Week 1
9/9/05
- Let's do a little recap of the Falcons thoughts on their
wide receivers. Prior to the 2003 season, management was doing
cartwheels over their acquisition of wide receiver Peerless
Price from the Bills. Prior to the 2004 season they were touting
the talent of 1st round pick Michael Jenkins and the speed of
free agent acquisition Dez White Now they are telling the world
how great this year's 1st round pick, Roddy White, will be.
Price - 109 receptions and six touchdowns over two years at
a cost of $12.5-million. Jenkins and Dez White and Jenkins -
a combined 37 receptions in 2004. Beware the hype.
- During the offseason, the Raiders were heavily criticized
for their decision to place the franchise tag on cornerback
Charles Woodson. However, it's hard to imagine where the team's
secondary would be without Woodson. Former 1st round pick Nnamdi
Asomugha looks lost starting opposite Woodson while 2005 1st
round pick Fabian Washington was beaten out by 2nd round pick
Stanford Routt for the nickel back job. Strong safety Derrick
Gibson might make plenty of tackles but that's partly because
he can't cover anybody. This unit looks to be in for a rough
ride in 2005.
- How sincere is Terrell Owens? First he says he wants to kiss
and make up with quarterback Donovan McNabb. Then he says he'd
like to do it on national television during the Eagles Monday
night game in Atlanta. Let's hope McNabb has enough intelligence
(we're sure he does) to recognize what Owens is really after
- more exposure and a chance to rehabilitate his badly damaged
public image.
- By the way, with this potentially great plot line in play,
look for ABC to show plenty of live coverage of Owens on Monday
night, in hopes of getting a live shot of him making up with
McNabb. Say what you want about Owens but he knows how to attract
attention and when he wants it, he gets it.
- Sorry Steelers fans but don't get too excited over the team's
recent signing of Dallas cast-off Quincy Morgan. Picked up by
the Steelers after being dumped by Dallas when he was beaten
out by 2003 7th round pick Patrick Crayton for the team's third
receiver position, Morgan is expected to challenge pre-season
disappointment Cedrick Wilson for the same role in Pittsburgh.
However, don't discount the impact of Wilson having an entire
off-season to learn the playbook versus Morgan coming in so
late in the pre-season. After being acquired by the Cowboys
for Antonio Bryant (think Dallas would like to have that one
back?), Morgan played in nine games for the Cowboys, mostly
in the starting line-up after Terry Glenn went on injured reserved,
posting 22 receptions for 260 yards. Big plays? Virtually none
after a 53-yard reception in his initial game with the team,
with a long reception after that of 21 yards and no touchdowns
during his time in Big D.
- With Jerry Rice retiring, there has been plenty of talk in
the media over where he places in NFL history of terms of the
best receivers the game has seen and overall. Having seen him
demolish the Rams (my team) time and time again during the 1980's
and most of the 1990's, it says here that he's easily the best
overall wide receiver the game has seen over the last 25 years.
Despite lacking top-end speed, Rice had an ability to turn a
short pass that should be an 8-10 yard gain into a long touchdown
and, not often mentioned, he was certainly a willing and capable
blocker downfield. Randy Moss may be a better deep threat than
Rice but he's nowhere near the overall receiver that Rice was.
- With Rice's retirement, the Rams Isaac Bruce became the league
leader amongst active players in receptions and receiving yards
with Marvin Harrison leading in touchdown receptions. Bruce
and Harrison are clearly excellent receivers that may one day
be inducted into the Hall of Fame so it is interesting to note
how they compare to Rice statistically. Rice finished his 20-year
career with 1,549 receptions for 22,895 yards and 208 touchdowns
(197 receiving, ten rushing and one on a fumble recovery). Bruce
has 777 receptions for 11,753 receiving yards putting him 776
receptions and 11,142 yards behind Bruce. Basically, the 32-year
old Bruce has posted half the numbers Rice finished with while
the 33-year old Harrison's 98 touchdowns are also roughly half
the number of touchdowns Rice scored.
- Chiefs receiver Marc Boerigter is currently listed as the
team's fifth receiver on the depth chart. However, because the
team's other receivers lack size (Eddie Kennison and Chris Horn
are the tallest at 5'11"), look for Boerigter to be used mostly
in the red zone this coming season. Listed conservatively at
6'3", Boerigter tallied eight touchdown receptions in limited
use in 2002, before becoming an afterthought in 2003 and missing
2004 due to injury.
- Keeping with the Chiefs, don't be surprised if they pick
up former Bronco Quentin Griffin to increase the team's depth
at running back. The Chiefs enter the season with only Priest
Holmes and Larry Johnson at the position. Given Holmes age and
injury history, the team would be wise to invest a roster spot
on Griffin.
- Look for former Bucs tackle Derrick Deese to file a grievance
with the NFL over his recent release from the team. Deese was
dumped after missing nearly all of training camp and the pre-season
with a sprained left foot. However, the team's medical staff
cleared him to play late in the pre-season and he was subsequently
released. Should Deese file the grievance, one-half of the amount
grieved (basically, his 2005 salary) will count against the
team's salary cap until the case is resolved.
- What's going on down in Houston? The team has done an abysmal
job of managing the salary cap since entering the league and
this week saw fit to award guard Chester Pitts with a lucrative
contract extension for just under $20-million over five years.
Let's quickly review some of their great salary cap maneuvers.
Picked up left tackle Tony Boselli in the expansion draft -
zero games played, cap hit of just under $14-million. This off-season,
they released reasonably priced and productive linebackers Jay
Foreman and Jamie Sharper to make room for Morlon Greenwood,
a steady player that contributes very few big plays, at a cost
of $22.5-million over five years. Last off-season, they signed
right tackle Todd Wade and defensive tackle Robaire Smith to
lucrative contracts, nice players respectively but not worth
$5-million and 4.4-million annually respectively, especially
in Smith's case who lines up at defensive end in the team's
3-4 alignment. Perhaps if the team hadn't overpaid for each
of these players they would have found themselves a quality
left tackle and a solid number two receiver to play opposite
Andre Johnson.
- Things just keep getting better for running back Jamal Lewis.
Promised a contract extension by the team during the off-season,
Lewis instead plea-bargained his way to some jail time, possibly
putting the contract extension in jeopardy. Then his surgically
repaired ankle failed to heal as expected, reducing his practice
time during the pre-season. This week, he underwent root canal
surgery, proving that when it rains, it pours. Look for the
team to enter serious negotiations with Lewis on a contract
extension once he proves his ankle has healed properly because
the team would be in dire straits without him at running back.
Chester Taylor is a nice back-up but is clearly not in the same
class as Lewis and with Kyle Boller failing to show significantly
improvement at quarterback, a top-five quality running back
is the only thing keeping the Ravens offense from being near
the bottom of the league.
- Nice move by the Jets this week to pick up former 49ers offensive
tackle Scott Gragg. A number of teams are interested in picking
up depth at the position but were waiting to sign veteran players
until after week 1 because salaries of players with four or
more years in the league are guaranteed if they are on the opening
day roster. With Adrian Jones entering his first season as a
starter at right tackle, the Jets wisely jumped the competition
by signing Gragg. Teams looking for depth at offensive tackle
include Washington, New Orleans, Minnesota and Detroit.
- Fantasy football players out there might want to take note
if any of their players will be squaring off against the Saints
during FF play-offs. Although it's doubtful the team will play
all 16 of their games on the road, it is certain there will
be increased traveling in their schedule for much of the season.
Considering the Saints have been known to fold down the stretch
(although this was not the case last season), the increased
travel does not bode well for their performance over the final
part of the season.
- The Giants plan at wide receiver into the season was to let
Tim Carter and Jamaar Taylor fight it out for the third receiver
position behind Plaxico Burress and Amani Toomer, while leaving
David Tyree out of the offense for the most part in order to
increase his effectiveness on special teams. However, Tyree's
performance in the pre-season scuttled those plans and the special
teams demon won the third receiver position. Quite simply, he
makes plays on a consistent basis and lacks the injury history
of Carter and Taylor.
- The Vikings bid adios to wide receiver Kelly Campbell this
past week, although he will likely be picked up by another team.
Given his past discretions off the field, his release was not
a surprise. What was a surprise was the team signed Koren Robinson
to replace him, another player that has struggled with life
off the field. Maybe there's some logic to this move but right
now it's hard to figure out what it is.
- Rams 1st round pick Alex Barron has plummeted to 4th and
quite possibly 5th on the team's depth chart at offensive tackle.
With Orlando Pace and Rex Tucker starting, Matt Willig is the
team's top back-up at the position. There is also a good chance
that Blane Saipaia would see time ahead of Barron at right tackle
if there were injury or effectiveness problems there. Barron's
learning what many rookies that hold out do - once you get behind,
it's hard to catch up against veterans that know the system.
It would seem Barron's best bet of getting any playing time
in 2005 would be if left tackle Orlando Pace suffers an injury.
- The Lions have moved linebacker Teddy Lehman from the strong
side to the weak side, sending a clear signal to incumbent James
Davis. What's interesting is why this move wasn't made earlier
in the off-season when it became clear Boss Bailey would open
the season on the strong side. Lehman is clearly one of the
team's best three linebackers along with Earl Holmes and Bailey,
so the effort to find him a spot in the starting line-up should
have begun early in the off-season and not at the end of the
pre-season.
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