It’s back. Last year I did a weekly newsletter of all the NFL Action. Due to the fact there was only one preseason game last week, I decided to hold off on my newsletter until this week. Again, while I appreciate feedback of things that I failed to mention, please don't get upset if I don't list something about your favorite player or team. I could do a Newsletter for just one team. Trying to mention every team or player in one newsletter would be impossibility. I hereby present to you a recap of the third week of preseason action.
Standings
AFC EastNFC East
1.New York Jets (1-0) 1.Washington (2-0)
2. Buffalo (0-1) 2. Dallas (0-1)
3. Miami (0-1) 3. NY Giants (0-1)
4. New England (0-1) 4. Philadelphia (0-1)
AFC SouthNFC South
1. Houston (1-0) 1. Carolina (1-0)
2. Jacksonville (1-0) 2. New Orleans (1-0)
3. Tennessee (1-0) 3. Tampa Bay (1-0)
4. Indianapolis (0-2) 4. Atlanta (0-1)
AFC NorthNFC North
1.Baltimore (1-0) 1.Detroit (1-0)
2.Cincinnati (1-0) 2.Chicago (0-1)
3.Pittsburgh (1-0) 3.Green Bay (0-1)
4.Cleveland (0-1) 4.Minnesota (0-1)
AFC WestNFC West
1.Kansas City (1-0) 1. Seattle (1-0)
2. Oakland (1-0) 2. Arizona (0-1)
3. San Diego (1-0) 3. San Fran (0-1)
4. Denver (0-1) 4. St Louis (0-1)
MVP of the Week: It’s hard to go with MVPs of preseason games when the starters are only playing a couple series. Seneca Wallace had a fine opening to the preseason. He went 15 for 20 with 165 yards and 3 touchdown passes with no picks. Julius Peppers did very well for the Panthers. He sacked Sorgi, forced a fumble, and hurried him into an interception on the Colts first 2 possessions. It is crucial he rebound from 2.5 sacks in 2007. Aaron Rodgers also played a very solid game in his first start. He went 9 for 15 for 117 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 pick.
Game of the Week: Most fans aren’t going to watch 4 quarters of a preseason game unless it’s their favorite team. If you are a Panthers or Colts fan you saw a pretty good game. The Panthers took the Colts to OT and won 23-20. Carolina stopped Indy on a 4th and 1 at the Carolina 34 yard line and then proceeded to drive down the field for the game winning field goal.
The Bay of Pigs: Some years the games are not viewable. 10-7 finals. Punting exhibitions and penalty fests. For preseason there weren’t too many really bad games. I would say the worst games would go with a tie between San Fran vs. Oakland and Tampa Bay vs. Miami. Both teams had a half time score of 7-3. The Bucs threw for 181 yards to the Dolphins 134. Tampa out gained Miami on the ground 114-64. That final was 17-6. In Oakland, San Fran out passed Oakland 199-98. Oakland was able to dominate the ground 248-70. However, the result was only a final score of 18-6. Again, for a first preseason games nobody did too badly this week. I’ve seen a lot worse over the years.
The Mike Martz Award (Stupidity in Action): Last year I had this named the Mike Martz Award for the stupid decision made by a player or coach that cost his team the victory. This was in honor of the man that used to challenge 7-yard plays and burn timeouts 3:00 minutes into the 3rd quarter when he was the headman for the Rams. Unless I see something incredibly stupid I tend not to give the award in the preseason. If you saw something like that this week make sure you leave it in the comments section.
Hospital Visit: There were a lot of significant injuries this week. The scariest injury of the weekend went to Denver linebacker Louis Green. Green lay motionless on the Reliant Stadium field for several minutes. Green was put on a stretcher and was moving his fingers and hands as he was taken from the field. Green was released from the hospital and all signs are that he will be okay.
Bobby Engram is going to be sidelined 6-8 weeks with a crack in his shoulder bone. He was the leading receiver from a year ago and the one veteran influence amongst a unit with a lot of question marks. Hasselbeck is going to be playing with a lot of unproven wide receivers. The Seahawks will need Engram back ASAP.
Madieu Williams suffered a neck injury and is expected to miss 6 weeks. That is a big injury for a team that was depending on him to sure up a secondary that ranked 32nd in passing yards allowed.
Charlie Batch was a big injury for the Steelers. He has been with them since 2003 as their backup quarterback. He broke his collarbone in Friday’s game against the Eagles and is expected to miss 10-weeks with that injury. That left Dennis Dixon as the backup, which prompted the signing of Byron Leftwich. If Big Ben were to go down for a couple weeks the Steelers could be in a big bind. Batch has filled in for Big Ben in the past and done very well for the Steelers.
Finally, Shawn Andrews just reported to camp this week, citing depression for the first 17 days he missed. Quoting the AP, "I'm willing to admit that I've been going through a very bad time with depression," Andrews told the Daily News in his first public comments about his training camp absence. "I've finally decided to get professional help. It's not something that blossomed up overnight. I'm on medication, trying to get better."
First of all, you have to hope that he is getting treatment and can recover from this. Situations like this remind you that there are bigger things going on in these guys life other than football. From a football standpoint, having your 2-time Pro Bowl guard out of camp for this reason is never a good thing. They need him to anchor that offensive line. He is a fantastic guard and is a big part of that football team.
Overall Impressions of the Week that Was:
1) Brett Favre – I am ready to be done talking about him from a non-football standpoint. It is good to see him in a camp and start being talked about as a football player and not as a distraction. When he starts making plays good or bad I would love to talk about those.
I think all NFL fans are glad that the soap opera part of the story is over. Now it would be nice if the announcers would move past it. The ESPN crew beat that horse to death on Thursday night with the Cardinals and the Saints. They picked right up where they left off on Monday Night.
When it comes to the NFL I like hearing about Favre more than just about anything, but enough is enough. He isn’t with the Cardinals, Saints, or Packers and to mention his name on every play is a bit silly. While some people will want to evaluate the trade on a play-by-play basis, it is going to take a year or two to ultimately find out if the Packers made the right call. A play-by-play analysis of Rodger’s development is as absurd as mentioning Favre’s name on every play.
2) Aaron Rodgers played solid, but… – I got the feeling that many people in the national media were looking for validation of the trade in that game. It’s a preseason game. Most teams play vanilla defenses. Cincinnati was a terrible defense in 2007.
Even if it meant everything in the world you can’t evaluate trades on a game-by-game basis. Here are two random game lines from two quarterbacks careers:
Both games were played in 2006. Both games were against Detroit where Detroit was the road team. The September game is Rex Grossman in a 34-7 victory over the Lions. The December game is Brett Favre in a 17-9 victory over Detroit. That doesn’t make Rex Grossman a better quarterback than Favre. He just played better against Detroit at home that year. Yet this is how many in the media is choosing to evaluate Rodgers vs. Favre.
Aaron Rodgers is probably under more pressure for a first year starter than any player in the history of the NFL. He is going to be inconsistent this year just like most first year starters are inconsistent. The important part of Monday’s game was to see how he responded to that pressure, something he did not handle well in the Family Night Scrimmage. Other than that you weren’t going to find much out.
Here was my impression of Rodgers. He impressed me in the sense that there wasn’t a throw he couldn’t make, something people have been talking about since he took over for Favre. He had good velocity on the ball. He had command of the offense. He didn’t stray from the pocket like many young quarterbacks do. Fleeing the pocket doesn’t give the play a chance to develop. He needs to feel the pressure a little better. He missed a safety blitz and was hit a number of times. If he does not improve in that area he will not play the full schedule. He also needs to work on his touch and accuracy.
He played a good game against a defense that was not very solid last year. He also did that without Grant or Jennings, two of the Packer’s biggest offensive weapons. My doubts haven’t been so much about his abilities as they have been about his ability to stay healthy.
Regardless of where you are at with this guy it is going to take a lot more games for anyone to make a determination about where he is at as a professional player. Put a check mark on the good column Monday Night. He played a solid game and will need to build off that game and keep getting better. Based on his attitude since March I would expect him to do just that.
3) Larry Johnson looked healthy – This is a guy that gained 1,750 yards on 5.2 yards per carry scoring 20 touchdowns in 2005. He set a NFL record with 416 carries for 1,789 yards and 17 touchdowns in 2006. He never looked right last season gaining 559 yards on 3.5 yards per carry and scoring only 3 touchdowns. He was hurt midseason against the Packers and missed the rest of the season.
Johnson ran for a touchdown on the Chiefs first drive as the Chiefs beat the Bears 24-20. He only had 8 carries for 18 yards, but had a nice run up the middle past Brian Urlacher for 7 yards and scored on a 5-yard touchdown.
People are very concerned about him for a couple reasons. The Chiefs quarterback situation dictates that defenses will concentrate on him. How he responds from a broken foot is going to be key if he is going to get the carries he needs for the Chiefs to be successful.
18 yards on eight carries is nothing to jump up and down about. But he had a couple nice runs and looked to have some of his explosiveness back. The Chiefs aren’t going to work him to hard in the preseason. This was an encouraging sign and is hopefully a sign of things to come.
4) Seattle impressive in opening win – It’s hard to tell what is what in the preseason. However, Seattle had a very nice opening game. They traveled to Minnesota and won 34-17. What was encouraging was 35 carries for 162 yards, which is an average of 4.6 yards per carry.
Again, it’s preseason. The Williams Brothers didn’t play 4 quarters. Allen wasn’t chasing the quarterback the whole time. The scored was tied 17-17 at the half, so the blowout happened with a lot of backups that won’t be on the field come Week 1.
This team is set at quarterback. Brees, Hasselbeck, and Romo are probably the three best quarterbacks in the NFC. Having a good quarterback will keep you in a lot of games. If Seattle can run the ball like they did against the Vikings that will be a big plus. Mare was also 2-2 on field goals and 4-4 on extra points, which is much better than his horrendous 2007 season. How he replaces Brown this year is critical for them winning close games in 2008.
I have questioned how this offense is going to do in 2008. Scoring 34 points on the road with an offense that has some questions is never a bad thing. However, Bobby Engram injuring his shoulder is a very bad thing. That leaves them even weaker at a position that has a lot of question marks. Regardless, Seattle impressed against a good team and deserves credit for that.
5) 49er’s quarterback situation – It was interesting to see JT O’Sullivan starting for the 49ers in their first preseason game. Nolan’s reason for that was that he knows what he has in Smith and Hill and wanted to see O’Sullivan work with the first team. If that doesn’t tell that Smith has hit rock bottom, I don’t know what will. Smith played in only 7 games and threw only 193 passes and you don’t want to see what your $49.5 million dollar investment looks like so that you can see what a 6th round pick from the 2002 draft looks like?
I’ve argued with quite a few 49ers that have argued that it is too early to label Smith a bust. If labeling Bust were the equivalent of a football game it would be 35-14 with about 4:00 minutes left in the game with Team Bust comfortably in the lead. If the coach is worried about what he has in JT O’Sullivan that is an obvious indicator that he isn’t too high on Alex Smith.
The reason O’Sullivan is getting a look is because he played in Detroit last year, which is where Martz coached. O’Sullivan has the best knowledge of the offense. I would not be shocked if he ends up starting the season as the number one quarterback for the 49ers.
A Look Ahead: It’s pretty hard to get hyped for the 2nd preseason game. Once the regular season starts I’m going to pick the best 5 games on the schedule. I’m not doing that with preseason games. There is going to be a lot of attention paid to the Jets and Redskins as this will be Favre’s first action with a team other than the Packers since 1991. People will be curious to see how he looks in this new offense. New England and Tampa Bay features two playoff teams. The Giants and Browns could be an entertaining matchup.
I’m not going to waste too much time previewing preseason games. As teams take the field for the second time we should start to see some trends and can start looking at possible concerns or possible things to be optimistic about. The key is that teams build some momentum and keep their players healthy. All in all it was a good week of preseason action and it is nice to have football back. Let me know what you thought about this week's developments in the NFL and your favorite team's performance in the preseason.
I see your concern about my Seahawks receiving core and thats very understandable. You seem to put a little focus on the Hawks this week though. I Hope that doesn't get you in trouble with other fan bases now. I know my fellow Hawk friends came down on you for your NFC West post. We get a little defensive from being written off all the time, but who doesn't?
You're never going to win the 49er QB arguement when you argue with some of the Niner fans in this forum. One of the Niner fans went as far to say this morning, that San Fran has 3 Montanas right now.
WestSeattle - Thanks for the post. I understand how passionate fans get about their teams and players. I go through the roof when I read something about Favre that is negative. I don't like to read bad press about the Pack. I wouldn't have a forum to discuss this stuff if it weren't for the passionate fans. That's what makes this fun.
I think the 49ers fans are right. They have three Hannah Montana's on their roster as we speak. Which ever of that trio emerges should have a really bright future, lol.
Fublbstd - Thanks for the post.
Gambtixx - Thanks for the post. It is painful to watch all those reserves for a half. However, that is where you find special teams standouts and future stars in this league.
DeeNutz - Thanks for the post. That guy was so awful. I still remember that Tampa Bay Monday night game where he challenged a kick return that would have netted him 7 yards. Then he didn't have his challenge so he could reverse a Dunn fumble. Cost his team the game.
I don't think there was anyone worse at paying attention to detail and in game strategy. Good offensive mind, but a terrible head coach.
Gambitxxx, you'll be glad to know - Adam Jones hadn't played a game since December of '06, and it showed Saturday night. On his first play entering the game - playing on the 2nd team - he was torched for about 20 yards. Next play he wiffed (missed) a tackle on a run in his direction, for another 20 yards. a few plays later he was flagged for a penalty, negating a Cowboys interception. All in all, he had a very bad rusty outing...
One fact that was rehashed in Saturday's loss to the Chargers, if Romo goes down, Cowboys are in serious trouble. Brad Johnson is only a shadow of his former Super Bowl winning self. There have been rumblings of Dallas going after former University of Texas QB Chris Simms. I think Gruden is trying to hold on and hope for a trade, but I think he'll be released soon enough. What's Gruden planning on doing, lining up 11 quarterbacks on offense?
Last edited by MidniteCowboy on August 13th at 10:13 AM.
Aaron Rodgers did make some very nice completions. It's a very good thing for him that Favre is in New York. If Favre were fishing in Mississippi, or riding the Packers bench, Rodgers would be looking over his shoulder as he played thru a trying start. With Brett in N.Y., fans have to be patient, and the Brett chants will not happen. The Packers are the youngest team in the league, and have an exceptionally good roster. I think they are building a dynasty now. If Rodgers is the real deal, this Packers team will be very good for a long time. It may not happen this year, but the Packers will be an elite team for several years. Dynasty? possibly.
Midnite,
I certainly do not wish for Jones to have a bad season. I wish the Cowboys and it's fans a grreat season. Why shouldn't I when your wins have no affect on whether my Saints win their respective division or not.
Jones will be fine with more playing time. He has loads of pressure to do well. Which for some players no matter how talented they are can be a career killer.
Dallas would be smart to sit on that for a minute and wait for Simms release. I'd hate for the Cowboys to give Tampa any help on the offensive side. That's the one thing we have over them.
Street Cred
If Mike Martz is said to have a fertile ,creative and intuitive mind. Then why is it that so much of that creativity actually resembles a dung heap much of the time with regard to the teams that he's now said to have been involved with ?
Since his departure from theb Rams the guy has become a caricature of what an offensive coordinator should aspire to be. Am I wrong here or is it just my imagination or is my mind actually playing tricks on me ?
Midnite & Gambtixxx - Thanks for the post guys. I didn't get to watch the Boys & Bolts, but that doesn't sound good at all. Still, I think it is one preseason game. I saw on Hard Knocks where he was catching punts while holding 5 footballs. Guys got talent. If he can work out the rust he should be fine.
Midnite - I'm not seeing the Packer dynasty. Al Harris is 33 and Woodson is 31. They are going to have to replace those corners soon, which is a huge part of any defense. Tauscher is 31 and Clifton is 32. They are going to be older in a few years. Driver is 33 years old. He is the leader of that receiving core. All that and we don't know if their quarterback is NFL Pro Bowl calibar.
They could end up being a dynasty, but they could be a good 8-8 to 10-6 team that flirst with the playoffs the next few years. Too early to tell what they have there.
Last edited by StreetCred on August 13th at 11:43 AM.
tophatal - What I personally think is that most offensive coordinators are going to look good with Faulk, Warner, Holt, Bruce, and Pace. Since he hasn't had that type of talent he has looked pretty mediocre when it comes to his "offensive mind."
San Fran would be much better off having those 5 players in their prime than the guys they have and Martz's system.
TY for the props on the Hawks. I agree that the loss of yet another veteran receiver is worrisome, but Burlesson, Taylor and Obamanu (sp?) aren't exactly rookies. We'll see how it pans out.
'course, if MoMo can keep up the 10.3 ypc, who cares who is lined up to catch passes? LOL
StreetCred
Place all or any one of those players mentioned on the right team. And the offensive coordinator there'd be thought of as a deity.
As for Martz he's no doubt being paid a king's ransom and has produced absolutely zilch , nada !
That being said that's what many of the GM's in the league tend to do best . Bring in what they deem to be the sharpest instrument in the room and forget to give 'em or make available to 'em a lot of the time the right onfield personnel to get the job done !
Awesome, StreetCred. A preseason review. Guess it will help us stretch out our skills before the real games start.
I really only got to watch 5 games. Philly-Pittsburgh, Buffalo-Washington, NO-Arizona, Jets-Cleveland and Cincy-Green Bay. Didn't catch up on the NFL Network delays this week.
Batch made a dumb decision to run with the ball on the missed hand-off. For a guy that has suffered through so many injuries in his career, he should have fallen down in the backfield and made it 3rd down. The speculation in Pittsburgh is that they may put Charlie on IR and have Leftwich as the #2 with Dixon #3. They are worried that by trying to get Dixon on the practice squad, he won't clear waivers. The rumor is that Byron stills wants a shot at a starting job, so he wouldn't return next year and they could attempt to bring Batch back. But he is also unsigned for 2009. So who knows? I think Leftwich can still play. His ankle is supposedly fully healed. Hope we don't have to find out.
David Clowney of the Jets was very impressive. Jason Campbell looked very comfortable in the West Coast offense. Thought Kenny Watson and Chris Perry were both very impressive for the Bengals.
GoSealHox - Thanks for the post. I'm glad you enjoyed the Hannah Montana comment.
Here is the dilemna for me in Seattle. Last year when they started to get hot in the 2nd half of the season they played a lot of 4 WR sets and spread the ball. That is hard to do with your two best receivers hurt.
As you said if Morris can keep up the 10.3 ypc and heir backs and line are improved they can survive that until Engram and Branch get back. If they can't run it is hard to run a spread offense with the receivers they have.
Tophatal - You hit it right on the head. You put good players into any system and they will succeed.
Last edited by StreetCred on August 13th at 2:20 PM.
Moseby - Thanks for the post. I didn't do one last week with just the HOF Game and I'm not picking games, but I figured its as good of a way as any to write about the injuries and who is playing well.
I though Perry and Watson looked good as well. I saw Clowney play and he looked good against the Browns as well. Didn't see Campbell. 7-10 for 71 yards and 0 interceptions is a good preseason game. He led a touchdown scoring drive which is always good.
As for Batch. As you know, it becomes a meaningless injury if Big Ben stays healthy. Never a good idea to take unnecessary hits in the preseason. That may make sense to just put Batch on IR and go with those other three. I haven't seen Dixon play, but everyone seems to be pretty high on him. From what people have said, I don't think he would make it onto the practice squad either.
Last edited by StreetCred on August 13th at 2:29 PM.
Street I was probably one o those zealous Hawk fans that took exception with your prognostications. Thanks for the read. much better than ESPNs presentation on the Hawks game ... Minnesota and who?
Anyway I watched every last drop of that game. Beyond what you pointed out. Was the depth, talent and EXECUTION of those non Hawk starters that posted a 17-0 second half on the Vikings. I think it speaks volumes for the organization when non starters ... rookies and FA perform in any form of cohesion on week one of preseason ... that is what I took away from the game!
Street Cred
Placing them in the right system along with the right coach . And just about everything we think ought to be right. But then there's often that anomaly that tends to pop up its ugly head.
C Hawkz76 - Thanks for the post. I say what's on my mind. If I don't think someone did well in the offseason I say it. But, I'm not to proud to acknowledge that a team I didn't pick to do well played well. I don't think that preseason game means the Hawks are going to win the NFC West. However, there were some encouraging signs.
Holmgren is a great coach and I think that showed in that game. You don't go to a Coach Holmgren training camp and go into your first game and make a ton of mental mistakes. You won't be back in camp if you do that. Holmgren's coaching and Hasselbeck's ability will always keep the Hawks in contention for the playoffs.
The Steelers looked really good especially the first offense they took the ball straight down the field and scored. Charlie Batch needs to hang it up he's always been fragile he's a good back up but i don't think he can hold down the team if Ben were to get hurt now the pick up of Leftwich was the best thing they did this year along with the addition of Mendenhall at running back to compliment Parker I believe that Byron can play to Big Ben's caliber if he was to get hurt but i'm excited to see what the Steelers are going to do this season they look really good but I just hope the defense stands firm mainly the secondary has to step it up majorily they got beat alot last year on some big plays
Steeler fan - Thanks for the post. If Batch is fragile, what is Leftwich??? He's always hurt. He isn't mobile. Big Ben is mobile and was sacked 49 times last season. Leftwich would get killed behind that line's pass protection. They would have to really alter the offense in that case to go short quick passes.
Batch isn't a miracle worker, but he has proven to be effective for a game or two over the years. He was critical in their 05 Super Bowl run when Big Ben got hurt in the middle of the season. The loss is minimal if Big Ben starts 16 games. If he gets hurt for 4-6 weeks it could be disaster, especially with their schedule.
LOVE the Hanna Montanna remark, Teh 49'rs are only out illusioned about their QB situation by the Bears faithfull. Both teams look to be in serious trouble if they do not start out 3-1, at least 2-2
The remark about the pressure on Rodgers might be true, but I believe that if Steve Young hadn't had the West coast offense, the pressure on him replacing montana might have been more. And of corse young had veterans instead of rookies to throw to.
Last edited by netsteeler on August 15th at 6:44 PM.
Netsteeler - Thanks for pointing out the mistake. I originally was going to list only Romo and Hasselbeck and suddenly remembered that Brees played in the NFC. I added his name and forgot to change the number. Oh well.
One thing I would point out is there are plenty of quarterbacks that did not excel in the West Coast Offense. Plummer in Denver comes to mind.
Musin Mohammad said that chicago is where recievers go to die, Arizona is where quarterbacks go to die! don't count plummer with the busts of all time, he started against a stacked deck and may be the reason he imploded in denver. remember, he is the only quarterback good enough to take the cardinals to a playoff game, much less WIN!
BTW, chicago is where QUARTERBACKS go to SUCK, arizona is where running backs go to suck. can you tell me where recievers fo to suck, and running backs go to die?
Netsteeler & Midnite - I think everyone's career dies in Oakland. That franchise has been in pretty bad shapes since 2002. WR definitely haven't done well. Detroit would get my vote on receivers. Arizona for running backs. I also like your call on Houston for backs. All good choices.
NetSteeler - Plummer wasn't a bad QB, but he sure wasn't great either. He had an above average NFL career. West Coast offense helps quarterbacks that aren't as strong with the deep ball, but accuracy really helps to execute that offense. That is one reason McNabb hasn't put up really big numbers in Philly over the years. His lack of receivers and lack of accuracy hurt in that regard. Same with Michael Vick when he tried to run it.
Aaron Rodgers looks to have a lot of the tools to succeed in that offense. Mobility and able to make deep throw. I don't really like his accuracy yet and he will need to improve that to succeed in that offense.
I live in Chicago, but am originally from Wisconsin. I am a disgruntled Green Bay Packer fan that has a second favorite team, the NY Jets. My favorite sports are Football, Basketball, and Baseball. Hockey and soccer are at the bottom of my list. I would rather watch the Spelling Bee than either of those sports. My favorite athletes of all time are Brett Favre and Michael Jordan. While I like debating many sports, NFL Football is by far my favorite topic to discuss.
In 2008 I was runner up to Boltbacker21 in Mike Greenspire's NFL Blogger Competition. In addition to this blog I am also the Senior NFL Writer for the Fantasy Football Maniaxs. The address is http://www.fa ntasyfootball maniaxs.com. I hope you enjoy the blog and check out the website for any fantasy football needs.
