Winners and Losers Versus Seattle?

[Smidgeon]

Harrell held his own pretty good. Consistently double-teamed and handled it well. Got some pressure at times. Shed the double team when Whitehurst was flushed and forced the throw. As long as the back holds out (or the coaches believes it will hold out) he will be in the rotation.

I didn't see the game, but I believe you. Which is funny because the JS just printed a story on how bad Harrell played in that game. Interesting what they write for a sound byte.

[Brohm]

Bit shocked when I read that, but of course I'm no NFL scout At any rate, for a guy that is coming off the injuries he has had and was being written off by the press, I thought he hung in there well. He wasn't blown back 5 yards downfield in the run, was consistantly double-teamed, and still got a little pressure. Seemed like he was doing his job. Of course if they were looking for a Haynesworth rip your head style of play, I'm not sure he'd be their guy :P

[Lurker64]

In spite of his inability to get on the field so far in his NFL, Justin Harrell is very good at stacking blockers, shifting, and flowing to the ball; he does it instinctively in a way that young guys like Neal don't yet. He doesn't seem to provide much of anything in the pass rush, but he's an effective run defender. If he could push NFL lineman back a little more, and his back holds up, he could be very effective in the rotation.

[Fritz]

That Harrell article was a mystery to me. A few posters here and a friend of mine who watched the game said that Harrell played acceptably. He wasn't great, but he held up. Now we get this JSO article that says Harrell was awful. And some of the quotes from Harrell seem to support that (was he just trying not to create a stink by defending himself? Being humble? Telling the truth?)

I are confused.

I also agree with Harv - early on it was said that Bryan's downfall was that he wasn't as good a holder as Masthay. Now he's better? Did he improve that much that quickly?

One more note - Zombo. There are always those "camp guys" that fans fall in love with and they don't often turn out as much. This year it has been Shields and then Quinn Porter. But apparently Zombo has impressed at least Kevin Greene. So is this guy an NFL starter or just a guy?

[falco]

NFL starter

[Patler]

That Harrell article was a mystery to me. A few posters here and a friend of mine who watched the game said that Harrell played acceptably. He wasn't great, but he held up. Now we get this JSO article that says Harrell was awful. And some of the quotes from Harrell seem to support that (was he just trying not to create a stink by defending himself? Being humble? Telling the truth?)

I are confused.

Again, an article apparently written to enforce a point of view that is perhaps not justified by the events that accured. For example, he writes:

...Harrell ... had a hurry on another snap in which he showed absolutely no acceleration to backup quarterback Charlie Whitehurst.

or, he could have written that Harrell got in Whitehursts face in the open field, with his hands up, forcing Whitehurst to throw the ball away out of bounds on third down, which is in fact what happened. It was a nice play by Harrell. I just re-watched it after reading the article.

I re-watched all his snaps. I don't think he played that poorly. He was cut once by a second player while he was engaged with a first, went down another time when he was disengaging from a first player and a second player hit him in the back, and was thrown down when the lineman grabbed and twisted his shoulder pads. A couple times he was down around the feet of a ball carrier, but it was hard to see what his involvement was.

[Smidgeon]

I can't help but pull for Harrell when I see the media trying to take him down. He seems like a truly humble guy with top football instincts. Hopefully the back holds up.