9/14/07
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 Hard
to decipher all the blather coming out of the mouths of the
Giants management but it says here that Eli
Manning is basically looking at two options - shutting it
down for three to four weeks and returning fully healthy or
playing through pain and possibly not being able to finish games.
Media reports have suggested Manning has a separated shoulder
while Giants management insists he has a bruised or sprained
shoulder. Either way, it doesn't bold well for a Giants offense
that will be minus starting running back Brandon
Jacobs for five or weeks due to a sprained medial collateral
ligament and now could be forced into using Jared
Lorenzen at quarterback. Lorenzen has zero career starts,
little ability to avoid the rush and figures to be overmatched
against anything other than the worst NFL defenses.
- Keeping with the Giants, don't expect Derrick
Ward to get all of the team's carries in Jacob's absence.
Ward was the team's backup running back in the opener against
Dallas with Reuben
Droughns spending most of the game at fullback. The team
has since released backup fullback Robert Douglas and signed
former Rams fullback Madison
Hedgecock, a 265-pound bowling ball deemed expendable by
the Rams because they prefer to use H-backs rather than fullbacks.
Look for Hedgecock to take over the majority of the fullback
duties once he gets up to speed with the team's playbook, allowing
Droughns to move to tailback. As for Ahmad Bradshaw, the team's
7th round pick in this year's draft, he has had fumbling problems,
including one on a kick return in the opener, and although the
team likes his running ability, head coach Tom Coughlin isn't
likely to play the rookie in the base offense until he remedies
the problem.
- The Raiders finally signed quarterback JaMarcus Russell,
the first selection in this year's rookie draft. Having missed
all of training camp and the preseason, Russell's chances of
playing this year are just about zero. Teams don't give starter
reps to third string quarterbacks during the season until they
are out of contention, meaning Russell's only reps will be on
the scout team and mental reps from digesting the playbook.
Given the Raiders defense may be stout enough to keep them in
playoff contention past the midway point of the year, Russell
will see precious little practice time and the odds at this
point of him starting more than one or two games this season
should be considered very low.
- The whole debate about whether teams should use their star
running backs more in the preseason is much ado about nothing.
The Chargers LaDainian Tomlinson, the Chiefs Larry Johnson and
the Rams Steven Jackson all struggled this week but a closer
look reveals this had little do with the players not playing
in the preseason. Tomlinson and Jackson were facing strong run
defenses so their lack of success isn't surprising. Jackson
had 61 total yards against the Panthers which is exactly four
more yards than he had against them last year while the Bears
run defense has stymied many good backs so their ability to
shut down Tomlinson isn't all that surprising. And here's the
kicker - Tomlinson had 149 total yards in his opening game last
season while Jackson had 140 and Johnson 148, proving that preseason
games for star running backs mean nothing.
- Although it came as a shock to many that the Jaguars defense
gave up a franchise-worst 282 yards rushing to Tennessee in
their 13-10 loss in week one, a closer look reveals that this
shouldn't be considered all that surprising. The Titans possess
a young, talented offensive line and the heart of the Jaguars
run defense has always been their talented defensive tackles,
Marcus Stroud and John Henderson, two players with injury concerns.
Stroud had microfracture surgery in the offseason and Henderson
has been battling a shoulder injury. In addition, pass rushing
defensive end Reggie Hayward missed 15 games last year after
tearing his Achilles tendon in the opener. With Atlanta, Denver
and Kansas City up next, the Jags will be tested by three teams
with typically strong running games.
- You have to wonder how well Redskins head coach Joe Gibbs
understands the salary cap. The Redskins decided to keep cornerback
Shawn Springs on the roster despite the team's decision to employ
Carlos Rogers and Fred Smoot in the starting line-up, making
Springs the highest paid nickelback in the league at close to
$5-million for this season. Most teams wouldn't consider paying
a backup cornerback more than $2-million a season. This decision
might be understandable if the team didn't have decent options
for the nickelback position but that wasn't the case. They entered
training camp with veterans David Mackin, Jeremetrius Butler
and Ade Jimoh as options at cornerback as well as backup safety
Pierson Prioleau, making the decision to retain Springs incomprehensible.
- The Bills suffered a tremendous blow having to watch tight
end Kevin
Everett being carted off the field on Sunday and here's
hoping Everett makes a full recovery in time. Everett's prognosis
was considered dim early in the week and was upgraded to him
possibly being able to walk out of the hospital in due course,
with one doctor describing it as a miracle. With an extremely
young team, look for the Bills to struggle to cope with the
situation in the weeks ahead and their schedule and injury situation
figures to make their season a long one. A young, inexperienced
secondary suffered major blows with free safety Ko
Simpson going on injured reserve with a broken ankle and
cornerback Jason
Webster out for the year with a broken arm. With third year
player Jim
Leonhard (undrafted, one career start) and second year player
Ashton
Youboty (3rd round, one career start) likely to replace
them in the starting line-up, the Bills will field the youngest
secondary in the league and almost certainly struggle to in
the passing game. In addition, the team is down to its third
strong weakside linebacker in Mario
Haggan with expected starter Riki Ellison out for four to
six weeks and backup Coy Wire not expected to return for four
weeks. Look for the Bills to be active on the waiver wire and
in bringing in veteran free agents to help out on defense.
- Keeping with the Bills, it won't be a major surprise if the
team goes winless for the 1st half of their schedule. Up next
are road games at Pittsburgh and New England followed by home
games against the Jets, Cowboys and Ravens and back on the road
to face the Jets before a home game against the Bengals. Unless
they pull off an upset against these playoff caliber opponents,
the Bills may be 0-8 when they face the Dolphins on the road
in week 10.
- From 2004 to 2006 the Bucs used 1st round draft picks on
wide receiver Michael Clayton, running back Cadillac Williams
and offensive guard Davin Joseph. Net result of that investment?
20 offensive touchdowns in the last 17 games and with Williams'
performance for at the least the early portion of this season
likely to suffer from the bruised ribs he suffered in week one,
don't expect this performance to improve anytime soon. In fact,
with New Orleans, St. Louis Carolina and Indy up next, the Bucs
could easily be looking at a 0-5 or 1-4 record to start the
season.
- Although the Chiefs and their pathetic passing attack couldn't
take advantage of a depleted Texans secondary in week one, look
for Texans opponents to attack through the air early and often
in the coming weeks. With an expected starting tandem of Glenn
Earl and C.C. Brown, the Texans looked to enter the season with
one of the worst safety combos in the league. Now Earl and his
backup Jason Simmons on injured reserve and recent addition
Michael Boulware not ready to contribute until he picks up the
team's defensive playbook, the team is reduced to using veteran
journeyman Von Hutchins in the starting line-up alongside Brown.
Former Giant Will Demps was signed this week but he's a free
safety who was cut loose by the Giants with an injury settlement
due to his poor performance last season and in training camp
this year.
- Don't be surprised if the Giants move 2006 1st round pick
Mathias Kiwanuka back to his natural position of defensive end.
Osi Umenyiora is out for up to four weeks due to an irritation
of the lateral meniscus in his left knee and Michael Strahan
showed plenty of rust and a lack of conditioning from his holdout.
With only Justin Tuck and 2nd year player Adrian Awasom in reserve
and Kiwanuka having struggled mightily at strongside linebacker
in the loss to the Giants (Cowboys tight end Jason Witten rang
up six receptions for 116 yards and a touchdown, much of it
at Kiwanuka's expense), it won't be a surprise if the team uses
Umenyiora's injury as a handy excuse to end an experiment that
seemed ridiculous in the first place.
- The Rams are trying to sell snake oil to the world with all
their rosy reports on how they won't miss perennial Pro Bowl
left tackle Orlando Pace, who is out for the year with multiple
shoulder injuries, just like they didn't last year when Pace
was out of the line-up. To hear the Rams tell it, they went
5-3 without Pace last year and 3-5 with him. If that's the case,
why not move Holt, Bruce, Jackson and Bulger, the team's other
Pro Bowl offensive players, out of the line-up as well? Here's
what you need to know. Pace's replacement at left tackle for
the balance of the Panthers game was Adam Goldberg and he simply
can't play the position. The team tried him there last year
for one game after Pace went down with a torn triceps before
moving starting left guard Todd Steussie over to tackle on a
permanent basis, putting then rookie 7th round pick Mark Setterstrom
at left guard and moving Goldberg to the bench for the balance
of the season. The team waived Steussie with an injury settlement
in the preseason and it's anybody's guess as to when he will
be ready. Expect the team to move right tackle Alex Barron to
the left side, insert Claude Terrell at left guard (until injured
starter Richie Incognito is ready to return from a high ankle
sprain) and move the team's opening game starter at left guard,
Cardinals castoff Milford Brown, to right tackle. Net result?
Until Incognito returns, the team will have only two players
starting in the position they were expected to be in when training
camp started and the team's interior lineman have a combined
21 starts.
-
 Staying
with the "hard to believe" theme, don't believe the hype from
Atlanta that the team is suffering on offense because rookie
head coach Bobby Petrino spent the entire offseason devising
game plans to suit quarterback Michael
Vick. The team is suffering on offense because their quarterback
is Joey
Harrington and because they still don't have a decent group
of receivers despite throwing free agent money at Joe
Horn and using 1st round picks on Michael
Jenkins and Roddy
White. Simply put, every NFL offensive playbook has, at
a minimum, 100 passing plays and there is no way the Falcons
playbook contained more than 50 rollouts. Harrington has never
consistently produced and likely never will, certainly not with
the offensive personnel that currently resides in Atlanta.
- Nice coaching job by Brian Billick on Monday night against
the Bengals. Despite having eight plays to get the ball in the
end zone from within the Bengals 11-yard line (3, 2, 2, 1, 11,
6, 2 and 2-yard lines), the team failed to score the tying touchdown
against the Bengals, a team that in 2006 allowed its opponents
to score touchdowns all 18 times they were within the five-yard
line. Despite being a far effective runner than backup Musa
Smith for much of the game, Billick gave the ball to Willis
McGahee three times in the sequence of plays with little success.
With Smith running hard and gaining tough yards, he was the
Ravens best chance to punch it in but was never given the opportunity
quite possibly because of the hornets nest that would have been
stirred up if the team had tied the game with McGahee on the
bench.
- Look for one of the Jaguars disappointing duo of 1st round
wide receivers to be inactive on game day for the foreseeable
future. Reggie Williams has apparently played his way into head
coach Jack Del Rio's doghouse while Matt Jones efforts in game
one may also land him there. Williams and Jones were not only
beat out for their starting positions by Ernest Wilford and
career underachiever Dennis Northcutt but also for the third
receiver position by undrafted rookie free agent John Broussard.
Because neither Williams nor Jones plays special teams, the
team only dresses four wide receivers on game day, with the
team choosing to dress Jones in week one. He rewarded them by
not making a reception and dropping one of the two passes thrown
his way.
- You have to love the Jets. Rather than extending Kendall's
deal (a former Pro Bowler and clearly the team's best offensive
lineman in 2006), they shipped him off to the Redskins for a
draft pick and subsequently extended Brandon Moore's contract.
Kendall claimed the team promised they would renegotiate his
contract after forcing him to take a pay cut prior to the 2006
season. So, they end up extending the contract of a player with
four years remaining on his existing deal rather than extending
the contract of a better player with three years remaining on
his deal. Try figuring that one out and the only answer is that
head coach Eric Mangini didn't like Kendall going public and
showing up the organization and its head coach. Now the team
is forced to use journeyman Adrien Clarke in the starting line-up.
- Who would have known that Saints cornerback Jason David was
a poor man's Fred Thomas? If your wide receivers are facing
the Saints, try to figure out if your guy's going to be up against
David and, if so, get him in your line-up.
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