Category: External Sports (Page 91 of 821)

      Lions lose Leshoure for season, Browns’ Massaquoi out “indefinitely”

      August 8, 2011 /
      Cleveland Browns receiver Mohamed Massaquoi celebrates after scoring a touchdown in the fourth quarter of the Browns NFL football game against the New York Jets in Cleveland, Ohio November 14, 2010. REUTERS/Aaron Josefczyk (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT FOOTBALL)

      The season hasn’t even started yet and already Lions and Browns fans have reason to be miserable.

      The Lions got crushing news on Monday when it was revealed that rookie running back Mikel Leshoure is out for the season after he tore his Achilles’ tendon in practice. The second-round pick was supposed to be the power to Jahvid Best’s speed in Detroit’s rushing game this season, but now he’s faced with a full year of rehab instead.

      It’s a bad break for a Lions team that is being viewed as a potential sleeper playoff candidate. Even with a healthy Leshoure, I think the playoffs might be out of Detroit’s grasp this season but an 8-8 record certainly isn’t. This is a young team that is being built correctly by GM Martin Mayhew and it’s going to take time before it all comes together. Losing Leshoure hurts, but this season is still all about guys like Best, Matthew Stafford and first-round pick Nick Fairley maturing.

      The Browns got a bit of bad injury news themselves when head coach Pat Shurmur revealed that wideout Mohamed Massaquoi has a “bone issue” in his injured left ankle. Apparently no one is sure when it happened and the third-year receiver is now out indefinitely, but team president Mike Holmgren said Massaquoi won’t need surgery and that he could return to practice as soon as next week.

      Massaquoi didn’t exactly set the league on fire with his play over the first two years of his career, but the Browns were expecting him to emerge as Colt McCoy’s top target this season. With Massaquoi out, second-round pick Greg Little should see first-team reps this week in practice. That’s probably a good thing considering the reports on Little so far haven’t been good. Apparently the young man has been doing his best Braylon Edwards impersonation and dropping everything in sight.

      External Sports, NFL

      Michigan’s Denard Robinson dilemma

      August 7, 2011 /
      Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson (16) runs the ball by Ohio State defender Johnathan Hankins (52) during the second quarter of their NCAA college football game in Columbus, Ohio, November 27, 2010. REUTERS/Jeff Haynes (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT FOOTBALL)

      Michigan’s new head coach, Brady Hoke, is facing a difficult dilemma. On the one hand, he needs to bring Michigan back to playing Michigan football after the disastrous RichRod experiment. That means moving back to a pro style offense and moving from the absurd 3-3-5 defense that stopped nobody in the Big Ten back to a traditional 4-3. Michigan needs to get bigger, and Hoke has started that process with his 2011 recruiting class.

      Yet with respect to the offense, Hoke also has Denard Robinson, one of the most explosive college football players we’ve seen in years. He was perfect for RichRod’s offense, even though that offense and Robinson sputtered against better defenses. It was an all-or-nothing proposition, and naturally Hoke is anxious to move on.

      So how does he use Denard Robinson going forward? Hoke says “We’re smart enough to have elements he does well from what he did in the past in our offense.” But he plans on using Robinson as the quarterback in his pro style offense, which will have Robinson taking snaps under center instead of the shotgun and relying on play action.

      I’m skeptical this can work. Sure, he’ll still unleash Robinson at times, and I suspect they might use the option play, but Robinson’s effectiveness will likely suffer dramatically under this system.

      Robinson made big plays in the passing game last year, but that was because he found wide-open receivers when defenses tried in vain to slow down his running game. This year he won’t have that luxury. I don’t see Robinson consistently making the tough throws demanded in a pro style offense. He’s also very short and that will limit him as well.

      We’ll see how this experiment plays out, but I suspect that Hoke will regret taking Robinson out of his element.

      A better option might be to have a traditional quarterback run Hoke’s new offense, and keep a version of RichRod’s system around for Robinson to run as a Wildcat formation. He could also use Robinson as a Slash-type weapon in the traditional offense.

      Right now their odds of winning the Big Ten are set at 15/1, so few are expecting a breakout year.

      With this transition and the drama surrounding the Big Ten this year with the addition of Nebraska and the troubles at Ohio State, Michigan should be one of the more intriguing stories of 2011.

      College Football, External Sports

      The history of the West Coast offense

      August 7, 2011 /

      Now that Mike Holmgren has his own man in Cleveland with Pat Shurmer, Browns fans are learning more about an offense that has its roots with Paul Brown and the Browns back in their glory days.

      Tony Grossi traces the history of the offense in today’s Plain Dealer, starting with Paul Brown, then to Bill Walsh who joined him in Cincinnati and then on to Holmgren and other like Andy Reid. The “West Coast” nickname was originally coined by Bill Parcels.

      It’s a great read for anyone who appreciates football schemes and how they evolve through the years. The bottom line for Browns fans is they have a quarterback in Colt McCoy who has the potential to flourish in this system. That said, the West Coast offense relies heavily on timing, so expect some growing pains as the Browns try to install a new system in a year without any off-season prep. I suspect the Browns and other teams installing new systems with play their starters much more in the pre-season.

      External Sports, NFL

      « Older posts Newer posts »

      © 2026 The Scores Report – The National Sports Blog

      Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑