One HUGE postive today

[HarveyWallbangers]

Hmm, not to mention the several dropped passes.

Methinks some of you have selective perception.

We were giving up 30 points and 300 yards passing/game. We gave up 23 points and 209 yards passing yesterday against a team that threw for over 300 yards each of their last two games. That's improvement. It could have been better with the picks, but that's an encouraging sign. The longest play by a WR yesterday was 22 yards. That was against Torry Holt, Isaac Bruce, and Kevin Curtis. This after we gave up three 30+ yard pass plays to WRs in week 4, three 25+ yard pass plays to WRs in week 3, three 26+ yard pass plays to WRs in week 2, three 27+ yard pass plays to WRs in week 1. Yes, that's improvement.

[swede]

Game, set and match to Harv.

It sucks to lose, but this team showed improvement. Some losses show you don't know WTF you're doing. Some losses give you something to build on. I think this one was the latter.

[Patler]

However, on the 1st one, Harris had good coverage, but Torry Holt just made a great catch.

Something bothered me on that play, and it points out why I am getting more concerned about Al Harris. For background, I want to point out what I wrote elsewhere, that Harris has had seven flags thrown against him in 5 games this year, after getting more than usual the second half of last season. In his last 8 games, I believe he is responsible for 5 TDs.

On the play yesterday, he did have good coverage, and it was just about a perfect throw. BUT, Harris had no reaction to the throw. No diving attempt to knock it down. No hit against the receiver to attempt to jar it loose. Nothing. I'm not saying he could have prevented the TD, but it was almost as if he conceded, or just couldn't react. Unfortunately, that is what I first began to see the end of last season, and in now every game so far this season. His reactions seem to have slowed dramatically, which could account for the abundant penalties and big receptions against him.

Harris has not completely lost it by any means, but we may never again see the shutdown corener that he was for the first 12 games or so last season. I was really hoping he could stay at the top of his game at least two more seasons, but he may not be able.

[Sparkey]

OK, but if that's your claim - that Carroll really *was* that bad - then why did TT fail to recognize such a significant flaw in the secondary and correct it BEFORE the season?

It's not that Carroll was cut, it's HOW he was cut. It was done in such a way that it was obviously a cheap ploy for fan gratification.

The only reason every gets worked up over this move is because he was a 1st round draft choice. If he was a street FA, you would have heard barely a whimper about the move. In fact most would have said, "If the guy can't perform then get someone else."

BUT, because he was a 1st rounder, somehow then TT should not have cut him ? I, for one, get the impression TT does not care when someone is drafted. If they can't do the job then let someone else have the opportunity to get the job done.

[KYPack]

You can feel the way you do about Carroll, Vegas - but it was still a total PR move by TT to appease the fans. (I use "appease" quite deliberately to refer to the tactics of a megalomaniac dictator like TT.)

Obviously we do not have the same opinion of TT, which is fine. But leaders aren't supposed to be emotional (i.e., irrational). Benching Carroll would have been fine. Replacing Carroll with someone else - same thing. It was a chicken-sh*t move; he could have cut Carroll before the season if he was really that incompetent.

The irony, of course, is no admittance of culpability on the part of TT or the coaching staff, while Carroll is punished for his refreshing honesty. Again, the secondary performed no better w/out Carroll, and I also would encourage y'all to take a refresher of today's McGinn article for a less biased view of Carroll's stats.

Listen to the Favrechild.

She's runnin' wild.

The Carroll moves may have played well to the crowd, but it was a not real thoughtful move. There were other ways to do what that cut accomplished (which was very little, BTW).

Incidently I disagreed with HH on the Roman cut earlier. He urged us to keep Roman. I said he didn't know what he was talking about.

I was wrong and hereby present my sword to the Blue one. TT cut's vets too readily and keeps kids like they are his hobby.

We need more gray haired and bald headed guys on this team. We got kids coming out the wazoo.

[Chester Marcol]

I like seeing Favre take command of this offense. He has the power now to observe the defense and make changes. Under Sherman, he would give Brett a round peg and expect the offense to fit it through whatever shape hole the defense gave us. Now if he can just hit the wide open Bubba in the endzone instead of throwing into double coverage.... On a positve, I like seeing McCarthy in his ear as he gets to the sideline as long as it's not just stroking Brett's ego and actually calling him out on his crappy choice of receiver.

[MadtownPacker]

While Im crushed by yesterdays loss I agree there are many positives to take away. Someone posted how the 4 losses are all against division leaders with a total record of 17-3. Guess it is good to know the team is hanging with better teams. If they can finish the second half of the season winning some of these close games 2007 will be a season to look forward to.

[Merlin]

ONE (1) only one Sack. Unfortunetly, it was on the last play.

I saw two sacks, the first one was way earlier in the game and Favre kind of laid down for it instead of getting his block knocked off, but it was a sack or should have been recorded as one since he was behind the line of scrimmage.

[Guiness]

At least when we gave up a completion today, you could tell who was supposed to be covering the receiver. That's a start.

It also looked like the light went on last week for Harris and Woodson. Who knows why?

These two comments really made me wonder - all the confusion, people looking at each other trying to figure out who was supposed to be covering the wide open receiver...is it possible that Carroll was responsible for even more of the backfield problems than we were aware of?

Makes me wonder if he was a loose cannon running around there like an idiot, screwing up everyone else on the field.

[Partial]

ONE (1) only one Sack. Unfortunetly, it was on the last play.

I saw two sacks, the first one was way earlier in the game and Favre kind of laid down for it instead of getting his block knocked off, but it was a sack or should have been recorded as one since he was behind the line of scrimmage.

It's only a sack if he's in the pocket, so perhaps that is why

[HarveyWallbangers]

No. There can be a sack outside of the pocket. It depends on whether the QB got back to the line of scrimmage and whether the official scorer deems it a run or pass. That play Merlin is talking about was ruled a sack. The Rams had two on the game (that one and the last play).

[MJZiggy]

Officially there were two listed in the game stats.

[Fritz]

Positives:

offensive line play

only four penalties

only 23 points allowed despite the early morency fumble

it's coming, people. Not fast as we'd like but it's coming along. I suspect that as the season goes on they'll win a few more than they have. And if TT can inject some more talent, they'll be on their way.