Newsome is Awesome

That's why arguing here is almost pointless. You have to wait for game results. We'll discuss them frequently this year.

What you'll find is that Big Stanley has predominantly faced 2nd and 3rd stringers. He's done an adequate job in that capacity, but there's been more going on than PFF or RSR are going to be capable of deciphering. The primary issue is snaps vs non starters, but there is more. The average time the QB's are holding the ball is very short. PFF discuss that? What about RSR? The reason is those entities are not comprehensive. They are actually creating numbers for situations against non starters and in situations where the ball is held for extremely short periods of time. The latter is Trestman's influence. Indy used players that laid way off our receivers. Reminded me immensely of the Patriot playoff game loss in 2014. We couldn't cover close either. Anyway, I'd be real careful in drawing conclusions before the season begins. That scene you've posted is a quick release again and if the play wasn't over in short order, it may not have been as good a block as implied.

Joe has not come close to his 2012 Championship Run and a big part of that was Pitta. The other parts were taken, one immediately the other while Pitta was absent. Joes completion percentage went up last year, but his rating went down. He threw a lot of dump off balls, which is a hallmark of the Trestman offense. The best way to put it is that Flacco has a bunch of new receivers with whom confidence has not been established. When he works it out with receivers we retain, he'll get back, but "we've" been insisting upon playing musical chairs with his receivers.

There is no way Pitta gets cut this season. My interpretation of RSR is that it was speculative in regard to coming years. Really that was the only way to interpret it. If it was a genuine belief about this year...well...don't put much stock into the rating system either. What still bothers me about Pitta's injury is that our high drafted rookie didn't have the common sense to ease off a remarkable veteran making a historic comeback. It never crossed his mind to not go full out. That kind of processing mistake will show up on the field. A team needs athletes, but a team is best when those athletes are discerning.

Sounds like you're quoting history. Very similar words to what a former Secretary of Defense used. Bad decisions regarding personnel are bad decisions regarding personnel. Sometimes the leaders are the problem.

Well it looks like the Elam debate has been decided by the 15-20% chance of injury. He had a chip removed from his knee and Lewis has been injured. It's a race back to active status regarding who makes the roster.

Thanx, But I'm not much interested in Cap Discussions. They are labored. Any Team can make room for any Player in regard to Cap. The Steelers do it all the time. My view on Cap is that it must be rescinded for the game to be completely enjoyable. When it is rescinded we will see who the good GM's are and who they are not. I also believe rosters need expanded by at least 10 players and I believe 12 would be a better number with the injuries and concern for player well being. If our roster was 65, I might understand retaining Elam. Whatever they pay Elam is too much, because his roster spot is valuable and it strains credibility to say, we have nothing better and can't release him. Every time he is on the field there is jeopardy of losing the game. He can't play the position in the NFL.

Don't hold your breath. I gotta tell you. I've watched a lot of players over the years, but rarely have seen one so much a fish out of water. Having gone big against Big Stanley, must admit to this point he has not allowed the QB to be harassed. I think it's an aggregation of things, but the QB has been clean in the pocket. Elam on the other hand has a track record and tools that aren't fit for the position. What are you gonna do?

Eric Reid?.....Yah, not even in the same stadium. Check out Reid's read, catch and athleticism on his TD vs Denver. Granting it was against a 3rd string QB. Reid had a poor year last year, but not as poor as our 1st rounder from that same draft has played. Correa deserves time. He's definitely got a high motor and enthusiasm. He reminds me of a young Rey Maualuga. Not sure about his NFL football instincts, but they can develop. Really?

After isolating Elam on the couple plays he appeared to make tackles they turned from tackles into at best middling plays. Can't believe he makes this team, but there is likely one thing worse than an early round bad draft pick for a Front Office. It's cutting a high draft pick, they eventually determined to be a bad draft pick, only to have him blossom somewhere else. That scenario makes someone look very silly and so there certainly is some hesitation about Elam now.

Colts Drive 1 Elam, Correa and Judon not in. Correa gets in on goal line defense, overpowered by Colts right tackle, though got his facemask incidentally. Colts 3-0 Raven Drive 1, will focus on Stanley 1-Run to right side away from Big Stanley, he misses cut block again, minimal gain 2-Big Stanley gets part of his man on a cut block that doesn't take him down, Partial Year starter, they run away from Big Stanley again to right for minimal gain 3-Big Stanley has a rook LB take him long and is lucky pass is quick... Rook that almost beat Stanley roughs punter drive continues 4-Big Stanley on Part Year starter again, gets bulled backwards but neutralizes him on Gilmore Drop 5-Stanley gets beat by 2nd move of Roughing rook, but quick pass out prevents any damage 6-Stanley off half a beat quick due to Roughing Rook on him again. Refs don't call it and Rook beats Big Stanley outside but quick throw prevents any damage. 7-Stanley literally punches Roughing Rook in head, Refs somehow don't see it, but that will not fly. You gotta look at his play 7 on the film. Unreal. I grade Stanley very poorly for these two drives against nondescript players. My grades do not get reduced to a number. Not at BPU. Ravens punt Colts 2nd Drive Believe Elam is in and gets stoned on a blitz Elam does make 1st of his two tackles next play.....have to note its a dive and not an arms tackle and leaves a man early that could have beat him for a TD. Elam makes his second tackle, but loses coverage on man Elam beat in a couple steps but colts fumble Ravens 3rd Drive 8-Run to stanleys side and he makes handsy seal vs 12 year vet, non starter end of year. 9-They Run at Big Stanley and being kind he looks awkward. Actually grabs the defender from behind while he is tackling ball carrier. No gain. 10-Non Factor, rollout right, 1st down 11-Does a good job pass blocking on Sack Zed for a year DE 12-Fair block on starting linkbacker, very handsy.....gonna be lucky if he doesn't get called for holding as the Refs get his wind of his preference. No gain 13-Does a good job on OLB, full year starter, forcing him out....TD Colts next Drive Correa in this drive Contrary he does not touch ball against 2nd string LT Correa unblocked has ball thrown right into him. Missed field goat 7-3 Ravens 14-Good Pass block..completion 15-Does good job on Roughing Rook this time on run 16-Does an adequate job on non starting big LB........Ravens punt Colts Drive for filed goal Well, thats enough. No need to go into the second half with 3rd stringers. What one can't dismiss is that for the second game in a row we did not look good while it was 1st team vs 1st team. Hopefully that means we are slow starters, cuz that can be overcome. Big Stanley started poorly and played better as the game went on. Still waiting to see him on dedicated QB rushers. He's gonna have to watch his hands. Judon has a motor and will play large for us barring injury. He was my favorite in this draft. Matt Elam became invisible after a couple plays he appeared in. Correa has a ways to go as well. Essentially we won a close one and that's good for morale.

If you take Josh Johnson's scramble runs out of the run equation, the running game wasn't much. Stanley appeared to block pretty well in pass protection though.

cant seem to stop them but elam has made a couple tackles

Penalties keeping us in it.

The problem is our core team building draft years are quite a few years back. 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2008....by any objective measure we really haven't drafted core players for 8 years. That's a long time to go into a slump in today's NFL. After finishing 8-8, we picked up Mosely who is a very productive player. Whether he becomes a core player remains to be seen. No one else since 2008 fits into that category. You have to look close at our 1st round selections since then. 2009- Oher......we certainly didn't think enough of him to keep him........he was literally chastised in this forum by the fans. 2010-Kindle - They'll say, how could you know?.........Fact is he didn't play for us under very questionable conditions 2011-Jimmy Smith....He can't stay sound.....he's Webb on the corner. How many pro bowls?...certainly not core. 2012-Courtney Upshaw.......once again, not core 2013-Matt Elam.........here they clearly just fumbled the ball. 2014-CJ Mosely.........He's played well and has potential to become core 2015 Perriman..........Not a play for us. 2016 Big Stanley........we'll see. I'm not even going to get into the 2nd and 3rd round busts..........you can't draft like that in today's NFL and claim to have been among the Evaluating Elite. Our draft selectors have been much closer to the bottom of the league than the top of the league over these years and that my friends is our problem.

I haven't heard anything implying Flacco is not precisely on path. They are being careful with him, but we'll see if he gets some time tonight.

I agree with you. Not sure why he went that late, but a lot of teams are going to regret it.

The Big Tunsil vs The Cowboys The Big Tunsil starts this game with the other Fin starters. The psychology of Tunsil being number 1 is palpable. Just tell the truth coaching staff. 1-Tunsil not only removes his man from the pass play, he knocks him off balance 2-Tunsil pulls right on a run play and removes his man from the play. 3- Tunsil gets double team help but sack comes from off side of line 2nd Drive 4- fake bootleg left, play goes other way 5- Tunsil pulls left and gets a shield block on his man, but play looks to have broken down 6- Tunsil does excellent job of double teaming a man and keeping on eye on Left Tackles man. Superb. 7.- Tunsil in melee, very effective 8- Tunsil pancakes his man on a pass play......kaching! 9-Tunsil literally blocks 2 men on a running play, 2nd on a blitz. 10- Totally neutralizes his bull rusher 11-Pushes his bull rusher laterally......my oh my Fins fail on 4th down 12- Tunsil pulls right, tags a man, but tackle on runner made behind him 13-Helps double team a man...1st down, but Fins struggling 14-Tunsil yards downfield neutralizing a linebacker 15-Tunsil off half a step quick, but they don't call it, neutralizes his man. 16-Tunsil seals his man on a pass play, but heavy rush comes from Left Tackles man 17-Camera loses play 18- Tunsil neutralizes his man, but late loses him off the left side, incomplete 19- Stumbles, but gets a block nevertheless.....showed his athleticism on tough play 20 - seals man TD Tunsil out for next Fins series. Tunsil back in with 11.00 to go in third quarter 21- Neutralizes man on quick hitter 22-Gets a piece of two defenders. 1st down run called back due to hold. 23-Is moved off the spot by a fresh bull rusher......first time I've seen that.......keeps his man safe, but definitely moved by him 24-Gets upfield on 3rd and 29 25-pulls right upfield, finds no one to block QB sacked 26- neutralizes his man but QB sacked again from right side..bullrusher he had trouble with 27- Nice block on pass play....his man never close 28- Textbook pull and move out on linebacker....runner cuts right behind him 29- Big Bullrusher blocked....tries to stunt..1st down 30- False Start on Tunsil......clearly goes on wrong snap count 31- Nondescript block towards play direction......not effective 32-No one to block on play 33-Stops big bull rusher on 1st and 2nd moves......same was gonna clear on 3rd move, but 1st down 34 gets in front of his man on play to left for big run gainer.......good play after a few questionable ones 35 Downfield with noone to block again.......getting downfield well on pulls but not finishing out there 36- Stops bullrusher....same one Rookie from Akron is a beast though 37-Akron rookie beats him inside and makes tackle.......worst play in 2 preseason games 38- Double team ..good block but Fins fail to convert down deep on 4th and short. Cowboys blowing them out.........Note this Rookie from Akron #67 is a load. Hes' gonna make this team and make lots of noise Tunsil out with 5 min left in 4th quarter. He didn't finish the game as well as he started it. Bad plays including losing track of the snap count on a downfield assignment and blowing the block on the Akron rookie. Still, only he and Pouncey kept the QB clean. The dominant blocks were once again, other worldly. They played him a good number of snaps because he is clearly the starting Left Guard now and he is gonna be a good one........very good. Whether thats gonna be enough to elevate the Fins in the division is another story. 3 rooks stood out The Big Tunsil and Dak Prescott are going to be game changers The Akron Rookie is going to create chaos Its almost Football Time!......gonna have us some fun!.....GONNA HAVE US SOME FUN!

What was Suggs gonna say? He's the Team Leader now and was doing his pep talk job with a young team. We were 12-4 in 2011 and 10-6 in 2012, with a team still heavy in pro bowlers.

If you're saying Williams was not as effective after he left the Ravens, that is probably accurate in some respects, but I have to say when anyone uses a rating like a 104.3 or a 3.1, you're going to immediately lose the attention of anyone from the Bill Parcells school of evaluation. That is going to be especially so when the source of the rating is not even referenced, because certain sources like PFF or Russell Street have lost accreditation with the School of Parcells. For instance, we had a poster from Russell Street the other day actually state that one reason our rookie left tackle scored so high, (3.1), was because the "expectation" for him was lower. Or in other words he received a subjective bonus. At BPU, we sorta chuckle at that! (Update: Such was stated within a Russell Street Report link, but the author has since revised that post and the subjective language has been removed.) At Bill Parcells University, Wins and Losses, Games Played, Starts, Passes Defensed, Interceptions, Tackles are what is going to make us initially take notice with a cornerback. If you've got film, we are very big on film as well. But ratings, not so much. I'd point out that even with diminished "Parcells Numbers" and a Philly Offense that did NOT stay on the field, Cary Williams was a winner and played in the playoffs in 2013 and we did not. The Chip Kelly offense will make any defender slip some, because there are quick outs and quick scores. But won't argue that Williams did not slip, just that evaluating with someone else's "ratings" is not the way to judge it. At least not at BPU. Correction...It looks like Championship Cary Williams may have been picked up by Washington.

The Championship Game?

I have a vastly different measuring stick for player. For me he doesn't get to be called elite on a subjective basis. He has to be a game changer on film. He has to produce, he has to be on the field and the team has to win. I like Jimmy Smith, but to this point he has not tipped the scale in his favor. I see potential, but it has not fully ripened by many measures. If we could put Championship Cary Williams on both corners this year, it would be a no brainer. Regarding injuries, I'm going strictly by memory, but I recall his rookie year he had a high ankle sprain that set him back multiple games. His second year, I believe he had a abdominal hernia that set him back. Obviously the Lisfranc in 2014, a year you wish to score as pro bowl. I know there's great influence here to put Smith on the Hall of Fame express. I'm just not on board that train. But if he's going to get on, it better be soon, because he is 28 years old and the best sequence he's shown was in the final drive of the Championship game. Jimmy Smith certainly hasn't shown much in practice, but I'm not holding that against him. He deserves the chance to demonstrate he's still got it.

That wasn't Weddle back there though. Ladarius probably had the sun get in his eyes..........."Blinding" Check out the shadows on the field. What about that throw. Check out the spiral on that thing. Low boring trajectory. That's the type of throw Flacco excels at. Unfortunately it sounds like Waller is making the Cut decision more difficult after today.

Jimmy Smith has had trouble staying glued together. Not sure you're talking 2011 or 2012, but I believe Smith was nicked in both years. Cary Williams on the other hand started every game, including all playoff games, for us those two years. 38 of 38 games, including 2 passes defensed in the Championship game. Williams had 75 plus tackles each of those two seasons and defensed as many thrown balls (35) as Darelle Revis, but for Revis's in 2009 Now he is only 31 and a Free Agent, but he did play admirably for the Ravens. Jimmy Smith is 28 years old and has he played his best? Because if he has do you really think he has measured up to Cary Williams in either 2011 or 2012? My view is that Jimmy Smith is still about potential and a lot of that has to do with injuries. Which brings us back to Elam and a much lower level of contribution discussion.

I've projected 7-9 with possible upside exceeding that should Suggs return to near form and Wallace become at least a Torrey Smith.