Category: NFL (Page 361 of 1282)
Merry training camp season, everyone. It’s been a long offseason, but football is finally gearing up again and to celebrate I’m rolling out a new series on TSR entitled “2010 NFL Question Marks,” where I discuss one or two of the biggest concerns that teams have heading into the new season. Granted, some teams have more issues than others, but I’ll primarily be focusing on the biggest problem areas. Today I’ll be discussing the Vikings’ secondary concerns.
There’s growing sentiment that the offensive line is the Vikings’ biggest question mark heading into the 2010 season and for good reason. Neither Steve Hutchinson nor Bryant McKinnie played well last year and some pundits believe that Phil Loadholt looks the part, but has a long way to go to be consistently productive.
But keep in mind that Hutchinson has dealt with back issues for the last couple of years and also had a shoulder injury that limited him last season. McKinnie had his own injury concerns (he played with plantar fasciitis for most of the year) and that was only Loadholt’s first year. Considering the Vikings added two new starters to the O-line, it makes sense that they struggled a bit – especially in run blocking.
Hutchinson and McKinnie are reportedly healthy and if both Loadholt and center John Sullivan make strides in their development, the offensive line should be fine. Their secondary on the other hand…
It seems like the Vikings have had the same issues in their secondary for about a decade now. Even in 1998 when they went 15-1 and lost in the NFC Championship Game their biggest weakness was arguably their secondary and despite their best efforts over the years, they can never seem to get the right mix of players back there.
Whether it was his intentions or not, Ken Whisenhunt just started a storm of epic proportions in Arizona.
Whisenhunt made the announcement Thursday that Derek Anderson – not former first round pick Matt Leinart – would start in the Cardinals’ third preseason game on Saturday. Leinart of course, was being viewed as Kurt Warner’s replacement and has taken first-team reps throughout the entire offseason.
Now rumors have started to circulate that the Cards are ready to give up on Leinart and may even try to trade him before the season starts.
On Friday, Leinart lashed out and expressed his frustration with the situation.
“It is disappointing and a little bit frustrating. I can’t sit up here and say I’m happy and all smiles,” said Leinart. “If it is an open competition, then let’s have it that way from the start.”
Leinart has a point. Although he has done nothing in preseason to warrant being the regular season starter, he has also been given fewer opportunities to shine. He has attempted just 13 passes thus far (compared to Anderson’s 41) and while he has yet to throw a touchdown pass or move the ball with any regularity, Anderson has thrown two picks and has a worse completion percentage (58.5% to Leinart’s 76.9%).
I haven’t done a Google search yet, but I can only imagine how many, “Should Sam Bradford start Week 1?” topics are floating around the web after the rookie’s performance in the Rams’ 36-35 win over the Patriots in Foxboro last night.
The third preseason game is when starters usually play an entire half and maybe even some of the third quarter. So for Bradford to look as poised and as comfortable as he did completing 15 of 22 passes for 189 yards and two touchdowns against New England’s starting defense was impressive. Whether or not he gets the opportunity to start as a rookie is a hot topic right now – as it should be.
But the biggest takeaway for me last night wasn’t the play of Bradford, but how poor the Patriots’ first-team defense looked.
A report by Newsday’s Bob Glauber has me a little confused.
According to Glauber (or at least Newsday’s headline), the Bengals are “ready to release Antonio Bryant.” Glauber writes that there is “plenty of speculation” that the Bengals are ready to cut bait on Bryant, who has been limited to just one training camp practice because of knee problems.
The idea makes sense if Bryant was playing on a cheap one-year deal, but he’s not. He signed a four-year, $28 million contract in March, which included $8.25 million in guaranteed money. They’ve already paid him $7 million thus far, so why wouldn’t they see if Bryant’s knee could hold up at the start of the season? It’s not like they need the roster space at the moment, seeing as how they only need to cut five more players by August 31 to meet the NFL’s roster guidelines.
The only way this makes sense is if the Bengals were convinced that Bryant wouldn’t be healthy enough to play this season. But even then, they could place him on IR, use the roster spot for a healthy receiver and then hope Bryant is healthy heading into next year. I don’t see how coming to terms on an injury settlement helps the Bengals at this moment, unless Bryant is walking around Cincinnati tipping over garbage cans and punching babies and the team just wants to get rid of him.
Considering he worked out on Wednesday, it would make sense for the Bengals to take a wait-and-see approach when it comes to Bryant’s health. There’s no reason to eat $7 million and not at least see if he will be healthy enough to suit up at some point this season.
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