Amid the doom and gloom
Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 12:19 amWe all know it wasn't as pretty or dominant as we would have liked. However, let's not forget that WE WON, everyone. Some thoughts:
- Nice INT by Marquis Frazier on the deflection on his first play.
- Chase Kennemer was pretty impressive. He was all over the place, and his sack at the end sealed the game.
- Torlan Pittman might be a nice addition to the NT rotation. I can't remember the last interior DL we had who could drop into coverage and make that play he made when he got out into the flat and tipped away a screen pass.
- Cameron Rogers looked pretty decent for a freshman.
- I'm pretty leery of getting too fired up about a freshman, but Darius Johnson made a few nice catches, and that touchdown grab was a thing of beauty.
- I was pretty lukewarm on Rock Dennis last year, but nobody has three takeaways by accident. Nice game, Rock.
- Szymanski punted and kicked well, except for the one shanked punt that he pool-cued into the bench area (and no more fake punts ... although the guys on the radio said it was an option — not a called run by the coaches — and that he made the wrong read).
- Sterling Moore's INT was pretty nice — didn't know he could jump like that.
- Bryan McCann's INT was even nicer, baiting the QB and then jumping the route to make the pick. Also had that nice long kickoff return.
- Shawnbrey McNeal — enough said. Glad to have him, and didn't expect nearly that kind of production in his first game. Looking forward to more of the same.
Seems to me we won when Bo Levi Mitchell had a weak game, in terms of his accuracy, and beat a team that was wearing our defense out with that no-huddle look. Put that together with the fact that it was our first game, so there were bound to be some mistakes, and I'll take it. No, it doesn't go in the season highlights tape, but some teams in years past would have figured out a way to lose tonight. We didn't.
Lots of coaches say teams improve the most between Week 1 and Week 2. Here's hoping that's true — BEAT UAB!
- Nice INT by Marquis Frazier on the deflection on his first play.
- Chase Kennemer was pretty impressive. He was all over the place, and his sack at the end sealed the game.
- Torlan Pittman might be a nice addition to the NT rotation. I can't remember the last interior DL we had who could drop into coverage and make that play he made when he got out into the flat and tipped away a screen pass.
- Cameron Rogers looked pretty decent for a freshman.
- I'm pretty leery of getting too fired up about a freshman, but Darius Johnson made a few nice catches, and that touchdown grab was a thing of beauty.
- I was pretty lukewarm on Rock Dennis last year, but nobody has three takeaways by accident. Nice game, Rock.
- Szymanski punted and kicked well, except for the one shanked punt that he pool-cued into the bench area (and no more fake punts ... although the guys on the radio said it was an option — not a called run by the coaches — and that he made the wrong read).
- Sterling Moore's INT was pretty nice — didn't know he could jump like that.
- Bryan McCann's INT was even nicer, baiting the QB and then jumping the route to make the pick. Also had that nice long kickoff return.
- Shawnbrey McNeal — enough said. Glad to have him, and didn't expect nearly that kind of production in his first game. Looking forward to more of the same.
Seems to me we won when Bo Levi Mitchell had a weak game, in terms of his accuracy, and beat a team that was wearing our defense out with that no-huddle look. Put that together with the fact that it was our first game, so there were bound to be some mistakes, and I'll take it. No, it doesn't go in the season highlights tape, but some teams in years past would have figured out a way to lose tonight. We didn't.
Lots of coaches say teams improve the most between Week 1 and Week 2. Here's hoping that's true — BEAT UAB!