· Already saddled with a management team that seemingly is
doing everything in their power to make sure they can fire him after
the season (see preseason trade of Ted Washington), Bears coach
Dick Jauron is also not getting any breaks on the injury front.
Already forced to start Aaron Gibson at right tackle because 2002
1st round pick Marc Columbo is on the physically unable to play
list and Steve Edwards at left guard because Rex Tucker is on injured
reserve because of an ankle injury, Jauron found out this week that
right guard Chris Villariel will miss four to six weeks with a sprained
left knee. With Villariel out, the team will start Josh Warner,
a street free agent, in his place. The team's current starting five
now consists of Mike Gandy, Edwards, Olin Kreutz, Warner and Gibson.
Of the five, only Kreutz, a Pro Bowl regular, would start for most
teams. Of the remaining players, only Gandy would have even a remote
change of starting for most teams. It's doubtful the other three
would make a number of rosters even as backups.
· No team in the league can stand to lose a player of the
caliber of Joey Porter, but the Steelers are likely the team most
prepared to do so. Pittsburgh uses a tremendous amount of resources
on their linebacking unit and should be able to withstand the loss
of Porter. Although Kendrell Bell has proven ineffective as an edge
rusher, the team still Clark Haggans and 2003 2nd pick Alonzo Jackson
to help Jason Gildon apply pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Haggans
had 6.5 sacks last year and the team drafted Jackson primarily for
his ability to get to the passer. Haggans had a sack and forced
a fumble in week one.
· The Eagles took plenty of criticism for letting Hugh Douglas
slip away to the Jaguars during the offseason but they were quite
optimistic they could replace his production by spreading his playing
time out among N.D. Kalu, 2001 3rd round pick Derrick Burgess and
2003 draft picks Jerome McDougle, 1st round, and Jamaal Green, 5th
round. And things seemed to be going according to plan until Green
was placed on injured reserve in the preseason with an ankle injury
and then it was announced McDougle would miss the first two weeks
with hip, ankle and knee problems. Now Burgess has been placed on
injured reserve with a torn Achilles tendon and as a result the
team was forced to sign veteran Marco Coleman, who was released
by Jacksonville in the preseason. Sometimes you can't win.
· Best coaching of the week - Redskins Steve Spurrier. With
a lead at halftime, his defense playing well and Patrick Ramsey
struggling a little after a strong start, Spurrier turned to his
running backs to supply the offense in the second half and to run
out the clock. Not only that, he gave the ball to Ladell Betts for
most of the 2nd half, not the speedy Trung Canidate, the guy Spurrier
would like to win the job. The result: a somewhat ugly win but a
win nonetheless. In his second year, it looks like Spurrier has
learned that it's better to win than to win the way he would like
to.
· Worst coaching of the week - Rams Mike Martz. Martz let a concussed Kurt Warner play three quarters or more against a ferocious Giants pass rush even thought Warner had trouble remembering the plays that were sent in. Plus, with his team down by ten points in the fourth quarter, he twice decided to go for first downs rather than kicking a field goal to get within one score. Plus, Marshall Faulk touched the ball 16 times out of 73 offensive plays. Note to Martz - you win with balance in the NFL and when you run the ball, the opposing defensive line can't tee off on your quarterback.
· Keeping with the Rams, if their showing in week one wasn't eerily reminiscent of 2002, a look at their injury situation definitely is. With safety Jason Sehorn, wide receiver Kevin Curtis and cornerbacks James Whitley and Kevin Garrett already expected to miss significant time due to injuries, the team got more bad news this week when backup guard David Loverne underwent elbow surgery and it was revealed receiver Shaun McDonald will be out four to six weeks because of ligament damage in one of his thumbs. If there's a bright side to all this, it's that McDonald looked like a potential game breaker in week one against the Giants and Curtis was very impressive in the preseason. When they get back in the lineup, the team will have excellent depth at receiver. Dane Looker and former Arena League star Mike Furrey take over as the team's third and fourth receivers.
· For all the talk about Dwayne Rudd adding another speedy linebacker to the Bucs unit, the free agent signed from the Browns couldn't even beat out Ryan Nece, a 2nd year player who wasn't even picked in the 2002 draft. Looks like the Browns new something about this guy.
· The Jets have to be more than a little frightened by the performance of their running backs and offensive line in their season opening loss to the Redskins. Curtis Martin looked like he's finally starting to slow down after logging a tremendous workload during his first eight years in the league and Lamont Jordan had zero yards rushing on six carries, although he did score a touchdown. That the offensive line couldn't consistently open holes against a weak Redskins defensive line should be cause for concern in New York.
· Keeping with the Jets, it's going to be a long season if Paul Hackett doesn't take the chains off Vinny Testaverde. Hackett's play calling was typically conservative against the Redskins as the team failed to take many shots down the field. The team struggled early last season until Hackett opened things up when Chad Pennington took over for Testaverde. With Miami and New England up next, Hackett better change gears soon or the Jets will be sitting uncomfortably at 0-3.
· The Texans held the Dolphins to zero sacks on Sunday, a huge improvement over last season when the offensive line yielded an NFL-record 76 sacks. Perhaps the best performance along the line came from left tackle Chester Pitts. Pitts, drafted in 2002 to play guard but forced to start at tackle because of Tony Boselli's injuries, not only kept Jason Taylor away from David Carr, he also him held off the stat sheet with Taylor recording no tackles.
· Despite Ladell Betts outperforming Trung Canidate in week one, look for Canidate to get the start this week against the Falcons. The coaching staff doesn't want to give up on his potential big play ability after only one week. However, Betts should see plenty of action and will almost assuredly be the team's short distance runner.
· Look for the Titans to eschew any of the veteran free agents
kickers out there (Brett Conway is likely the best of the bunch)
in their search for a replacement for Joe Nedney, out for the year
with ligament damage after trying to make a tackle on special teams.
The team is tight against the salary cap and had to renegotiate
the contract of backup offensive lineman Jason Mathews to carve
out some cap space. They will need to leave some cap space in reserve
in case the team experiences any additional injuries.
· Hard to believe the performance the New York Giants get out of their offensive line year after year despite devoting very little salary cap space or draft picks, let alone high draft picks, to the position. On Sunday, Jim McNally's unit started, from right to left, Ian Allen (undrafted, 2nd year), David Diehl (5th round, rookie), Chris Bober (undrafted, 4th year), Rich Seubert (undrafted, 3rd year) and Luke Petitout (1st round, 5th year) and the unit held a deep, talented St. Louis defensive line at bay for most of the day. When Petitgout went down with a back injury in the 2nd quarter, undrafted rookie Jeff Roehl stepped in and performed well enough for the team to consider moving him to right tackle in place of Allen this week against the Cowboys.
· The word out of Arizona is the team was trying to keep the training camp performance of Anquan Boldin under wraps prior to week one. Based on his performance against the Lions, it looks like that strategy paid off. Of course, they still couldn't win despite Boldin having 217 receiving yards, a record for a rookie in his debut.
· Marvin Lewis hasn't wasted anytime in putting his stamp on the Bengals, notwithstanding their dismal performance on Sunday. It appears Lewis is going out of his way to change the makeup of the team and he has not let past performance and financial considerations stand in his way of setting his roster. Longtime starting strongside linebacker Steve Foley was let go, followed quickly out the door by Armegis Spearman, despite the team matching a Green Bay offer sheet to him in the offseason. Despite a career year in 2002 with 47 receptions, wide receiver Ron Dugans was let go because he couldn't stay on the field during training camp and fellow wideout Danny Farmer was also let go. Defensive end Reinard Wilson, a 1st round pick in 1997, was given his walking papers and 2002 2nd round pick Lamont Thompson was unceremoniously dumped, with the team deciding to keep a host of free agents and converted cornerbacks as their safeties.
· We all know Giants tight end Jeremy Shockey had plenty to say about Cowboys coach Bill Parcells in the preseason (not worth repeating). Now Shockey gets to face the Cowboys this week and although safeties Darren Woodson and Roy Williams have nothing to prove to Parcells, look for them to let Shockey know his comments weren't appreciated.
· The Lions are making major efforts to improve their leaky secondary and have signed Alex Molden and Rod Babers, a Giants 5th round pick this year, to shore things up. With Andre Goodman's poor performance in week one, it may not be long before Molden, who started 16 games for the Chargers last year, moves into the starting lineup. With veteran Otis Smith also on board, the team has done a reasonable job of finding some support for free agent signee Dre Bly. Chris Watson was placed on injured reserve to facilitate the recent signings.
· The word out of Jacksonville during training camp was that
Matthew Hatchette had rededicated himself to the game after a stint
in NFL Europe. Drafted by Minnesota, Hatchette never really stepped
up to the plate for the Vikings before signing a free agent contract
with the Jets who thought they were getting an emerging player with
the potential to be a solid 2nd receiver. Hatchette's performance
and attitude kept him on the bench in New York, but the Jaguars,
desperate for production at wideout, may have found themselves something
if his week one performance of four receptions for 60 yards and
a touchdown are any indication.
· It was somewhat of a surprise the Steelers kept tight end
Mark Bruener on the roster after they signed Jay Riemersma in the
offseason but it appears the veteran is now merely an afterthought
in Pittsburgh. The team decided to dress Matt Cushing and Jerame
Tuman as Riemersma's backups in week one, saying that special teams
considerations were involved. However, it is not widely known the
team signed Cushing and Tuman to contract extensions over the past
year with each player receiving a small signing bonus and this fact
together with Bruener being on the inactive list likely means Bruener
is being kept around strictly as an insurance policy.
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