Knowshon Moreno, Donovan McNabb, Mike Shanahan and David Garrard enter pivotal seasons where they will be scrutinized if they do not perform at a high level.
The Eagles seemingly came out of nowhere to sign Nnamdi Asomugha as they eye a trip to the Super Bowl.
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Two weeks have passed since the first edition of Camp Snap Judgments. In that time a few developments have caught my attention, the biggest of which is Brett Favre?s inevitable return to Minnesota.
1. Favre returns! No kidding. This media circus is flat-out embarrassing. Stop enabling him to garner all this attention he demands and he?ll stop going through excruciating measures to attract it. We all know Brett Favre is a media whore, yet we apparently cannot look away. Just as Will Ferrell will eventually stop releasing craptastic movies if people stop going to them, Favre will quietly ride off into the sunset when he figures out that nobody pays attention anymore. Football-wise: this makes the Vikings legit NFC contenders again, but I don?t expect #4 to be as sharp last year.
2. The Patriots lose Ty Warren for the season. This is a legit game-changing injury that shakes up the AFC East. New England already lost Jarvis Green from the other DE spot, which means newcomers Damione Lewis and Gerard Warren take over the critical end spots flanking Vince Wilfork. Both are transforming from 4-3 tackles to 3-4 ends, both are in their 30s, and both were let go with no resistance by poorer teams. The top backup is Ron Brace, a second-year player that just passed his physical yesterday, two weeks into camp. Underwhelming try-hard Mike Wright represents the rest of the depth up front. That?s a huge hit for New England, one that makes me feel a little iffy about 11-5 season prognostication.
3. Oakland will let Nnamdi Asomugha line up wherever he wants. I?m curious to see how this impacts opposing offenses. In the past couple of years Asomugha always lined up on the right side, and offenses basically ignored that half of the field when planning to play the Raiders. Now the QB will have to scan the field to find him and alter the plan at the line, and the Raiders defense has more freedom to shut down the hot hand.
Intriguing stat courtesy of Sirius NFL Radio: last season Asomugha faced 29 passes all year, not even two a game. Darrelle Revis had 119 thrown his way, and the other CBs on the two teams are largely a wash. Don?t think that Jets management won?t (or hasn?t already) throw that figure in Revis? face while he continues to sit and cry for a new deal that pays him more than Asomugha.
4. Chicago is scouring the depths for a veteran backup QB. After Caleb Hanie got nearly broken in half by San Diego (nice pocket awareness there, BTW!), the Bears finally came to the realization that they are one bad block from having Dan Lefevour as the only QB on the team. Considering the iffy state of the pass protection, Chicago is rightfully desperate. And I do mean desperate. Todd Collins, Trent Green, and Damon Huard have all refused the Bears advances, and Jeff Garcia and Daunte Culpepper both prefer the UFL to Chicago. They might be forced to trade for someone like Charlie Frye or, failing that, turn to Jamarcus Russell. That gulp you just heard is Chicago fans realizing that only Jon Kitna in 2006 in Detroit has taken more than 80% of the snaps as the starting QB in a Mike Martz offense in the last 8 seasons. Matt Gutierrez is not the answer.
5. Glen Coffee retires after just one season. The Niners backup RB hung up his cleats after his rookie year, quitting in the first few days of camp because his heart is no longer in the game. He is going to finish his degree at Alabama and pursue the ministry. It?s pretty impressive that he can turn his back on all the money and fame for such a noble pursuit, but I get the feeling that if A.) Coffee would have been even mildly successful as a rookie, or B.) the iron-fisted Mike Singletary wasn?t his coach, he?d still be playing. That latter statement might seem counter-intuitive based on how openly and outwardly Singletary brandishes his faith, but I know that rubs certain people--including some very religious ones--the wrong way. I don?t know if that?s the case with Coffee, but I bet it didn?t help.
6. I?ve been burning through the preseason games on my DVR, and one of the things I like to focus upon in the first couple weeks of preseason is the second and third quarters. That?s when the backups play, after most of the starters are gone and before the imminently released mop up. This is the best way to gauge functional depth. One game in particular was the Colts/49ers tilt, where the Colts stormed out to an easy 10-0 lead and then got completely waxed once Manning & Co. headed for the bench. The top 22 in Indy are as good as any, but the next 22 just might be in the bottom 3 overall. Pray for good health, Colts fans!
On the flip side, other than the aforementioned RB issue, San Francisco has some impressive reserves at many positions.
7. Seattle traded former 1st rounder Lawrence Jackson to Detroit for an undisclosed draft pick. What makes this move more interesting is that Seattle is now coached by Pete Carroll, who was Jackson?s college coach at USC. Remember he also cut former Trojan pledge LenDale White and loudly passed on Taylor Mays in the draft. Jackson was misfit for what Seattle is trying to do defensively and should help the Lions, who sorely need a LDE that can provide any semblance of a pass rush without sacrificing run defense. My deeper reading here is that Carroll knows he thrived at USC by recruiting early bloomers that could just overwhelm opponents with superior athleticism, and he knows the program was lousy at developing that talent to NFL-readiness.
8. Snap judgments on the prominent rookie QBs preseason debuts:
Sam Bradford looked very much like a guy that hasn?t played in a long time. He has no clock in his head and clearly needs a lot of work on the mechanics of playing outside the shotgun, not just taking the snap.
Jimmy Clausen made a few nice throws in the driving rain, but he too needs major work on the internal clock and anticipating the speed of the defense.
Tim Tebow looked more aggressive and confident than both, and his arm strength is clearly vastly superior to both as well. He still doesn?t make read progressions, but it appears the Broncos are tailoring the offense to fit that, not vice versa--a savvy move.
Colt McCoy was stunningly inept before getting hurt; he sure looks like a practice squad guy.
9. Buffalo stands no chance of beating any team that really tries to win the game. Losing Fred Jackson for a few weeks makes them even more of a lock to be the worst team in the AFC, if not the entire league. They don?t have a QB on their roster that would be the primary backup on most other teams. What is perhaps most discouraging was the demeanor of the players. This is a team that knows it?s not going to be good and carries itself that way. Not every player is guilty, but enough are that it showed over the broadcast. I?ve seen that before with the Marinelli-era Lions and the Cameron-era Dolphins, and those ended in complete disaster. I won?t be a bit surprised if the Gailey era in Buffalo quickly ends in the same manner.
10. Some perspective on how desperate Cleveland is to move on from LeBron James, or alternately how deep-rooted the Browns are as the team of choice: while driving home from my 20 year high school reunion (hello fellow Vermilion Sailors Class of 1990!), three different Cleveland radio stations interrupted their broadcasts to announce Breaking Browns News! That news? Punter Dave Zastudil was placed on IR. I give a slight pass because Zastudil is a local product and a fellow Ohio Bobcat, but one of these stations in particular didn?t interrupt their 20th spin du jour of Led Zeppelin when the last space shuttle blew up. Get a grip, hometown!
