Week 11
11/19/05
- Injured running back Ahman Green came out this week with
comments critical of the Packers organization for not offering
him a long-term contract extension. Green was a workhorse for
the team for several years, rarely missing a game until this
season while accumulating 61 touchdowns and 9,438 yards from
scrimmage in 82 games for the team. However, he clearly is neglecting
the business aspect of his association with the team. Green's
stock right now couldn't be lower and not just because he may
not be healthy in time for training camp in 2006. In 2004, for
the first time during his Packers tenure, he managed less than
100 yards from scrimmage per game and that plummeted to 80 yards
per game this season with no touchdowns. Much of that lost production
had been attributed to the team losing starting guards Mike
Wahle and Marco Rivera in free agency. However, undrafted rookie
running back Sam Gado has accumulated 179 yards and four touchdowns
over the last two games against the tough Steelers and Falcons
defenses, rendering the poor offensive line argument more or
less meaningless. Green has two options for the 2006 season:
sign for at or close to the veteran minimum to be a back-up
or hope a team has an injury occur at the position during training
camp and then join that team for at or close to the veteran
minimum.
- It's hard to believe it's been four years since the Bills
took Mike Williams with the fourth pick in the 2002 draft, with
the hope he would solidify the team's right tackle position
and be a force in the running game, particularly late in the
season when the weather in Buffalo can be particularly brutal.
A disappointment for much of his first three years in the league,
it appeared during training camp that Williams had finally developed
into a solid player. However, a sprained ankle suffered in week
two has set him back and the team decided last week to move
Williams to left guard, ahead of the equally disappointing Bennie
Anderson, and insert Jason Peters, a converted tight end in
his second year in the league, into the starting line-up at
right tackle. Five series later, quarterback Kelly Holcomb was
on the sideline, the result of a concussion from a hit from
Jared Allen when Williams failed to recognize a stunt and left
Allen unblocked. Unless Williams improves his play over the
team's remaining seven games (and it's unlikely that will happen
given his poor attitude in the past), look for this to be his
last season in Buffalo. Williams is due $7.3-million in salary
in 2006 and it was questionable he would ever receive that playing
at right tackle. The Bills certainly will not that kind of salary
to a guard.
- Despite the gaudy touchdown numbers posted by Stephen Davis,
the Panthers coaches cannot be impressed with the play of the
team's running backs. Davis is clearly an outstanding short
yardage runner as evidenced by his 12 touchdown runs but the
10-year veteran is averaging just 3.0 yards per carry in 2005,
which is also the team's average. This past week against the
Jets 29th ranked run defense, the team managed only 101 yards
on 36 carries. The team's running attack is basically three
yards and a cloud of dust, with the longest run from scrimmage
being 39 yards and the team only registering 13 runs of 10 yards
or more. Despite the lack of explosiveness, the team has not
indicated they have plans to increase DeShaun Foster's workload,
a player that clearly has more potential for long gains than
Davis.
- Was anybody else confused by the call on Eli Manning's third
quarter incomplete pass against the Vikings? Arm's going forward,
yes. Ball does not move forward. It clearly was a backwards
lateral. Recovered by the Vikings. Call challenged by the Giants
and overturned by the officials. Absolute nonsense.
- By the way, how about Jeremy Shockey's hustle on that play?
With his team trailing by eight and a little over three minutes
to go in the third quarter, Shockey made a half-hearted attempt
at recovering the apparent fumble, jogging over to where the
ball was and making no attempt at a recovery. Wouldn't it be
nice to know what head coach Tom Coughlin was thinking as he
watched Shockey's leisurely effort on that play?
- Barring a complete meltdown, the Seahawks wrapped up the
NFC West division title with their win over the Rams on Sunday.
The Seahawks have a three game lead in the win-loss standings
but also own the tiebreaker over the Rams as a result of their
beating their division rival twice this season, making their
lead essentially a four-game lead. With four games left with
opponents that currently own 2-7 records (San Francisco twice
as well as Tennessee and Green Bay), Seattle looks to finish
no worse than 11-5 meaning the Rams would need to win out just
to finish in a tie with the Seahawks.
- 49ers quarterback Cody Pickett had a tough game last week
in Chicago against the Bears but there aren't many games in
recent memory that can top his rather pathetic performance.
It may have been windy, his receivers may be horrible and the
running game doesn't help him much, but 1 for 13 for 28 yards
tells us exactly why the team uses him on special teams. It's
because he's not even good enough to be a team's third quarterback
and therefore needs to do something else to be on the roster.
At least for Pickett, he has plenty of company as a 49er quarterback
that has played horribly in 2005. Drum roll here for Tim Rattay,
Alex Smith and Ken Dorsey. The 49ers are averaging 119 yards
passing per game (101 net), have passed for over 200 yards once,
have six games of under 100 net yards passing and are averaging
12 points per game (after removing a defensive touchdown and
a punt return touchdown). There can't be much doubt about where
the team's 2006 draft should be focused.
- Jets running back Curtis Martin is well off his pace from
2004 when he led the league in rushing and one look at the team's
offensive line depth chart provides plenty of answers as to
why. It took only two weeks for the team to decide that Jason
Fabini wasn't able to handle the left tackle position so the
team opted to have Fabini switch sides with right tackle Adrian
Jones. In week eight, center Kevin Mawae went down with a biceps
injury, forcing Pete Kendall to move from right guard to center
and back-up Jonathan Goodwin into the starting line-up. With
Fabini now out with a torn pectoral muscle, veteran journeyman
Scott Gragg takes over at right tackle. With the team having
little salary cap space, there aren't any reinforcements on
the way. The end result is the team will likely finish the season
with only one player in the same position as at the start of
the season - right guard Brandon Moore.
- After scorching the Rams in week four, Giants quarterback
Eli Manning has struggled with his accuracy and decision-making,
two issues that haven't been mentioned frequently because of
his clutch play late in many games. After starting the season
with nine touchdown passes and only two interceptions over the
Giants first four games, Manning has slumped over the team's
past five games where he has completed less than 50% of his
passes and thrown seven interceptions against six touchdowns.
The most disconcerting aspect of his performance has to be the
low completion percentage considering the team's conservative
offense calls for plenty of short throws.
- The Browns did it last week when rookie free agent Jason
Wright burst through for a six-yard rushing touchdown against
the Titans, giving them their first score on the ground in 2005.
This week the Cardinals accomplished the task, with J.J. Arrington
scoring his team's first rushing touchdown of the year.
- Rams right guard Adam Timmerman is listed as questionable
on the team's injury report with a back injury and it appears
the veterans streak of playing in 167 consecutive games is in
jeopardy. Timmerman last missed a start during the 2000 season
and has dressed for every game since sitting out three games
during his rookie season back in 1995.
- Despite losing linebackers Carlos Emmons and Barrett Green
for extended periods this season, the Giants rushing defense
has managed to remain near the top of the league in that category
at 6th overall. However, the team took another hit this week
when Reggie Torbor went down with a hernia injury and will miss
two to four weeks. With Emmons questionable with a pectoral
injury, the team may be forced to start rookie free agent Chase
Blackburn at outside linebacker or former Steelers bust Alonzo
Jackson. The timing couldn't be better for the Eagles, who rediscovered
their ground game last week and will certainly attempt to expose
the Giants in this area with scattershot Mike McMahon at the
controls this week.
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