I'm in a more cautious mind frame than many here. Not about the tailgate -- it's Maine, after all, and a night game to boot. Lobster rolls and N.E. Chowder just seems almost mandatory for this one. But or the season. Maybe the ongoing conference realignment minute by minute fictional discussions weigh me down, but I don't know that I'm quite sure about the season itself. I don't see any chance that we're going backward to being horrific again, but unlike many of you I"m not sure if this season is a big step forward either, and I'm afraid that if we are only treading water with our play, it may be difficult even to get back to 6-6.
I like our skill players on offense. I know QBs take the heat for all that goes wrong with offenses, but I am still of the view that Shireffs had a very strong year last year pre-injury, and that playing behind the OL he did made his numbers remarkable. I think our TB tandem is fine, I expect big things out of our TEs and we have at least one stud at WR (and I expect more from the kids who had to play last year as true frosh). On D, we have two playmakers at the corners and a Safety with NFL athleticism and size who has shown improvement each year. And we have a competent front 7, where we seem to have at least adequate replacements for the starters we lost.
So what is my hesitation? I have four question marks on this year. In order of importance:
1. The OL. In '13 and '14, our OL play was just horrific beyond imagination. Last year, it was light years better. But the lights years better only brought us up to well below average competence. We need more play from it. Is the potential there for a much better OL? Yes, it is. With Pert at LT, Levy moved to RG, Crozier at C an Hopkins and Knappe back in position with more experience, this could be the year that our OL takes a huge step forward (and getting to the middle of the AAC would be a large step forward). But that's on paper. The proof of the pudding is always in the eating. And until I see us blowing Maine off the ball at the line of scrimmage, instead of just holding their own, I will remain skeptical.
2. The pass rush. We have not had any semblance of a pass rush since Sio and, more importantly, Trevardo moved on. P seemed to think speed was not important. Great. Anyway, I think Foley does well enough rushing on the interior, but in our hybrid 3-4, 4-3, is Ormsby the answer? I'm hoping he has a good year and replaces Adeyami adequately, but he's 30 pounds heavier than any DE we've ever had consistently rush a QB. As for Luke (with Stapleton sharing the position to some extent), we've seen flashers, and in Luke's case asking him to play that position as a true frosh was probably unfair. But are they going to provide a Trevardo/Osunde/name escaping me but the DE who played with the Donald and got drafted by the Cards type pass rush? I'll believe it when I see it. Until I see it, I see this area continuing to hold us back.
3. We have one QB who I have any faith in whatsoever, and he's a big guy who likes to run and take hits coming of a concussion. Can we survive him going down? Nothing we saw in the 2 and 3/4 games after he took his hit last year gives me that confidence.
4. Can whacky Bob coach normally? Look, last year was a thankful step forward, and given that I think he inherited a hot mess I can simply forgive totally every strange decision that we made last year. But can we try to return punts this year? Can we not burn players redshirts that aren't ready to help us yet? Can we not lose faith in veteran players like Bobby Puyol because they make a bad play? Can the "whacky" in his title start applying to his words and not what we see on the field? He's a hard guy not to like, and I'd love to see him settle in to his roll and have this job for a while, but am I convinced that he's the coach?
So I will be there in full voice on Thursday night, and look forward to what I hope will be a good season. But I remain concerned as to how far out of the depths we've climbed.
