Sean Payton and Bill Belichick together?
Is Chris Johnson serious that he’s targeting an unheard-of 2500 yard season?!
E.J. Henderson is already up and mobile after that horrible leg break last season?
Looks like the early start of the NFL Season, doesn’t it? It’s good to have football back again and I think most of you would agree. We got a lot to cover in this Weekly Scout’s Take so let’s just get right to it.
One quick note: Our Lead NFL Writer David Wothers will be featuring the “Weekly Scouts Take” each week leading up to and during the 2010 NFL season. Look for David’s articles exclusive to NFLHouse.com each week.
*Earlier in the week, Bill Belichick and Sean Payton were interviewed after a scrimmage that the Patriots and defending Superbowl champ Saints had. I believe both teams were using this as a learning experience from each other. Payton wants to learn from Belichick how to remain a contender for a long time, and Belichick is seeing how his new look defense matches up against the league’s elite passing offense.
Payton is trying to follow suit of what Belichick and only 5 other teams have been able to do in history; back to back championships. It’s not crazy to think that the Saints can repeat; they are still a fully loaded team on both sides of the ball. They’ve really only lost a couple key contributors in RB Bell and LB Fujita. Their depth is still a plus, and when you have Drew Brees manning under center, anything is possible.
The Saints did sneak up on everyone last year and I don’t think that the NFL populous took them seriously until around week 10-11 when only Peyton Manning’s Colts and the Saints were left as the 2 unbeaten teams with a stranglehold on their respective divisions. On a Monday night last season, the world saw how dominant the Saints were when they dismantled Belichick’s Patriots and made All-Pro Tom Brady look like a 7th round backup QB. This year, Who Dat Nation isn’t sneaking up on anyone, and that bullseye will rest straight on their back. This will be the real testament of seeing what this team is made of.
*Did anyone else hear what Chris Johnson is saying in Tennessee? I almost spit my coffee all over my screen when I saw him claiming that he’s aiming for 2500 yards rushing and wanting to keep his fantasy owners happy. Now, I am not taking anything away from what CJ2K did last year. He broke into the 2000 yard club, something that is a true milestone for any RB to achieve. I give CJ all the credit in the world for wanting to do better, but let’s look at this for a second. You ran for just over 2000 yards last year. You really were the team’s only target last year. The Titan WR core isn’t scaring anyone, so the gameplan in Nashville got pretty simple: Hand it to CJ and let him move with it.
With no one else on the team, I think he could quite possibly hit 2500 yards. The math breaks down that he’ll have to average almost 170 yards a game. Any fantasy team owner would drool at those numbers weekly. What I’m curious about is where is the talk about trying to win a championship in Tennessee? It’s great that you want to be one of the best statistical RB’s in the game, but ask Barry Sanders how it feels to be on a team that wasn’t always competing but running your heart out. He quit while he still had something left in the tank, but when you lose your passion for the game, it’s hard to fall back in love with it. My advice CJ, aim for those numbers, but focus on getting the win first. Rings always speak much louder than yardage stats.
*The whole world last year saw what happened to E.J. Henderson in prime time last season against the Cardinals. I was a little nauseated seeing that break, having experienced a femur break myself. With my personal injury, it took me almost 6 months and learning how to walk again to boot. E.J. is back at practice now, getting reps with the first team defense and is moving pretty well. Brad Childress is being reserved with naming him the starter, as he should be. Henderson had a titanium rod put in his leg and seems to be moving quite fluid with it. I wouldn’t immediately name him the starter yet since everyone always looks good in the preseason. Wait until you start seeing real contact and how well he holds up.
It is a true testament to his heart and dedication though. He did all the rehab time and tests that the team has asked of him, and passed all tests with flying colors. Chilly doesn’t want to say he’s the starter yet, but Henderson is really giving them no reason not to. My hat’s off to you E.J., I understand that struggle you went through, and the fact that you’re back out there ready to dive back in the pile says volumes about you.
*The only team in the NFL right now with more pressure on their shoulders than the Cowboys has to be the Jets. Gang Green, who’s hosting the “Hard Knocks” reality show, just added a much higher standard of drama to their regularly scheduled lineup. This Darrelle Revis situation is getting deeper by the minute, and no resolution is anywhere near in sight. This guy was their premier defender last year, shutting down any and all elite receiver competition that came across them. Multiple analysts have called this guy the best athlete in the NFL. That’s a tall statement when you’re being compared to guys like Manning, Brees, CJ, Andre Johnson, etc. So why on earth is there even a dispute between these 2?
Well, when your top DB in football is scheduled to make just around $1 million this year with 3 other DB’s on this team scheduled to make more than him, you would want proper compensation too. He wants to be the highest paid DB in football, topping Nnamdi Asomugha’s $45 million dollar contract from the Raiders. He’s got 2 years left on his contract in New York and from what his agents have stated to the media, he’s prepared to sit out the final year of his contract. Had the Collective Bargaining Agreement not been an issue, he most likely would have been signed and this would be a null point since he would have been a Restricted Free Agent.
Now Broadway Rex (yes, that’s my new name for him. He seems to get more press out there than the original Broadway Joe did) says they can still be a top tier defense without Revis and can still win. When you see Tom Brady 2 times a year, it might be wise to find a way to get Revis back out there. There are not many DB’s who can make Randy Moss disappear. Let Mike Tannenbaum , Broadway Rex and Woody Johnson all get a couple losses notched on the belt, and I’d bet the farm that all of the sudden, these contract disputes get worked out rather quickly. In the words of my favorite PrimeTime Deion Sanders, “Pay Da Man!”
*Reflecting back to this past Hall of Fame weekend, I just had to put a couple comments down on what I saw. First and foremost, I think Emmitt Smith tugged everyone’s heartstrings when he spoke out to Daryl “Moose” Johnston. The part that had me amazed was that Emmitt had that entire speech memorized. I really thought he was coming off the top, just had some ideas on what to elaborate on. He had worked on it for close to 6 months and it showed. It’s good to see that the final member of the famed Triplets finally make it to Canton. Growing up, that’s all I remembered seeing on the highlights week in and week out. Seeing it now as I’m older, it’s still just as exciting as when I catch all the classic clips on NFL Network.
When I heard Jerry Rice’s speech, I actually felt bad for him. To be arguably the best player ever to play in the century long history of this game we all love, my heart sunk a little to hear him say that he never got a chance to enjoy it. His preparation and work that he put in week in and week out was unparalleled, he was one of the best teachers when it came to other WR’s, and now some of them are going to end up in Canton one day (I.E. – Terrell Owens). His routines and dedication to practicing as hard, if not harder, than he played was one of the most defining attributes about Jerry and I don’t think we’ll ever see anything close to Jerry Rice again in the history of the NFL as long as I’m alive. This guy holds virtually every receiving record out there, and he’s got them leaps and bounds ahead of where everyone else is. They will need to move to a 20 game season to truly have someone give it a shot at matching or breaking his records. To think, his career average over 20 years was around 1064 yards and 10.4 touchdowns. To be able to do that over the course of 2 decades, I can’t even class that as amazing, that’s just unfathomable. (Anyone else see that hour long special that they had on him and Emmitt on NFL Network? I think he could still play, just not sure if he could deal with getting hit.)
Jerry, the game will always miss you.
Just some final thoughts:
One, if not the best, of the greatest defensive players of this decade, Derrick Brooks, is finally calling it a career. His commanding leadership led Tampa Bay to their first Superbowl title in 2002 and put Tampa’s defense on the top 10 all time greatest D’s to take the field. A storied career, first ballot Hall of Famer, and I believe the best player in Tampa Bay history. Congratulations on a great career Derrick, there’s a jacket and a bust waiting for you in Canton in 5 years.
So Big Ben Roethlisberger finally got back on the practice field and seems to be doing exactly what he needs to do: Keep his nose clean, play good football, and focus on making himself better. His hometown crowd in Pittsburgh seemed to welcome him back with open arms. He’s been loved all through OTAs and that’s the smartest thing he’s done in a while. He still has a 6 game time out to think about what got him into that mess in the first place. Let’s hope he’s spending those 6 weeks practicing more and more, because the AFC North isn’t very forgiving this season and they’ll need to fight every chance they can if they want to stay afloat.
Even though he’s a backup TE, the loss of John Phillips in the Hall of Fame game for Dallas was a lot more of a blow than people realized. This guy alternated between TE and FB, was great on blocking in run situations, and his hands were getting better and better. He tore his ACL after catching 4 passes for 60 yards and cut his season short. I truly believe he was going to leapfrog Martellus Bennett for the #2 spot behind Jason Witten and that’s huge since Dallas loves running 2 TE sets often. The pressure is back on Marty B, can you answer the calling? The ‘Boys need you.
Keep an eye out next week for the next edition of the Weekly Scout’s Take. As storylines build in the NFL, we’ll be on them to make sure our readers are kept up to date with all the best information and insider information we can provide.
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