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After watching the game a second time, I noticed a few other things. Scangarello's play calling was suspect to me on the first Live playthrough. But there is some interesting stuff going on in his scheme. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt till I really know how he's doing. It was game 1 in year 1 with little to no preseason for everyone.
There was some 3 tight end packages which I noticed at least one being quite successful. Heirman, Fumagali, and Fant were all on the field at the same time. Maybe it was because of OL injuries, but it didn't seem like it. 2 lined up left side and Fumagali came in motion to the left side where all 3 opened a nice hole for Lindsey. Pretty cool play.
Fant had me pulling my hair out on game day, but after cooling off I might have been slightly tougher on him than I should have. Not saying he had a 'good' game but he was productive at times.
But Sutton reminds me of Brandon Marshall when he was in Denver. Sutton had a great game. This kid is fast, strong, great hands, runs nice routes ...... but most importantly you can tell he WANTS the ball and WANTS the challenge. We still have players on this team who might not enjoy football. Sutton isn't one of em.
Phillip Lindsey again picked up where he left off. He didn't have a major stat day, but we definitely needed his contributions to have stayed in this game (if you can say we were in it).......... and we were. Royce should get honorable mention. He played decent.
Flacco was a mixed bag for me. Generally he played 80% positive 20% negative. I was a little bothered that he fumbled 2 times. He had no INTs but those fumbles can't happen. One time he held the ball too long and during his sack he was stripped. The other time, the ground caused the fumble but still --- worried me to see that kind of ball insecurity and with the lack of officiating quality we're seeing more and more in the NFL -- you can't count on fairness at the end of the day.
Emmanuel Sanders was his normal solid self although he lost his footing a couple times. One time he kinda flopped but was awarded a Pass Interference. That was a big call......... but probably wasn't accurate. Sanders looks frustrated with the way things are going. It seems to me he's been waiting for his opportunity to be the #1 ever since he got in the league and it's just not happening. I think he is and has been our best receiver for years maybe ever since he got here. I saw him arguing with Noah Fant at one point during the game. It wasn't coming to blows but it seemed like he was Frustrated and Fant seemed misunderstood ........ who knows what they were talking about.
Sutton's successful day should help Sanders find some openings. This is a good sign. And then if Fant can get up to speed, there could be real weapons here.
Yiadom was getting hammered by the Raiders and the fans and talking heads after game 1. He actually also made some great good solid plays in this game too. He's young still so hopefully he can clean things up. I think our pass defense should have jammed the receivers more once they figured out the Raiders were trying to get the ball out with timing and quickly. But they never did.
Gruden is a smart offensive coach. He had Carr playing out of his mind. The way Carr was playing it was hard to defend. Then this Waller player outplayed the defense more than a couple times. They are in year 2 of their system the Broncos are at the beginning of year 1 in theirs. I can't wait for the rematch.
There was some 3 tight end packages which I noticed at least one being quite successful. Heirman, Fumagali, and Fant were all on the field at the same time. Maybe it was because of OL injuries, but it didn't seem like it. 2 lined up left side and Fumagali came in motion to the left side where all 3 opened a nice hole for Lindsey. Pretty cool play.
Fant had me pulling my hair out on game day, but after cooling off I might have been slightly tougher on him than I should have. Not saying he had a 'good' game but he was productive at times.
But Sutton reminds me of Brandon Marshall when he was in Denver. Sutton had a great game. This kid is fast, strong, great hands, runs nice routes ...... but most importantly you can tell he WANTS the ball and WANTS the challenge. We still have players on this team who might not enjoy football. Sutton isn't one of em.
Phillip Lindsey again picked up where he left off. He didn't have a major stat day, but we definitely needed his contributions to have stayed in this game (if you can say we were in it).......... and we were. Royce should get honorable mention. He played decent.
Flacco was a mixed bag for me. Generally he played 80% positive 20% negative. I was a little bothered that he fumbled 2 times. He had no INTs but those fumbles can't happen. One time he held the ball too long and during his sack he was stripped. The other time, the ground caused the fumble but still --- worried me to see that kind of ball insecurity and with the lack of officiating quality we're seeing more and more in the NFL -- you can't count on fairness at the end of the day.
Emmanuel Sanders was his normal solid self although he lost his footing a couple times. One time he kinda flopped but was awarded a Pass Interference. That was a big call......... but probably wasn't accurate. Sanders looks frustrated with the way things are going. It seems to me he's been waiting for his opportunity to be the #1 ever since he got in the league and it's just not happening. I think he is and has been our best receiver for years maybe ever since he got here. I saw him arguing with Noah Fant at one point during the game. It wasn't coming to blows but it seemed like he was Frustrated and Fant seemed misunderstood ........ who knows what they were talking about.
Sutton's successful day should help Sanders find some openings. This is a good sign. And then if Fant can get up to speed, there could be real weapons here.
Yiadom was getting hammered by the Raiders and the fans and talking heads after game 1. He actually also made some great good solid plays in this game too. He's young still so hopefully he can clean things up. I think our pass defense should have jammed the receivers more once they figured out the Raiders were trying to get the ball out with timing and quickly. But they never did.
Gruden is a smart offensive coach. He had Carr playing out of his mind. The way Carr was playing it was hard to defend. Then this Waller player outplayed the defense more than a couple times. They are in year 2 of their system the Broncos are at the beginning of year 1 in theirs. I can't wait for the rematch.
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