Peppers

The great thing is that they have the rest of this season to monitor him and decide what he is worth. He has made a few plays so far but not like it looked like he might after he owned Samuels in the preseason. Both games have been against teams that run a lot and are fairly conservative in the passing game. The Vikings will be no different. It is hard to judge Peppers on his lack of sacks right now.

 

Tampa and New Orleans in weeks 6 and 7 should be a big chance for him.

 

If I had to pick anyone to keep, it'd be Gamble.

That might be partly reaction to Marshall's retarded demands but even the FRs aside, I feel like he's our best corner right now (which is a departure from my usual feeling that it's Lucas).


I'm still in favor of keeping Peppers. He's "almost" making plays. Of course, I also feel like overpaying for franchise level players is an inevitability that will happen anyway. I think it'd be easier to upgrade on Gross, though neither is as likely without that first rounder in 09.

 

I don't feel like Gross is that much better than a lot of other guys. As far as upgrading, that would be easier, and at the same time the falloff wouldn't be as great if we brought in a lesser player. And we already have Wharton signed so it could come down to replacing a G.

I like Gamble too, most people downgrade him because of that lateral but I'm not sure they admit it (and his PR skills are unrelated to his CB skills). He's really playing well now, he started out so young and raw and I think people forget that too.

 

I'd be ok with paying Gamble, obviously depending on how much he wants. I'm not sure how much longer Lucas will be here anyway given his contract.

 

I want to agree, especially about New Orleans, but I don't know that I can. Aren't they both running pretty balanced offenses right now?

 

Regarding his lack of production, I agree with those who have said it's scheme, not lack of desire or ability. The little I've seen so far this year showed a lot of Peppers dropping into coverage. I think San Diego was even running unbalanced lines and shifts to his side because no one is afraid of Tyler Brayton. I saw a lot of rolling right, too.

 

Bears game there was a lot of rolling to the right. Coupled with the majority of the passes completed were really quick throws to the flats didn't leave a lot of time for a sack. The one sack we had was because of Pep's pressure and he hurried several more throws mostly for incompletions. If they were running to the left there was usually a double team on Pep which should be one less blocker for everyone else to deal with. WEven with the double the run usually got turned back inside. I really want to see him pile up a bunch of sacks and I'm not a huge fan of dropping him into coverage but I understand why. It's not that he isn't performing, he just hasn't wracked up the sacks... yet.

 

keep his numbers low and his value stays down

 

The one pressure sack we had against the Bear, he created. He got in on the fourth down stop, and was active. If he was not being impactful at all, I'd be more concerned.

The defense has been good against the run, and good enough to win the first two games. The fourth quarter struggles against the up tempo pass against the Chargers is greater concern than whether or not Peppers has a double digit sacks this year.