Definitely didn’t have a traditional Spring game feel to it. Traffic was close to game day levels, crowds everywhere, lots of energy. So I think the move paid off, though I still think Saturday would’ve been even better.
On the game, I’m not always the best eyes, but this didn’t look like a 1-2 then drop off at QB. I have no idea what’s gone on in these practices or what these analysts have seen, but it’s clearly AR, then a substantial drop, then the drop off. I’m happy to have Miller and one game doesn’t tell a whole story, but he’s not even close right now. Lingard is also a clear number 1 to me, though Johnson and Bowman looked solid. I feel like Henderson still gets lost in the game. Wouldn’t have expected a player like Fraziers to have more catches than him. Zanders too. We need him t in step forward this year and become a threat.
Perimeter defense was flying around and there weren’t many coverage busts, which was nice to see. The kid Young really stood out. McMillon as well. The Fr McClellan is bigger than I expected him to be. I think teams will run against us better than we want, but we’ll have a return to normal in the secondary with breakups and Ints.
Players were at least in position to make plays. Such a contrast from the past two seasons. Several on the Orange team were pissed during the game for plays they gave up—Dean and Dexter specifically. You can tell they’re not content with being a bad defense, which is nice to see.
Graham and Weston both looked good returning kicks. What I didn’t like was seeing Henderson back on punts, and then even worse, Marshall.
All in all, I felt it was a good experience.