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So what did we see last night?

I saw an OL that looked like it might even have some promise.
Ifedi was not a liability and showed he can be an average RT - maybe even more.
Fant was also steady so that competition should continue both to get better.
The pass protection was pretty good.
The DL wasn't aweful and it looks like we may blitz more than the last few years.

Players that stood out for me were:
Rasheem Green. He might end up being a real steal this year.
David Moore looks like he has taken a big step forward.
Brandon Marshall still has something to contribute.
Michael Dickson might be better than I thought and seems to have the knack of kicking deep out of bounds.
Chris Carson can be a real good RB and if sharing with Penny they could form a good tandem like the Saints and Falcons.
Field Goals should be improved.

The secondary needs some work, but the young guys aren't that bad and should improve with experience.
Concerned about the backup QB. There's a huge falloff from Wilson.

All I know is I wasn't particularly impressed. It was nice to see what looks like it might be an improved running game, but so many of our RBs are getting injured that I"m waiting for Carson to get hurt then be back to nearly nothing. Pass defense looks as weak as last year and pass rush looks pretty weak. Cousins isn't close to Tom Brady and he was able to do quite well with minimum pressure. I see too many holes to be a real contender this year. But hopefully we'll see some good development from the young guys. Some of these young pass rushers and the one-handed guy Shaquem look like they can play. We'll see how fast they learn the mental aspect of the game as that is what makes or breaks careers besides injury.

It was a preseason game, so who knows? As I said in another thread (re: Marshall), Kasan Williams was a super star last pre-season & he didn’t make team (or make any impact anywhere else). That said, I was encouraged by some things I saw.

The line on both sides looks better than I thought they would. I hope that is real.

The running game was encouraging. Last year at this time, initial contact with the backs was oftentimes behind the LOS. A 6 yard rushing TD made me smile. It’s preseason for Minny too, but they have a good D and we were certainly far better rushing the ball.

I love the punter (sorry, Jon Ryan). We will likely have improved field position as a result. I also feel better about the place-kicking game. Loved that 55 yarder.

I’m hoping these Mingo flashes prove to be real.

I like that Reynolds kid. He probably ends up on the PS; I see potential in him.

RW was not great - not sure how much was him (I’m totally not worried about our stud QB) and how much was receivers not doing what they were supposed to. Looked like he and J. Brown were on different pages?

Tedric had some nice plays.

Glad there were no injuries!

Go Hawks!

We may have an all-pro rookie punter if he isn’t injured from over-use. Other than that, meh looks like last season......

The punter does seem extraordinary. Strange to see a punter hyped up, but he's living up to the hype. His hang time and placement has been crazy good. He may very well have been worth the pick.

As a guy that generally has little use for kickers and punters I gottta say that SeaBass is for real and this punter is the sh!t! It's actually fun to watch him kick the ball.

In other news; Fant v Ifedi could be a good battle, Mingo is a play maker, Rasheem Green looks like he could lead the team in sacks and our O-line may actually be coming around.

I'm more hopeful now than I was before the game.

We all saw a lot of good or at least better than we hoped, except for the D-Backs so far. From the leagues best to not so good. Good thing the offense, especially the way Russell looks (without his top 2 receivers)and the seemingly improved OLine should help us control the clock and produce more yards and first downs.
We'll still need to score 26+ a game to win, up from 16+ a few years ago.
The kid punter could give us 50+ yards of extra field position a game. That's hard for any offense to overcome. It'll keep us in games.