisky, and that's why he isn't the right guy to be a backup.   A good backup, in my mind, is someone who can run all the same stuff as the starter, but just not as well.  He's not good enough for any team to want him as a starter, but he's good enough to execute the game plan if called on.  

 

I thought Trubisky was better than what you describe. 

I kind of feel he's more like Frank Reich - not a 16 (17 now) game guy but will get you 2 or 3 wins out of 5 

[BigDingus]

This was really good, but 100% disagree about Coleman not being able to catch the ball because it was SO bad & our other receivers wouldn't have a chance.

 

Also, for those who try to say "of course he wasn't willimg to sacrifice himself in a preseason game, he was going to get killed!" - that ball was entirely catchable & whether he caught it or not made no difference to any potential danger.

 

The ball had already hit his hands and fallen before any contact was imminent with a defender... which he managed to avoid AFTER already dropping it. Nothing would change regarding his safety had he caught it. He'd have the exact same amount of time to avoid contact as he did in reality.

 

No need to lay himself out or get killed. Whether or not your hands grip the ball vs dropping the ball isn't the life & death difference some people made it out to be. 

 

"But he'd have to pull it in!" Uh huh, and watch the play again... He was already in position to do just that without taking a huge shot, only he did it without catching the pass.

[billsfan89]

Kind of hoping with Torrence it is similar to Dawkins last pre-season. Dawkins looked slow and "out of shape" in the pre-season and camp. But once the season started he turned in his best season in years and looked quicker. I am hoping with Torrence it is maybe just him working on things and rounding into form.

[Orlando Buffalo]

On 8/19/2024 at 11:10 AM, Alphadawg7 said:

Offense - 

• Quarterbacks - Is it even worth wasting time writing something?  Mitch sucks...and if you thought he sucked watching the game, the All-22 is going to just make you more disgusted.  Mitch has no vision, he had opportunities all over the field all game where he either didn't see or didn't see that they were coming open.  I was irritated during the live game and I was even more frustrated seeing it in deeper detail.  He was holding the ball too long a lot, locking on to guys, seemingly looking at guys coming open and frustratingly not throwing them the ball, and just made a lot of poor throws and decisions.  
  • 3 plays - A 1st down opportunity, a TD opportunity, and a turnover highlight just how bad he was.  I already mentioned them in another thread, but now seeing it on All-22 I am going to cover them again as it just confirmed what I had previously said.
    • 1st Down Opp - Mitch has Coleman run a great route and get separation for an easy catch and YAC and looks to be right in Mitch's vision...doesn't see him.  Hollins runs a curl and is standing wide open a couple yards shy of the first down marker where a quick throw would give him a chance to turn and get the first.  Mitch just holds the ball for literally no reason...and despite staring at Hollins, doesn't throw it and keeps holding it until he finally fires it late which Hollins makes the now contested catch but well short of a first down.  
    • TD Opp - Regardless of anyones position on whether Keon should have or shouldn't have caught that pass, it was a beautiful route that was wasted by a lame duck wobbly throw well out in front and putting Keon in danger.  There is no excuse for this poor of a pass this short on a simple slant.  As far as Keon goes, it wasn't a very catchable ball.  His arms are fully extended but it still hits his finger tips only and the ball is off axis wobbly, making that a very low percentage reception in general and the only reason he got his finger tips on it was his length, it wouldn't have even touched the hands of some of our other WR's.
    • Interception - This was worse on the All-22 than even live.  What is frustrating, as once again, he has a WR coming open early for a YAC opportunity in Hollins right over the middle, right where Mitch's eyes are...doesn't seem to even see him again.  And once again he holds the ball forever and then panic throws to Morris who is not remotely open, there was nothing at all to entice a reasonable QB to make this throw, then the throw was worse than the decision. 
• Receivers - Not going to spend a lot of time here with no Allen because Mitch was so bad.  However, couple of notes:
  • Coleman made some nice plays this game, but the obvious most talked about one is the TD attempt.  I don't care what anyone says, 2 things are clear as day on the All-22:
    • 1 - It was an excellent route and again got separation, which he did on several pass plays this game where Mitch just didn't look his way.  That was a TD route with a well placed ball.  Keon has excellent hands, even if you think it was a "drop", I think we can all agree that his hands are of no ones concern.  The question has been can he win routes and give a good target to the QB, and he did that again like he did on his 3rd target in the Bears game where Mitch threw a horrible ball and wasted the rep making the ball nearly uncatchable.  
    • 2 - The ball was off his finger tips, and it was rotating as a wobbly duck.  I don't know how many people here have played football and caught passes, but that is a low percentage situation.  The vast majority of the fault for this incompletion lies with Mitch.  
  • Overall group of the top end guys - Our guys at the top end of our depth chart continue to show well on film and winning routes, but Mitch has just shown very poor vision these first 2 games, but our guys were getting open and separation.  
  • Guys fighting for a spot - Nothing positive to take away here, its a concern.  MVS sucks, and now may have an injury, although seems like he escaped a long term neck injury as tests came back negative.  I think its possible we see Beane make a move here for the back end of the depth chart if MVS is out long enough to put week 1 in question.  
• Running Backs - Wow, what a turn around.  I wrote in my week 1 All-22 review that I was NOT worried about the OL because the pass pro was good and the run game issues were all correctable and just looked like guys not yet in sync and having timing issues.  Then they come out this week and showed a nice turn around and give our backs a chance out there to make some runs.  
  • Cook had a nice bounce back, but he was overshadowed by Ray Davis.  He was my RB3 in the draft and I loved the pick, and this kid just continues to impress.  He is going to play a lot more than I think people thought when we drafted him.  I love how he hits the hole, he has excellent acceleration so he his playing decisive and hitting the hole both quickly and with aggression.  And he is already our best pass catcher out of the backfield IMHO.  
  • Evans and Gore - Both of these guys impressed.  Very good game by them, but I don't know if there is a path to the roster if we keep Cook, Davis, and Ty...be interesting to see if we keep 4...we did it in the past, but one of them was always Taiwan who was kept as a ST ace rather than a RB.
• Offensive Line - Great bounce back game.  I will say though O'Cyrus did not have his best game, but still not worried overall about him after his play last year, but hope we see him start to get the rust off next week as he has not had a good first 2 pre-season games.  

 

Defense -

• I am running out of time this morning, so going to summarize the D has a whole and then talk about a few guys that deserve more discussion.  Overall this was a very strong showing by the defense especially coming into the game without Milano and then no Bernard either.  Some good games by several players, but the stars of the show were our rookies:
  • Dorian - Only guy on my list that isn't a rookie, but he has the biggest spot light on him coming into the game.  Dorian has flashed potential, but there have been concerns about him improving in coverage.  And while there is still work to do there, overall, his pretty good in coverage and only noted one bad play in pass coverage.  Overall, he had a good game, and good to see him step up in the wake of Milano injury and keep building on his development.  
  • Anderseen - What can I say that hasn't already been said?  I was more impressed with him on the All-22 than I was in the game.  What impressed me the most was his intstincts and ability to shed blocks to get to the ball.  Its one game, but this kid played his tail off like he was an early draft pick.  Its not often when I come away excited to see a UDFA rookie play again next week.  
  • Solomon - He continues to impress me, and I was even more impressed this week than I was last week.  Its hard to get to high on guys in preseason, like even Anderseen above, but his ability to rush and also defend the run has been great to see and if he keeps it up, I think he is trending to being a regular in the DE rotation.    
  • Hardy - I said in shout box, live in game thread, and the post game thread...Hardy is making this team as a CORNERBACK.  Will he also return kicks, quite possibly, but he isn't going to be kept just on return ability, and if Hamler or someone else gets named returner, he will still make this roster.  He was all over the field yesterday and his ability on the outside has been surprisingly good.  And he was out there against their starting outside WR's and holding his own despite his NCB size.  He has become one of my favorite surprises of camp, especially since cornerback depth has been a major concern of mine entering camp.

 

Overall, I thought the All-22 was actually a lot of positives with few negatives.  HOWEVER...the few negatives are big and vastly on the QB's...we have a backup QB problem right now.  Mitch looks lost and plays like someone who has lost his confidence.  And he wasn't a good enough QB to begin with to be able to play through some shaken confidence.  If Allen goes down for a long period of time, the season is over no matter the backup QB most likely.  But I am more concerned about Allen leaving a game early and still needing to win that game...or maybe missing a game or two...because in a very TOUGH AFC, 1 game can be the difference of making or missing the playoffs.  And nothing Mitch has done in camp or these first 2 pre-season games gives me any confidence he can come into a game or start a game and feel like we are going to win.

 

 

In the All 22 did the two Steelers QBs look even worse than Trubisky? I would state Trubisky was a 3/10 but the Steelers QBs both looked to be 2/10 or worse