Questions Regarding the Top 10 NFL Stories

10. How will the Eagles' offense be run?

The Philadelphia Eagles had an interesting year last season after the departure of Terrell Owens. The Eagles got off to a hot start with a 4-1 record. Things took a turn for the worst when they went 1-3 the next four games topped by a freakish injury to Donovan McNabb during a week 11 game against the Tennessee Titans. Just when hopes were lost, backup quarterback Jeff Garcia stepped up and led the team to a 10-6 record winning the NFC East. That year, running back Brian Westbrook finally broke 1,000 yards rushing for the first time in his career due to head coach Andy Reid’s willingness to let him rush the ball far more often than he had in the past (240 attempts in 2006, 156 attempts in 2005).

What does this mean to the Eagle’s offense in 2007? Look for Brian Westbrook to play the biggest role in the offense this year, not McNabb. Reid allowing Westbrook to run the ball more often will definitely help McNabb’s durability and confuse defenses. Another significant change in the offense this year is the change at wide receiver. 2006 #1 option, Donte Stallworth is gone along with former #1 option Todd Pinkston, which means McNabb needs to find a new #1 option. A lot of people are looking at Reggie Brown to take over the role but do not count out my sleeper, Hank Baskett. Baskett, now 24 years old, has looked great at times during the 2006 season and has made huge plays. He still has a while to go but in these next couple of years, look for him to mature and learn the game to eventually become the #1 option. A side note to the receiving team, Reid loves to run the screen, so Westbrook may get a lot of receiving yards to go along with his rushing yards.

9. What does Michael Vick's absence from the Falcons mean for the team?

It’s pretty widely accepted that Vick will not play for the Falcons this season. This is a huge change for the Falcons as it reshapes their entire offense. Joey Harrington will assume the starting position but he might not be able to hold onto it for too long. Who can take his place? How about D.J. Shockley? Everyone forgot about this Georgia star when he went down to injury his final year in college. He’s an upgraded version of Vick who’s only problem is that he is not durable. He is extremely mobile and has a strong arm for the long passes to newly acquired wide receiver Joe Horn. If he is given a fair chance, look for him to be a future stud.

Also, watch out for Jerious Norwood. Last year, at the age of 23, Norwood averaged 6.4 yards per carry finishing off the season with 633 yards and 2 touchdowns. With Warrick Dunn down, Norwood will be the starting running back. Expect him to get a lot of carries this year as the quarterback situation is up in the air.

8. How will the Carolina quarterback situation play out?

Jake Delhomme is still miraculously riding the train of success from his one really good game in the Super Bowl. Since then, he’s been nothing close to that greatness. He doesn’t perform well down the stretch and gives away crucial interceptions trying to force the ball after waiting too long in the pocket. He hasn’t been replaced permanently yet partially due to his past success and hope that he may perform great once again and partially due to the fact that the Panthers never had a reliable backup. That all changes this year. The Panthers have shown that they are not happy with Delhomme’s performance by grabbing David Carr as a backup. If the Panthers don’t see immediate results with Delhomme, look for them to fire their itchy trigger finger and bring in David Carr who has never had a legitimate chance to shine in the NFL. Give it until after week 5 when they play the New Orleans Saints for the quarterback switch.

7. Just how good/bad are the Lions?

The NFL is great. Why? Because anyone can win at any given time. Just ask the New Orleans Saints and the Carolina Panthers who were once a joke of the league quickly turning their franchise around is less than two seasons. A lot of people believe that this year, it will be the Lions. Quarterback Jon Kitna said the team will win ten games this year. The promised ten wins will most likely allow them to advance to the postseason.

Ten wins can be achievable for the Lions for a few reasons. One, they play in the NFC North; their only real competition is the Chicago Bears. Two, in 2006, the Lions lost a lot of close games including games against the Bears, the Patriots, the 49ers, the Seahawks, and the Rams. With a little more experience they can have a shot at closing these games out. Three, the running game for Detroit is a lot stronger. With Calvin Johnson and Roy Williams as two potential top notch receivers, defenses will concentrate on them, allowing running backs Kevin Jones and Tatum Bell more room to pick up yards.

The reason ten wins is a stupid prediction however, and the Lions will not contend this year is because of Kitna. His 21 touchdown passes and 22 interceptions are not very good stats if you want to contend with teams like Seattle, St. Louis, San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Carolina. His quarterback rating was 79.9 last year and was well below 70 in crucial games the Lions needed to win. Also, Detroit’s offense and defense are one of the worst ranked in the league. The offense, achieving just 309.3 yards per game ranks 22nd in the league while the defense, allowing 345.6 yards per game ranks 28th in the league.

6. Who will have more snaps as the Jacksonville quarterback?

Jacksonville’s quarterback situation has been by far the messiest in the league. They have two quarterbacks that can essentially take that starting role in Byron Leftwich and David Garrard. Both are very inconsistent and Leftwich is injury prone. They both need to learn how to cut down on interceptions; Garrard needs to stop throwing into heavy coverage, and Leftwich needs to get rid of the ball quicker and capitalize on his strength: short passes. This will also help his body as he will not take so many hits allowing him to finish out seasons. Leftwich is slightly better because he stays in the pocket and makes better decisions than Garrard. A potential success to having both of these guys, is switching to a two-quarterback system the way more and more colleges are doing every year. I don’t think it will happen anytime soon but it would be very interesting to watch the amount of success or failure it can deliver to an NFL team.

5. Will Tony Romo & Wade Phillips be successful?

The Cowboys have finally left the era of old school quarterbacks and the Big Tuna. The question is, will the new system work? Tony Romo has shown some great stuff in his first year but he has also shown that he can go through a slump much like his NFC East rivals. His confidence doesn’t seem to be shaken from last year’s heart breaking loss to Seattle in the playoffs, so it could mean good times ahead. The biggest factor of a new quarterback and a new coach in Wade Phillips, is the Terrell Owens factor. Romo has shown that he is his favorite target and Phillips doesn’t seem to have a problem with Owens. He has mentioned him by name in news conferences and has allowed him to stick around the training room while he’s injured instead of forcing him to step out on the practice field.

The negatives are as I mentioned, Romo went through a slump near the end of the season costing the Cowboys the division title. After starting 5-1, the Cowboys fell off losing 3 of their last 4 games including a game against their division rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles.

All is not Romo’s fault however. The defense stopped responding to Bill Parcells and defensive coordinator, Don Zimmer down the stretch. The Cowboys gave up 33 points per game during their 4 game slump including 31 points to the atrocious Detroit Lions. This was the reason behind the hiring of 3-4 defensive genius Wade Phillips. He will no doubt get that defense in top shape for the new season as he did for the San Diego Chargers last season (The Chargers ranked 10th in the league in total yards allowed and 7th in rushing yards allowed last season). However, with every plus, there’s a minus; throughout Phillips’ coaching career, he has never won a playoff game. This is certainly discouraging for Cowboys fans and it is something to carefully consider if Dallas makes the postseason.

4. Can the Chargers' passing game keep the team in the hunt?

The Chargers finished last season with the best record in the league, 14-2. A lot of the credit goes to LaDainian Tomlinson (1,815 yards rushing, 28 TD’s), but don’t discount quarterback Philip River’s contribution to it as well. River’s 92 passer rating (8th in the league) along with his 22 TD’s and 9 INT’s, kept defenses aware of the passing attack allowing LDT to run for more yards. This year, the receiving core is one year more mature but with one less player, Keenan McCardell. Although McCardell didn’t have many yards, his intangibles of taking a DE off of the younger guys helped the team out a lot.

This year, wide receiver Vincent Jackson needs to step up in order for the Chargers to pursue a championship. With Eric Parker out for the year, no other wide receiver has enough experience to be considered the #2 option so pay attention to a potential Marques Colston in San Diego this year. If these guys don’t step up, figuring out the Chargers offense will be a walk in the park by putting 9 guys in the box to slow down LDT and sticking two guys on Antonio Gates. Will the offense be a problem? No, not in my opinion, but it still remains to be seen if Jackson can carry the load.

3. Will the Steelers bounce back this year?

The Steelers fell off the map fast after winning their fifth Super Bowl two years ago. After injuries to quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, the team crumbled. Pittsburgh finished the season with a disappointing 8-8 record, missing the playoffs. The silver lining to last year was that the Steelers won 6 of their last 8 games; granted the teams down the stretch weren’t very good but none-the-less, a win is a win. Roethlisberger never looked like a great quarterback since the 2005 AFC Championship game however. Even during last year’s stretch, he threw too many interceptions (23 total for the year). In order for the Steelers to bounce back this season, Roethlisberger has to play like he used to, meaning making better decisions and surveying the field better. Stop staring at Hines Ward throughout the whole play and glance over at Heath Miller and Santonio Holmes. This will confuse defenses and allow Roethlisberger to throw into single coverage’s.

2. How good is the all new Broncos team?

The starting roster of key players for the 2006 Broncos looked like this:

QB: Jake Plummer
RB: Tatum Bell
WR: Javon Walker
WR: Rod Smith
TE: Tony Scheffler

In 2007, here’s how it looks:

QB: Jay Cutler
RB: Travis Henry
WR: Javon Walker
WR: Brandon Stokley
TE: Daniel Graham

The entire offensive side of the ball has changed with the exception of Javon Walker. More changes have been made as well including G Montrae Holland, CB Dre Bly, DT Alvin McKinley, DT Sam Adams, and LB D.D. Lewis; not to mention a few backups they received as well. They completely changed almost the entire roster even after making it to the Conference Championships two years prior.

The new roster does look promising however. Cutler posted up a QB rating of 88.5 in the 5 games he played last season. The acquisition of Travis Henry also gives the team a proven starter on a team run by Mike Shanahan (a running back’s best friend). The receiving core is better too with a much younger Brandon Stokley as Cutler’s second option and a more experienced TE in Graham. They’ll need these receivers to help out as the AFC West was one of the hardest divisions in the league as far as passing yards allowed is concerned. As far as the defense goes, the Broncos now have the best CB tandem in the entire league. Dre Bly paired with Champ Bailey will give opposing offenses a hard time trying to get their passing game going. This Bronco team is definitely more impressive and the changes needed to take place. Cutler is too young however, and he will make mistakes that will cost the Broncos to miss out on the postseason this year.

1. How can anyone stop the Patriots?

Getting to the top story of the 2007 NFL season, the New England Patriots look immortal. With a whole new set of wide receivers including Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth, Kelley Washington, and Wes Welker, quarterback Tom Brady has many options in the pocket. This receiving core will also allow the field to open up giving more room for running back Laurence Maroney to run around in. A lot of people have written off Maroney because of the absence of Corey Dillon and the belief in the sophomore slump. He will succeed this year, solely because of this point. Safeties will be forced to stand back picking up wide receiver coverage’s, especially if head coach Bill Belichick decides to run the four wide receiver option every play (which he should). Seriously, how do you stop a four wide receiver option with Tom Brady having to choose between Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth, Wes Welker, and Troy Brown? You can’t! It’d be like trying to catch four chicken’s running around a barn. It’s hard enough catching one, but catching four? Forget it people, you’re not stopping the Patriots offense.

There has to be an answer; these guys are human after all. This isn’t Zeus and his divine cavalry we’re talking about. There is an option of simply outscoring the Patriots. Obviously, this isn’t very easy either. The Patriots defense was ranked 6th last year in total yards allowed, 294.4. In rushing yards allowed, it was ranked 5th, but in passing yards allowed it was ranked 12th. We have a weakness! Not a very strong weakness, but a weakness none-the-less. What makes this more of a problem is that the Patriots’ shutdown corner, Asante Samuel isn’t very happy with the team for franchising him and refusing to sign a long term contract with him. To this day, Samuel and the Patriots have not reached a deal and Samuel continues to hold out. He may take the option of not playing for the first 10 games of the season. Worse, another CB, Chad Scott is out for the year with a knee injury. He probably wasn’t going to replace Samuel in the lineup but he would’ve been an important bench player. This will be a huge blow to the Patriots secondary. Rodney Harrison, the team’s starting Strong Safety is another old player prone to injury. Also, Eugene Wilson, the team’s starting Free Safety is coming off an injury that kept him out of most of the 2006 season. This leaves rookie Brandon Meriweather and 23 year old, James Sanders at the safety positions if these two should go down.

Luckily for the rest of the AFC, outscoring the Patriots maybe doable. The list of teams that can accomplish this task include, the Cincinnati Bengals, the Indianapolis Colts, the San Diego Chargers, and the Jacksonville Jaguars. Best of all, all of these teams have a legitimate shot at making the playoffs; perhaps an upset waiting to happen? It certainly is possible.

References: ESPN.com, Pro-Football-Reference.com

Sports Moment of the Week

In the 'Oh My God, did you just see that?!' moment this week, Washington Nationals second baseman Ronnie Belliard, had an incredible play when he flipped the ball to shortstop Felipe Lopez on August 1st against the Cincinnati Reds to throw out outfielder Ryan Freel. There is no way to describe how awesome this play was, you're just going to have to watch it yourself.