What is the feeling heading into week 1?

[Go Coogs']

Matt Schaub NEEDS to stay healthy. That is priority one. I think the ankle injury was sort of a fluke, so I feel pretty good that he can stay upright for more than 11 games this season.

Dunte Robinson is back and looks good from what everyone was saying out at practice today. His being healthy to start the season will be a tremendous help to the secondary. We get Reeves back in a couple of weeks, but the young CBs that we have can hold their own until he returns.

If Chris Brown can contribute at all to the running game this season, then the offense can actually score inside the redzone. That is good news for an already potent offense.

The interior line of the defense is gonna have to play a lot better than they did during the preseason. Okoye, Okam, Robinson, and Cody need to get their shit together or opposing RBs are going to have their way with us.

The OLB positions will be interesting to see. Diles won the starting spot over Adibi and Cushing gets the other spot; however, Cushing missing almost all of the preseason hurts. He is behind in that regard, but he says he is ahead in the classroom. We'll see.

I'm still optimistic about the season. The offense should be one of the best in the league and if Connor Barwin and Antonio Smith can help at all in the pass rush, then we should be headed to our first postseason game in franchise history.

I'll stick with my 10-6 prediction.

[poptart]

I feel considerably better about our D-Line with the Seymour trade.

Ellis - Kelly - Warren - Seymour

Looks like an NFL D-Line.
This one move also improves our depth at D-Line.

Maybe we've got a shot at ... slowing ... the run a bit.


I DON'T feel good about our O-Line.
We're not much above TRASH from Center to Right Tackle, imo.
Gallery at LG is solid and Henderson at LT is solid in pass protection -- but not great in run blocking.
Getting Barnes back from injury will help, but we're poor at Center right now and that isn't a good place to be lacking.

One more trade, Al?
Fargas and a pick, anyone?
Get somebody that can play RT, C, or G.

I could see SD sacking the big dummy 4 or 5 times on Monday night if Oakland plays from behind ... which seems likely.


As of today, 9/7/09, I see Oakland somewhere in the 6-10 to 9-7 range.

[Shoalzie]

I don't see the Lions' first win coming against the Saints. Absolutely awful matchup to start off with. Brees will throw for his usual 300+ yards and 3 or 4 TDs. Anyone with a Saints' receiver on their fantasy team should start them because the Lions' secondary isn't much better than last year and they don't have enough up to front to stop the run or pressure the passer. The linebackers will be the strength of the defense but the front four is about as bad as they've had since I've been following this team. They need to spend money next year on a pass rusher and a run-stuffer in the middle or go after them in the draft.

4 or 5 wins...that's all I'm expecting. Anything more would be a major surprise. Johnson will have another huge year and Smith could be a breakout star this season. I just can't feel very good about their defense and having either an old Culpepper or a green Stafford as the QB.

[KC Scott]

The Chiefs talent was so far below what it takes to win, that to be honest my expectations are pretty minimal.

I was surprised in the offseason they didn't address the O-line, but I guess Piloi and Haley were so focused on the swiss Cheese Defense they didn't have the draft ammo to start fixing it. That said it was stupid to sign a $60 Million QB who was sacked a lot in NE and not give him any protection. I think they should have bucked up early and gone after Matt Birk and Jordan Gross.

There's no way they could have looked at 2008 tape and thought Damion McIntosh, Herb Taylor or Barry Richardson would make the team, let alone be a starter. I don't know anything about Ryan O'Callaghan except he was waived by the Pats and we grabbed him which again speaks volume about just how fucked up Carl and Herm were in talent evaluation.

I do tthink the Chiefs will be able to run and expect Larry Johnson to have 200 + Carries if he doesn't get hurt. The only way they are competitive is if they control the clock and play defense. They won't score more than 21 pts in most games and the schedule is brutal.

The defense will be better - a lot better than last season.Our LBs are still weak. Derick Johnson is barely a starter - It's funny how he was being christened a pro-bowler when he was drafted. Corey Mays looked good in pre-season. And again he's un undrafted FA

I see 5 wins max - Raiders, Broncos (we may sweep one) - The Bungles and Browns are also both winable.
Mainly I'll be watching the new regime to see if the hard ass attitude ,which I like a lot , continues.