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BADL 2005 |
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| Commissioner | 
Date Fri Aug 19 2:16:18 p.m. ET 2005
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| In Detroit, the speculation has centered on when Jeff Garcia would replace Joey Harrington. If Friday's game is any indication the answer to that would be never. Harrington was smokin' as he completed all nine of his passes against the Jets. The play calling from inside the five could use some work though. On the first drive, Detroit made it to the 21 before a five yard loss by Kevin Jones was followed by consecutive sacks of Harrington for a total loss of 26 yards in three plays. From a sure three points to a punt in three plays. On the second drive, they made it to the five before being stopped. Two consecutive running plays for no gain and then a pass that turned into a scramble that came up just short forced a field goal. If there is one complaint about Harrington's night it would have been the consecutive sacks on the first drive. He should have thrown the ball away on one of them so his team would have had a chance at points. Speaking of Jones, he looked better than his stats showed. His first two carries were for seven and four yards before the 5-yard loss on a sweep ended his night with three carries for six yards. Two for 11 sounds so much better. In San Francisco, Tim Rattay looked much better than Alex Smith. But Smith remains the starter -- at least in Mike Nolan's mind. If Smith starts the season, and Rattay is healthy, that is a sign that Nolan is not playing to win in 2005. But he is playing to win in 2006. As for the rest of the 49ers, Kevan Barlow still sucks. We didn't get to see Frank Gore so we don't know if it is Barlow or the line (probably a combination of the two). Brandon Lloyd will lead the 49er receivers in receptions, yards and TDs barring injury. If Rattay plays, he becomes a nice sleeper at the wide receiver position. If not, save your pick for someone else. Kerry Collins is going to be very good as is the entire Raiders offense. LaMont Jordan looked very versatile against the 49ers. And the San Fran defense is the strength of that team so what Jordan accomplished should be a good preview of the regular season. Don't be surprised if Doug Gabriel is the third receiver instead of Ronald Curry. Curry is not fully recovered from his Achilles heal injury and Gabriel was quite impressive. The Bills defense is going to be very good again this year. Make that very, very good. A disciplined passing game combined with a strong running attack should cut their minutes on the field, which will leave them fresh and dominant. The Redskins offense is going to struggle again. Patrick Ramsey has happy feet. David Patten and Santana Moss are overrated smurfs masquerading as NFL receivers. And the offensive line shows no signs of improvement. Even backup QB Mark Brunell, who had a good outing, had happy feet. Happy feet means the quarterback doesn't trust the offensive line. It also means they won't wait for a play to develop which leads to early scrambles or throws, neither of which is good. Eli Manning is going to be much better this year. How much? I wouldn't be surprised to see him top 3,200 yards and 20 TDs. He worked very hard in the off-season and it showed in his first preseason game. He completed six passes to four receivers. He threw to his backs four times (3-4 for 26 yards), his tight end twice (1-2 for three yards) and Plaxico Burress twice (2-2 for 24 yards and a score). He never looked Amani Toomer's way, but don't read that as an indication of future pass distribution. Manning needs to work on his timing with Shockey and Burress and three of the four passes to running backs went to Mike Cloud. Miami will struggle to win six games this year. Ronnie Brown should be signed by the time you read this but it won't matter. They are in a tough division and their defense is struggling. They gave up 14 points in the first half to the Jaguars this weekend, including a 76-yard punt return for a score. You can't lose on special teams when you are struggling on offense and defense. The offense does move better with Gus Frerotte in at quarterback but that is not saying much. Remember, they lost to the Bears in their first preseason game. Speaking of the Bears, Muhsin Muhammad will still be the top receiver in Chicago despite the loss of Rex Grossman. Talk about snake bit -- Grossman broke his ankle in the second quarter of the second preseason game for his team. He'll be out three to four months. And while Kyle Orton has looked good against third- and fourth-stringers, don't expect him to move up on the depth chart. Chad Hutchinson will start and newly signed QB Jeff Blake will take over as backup. Steven Jackson was not as good as his stats indicate. He had three good carries (seven, 33 and six yards) and four bad ones (negative one, zero, one and one yard). So all-in-all he had a mixed day salvaged by the one 33-yard sprint. Of course if he can break one long run a game, then his season will be fine. But it's hard to see a big back duplicating a Barry Sanders style of play. For now, we'll just say the jury's still out and we'll evaluate further as the preseason progresses. Those expecting a huge dip in the Vikings offense may be disappointed. Daunte Culpepper will be fine without Randy Moss. The offense will be more balanced in the run vs. pass ratio and Culpepper will spread the ball around to all of his receivers. And while everyone and his brother are anointing Michael Bennett as the Vikings feature back, I still believe Mewelde Moore will be the starter in Minnesota eventually. The kid has too much talent to sit down for very long -- doghouse or no. The Chiefs running game is going to kick it again this year. Despite being 75-80% healthy, Priest Holmes averaged over 10 yards per carry (4-42) against the Vikings. Backup Larry Johnson was also impressive with an 8-37 (4.63 ypc) night. Tennessee QB Billy Volek is the real deal. Drew Bennett may not be. Volek completed six of 10 passes for 101 yards and a score. Bennett caught one ball for 13 yards but dropped one other and also lost a fumble after his one reception. Not a good night for Bennett. In Cincinnati, Chris Perry looked very good but Rudi Johnson will still be the man. Perry showed his versatility and his explosiveness but Johnson did what he always does -- brought the wood to the running game. Johnson gained 40 yards on six carries against the Patriots. And on most of his carries, he was the one punishing the defender at the end of the play. There's a new hero looming in New England. Rookie QB Matt Cassell never got much of a chance in college. He backed up Heisman trophy winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart. But this weekend he showed why Bill Belichick drafted him. He improvised his way to 135 passing yards and a score on 13-21 passing and another 46 yards on five scrambles. Performances like that will make him a quick fan favorite in New England. I think the Eagles should worry more about their special teams than their receivers. A punt and a kickoff return for a touchdown in the first quarter. I was impressed by rookie RB Ryan Moats. Both the Steelers and the Eagles defense played much better than the game's score indicated. After the first pass, an interception returned 10 yards for a score, Donovan McNabb settled down and played pretty well. Been thinking a lot about the Terrell Owens situation. The Eagles sent him a formal letter spelling out their complaints with him. He acknowledged receiving it, so unless his agent is a complete moron, and I don't for a minute think Drew Rosenhaus is even close to being that stupid, Owens will show up on Wednesday contrite and ready to play. Why? Oh, I can think of about 3.25 million reasons and they are very similar to why he showed up for camp in the first place. I don't think he will be happy, but I do think he will toe the line. It's just too expensive for him to do anything else. One of my favorite NFL players is Steelers WR Hines Ward. It was great to see him back on the sideline and here's hoping he gets every dime he deserves. And he deserves an awful lot of them! |