Quote: Ordsall Quays Red "From what I've seen he's done a lot better with Revis out of the side. He (as well as the rookie Wilson) was/were getting picked on all the time when Revis was there (obviously) but appears to have improved with being the main CB. It could all be a case of getting used to systems etc too but I think he's done OK so far. 2 picks in 6 games is pretty good considering he'd only had 5 in his last 2 seasons with you men.'"
He was definitley going backwards for us. He is one player who has all the physical attributes but lacked desire last year. That Shonn Green run in the playoffs where he shyed away from the tackle still makes me angry! Maybe Rex has toughend him up. He needs that rather than the arm round the shoulder style of Norvous.
Quote: Ordsall Quays Red "As an aside, where do you think you're going wrong, Norv apart?! You have all the weapons at your disposal but it never quite seems to fall into place.'"
Well Norv is an idiot, there's no doubt about that. I want him out, but I thought Halling blaming him for the dumb plays on Sunday was a bit off the mark. He was saying how fabulous BB is for coaching his players never give up on a play, but on the second one, the defensive Pat (who's name illudes me at the mo) swiched off too, it was he coaches on the Pats sideline that were screaming at him that the ball was live! You can't blame Norv for that, although I'd like to.
Our biggest problem is lack of killer instinct on both sides of the ball. Our defence has been great so far - as seen with the numbers. However, there are key areas that they are lacking. Key drives where they can't stop the offense. There was a 3rd and 7 against St Louis with the game on the line. You have Sam Bradford and Steven Jackson. With respect to Bradford, in that situation you are always going to put it in the hands of your best player. For some inexplicable reason, the Chargers played the pass and allowed Jackson to run for 10 yards. Little things like that are so annoying and are difference makers. Same with the Pats game, 2nd down play on a key drive at the start of the 3rd quarter and a stupid penalty by Garay leads to a 1st and 10 rather than 3rd and 8. Dumb, dumb plays.
On offense, again we hang numbers up there in terms of yards but you need to put it into context. We have been trailing in a lot of games this year due to turnovers - which is the offenses fault. Fumbles have killed us - 12 so far, and too many in the red zone. That means Rivers throws. A lot. He had 50 pass attempts on Sunday. When you're as good as he is, you will make a lot of plays so the yardage numbers are enhanced. However, when it comes down to it we don't punch it in. We had chances @ KC, @ Seattle @ Oakland and at home to the Pats to win it in the 4th quarter an blew it all four times. Rivers needs to lead us to wins in them games rather than getting us close.
Finally it's special teams. They definetley were the cause of 3 out of our 5 losses, and you could argue Sundays too, with that dumb false start penalty on the game tieing field goal attempt. But Steve Crosby, our Special Team co-ordinator still has a job. Why? Because Norv has no guts to make the call. Look how swiftly Soprano acted in Miami. I dream of that ruthlessness from our HC.
