Post Mortem: Game 1

[Mr. Scot]

Taking a look back at the first game of the Reich / Young era...

First ip, this disclaimer: If you're drawing long term conclusions off of this game, you're either trolling or football stupid. It's way too early for anything like that. Just stop. I'm not interested in your silliness.

Now on to the serious talk...

Young's debut was overall a good one. Rookie mistakes were going to happen. That's unavoidable. But Young showed smarts, poise and a cool demeanor. Said earlier he seemed more comfortable running at a slow pace then he did up tempo (probably need some work there). Final answer though, he's got what it takes to be an NFL quarterback. He just needs to keep working.

Mind you, Bryce wasn't the only one making rookie mistakes. New guard Chandler Zavala certainly had a few, though again I'd say overall he looked promising. Ditto Jonathan Mingo. Work is needed but the basic tools are there.

The other big debut today was Ejiro Evero's defense featuring Brian Burns. Burns made his case in the first half but was somewhat nullified in the second. Still, not complaining. It was expected there'd be things to fix. That comes with starting a new era.

Additional bright spots: Hayden Hurst gives us the good tight end we've been missing (even if he did throw away Young's first touchdown ball). The Uglies looked mostly good. Liked what I see of Laviska Shenault as well. And Johnny Hekker is still Johnny Hekker.

On the downside, hate to see Jaycee Horn go out again, though outside of that the team came out pretty healthy. Miles Sanders clearly isn't at full strength yet but there's that to look forward to. Didn't see much of Justin Houston but maybe he'll show up more in the future.

Bottom line for me: I saw some good things I wanted to see, and some bad things I expected to see.

What I saw most of all though was a new beginning...and a promising one.

It's been said before, but if you had high expectations for this season, those were likely misplaced. If you're just looking for signs of hope though, we've got 'em.

Looking forward to next week

Edited September 10, 2023 by Mr. Scot

[carpanfan96]

My one cause for concern is that both of Youngs interceptions were on the same type of read. 

[joande]

Definitely agree with you.  I’m also tired of silliness and overacting.  Too bad we listed but I’m actually really excited.  Not bad for a first game for Young. I’m looking forward to him growing. 

[L-TownCat]

Thanks for the write up and your opinion is always appreciated.  Again, thank you.

 

I can’t agree.  This was supposed to be more of a “turn-key” operation than a true “rebuild”.  This is obviously not the case.

Tough times ahead and Tepper will be further maligned as the poo-heel he is.

[FuFuLamePoo]

1 minute ago, carpanfan96 said:

My one cause for concern is that both of Youngs interceptions were on the same type of read. 

See I actually feel okay about this because knowing what we know about Bryce and how much extra work he puts in when it comes to breaking down film I really think he'll get that cleaned up asap. The glaring concern with Bryce and/or the offense as a whole is we look incapable of pushing the ball 10+ yards down the field. Everything was underneath today

[Rags]

I wanna add in on Terrace "Devin Funchess" Marshall.

It's week one, maybe they'll gel more in the future. A few times were legit miscommunications.

But a year 3 WR giving up on routes is maddening. Yet wants to pop his chest for making the most basic fugin' catches. 

Edited September 10, 2023 by Rags

[USDepartmentOfSavagery]

3 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

Taking a look back at the first game of the Reich / Young era...

First ip, this disclaimer: If you're drawing long term conclusions off of this game, you're either trolling or football stupid. It's way too early for anything like that. Just stop. I'm not interested in your silliness.

Now on to the serious talk...

Young's debut was overall a good one. Rookie mistakes were going to happen. That's unavoidable. But Young showed smarts, poise and a cool demeanor. Said earlier he seemed more comfortable running at a slow pace then he did up tempo (probably need some work there). Final answer though, he's got what it takes to be an NFL quarterback. He just needs to keep working.

Mind you, Bryce wasn't the only one making rookie mistakes. New guard Chandler Zavala certainly had a few, though again I'd say overall he looked promising. Ditto Jonathan Mingo. Work is needed but the basic tools are there.

The other big debut today was Ejiro Evero's defense featuring Brian Burns. Burns made his case in the first half but was somewhat nullified in the second. Still, not complaining. It was expected there'd be things to fix. That comes with starting a new era.

Additional bright spots: Hayden Hurst gives us the good tight end we've been missing (even if he did throw away Young's first touchdown ball). The Uglies looked mostly good. Liked what I see of Laviska Shenault as well. And Johnny Hekker is still Johnny Hekker.

On the downside, hate to see Jaycee Horn go out again, though outside of that the team came out pretty healthy. Miles Sanders clearly isn't at full strength yet but there's that to look forward to. Didn't see much of Justin Houston but maybe he'll show up more in the future.

Bottom line for me: I saw some good things I wanted to see, and some bad things I expected to see.

What I saw most of all though was a new beginning...and a promising one.

It's been said before, but if you had high expectations for this season, those were likely misplaced. If you're just looking for signs of hope though, we've got 'em.

Looking forward to next week

A lot of us are tired of reading your conjecture. Having 100,000 post doesn’t mean you’re right about anything. The coaching staff looked like what many of us thought. And Young was disappointing. You can look promising as a rookie QB. Today, he did not. 

[45catfan]

The same things that worried me in the offseason leading up the the regular season came home to roost.

#1) No true weapon on the boundary. Chark?  Possibly if he could suit up on Sundays.

#2) No short yardage back.  Chuba put on weight to be more of a between the tackles carrier, but alas, a zebra can't change their stripes.

#3) No beef in the middle of the defense.  While it wasn't horrible today, we will continuously get gashed for huge gains as long as we don't have a run stopper plugging the interior of that defensive line.

 

Until at lest TWO of those 3 things (preferably all 3) get resolved, it's going to be a long season.

[t96]

Tough game but gotta give it a few months before we take anything at all away from it with a new staff and rookie QB. Hopefully we can come out of the first 8 games around .500 then start clicking.

[chknwing]

Is there such thing as too poise?  He needs some energy, a little emotion. The offense will feed off him.

[Bear Hands]

nice post, keeping it less reactionary..but...

1 minute ago, Mr. Scot said:

Young's debut was overall a good one. Rookie mistakes were going to happen. That's unavoidable. But Young showed smarts, poise and a cool demeanor. He's got what it takes to be an NFL quarterback. He just needs to keep working.

Mind you, Bryce wasn't the only one making rookie mistakes. New guard Chandler Zavala certainly had a few, though again I'd say overall he looked promising. Ditto Jonathan Mingo. Work is needed but the basic tools are there.

I don't think it's out of bounds to say Bryce's accuracy was pretty off today and it just wasn't the best performance.  We can say that without crying out he's a bust or anything like that.  

He had a few good moments but I actually thought he seemed a tad anxious back there and was throwing behind, sailed a few as well.  Had one very nice drive that showed promise.  

The entire passing game is what I found disappointing.  Play design, play calls, and Young.  It's unfortunate, particularly because this is what we've been used to and wanted to be rid of, and were promised to be rid of. 

Onto next week.  Better look a whole lot more competent.  I'll give Bryce time, but the playbook didn't look pretty off the bat.  

[Cornflake]

That first drive (besides the failed 4th &1 convert) was a thing of beauty... I think it gave me unrealistic expectations on what to expect the rest of the game. Hope to see more of those flashes.

[Mr. Scot]

1 minute ago, Rags said:

I wanna add in on Terrace "Devin Funchess" Marshall.

It's week one, maybe they'll gel more in the future. A few times were legit miscommunications.

But a year 3 WR giving up on routes is maddening. Yet wants to pop his chest for making the most basic fugin' catches. 

Would pretty much agree with that.

I'm hoping Shawn Jefferson makes a difference with him.

[OldhamA]

Just now, FuFuLamePoo said:

See I actually feel okay about this because knowing what we know about Bryce and how much extra work he puts in when it comes to breaking down film I really think he'll get that cleaned up asap. The glaring concern with Bryce and/or the offense as a whole is we look incapable of pushing the ball 10+ yards down the field. Everything was underneath today

This is what they signed up for when they drafted Young.

If he succeeds he'll be Brees-lite, shredding you laterally until you overcompensate and he can hit a deep pass. It's a dink and dunk offence that has to be absolutely perfect in it's execution though - but that's his (physical) skill set.