The Philadelphia Eagles pairing cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie with Asante Samuel is bigger news to the Beast than Kevin Kolb moving to Arizona is. Kolb doesn’t scare me nearly as much as much Rodgers-Cromartie. Vince Young easily replaces him.
The Eagles saw Michael Vick as a change up to Kolb at the start of last season. Then the formula flipped with Kolb positioned as the change up to Vick. Now, Philly has two quarterbacks who mirror each other’s skill set. That’s as dangerous as Samuel and Rodgers-Cromartie in the same defensive backfield. Dangerous is a good way to describe the Eagles right now.
That’s on paper of course. Talent travels with the player. Performance does not always follow. Scheme and talent of surrounding players are big factors on NFL performance (see McNabb, Donovan). Scheme and talent are favorable for Rodgers-Cromartie. His new defense is better than the one he left.
Defense is easier to pick up than offense. Young has the bigger task than Rodgers-Cromartie. How well he does will tell us a lot about Michael Vick.
MV7 hasn’t convinced everyone that his Ron Mexico days are behind him even though he has been a model citizen in Philadelphia. Myth and legend has it that Donovan McNabb had a hand in Vick’s turnaround. There may be truth in that, but I put greater stock in Vick’s 40 days in the wilderness before he saw the light. (Jesus must live in Leavenworth. So many people find Him there.)
Word is that Young, like Bernard Hopkins, wanted little to do with McNabb and saw little reason to emulate him. Vick holds great appeal to a population set that does not bond with McNabb. Vick could be the mentor to Young that McNabb could never be. Andy Reid’s family brush with the law gives the coach his own empathy with troubled people. But Vick is the guy.
So what does Vick tell Young in private moments? Everybody mouths the same platitudes around team, coaches and authority. But what if no one else is listening? Does Vick commiserate with Young about them? The Man? The Media? White people? Or does he whisper that work ethic prolongs careers? Does he counsel about opportunities lost and regained? Does Vick remind, “You only get one shot at a second chance” as he said on his own return to the league? In a level where everybody is elite, does Vick get it into Young’s head that precision trumps ability?
We will never know the secrets shared between them, nor should we. But attitude and performance will tell us a lot about both VY and MV7.
Super Bowl contenders
The post-lockout teams with the best shot at the Super Bowl are the usual suspects: Philadelphia, New York Giants, Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers and maybe Indianapolis, San Diego, Atlanta, Kansas City and the (ugh) New York Jets. Those teams make my list, not just because they have talent, but because they are well-run organizations. It’s no coincidence that well-run orgs field perennial contenders. But well-run teams tend to be thinking, learning, adaptable enterprises. Right now, that’s a critical success factor.
After a non-existent offseason and compressed preseason, teams with internalized skills to learn and adapt are the ones best able to cope. They will more than cope; they will thrive while others struggle.
No team is better at that stuff than the New England Patriots. Jeff Saturday said the new CBA would not have happened if not for Pats owner Bob Kraft. If you’ve done business with Bill Belichick, you’ve been bamboozled, my friend. You may be happy about it too, as the Raiders are with Richard Seymour. But the Pats come out on the sweet side of those deals. One other thing the Pats do well is make better use of your players than you do.
The Patriots did it with Corey Dillon and Randy Moss, who is still in a blue funk over being dropped by the team. Now the Pats have Chad Ochocinco and Albert Haynesworth. Ocho says he will tone down the brashness for the Patriots. In return, he gets to catch Tom Brady passes. That makes every game a Pro Bowl game to him.
You just know that Belichick will motivate Haynesworth to want to play the 3-4. Selling players on The Patriot Way and winning games is what Belichick does.
Belichick will not let a player situation fester as Mike Shanahan did with Haynesworth. Belichick will find a way to make the most of Big Al’s talent before trading him for a second round pick in 2012.
The Patriots are more dangerous than the Eagles, on paper. Talent travels with the player. Performance does not always follow. Still, Ocho and Haynesworth are pluses for your fantasy team.
I’m calling the Pats the preseason favorite to win it all.
Point after: Brad Biggs at National Football Post says the Cowboys are trying to counter the Eagles pick-up of Rodgers-Cromartie by signing free agent cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha, thus sparking a brother against brother contest.
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