Drew Gooden agreed to a three-year deal worth around $23 M after originally seeking something in the neighborhood of the 6-year/$60 M deal that Nene signed with the Nuggets. That Nene deal was not representative of the market, and caused a lot of free agents to inflate their expectations. Many expected Gooden to be in another city by this time, but the stars aligned, and he’ll be back with the Cavs…The Al Harrington deal that will send the forward to the Pacers for draft picks might finally be done, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. I’m not holding my breath…Bonzi Wells is still looking for a home. The latest rumor is that the Kings are talking to the Nuggets about a sign-and-trade. Wells isn’t worth what he’s asking…Isiah Thomas got a good player, but he paid too much when he signed Jared Jeffries to a 5-year/$30 M deal. Jeffries is solid, but he hasn’t shown the offensive ability to be worth $6 M a season.
Month: August 2006 (Page 13 of 16)
Domanick Davis continues to struggle with pain in his knee and it is becoming increasingly clear that he may not be all that effective this season. Antowain Smith is there, but he’s not very explosive. Vernand Morency and Wali Lundy are next in line to start if Davis can’t go. Lundy looked particularly good in the Texans’ first preseason game…Clinton Portis has a separated shoulder, but it’s unclear how much time he’s going to miss. His Antsports’ ADP of 1.04 will surely take a beating until he returns to the field. If Portis is out for any extended time, look for Ladell Betts to be very productive in Al Saunders’ offense…Curtis Martin is still being held out of practice, and it looks more and more that he might be out for the season. The Jets have Cedric Houston, but they’ve been inquiring about the availability of several backs around the league, including Tennessee’s Chris Brown…Mike Shanahan has anointed undrafted rookie Mike Bell as the #1 RB for the time being, moving Ron Dayne to #3 after Tatum Bell. By most accounts, Dayne was having a very good camp, but it appears that Shanahan is impressed by M. Bell, at least for now. Every year, Denver’s running back situation is dicey, so it’s best not to commit a high pick on any of these guys…LenDale White spat in the face of Titans’ safety Donnie Nickey. It’s bad enough to spit at your opponent, but it’s far worse to spit at a teammate you have to play with for an entire season. Maybe White’s personality was the reason he dropped so far in the draft…Philip Rivers went 15 for 21, throwing for 169 yards in the first half in the Chargers’ win over Green Bay. Anyone worried about the effect of the departure of Drew Brees on LaDainian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates has to feel good about Rivers’ performance.
While in training camp, Clinton Portis lobbied hard for less playing time for starters as preseason neared.
Portis didn’t want himself or any other key component to be injured and therefore jeopardize the momentum that the Redskins had built after going to the playoffs last season.
In an unfortunate display of foreshadowing, Portis partially dislocated his left shoulder in a 19-3 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals Monday night.
He took one handoff for eight yards and then blocked for quarterback Mark Brunell. When Keiwan Ratliff intercepted Brunell’s sixth attempt, however, Portis extended his left arm to make a tackle and partially knocked the bone part of the way out the shoulder socket.
“After that 8-yard run, I was like, ‘Get me out of that game,'” Portis said. “That’s what I was thinking. It’s football. It can happen to anyone. It happened to me.”
“For whoever’s watching: Let’s get rid of some of these games,” Portis said. “Four games is ridiculous. Then you play a 16-game season and the playoffs behind that.”
Portis knows that this kind of thing can happen to any player at any time. It’s just unfortunate to have star players like Portis, who rushed for a club-record 1,516-yards last year, go down in just the first preseason game.
So, what does this mean for the Redskins?
Well for one, with no timetable set for Portis to return (at least not yet anyway), Ladell Betts will take over the starting roll. Betts rushed for 338-yards on 89 carries last year and did rush for 92-yards in a game against the 49ers.
Betts isn’t as shifty as Portis in between the tackles, but is a bigger back at 223-pounds and could share the load with special-teams guy Rock Cartwright.
The biggest thing that possibly dooms the Redskins is that they play in the NFC East and there is no room for error in a division that could house multiple playoff teams. However, Washington only plays two division games (at. Dallas Week 2; at. NY Giants Week 5) before their BYE week and that might give Portis enough time to return.
With Washington relying so much on Portis to open things up for Brunell in the passing game, this is going to put a lot of pressure on the Redskins defense to keep them in games. Brunell resurrected his career last year, but he needs a running game now, more than ever and can’t do it on his own.
UPDATE: Coach Joe Gibbs said that Portis will miss the remainder of the preseason, but the goal is to have him back by the season opener if his shoulder recovers from soreness in time for him to rehab.
Although the game meant nothing in the standings, try telling New Orleans’ fans not to get excited over the Saints 19-16 victory over the Tennessee Titans Saturday night.
Former Heisman Trophy winner and second overall pick Reggie Bush rushed for 59-yards on just six carries in the contest. On his second carry of the game, Bush was stuffed for no gain before he bounced outside of a jam of players and raced up the sidelines for a 44-yard gain.
The play raised excitement for a city that suffered through such despair last year in the disaster that was Hurricane Katrina. For just the 15 seconds that the play lasted, it gave the Saints a chance to breathe excitement back into a city that used to pride itself on it.
On the flip side of the rookie showcase that was held in Nashville, TN, Titans quarterback Vince Young also showed signs of why he was drafted in the top five of April’s NFL draft, but also displayed momments that he has a long way to go.
Young, the No. 3 pick overall, showed off his strong arm by throwing a pass 50 yards in the air into the hands of Roydell Williams — who couldn’t hold on. He was 4-of-11 for 56 yards and ran four times for 28 yards.
The star out of Texas also failed to throw away the ball as he scrambled right looking for a receiver and ran out of bounds for a 6-yard loss in the fourth quarter for one of two sacks.
One of the other highlights of the night came when Tennessee’s mascot “T-Rac” slammed into Saints backup quarterback Adrian McPherson with a golf cart when the player was coming out of the tunnel for the second half.
The incident bruised and injured McPherson bad enough where he couldn’t even participate in the game.
Personally, I blame this on McPherson, who alleged once threw a game against N.C. State while he was a player at FSU to apparently pay off gambling debts.
Maybe “T-Rac” had some coin on the Seminoles that day and just wanted a little payback.
As the NFL Preseason is set to open its first full week of games, I’d like to dive into a question that always circles the media wagon this time of year:
Does anyone care about the preseason in the NFL?
I for one, love it.
As a football fan, preseason action signifies that the long wait for another NFL season is almost over. Basketball, baseball and hockey are great sports to play and watch, but there is something about football that beats them all.
Maybe it’s the shorter schedule, fantasy football or the anticipation of that next game starting after a win or loss that gets me, but the game of football being back in the air is just plain exciting.
To me, watching a preseason game is just as good or bad as watching Texas play North Texas in one of two powder-puff games usually found on a Division I’s schedule.
Of course don’t get me wrong, the atmosphere at a college game that means something would crush a meaningless preseason game any day, but we’re talking about viewing games on television.
Preseason football signifies a new beginning where every team is still in the Super Bowl hunt and you get to see what’s been happening in training camp for the past couple of weeks.
Sure, the competition is weak, but it still gives you a chance to catch the rookies and free agent acquisitions in action. I know it can be really long and repetitive, but coaches have said year in and year out that four games is the perfect amount of time to evaluate their roster and make decisions on who they keep and who they cut.
Hey, a night of football, any football, is better than watching whatever lame reality television show is being aired for the third time this week any day.
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