2006-07
Pre-Season |
| Date |
Opponent |
Score |
| Aug.
12 |
Jackonsville |
|
| Aug.
19 |
at
Tampa Bay |
|
| Aug.
24 |
at Carolina |
10-19 |
| Aug. 31 |
St. Louis |
29-9 |
 |
2006-07
Regular Season |
| Date
|
Opponent
|
Score |
| Sept.
7 |
at Pittsburgh |
0 |
| Sept.
17 |
Buffalo |
0 |
| Sept.
24 |
Tennessee |
0 |
| Oct.
1 |
at Houston |
0 |
| Oct.
8 |
at
New England |
0 |
| Oct.
15 |
at
New York Jets |
0 |
| Oct.
22 |
Green Bay |
0 |
| Oct. 29 |
BYE |
bye |
| Nov.
5 |
at Chicago |
0 |
| Nov.
12 |
Kansas City |
0 |
| Nov.
19 |
Minnesota |
0 |
| Nov.
23 |
at
Detroit |
0 |
| Dec.
3 |
Jacksonville |
0 |
| Dec.
10 |
New England |
0 |
| Dec.
17 |
at Buffalo |
0 |
| Dec.
25 |
New York Jets |
0 |
| Dec.
31 |
at Indianapolis |
0 |
|
 Down
and Out...I Think Not
By Casey Matthews
FantasticFins.com
With the latest loss to the Titans, many sports “experts”
are sticking with their theory that this team will have a horrible
year. I beg to differ. When evaluating the game on Saturday, there
were a couple of very encouraging things that I stumbled upon. Many
people liked to point out that we allowed too many rushing yards,
and our offense couldn’t get going. I believe those two factors,
compounded with the record amount of penalties cost us this game.
I think every “expert” would agree, that those were
the major things that cost us this game, against probably the third
best team in the AFC. My reply to that would be this, we were missing
a major plug in Tim Bowens and that led to the majority of the rushing
yards. I am not saying that having Timbo their would have totally
stopped the run, but it would have made Chris Brown change direction
and go more to the outside, where our linebackers and cornerbacks
would have been in a better position to penetrate and stop the run
in the backfield. Just knowing that a guy like Tim Bowens is on
our D-line makes teams think twice about pounding it down the middle.
The second major thing that cost us this game, was our offense not
getting it together. I am in no way trying to make excuses for our
offense, but my in my opinion there was one MAJOR thing keeping
the team from getting the ball down the field. That major thing
was unfamiliarity with one another and our offense as a whole. Our
newly acquired running back had only ONE practice with the team.
Because of injury he was forced to play more downs, than he was
prepared for. I for one was impressed with what I saw. He hit the
gaps well, and blocked well in the backfield. With an entire week
of practices, I believe our running game will be much improved.
But I do believe it will be around week five when we will really
see what kind of back we have in Lamar Gordon. In the first half
we had Jay Fiedler as our QB. Like it or not, he stunk up the joint,
and needed to be pulled. He got one good drive going, but threw
a terrible pass in the end zone that killed us. Some have said Marty
Booker ran the wrong route, but the pass was just bad, really, really
bad. I am a total Jay Fiedler supporter, and love his toughness,
and desire to win. But the fact of the matter is that we need a
change. With the receivers we have in Chambers, Booker, and McMichael
we need a QB that can zip the ball in there, and make accurate throws
down the field. Jay can’t give us that. And because of that,
I totally support the decision to start AJ. In last weeks’
game, AJ only made one really bad mistake. Whether or not Lamar
ran the wrong route, he shouldn’t have made that throw. But
that’s a mistake that every quarterback has made a few times
in his career. I really feel that a week of practices with the first
team will greatly improve our passing game. With the receivers we
have, we should not have a problem getting the ball down the field.
As for the penalties, there is absolutely no excuse. I was very
disappointed with that aspect of the game. In my opinion that is
one of the easiest things to fix. With a little hard nosed coaching
we can cut down the penalties in a major way. I’m very excited
about next weeks’ game against the Bengals. Their defense
is not that great, and will give our offense a very good opportunity
to gel, and get things on the right track. I look for a very big
game from our offense. Another great thing I saw in the game was
a different attitude from our coach. I for one was shocked when
AJ came out and started the second half of the game. I believe that
Dave knows AJ gives us a better chance to win, and he couldn’t
deny it anymore. Another thing I was impressed with was going for
it on fourth down. Even if we hadn’t had made it, I still
would have been impressed with that move. That totally contradicts
the conservative nature of Wannstedt. It was definitely a breath
of fresh air. Our special teams play was much better than last year.
The addition of Brightful will really help our team in my opinion.
A loss is a loss no matter what the score, but this loss was very
easy for me to take. Most people have been counting us out from
the beginning of the season, and last weeks game only made that
stance an easier one to hold. But I choose to be optimistic about
our season, and I fully believe that we will have a good year.
|
