Lesson learned from Game One

[KillerKat]

The lesson I learned from that game is that even if you have a good d-line and/or LBs, if your defensive backs suck, you're going to get abused. So, we might be in trouble.

[Chaos]

Word in camp was that Josh Norman was aggressive and physical - could be good if the refs miss it, but if we get a flag happy crew, it could shoot us in the foot.

[pantherdad]

captain munnerlyn is sitting in a puddle of his own drool at this prospect

lmfao

[Zod]

Ricky Manning Jr was a pro bowl corner with these refs.

[bigdog10]

I thought the officiating was decent all things considering.

I think the Giants are morons for not pressing coverage once they saw that the Cowboys could manhandle the receivers without drawing a flag. The giants were killed with slant routes which is partly due to thier injuries at corner, but also partly due to thier laid back coverage.

Take note McDermott

[jarhead]

We will need all the help we can get in the secondary. Lets keep these scrub refs

[MHS831]

Here is what I liked about the Giants, our opponents in 2 weeks:

They struggled to protect Manning

They might have to play a rookie and a 5th CB

I am not that impressed with their safeties

They only have Bradshaw at RB, since their 1st round draft choilce is a fumbler

Their D got tired toward the end of the game--they played their best 3 rushers early and often, and ran out of gas.

Here is what I did not like:

Their pass rush is the best I have seen since the 85 Bears. They will attach Silatolu, Bell, and even Hangartner. Gross will even struggle. We better freeze them with some option. short passes, and the running game.

Can anybody cover VC?

[therealmjl]

VC covers himself with those drops. More concerned with Nicks.

[rainwater]

The head ref was an 8th grade geography teacher from Idaho... Lol.

I love how they only point it out for replacement refs considering all of the regular officials have full-time jobs as well.

[rainwater]

So if you're coaching right now, do you tell your guys to take advantage of this or do you take the high road?

Haha. You are assuming the entire group of replacement refs are going to be consistent. Wait until Sunday and each game is called completely different. We will see how happy you guys are then. If the whole season was called like Thursday, sure, that would be great. But unfortunately with an entire group of officials with zero NFL experience is going to yield wildly inconsistent results.

[Mr. Scot]

Word in camp was that Josh Norman was aggressive and physical - could be good if the refs miss it, but if we get a flag happy crew, it could shoot us in the foot.

Valid point. A different crew could be dropping flags all over the field.

The problem is inexperience. Seasoned refs know what to look for, these guys don't. Add in that the speed of the game is faster than anything they've seen before, and here we are.

[Mr. Scot]

Haha. You are assuming the entire group of replacement refs are going to be consistent. Wait until Sunday and each game is called completely different. We will see how happy you guys are then. If the whole season was called like Thursday, sure, that would be great. But unfortunately with an entire group of officials with zero NFL experience is going to yield wildly inconsistent results.

See above.

Players (especially veterans) have a lot of subtle tricks they use to try to get away with stuff. Regular officials have some familiarity with those things and are used to looking for them at game speed. Yet even with those advantages, there's a fair amount they miss.

Guys who haven't seen those tricks before and who aren't used to the speed of an NFL game? The potential for successful cheating is exponentially higher.

The flip side? Yeah, you could get a flag happy crew that calls everything a penalty whether they can really say for certain if it was or not "just in case". And after last night, there is the possibility that's just what the NFL will tell them to do.

I'm honestly not sure which outcome would be worse.

[CRA]

I'd tell my OL and DBs to get s little over aggressive....until the refs prove they are on top of it. I have seen tons of holding ignored in the preseason and DBs getting away with too much. better to take advantage of it than just being a victim of it?

First two drives should set the tone...hope Rivera adjusts to how the refs are calling it and plays that way.

[CRA]

One other interesting point...the NFL has admitted they hand picked the very best from the different preseason crews to form the one we all watched last night. That was as good as it gets....this weekend we will see the bad. Prime time games will have the semi functional refs