SLAMMING LJ & WHO ARE THE PLAYOFF CONTENDERS?
I read with interest comments about Larry Johnson from several current & former NFL players. Kawika Mitchell, picked in the same 2003 draft by Kansas City as Johnson, Tweeted this opinion of his former teammate; "LJ doesn't respect women, so I have no thoughts about him really, people like him R nothing. At 1 point, we were buds". Jerome Bettis said his SI.com column Monday he thought Johnson was poison & a contending team claiming him could regret doing so. He doesn't see anyone taking that kind of risk this season. Bettis believes Johnson still has the talent to play in the league, but he has such a long history of screwing up, he's a major gamble people should avoid.
The Chiefs have a boatload of salary cap cash, hopefully they will use some of it to secure some high quality unrestricted free agent talent. Here's three to consider at a position where we need someone to make an impact, nose tackle:
Vince Wilfork New England, in his 6th season out of Miami(Fla). Because Scott Pioli drafted him, I'd say he is a front runner. The 6' 2" 325-pound run-stuffer is the kind of high quality player the Chiefs need to make dramatic improvement.
Aubrayo Franklin San Francisco, in his 7th season out of Tennessee. Has really excelled since Mike Singletary became head coach, a high quality plugger who always demands a double team on running plays. At 6' 1" & 317, he's a load to move.
Ryan Pickett Green Bay, in his 9th season & currently recovering from knee surgery that ended his season. The 6' 2" 330-pounder has of the best nose tackles in the league for several seasons, not only occupying 2 blockers, but making a lot of tackles as well. How quickly he recovers from knee surgery will dictate his value in the off-season. Pickett was having a monster season for the Pack until he was injured.
Bears' fans are finding that Jay Cutler isn't a one-man team. Losing Brian Urlacher & Pisa Tinoisamoa, both starting linebackers, coupled with a non-existent running game & a questionable receiving corps has left the Bears no longer looking like the contender people thought they were last spring. They can't get a consistent pass rush & without much linebacker depth, they've been vulnerable to the run. Head coach Lovie Smith took over calling the defensive signals this year & it's not going well, Cincinnati lit them up for 45 two weeks ago & Kurt Warner threw 5 touchdowns against them Sunday, scoring 41. On offense, they've been unable to spring RB Matt Forte all season. With their remaining schedule, Minnesota twice, Philly, Baltimore, Frisco & Green Bay, I think the Bears are looking at a .500 season with no playoffs.
Two teams I predicted to be playoff teams this season are in rough shape. The Giants & Seahawks may find themselves either out of the playoff picture soon or if they do make it, it will be as a wildcard & they'll be on the road. The Giants have what I see as 3 problems, one, they haven't got a redzone receiver. Mario Manningham, Hakeem Nicks, Sinorice Moss & Steve Smith aren't very tall, in fact Nicks at 6' 1" is the only wideout on the roster over 5' 11". They went from 6' 5" Plaxico Burress & 6' 3" Amani Toomer to this group in one season & they're hard to spot close to the endzone. Two, they haven't run the ball consistently, something they've done the last 2 seasons. Three, their secondary is playing so soft right now, it was especially noticeable last night. Charger QB Phillip Rivers took his team right down the field to score the winning touchdown with 30-seconds left. Rivers has 2 wideouts over 6' 5" & they once again exposed this secondary. Losing safety Kenny Phillips was a major blow to this defense. Seattle's offensive line has been plagued by injury all season, losing all-pro Walter Jones & Sean Locklear, both starting tackles. It's hurt their running game & it's even gotten QB Matt Hasselback knocked out of a couple of games.
The NFC has 10 teams at 4-4 or better, only 6 can make the playoffs, so who is in & who is out? New Orleans, Minnesota & Arizona all look like division winners right now. Who wins the East is anyones guess. I thought it would be the Giants, but they have some real issues that may keep them at home in January. Philly & Dallas could both make it, leaving one more spot. Can Atlanta do something they've never done, make the playoffs two years in a row? Can Arizona do something they've never done two years in a row, have winning seasons in back-to-back years? Green Bay has offensive line issues that are very real, they lead the league in sacks surrendered at 37. Losing Ryan Pickett at nose tackle was also a major loss to a defense just learning the 3-4. Chicago, Frisco & even Carolina are dark horses that I can't see making it. To me, it looks like New Orleans, Minnesota, Arizona, Philadelphia, Dallas & Atlanta.
As I watched the Steelers make Denver look like the team many thought they would be, ESPN put a graphic onscreen about who Pittsburgh have drafted the past 7 seasons. How's this for great drafting? Troy Polamalu in '03, Ben Roethlisberger in '04,TE Heath Miller(their leading receiver this season) in '05, WR Santonio Holmes(Super Bowl MVP) in '06, LB Lawrence Timmons in '07, RB Rashard Mendenhall(155 yards Monday night) in '08 & DE "Ziggy" Hood in '09. Director of Football Operations, Kevin Colbert, has done an awesome job assembling a team that has won 2 of the last 4 Super Bowls & should be a strong contender for more. Let's compare the Chiefs fine draft work during this same period shall we? In 2003, the Chiefs traded the 16th pick to Pittsburgh & they used it to select Troy Polamalu, actually, we should stop right there. We used Pittsburgh's pick to select Larry Johnson. We got an additional 3rd round pick in the trade & we used it to select CB Julian Battle. I said Julian Battle......never heard of him? He was a kid from Tennessee nearly every single scout said was a career underachiever. During his 3-year stint in Kansas City, he delivered on those underachiever promises. In '04 K.C. traded out of the first round with Detroit, choosing instead to select DT Junior Siavii. How'd that work out? We used the 4th round throw-in from Detroit to select Samie Parker. In '05 we took Derrick Johnson, '06 Tamba Hali, '07 Dwayne Bowe, '08 Glenn Dorsey & in '09 Tyson Jackson. Who did better?
Two NFL games caught me off guard, Baltimore looking so ordinary in their 17-7 defeat at Cincinnati & Green Bay's 4th quarter meltdown at Tampa Bay. The Raven defense hadn't given up 100 yards to a rusher in 39 games & now they've had 3 runners pass the century mark in the last 5 games. My boy, Joe Flacco had a rough afternoon, absorbing 4 sacks & hit another 8 times. He also threw 2 picks, something he hasn't done all year. The Ravens still have Pittsburgh twice & Indy, so getting to 10 wins is going to be tough. Green Bay allowed the Bucs to score 21 unanswered points in the 4th quarter. The Pack gave up a blocked punt for a touchdown & an interception return for a touchdown. A rookie QB in his first start, Josh Freeman, was ineffective all day until the 4th quarter when he completed 7 of 10 for 2 touchdowns. Tampa had less than 200 yards entering the final period while the Packers had nearly 400 yards. As usual, the Packers surrendered 6 sacks & had QB Aaron Rogers hit another 12 times. I'd say half of the sacks & half of the hits were on him, he simply holds the ball too long. I don't think Rogers has developed an internal clock to tell him it's time to get rid of the ball. He better figure it out soon or he won't survive the season.
The Chiefs have a boatload of salary cap cash, hopefully they will use some of it to secure some high quality unrestricted free agent talent. Here's three to consider at a position where we need someone to make an impact, nose tackle:
Vince Wilfork New England, in his 6th season out of Miami(Fla). Because Scott Pioli drafted him, I'd say he is a front runner. The 6' 2" 325-pound run-stuffer is the kind of high quality player the Chiefs need to make dramatic improvement.
Aubrayo Franklin San Francisco, in his 7th season out of Tennessee. Has really excelled since Mike Singletary became head coach, a high quality plugger who always demands a double team on running plays. At 6' 1" & 317, he's a load to move.
Ryan Pickett Green Bay, in his 9th season & currently recovering from knee surgery that ended his season. The 6' 2" 330-pounder has of the best nose tackles in the league for several seasons, not only occupying 2 blockers, but making a lot of tackles as well. How quickly he recovers from knee surgery will dictate his value in the off-season. Pickett was having a monster season for the Pack until he was injured.
Bears' fans are finding that Jay Cutler isn't a one-man team. Losing Brian Urlacher & Pisa Tinoisamoa, both starting linebackers, coupled with a non-existent running game & a questionable receiving corps has left the Bears no longer looking like the contender people thought they were last spring. They can't get a consistent pass rush & without much linebacker depth, they've been vulnerable to the run. Head coach Lovie Smith took over calling the defensive signals this year & it's not going well, Cincinnati lit them up for 45 two weeks ago & Kurt Warner threw 5 touchdowns against them Sunday, scoring 41. On offense, they've been unable to spring RB Matt Forte all season. With their remaining schedule, Minnesota twice, Philly, Baltimore, Frisco & Green Bay, I think the Bears are looking at a .500 season with no playoffs.
Two teams I predicted to be playoff teams this season are in rough shape. The Giants & Seahawks may find themselves either out of the playoff picture soon or if they do make it, it will be as a wildcard & they'll be on the road. The Giants have what I see as 3 problems, one, they haven't got a redzone receiver. Mario Manningham, Hakeem Nicks, Sinorice Moss & Steve Smith aren't very tall, in fact Nicks at 6' 1" is the only wideout on the roster over 5' 11". They went from 6' 5" Plaxico Burress & 6' 3" Amani Toomer to this group in one season & they're hard to spot close to the endzone. Two, they haven't run the ball consistently, something they've done the last 2 seasons. Three, their secondary is playing so soft right now, it was especially noticeable last night. Charger QB Phillip Rivers took his team right down the field to score the winning touchdown with 30-seconds left. Rivers has 2 wideouts over 6' 5" & they once again exposed this secondary. Losing safety Kenny Phillips was a major blow to this defense. Seattle's offensive line has been plagued by injury all season, losing all-pro Walter Jones & Sean Locklear, both starting tackles. It's hurt their running game & it's even gotten QB Matt Hasselback knocked out of a couple of games.
The NFC has 10 teams at 4-4 or better, only 6 can make the playoffs, so who is in & who is out? New Orleans, Minnesota & Arizona all look like division winners right now. Who wins the East is anyones guess. I thought it would be the Giants, but they have some real issues that may keep them at home in January. Philly & Dallas could both make it, leaving one more spot. Can Atlanta do something they've never done, make the playoffs two years in a row? Can Arizona do something they've never done two years in a row, have winning seasons in back-to-back years? Green Bay has offensive line issues that are very real, they lead the league in sacks surrendered at 37. Losing Ryan Pickett at nose tackle was also a major loss to a defense just learning the 3-4. Chicago, Frisco & even Carolina are dark horses that I can't see making it. To me, it looks like New Orleans, Minnesota, Arizona, Philadelphia, Dallas & Atlanta.
As I watched the Steelers make Denver look like the team many thought they would be, ESPN put a graphic onscreen about who Pittsburgh have drafted the past 7 seasons. How's this for great drafting? Troy Polamalu in '03, Ben Roethlisberger in '04,TE Heath Miller(their leading receiver this season) in '05, WR Santonio Holmes(Super Bowl MVP) in '06, LB Lawrence Timmons in '07, RB Rashard Mendenhall(155 yards Monday night) in '08 & DE "Ziggy" Hood in '09. Director of Football Operations, Kevin Colbert, has done an awesome job assembling a team that has won 2 of the last 4 Super Bowls & should be a strong contender for more. Let's compare the Chiefs fine draft work during this same period shall we? In 2003, the Chiefs traded the 16th pick to Pittsburgh & they used it to select Troy Polamalu, actually, we should stop right there. We used Pittsburgh's pick to select Larry Johnson. We got an additional 3rd round pick in the trade & we used it to select CB Julian Battle. I said Julian Battle......never heard of him? He was a kid from Tennessee nearly every single scout said was a career underachiever. During his 3-year stint in Kansas City, he delivered on those underachiever promises. In '04 K.C. traded out of the first round with Detroit, choosing instead to select DT Junior Siavii. How'd that work out? We used the 4th round throw-in from Detroit to select Samie Parker. In '05 we took Derrick Johnson, '06 Tamba Hali, '07 Dwayne Bowe, '08 Glenn Dorsey & in '09 Tyson Jackson. Who did better?
Two NFL games caught me off guard, Baltimore looking so ordinary in their 17-7 defeat at Cincinnati & Green Bay's 4th quarter meltdown at Tampa Bay. The Raven defense hadn't given up 100 yards to a rusher in 39 games & now they've had 3 runners pass the century mark in the last 5 games. My boy, Joe Flacco had a rough afternoon, absorbing 4 sacks & hit another 8 times. He also threw 2 picks, something he hasn't done all year. The Ravens still have Pittsburgh twice & Indy, so getting to 10 wins is going to be tough. Green Bay allowed the Bucs to score 21 unanswered points in the 4th quarter. The Pack gave up a blocked punt for a touchdown & an interception return for a touchdown. A rookie QB in his first start, Josh Freeman, was ineffective all day until the 4th quarter when he completed 7 of 10 for 2 touchdowns. Tampa had less than 200 yards entering the final period while the Packers had nearly 400 yards. As usual, the Packers surrendered 6 sacks & had QB Aaron Rogers hit another 12 times. I'd say half of the sacks & half of the hits were on him, he simply holds the ball too long. I don't think Rogers has developed an internal clock to tell him it's time to get rid of the ball. He better figure it out soon or he won't survive the season.
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