Week 14
12/10/05
- Bears coach Lovie Smith put rookie quarterback Kyle Orton
on notice this week that it's time to step up his game by suggesting
the team needs to improve its quarterback play. The 4th round
pick has compiled a tremendous won-loss record but suffice it
to say the team has been winning despite Orton's play and not
because of it. Despite playing in an offense geared to short,
quick throws, Orton has completed just 53.9% of his passes and
his accuracy has not improved as the year has gone on, witnessed
by his 50% completion rate over the team's past five games.
There are only two explanations for Smith's comments - either
he's trying to spark Orton's play or he's serious about moving
Rex Grossman into the starting line-up at the first possible
opportunity. However, Smith is a defensive coach who is looking
for steady (albeit unspectacular) play from his signalcaller
and it says here he's unlikely to rock the boat by making a
change this late in the season.
- With DeShaun Foster moving into the featured role, although
not yet into the starting role, at running back for Carolina,
there has been speculation that Stephen Davis' days with the
team might be numbered. This is simply another in a long line
of examples of writers looking for something to write about.
Davis has played as well as could be expected for a player coming
off of microfracture surgery and given his contract numbers
for the next two years, one could have easily predicted in training
camp that he would need to renegotiate his contract in order
to remain with the team in 2006. However, although his salary
cap figure next season sounds high at $3.8-million, that number
can be whittled down fairly easily by reducing either his scheduled
salary of $1.8-million or his roster bonus of $1-million. With
Jerome Bettis and the Steelers having set the market for aging,
goal-line specialists capable of providing a spark off the bench
at a little over $1-million a season, expect Davis to be with
the team in 2006.
- The Rams secondary got more bad news this week when it was
revealed cornerback Travis Fisher is expected to be placed on
injured reserve as a result of a groin injury that has plagued
him all season. Fisher becomes the team's third defensive back
to be placed on injured reserve, following Jeremetrius Butler
and Terry Fair. Expected to be the team's biggest weakness this
season, the secondary has nonetheless been a huge disappointment
with only safeties Adam Archuleta and Mike Furrey as well as
nickelback Corey Ivy providing decent play. DeJuan Groce, inserted
into the starting lineup when Butler was injured in the preseason,
has been hurt and ineffective when healthy while rookies Ron
Bartell, O.J. Atogwe and Jerome Carter have failed to impress.
Michael Hawthorne, the team's starting free safety for much
of the first half of the season, missed so many assignments,
the team released him outright rather than demoting him.
- Lions general manager Matt Millen reasoned it was time to
jettison coach Steve Mariucci because Mariucci hadn't done a
good enough job of developing the team's younger players. And
so when announcing that defensive coordinator Dick Jauron would
take over as head coach, Millen mentioned it was time to see
whether the team's young players would step up. Of course, Jauron
decides to stick with veteran retread Jeff Garcia at quarterback,
which shouldn't surprise anybody that watched Jauron's Bears
teams throw the highest percentage of low risk, low reward passes
in NFL history. Which begs the question? Did Millen mention
to Jauron before making him the head coach that one of the prerequisites
of the job was starting Joey Harrington instead of Garcia? Or
did he forget? Here's hoping the team's owners reason it's time
to jettison Millen because he didn't do a good enough job of
finding the team some decent young players.
- Ravens rookie 2nd round pick Adam Terry had a rough debut
this week against the Texans, giving up two sacks after being
inserted into the game because of an injury to left tackle Jonathan
Ogden. However, the team views Terry as its future right tackle
and he took over for Ogden to get some much needed playing time
after sitting on the bench or being inactive for the entire
season. With Orlando Brown being placed on injured reserve this
week, the team removed any obstacles to getting Terry into the
starting line-up for the remainder of the season. Given Brown's
uneven play in 2005 and the offensive line's poor showing, it's
almost certain Brown will only return to the team in 2006 if
he accepts a backup role.
- It's the time of the year when teams begin the public relations
exercises that lay the foundation for next year's rosters and
there's no better example than what's going in Buffalo this
week with wide receiver Eric Moulds. With a huge salary cap
charge in 2006 as a result of his helping the team in the past
by converting salary into signing bonuses, there are valid reasons
against keeping the aging, yet still productive Moulds on the
roster. However, he is very popular in Buffalo and the fans
there are unlikely to be happy with the franchise is he is cut.
And so it is that coach Mike Mularkey decided to suspend Moulds
for one game because the veteran receiver took himself out of
the game because of an injury and chose not to re-enter the
game when asked to by receivers coach Tyke Tolbert, resulting
in an argument between player and coach. It says here the objective
was to plant a seed in the team's fans minds that Moulds isn't
the team player he once was and make his off-season release
more acceptable to the team's fan base.
- Keeping with the Bills, it's easy with hindsight to second-guess
their decision to let defensive tackle Pat Williams leave in
free agency. Williams looks to be headed to the Pro Bowl for
the Vikings and has been a key reason for their recent turnaround.
Meanwhile, Sam Adams has drawn the ire of the team's coaching
staff because of his lackluster efforts and looks to be headed
out of town after this season. Given the option to make the
decision again, it's clear management would release Adams and
sign Williams to a long-term extension. Adams problems with
the coaching staff aren't a surprise to anybody in the league
because he has worn out his welcome everywhere he has been.
- The Texans passing game has suffered immensely this year
because of the poor play of their offensive line and Andre Johnson
missing time due to injury. The team's other wideouts, Corey
Bradford, Jabar Gaffney and Jerome Mathis, simply aren't talented
enough to warrant extra attention and that has allowed opponents
to play mostly eight man fronts in order to stop the team's
running game. In fact, when Johnson went over 100 yards receiving
against the Rams in week 12, it marked the first time this season
the team had a player top the century mark in receiving yards.
With Gaffney making some strides this season and the team wanting
to open up playing time for the speedy Mathis in 2006, don't
look for Bradford to be with the team next season.
- The Rams quietly signed starting center Andy McCollum to
a two-year contract extension in a deal that is salary cap friendly.
The steady McCollum hasn't missed a start for six seasons and
the team feels he excels at making the proper protection calls.
Although he lacks the bulk necessary to handle large defensive
tackles, McCollum is decent at getting to the second level and
taking on linebackers. With his signing, the Rams now have their
entire starting offensive line under contract for the next two
seasons.
- The Dennis Green era in Arizona may not have yielded the
expected results yet but lost in the criticism of some of his
moves (the release of L.J. Shelton, Anthony Clement and Pete
Kendall attracts the most attention) is the fact the team has
replenished its roster very well as a result of their past two
drafts. Although a number of their selections have had injury
issues this season, their crop of picks contains many talented
players that look to be solid starters or Pro Bowl quality players
over the next several seasons. Included in the mix are wideouts
Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald, the most talented young
receiving duo in the league, running back J.J. Arrington, defensive
tackle Darnell Dockett, linebacker Karlos Dansby and cornerback
Antrel Rolle. Other than Arrington, who may not have the quickness
necessary to make up for his lack of size but who could nonetheless
develop into a solid starter, all of the aforementioned players
could play in the Pro Bowl at some point in their careers. In
addition, the team has hit on lower picks such as offensive
linemen Nick Leckey and Alex Stepanovich, cornerback Eric Green,
guard Elton Brown, linebacker Darryl Blackstock and wide receiver
LeRon McCoy, who looks to push the disappointing Bryant Johnson
off the roster in 2006. Throw in undrafted tight end Adam Bergen
and the team has quite the collection of talent to make a leap
forward next season, providing, of course, Green figures out
if Kurt Warner can produce with a better running game or whether
another quarterback needs to be brought in to take over the
starting role.
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