National Football League

Getting excited about the "new" LenDale White

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:24:12 -0600

Earlier during the offseason, I penned a piece that took a look at LenDale White's newfound commitment to being slim. Showing up to mini-camps at an impressive twenty pounds lighter compared to the previous year, White's dieting prompted me to speculate about the prospects of him having a breakout season of sorts in '09.

A few months later, White's recent weigh-in of 229 pounds has added additional fuel to the fire regarding his chances of having his best year as a Tennessee Titan in 2009.

Marion the Barbarian: A Warrior in the Fourth Quarter

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:36:32 +0000

The NFL has always been a league defined by toughness.

To name a few, there's Jack Youngblood playing in the 1980 NFC Championship Game and Super Bowl XIV with a broken leg, Emmitt Smith rushing for 168 yards against the Giants with a separated shoulder, and Ronnie lot electing to cut his pinky finger off after it failed to heal properly.

Before his career is over, Marion Barber will be one of the toughest NFL players to ever play the game. Okay, that may be a little much. But he doesn't have the nickname "Marion the Barbarian" because he enjoys gladiator movies.

Last year, the Dallas Cowboys suffered due to Marion's absence. The team was able to supplement for a while with rookie Tashard Choice, but the 'Boys were never the same after Barber went down with an injury.

This season is make-it-or-break-it for the 'Boys of Valley Ranch. Romo is entering his third full season as quarterback and Marion Barber has help in the backfield with Tashard and Felix Jones.

The team cannot pin any offensive shortcomings on Terrell Owens anymore.

So, while Tony Romo receives the credit and the criticism for wins and losses, the team will only go as far as the Barbarian will take them.

In analyzing Barber's stats from 2007 and 2008, he tailed off a little in the fourth quarter last season due to injury.

However, unlike most backs, Barber sustains his production throughout the game.

In the fourth quarter last season, Marion had 53 rushing attempts and averaged 3.5 yards per carry. Compare that to 2007 when he was healthy, and Barber averaged a strong 4.9 yards per carry on 83 attempts.

Couple Barber's production with the speed and versatility of Choice and Jones, and the Cowboys could very well have the best offensive backfield in the league next season.

That's if they can all stay on the field and healthy.

With the offensive firepower the Cowboys have stockpiled in Witten, Jones, Barber, Choice, Romo, and Roy Williams, there is no excuse for failure this season.

The Cowboys also have a brand new stadium that has seats that will need to be filled, so the fans' expectations for the team isn't as high as team owner Jerry Jones.

If Tony Romo acts as the blood that flows through the Cowboys system, Marion Barber is the teams pulse. Without a pulse, you're dead.

-JH

TWFE sends condolences to the Detroit Lions family over the loss of Ricky Sandoval

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:47:03 -0500

Sad news from the Lions today, though not totally unexpected.

The Lions announced their long-time director of security, 49 year old Ricky Sandoval, has passed away after a 3 year long fight with pancreatic cancer. Sandoval lived more than 2 1/2 years longer than his original prognosis, absolutely amazing if you know how devastating a disease cancer, especially pancreatic cancer, can be.

From the Lions press release:

LIONS DIRECTOR OF SECURITY RICKY SANDOVAL DIES AT AGE 49

Team's indoor practice field named "Sandoval Field" earlier this week

Allen Park, Mich -- Ricky Sandoval, the team's beloved director of security, died Thursday morning at Harper University Hospital in Detroit after a courageous and extended battle with pancreatic cancer that lasted more than three years. He turned 49 on June 30 and is survived by his loving wife, Gael.

As someone who considers himself quite lucky to have a mother who bravely fought, and survived, her 2 separate battles with cancer (breast and rectal), this news strikes too close to home.

So no snark or wisecracks today, just my condolences to the Sandoval family and the Detroit Lions franchise. Ricky Sandoval will be missed.

For a more in depth piece, I suggest checking out Mike O'Hara's excellent blog post about his dealings with Ricky Sandoval, describing how he was liked by all, even the media.

Sandoval's death, combined with DT Corey Smith drowning in a boating accident earlier this year, has made for a very difficult off season for the Detroit Lions.

The new season cannot start soon enough...

NFL Outsider Season Preview 2009: Atlanta Falcons

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:00:00 -0500

NFL Outsider is hosting a season preview of all 32 teams. The NFL regular season begins on September 10; in the meantime follow the best NFL bloggers as they analyze their teams in this 2009 season preview.

Tom Owen from The Falcoholic shares his insight on the 2009 Atlanta Falcons. Check in on other teams here.

The Atlanta Falcons entered the 2008 season with dozens of question marks surrounding their whole organization from top to bottom. What was put in place was designed to be the beginnings of a dynasty, something which has eluded them for over 40 years. Nearly the entire franchise was, at that point, untested and unproven. What was expected to take rookie General Manager Thomas Dimitroff and Head Coach Mike Smith many years, took only one offseason.

Due to the amazing turn around seen last season, going from a 4-12 record to 11-5 and a playoff berth, there are almost as many questions this time around. Will all those new faces brought in last season avoid a sophomore slump? Who was a one hit wonder? Can Ryan, Turner and the rest of the offense repeat last year's dominance? Will Dimitroff's second draft pan out as well as the first? Will the defense be able to survive the offseason reshaping?

These questions shall begin to be answered come September 13th when the Falcons open their 2009 NFL campaign at home against the Dolphins, another team that surprised many with a huge turn around from a rookie Head Coach.

Team Depth

This team's strength definitely lies in it's depth at key positions. While the Falcons offensive line has no real stars it harbors some mean, tough and nasty players. (According to Pete Prisco at CBS, Falcons RG, Harvey Dahl is the meanest player in the NFL.) This group of young men don't earn the amounts the elite blockers do, but they fight for each other and work as a team to create the holes necessary for the power running game the Falcons utilize.

Another position of depth for the Falcons is at the Running Back spot. Considering how integral the run game is to Atlanta, it is absolutely vital they have cover not only in case of injury but to share the load. We rarely see teams carrying a single main RB anymore and the Falcons are no different, in fact they have one of the most exciting pairings in the whole NFL. Michael Turner set records in his first game as a Falcon on the way to a 1,699 yard 17 touchdown season. Add to this the electrifying ability of Jerious Norwood, who is starting to gain peoples attention for his game breaking plays, and you have a high quality partnership. The cover is also there in the form of bruising runner Jason Snelling, who is a deceivingly good receiver out of the backfield and can also play FB, and Thomas Brown who adds some special team's ability and some potential that remains to be seen after spending his entire rookie season on IR.

Team Weaknesses

While the improvement of this defense has been well documented, there are many noticeable question marks over the ability of players like LB's Coy Wire and Stephen Nicholas to fill the holes of long time starters Michael Boley and Keith Brooking. During his 11 seasons in Atlanta Brooking accrued 972 tackles in 161 games. While some feel Brooking had already peaked it is very difficult to replace the leadership someone with that experience brings to the team. This highlights another team weakness when you consider the losses of S Lawyer Milloy and DT Grady Jackson. While there is plenty of youthful depth in the secondary, there is a conspicuous lack of elite talent. Erik Coleman is the oldest confirmed starter at 27 years old and new draftees and young veterans alike will be looking to him for guidance.

New Additions

The most notable addition of the offseason was the trade of next years second round draft pick to the Kansas City Chiefs for future Hall of Fame TE Tony Gonzalez. This provides Matt Ryan with yet another target over the middle as well as an above average blocker on the offensive line. The signing of LB Mike Peterson provides some defensive leadership and a proven starter for the LB core. Also, the signings of versatile C's Jeremy Newberry and Brett Romberg should not be understated as Todd McClure is coming to the end of a stellar career.

The draft provided the Falcons with a chance to focus on their defense and they seemed to go for players that could make an instant impact. First round pick Peria Jerry can come in and improve the rotational depth at DT. William Moore, picked in the second round, is seen as the most likely to come in and make a difference early as a high motor Safety and a tackling machine. The steal of the whole draft can be seen as the selection of DE Lawrence Sidbury in the fourth round as he provides some competition for Anderson at LE and is also versatile enough to be a situational pass rusher at LB.

Key Losses

The Falcons have most notably lost the intangible leadership and experience of long time veterans such as S Lawyer Milloy and DT Grady Jackson on defense. Combine this with the loss of two long serving starters LB's Keith Brooking and Michael Boley and you have a very unproven defense. While only in Atlanta for 10 starts, CB Domonique Foxworth showed enough that made him a high profile loss in the Falcons secondary.

2009 Prediction

Atlanta has a very tough schedule this season, facing arguably two of the strongest divisions in the NFL, the NFC East and AFC East. Add to this the competition of their own division and it makes a punishing campaign trail that will be hard on this youthful group. They have never had back to back winning seasons but appear to be in a great position to change this. I envisage the Falcons being very strong at home but struggling away to strong teams like Dallas, New England and the New York Giants. My prediction: 9-7 Record.

Rising Star

Look for WR Harry Douglas to shine this year. Many predict the trade for TE Tony Gonzalez will mean a reduced role for Douglas but I disagree. Sure, he won't have as many balls come his way as if Gonzalez wasn't there, but the potential for those catches he does make to be of greater distance and importance is definitely there. Look for him to create matchup problems by lining up in the slot next to Gonzalez. Not to mention the glimpses we saw of Douglas returning punts last year, this guy can make a difference to this team.

Fallen Angels

With the draftee additions of Peria Jerry and Lawrence Sidbury on the defensive line and resigning of Chauncey Davis to a more lucrative deal, look to see Jamaal Anderson to have a reduced role. He has failed to impress since being drafted 8th overall in 2007 gaining only 2 sacks in 31 games and fans and coaches are becoming more and more disillusioned with the big DE.

The Redskins Featured on MVN Outsider

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:58:00 +0000

Today, NFL Outsider takes it's NFL Top 10 series over to Redskins Park, and looks in at the 10 most valuable Washington Redskins.

The article was penned by yours truly.

Go take a look at it this morning. In the words of one Anthony Brown, we'll be here when you get back.

Cowboys Pick Up Two Tonys in the 1977 Draft

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:26:20 +0000

This post is part of the 50 Seasons in 50 Weeks Series.

The NFL in 1977 reduced the number of rounds in the draft from 17 to 12. The 1977 draft for the Cowboys is best remembered for the selection of Tony Dorsett with the number two overall pick. The Cowboys also struck gold (or perhaps silver) by taking Stanford wide receiver Tony Hill in the third round.

Round	Name	Pos.	College	Career
1	Tony Dorsett	RB	Pittsburgh	Dallas 1977-1987; Denver 1988
2	Glenn Carano	QB	UNLV	Dallas 1978-1983
3	Tony Hill	WR	Stanford	Dallas 1977-1986
3	Val Belcher	G	Houston	n/a
4	Guy Brown	LB	Houston	Dallas 1977-1982
5	Andy Frederick	T	New Mexico	Dallas 1977-1981; Cleveland 1982; Chicago 1983-1985
6	Jim Cooper	T	Temple	Dallas 1977-1986
7	Dave Stalls	DE	Northern Colorado	Dallas 1977-1979; Tampa Bay 1980-1983; Raiders 1983, 1985
8	Al Cleveland	DE	Pacific	n/a
8	Fred Williams	RB	Arizona State	n/a
9	Mark Cantrell	C	North Carolina	n/a
10	Steve DeBerg	QB	San Jose State	San Francisco 1978-1980; Denver 1981-1983; Tampa Bay 1984-1987; Kansas City 1988-1991; Tampa Bay 1992-1993; Miami 1993; Atlanta 1998
11	Don Wardlow	TE	Washington	n/a
12	Greg Peters	G	California	n/a

Jim Cooper became the starting right tackle for the Cowboys, though he was quite a step down from the likes of Ralph Neely. Carano, Brown, Frederick, and Stalls each served as backups in Dallas.

Most forget that the Cowboys drafted DeBerg in 1977. He played in San Francisco prior to the arrival of Joe Montana, then he moved to Denver, where he played prior to the arrival of John Elway. His third stop was in Tampa Bay-- prior to the arrival of Vinny Testaverde-- before landing in Kansas City.

My grade: A. For once, I am not going to be harsh about a draft. After the 1977 season, the Cowboys needed a running back and could use another wide receiver. They got both through the draft.

NFL Top 10: Most Valuable Washington Redskins

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:00:00 -0500

I think I've done an okay job bouncing around the league and trying to diagnose each team's ten most valuable players with regards to the 2009 NFL season. These are opinion pieces, of course, and admittedly, I've been much more concerned with getting the ten most valuable players on each team on the list rather than getting them in the right order.

Today, of course, I go from outsider to insider (relatively speaking) as we hand pick the 10 most valuable Redskins at NFL Outsider.

10. WR Santana Moss
If the Redskins are a great team come January, Santana Moss will either be much, much higher than this, or no longer in consideration for this list. Moss hit 1,000 yards receiving for the first time since his all-pro 2005 season, but he did it mostly in a four game stretch in September and October, and against the Lions defense. He was nowhere to be found in the second half of the year, be it on deep passes or really anywhere else. It's probably too much for the Redskins to ask him to be a No. 1 at this point, but he'll at least get the opportunity until either Devin Thomas or Malcolm Kelly can make a play for the go-to receiver role.

9. S LaRon Landry
Landry's value is much more tied up in who he is, than what he has done. He's got a phenomenal set of skills by which he may use to become one of the great safeties in the game. But teams who have thrown in to his zone have managed to enjoy relative successes in the passing game. Landry is not a great tackler, but as the incredibly young Redskins secondary develops, it will allow the coaching staff to use more of his god given talent (blitzing and coverage range) more often, and give Landry a shot at being a pro bowl level player.

8. DE Andre Carter
Though this seat is certainly being kept warm for Brian Orakpo, Carter is the guy who most immediately benefits from having Albert Haynesworth on the roster. Last season, Carter had a very disproportional amount of pass pressure to his sack total (a *team leading* 4 sacks). This year, with Haynesworth occupying blockers on the interior, Carter's one-on-one situations should be a lot more productive in terms of converting those near sacks into both hits on quarterback and sacks.

7. OT Chris Samuels
Last year, Samuels would have been the No. 1 guy on this list, as he was a top five offensive tackle in his prime, with no real extensive injury history, on a team that could not afford to send extra blockers to the left. When narratives are written about the 2008 Redskins, and why this 6-2 team through November finished up 2-6, you tend to get names like how Jason Campbell's play declined, or how Jim Zorn failed to adjust to teams adjusting to...NO! Here's your narrative:

In Week 6, the Redskins were 4-1 with four quality victories facing the 0-4 Rams when Samuels hurt his knee and had to miss a series. This series ended with a strip-sack of Jason Campbell from the left (Samuels') side, a recovered fumble by a Guard, who was then stripped of the ball and it was returned for a game-deciding TD. Samuels played the rest of the season with limited mobility in his knee, limited effectiveness, until Week 14, when a 7-5 Redskins team was trying to comeback against the Baltimore Ravens, and Samuels suffered a torn tricep, effectively ending the Redskins season. That's a narrative.

As for why Samuels is down here after arguably being the most valuable Redskin last year: that injury history casts doubt over his long term viability at the position. It's as simple as that.

6. LB London Fletcher
The team's universally elected defensive MVP from a year ago did not go to the pro bowl...again. London Fletcher is one of the five or six best linebackers of his generation. He's behind Brian Urlacher, and Derrick Brooks, and Ray Lewis, and maaaybe Zach Thomas, but I'd take him and Keith Bulluck over anyone else in the game who enjoyed their prime years from 1996-2007. He still has excellent sideline-sideline range, and he's still an absolute tackling machine, but where Fletcher is most underrated is his ability to make plays in coverage. The Redskins are simply a better defensive team when he's on the field. Of course, now that he's 34, expecting another 16 start season is getting a little unrealistic, which kept him out of the top five.

5. TE Chris Cooley
Cooley set a personal and team record for receptions last year, and he did it all with a fluky low amount of touchdowns: 1. That number should rebound this year to, say, 6 or 7 (fantasy advice is free in NFL T10 columns, if you can find it). Cooley is not just one of the five best TEs in football, he's an excellent football player. He's got a stigma as a player who isn't a great blocker, but his absolute man-handling of the otherwise stout DeMarcus Ware at Dallas in Week 4 suggests that 1) either Ware is a horrible run defender, or 2) Cooley is a much better blocker than anyone wants to give him credit for. Maybe it is a little of both.

4. QB Jason Campbell
For all that has been written in weak justification of the shameful off-season mishandling of their own QB position, I offer just one well-informed opinion as not to rehash the entire Campbell situation: from the first half of the season to the second half of the season, Jason Campbell was the one player on the Redskins offense who actually improved at his craft. This is borne out mostly in rushing statistics, how even with no help from the ten guys around him, the quarterback revitalized the rushing game by adding 20+ yd runs from the QB to the barren arsenal of the Redskins offense.

Jason Campbell is the very least of the Redskins worries on offense.

3. RB Clinton Portis
If Campbell is the least of the Redskins offensive worries (i.e. most dependable player), Portis is the very best player on the Redskins offense. Off the field, Portis is somewhat of a likable character who doesn't always use his popularity for the right causes. On the field, he's an elite pass blocker, who runs with excellent field vision and hits holes hard even when they are hardly there. The Redskins brought Portis in along with Joe Gibbs in 2004 because they thought he could add the big play element to the offense. That hasn't happened. Portis's first carry with the team, a 62 yard TD vs. Tampa Bay, remains his longest. His second longest came in the third quarter of the season opener in 2005, a 42 yard scamper against the Bears. Since then, Portis is exclusively a 25 yard burst guy who pretty much always gets tackled by the safety.

This only makes his consistent 1,200+ yard production even more remarkable, since it's not a total inflated by doing a lot of open field running behind the defense. Portis very much has earned every yard he has totaled with the Redskins, and 2009 will be the year that we see if Portis will be chasing Emmitt Smith for the NFL all-time rushing leader, or if he simply begins his slow slide from superstar into NFL obscurity.

2. CB Carlos Rogers
The most skilled player on the Redskins defense is cornerback Carlos Rogers. It's inevitable that by bringing in embattled CB DeAngelo Hall, Rogers is not going to be making a lot of headlines in this upcoming season, but that might actually help him. There has been no doubt about Rogers' skills as a shut down corner. He spent most of the first half of last year playing man-to-man coverage against players like Larry Fitzgerald, Terrell Owens, Plaxico Burress, Torry Holt, and Braylon Edwards, and basically making them look like NFL training camp scrubs. He struggled a little bit with those bigger, more physical receivers in the second half of the year, such as Calvin Johnson, and Chris Henry of Cincinnati, but over the second half of the year, interceptions started to come his way.

You see, the knock on Rogers--the last thing he must prove before he becomes a shutdown corner--is that he can catch the ball after making a break on it. If Rogers turns into a 4-5 INT/year guy, instead of the 2-3 guy he currently is because of drops, he's essentially a five day older version of Nnamdi Asomugha. If he continues to drop passes, he'll always be known as one of the 25 best corners in the current NFL, but not more than that because CBs never feared him.

And if he does turn into an Asomugha clone, well, that didn't exactly work out great for D-Hall the first time around.

1. DT Albert Haynesworth
Rare is the player who can be considered a "two-win" guy. Two win guys are known in football stats circles as the rare talents in the league who are consistently worth two wins over an average player in their place at their position. Usually, these players are either quarterbacks or MVP candidates from other positions, such as James Harrison of the Steelers. And, I mean, these guys don't ever hit the market, at least not without baggage (Brees' labrum injury). But when Haynesworth did become a free agent, the Redskins snatched him up to the tune of 41 million dollars guaranteed over the next three years (the theoretical remainder of Haynesworth's prime seasons). Now the team just needs him to play like he has in Tennessee the last two years, as the best player his position has seen in over a decade.

There's a lot of risk in the Albert Haynesworth contract, a lot of money that isn't refundable no matter what Haynesworth does. But the Redskins did their research on him and concluded that he was a good investment off the field. Haynesworth isn't replacing an average player in Anthony Montgomery, who produced at an above average level more often than not. But Monty was bad in space, and with Haynesworth, the Redskins feel that he closes the margin between NFL pretender and NFL contender quite quickly. That's the number one reason why no one else on the team can be the No. 1 most valuable player on the Washington Redskins.

Commitment to Excellence flying the friendly skies

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:40:21 -0800

Last week, the Oakland Raiders officially became the subject for the paint job on an airplane that will never carry a passenger to the United States. The airline, Air Asia X, became an official sponsor of the Oakland Raiders not long ago and have unveiled the airplane to prove it.

A few of the photos that exist of the plane have been cobbled together for this story. Patrick was the first to break the story on Examiner.com after the tail of the plane had been caught by the pop culture website jaunted.com.

Boudreau Hits The Links in Bethesda

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:10:00 -0500

Our buddy Murf at Homer McFanboy chatted with Washington Capitals Head Coach Bruce Boudreau at Wednesday's Earl Woods Memorial Pro Am. Read all about it as Boudreau waxes rhapsodic on getting to play with fellow Canadian Mike Weir while outshooting his teammates-for-the-day Jason Campbell and Antwaan Randle-El of the Washington Redskins.