[general counsel]

Summary of the game today

The good
-Other than kevin garrett at the very end, i didnt see anyone get hurt at all. Doesnt mean it didnt happen, but i didnt see it and they certainly didnt carry anyone off.
-Given any time to throw, bulger looked very sharp. Nice td to holt
-kevin curtis is a major weapon
-steven jackson and faulk both looked fine
-Nice throw by fitz to curtis for the td at the end
-On defense, i thought four guys stood out as having good games. Ivy, Little, Claiborne and Groce. Terry Fair wasnt bad either and he was pretty good on the kickoff returns

The bad

-The first team defense didnt stop and the run and didnt get any pressure on brees. other than that, they looked fine. San Diego is a playoff caliber team, but it looked a lot like the atlanta playoff game out there and that is not a good sign at all. Lots of work to do.
-Hodges was lousy again
-Terrell wasnt terrible, but he made some real rookie mistakes. I thought tucker struggled again at right tackle. Sapai wasnt great either and neither was the second team line, which got pushed around.
-The right side of the line was awful early on, bulger was under constant pressure. even before the 4th sack on the hail mary at the end of the half, he had already been sacked three times and it sure wasnt coming over the Big Man.
-I thought hargrove was basically invisible. I didnt see him in the same area code of brees.

The Ugly

-The INT for a td at the end of the first half was a nice play by their guy, faulk got hit just as he caught it, still, he usually makes that catch. more bad luck than anything else that it turned into an int for a td.
-The onside kick hit our guy in the hands and he dropped it. We also missed a chance at a fumble that we were on top of. This is ugly because this defense HAS to make plays when it has the chance. That is what we did in 2003 but didnt do last year.

Incomplete

Smoker. Field positon was terrible and there was no blocking of any kind. Fitz gets one play and he has all day to hit the wide open curtis for a td. who knows if smoker makes that throw.
Alex Baron. Just didnt see enough and big jackie had nothing definitive to say on him.

Conclusion

No reason to overeact. However, we have a long way to go. Keep in mind tomlinson had i believe one carry and then called it a day. They ran for 130 yards in the first quarter and that is where we left off last year.

ramming speed to all,

general counsel