· Interesting to note the differences in the way the Jets
Chad Pennington and the Falcons Michael Vick have taken their injury
rehabilitation. Pennington played before his expected recovery period
was over, coming off the bench this week to play with his left wrist
in a cast. Vick missed his expected recovery period, the team still
has no idea when he will play and everybody is making excuses for
him, saying he shouldn't play until he's fully recovered. Note to
Vick and his apologists - this is the NFL and everybody plays hurt.
Vick is still fairly inexperienced and Falcons management should
realize the long-term health of the organization is best served
by getting Vick back into action. Plus, his teammates will remember
his slow recovery for a long time.
· Bills followers have to be perplexed about how the team
seems well prepared some weeks and unemotional in others. Coach
Gregg Williams is definitely on the hot seat over his ability to
have his team ready each week and there have to be questions about
his ability to put together good game plans. The Bills have run
the ball 131 times in their four wins and only 71 times in their
four losses.
· Keeping with the lack of focus on the running game, it's
interesting to note the number of teams that profess in training
camp their plans to use their fullbacks more and rely less on multiple
receiver sets. Of course, when the season rolls around, fullbacks
are on the bench for more than half of the offensive plays. This
year's prime examples include the Dolphins Rob Konrad (10 touches),
the 49ers Fred Beasley (14 touches) and the Eagles Jon Ritchie (9
touches).
· For those of you waiting for the Steelers turnaround to
begin, it might be time to face reality and here's why. Tommy Maddox
isn't capable of duplicating his 2002 performance, the team doesn't
have a starting caliber running back, the pieces on the offensive
line don't fit together and the team failed to blow up the secondary
after the unit's abysmal performance last year.
· Baltimore's Kyle Boller hasn't put up big numbers over
his last three games but the coaches are pleased that he has cut
down on turnovers and begun to show he can be a caretaker at QB
for the rest of the season. Boller was responsible for eight turnovers
in Baltimore's first four games but has given up two in their last
three games. When you're Jamal Lewis' caddy, that's good enough.
· Although the Saints overtime decision to go for it on 4th
and 1 from the Panthers 37-yard line backfired, you have to hand
it to Jim Haslett for having the guts to make that type of call
against the best defensive line in the league.
· Time for our Dan Reeves What Are You Thinking moment. The
Falcons coach decided this week to bench his entire secondary. Granted
the current starters weren't performing but moving a strong safety
to free safety (Cory Hall), inserting a player coming off the physically
unable to play list (Juran Bolden) as well a rookie (Bryant Scott)
and a former nickel and dime back (Tod McBride) into the starting
line-up in the same week is unheard of. These are the types of gambles
coaches who are on the hot seat and want to avoid getting fired
take. Of course, they almost always backfire.
· Desperate for help along their defensive line, the Raiders
have reached for monumental underachiever Sean Gilbert. If this
isn't a signal to the players that the team is desperate, we're
not sure what is.
· Speaking of Raider defensive lineman, defensive tackle
Darrell Russell was reinstated by the league this week and promptly
released by the team in a move that came as no surprise. The Raiders
had previously announced that Russell had played his last game with
the team and the thinking was troubled player would be out of in
2003. That is, until word leaked out the Redskins were interested
in his services. Note to Dan Snyder - your team isn't going anywhere
this year with or without Russell so save your cap space and get
Champ Bailey signed.
· With the heat on the Chargers for signing wide receiver
David Boston to a lucrative contract during the off-season rather
than keeping Curtis Conway, the team trotted out the old and very
tired salary cap problem excuse, reasoning they couldn't keep Conway
because of the salary cap. Let's hope the Chargers fans aren't buying
that one and that they haven't forgotten the largesse the team extended
to another free agent wide receiver that hasn't produced - Tim Dwight.
· Keeping with the Chargers, coach Marty Schottenheimer has
finally hedged his bets on Drew Brees. This week the coach indicated
the team wasn't planning on making any changes at the quarterback
position at the moment. However, if Brees continues to struggle,
look for backup Doug Flutie to sub in and perhaps even start a game
or two down the stretch.
· With all the talk about the Patriots success on defense
despite all of their injuries, it's time to look at what the Rams
have done despite the injuries they have suffered. Tommy Polley,
Robert Thomas, Ryan Pickett, Adam Archuleta, Jason Sehorn, Travis
Fisher, James Whitley and Kevin Garrett has all missed time with
injuries forcing defensive co-ordinator Lovie Smith to cobble together
his unit almost every week. However, Smith will face his biggest
challenge this week in San Francisco when the team is expected to
be without defensive lineman Leonard Little and Damione Lewis.
· The Steelers had to move Pro Bowl guard Alan Faneca to
left tackle recently because of an injury to Marvel Smith and he
has played well enough there that he will likely stay there for
the remainder of the season. Smith hasn't been able to stay healthy
and wasn't particularly impressive when he was in the line-up. At
this point, the team is looking for stability along an offensive
line that has struggled for most of the season.
· Lions coach Steve Mariucci was quite optimistic his team
could be respectable this season but his recent comments suggest
he's more than a little surprised at his team's inability to compete.
The Lions are a veteran team with a number of players over 30 years
old and the coach is surprised by their lack of consistency.
· The Browns keep waiting for safety Robert Griffiths to
come around but in his second year with the team he continues to
give up big plays and not contribute any himself. With a large salary
in 2004, this is almost certainly his last year with the team.
· There was some concern in Kansas City prior to the season
about whether middle linebacker Mike Maslowski had the speed required
to start in the middle. However, he has performed well and his lack
of blazing speed is more than made up for by outside linebackers
Shawn Barber and Scott Fujita. The team thinks Fujita has Pro Bowl
potential.
· Hard to criticize any of the components of the Ravens successful
rushing attack, but the team thinks they could be even better in
that area if Orlando Brown stepped up his game. The right tackle
seems to be wearing down and he has had more lapses than was anticipated,
although this can't be too much of a surprise to the team considering
the time he was away from the game.
· Jets defensive tackle Josh Evans may be reinstated by the
league from his drug suspension soon but there's no guarantee he
will find a home with the Jets. Defensive tackle is the team's deepest
position and the team will be well over the salary cap in 2004,
so the thinking is they will decide to release Evans if he is reinstated.
· Keeping with the Jets, outside linebacker Mo Lewis is not
expected to play this Sunday against the Giants, with 2nd round
pick Victor Hobson taking over. It's quite possible Lewis has started
his last game for the team.
· With Marques Tuiasosopo at the controls, the Raiders are
hoping to get more balls to the wide receivers and perhaps a few
more rushing yards from the quarterback position. Unspoken by the
team, it was obvious that Rich Gannon had either lost the ability
or desire to run with the ball and he was becoming content dumping
the ball off underneath. Jerry Rice and Tim Brown are definitely
getting up there, but their drop in production has a lot to do with
Gannon.
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