Fake Season Week One

The first preseason game of 2012 has come and gone in predictably underwhelming fashion. We’ve been without football for so long that we’ll watch nearly anything, which is the only reason these games rate. Sure it’s nice to see the new guys lace ‘em up, watch a position battle or two and find out who this year’s surprise guy might be, but the play is mostly awful. The play-calling is vanilla (as to not put your favorite plays on tape) and the game-planning is seemingly non-existent. That being said, if you can withstand the mostly grueling quality of play, you can get to know your team a little better.

His body language was about as ugly as that trainer's belly

The actual storylines from last night are obvious. Desmond Bishop and Davon House were injured, and the replacement referees were absolutely horrible. As of noon today there is still no official word on the severity of the injuries to these two important defensive players, but McCarthy did admit that Bishop’s ‘didn’t look very good.’ The loss of Bishop would be huge, but let’s wait on that discussion until we get further word on a timetable for his return. As of now it’s a knee sprain with possible hamstring damage. House is certainly more replaceable, but the coaching staff thought enough of him to give him the start last night over the suddenly stiff competition at the number two cornerback position. He looked to be in a tremendous amount of pain yesterday, and a shoulder injury severally limited Tramon Williams’ effectiveness last season. Let’s hope he’s not lost for the season. The replacement refs were hilarious at best. They served up head-scratcher after head-scratcher last night from start to finish. Did I mention that one of them had no professional experience outside of the Lingerie Football League? And that he was FIRED from that ridiculous position? Roger Goodell’s plan of thumbing his nose at the currently on-strike referee’s union backfired in a major way. I’m happy about this for two reasons; it will likely speed up negotiations to get the real refs back on the field, and Goodell is a dick that needs to be humbled in the worst way.

'I'll be honest, I just kinda spaced on that last play.'

There were some good things to come out of yesterday’s performance. Nick Perry looked incredibly strong on his bull-rush sack in his first drive in the pros. Then again, it’s not really his strength that I’m worried about. He wasn’t really tested in coverage, so the jury is still very much out on his ability to transition to outside linebacker. He was called for a phantom penalty following the play, but that call would never have been made in the regular season. Dezman Moses was on the field as much as anyone last night, which means the coaching staff wants to give him every opportunity to make this team. Although he was exposed in a cover-two zone for a touchdown, he undoubtedly flashed on special teams. He plays with passion and seems to fire up his teammates. His best chance to make the squad will be as a special teamer, so I don’t think he hurt his chances one bit last night. Randall Cobb also had a good night and continues to make his job look easy. Truth be told I’d rather see him on the bench while things don’t matter.

It’s clear that the coaching staff still doesn’t know who’ll get the bulk of the snaps at running back this year. If Starks was truly the unquestioned starter, he never would have played as much as he did last night. He dropped a pass, put the ball on the ground, ran as upright as any back I’ve ever seen and showed very little imagination or vision when approaching the line of scrimmage. Interestingly, he may not have hurt his standing all that much last night, since he did a decent job of pass protecting. McCarthy has stated time and again that that is the number one responsibility of a running back in this system, so it’s good that Starks picked that as the one thing to execute on.

Graham Harrell got valuable snaps to build off of, and looked okay. He started off shaky, but settled in to complete more than half of his passes, including a touchdown. There is no way that he or McCarthy were satisfied with the performance (too many off target throws), but he could have done much worse.

It was good to see the Green and Gold back at it last night, but the injuries are troublesome to say the least. I’ve said it before, but the preseason needs to be shortened to two games instead of four. There is no need for an entire month of preseason, and nobody likes losing a starter in a meaningless game. This, of course, will never happen, as it would cost the owners money. The NFLPA will not approve an extended regular season schedule before the current CBA expires (10 full seasons), so we’ll just have to live with the current situation for a while. In the mean time I’ll continue to bitch as if anyone cares.