Who's the surprise teams this year?

[kartr]

It occurs to me that we have beaten one another up so completely this off season that it might be good to examine some other teams. This may be a topic that is moved to NFL but I thought it might be intersting to get opinion.

Who do most of you think might be able to surprise this year? The Cowboys are excluded as I know we all believe we are going to win yet another. Tell me who the other teams are that you think will contened.

My dark horse teams this year are Detroit and Oakland.

Weigh in.

Panthers or Cards and Ravens or Chiefs.

Boller showed signs of maturing and they got him some very good weapons this year. Chiefs added good defensive players. Panthers will be healthy and Cards only need Warner to be steady,not spectacular.

 

[Novacek84]

Detroit, if Harrington finally lives up to his potential. Cincinnati because Palmer has a full year under his belt. I disagree on Arizona, though. They are still the Cards after all and I think Warner is finished. KC should be better because of the improved defense at least on paper. A real darkhorse for me would be New Orleans if Brooks could ever play within himself, but I don't see it happening. Deuce McCallister is quietly one of the underrated guys in the league. I know he gets press but probably not as much as he should.

 

[THUMPER]

ABQ is dead-on about the Panthers, IMO, when healthy, they are better than the Eagles.

They did lose some key players this offseason like Mushin Muhammad, who Jake-D is REALLY going to miss. Muhammad MADE DelHomme look good so many times it was unreal. DelHomme is one of the least accurate QBs in the league and he got used to just chucking the ball up for grabs knowing that Muhammad would come down with it or at least pick up a PI on the defender. DelHomme is overrated IMO but he does have some skills and is tough and cool in the pocket. His accuracy, or lack thereof, is his biggest drawback though.

The other area they lost some key players from is at LB where Mark Fields is out and they are not brining Armstead back. They should be OK with Dan Morgan healthy at MLB, and Will Witherspoon and Brandon Short at OLB. They picked up this kid, Adam Seward from UNLV with size who can play both inside and outside.

Taking FS Thomas Davis will help their defensive backfield a lot along with the addition of Bashir & Lucas.

The O-Line is the area with the most holes with Tylski & Willig both being released. They needed some major help at a couple of positions up front but only added former Packer OG Mike Wahle. They did take OG Evan Mathis from Alabama in the 3rd round but he isn't likely to start this year. The right side of the O-Line doesn't look too good with Fordham at RT who is a journeyman and who knows who will play RG for them. It might be Mathis who is forced to step in as a rookie and play.

Their running game is the best in the league if both Davis and Foster can stay healthy. Their one-two punch is outstanding and opens up the passing game for DelHomme. Getting Steve Smith back from IR will be HUGE for them and pairing him with Colbert & Proehl should give them 3 good WRs. Adding TE Freddie Jones to go along with Mangum gives them a nice combo at TE as well.

Their front-4 is probably the best in the NFL with Peppers, Buckner, Jenkins, & Rucker as the starters. Jenkins missed most of the season last year and Buckner played hurt all season. With them healthy again no one will be able to run inside against them and Peppers can be turned loose on the QB.

I can definitely see Carolina in the SB in 2005 after beating Dallas in the NFC Championship game.

 

[Doomsday101]

I'll tell you another team nobody better sleep on and that's Carolina. Philly better be watching every little move this team makes because there strong in a lot of places. You look at this team last year with a lot of injuries early going 1-7 and they could easily have packed it in. They finished 6-2 and could easily have finished 8-0 but for a couple of bad breaks. This is a team that is a year removed from the SuperBowl.

They have what I consider to be the best front four in football. They have excellent LBs, They have Mintor, Bashir, Ricky Manning coming back and they signed Ken Lucas, and excellent young CB, from Seattle.

Delhomme is a player and I don't think anybody can argue that point. They have pretty decent WRs in Steve Smith, Ricky Prohoel and Kerry Colbert. They got RBs for days. They got Davis, Foster, a kid named Robertson and they just drafted Shelton. Throw in Hoover at FB and maybe this is where they aquire OL help. They have decent TEs in Mangum and Jones. Really, OL is the only problem I see. Mitchell and Wahle are solid at C and LG respectively. Gross is a Pro Bowl talent at LT. Fordham is a journeyman RT at best and RG is a question. They get this figured out and I think they'll stomp Philly. Well, this and a kicker.

This is also a team who I feel had a really nice draft. In addition to Shelton, they took Davis from Georgia. This is a player who I think can be better then RLW. They took Mathis at G, Ellison, a DT from Missou, Seward at LB, Emanual at FS and Jovan Haye at DE. This was a great draft for Carolina.

I really like this team.

Only reason I did not consider Carolina is to me they are not a suprise team they are a quality team that ran into a major injury bug last season. Once they started getting guys returning to the lineup the Panthers got on a roll winning 6 of their last 8 games

 

[Sarge]

Kansas City...............

 

[Jarv]

I'm hoping my softball team will win 1 game this year.

 

[Canadian BoyzFan]

I think the real surprise will be how balanced...or crappy, if you are so inclined...the league will be this year.

11-5 may just land home-field.

The teams mentioned already will gain a couple of games with NE, PHI, ATL, PIT, SD, GB, SEA and STL falling off.

The only teams I'd completely rule out are CLE, SF and TEN.

You forgot the skins!!

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Only reason I did not consider Carolina is to me they are not a suprise team they are a quality team that ran into a major injury bug last season. Once they started getting guys returning to the lineup the Panthers got on a roll winning 6 of their last 8 games

I agree with you Dooms. Carolina should not be a surprise to anybody.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

I'm hoping my softball team will win 1 game this year.

It could happen. Look at Boston.

 

[Alexander]

Every year since Mariucci showed up, Detroit was supposed to turn the corner. Blah blah blah. Some old thing.

I don't think they will until they get a QB. Their best shot is to rely on the running game and keep games close. But they are not going to let that stable of WRs go to waste and Harrington/Garcia won't get the job done. I see another mediocre season until they fix that.

It is too bad, because there is some great talent on that team. I would take Kevin Jones, any of their three WRs and Shaun Rogers on this team in a heartbeat.

 

[Doomsday101]

Every year since Mariucci showed up, Detroit was supposed to turn the corner. Blah blah blah. Some old thing.

I don't think they will until they get a QB. Their best shot is to rely on the running game and keep games close. But they are not going to let that stable of WRs go to waste and Harrington/Garcia won't get the job done. I see another mediocre season until they fix that.

It is too bad, because there is some great talent on that team. I would take Kevin Jones, any of their three WRs and Shaun Rogers on this team in a heartbeat.

I would agree that this is a make or break year for Harrington.

 

[kartr]

I would agree that this is a make or break year for Harrington.

I suspect that the reason Detroit drafted Mike Williams was to reunite him with Matt Leinhart next year. I figure that they will put together a package deal of Harrington, Charles Rodgers and their own first round pick in exchange for the number one pick in the 2006 draft. That'll insure that they get Leinhart because in essence it's 3 number ones for 1 number one. Mike Williams,Roy Williams,Leinhart and Kevin Jones would be really scarey.

 

[Zaxor]

So lets see the Lions, Cards, ....hmmm

so who wins the west and will a wildcard come out of it...

wait a minute let me think..these new conf. I still haven't gotten use to it

East-Eagles
West-Cards
North-Vikes
South-Carolina

2 wild cards...Atlanta and the Lions? that doesn't look very hopefull

 

[Doomsday101]

I suspect that the reason Detroit drafted Mike Williams was to reunite him with Matt Leinhart next year. I figure that they will put together a package deal of Harrington, Charles Rodgers and their own first round pick in exchange for the number one pick in the 2006 draft. That'll insure that they get Leinhart because in essence it's 3 number ones for 1 number one. Mike Williams,Roy Williams,Leinhart and Kevin Jones would be really scarey.

I would not consider that far fetched but I do think Det would also like to see Harrington pan out and show he is a quality QB, if Harrington can do that then Detroit could be set for a while and could concentrate on other areas of their team, if not then the trade you are suggesting could take place who knows. A lot can happen in a year’s time

 

[Alexander]

I would agree that this is a make or break year for Harrington.

I still get chills when I read back about how much Larry Lacewell wanted us to draft him.

 

[Doomsday101]

I still get chills when I read back about how much Larry Lacewell wanted us to draft him.

Lacewell was not the only one, I heard many voices on sites like this hollering how Dallas needed to draft him "He is the real thing" LOL of course you can't find those people now.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

It's interesting. Harrington's numbers last year, while not spectacular by any means, were not all that bad. His QB rating was 77.5. Saddly, that's better then our own QB last year. 19 TDs and 12 INTs was also better. I'm not sure how much improvement Harrington will make but I suspect it will come. Accuracy is definatly an issue with this player but that's not uncommen in a young QB trying to play in a WCO. He has good feet so really, it's a matter of him getting the footwork down IMO. That is so big in that offense. He can throw the ball accuratly. I saw him do this in a pro style offense while at Oregan. I think he just needs to get more snaps. The talent around him is phanominal (sp?) but it's also young. They too are learning that offense as they go. It's going to be real interesting to see how this kid progresses. I think this could be a break out year for him.

 

[Alexander]

His QB rating was 77.5.

QB ratings don't factor in poor decisions or errant throws.

Make no mistake, Harrington was one of the most ineffective QBs in the conference last year.

 

[burmafrd]

Harrington just does not have IT. He cannot make the plays when it counts- and he makes too many mistakes. Carr was drafted at the same time and has had a HORRIBLE O line, and he is still better. Harrington has had plenty of snaps- he just does not seem to be able to really play well consistently. I predict that Garcia will be the starter by the middle of October.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

QB ratings don't factor in poor decisions or errant throws.

Make no mistake, Harrington was one of the most ineffective QBs in the conference last year.

I acknowledged that in my earlier post but you have to look at the cicumstances. His top 4 WRs, (5 Gs), Roy Williams (12), Kevin Johnson (0 Gs) and Mike Williams (0 Gs) will have an average of 4 games experience in that offense.

There backfied is comprised of Kevin Johnson, a rookie last year, Bryson (2 years in that offense), Pinner (2 years in that offense) and Schlesinger (11 years but only two in that offense).

OL is the same deal. Raiola is going into his 5th year and Backus is the same but Demulling just came over from Indy. Woody came over a year ago from NE. Butler, I don't know about. Not even sure he will be there LT. Pollard is probably there starting TE and he's in his 1st year in the offense.

Experience is killing that team. They have talent everywhere, no question, but it takes more time in a WCO then in most.

I completely agree with your assesment of his accuracy issues but I think that there are cicumstances that add to his difficulties. One thing is for sure, Garcia might be better suited, initially, to produce in that offense. Having said that, I think there future is still linked to Harrington.