Cancer survivor Mark Herzlich made the final 53-man roster for the New York Giants. You can follow his progress on Twitter.
Category: NFL (Page 105 of 1282)
The Rams make an easy choice for NFC West champions this year, don’t they? They’re like the Almond Joy in a candy bowl that’s also hosting Tootsie Rolls, Spice Drops, and those black and orange-wrapped pieces of awfulness that people hand out at Halloween.
Coconut? Yeah, I can deal with coconut.
But while most media members are predicting the Rams to win their division this year, I actually envision them taking a step back. In fact, I think 8-8 would be quite an accomplishment for a team that is definitely on the rise but has some major hurdles to overcome to make the postseason.
Have you checked out the Rams’ schedule this year? It’s freaking brutal. They open up at home against everyone’s chic pick the Eagles before heading to New York to play the Giants in Week 2. They come back to St. Louis for two home games and while one of those contests is a Week 4 matchup with the Redskins, the other is a Week 3 tilt against the Ravens.
After they come back from their BYE in Week 5, the Rams travel to Green Bay and Dallas before hosting the Saints in Week 8. So in six of their first seven games they play the entire NFC East, the defending Super Bowl champions, and the team that won it all in 2009 and might be poised to do it again in 2011.
Thanks, schedule makers!
Another problem, of course, is the dreaded sophomore jinx for Sam Bradford. In all honesty, I think it’s foolish to believe that all young players are destined for failure in their second seasons, as if life always warns us when we’re about to fall on hard times. But while the jinx itself is a rather juvenile way of looking at the situation, there is something to a quarterback struggling in his second year. The playbook expands, responsibility grows, and now defensive coordinators have 16 or so games to dissect your weaknesses. It’s not a jinx – it’s maturation.
Bradford had an impressive rookie campaign and I do believe he’ll only get better. But I’m willing to bet he’ll suffer through different kinds of hurdles than he did as a rookie, especially seeing as how he must learn a new offensive system under Josh McDaniels and as expectations continue to rise. (Keep in mind that this is a team that many people believe is a playoff contender, circumstances like a weak division be damned.)
There are plenty of reasons why some observers have fallen in love with the Rams. The spotlight is on Bradford, but this team has also built an impressive-looking defensive line and acquired one of the most productive safeties in the NFL this offseason in Quintin Mikell. The Rams vastly upgraded the right guard position with the signing of free agent Harvey Dahl (who replaces the highly ineffective Adam Goldberg), and gave Bradford another weapon in Mike Sims-Walker.
But the schedule stinks, Bradford will suffer more growing pains in his second year and it’ll be interesting to see how long Steven Jackson continues to rumble on as the Rams wear him down to the treads. Outside linebacker, depth in the secondary, and uncertainty at the wide receiver position are three other causes for concern heading into the season.
So who will win the West? My guess would be the Cardinals, although I don’t write that with much conviction. I just have a hunch it won’t be Bradford and the Rams.
He’s been AWOL through most of camp, and the peanut gallery has been getting restless, but Albert Haynesworth got some good reviews from Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald for his play in the final preseason game for the Pats.
But after a training camp riddled with missed practices — he didn’t participate for 19 straight days at one point, apparent maintenance for a bad knee — and a court appearance thrown in for good measure, you had to wonder if he ever would make it on the field.
Last night’s glimpse of No. 92 certainly was promising. The very first play, Haynesworth burst out of his stance and made a strong interior rush, thrusting guard Chris White back into quarterback David Carr. Haynesworth slapped White a few times for good measure, as if to let him know he would be coming back to torture him some more.
“Hell, I wanted to get a sack,” Haynesworth said of that first play, on which Patrick Chung then recovered a fumble. “David Carr always gives me a sack. I always like David Carr. That’s what I was looking at . . . a sack.”
From there on out, Haynesworth pretty much played every other defensive series in the first half. His next series in, he showed even more of what he can bring to the table, making two tackles. Both times, the crowd let out huge cheers when his name was called.
Haynesworth’s second tackle showed his incredible athleticism. He tore by his blocker, quickly cut across the line and nabbed Andre Brown from behind. Granted, the Pats’ starters played against the Giants’ second unit, but just having Haynesworth engaged, forcing his will, being mean and menacing, was an encouraging first sign.
Haynesworth continues to talk about how happy he is in New England. He also discusses the d-line rotation and how he’s expected to go full speed on all plays and then signal when he needs a breather. Bill Belichick and the Pats seem to have figured out how to manage spoiled players like Haynesworth. Let’s see if it carries over to the regular season.
Pre-season predictions are rather silly, aren’t they? I mean really, we haven’t seen any of these teams play and yet we’re all ready to predict who will appear in the Super Bowl. Ridiculous. Just ridiculous, I say.
But damn it they’re fun. You can’t deny that. If we as fans don’t partake in a little pre-season shenanigans then I ask you, what are we doing with our lives?
My regular season and Super Bowl predictions won’t be released until next week, but here’s a little something to whet your appetite in the meantime.
Ten Predictions for the 2011 NFL Season:
1. The Eagles won’t win the Super Bowl.
I’m not a big believer in Michael Vick. I used to be. I used to believe that he could walk on water and was going to lead the Falcons to not one, but about 16 Super Bowls when he was in Atlanta. Then I realized the guy was completely fine with not putting in the work to raise his game to the next level. I realize he was complacent and was fine with being an extraordinary athlete but not a championship-caliber quarterback. I don’t know Michael Vick personally so maybe I have him all wrong. And maybe he really has grown as a player and a person in Philadelphia. Hey, Andy Reid is 10-times the coach Jim Mora was, so maybe all Vick needed was better guidance. That said, I don’t think Vick will win a Super Bowl this season with the Eagles. He’s never done well when the expectations were high and if you want proof of that, look at his 2005 and 2006 seasons in Atlanta. (Pundits were more than willing to hitch their wagon to Vick back then, just as they are now.) There were no expectations for him at the start of last season because it was Kevin Kolb’s team. But now it’s his team and I don’t think he’ll see the Eagles through to the end. This prediction may look foolish for most of the regular season, but let’s see what happens come January and February.
There has been a whirlwind of reports to come over the last two days regarding Chris Johnson’s contract status, so let’s get caught up on the latest.
– Yahoo’s Jason Cole reported Tuesday that the Titans and Johnson are still $10 million apart on guaranteed money. Cole says that Johnson wants $30 million guaranteed and $12 million per season as a base, but the Titans apparently believe the deal should contain $20 million in guarantees and $8 million a year.
– The NFL Network’s Jason La Canfora says he “wouldn’t be shocked” if Johnson and the Titans had a “breakthrough” in their discussions by this weekend. While he did say that nothing was certain, La Canfora believes that a new deal could be done in time to have Johnson play in Week 1.
– While appearing on NFL Network’s Total Access, Michael Lombardi said that the Titans are “ready to make an offer” that will get Johnson to report to practice. He also said that the team is ready to open up “the bank vault” in order to pay him. Just like La Canfora, Lombardi seems to think that a new deal could be expected by this weekend.
– The Nashville Tennessean’s Jim Wyatt writes that both sides want to get a deal worked out now but “nothing has changed” regarding Johnson’s contract situation. Rotoworld.com seems to think that Wyatt “got word” from the Titans management in attempts for the team to regain leverage following Lombardi’s report.
It seems to me that the truth lies somewhere between La Canforna and Lombardi’s optimism and Cole and Wyatt’s rationalism. I get the sense that a deal could be struck this weekend but the two sides are still further apart than people realize.
Whatever. None of this is important. The only thing that matters is that Johnson’s ass is in uniform Week 1 so that I can look like a genius for drafting him in the second round of one of my fantasy leagues. I mean really, let’s cut the crap and get down to what truly matters here.
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