NFL Pre-season

[Ryan Pode]

No one has made a topic about this yet so I naturally will. Once again my attention is focused on the Baltimore Ravens. The first round picks Boller (QB) and Suggs (LB) paid off as both pulled their weight in the first game against Buffalo (despite the loss) This was also Redman's first game back since his surgery. He played very good (65 yards in two sets, with a touchdown).

The big surprise was Nate Bolling, a defensive tackle, who played all of last year as a reserve, had three sacks and seven tackles. Noone saw this coming. Needless to say he was very happy.

They had two injuries, Sanders (minor) and Trent Smith, 7th round pick, who played a good game till he was taken down (after catching a 40 yard pass/double teamed) and he'll be out for a few weeks.

Only disappointment was Free Agent Dan Nystrom missing the conversion, putting them one behind. Well, thats the Raven's for the first week. How are your teams doing?

[Figrin D'an]

I put about as much stock in the pre-season as I do my chances of winning the lottery or being abducted by aliens. The main things to watch for in pre-season are injuries and those coming back from injury. Beyond that, even trying to grade draft picks, it's just not worth the time and effort to analyze too critically. The early part of the regular season will yield a lot more useful information.


I will say that I'm already sick of hearing about Mike Vick and the Atlanta Falcons... watching the pundits fawn over him is just ridiculous. Yes, he's very talented, and yes, in time, he will likely be a great NFL quarterback. But he's NOT THERE YET. He's in his second season as a starter, and already half of the experts want to put him in Canton. I like the guy... he seems to have his head on straight... but I kind of wish he and Atlanta stumble this season, just to give everyone some perspective. How quickly people forget about guys like Donovan McNabb, Steve McNair and Jeff Garcia, other mobile QBs with strong arms.

Anyway... I'm a Packers fan, as most people know. As usual, Green Bay will have a good team, and should win the NFC North. Playoff success will depend upon keeping everyone healthy (unlike last season), and having home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. If those two things happen, it'll be a Super Bowl season. If not, they might get to the second round, but stumble if they have to go to Philadelphia or Tampa Bay or St. Louis or wherever.


Going into the season, I know these two things to be true:

1) Tampa Bay will not repeat.
2) The AFC is more wide open than it was last year.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Yeah these games are meaningless. They do more actually at camp than at the games.

[Senator Kensington]

A lot of folks are saying that last year was the Eagle's last shot... I hope not. That was a miracle run with Donovan out. I was so dissapointed when they lost :(

[Nathanial K'cansce]

2) The AFC is more wide open than it was last year.

That's a reassuring thought when making picks. :p

[sirdizzy]

well i am just happy Jake Plummer looked good ib his debut, i don't put much stock in the preseason but its nice to see him gelling with his new team


its also double satisfaction to see Brian Griese tank in his debut

[JMK]

Griese will show up when it matters. Namely once Fielder screws up. As in after week 2.

[CMJ]

Originally posted by JMK
Griese will show up when it matters. Namely once Fielder screws up. As in after week 2.

:lol LMAO! :lol

I prefer the college game(I'll probably start a thread soon enough). Of course, now my favorite all time Boomer quote can be taken out of the closet.


No one circles the wagons...like the Buffalo Bills

:)

[Figrin D'an]

geez... no love for Fiedler or Griese...

Griese isn't that bad a QB... he was just in a no-win situation in Denver. Broncos fans expect the same level of play out of the QB position as they got from Elway, and that just isn't going to happen, not even with Jake Plummer.

Fiedler just gets hurt too much... if he could actually stay healthy, the Dolphins could make a run to the Super Bowl. It's been shown in recent years that you don't need a superstar QB to win the big game if you have a top notch defense and solid running game (which Miami may now have).


Anyone else see how Carson Palmer got baptised into the league? Back-to-back drives, back-to-back plays, interceptions returned for touchdowns.... welcome to the big time, Carson.

[sirdizzy]

plummer is a better QB than griese though and the reason griese got outsed was because he wasn't making the post season


and since miami fans are use to their team not making the post season he should be fine, i got into an arguement with a dolphins fan about miami's december swoon the last time they had a winning december was 1995

[Figrin D'an]

Originally posted by sirdizzy
plummer is a better QB than griese though and the reason griese got outsed was because he wasn't making the post season

As if that was entirely Griese's fault.

Plummer is a better QB... but Denver's O-line is suspect, and has been for a couple of years now. If the pass protection doesn't get better, Plummer is going to get hit just as often as Griese was the past two years.

[sirdizzy]

no griese was a pocket QB, plummer is a scrambling QB

plummer should be able to get out of trouble better than griese did


and anyways plummer is used to not having an offensive line, denvers line is twice as good as arizonas so to him it should be like a breath of fresh air and breathing room, plus he now has a RB something he never really had with the cards

[Figrin D'an]

That's a pretty gross oversimplification. But, whatever. Believe as you will. I wonder, should Denver get off to a slow start, how quickly Broncos fans will be screaming for Shanahan to bench Plummer and play Steve Beuerlein.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I would never say Plummer is better any player that has thrown more INts than TDs I wouldn't want for my QB. Personally I think they are both slightly above average, IMO.

[sirdizzy]

Honestly i am not worried about the broncos offense it should shine this year, i think plummer is the better QB and his mobility will be a huge plus, i expect a ton of play action passes with plummer rolling out and hitting wide open recievers

Clinton Portis should be better now that he has a year under his belt and i don't think the line is as suspect as you think, i think a lot of that was created by Griese's immobility

I also think Ashlie Lelie is going to be this years breakout player he should take Ed McCaffrey spot as the #2 reciever if not Rod Smith's as the #1 reciever and thqats a dangerous recieving corp where your 3rd option is Eddy and your 4th option is Shannon Sharpe reminds me of the Rams recieving corp a few years ago that was almost unstoppable



what is supsect to me is Denver defense and i think it will be defense that wins the AFC west not offense look at your teams the chiefs can put up 30 points a game easy, the raiders can put up 300 yards pasing every game and the chargers got more dangerous by adding David Boston to go with Ladamian Tommilson and Drew Brees

Denver lost 2 CBs during free agency including their best CB, so they are going with a pair of CBs they drafted last year and with little to no NFL expierence to fill a gap they were already having trouble with

Plus their pass rush was autrocious last year, their only legit pass rusher is Trevor Pryce and teams double teamed him all last year and they will double team him all this year too unless someone steps up to help out

denver released half of their defensive line due to salary cap problems so ya got a very young crew of defensive lineman that are very suspect


Denvers only bright spot on defense is they probably have the most talented group of linebackers in the entire league but with zero pass rush last year teams were able to spread them out and burn them on short routes


Denver needs to pass rush, i am just hoping their new defensive coordonator relizes that and fixes the problem, they stop the run really well (that might change since they lost a lot of the bulk on their defensive line) but are horrible against the pass

[Jedi Master Carr]

The Chiefs have the best offense in the division, if they can get there defense together they will be a team to watch.

[jjwr]

While Pre-Season can be fun about the only point of it is to see all the backups getting some reps and seeing some stuff tried that you may not normally see.

The Pats looked great in their first game, Dominating D-Fense, but it was mostly backups so who knows.

The Dolphins just won't do it under Wandstadt, they'll hit the ground running and falter down the stretch.

The Ravens, not to sound rude but I really hope they tank it this year and finish like 5-11 or something. I'm not expecting it to happen but with the Patriots holding the Ravens #1 pick I want that to be as low as possible.

AFC will be a tough call, some very good teams and some really really crappy ones. Very few gimmie's, its unfortunate that the divisions loaded with Crappy Teams are going to cost a team from the AFC East or West a spot in the playoffs.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I know only two wild cards and a couple of teams won't make the playoffs. That is why I suspect they will add two more wild cards in the future to each conference in the next five years because of it. Right not here is my idea who can make the playoffs in the AFC, but instead of doing that I will just eliminate the teams that have no chance :)
Cincinnatti and Houston have no chance; Baltimore (I think they are very much in a rebuilding state especially at offense) and Jacksonville have small chances. After that just about every team in the AFC has a shot which is really wild.

[sirdizzy]

the problem with the chiefs jmc is they absolutly have the worst defense in the afc west, denver may be shaky but at least they got that awesome linebacker crew

i don't see the chiefs improving that much on defense this year

[Jedi Master Carr]

I think they will realize they lost there best two defensive players last year to injury Jerome Woods and Ryan Sims those two they really missed. Woods was the leader of that secondary and the secondary fell apart without him I think that will change now. Then they add Shawn Barber and Vonnie Holliday. Barber is awesome and will have amazing year, IMO. Holliday will help that defensive line. Still I don't think the defense will be great but it will be enough to jump from 32-16 which can get them to the playoffs.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Big news today Vick broke part of his leg in a preseason game. That is going to hurt the Falcons right there. He is out 6 weeks and will miss the first four games.

[Ryan Pode]

That sucks... espcially if you are a falcons fan.

[sirdizzy]

and they looked so good too with them adding peerless price

[Jedi Master Carr]

Who is their back up QB? They might stuggle now Vick was the reason they were so good last season.

[Ryan Pode]

Well its only four games...

[Jedi Master Carr]

Yeah but if they are 0-4 that is a big hole. Really somebody would have to step it up and they would have to be 2-2 when Vick comes back, if that was the case they would be in great shape.

[Figrin D'an]

Atlanta's backup QB is Doug Johnson. After him, it's Kurt Kittner.

The Falcons will go likely go after a WR or two in the next couple of weeks during roster cuts to add some depth to their corp and give Johnson some more options. They'll have to, without Vick's scrambling ability, and put more of the offensive load on Warrick Dunn.

Keep in mind, too, that even after Vick returns from injury in October or whatever, he won't be completely healthy for the rest of the season. He's not going to come back and start ripping off highlight reel runs. He'll be forced to become more of a pocket passer.