The Mind Of An Football Crazed Man

Friday, February 19, 2010

Soooo When Does NFL Training Camps Open??

Welcome to my blog page and thanks for taking time to read my first blog ever. Most of them, if not all of my blogs are going to be sports related, and mostly on football both pro and college. So if you dont love sports or football you may not wanna read further. Although you may learn something if you choose to read further. I am a student of the game of football first and foremost and a sports fan second. I love the complexity of the game of football and the fact that its basically a chess match being played out on a field in front of millions of people. Its a thinking man;s game. So I will educate you from time to time on stuff that most people dont see or notice. I encourage people to voice their opinions on things that I say in my blogs becasue I love to talk about sports. If I could get a job doing it I would. Iam opinionated, but Iam logical and fair in my opinions on things and I dont let my personal feeling towards a team get in the way of my opinion. I dont wear the proverbial "rose colored glasses" that some fans or people do. With that being said, lets get to the opinionated part of this blog.

The NFL season has come to an end with the New Orleans Saints winning their first super bowl in franchise history. Congrats to the city of New Orleans and the New Orlean Saints. You guys had a great season and did something I didnt have faith that you guys could do. All year long I didnt think that their defense was as good as advertised and I still dont which the numbers prove that. They allowed over 475 yeards in the NFC Campionship and 430 yards in the super bowl. Those arent numbers of a great defense at all, unless its on XBOX or Playstation. I felt that their offense was their defense. The fact that they were able to get teams to scrap their game plans by mid second quarter helped make their defense look better than it was. Teams were forced to throw the ball more once they got down by 21 points or more which allowed the Saints defensive line to pin thier ears back and go after the quaterback and allowed the defense to play the pass aggresively which produced turnovers. That in turn made matters worse becasue then the Saints would score even more points and before you knew it the other team was out of the game. Now dont take these observations as me downgrading what they accomplished, I am just pointing out facts and why I thought a "complete team" ie; Vikings or Cowboys would derail them in the playoffs. The Cowboys showed everyone the blueprint on how to beat the Saints and the Vikings almost pulled it off. Unfortunately mental mistakes and turnovers stopped the Vikings from beating the Saints. The Vikings completely outplayed the Saints, the Saints only put up 260 yards and allowed the Vikings to gain 475 yards. If not for the turnovers, the Vikings would have won by 14 points at least. I think the Saints are a very talented team and did what they had to do to win by finding a way to close games out. They just did it in a XBOX/Playstation 3 kind of way, lol....

With all of that said its time to look towards free agency, the combine and the draft. Now the biggest buzz is this talk about Terrell Owens going to the Bengals. Actually this talk was started and is fueled by the most overrrated wide receiver in the NFL......Chad Johnson. Close your mouth, yes I said it. Chad Johnson is the most overrrated wide receiver in the NFL. He is an above average receiver at best, but he isnt a top 5 nor a top 10 wideout in the NFL. He has made a name for himself by putting up good numbers and with his mouth. Ask yourself.....If you are a defensive coordinator in the NFL, are you really worried about Chad hurting you? My answer is NO!! I have seen him not make big plays many, many times. Like Darrel Reavis said on NFL Network, Chad and T.O. are slouches. Unlike most big time wideouts, he doesnt have a defining moment in his career besides his antics. No one can say " hey! do u remember when Chad had ...... yards and did this and that and took over the game?" So I dont see how an above average wideout and a former top 5 wideout in Terrell Owens who is showing signs of slowing down, is going to help the Bengals get to the top. I could be wrong but both guys dont have the most reliable hands in the league, and dont show up at times for big games. I do have to give credit to T.O. though becasue he has in his career, but can he still do it?

Other interesting things that have happened or are still happening are the coaching changes. Pete Carrol has left USC and is now in Seattle. I think this is a good hire and I think he will do well. He has already made a smart move by going out and getting top assistants such a Alex Gibbs. Another coaching hire that I think will payoff big is Mike Shanahan going to Washington. Along with Mike goint to Washington, he stole his son away from my Texans to be his offensive coordinator. Mike's great offensive mind and his ability to turn no name quarterbacks like Jake Plummer into a pro bowl quaterback will payoff big for the Redskins. Shanahan already inherits a defense that is probabaly better than any he ever had in Denver, even better than his two super bowl winning teams. I look for big things from the Redskins, I wont be surprised if they are in the playoffs in two years or even more.

Now can someone please tell me WTF the Buffalo Bills are doing by hiring Chan Gailey? I mean really? Do they think he is a better coach than Leslie Frasier in Minnesota or Brian Billick? What has Chan Gailey done that warrants him another shot in the NFL? In my opinion Buffalo has not done anything to move that franchise in the right direction and I am starting to wonder if they have the right people in the front office that know too. We will be seeing a press conference in 2 or 3 years announcing that they are firing Chan Gailey. I'll bet my left nut on that!!! Another WTF hire is Mike Martz as the offensive coordinator for the Bears.......(BLANK STARE) Two hot heads in Jay Cutler and Mike Martz will be interesting to watch. We all know the offensive line problems that the Bears have and to go along with that, Martz isnt known for creating offenses that protect the quarteback. So Cutler will continue to get hit like a pinata and after awhile Cutler will let Martz know how much he doesnt like it. Somebody is gonna get cussed the fuck out!!!! If punches are thrown on the sideline between these two, I wont be surprised. Lovie Smith could be unemployed come this time next year, I dont see anything positive coming out of that situatuion.

Now as far as draft stuff goes.....the combine is starting up on February 25th and I cant wait !!According to Charley Casserly, this is the deepest draft class since 1983. Personally I dont trust anything he says, just look at his career as a general manager/ talent evaluater. He completely messed the Texans up and the best pick he ever made possibly his whole career was Mario Williams. People like to say he put together those great redskin teamsthat won super bowls. What people fail to realize is that Bobby Bethard was in control of that shit in washington, not Charley. So this talk of it being the deepest draft class since 1983 is crazy talk if you ask me. It looks deep but we wont know til 3 or 4 years later. I am very impressed with some of the prospects in this draft, but none give me that "oooooooo weeeee!!" feeling like Brian Cusing did last year except for Suh. This is a very deep draft in several areas, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Iam excited to see what my two teams do since they both need defensive help. (Texans and Patriots)

Now the question is who should go number one? Suh?.... Gerald McCoy?...... or Bradford? Personally I would go with Suh. Oklahoma and Texas Players have an stigmatism attached to them as already have reached their full potential once they leave college and lazy at times. So the possibility of them getting better is rare. Just look at all of the Oklahoma and Texas players who have been dissapointments or have never taken the next step as a pro. Tommy Harris, SS Roy Williams, WR Roy Williams, Casey Hampton, Derek Johnson, Leonard Davis.........do I need to go on? Plus I think Sam Bradford will be a bust. I have seen him alot up close and personal for the past two years. Yes he is accurate, he has a strong arm and can make all of the throws. The problem is that he played in a spread offense and he has the some of the issues that Tebow is dealing with. Along with that, in the spread offense ur not forced to completely read a defense. Typically you only have to make two reads then throw. Everytime Bradford had to read a defense completely he struggled or lost. (National Champioship Game) I could be wrong but I have seen many quaterbacks with Bradfords resume who didnt do well in the NFL. I think Jimmy Clausen and Colt McCoy will be better pros than Bradford. We will see though...................

Well this is the end of my first blog which was long. I had alot to say though.............I hope you liked it. If not oh well, I am not going to please everyone. Feel free to hit me up on twitter @theblackarigold or email me at sdjohnsonx3@yahoo.com and give me your feedback.

2 comments:

  1. Interesting first blog and something tells me you'll like the blogs that I write. Personally, I'm a Cowboys fan, but concerning your Texans, will THIS be the year they make the playoffs? They always look great(on paper) before the season starts, but they need to start closing games in 2010.

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  2. Talented_Ink.... Thanks for reading my blog and I will be sureto check yours out. As faras the Texans go I agree that they need to start closing games out. Many NFL analyst are saying that they could be the New Orleans Saints next year. When you compare the Saints of last year and the Texans of this year there are alot of similaritites. In 2008 the Saints were a very talented top 5 offensive team with a inconsistent defense and didnt know how to close games. Well that pretty much describes the Texans of this year. I think they need to address the runnign game by signing Chester Taylor and getting a 1 or 2 technique DT and addressing that secondary and they will be a serious contender.

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