Category: NFL (Page 377 of 1282)

      Fleming: NFL training camps need go

      August 7, 2010 /
      ENGLEWOOD, CO - AUGUST 05: An array of equipment is at the ready during training camp at Dove Valley on August 5, 2010 in Englewood, Colorado. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

      ESPN.com’s David Fleming wrote an interesting piece recently, outlining 12 reasons why NFL training camps should go.

      Here are a couple of his points:

      1. The Colts are the winningest team during the past decade, right? After all that preparation in camp, they’ve had one winning preseason in the past seven years.

      2. Inside their enormous, spotless weight room on the first floor of Reliant Stadium last summer the Houston Texans used a giant board to keep track of every single offseason workout by every single member of the team. By the time the season started the board was completely filled. That would be 100 percent participation. Remarkable. Here’s how that translated onto the field: The Texans started 2-3 and missed the playoffs for the eighth year in a row.

      3. I’m sorry to break this to you, but in pro sports, chemistry is a myth. If you could build chemistry through suffering then the Raiders would be the tightest group in the history of the NFL. Winning builds chemistry, not the other way around.

      4. At 40, Brett Favre skipped training camp altogether and he ended up having his best season ever, throwing for 4,202 yards and 33 TDs (against just seven picks) with a completion percentage of 68.4 and a passer rating of 107.2.

      You can read the rest of Fleming’s 12 reasons here.

      Fleming brings up several valid points, although I’ll point out that teams need training camp to install new schemes and get rookies up to speed as much as possible before the season starts. Many teams start slow over the first couple weeks of the season because players are still trying to get into the swing of things. So could you imagine how long it would take for players to be at full go without training camp? We wouldn’t see good football for eight weeks.

      That said, Fleming’s point about the amount of time players spend in training camp and how it translates to wins and losses is just. In the end, talent and execution will always win out – not how many practice sessions Player X got under his belt in August. It would be nice if teams and fans didn’t have to hold their breath hoping that no starter gets injured during camp, too.

      External Sports, NFL

      Goodell may reduce Big Ben’s suspension to four games — how would this impact his fantasy value?

      August 7, 2010 /
      31 July 2010 - Latrobe, Pennsylvania - Pittsburgh Steelers Quarterback BEN ROETHLISBERGER ( ) signs autographs and jokes with fans during the first practice of the 2010 Pittsburgh Steelers Training Camp held at Saint Vincent College. Photo Credit: Jason L Nelson/AdMedia

      Per the USA Today:

      The only sure thing is that Roethlisberger will sit out at least the four games. However, the commish likes the way the quarterback has reacted to the suspension. (Click here for Steelers’ schedule)

      “He is doing great,” Goodell said. “… I’ve been encouraged by what I have seen. He’s understanding the seriousness of the issue. I think that’s a very positive development.”

      For those fantasy owners who made it through my rather extensive QBBC article (or at least read the parts printed in bold), Roethlisberger is an interesting middle- to late-round pick this year. He’s usually underrated because the Steelers are still perceived to be a running team when in recent years they have been far more willing to throw the ball. And now this suspension has depressed his value even further.

      But it looks like the commissioner may reduce his suspension from six games to four, and if he does, it would only serve to enhance Roethlisberger’s already appealing fantasy value.

      As outlined in the aforementioned QBBC article, Roethlisberger forms a nice platoon with both Eli Manning and Matt Ryan (and, by the way, Joe Flacco). If Goodell reduces his suspension to four games, it means that he would return in Week 6 after the Steelers’ bye. That matchup is against the Browns, and it’s a tasty matchup indeed. In fact, it’s better than any of the matchups of the other QBs in play. The question is, would you want to start him in his first start of the season? Wouldn’t he be rusty?

      That’s your call, but I wouldn’t be afraid to start him, not if he’s facing the Browns after he’s had two weeks to take all the snaps in practice. It wouldn’t be that much different than the first game of the season.

      The downside of the lowered suspension is that his average draft position is probably going to rise. Still, only the savvy owners are going to jump on a guy that is going to miss four games; In recent years, Brandon Marshall and Steve Smith both went about two rounds later than they should have because they were facing suspensions. Generally speaking, Big Ben is an undervalued 7th or 8th round QB, which means he’ll likely go in the 9th or the 10th.

      External Sports, Fantasy Football, News, NFL, Rumors & Gossip

      Elvis Dumervil’s injury, Darrelle Revis’ holdout and the New York Jets

      August 6, 2010 /
      NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 16: New York Jets Darrelle Revis poses for a portrait on March 16, 2010 in New York, New York. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

      I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when Jets’ GM Mike Tannenbaum and owner Woody Johnson saw the news that Broncos’ linebacker Elvis Dumervil suffered a torn pectoral muscle yesterday.

      The conversation probably went something like this:

      “We’re f*&%ed with Darrelle Revis, Woody!”

      “Now, now – maybe he didn’t hear about this, Mike.”

      “It’s all over the f*#&ing news, Woody! Get your head out of your a$$!”

      Dumervil led the league in sacks last year while emerging as the Broncos’ best pass-rusher. He also had just signed a lucrative six-year, $61.5 million contract just three weeks before suffering the injury. Now he’s likely to miss the entire season and Denver is up a creek without a paddle in terms of his contract. (Even if the injury keeps him out of football this year, the Broncos still have to pay him.)

      One could only imagine that the injury reinforced to Revis the need for him to continue to holdout. He already has former Jet Leon Washington in his ear about what could happen if he plays on a one-year contract, and now Dumervil’s injury serves as yet another reminder to 1) get paid and then 2) play.

      The Jets want Revis to either play on a restructured one-year deal or sign a long-term agreement that will pay him slightly less annually than the Raiders are paying Nnamdi Asomugha. But Revis wants neither – especially not the former. Had Dumervil not signed the six-year agreement before suffering the injury, there’s no way the Broncos would have paid him after he tore the muscle. He would have probably had to produce another double-digit sack season just to justify a long-term deal because all of the leverage he got from his performance last year would have flown out the window.

      If the Jets were hoping that Revis would blink first, they may be waiting a long time in light of Dumervil’s injury. It might be time for Johnson and Tannenbaum to pay Revis what he wants and call it a day.

      External Sports, NFL

      Bill Simmons tries to improve fantasy football

      August 6, 2010 /
      NEW YORK - APRIL 24: Writer Bill Simmons speaks at the panel and screening of 'Beyond Playing The Field' during the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival at the School of Visual Arts Theater on April 24, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Rob Loud/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival)

      Simmons thinks he can fix all things sports, and is lobbying President Obama for the position of Sports Minister. This week, he’s intent on fixing fantasy football, which in my estimation, doesn’t need a whole lot of fixing. Anyway, his six suggestions are:

      1. Everyone agrees on a Universal Fantasy System
      Not a bad idea, but it’s impossible to get everyone that plays a sport/game with no oversight to agree on a set of rules. Simmons thinks he should be the guy who decides the rules. Okay…can I be the guy who decides what everyone drinks at a bar?

      2. Everyone switches to an auction format
      I love fantasy auctions and so would you if you got off your butt and tried one someday. They are more fun and more fair than the snake draft, but the snake draft is far simpler. As FF continues to go more mainstream, simple is going to win out. It’s sad, but true.

      Continue reading »

      External Sports, Fantasy Football, Humor, NFL

      Rex Ryan sees Super Bowl for Jets in his “crystal ball”

      August 6, 2010 /
      New York Jets new head coach Rex Ryan waits to speak to the media at a press conference in Florham Park, New Jersey on January 21, 2009. (UPI Photo/John Angelillo) Photo via Newscom Photo via Newscom

      Rex Ryan is really hyping this Jets-Super Bowl talk this offseason.

      From ESPN.com:

      Asked Friday why he signed Adam Schefter’s training camp bus, “Soon to be champs,” the Jets coach said why not? That’s his belief and he doesn’t mind repeating himself.

      “The first step is, if you don’t believe it yourself your team darn sure won’t,” Ryan said. “Again I’m not apologizing I just know what’s going to happen. My crystal ball I’m seeing a Super Bowl trophy in there. I could be wrong but that’s what I see.”

      “That’s what I’m saying. That’s our mentality, that’s our goal and I’ve got confidence to put it up there. I believe we’ll do it so why wouldn’t we say it, why wouldn’t we go for it?”

      I like Rex Ryan, although I can also see how he rubs some people the wrong way. He’s brash and confident and many people don’t like that, but one thing you have to give him credit for is that he doesn’t back down from saying what he believes.

      That said, he better hope that his best defender gets into camp and that his second year quarterback progresses or else the Jets will be watching the Super Bowl at home again this year. That’s not meant to be a knock on them or Ryan, but the reality is that this team needs Darrelle Revis and won’t take the next step until Mark Sanchez can win a game or two on his own.

      Remember, Ryan isn’t talking putting together a winning season or winning another playoff game or two. He’s talking about the Super Bowl and the Jets won’t get there without Revis and unless they can take the training wheels off Sanchez’s game.

      External Sports, NFL

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