When real experts say that you can't tell much from practices in shorts and helmets, they're talking about linemen and running backs, mostly. Casual fans tend to think it means everybody.
It doesn't. Cornerbacks and receivers still have to cover or get open. Press coverage still goes on here, because there's little real contact even in games.
This is why Justin Gilbert's improvement is no mirage. And like Terrell Pryor, it will probably be more pronounced when the pads go on.
Yoda will sagely advise wisely that it's too soon we have a long blahblahblah, and for sure, Gilbert could backslide.
But so far, Gilbert is going to be a starter, and live up to his lofty draft status.
This would change everything for the defense, like Dixon and Minnifield did for Marty Scottenheimer.
The two plays Gilbert made that get the most attention were vs Barnidge and Pryor. That's probably not coincidental. Left cornerback right cornerback who cares? Gilbert matches up with the skyscrapers, and is likely to be used against them.
This is SO much better than yet still another 5'9" little dynamo impressing everybody covering little shrimps.
Please stop embarrassing yourselves talking about Gilbert at nickel back. He's not built to cover microbes.
In Ray Horton's defense, he could play some "safety", but all that means is that he could cover the BIG slot or a tight end (kind of the same thing). But most offenses have at least one big tall number one or two outside receiver, and this is where (if he doesn't backslide) he'll start.
Pryor's performance is not a mirage either. First teamers are actually trying to actually cover him, and he is actually getting open and catching actual passes IT'S TRUE! Honest!
Now HE won't backslide! HE will only get better.
We don't know about the quarterbacks, running backs, linemen, or linebackers (except in coverage or catching passes) yet, but we have seen a legitimate glimpse of the receivers and secondary. This was real.
Now what about Josh? Well, I was kind of writing him off til Jim Brown stood up for him (kinda).
I don't know what they'll do if he is reinstated (and the fact that he went to rehab could do the trick).
But the thought of Gordon on one side, Pryor on the other, and Coleman between them is spine-chilling.
Jim Brown has spent most of his life trying to save at-risk young men from the hood. He's no doubt been unable to pull some (or even a majority) of them off the road to no where, but he's certainly saved a lot of them.
And he's heard it all. He probably knows a snow job from sincerity, and he's backing Gordon up with Hue and Jimmy.
The REAL risk is this: His roster spot. Some player will have to go to make room for him. That player is most likely the sixth or seventh wide receiver.
Analytically speaking, that's an automatic "Hell yes!".
Pundits will start talking about sending messages and signals and all this happy horseshit, but the PLAYERS all get it.
If you're as good as Josh Gordon, you get a last chance. If you're not, they'll probably cut you. That's just reality.
Yeah right: I'm a third string tight end and get a second suspension for pot. I get cut. The team starts grumbling over a double standard yeah right.
They LIVE DARWIN, for crying out loud! The best players get treated differently for good reasons. What do you think this is, an orphanage?
...I was gone for awhile but I'm back now. I hope Josh is reinstated and they keep him, because around week eight I want to see the scariest passing attack in the NFL.
Oh shut up, Yoda! Brandon WEEDON could kick ass with that crew! Derrick Anderson did, with half of it.
The running game will be there, and this is one reason why.
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