Category: NFL

It’s Jake At Eight

by A.J. Coltrane

The Tennesse Titans traded up to draft Jake Locker with the 8th pick in the 2011 NFL draft. Locker was the second quarterback selected, much to the surprise of about everybody. To some degree this is Tennesse pushing the “reset button” on the Vince Young pick. Locker and Young both had mid-4.5 second speed in the 40 yard dash and are all-around great athletes. Young possesses the bigger body, the bigger arm, loopy mechanics, and a loopy head.

This should be a great fit for both Locker and the Titans. Mike Munchak is the Titans new coach. Munchak is a former offensive linemen. If the Titans maintain their run-oriented philosophy it will take some of the pressure off of the quarterback position — Jake will be able to sit and learn behind Kerry Collins, taking over either late this year or early next year.

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James Carpenter

The Seahawks drafted Offensive Guard/Tackle James Carpenter of Alabama in round one. (The link is to a Seattle Times piece by Jerry Brewer. Brewer is *very* skeptical of the pick.) I think the pick is solid — Carpenter played Left Tackle at Alabama and was the #2 rated Guard in the draft, and the #6 Tackle — if Carpenter doesn’t work out at Tackle he can be moved inside to Guard and team up with Russell Okung on the left side. This would echo the Walter Jones/Steve Hutchinson line of the Super Bowl Seahawks.

Here’s the CBS.sports draft profile for the 6’4″, 325 lb, Carpenter:

All-SEC for both of his years starting at left tackle, Carpenter was a pivotal part of the offensive success the Tide had during the past two seasons. He might lack the quickness the NFL looks for on the blind side, but likely is athletic enough for right tackle and also projects well inside at guard. A steady, durable and reliable performer, don’t be surprised if Carpenter ends up as a quality starter somewhere in the NFL.
Positives:  Impressive athlete. Excellent technique, decent knee bend and good hand placement. Can sink hips and generate power. Slides feet and extends arms well in pass protection. Has power in hands and can move defenders. Can run and hit second-level targets. Good ability to anchor, seal, trap and pull. Well-schooled in an NFL-style offense. Tough and durable, never missing a start.

Negatives:  Lacks the elite foot quickness needed for the NFL left tackle position. Somewhat stiff in hips and hence doesn’t change directions well. Frame is good except legs are a bit long. Vulnerable to double moves, especially inside. Pass protection set is somewhat high. Can be late off snap, mostly with a lot of crowd noise. Dives too much.

Mel Kiper has projected the Seahawks will take head-case QB Ryan Mallet in the 2nd round. My suspicion is that Mallet may be the second coming of Ryan Leaf or Jeff George. If the draft plays out that way I’m not going to be too excited. I still think Charlie Whitehurst needs more of an opportunity to show he can play, or not play.

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The Browns traded out of the number six pick, effectively passing on Alabama WR Julio Jones. I like Jones a lot, I think he may prove to be the best WR in the draft. I think Colt McCoy was probably a little bummed about that development. Instead the Browns took massive Defensive Tackle Phil Taylor. Taylor supposedly has some issues with his work rate. The Browns need the help on the defensive line, but I’m still not enamored with the pick.

Late edit, Wow! Look what Cleveland got for trading out of the #6 slot! It’s two #1’s, one #2, and two #4’s:

To make the move, the Browns acquired Atlanta’s No. 27 overall pick and second- and fourth-round picks this year, in addition to Atlanta’s first- and fourth-round picks in 2012.

Cleveland fans should be ecstatic with that!

Cleveland Browns Fan To Sue NFL

By Blaidd Drwg

I saw on ESPN that a Cleveland Browns fan is suing the team and the NFL for breach of contract for his personal seat license.

The heart of the lawsuit is this:

Lanci claimed that the lockout denies him the right under the personal seat licenses to go to Browns games and has destroyed the value of the seat-license agreement.

Hey guys. Does Cleveland still rock?

A couple of questions:
1) With the level of futility that the Browns have displayed since their return to the NFL, do they have anyone willing to admit they are still, in fact, a Browns fan?
2) Wouldn’t the value of the seat-license agreement have been further destroyed if the team actually PLAYED another full NFL season?

I know a Browns season ticket holder and they are a die-hard fan. I think they would agree the team being awful has hurt the value of the seats more then the lockout ever would. People in Cleveland wouldn’t go to games toward the end of last year because the team was so bad, would they even notice a lockout?

Madden ’12

By Blaidd Drwg

EA Sports, in conjunction with ESPN is letting the fans pick the cover of Madden ’12. Each team has one player listed and the voting is taking place in a bracket format. There are some guys on there who you would expect and some really questionable selections. I have no idea what criteria they used to pick the players, but here are the selection that make me scratch my head:

Pats: Danny Woodhead. Seriously? On a team with Wes Welker and Tom Brady, you pick the RB who had 4 good games in his career and will probably disappear quicker than he appeared? Heck, Bill Belichek would have been a better selection than Woodhead.

This guy might grace the cover of Madden '12. Seriously.

Broncos: Tim Tebow. Yes, he has the pedigree but he started 3 games, completed 50% of his passes and looks like he will have a better NFL career as a RB than a QB (hint to Jack Locker). Granted, the only other guy I could name on the Broncos is Brandon Lloyd, but still, Tebow? Don’t see it.

Panthers: Jordan Gross. Raise your hand if you have any idea who Jordan Gross is. I had to look him up – he is a right tackle. You know you are in trouble when you are resorting to an offensive lineman as your Madden cover choice. The Panthers are bad, but why not Charles Johnson, Steve Smith, or the sentimental favorite, 41 year old kicker John Kasay.

I say, we start an online campaign to get Jordan Gross on the cover, you know, just because.

Dolphins: Jake Long. Another O-Lineman? Really? Why? Could it get any worse than this? YES:

Seahawks: The 12th Man. WTF? They couldn’t even pick a player? I know that the Seahawks don’t exactly have household names on the roster, but how unimaginative is this? You might as well put me on the cover at that point.

Given the Madden Curse, I think this is going to turn into a screw your rival process where a good number of fans are going to vote for the guy on their rivals team or vote against their own favorite player. Besides, if by some miracle the 12th man ended up on the cover of Madden, does that mean that every Seahawks fan would end up injured in some bizarre way causing them to miss the rest of the season?

Strat-O-Matic

by A.J. Coltrane

Fun piece about the history of Strat-O-Matic here.

My 1979 math teacher introduced our class to Strat-O-Matic, I think using the flimsy math underpinnings of the game as justification.

If only Griese had *this* good of a season!

My 1979 Strat-O-Matic football team:

Quarterback- Bob Griese

Running Back- Archie Griffin

Full Back- Horace King

Tight End- Henry Childs

Split End- Alfred Jenkins

Flanker- Lynn Swann  (or maybe he was the Split End, and Jenkins was the Flanker)

Special Teams- Raiders (Featuring Ray Guy)

Defense- Patriots

The teacher suggested we draft a quarterback first, followed by defense.  I went along with the suggestion, as I think most of the kids did.  Drafting at the end of the first round left me a 34 year-old Bob Griese at quarterback.  I then drafted the defense — New England was absolutely league average, but was the best available.  I then drafted all of my pass-catchers,  followed by snapping up punter extraordinaire Ray Guy.

Q:  What was I missing?  A:  Any semblance of a running game.  Archie Griffin was a two-time Heisman trophy winner who never exceeded 700 yards in his seven year pro career.  This was a bad thing, since a big part of Strat-O-Matic football was (and is) correctly guessing whether your opponent intends to run or pass on the next play.

For my passing game though — I had a decrepit dink and dunk quarterback throwing to a trio of deep threat wide receivers:

Lynn Swann:  19.7 yards per catch, good for 4th in the NFL.

Alfred Jenkins:  17.2 yards per catch.  (20th)

Henry Childs:  16.6 yards per catch.  (As a Tight End(!), 27th in the league.)

Swann was a couple of years removed from the Pro Bowl.  Jenkins would be a Pro Bowler the following two seasons.  It was Childs’ lone Pro Bowl season.

What’d all that add up to?  Old QB + No RBs + Great WRs + Average Defense = a 5-4-1 record.  I made it into the playoffs as a Wild Card and lost in the NFC Championship game by throwing the ball all over the place.

My buddy won the league in part because he had the Steel Curtain defense and an actual running game.  It didn’t hurt that I traded (read: gave) him Lynn Swann right before the Super Bowl — I’d just used Swann to terrorize his opponent in the previous game, I’d gotten behind early and spent most of the game throwing bombs to Swann.

The cool part was that the teacher gave my buddy the cards after the season, as a prize for winning the Super Bowl.  Good times.

Super Blowouts

by A.J. Coltrane

Maybe they’re not all blowouts, at least not lately.  Left axis is the percentage of each victory margin, bottom axis is decade :

There were five blowouts in a row in the 80’s, and three out of four Superbowls of the 1960’s were blowouts too.

It was this column that got me thinking about Super Bowl victory margins, including this table:

Location G Winner Loser Total Points
Indoors 13 30.5 15.8 46.23
Outdoors 31 30 15.3 45.26

Fisher And Young, The Pink Slip Twins

by A.J. Coltrane

Jeff Fisher has joined Vince Young on the unemployment line. I’m a little suprised — I thought it was an either/or proposition.

In other NFL news, a tweet dustup between Antonio Cromartie and Matt Hasselbeck:

Comartie had this to say on Monday:

“Especially when you don’t get no information about nothing from the union or the owners,” Cromartie said Monday. “So to tell you the truth they need to get their damn minds together and get this [expletive] done. Stop bitching about money. Money ain’t nothing. Money can be here and gone. Us players, we want to go out and play football. It’s something we’ve been doing and we love it and enjoy it. It’s our livelihood.”

Then, according to ESPN:

On Thursday, a tweet on Seattle Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck‘s account said: “Somebody ask Cromartie if he knows what CBA stands for.”

The tweet was later removed but not before Cromartie found out about it.

He responded Thursday afternoon with a tweet that said: “hey Matt if u have something to then say it be a man about it. Don’t erase it. I will smash ur face in.”

Then this from Hasselbeck:

Hasselbeck later apologized for his initial tweet.

“Sorry for the joke man. No hard feelings,” a tweet from his account said. “DB’s & QB’s have a hard time getting along I guess sometimes. lol.”

As usual though, Jason Whitlock has the truth in his piece about Cromartie’s initial outburst- “Players Will Turn On Union Director”:

Cromartie had a lot more to say, but I’m not going to waste time repeating it here. He’s not the most eloquent, concise or thoughtful speaker. Let me translate what he said:

“I got baby mama drama and at least nine mouths to feed. I’m a free agent this offseason and need a new contract. DeMaurice better get this (spit) settled quick, because I can’t get behind on my child-support payments.”

Now, the overwhelming majority of NFL players do not have nine kids by eight different women like New York’s fertile, 26-year-old, condom-hating, shutdown corner. But Cromartie is not alone when it comes to baby mama drama among NFL players.

Roger Goodell and NFL owners probably can’t control their laughter thinking about battling Smith in a prolonged contract dispute. We’re two weeks from the Super Bowl and Cromartie is already raising a white flag.

I thought it was pretty savvy of Goodell to set his salary to $1 in the event of a lockout. He won’t be getting paid either, so the players can’t cry poverty… Of course, Goodell doesn’t have eight child-support payments.

Seriously though — “I will smash ur face in.”  ??? 

What a Neanderthal.

Seahawks Career Passing Leaders

by A.J. Coltrane

Because it came up today — the Seahawks career passing leaders:

Rank Player Career Yards
1 Matt Hasselbeck 29434
2 Dave Krieg 26132
3 Jim Zorn 20122
4 Rick Mirer 9094
5 Jon Kitna 7552
6 Warren Moon 5310
7 Seneca Wallace 3547
8 John Friesz 2971
9 Trent Dilfer 2560
10 Kelly Stouffer 2333
11 Jeff Kemp 1735
12 Stan Gelbaugh 1426
13 Steve Myer 851
14 Dan McGwire 745
15 Gale Gilbert 703
16 Brock Huard 667
17 Charlie Whitehurst 507

There’s one guy in the top 10 I *never* would have guessed:   John Friesz.

For some reason, *this* image came up when searching for Gino Toretta.

Jeff Kemp didn’t quite make the top 10, though I thought he might.

Other notables:

Gino Toretta #26.

Steve Largent #27.

Norm Johnson #29.

And the fewest yards, greater than zero:  Ricky Watters.  1 yard.  #34.

Seahawks Fire Offensive Coordinator

by A.J. Coltrane

The Seahawks have fired Offensive Coordinator Jeremy Bates. Also:

Quarterbacks coach Jedd Fisch left to go University of Miami to be its offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

Defensive line coach Dan Quinn is leaving the team to become the defensive coordinator at the University of Florida.

Defensive backs coach Jerry Gray left to become an assistant head coach and defensive backs coach at the University of Texas.

I think it’s interesting that the other coaches who “left” all went back to coaching college.

ESPN writer Mike Sando’s take on it:

…The Seahawks ranked 28th in total yards, 31st in rushing yards, 29th in time of possession and 28th in first downs per game. Those depressed rankings seemed understandable, in my view, given the state of the roster in general and the offensive line in particular.

Carroll could have lived with poor first-year production, I think, if he thought Bates were the right coordinator.

Making this move after only one season suggests the fit wasn’t right. Carroll is resoundingly upbeat. He doesn’t cuss out players. Bates isn’t much of a people person. He’s gruff and takes a harder line in his approach to players. Of course, Carroll would have known these things about Bates, it seems, because the two worked together at USC in 2009.

Absent something more, this is the sort of move that makes greater sense when the head coach has another candidate in mind.

Josh McDaniels’ name comes to mind immediately. Talks between McDaniels and the St. Louis Rams hit a snag this week, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported. McDaniels also interviewed with the Minnesota Vikings…

Of course, the baggage associated with Josh McDaniels may include …  TIM TEBOW!!

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Late edit:  Less than three hours after this post, the Rams hire McDaniels as Offensive Coordinator.  Whew.

Quarterback Carousel – Conclusions

by A.J. Coltrane

The 2010 NFL regular season is now over.  How’d the predictions go in this September post?

Team 2009 PPG 2010 Predicted PPG 2010 Actual PPG
Raiders 12.3 17.1 25.6
Redskins 16.6 20.5 18.9
Eagles 26.8 25.4 27.4

So, what happened?

Raiders: 

Passes:  Jason Campbell 67% of team attempts, 84.5 rating;  Bruce Gradkowski 31% of team attempts, 66.3 rating.   Aggregate rating 77.5.

“The Raiders will make a big leap forward with Jason Campbell.  Part of that will be due to JaMarcus Russell’s release, simple addition by subtraction.”  [Actual Result — The Raiders scoring went up by 13.3(!) points per game.]

JaMarcus Russell must have been more of a black hole than I could have ever believed.  The Raiders more than doubled their scoring output from 2009, finishing 6th in points scored.   Also:  Jason Campbell is a good quarterback, hopefully more people will see that now.  He’s earned it.

Redskins:

Passes:  Donovan McNabb 78% of team attempts, 77.1 rating; Rex Grossman 22% of team attempts, 81.2 rating.  Aggregate rating 78.0.

“McNabb and new coach Mike Shanahan will score 3-5 more points per game than the 2009 Redskins.  A big part of that will be (or should be) attributed to the upgrade from Zorn to Shanahan.”  [Actual Result — The Redskins scoring went up by 2.3 points per game.  How much of the credit should go to the coach?]

McNabb wasn’t worth the 5-6 points that John Clayton predicted — in reality it wound up being something of a lost season for McNabb.  His status in Washington turned into a very public mess that was handled extremely poorly by McNabb, his agent, and the Redskins.  I think other teams will now think twice before acquiring McNabb — he may be permanently damaged goods.  (What happens if the next team feels the need to bench him?)  Going into the year I felt McNabb was overrated.  Now I think he’s cooked.

Eagles:

Passes:  Michael Vick 66% of team attempts, 100.2 rating;  Kevin Kolb 34% of team attempts, 76.1 rating.  Aggregate rating 92.1.

“The Eagles won’t miss McNabb.  Philadelphia was 5th in the league in scoring last year, so some regression back to the pack is figured in the chart below.  Kevin Kolb will be an All-Pro within three years.”  [Actual Result — Michael Vick miraculously resuscitated his career and the Eagles scoring went up by .6 points per game.]

It looked like I picked the wrong All-Pro, though I still think Kolb may get there eventually.  Vick took almost exactly 2/3rds of the snaps, and I would guess that’s about as many as he *can* take, given his propensity to put himself in harm’s way.  I don’t think Vick will ever get close to repeating his 2010 season;  he had career bests in Completion Percentage, Yards Per Attempt, TD Percentage, and Interception Percentage — everything that went into his career best Passer Rating of 100.2, good for 4th in the league.

The Eagles win the brass ring.