Author: Jamey Codding (Page 3 of 25)

ESPN columnist can (apparently) see the future

Jeffri Chadiha knows Brett Favre better than Favre himself, judging by his latest column, “When games resume, Favre will realize he made wrong decision“.

Chadiha’s point that Favre had a lot of fun this past season while guiding the Packers to the NFC Championship game is well taken. I think most people are shocked that Favre elected to retire on the heels of such a successful season in Green Bay and with another promising season on the horizon. But to call his decision a mistake is arrogant, pretentious and unfair, and comes across as headline hunting more than anything else.

Brett Favre will regret his decision to retire at some point this fall.

He’ll be sitting at his home in Mississippi on a Sunday afternoon, relaxing with his family and he’ll realize what he’s missing, how precious an opportunity he passed on. It might be a simple pang of heartache. It could be a sudden jolt that sparks him to reminisce. But he will surely feel something that will remind him of how big a mistake he made when he finally ended his career as the Green Bay Packers quarterback.

Says who? Some guy sitting behind his computer who apparently has absolutely no idea just how agonizing this decision had to be for Favre? Granted, you don’t play for as long as Favre has and with as much passion as he did to not feel any sadness when you finally walk away, so it’s safe to say that he’s going to miss the game and his teammates and the fans and, perhaps, maybe even the spotlight. But Favre clearly thought the time was right to call it a career.

But apparently Favre should’ve consulted Jeffri Chadiha before making his decision.

Joe Thomas vs. Adrian Peterson?

Adrian Peterson is a stud. No doubt. His magical start to the season rightly had many people thinking back to draft day and wondering if any of the six teams that passed on Peterson would reconsider that decision today.

Well, maybe yesterday, but how about today? Peterson will reportedly miss up to three weeks after tearing a lateral ligament in his right knee Sunday. Fortunately for Peterson and the Vikes, it’s not one of the big ligaments — the ACL, MCL or even PCL — but it’s a huge blow to a Vikings team that hasn’t been able to do anything but run in their first nine games.

It’s also a big loss for the theory that the Cleveland Browns would’ve been better suited taking Peterson over tackle Joe Thomas at #3. Wrote ESPN’s Todd McShay:

Any of the six teams that passed on him originally might take a mulligan to get (Peterson) this time around, but the Browns look like the best fit right now as they could use a little more running to balance the seventh-best passing game (254.5 ypg) in the league.

Well, durability concerns were the primary reason those top six teams in the draft passed on Peterson, including the Browns. And now Peterson is out for several weeks. No, it’s not related to the collarbone injury that affected his draft stock last April, so some will probably blame a fluke occurrence. But that’s the point: injury prone players fall victim to fluke injuries. That’s why they’re injury prone. And Peterson, unfortunately, is injury prone.

It’s probably safe to assume that the Browns are perfectly content with Thomas. Cleveland nearly knocked off the hated Steelers yesterday for the first time in centuries and they’ve got one of the most potent offenses in football. QB Derek Anderson and WR Braylon Edwards get most of the attention, but their prolific passing game operates behind a much improved offensive line. It’s not all Thomas — the signing of G Eric Steinbach has been a big success — but the rookie sure looks like a franchise left tackle. And as many general managers and quarterbacks know, those don’t come along all that often.

Peterson, of course, looks like a franchise running back, but as a reader noted in a previous TSR post, it’s easier to find a great running back than a great tackle. In fact, in many cases, it takes a great tackle to make a great running back. A great running back isn’t going to make a great tackle, though. You need an offensive line to effectively run the football, and you need to run to win. Minnesota planted Peterson behind one of the better offensive lines in football and Peterson exploded. Put Peterson behind a Browns line that doesn’t include Thomas and he doesn’t lead the league in rushing eight games later, and he certainly doesn’t own the record for most rushing yards in a game.

But the most obvious proof that the Browns made the right call is in the numbers. They’re 5-4 and they’re scoring 28.3 points per game with a running back (Jamal Lewis) averaging 64 rushing yards per game. The Vikings, meanwhile, are 3-6 and they’re scoring 18.4 points per game with a running back (Peterson) averaging 120 yards per game.

In other words, Thomas is still the pick at #3.

LeBron hearts the Yankees

LeBron James has never kept his fan loyalty to the Yankees a secret. In fact, LeBron announced to millions of people last weekend while hosting “Saturday Night Live” that he was going to be rooting for the Yankees, even if they drew the Indians in the first round of the playoffs.

Hey, everyone has a right to root for whichever team they want, even professional athletes. To each his own, right? But as a Cleveland sports fan myself, I’m not down with LeBron showing up for Game 1 at the Jake Thursday night wearing a Yankees cap, and then taunting the fans with the hat during the game. That just doesn’t sit right with me, and judging by this message board, it doesn’t sit right with a lot of Cleveland fans.

Cleveland is most definitely a football city, but LeBron is without question the face of Cleveland sports right now…at least until Brady Quinn takes the Browns to the Super Bowl. That doesn’t mean that LeBron has to root for every Cleveland sports franchise, but he crossed the line when he wore a Yankees hat to the game last night. That’d be like David Ortiz donning a Peyton Manning jersey during a Colts/Pats game in New England or, even worse, Tom Brady wearing a Yankees hat to a Sox/Yankees game at Fenway. You just don’t do it.

Yes, athletes are fans too, and they all rooted for other teams before they landed their current gigs. I get that. We all get that. But fans need to feel connected to their superstar players, to feel like they’re rooting for one of their own. LeBron showing off his Yankee pride at the Jake doesn’t have any effect on what he’s going to do on the basketball court this coming season, but it certainly has an effect on the fans’ relationship with him. That’s not to say that he’s going to get booed at The Q, but it creates that much more separation between the fans and the player.

Even worse, it leads to even more uncertainty about LeBron’s future in Cleveland. After all, if he’s not loyal to his hometown baseball team, then how loyal is he going to be to his hometown basketball team when his contract runs out, especially if a big market franchise has the cap room to give him a max deal?

Take note, LeBron: If you’re going to side with the enemy, do it in the comforts of your own home.

Sound off: NFL Divisional Playoffs

Have some thoughts on what’s going to this weekend? The Colts travel to Baltimore, Philly visits New Orleans, the Bears host Seattle and the Patriots head west to face the Chargers.

Bullz-Eye.com’s Anthony Stalter broke down all four games and will follow the playoffs through the Super Bowl on Feb. 4. Let’s hear what you think will happen this weekend.

Stock watch: Carson Palmer

One of the biggest question marks heading into the season is Bengals QB Carson Palmer. If healthy, Palmer probably deserves to be the second QB off the board (behind Peyton Manning, of course), but at the very least his talent makes him a top-three guy, depending on how you view Tom Brady. But Palmer’s postseason knee injury makes his draft prospects a bit tough to gauge. Questions remain about just how healthy he’ll be this season following extensive reconstructive surgery to repair two torn knee ligaments and a dislocated kneecap, and even more doubts surround his ability to take the field week 1 against the Chiefs.

Well, the news that the Bengals have ramped up Palmer’s practice workload is certainly promising for his fantasy owners as well as Bengals fans the world over (yes, we believe there are some outside of Cincinnati):

The move came after Palmer publicly lobbied for more snaps, and privately implored coach Marvin Lewis to give him more work. It also came after a weekend in which Cincinnati coaches and executives huddled with doctors and trainers to review the status of Palmer’s rehabilitation.

The result: Palmer, who took only about 40 percent of the repetitions with the first-unit offense during the opening week of camp, logged roughly 70-80 percent of the Monday practice snaps. That level of activity is expected to continue through this week, unless Palmer has a setback, which is not anticipated.

“He feels like the more snaps he gets, the better he feels,” Lewis said. “We told him to wait until the second week and see how he felt and got through the first week. Now we can begin to ratchet up the snaps. He can get them when he’s on the field. When he’s not out there, [backups Anthony Wright and Doug Johnson)]can go back and kind of split it.”

Of course, this news still doesn’t guarantee that he’ll be ready for the Chiefs September 10, but the chances appear to be improving by the week.

So what does this all mean for Palmer’s fantasy stock? Well, not much, I’d say. He’s still a risky bet as the second or third QB, but it’s a bet that could certainly pay off for whoever decides to roll the dice on him. Personally, I’m not touching Palmer this season unless he really slips, but that has more to do with my own draft strategy than it does with Palmer’s recovery. With so many quality starters available in the middle rounds, nabbing Palmer in the third or fourth isn’t all that appealing to me. But I’m not taking Brady there either, nor would I draft Peyton in the first round.

All of that said, if you’re intent on taking a quarterback early, the odds of Palmer being an elite fantasy QB this season are better today than they were yesterday.

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