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Things I have been pondering on Favre, Coach Coughlin, the NFL's bad boys and plenty of other stuff
By Eric Edholm (eedholm@pfwmedia.com)
May 17, 2007
Emptying the dregs of my mind on some leftover football-related topics:
Let’s get the Brett Favre stuff out of the way first. My co-worker, Court Mann, is right: Favre does know what he’s saying and he does know what’s going on with the Packers. He's no longer the centerpiece of the product of the field, and the Packers can't build around him now. He knows he has maybe one more chance in the NFL, maybe not to win the Super Bowl, or even to get back to one, but to surpass Dan Marino’s career TD and yardage marks. The TDs are easy; he needs seven to pass Marino. The yardage is harder, though. Favre needs 3,862 to pass Dan for the top spot, and you know that Favre thought it would have been a lot easier to do with Randy Moss, Robert Meachem or any other would-be Packers receiver. But here’s the news: Brett has averaged 3,951 passing yards the past three seasons, and he did that without any great targets outside of Donald Driver. Stay focused, Brett. This young team needs a good leader.
The NFL has instituted a new media policy, which of course makes us happy. Assistants now must be made available to the media more often, injury reports must be on the level, and organized team activities — read: boring practice to watch — must be opened to media. No truth to the rumor that this will be known from here on out as the “Belichick Rule.”
The changes in the media policy also affect the new New York coaches, Tom Coughlin and Eric Mangini, who seldom made their assistants available except early in training camp or during their teams’ bye weeks. How did the media there not make a bigger stink about that the past few seasons?
We miss everything about football this time of year — definitely the sights, but in Coughlin’s case, he’s even listening closely to what little football he gets these days. When asked about Giants rookie WR Steve Smith’s nice performance, Coughlin said: “He has got good hands. I was up at the other end listening to — usually I like to listen. You can listen and tell a lot about a guy catching the ball. He sounded good. … I want to hear that nice, soft … poof. … I don’t want to hear that whack against the palm of the hand or the ball going against the fence.” Makes sense.
Speaking of Bills, is it just me, or is the Parcells bashing in Dallas by Julius Jones and Terrell Owens a little pointless? Seems to me that Jones and Owens put up some pretty good numbers last season.
And speaking of Owens, why is it news that he is in minicamp? Or that Plaxico Burress is attending Giants camp? Is it because they never have before? I could be wrong, but I doubt that we’ll point to Burress working extra with Eli Manning a few extra days as being the difference between Manning breaking out or not. Or that Owens’ presence will make Tony Romo into the next Troy Aikman.
The biggest talk about JaMarcus Russell in his first few practices — his size … and his fumbles under center. Both will be something to watch come July when the practices start meaning something.
Former Raiders assistant Tom Walsh says Randy Moss isn’t the same as he used to be. Gee, isn’t that about the same thing we said about Walsh when he stopped running a B&B to call plays for the Raiders?
I am taking bets on which of the three men loses the power struggle in Jacksonville first — Jack Del Rio, Byron Leftwich or Shack Harris.
Bobby Petrino is winning over a lot of people in Atlanta with his organization and offensive knowledge, but my guess is that he won’t hit his biggest home run until he sacks Michael Vick. The guess here is that Vick’s indiscretions off the field and his lack of progress on it will lead the team to part ways with the quarterback in the next offseason and set up — am I really going to mention 2008 draft talk? — the reconnection of Petrino and QB Brian Brohm next April. Stow that one away for 8-9 months and see if I am way off, will you?
Starting to get the feeling that Edgerrin has some gas left in the tank and that he could have one more big season left in him. I am not ready to close the door on Edge, especially not with Ken Whisenhunt committed to running the ball about 500 times this season.
The NFL selling 40,000 tickets in 90 minutes for an Oct. 28 game in London will be a large selling point when the matter of playing overseason, and adding a regular-season game to do so, gets pitched to the owners who worry about lost revenue. Bank on it.
Over-under on Tank Johnson’s games missed for 2007: six.
I strongly suspected that the Commanders had drafted Carson Palmer’s little (and less-talented) brother based on name recognition, and now that they have signed Byron Westbrook — brother of the Eagles’ Brian, and a cornerback, interestingly — I am convinced of their modus operandi.
Odell Thurman getting back in the Bengals’ good graces would go a long way for his own future, but it would do miracles for the team’s image, which has taken a huge publicity hit the past 12 months. I am cautiously optimistic that Thurman will receive, and take advantage of, what likely will be his final chance in the NFL, at least in Cincy.
If there’s a team that could use a bit of good luck, it’s the tragedy-stricken Broncos, who were faced with the offseason deaths of Darrent Williams and Damien Nash once more when they opened minicamp this past week. And I don’t think that Pat Bowlen or Mike Shanahan saying they are going to try to win the Super Bowl in Williams' and Nash's honor was any kind of rah-rah ploy.
LINK
By Eric Edholm (eedholm@pfwmedia.com)
May 17, 2007
Emptying the dregs of my mind on some leftover football-related topics:
Let’s get the Brett Favre stuff out of the way first. My co-worker, Court Mann, is right: Favre does know what he’s saying and he does know what’s going on with the Packers. He's no longer the centerpiece of the product of the field, and the Packers can't build around him now. He knows he has maybe one more chance in the NFL, maybe not to win the Super Bowl, or even to get back to one, but to surpass Dan Marino’s career TD and yardage marks. The TDs are easy; he needs seven to pass Marino. The yardage is harder, though. Favre needs 3,862 to pass Dan for the top spot, and you know that Favre thought it would have been a lot easier to do with Randy Moss, Robert Meachem or any other would-be Packers receiver. But here’s the news: Brett has averaged 3,951 passing yards the past three seasons, and he did that without any great targets outside of Donald Driver. Stay focused, Brett. This young team needs a good leader.
The NFL has instituted a new media policy, which of course makes us happy. Assistants now must be made available to the media more often, injury reports must be on the level, and organized team activities — read: boring practice to watch — must be opened to media. No truth to the rumor that this will be known from here on out as the “Belichick Rule.”
The changes in the media policy also affect the new New York coaches, Tom Coughlin and Eric Mangini, who seldom made their assistants available except early in training camp or during their teams’ bye weeks. How did the media there not make a bigger stink about that the past few seasons?
We miss everything about football this time of year — definitely the sights, but in Coughlin’s case, he’s even listening closely to what little football he gets these days. When asked about Giants rookie WR Steve Smith’s nice performance, Coughlin said: “He has got good hands. I was up at the other end listening to — usually I like to listen. You can listen and tell a lot about a guy catching the ball. He sounded good. … I want to hear that nice, soft … poof. … I don’t want to hear that whack against the palm of the hand or the ball going against the fence.” Makes sense.
Speaking of Bills, is it just me, or is the Parcells bashing in Dallas by Julius Jones and Terrell Owens a little pointless? Seems to me that Jones and Owens put up some pretty good numbers last season.
And speaking of Owens, why is it news that he is in minicamp? Or that Plaxico Burress is attending Giants camp? Is it because they never have before? I could be wrong, but I doubt that we’ll point to Burress working extra with Eli Manning a few extra days as being the difference between Manning breaking out or not. Or that Owens’ presence will make Tony Romo into the next Troy Aikman.
The biggest talk about JaMarcus Russell in his first few practices — his size … and his fumbles under center. Both will be something to watch come July when the practices start meaning something.
Former Raiders assistant Tom Walsh says Randy Moss isn’t the same as he used to be. Gee, isn’t that about the same thing we said about Walsh when he stopped running a B&B to call plays for the Raiders?
I am taking bets on which of the three men loses the power struggle in Jacksonville first — Jack Del Rio, Byron Leftwich or Shack Harris.
Bobby Petrino is winning over a lot of people in Atlanta with his organization and offensive knowledge, but my guess is that he won’t hit his biggest home run until he sacks Michael Vick. The guess here is that Vick’s indiscretions off the field and his lack of progress on it will lead the team to part ways with the quarterback in the next offseason and set up — am I really going to mention 2008 draft talk? — the reconnection of Petrino and QB Brian Brohm next April. Stow that one away for 8-9 months and see if I am way off, will you?
Starting to get the feeling that Edgerrin has some gas left in the tank and that he could have one more big season left in him. I am not ready to close the door on Edge, especially not with Ken Whisenhunt committed to running the ball about 500 times this season.
The NFL selling 40,000 tickets in 90 minutes for an Oct. 28 game in London will be a large selling point when the matter of playing overseason, and adding a regular-season game to do so, gets pitched to the owners who worry about lost revenue. Bank on it.
Over-under on Tank Johnson’s games missed for 2007: six.
I strongly suspected that the Commanders had drafted Carson Palmer’s little (and less-talented) brother based on name recognition, and now that they have signed Byron Westbrook — brother of the Eagles’ Brian, and a cornerback, interestingly — I am convinced of their modus operandi.
Odell Thurman getting back in the Bengals’ good graces would go a long way for his own future, but it would do miracles for the team’s image, which has taken a huge publicity hit the past 12 months. I am cautiously optimistic that Thurman will receive, and take advantage of, what likely will be his final chance in the NFL, at least in Cincy.
If there’s a team that could use a bit of good luck, it’s the tragedy-stricken Broncos, who were faced with the offseason deaths of Darrent Williams and Damien Nash once more when they opened minicamp this past week. And I don’t think that Pat Bowlen or Mike Shanahan saying they are going to try to win the Super Bowl in Williams' and Nash's honor was any kind of rah-rah ploy.
LINK
