The Weekly Scout’s Take Oct. 6th Edition

Moss is coming home.

But is this really a good move or a real sign of desperation for Minnesota?  Speaking of this, does Bill Belichick actually think that New England is better now with Moss gone?  What else can Bill be up to when you have so many picks in the upcoming draft?

Plus some reactions from Week 4’s action in the NFL, a move that went by not as announced as Moss’s, some injuries and more coverage in this week’s edition of Weekly Scout’s Take. 

**I don’t think you could have turned on a radio, tv station, anything that had access to the sports world without hearing about Randy Moss being traded from the New England Patriots to the Minnesota Vikings for a 3^rd round pick in 2011.  This news had dominated headlines all day and had everyone measuring it up from every angle you could.  “Will it help Minnesota?  What does Minnesota look like now in the race for the NFC North?  What about New England?  Will New England get Vincent Jackson with the pick?”

This trade has a lot of different ramifications for both sides of the trade.  First and foremost, for Minnesota, it finally gives Brett a reliable deep threat that he’s been missing since Sidney Rice last season.  So far this year, he’s had Bernard Berrian who’s been dropping balls left and right.  Greg Camarillo and him can’t seem to get on the same page, and Percy Harvin has been battling migraines again and has not been the effective receiver we all know him to be.

Moss warrants double coverage.  Even if he’s not being targeted, you can’t afford to leave him in single coverage.  He’s a mismatch for most every DB in the league and putting him in a jump ball situation isn’t even fair.  With him going to Minnesota, he finally will start pulling defenders away from the offensive line and giving Brett and Adrian Peterson some room to breathe. 

Another angle to think about with this is when Sidney Rice actually does come back in the starting lineup for the second half of the season.  How dangerous does this passing attack look now?  You double cover both of them and you’re leaving Adrian Peterson alone to tear you apart in the run game.  Leave either one of them in single coverage and they’ll make you pay on the deep ball.  If Brett can get a few seconds to see a play develop, he’s going to make some defenses pay with these two.  I think this gives Minnesota a much better chance at making the NFC North competition a lot tougher. 

Looking at this from the side of New England, it’s hard to think that they are a better team now that Moss is gone.  With Welker now being one of your sole targets, and putting all the faith into Ben Tate, I can’t see them being a contender for the playoffs this year.  I know they still have Tom Brady and he won 3 Super Bowls with no-name receivers, but he also had a couple Hall of Famers on the opposite side of the ball.  This New England defense is not exactly a shut down unit, they give up a ton of yards and outside of the Miami game this past weekend, they’ve looked awful all season. 

One thing that definitely does leave the mind to wonder is what Bill Belichick is going to do with all those draft picks.  With the acquisition of Minnesota’s 3^rd rounder, they now have 2 draft picks in each of the first 4 rounds of the 2011 draft.  They managed to get Oakland’s 1^st for Richard Seymour, Carolina’s 2^nd round, Minnesota’s 3^rd round, and Denver’s 4^th round pick. 

From a realistic standpoint, do you think that Belichick would make the brave move to go after Vincent Jackson from the Chargers?  It makes sense to give Tom Brady a big threat like Moss but with time to grow.  Vincent Jackson is only 27 years old and has plenty of time left in his tank to give Tom Brady another deep threat for the 2^nd half of his career. 

Only problem is that this doesn’t fit Belichick’s way of thinking.  VJ has a lot of problems with DUI’s and getting in legal trouble.  The Patriots took on Moss who had his share of legal problems, but he’s also had a much more established history of performance than Vincent Jackson does.  When a guy has already had 5 1,000 yard receiving seasons, including 4 seasons where you have over 11 touchdowns, there is a bit of understanding that you can take some good with the bad.

VJ has not earned that yet, and I believe that’s why some teams have been apprehensive in trying to chase after him.  Don’t get me wrong, he’s had his fair share of suitors. The Seahawks, Redskins, and Vikings all were chasing after him heavily, but between San Diego and the prospective team, the deals were never completed.  I don’t believe San Diego will deal VJ to the Patriots just for the fear of running into them in the playoffs. 

** If you weren’t reading the very small print on any NFL web page today, you probably missed that Marshawn Lynch was traded to the Seattle Seahawks from the Buffalo Bills.

While it’s not as big of an impact as Randy’s was, it does help the Seahawks in a division that looks like the best record will be around .500.  Seattle had Justin Forsett as their primary back, but they wanted someone to help them in short situations.  They’re hoping that Lynch is able to give them that tough 1-3 yard gains that they need to be able to keep in games. 

It can only help them, however they need to focus heavily in the draft at their offensive line.  They get no push in the front at the point of attack, and it is definitely contributing to such a struggling offense.

**Is it just me, or does no team really look dominant this season?  The only team left undefeated is Kansas City, and that’s because they had an early bye week.  If you had bet at the beginning of the season that the last undefeated team would be KC, I’d say I’ll sponsor you and take you with me to Vegas so we can become millionaires. 

Pittsburgh was considered the dominant team and their defense was shutting everyone down until Baltimore comes in and Joe Flacco leads a gorgeous game winning drive to seal the game against the Steelers at home.

Chicago came into New York at 3-0 and got absolutely mauled by the New York Giants.  It wasn’t even funny, I actually felt bad for Jay Cutler seeing him get beat up like that in the first half.  By midway through the second quarter, he looked like had too much to drink.  He was all over the place.  You could tell right at first glance that there was a problem.  Then to boot, New York puts the backup QB out with 4 minutes left in the final quarter.  Good for New York to finally get some confidence in what looked to be a team that was one more loss away from completely imploding.

Indianapolis, the team that everyone always picks to goto the Super Bowl year in and year out because of Peyton, loses a heartbreaker in Jacksonville by way of a record setting 59-yard field goal by Josh Scobee in the final seconds.  Indy has some serious defense issues right now.  Peyton can keep them in games, but he can’t tackle people.  To add injury to insult, they lost backup S Melvin Bullitt for the season, putting them down to their reserve Safety.  Who knows when Bob Sanders will be healthy again?  This team has some real defensive issues and if they can’t bring consistent pressure, it’s going to be a long season with them facing Houston again.

I’ll be interested to see who starts slowly making the climb to separate themselves from the rest this year.  Early contenders could be the New York Jets, Pittsburgh Steelers (since they’re getting Big Ben back), Baltimore Ravens, and yes, you heard me right, the Dallas Cowboys. 

I know some people will look at me like I’m nuts, but they’re in a surprisingly weaker division than most would have expected so far.  They have the talent and finally put together a solid show all the way around against a good Houston team in Houston.  They can build from that and I think they have enough talent to really compete with everyone in the NFC, especially since the top teams of Green Bay and New Orleans both look very problematic right now.

Just as I say how well I did on my weekly picks, I go and blow it with both my “Sleepers…” but call both upsets on my SCREAMERS!!!!  Let me see if I can get it straightened out this week.

SCREAMER!!!  Minnesota Vikings at New York Jets

I think this definitely will be a good game.  Randy Moss’s first game back in purple; Darelle Revis is back from injury that he suffered getting beat by Randy Moss.  The 2^nd homecoming for Favre from his “former” team in between the Packers and Vikings.  I think this can be a really inspirational game for the Vikings, but New York is good for spoiling parties and is getting better by the week.

Moss looks good in his first game as a Viking, but lose on the road 27-21. 

SCREAMER!!!  Kansas City Chiefs at Indianapolis Colts

Undefeated Kansas City is coming into a very upset Indy where the Colts just lost a close one at division rival Jacksonville.  Kansas City is trying to prove that they belong in the talk of good teams this season, and this would definitely cement them in that talk with a win over Indy on Sunday.  Unfortunately, Peyton won’t exactly go for 2 consecutive losses.

Peyton outplays this Kansas City defense and hands them their first loss of the season 31-24.

Sleeper…  Philadelphia Eagles at San Francisco 49ers

You have an injured Michael Vick, a 0-4 Niners team, “Captain Checkdown” Kevin Kolb under center, and no real faith from either of these fanbases.  San Francisco plays to the level of their competition.  Which means, if the team

they’re playing stinks, they’ll probably stink too.  They’ve played the Saints and Falcons great this year, but stunk the joint up against the Seahawks.  Still, San Fran is desperate, and I just have no faith whatsoever in Kevin Kolb’s ability. 

San Fran finally notches their first win of the season over Philly 21-13.

Sleeper…  Jacksonville Jaguars at Buffalo Bills

I’d say that this would be a horrible game, but after seeing Jacksonville play the Colts so tight, I would only hope they follow it up with another great performance up in Buffalo.  The Bills don’t play anyone close (except the New England defense).  They’ve been blown out left and right, so I would think this will get ugly as well.  It’s a coin flip, since I have full faith in Jacksonville to blow this one and lose on the road, so we’ll see what my magic coin says.

Buffalo loses again, convincing more fans to stay home and focus on baseball 24-10.