Preseason Game #4 Preview

Hey boys and girls, we're playing the Tennessee Titans at 7 pm, at home.  It hit me today that this is really the very last season in the Metrodome...and I never got to go there - other than to drive by it - when I still lived in Minnesota.  My father doesn't believe in attending live games.  He believes in a nice, comfy couch, your own spotless bathroom a few steps away, and your own gloriously chilled pre-stocked beer fridge.  Which is an excellent way to watch the games, but it's not the same as being there in person.

I have a prior obligation for tonight so I will probably miss most, if not all of the game (really bad timing on my part!) but here are a couple things I'm hoping will be addressed:

1) Ponder happy in the pocket: I mean HAPPY.  Setting his feet.  Scanning the field.  I do NOT mean happy feet!  I'm ok with him running (and sliding) when it's necessary, but it shouldn't be necessary that often.

2) Matt Kalil actually, you know, playing.  Wakey wakey!

3) Josh Robinson keeping up to his man and not getting burned by two steps every time.

4) NO STUPID PENALTIES

5) A decent scheme by Frazier.  Yes, this is preseason.  We do not open the playbook all the way.  But you know what?  Mix it up!  I saw a five-wide the other night and LOVED it.  Do that.  Do two-TE sets.  Do some more screens, some more play-action, some designed sneaks.  Try a couple trick plays, just for the heck of it!

6) An O-line that plays as a unit.

7) A D-line that gets to the quarterback.

8) Receivers completing their routes and NOT stopping halfway through.

9) Some work for Locke and the special teams unit.  Special teams can make or break you, and we need to put our finger on our #1 return guy.

10) Good tackling and field awareness.  No more injures because someone is distracted or aims incorrectly!

SKOL!