9/17/04
- Let's start off this week with the pitfalls of starting an
inexperienced quarterback. Case #1 - Chicago. With 45 seconds
left and a 1st down on the Lions nine-yard line, Bears quarterback
Rex Grossman took a sack on the 12-yard line. Rather than run
a play on 2nd down, Grossman was apparently ordered by 1st year
offensive co-ordinator Terry Shea to spike the ball (we'll leave
it to you if Shea's covering for his young quarterback). Grossman
then proceeds to throw his 3rd down pass to a double covered
David Terrell for an interception, later explaining he was throwing
up a jump ball. Rex, this isn't the CFL, you still had 4th down
to make a play. Throw up a jump ball on 4th down, not 3rd. End
result: two plays from the Detroit nine yard line instead of
four, one pass into the end zone instead of four and a Bears
loss.
- Case #2 - Arizona. With half the fourth quarter left
to play, the Cardinals trailing the Rams by a touchdown and
facing a 3rd-and-10 from their 36-yard line, Cardinals quarterback
Josh McCown, despite facing no pressure, throws a six-yard slant
to Bryant Johnson resulting in a 4th down punt. The Cards get
the ball back five plays later and, after one 1st down, are
facing a 3rd-and-10 from their 35-yard line. McCown takes a
sack, forcing a 4th-and-18 punt. The Cards get the ball back
on their 16-yard line with 16 seconds left and McCown throws
a pass down the middle for 24 yards to Nate Poole and time runs
out. End result: two 3rd downs resulting in plays that have
no chance for success and a pass down the middle when he had
to go to the sideline to stop the clock. Game over, Cardinals
lose.
- Dolphins coach Dave Wannstedt has managed to make himself
come across as a bigger fool than previously thought possible.
The timing of the benching of Jay Fiedler in favour of A.J.
Feeley makes little sense and was a move that should have been
made months ago in light of the team spending a 2nd round pick
to acquire him. Realistically, if Fiedler was a little better
than .500 last year with Ricky Williams, he sure isn't going
to be a playoff quarterback without him. With Wannstedt naming
Feeley as the starter this week, the veterans in the dressing
room have to be questioning whether Wannstedt has any clue as
to what he's doing. Here's the answer - he doesn't.
- The release of long time left tackle Bob Whitfield
has come back to haunt the Falcons in a hurry. For no explainable
reason, the team opted to release Whitfield and enter the season
with no proven backup tackles. Backup offensive linemen Roberto
Garza, Martin Bibla and Steven Herndon are interior linemen
and with new left tackle Kevin Shafer possibly out with a sprained
right medial collateral ligament, the team finds itself in a
bind. In light of his treatment from the team, Whitfield has
refused offers to rejoin the Falcons meaning Herndon will likely
line up at left tackle this week against the Rams.
- The Ravens losing out on Terrell Owens will come into
play over the next few weeks with Travis Taylor out of the line-up
with a groin injury. Randy Hymes will likely move into the starting
line-up opposite Kevin Johnson, leaving 3rd round pick Devard
Darling and 6th round pick Clarence Moore as the backups. Deion
Sanders has been mentioned as a possible candidate for work
there but it's more likely this is a ploy by coach Brian Billick
to make the opposition game plan for that possibility. It says
here it doesn't make sense to overload a player that's been
out of the league this long with duty at cornerback, as a punt
returner and at wide receiver. There may be two or three specific
plays set up for Sanders, but it will be a surprise if he's
in there on anything more than an occasional basis.
- Keeping with the Ravens receivers, the team's coaches
were disappointed in the unit's run blocking during the team's
Week 1 loss to the Browns. Don't expect Sanders to help rectify
that problem.
- Look for changes along Carolina's offensive line. Recent
acquisition Todd Fordham could line up at right tackle this
week in place of Matt Willig while guard Tutan Reyes will almost
certainly be inserted into the starting line-up in place of
either Rich Tylski or Doug Brzezinski.
- Look for the Indianapolis Colts to re-sign their former cornerback
Jeff Burris. The Colts are banged up at cornerback with starters
Donald Strickland and Nick Harper playing through shoulder injuries
and top backup Joseph Jefferson still recovering from arthroscopic
knee surgery, leaving rookies Jason David (4th round) and Von
Hutchins (6th round) as the team's only healthy cornerbacks.
Released by New England early in training camp, Burris has been
looking for work and will likely sign this week.
- After watching new kicker Morten Andersen kick-off
this week, look for the Vikings to sign a kick-off specialist
this week. One possibility is Travis Dorsch, a former 4th round
pick of the Bengals that never panned out.
- The Browns are very happy with the work of new punter Derrick
Frost. The rookie free agent looks like a keeper and has impressed
the coaches with his leg strength, directional punting ability
and hang time.
- Defensive tackle Daleroy Stewart found the path from Bill
Parcell's good graces to the doghouse to out the door was a
short trip. Parcells, who commented in training camp on Stewart's
potential to be a dominating presence, released Stewart to make
room for Leonardo Carson who was coming off suspension for violating
the league's personal conduct policy. Carson's presence coupled
with the recent acquisition of Chris Cooper from Oakland and
the signing of Mark Eaton made Stewart expendable. Look for
some team to pick Stewart up within the next couple of weeks.
- Word out of New York is that Jets defenders are less than
thrilled with the team's decision to use the 3-4 defense roughly
50% of the time. Defensive tackle DeWayne Roberson, the 4th
pick in the 2003 draft, is miscast as a nose tackle in the 3-4
alignment because he lacks bulk while defensive end John Abraham
is forced to play outside linebacker in the 3-4. Playing two
former 1st round picks in positions where they lack the requisite
comfort level does not sound like a recipe for success.
- Losing defensive tackle Grady Jackson for four weeks
or more due to a dislocated knee cap certainly won't help the
Packers but the team isn't overly concerned with his loss because
of the strong play of James Lee during training camp. Picked
in the 5th round of the 2003 draft, Lee spent all of last season
on injured reserve with a lower back injury and was not expected
to contribute much in 2004. In fact, entering training camp,
Lee's chances of making the team looked in doubt. However, the
325-pounder forced his way onto the roster at the expense of
Larry Smith, surpassing 2003 3rd round pick Kenny Peterson along
the way.
- Kudos to the Lions for finally winning one on the road after
24 consecutive road losses and Jacksonville also stopped their
road losing streak at nine games with Ernest Wilford's last
second heroics in Buffalo. Another streak was also stopped in
the Buffalo-Jacksonville contest when Bills safety Izell Reese
intercepted a Byron Leftwich pass, making that the first interception
by a Bills safety in 43 games.
- Keeping with the Jacksonville-Buffalo game, Wilford's
heroics wouldn't have been possible without a large helping
hand from Bills cornerback Nate Clements. With a pickoff earlier
in the game, Clements went for interception number two with
less than a minute left on a 4th-and-14 play from the Jacksonville
34-yard line. Unfortunately for Clements, Jags receiver Jimmy
Smith outfought him for the ball, resulting in a 45-yard gain
on the play. Of course, it didn't help when middle linebacker
London Fletcher kicked the ball after the play, giving Jacksonville
another five yards for delay of game. However, this type of
play from Clements doesn't surprise Bills fans, who are well
aware of Clements ego and selfish demeanour.
- It says here that all of the superlatives that have been
heaped upon Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald's after
his performance against the Rams have been way overblown. Sure,
he had a nice game with four receptions for 70 yards. However,
closer inspection reveals one of Fitzgerald's receptions came
on the team's first offensive play, a flea flicker where he
was aided by the Rams defenders biting on the handoff. Take
away the flea flicker and Fitzgerald had 3 receptions for 33
yards against the Rams cornerback tandem of Jeremetrius Butler
and DeJuan Groce (2nd career start), one of the worst in the
league. He's going to be a good one but let's not compare him
to Jerry Rice just yet.
- It was a huge shocker when the Browns held the Ravens
Jamal Lewis to 57 yards on 20 carries. However, their success
was the result of a change in the team's defensive alignment
on anticipated running plays where the team used four linemen,
four linebackers and three defensive backs. The results were
a dramatic departure from last season when Lewis went off on
the Browns for 495 yards in two games. Nice job by Butch Davis
and the Cleveland staff to finally come up with a nice strategic
move.
- Keeping with the Ravens and the team's lack of ability to
run the ball, the Browns defensive alignment definitely contributed
but another factor was the team's offensive line that was missing
Pro Bowl left tackle Jonathan Ogden and center Mike Flynn. Ethan
Brooks subbed for Ogden, giving up three sacks to Kenard Lang
along the way, and Casey Rabach subbed for Flynn. Flynn is expected
to miss significant time but the Ravens better hope Ogden is
not hampered by his sprained left knee when he returns to the
line-up this week.
- With rookie 1st round pick Shawn Andrews out for the
season with a fractured right leg, look for Jermane Mayberry
to move back to right guard and Artis Hicks to move into the
starting line-up at left guard. An undrafted free agent, Hicks
played well during three starts at left guard and one at left
tackle in 2003.
- The 49ers were so impressed with their back-up defensive
linemen, they decided to cut Chris Demaree, Riddick Parker and
Josh Shaw after their 53-man roster was set. To replace this
apparently forgettable threesome, they claimed Tony Brown off
waivers from the Dolphins, Otis Leverette off waivers from the
Chargers and have now signed Arizona Cardinal reject Dennis
Johnson. As a result, their starting defensive linemen were
forced to play most of their game against the Falcons in Week
1. With Carter expected to be out this week with a lower back
injury, the 49ers are clearly hurting along the defensive line.
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