Observations from the Combie posted by Amari Harris

Okay, so I’m not reallyat the 28th annual NFL scouting combine but it sure feels like I am.  With the great live coverage of the event on NFL.com as well as the NFL network, I feel like a real pro scout.  I’ve also been very impressed with my ability to predict the unofficial 40 times of the athletes as they cross the finish line, but that is neither here nor there.  You want to know what can really be taken away from this year’s pre-draft extravaganza, don’t you?  Well let me give you my take on a few of the happenings over the last few days. 

Day 1

The star of this group was OT Bruce Campbell from Maryland.  He was considered a first rounder prior to the combine, but his physical attributes and athleticism definitely improved his stock.  Unlike most offensive lineman, he doesn’t look like a bag of doughnuts (no offense big boys) and he has the figure of someone who descended from Mt. Olympus.  He did 34 reps in the bench press and ran a blazing 4.85 in the 40 yard dash.  By comparison, the oft talked about Myron Rolle out of Florida State ran a 4.70 and he plays safety! 

The only question about Big Bruce is his lack of dominance on the collegiate level.  He didn’t allow a sack last season, but I supposed he just didn’t jump off the page as the dominant tackle in the draft.  He does look a little stiff in pass protection, but you could do much worse in today’s NFL.  He seems like a stronger, faster version of Flozel Adams, and for all intents and purposes he may end up being Adams’ replacement in Dallas.  But with the showing that he put on at the combine I’d be surprised to see him drop out of the top 20.

Jon Gruden Should Stay Off The Sidelines posted by Colin Linneweber

Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Oakland Raiders Head Coach Jon Gruden announced this week that he intends to return to ESPN Monday Night Football as a color analyst next season and he will not seek any other job opportunities that would have him reappear on the sidelines in 2010.

“I love this game very much,” said Gruden, 46, who coached the Buccaneers to a 48-21 championship victory over the Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII. “This job gives me the opportunity to see the game at a different angle, and I’ll be honest – I just fell in love with it. I want to get good at it. I really like the team I’m on at ESPN. They’re really trying to help me be good.”

Gruden, who at 40 was once the youngest coach to ever win a Super Bowl, attended Clay High School in South Bend and his father, Jim, served as an assistant to Dan Devine at the University of Notre Dame.

Gruden’s connections to the Irish made him a popular and seemingly viable candidate to replace embattled Notre Dame Head Coach Charlie Weis at the conclusion of this season.

Additionally, Gruden was born in Ohio and he was raised as an enormous Cleveland Browns fan.

The Browns currently have a putrid record of 1-8 and their general, Eric Mangini, is one of the most loathed coaches today in professional sports.

Inevitably, many onlookers also predicted that Gruden would be an ideal fit to seize Mangini’s job once he is officially terminated.

“Look, I went into this with an open mind,” said Gruden, who was a backup quarterback in college at the University of Dayton.

The Real Tom Brady posted by Randolph Charlotin

Alright, Tom Brady. The grace period is over. Now it’s time to be yourself again. That means the accurate surgeon capable of lighting up the scoreboard with few errors should finally be back. You’ve had enough time to work out the kinks. No more excuses.

I’m holding true to my belief that Brady needed seven to eight weeks to find his comfort zone. As the season went on, we noticed the progress Brady made, step by step.

His second half against Buffalo was a complete 180 of the first half. After being blitzed nearly to death against the New York Jets, Brady carved up Atlanta and starred down Baltimore’s Ray Lewis-led defense and came out ahead.

Not happy with his inaccuracy on deep balls against Denver, Brady put on a clinic against Tennessee, throwing six touchdowns and connecting on a handful of passes downfield. And Brady put it all together in London in a sound defeat of Tampa Bay.

I gave Brady the same timetable that Indianapolis’ Peyton Manning needed to get right last year. Manning went from your average quarterback to league MVP in the course of half a season. If Brady is to reclaim his position in the NFL quarterback hierarchy, the second half of the season is when he must re-establish himself.

At this point, Brady isn’t number 1 or 1A. Since Brady missed almost all of last season, Manning held his place while New Orleans’ Drew Brees finally became recognized as one of the elite passers in the league. Brady still has some work to do to be considered an elite QB again. Past accomplishments don’t carry over.

Hours Before Kickoff: Week 7 posted by Randolph Charlotin

It is just another road game.

That’s the approach head coach Bill Belichick took with this game in London, England. Apparently the flight is about as long as a flight to a West Coast game. The accent is different, so is the venue, and the crowd behavior will be unique. But otherwise it’s just another game. It was a big deal the first time the NFL played a regular season game at Wembley Stadium, but there shouldn’t be any fuss about this overseas game.

Honestly, why is the NFL even bothering to play in England? It wasn’t too long ago that the league cancelled NFL Europa because this developmental league was losing money annually.

But that doesn’t keep the NFL from eyeing overseas markets. Patriots owner Robert Kraft even said he wouldn’t be surprised if there was an NFL franchise in London within 10 years.

So would this be before Los Angeles gets a franchise or will Oakland owner Al Davis thumb his nose at the league again and trump Commissioner Roger Goodell by moving the Raiders and cashing in on the British pound? Davis would really make out on the exchange rate.

Why is it so important to expand the league internationally? The NFL can’t even sell out Jacksonville home games now. The powers that be better make sure everything is great at home before crossing any borders.

London doesn’t understand American Football. They already think we’re crazy for calling a game where we throw and carry a pigskin around football. They already have football (soccer to us), and when they have a taste for contact, they’ll turn to rugby. Happy citizens everywhere! Let’s go grab a pint of Guiness!

The Irish Should Axe Charlie Weis and Hire Jon Gruden posted by Colin Linneweber

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish lost to the University of Southern California (USC) Trojans 34-27 Saturday afternoon in South Bend.

The Irish appeared to be on the cusp of being blown-out when Trojans running back Joe McKnight scored to make it a 34-14 game with only thirteen minutes remaining in regulation.

However, instead of going into the fetal position, Notre Dame (4-2) valiantly battled back and cut the deficit to one touchdown.

Unfortunately for fans of the Irish, that is as close as Notre Dame would come to defeating USC (5-1) for the first time in eight attempts.

“Anybody who says there’s no fight in the Fighting Irish is missing the boat,” said embattled Notre Dame Head Coach Charlie Weis, 53, who was given $40 million and a five-year contract to coach the Irish.

“Down three scores to these guys…there’s a lot of hurtin’ puppies in that locker room right now. But there’s plenty of fight in this team, I guarantee you that.”

There may be “plenty of fight in this” Notre Dame squad that is entirely stocked with Weis’ recruits.

Still, a loss is a loss and Weis is now 0-5 against one of the Irish’s most hated rivals.

“It’s just a heartbreaker,” Notre Dame junior quarterback Jimmy Clausen said. “Period.”

The Irish will host the Boston College Eagles Saturday in a game that they simply can’t afford to lose.

Following the game against the Eagles, Notre Dame is scheduled to play Pittsburgh, Navy and Stanford.

Tuesday Evening Hangover: Dallas Cowboys reveiw and other NFL news posted by Amari Harris

Tuesday evening hangover…

Here are some of my astute observations from the Cowboys’ Monday night victory against the Panthers:

     1. The Cowboys played a very gritty game.

They actually “out-toughed” the Panthers, which hasn’t happened since week 3 of last season against Green Bay.  Despite giving up a few plays in the passing game, the defense shut down a vaunted Carolina rushing attack and managed to keep DeAngelo Williams out of the endzone.  The offense managed to pound the rock at Carolina’s undersized front seven and take advantage of their depth at the running back position (Felix Jones and Tashard choice managed over 80 yards rushing a piece).  More importantly, Tony Romo showed toughness and focus, and did not make the critical mistake that could have swung this game in Carolina’s favor.

     2. There is still a lot of room for this team to grow.

The tackling was still pretty bad.  Terrance Newman is showing his deficiencies as a tackler despite having a hell of a game shutting down Steve Smith and getting a pick-six.  Ken Hamlin is supposed to be the enforcer on this defense but I saw him whiff on a couple of plays.  And Hamlin’s coverage was just awful.  He pretty much gave the Panthers their lone touchdown allowing two big plays right over the middle.  I have backed Hamlin since he came to Dallas but I’m not sure he is deserving of that new contract he received last off-season.  The drive killing penalties were also devastating in the first half and Jason Garrett has to find some way to correct that (more on him later). 

Doomed from the coin toss? posted by Amari Harris

A lot of thoughts went through my head as Lawrence Tynes lined up for the game-winning 37 yard field-goal last night.  I though about how the Cowboys had turned the ball over four times to the Giants zero, yet they still led with 4 seconds on the clock.  I thought about the sheer buffoonery, gluttony, and excess that is Cowboys Stadium.  I thought about that 1.5 million pound screen being suspended over the football field and how it should be the scariest thing ever considering the tragedy that occurred earlier in the summer at a  Cowboys facility.  But none of these was the dominant thought in my mind as certain defeat loomed over America’s team. With 4 seconds left and the Giants on the verge of ruining the opening of the greatest venue in sports history I realized why I felt uneasy the entire game.  I realized then, why I had a sneaky suspicion that fate was not on the Cowboys’ side.  The ‘Boys were doomed from the coin toss.  George W. Bush was given the esteemed honor of tossing the first coin in Cowboy’s Stadium regular season history.  Jerry Jones let George W. Bush christen what was supposed to be one of the greatest triumphs in Dallas history.  I’m not a superstitious man, but every thing George Bush touches turns into a grammatically incorrect mess.  But it is neither analytical or politically correct (no pun intended) to blame George Bush for a Cowboys loss.  That would be like blaming Bill Parcells North Korea’s development of nucular technology.  So let’s break this thing down into a few key components.

The Toughest Season posted by Amari Harris

Pre-season predictions are probably one of my favorite things about the NFL off-season.  I love this time so much because it absolutely validates my opinions of specific football analyst as well as football analysis as a whole.  I mean seriously, has anyone listened to Mark Schlereth talk football.  I’ll credit him on being a handsome and well spoken former football player, but he is no analyst.  Same goes for “Dat Dude” Marcellus Wiley.  I know he went to an Ivy League school, but I’m starting to seriously question this guy’s football intelligence.  But I am digressing.  Pre-season predictions are great because nearly everyone is wrong at the end of the season (not just Mark and Marc…that would be a great show huh?).  There might be one or two people that actually predict the outcome of the Super Bowl, but to try and anticipate what will happen at the top end of the National Football League is nearly impossible.  Notice I say “top end” because there are some teams that are guaranteed to be at the bottom of the food chain: Lions, Raiders, Rams, Bills, Chiefs, Broncos, Buccaneers, etc.  But, predicting who will make the playoffs and who will ultimately win the Super Bowl is about as close to a crapshoot as you can get in professional sports.  This is why I like that the Dallas Cowboys are ranked no higher than 15th on any major power rankings. 

The Cowboys are virtually the same team they were last year when everyone was putting them in the Super Bowl despite the fact that it was July.  Of course they lost some veteran talent: T.O., Greg Ellis, Anthony Henry, Roy Williams, and Chris Canty.  But they have reloaded and brought in viable replacements for all of those people.  The only spot that you might question is wide-receiver but T.O. is definitely on his way down and Roy Williams will have equitable statistics if not better numbers than #81.  The Cowboys’ main issue at this point is their schedule.  They play in the NFC Beast and it’s always going to be tough to make it out of the division alive.  But I love what Eagles’ President Joe Banner had to say in regards to the best division in football:

The Battle at Tight End posted by Randolph Charlotin

With all the positional battles going on, one that hasn’t received much attention has been tight end. There are two reasons for that 1. We’ve been star-struck by the performances by receivers Wes Welker and Randy Moss, and 2. The Patriots got so little out of the position for the past two years, we barely noticed.

That’s a serious slight to Ben Watson and David Thomas, but who are they to argue? Last year Watson contributed 22 receptions and two touchdowns. Thomas had just nine catches.

2007 wasn’t much better, as Watson (36-389-6) and Thomas (two games played, 1-9-0) combined to play small supporting roles in comparison to the headliners.

It’s unfortunate because they both showed a moment of great promise. Watson opened eyes when he broke three Jacksonville tackles before sprinting 63 yards for a score in a 2006 Wild Card game. There was also the display of unbelievable athleticism when in a 2005 Divisonal game Watson chased down Denver’s Champ Bailey to prevent a 100-yard interception return for a touchdown.

And many thought Thomas had a coming out party against Jacksonville in 2006 when he caught five passes for 83 yards, including a diving touchdown grab.

But the shining moments between the two have been few. That’s why two veterans were added to the roster to challenge the holdovers.

Free agent Chris Baker was signed from the New York Jets after N.Y. deemed Baker expendable after Dustin Keller impressed the coaching staff in his rookie year in 2008. And Alex Smith wasn’t wanted by Tampa Bay anymore after they traded with Cleveland for Kellen Winslow Jr. The Pats got Smith for an undisclosed draft pick.

Tampa Bay apparently has the "franchise quarterback" to lead them this season. posted by Ken.

Like it or not with the pick 17th pick overall the buccaneers selected former KSU quarterback Josh Freeman whose has been anointed as a "franchise quarterback" by an organization which last drafted a quarterback with is first round selection in  1994 by selecting Trent Dilfer. The buccaneers seem to be heading in the right direction rather than taking the popular selection of a defensive player. Sound off!Continue reading "Tampa Bay apparently has the "franchise ..."

Buccaneers sign second-round pick

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed second-round pick Brian Price (6-1,303, UCLA) to a four-year deal, the team announced. [read full article]

From FOXSports.com News for NFL

Bucs sign rookie DT Price to 4-year deal (AP)

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have signed second-round draft pick Brian Price to a four-year contract. The team announced the deal with the defensive tackle from UCLA on Tuesday. Price, taken 35th overall, is glad the contract is done so he can "concentrate on having a great training camp." He was the Pac-10 defensive player of the year in 2009. [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

Bucs rookie McCoy aims for start of camp (AP)

It's not just because they're longtime buddies that Gerald McCoy is watching with interest as No. 1 overall draft pick Sam Bradford negotiates his first contract with the St. Louis Rams. McCoy's desire to get to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' training camp on time in two weeks also hinges heavily on how long it takes his former college teammate to sign. [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

Bucs sign former Panthers G Vincent (AP)

Former Carolina guard Keydrick Vincent has signed a two-year contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs announced the addition of the unrestricted free agent on Friday. To make room on the roster, the team released guard Sergio Render. Vincent was a starter for the Panthers the past two seasons. He has also played for Arizona, Baltimore and Pittsburgh during a nine-year career. [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

Bucs sign ex-Panthers starting G Vincent (AP)

Former Carolina guard Keydrick Vincent has signed a two-year contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs announced the addition of the unrestricted free agent on Friday. To make room on the roster, the team released guard Sergio Render. Vincent was a starter for the Panthers the past two seasons. He has also played for Arizona, Baltimore and Pittsburgh during a nine-year career. [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports