we definitely haven’t given up on the playoffs. We have accepted the fact that it will not be easy to get in, and that we have to depend on other teams to make it. But we know that we are still alive and have confidence that our team can still make it.

I think that most of us feel that we have a fairly decent shot at making it in. We know what teams we need to lose, and have a good feeling that it could happen with their remaining schedules. But first and foremost, we know that we have to worry about beating you guys this week and the Steelers next week before anything.

I hate that show with a passion and refuse to watch it no matter who is on it.

Like you said, he’s got an outward fire and he does a good job of transferring that to his players. He seems to get them to play with much more intensity, which was something we hadn’t really seen much of the couple of seasons before last year.

One of the things that I personally like, is his never say die attitude. While we have had some bad games and bad play this season, he doesn’t just let it go. If somebody screws up, he will not hesitate to rip into them and let them know how pissed off he is. He doesn’t let the guys get down and play halfhearted because they lost a close game or didn’t play well. The impression that I get from him is that he will not let the team quit until the season is done.

So I can imagine that the stadium will be rocking as such. The last couple of games have been pretty much the same way, so the team is already in that mindset.

Personally, this game worries me more than the Steelers game since as I said above, we have never beaten you guys. Add to the fact that you have arguably the best receiver in the game in Andre Johnson going against our 2 rookie CBs, and yeah, I’m worried about this game. The only thing that eases the nerves about this game is that Owen Daniels isn’t playing, since tight ends have absolutely killed us this year, and Daniels is one of the best.

By the way, care to trade Andre Johnson to us? We’ll give you Gibril Wilson and a puppy. Pretty please???

Players we love: Cameron Wake.

This guy is a monster as a WSLB. He has nasty pass-rushing moves, and apparently just added another to his repertoire. His pass coverage leaves something (a lot, at this point) to be desired. However, having played in a pass-heavy three-down CFL league (where he was asked to do nothing but heckle the quarterback for most of the game as a down-lineman), that’s understandable. He’s smart, having graduated from Penn State (linebacker U), and should be very teachable in all aspects of his game that he’s yet to develop.

If you’ve never heard of this guy, you probably will by the end of our game. He was the one who sacked Brady to force the Channing Crowder pick to end the game. He got pressure on/sacked Garrard to end one of their drives as they were attempting to come back late in the fourth quarter. I don’t recall the specifics of that one exactly. I didn’t get to watch the Titans game, but this guy has as much production as do our starting OLBs in something crazy like half the plays or less. He is a dude to fear when he’s actually on the field.

Chad Henne. The guy has a cannon arm and can make every throw on a good day. He is battling consistency, and his stats say he throws more picks than touchdowns. It’s very misleading, though. One of those picks came in garbage time to San Diego when he wasn’t comfortable leading the offense and wasn’t given as much time to prepare. Plus, they were down and this was his first significant time since a blow out in Arizona last season. Then, a few of those picks were not his fault. His receiver (Ted Ginn, in one instance) bobbled the ball and basically gave Darren Sharper a pick-6 in our deflating loss to the Saints. The one that got away..

The guy is our future at quarterback, and quite possibly will develop into the best signal-caller we’ve had since #13. Never underestimate him. He’s already had something like four fourth-quarter comebacks, too.

Davone Bess. You’ll see why.

Players we hate: Gibril Wilson. We signed this guy from the Raiders of all places, and we have a solid SS (Wilson’s natural position). So, we slotted him in the FS spot. Quite simply, he blows as a FS. He takes awful angles, he lets slow (read: Torry Holt) receivers get behind him, he can’t tackle, and he doesn’t even attempt to break up the pass once he lets it go for a completion. He’s just awful. We have a couple of backup safeties who have the potential to be serviceable starters, but one is a rookie (we already have two rookie starters in the secondary) and the other is still young and apparently not ready to take over. Fortunate for you guys if he starts again; it’s likely AJ will have a huge game if you run his plays on the right side of the field.

Ted Ginn. Well, he’s been cooling off on the hatred, and not everyone over there hates him. I, for one, and starting to warm up to him because of his talent as a kick return specialist. As a receiver? Yeah, I still hate him. He can get behind the defenders sometimes, but doesn’t do so consistently because he can’t run routes. Once the ball comes his way, he can’t catch it. He’s been performing better as of late because not as much pressure is on him and Gibril is taking over as the doghouse specialist. He’s still not starting, however, and Henne has little confidence in him. He’s been wide open a few times only to have Henne not go to him.

Some of this would be personal preference obviously, but there are a few that we pretty much agree on.

Love:
1) Lousaka Polite – FB: Polite has been one of the best players on the team, and one of the most underrated ones in our opinion. Up until last week, he was a perfect 8/8 on 3rd or 4th down conversions with 3 or less yards to go, and he only failed to convert 1 last week that I saw. But his main strength has been his blocking. He has been laying out some monstrous blocks on guys all year, handing out pancakes like they were pez. He is one of the big reasons our running game has done so well, even after Ronnie Brown went on IR.

2) Cameron Wake – LB: Wake is another one that pretty much everyone at the Phinsider loves. He is technically a rookie in the NFL, he was on the Giants practice squad in ‘05, but was released before the season started. He played in the CFL the last couple of years and recorded 39 sacks in those 2 seasons. He has been an absolute beast for us when he has played this year. He has almost the same production (sacks, QB hurries, QB hits) as Joey Porter and Jason Taylor, but has that on less than 150 snaps. We’ve been wanting to see him play more downs for a while now, but so far they haven’t really stepped up his usage.

Hate:
1) Gibril Wilson – FS: Wilson was a free agent that we picked up last offseason, and most of us are wishing that we hadn’t. He has been absolutely terrible on coverage all year, and has been burnt quite a few times. He is not really a FS, but more like a SS in the way he plays. Unfortunately, we already have a better SS in Yeremiah Bell, so we’re stuck with him trying to be a FS. He has made some good plays in games, but they have been few and far between in comparison to his bad ones.

2) Ted Ginn – WR/KR: This is one that is really more of personal opinion than anything. Ginn has had a bad case of the dropsies all year. He dropped 2 passes in the end zone that hit him in both hands that would have given us the go ahead TD against the Colts and possibly won us that game. He redeemed himself a little bit with his 2 kick returns for TDs against the Jets, and has shown some improvement in the catching passes department. Some of us think he should be cut or traded after the season, and some of us think we should keep him as a return guy and possibly a #3 wideout.

I do what I can. It’s slow here at work today and so I figured I would start this up.

Reminds me of our own short-lived fight song.

We have good rivalries with the Pats and a very heated one with the Jets, and the Bills were a big one back in the 80’s and 90’s. So I think we’re fine with staying where we’re at.

Paul Soliai isn’t much more than “close to decent” on a bad day. On a good day, well.. not much better. How is your exterior line? That’s where I’d most like to see our line and OLBs take advantage. If we can pressure Schaub, we’ll be so much better off.

Perhaps Crowder will actually get another sack this weekend.

Doubt it.

As for the nose tackle, Paul Soliai has been a serviceable replacement for Jason Ferguson since Fergy went on IR. However, that’s been about the extent of it as Dave pointed out. He hasn’t been great, but he hasn’t been really shitty either.

We really miss Ferguson who was just a beast, and we’re probably looking at getting a replacement in the next draft. Fergy said that he would probably play one more year at most, so if he does decide to come back next season, he can teach the rookie some things. Personally, I’m hoping we go for Dan Williams in the draft.

He’s one of the top kick returners in the AFC, but we even debate how accurate that is over at The Phinsider. Mostly because, after his two-returns-for-TDs performance against the Jets, he’s been less Joshua-Cribbs-like.

As a receiver in his third season, he’s got “bust” written all over him. And I don’t mean a firm, juicy bust. I mean a why-the-hell-did-we-waste-a-top-ten-overall-draft-pick-on-this-guy bust. He can only catch on days that don’t end in “y”, can’t run routes when there’s no DB on him, and runs out of bounds after he catches the ball even if every defender on the field were to just stand still.

He has in no way lived up to his 1st round pick. This was supposed to be the year he got going (3rd year), but he has been a major disappointment. He has dropped many many passes, in fact, I think he leads the NFL in drops. He acts like he’s afraid of getting hit and takes his eyes off the ball before it gets there. He dropped 2 TD passes against the Colts that hit him in both hands, and bobbled one that went right to Darren Sharper against the Saints.

Really about the only thing he is bringing to the table at the moment is his speed, and the fact that he will occasionally show flashes of playing good, like the 2 kick returns for TDs against the Jets. He’ll make a catch here or there, but nothing really too big. You probably have more to worry about him as a return man rather than a receiver.