What's new
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums

Welcome to Our Forums. Once you've registered and logged in, you're primed to talk football, among other topics, with the sharpest and most experienced fantasy players on the internet.

**2017 Preseason Observations Thread** (1 Viewer)

Zyphros said:
I expect a lot more from a guy they brought in to be "the hammer" of their run game.  He looks slow at everything to me.  There's no way this shouldn't be Carson's job at this point since he's played extremely well when given chances.  Lacy is 4th on that depth chart to me.  
Click to expand...
good luck with that

 
Hunt with a decent run just now. 

Seattle was in kind of a 3-4 type look with a single high safety. Fouts comments on Hunt gaining yards after contact with Earl Thomas.

His run after this not much there but he got a couple yards.

 
Man I haven't seen Hill play much but he looks really bad tonight.  Good thing he is such an incredible athlete because he doesn't look like he has any idea how to be a WR.  It's not just the drops, it's the way they happened.  Everything gets into his body.  When a ball is behind him a little instead of just reaching back and plucking it out of the air he contorts his whole body to get his chest back to the ball.

It reminds me of when you go throw the football with your wife or someone that doesn't really handle a football much and when you throw them the ball they just can't figure out what to do with their hands and end up trying to catch the ball at all these unnatural angles.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hunt converts the first down on short yardage and gains about 9 yards on the play. He kind of hurfles over a tackle attempt after crossing the LOS that enables him to get more out of the play.

 
mbuehner said:
Is Smith really a mediocre QB or do his receivers always play like this?
Click to expand...
They're not exactly doing him any favors tonight, but Smith really is mediocre.  I love Alex Smith honestly but he is what he is, which is an average QB who isn't very likely to lose you games.  

 
FreeBaGeL said:
Man I haven't seen Hill play much but he looks really bad tonight.  Good thing he is such an incredible athlete because he doesn't look like he has any idea how to be a WR.  It's not just the drops, it's the way they happened.  Everything gets into his body.  When a ball is behind him a little instead of just reaching back and plucking it out of the air he contorts his whole body to get his chest back to the ball.

It reminds me of when you go throw the football with your wife or someone that doesn't really handle a football much and when you throw them the ball they just can't figure out what to do with their hands and end up trying to catch the ball at all these unnatural angles.
Click to expand...
One of the things I always keep in mind in preseason is how vanilla the game plans are. RBs usually look a bit better because its very simple run, run, run.  WRs that rely on speed often look poorer because there is no game planning that allows them to utilize the speed, change of direction, strategy (for lack of better word).  But you're right; the manner in which he is tracking and trying to catch the ball doesn't look like a smooth WR. 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Mister CIA said:
Elaborate, por favor.
Click to expand...
He's looked good and Stafford has locked onto him. Also, this write-up was convincing..

Right now, Marvin Jones's ADP is #139 in standard and #118 in PPR, according to FantasyPros. That's the 50th ranked WR, behind Adam Thielen, Corey Davis, and John Brown, among others. As a long-time Lions fan, this is CRIMINALLY underrating him, and let me tell you why.

Those of us who owned him or otherwise paid attention last year remember that Jones started off incredibly hot, averaging 17.6 PPG in standard over the first three weeks, in part due to a huge week 3 against Green Bay. He saw 10, 11, and 8 targets respectively in those three weeks. Then, he fell off a cliff. He would only see 8+ targets in a game two more times the rest of the season, both relatively late in the year. What happened?

The dominant narrative is that defenses started keying in on him, which I'm sure is partially correct. But the real answer is that Detroit's game strategy totally changed.

Week 3 against Green Bay, Marvin put up 205 yards and 2 TDs. Detroit still lost, 27-34. Why? Because their defense simply couldn't stop anybody. They were thin to begin with, and then their LB core got decimated, not to mention a non-existent pass rush with their only legiminate DL stud, Ziggy Ansah, nagged by an ankle injury all season. Teams threw short passes against them all year; streaming TEs against Detroit was a legitimate strategy for good reason. They finished 31st in the league in 3rd down efficiency against, with teams converting 45.5% of the time.

The coaching staff decided to mask this by changing their gameplan: keep the defense off the field as much as possible. With Ameer Abdullah out indefinitely, the only way to burn clock effectively was to let YAC specialists Tate and Riddick take small bites out of the field, with an occasional chain-moving pass to Boldin. Marvin Jones had been scooped up following the departure of Megatron to fill the deep threat role, but with barely any defense to speak of, Detroit simply couldn't afford to take many deep shots, because they couldn't afford a shootout. Detroit plays at the third-slowest pace in the league, taking just a shade over 29 seconds per play; only Dallas and Miami take longer out of the huddle to the snap of the ball. And while Detroit plays at such a relaxed pace, it’s not so surprising that the Lions actually lead the NFL in a time of possession per drive (TOP/Dr), holding onto the ball for an average of 3 minutes and 17 seconds each time they get on offense. What is a bit of a surprise is that they also lead the league in plays per drive (Plays/Dr), snapping the ball 6.78 times per drive.

Surprisingly, this worked. It kept Detroit usually within one score, allowing Stafford to work his 4th quarter magic and lead the Lions to a record-breaking 8 comebacks in one season. This was only possible because Detroit limited the time their defense was on the field, and therefore limited points scored against them until the very end.

This offseason Detroit spent significant resources retooling their defense, including drafting an MLB and CB with their top 2 picks and bringing in quite a few depth players to avoid a repeat of injury hell. Ziggy Ansah will also be back, presumably at full health. Barring unforseen circumstance, Detroit's defense will be at least middle-of-the-road, which is significantly better than last year's abysmal performance. This means their offense, loaded with playmakers, will no longer have to play so conservatively, and Marvin Jones' deep threat role will return to relevance.

I'm not suggesting Jones will hit his early 2016 heights again, or even be in the WR1 conversation; probably not, considering he'll split targets with Tate, Riddick, Ebron, and rookie Golladay. But considering the chemistry Stafford and Jones have displayed (most recently in preseason week 2), and the likely return to a flashier offensive gameplan, I'm expecting Jones to perform like a WR3 with high WR2 upside. Considering you can draft him as your 4th or 5th WR, that's an absolute steal.
Click to expand...

 
Dan Fouts is awful.  Oh yeah...they have time to run another play but it's 4th down so they will kick???  Top notch analysis.

 
Nerd alert: 

Anyone else grabbing Blair Walsh for 2017? Over the past ten years I've been disappointed eight times by Saints and Seahawks kickers.

Hoping for 8 out of 11.

 
BINGBING said:
Dan Fouts is awful.  Oh yeah...they have time to run another play but it's 4th down so they will kick???  Top notch analysis.
Click to expand...
He is terrible tonight. I have never minded him in the past, so I hope this is just a slow preseason start for him.

 
looks like the Seattle home field ref cheat is fully in effect in the pre-season. No horse collar. no face mask.  But we will call that push off on KC. 

 
Shutout said:
looks like the Seattle home field ref cheat is fully in effect in the pre-season. No horse collar. no face mask.  But we will call that push off on KC. 
Click to expand...
Yeah inconsistent non call there. To be fair both players had hands to the others grill there.

West was pushing the guy after they were well out of bounds though. I think that is what they called unnecessary roughness.

 
Watching Mahomes is like deja vu of watching Favre in his first couple of years.  This kid could turn out to be great fun and sure has the right HC

 
NFLN has Edelman replays over and over with the ticker breaking the same news...no mention of Ware in the last hour.

 
JetMaxx said:
Seattle LT continues to enable destruction of Wilson 
Click to expand...
This Seattle fan is very happy with the play of LT Rees Odhiambo tonight. Had one bad play that gave up a sack to Jones at the start of the third quarter. Other than that he looked great. 

 
zeeshan2 said:
Makes the Texans Watson trade look bad. Wish they went up and grabbed mahomes instead of Watson 
Click to expand...
I preferred Mahomes to Watson but not sure how you can say anything like this after a 3rd preseason game, especially since Watson hasn't played his 3rd game yet. I'd pump the brakes some, Mahomes went 8-of-15 for 70 yards and no TD's against the 2nd stringers tonight. Chiefs also paid an extra 3rd on top compared to the Texans as well.

 
zeeshan2 said:
Makes the Texans Watson trade look bad. Wish they went up and grabbed mahomes instead of Watson 
Click to expand...
Mahomes was off the board when they took Watson. For all we know they tried to trade up for Mahomes and had to settle for Watson when they couldn't make it happen. 

Regardless, neither of these guys have taken a regular season snap yet so it's way to early to decide which is better. 

 
Bronco Billy said:
Watching Mahomes is like deja vu of watching Favre in his first couple of years.  This kid could turn out to be great fun and sure has the right HC
Click to expand...
Not the best night but still fun highlights to watch. He has great movement and a special arm. He has as much upside as anyone that has come out over the last several years. 

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Faust
*** 2023 NFL Preseason Game Observations Thread ***
8 9 10
Replies
491
Views
16K
Faust
Faust
rockaction
Dan Orlovsky Deserves A Nathaniel Hackett Thread
Replies
19
Views
500
Desert_Power
Desert_Power
S
RB Jaleel McLaughlin, DEN
3 4 5
Replies
216
Views
13K
Stoneworker
S

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Top