BEARS O-LINE & WR ISSUES CONTINUE, RAMS ON RIGHT TRACK, DANTE GETS MONDAY AUDITION, PLUS CHIEFS & MIZZOU CAMP NOTES
Last season the Chicago Bears had offensive line & wide receiver issues, meaning neither was playoff caliber. Yes they got to the playoffs, but they just weren't good enough when it counted. Looking at their roster & watching them squeak by Buffalo 10-3, I don't see that they've done nearly enough to rectify these problems. The mighty Bills recorded 9 sacks & another 8 QB hits. Sorry Bear fans, this is unacceptable. With center Olin Kruetz kicked to the curb, guard Robert Garza was moved to the pivot. Second-year left tackle J'Marcus Webb looked lost & the Bears don't have the right depth to shuffle people around. Shawne Merriman had 2 sacks, 2 tackles for loss & 2 additional hits on the quarterback. Rookie DT Marcel Dareus had 1 of each. The hits on Chicago quarterbacks began in the first quarter & continued until the final gun. The wide receiver problem is still there unless you believe Cowboy cast-off, Roy Williams is some sort of savior. Devon Hester, Johnny Knox, Earl Bennett & Williams, this is a solution? Chicago just might be a 1-year wonder when playoff talk begins, too many of the same problems with no viable solutions.
The Raiders got a lot of bad news recently. Speedy wide receiver Jacoby Ford broke his hand in practice & will be sidelined for another 2-3 weeks. Fellow wideout Chaz Schilens, who missed most of last season, injured his left knee & is "week-to-week" according to coach Hue Jackson. Backup safety Hiram Eugene sustained a dislocated hip, requiring surgery & he will be lost for the season.
I watched the Colt-Rams game Saturday evening & simply put, the Rams are headed in the right direction. Looking at their roster & after seeing them play, I'd say St. Louis is the favorite to win this division. That's if they can survive the 1st half of the season when they face Philly, NYG, Baltimore, Green Bay, Dallas & New Orleans. The second half includes home & away with the NFC West & Cincinnati. They looked like a playoff contender against the Manning-less Colts. Quarterback Sam Bradford looked like a playoff QB as he led his team to 17 points in 4 possessions. Rookie tight end Lance Kendricks had a big night & looks like the type of weapon in the middle of the field Bradford was lacking last year. Danario Alexander should contribute after finally getting his knee right & going thru a training camp with the Rams. Brandon Gibson & Austin Pettis should also be a part of the WR rotation. Now if Jon Avery can return from ACL surgery, Bradford should have a good group of receivers to utilize. Cadillac Williams & Jerious Norwood are the much needed relief for Steven Jackson in the backfield & the addition of tough-guy offensive guard Harvey Dahl completes the Ram O-line. Kicker Josh Brown boomed a 60-yard field goal before half & added a 53-yarder in the second half. This team will score, can they stop their opponents enough to be a playoff team? I think they will.
The Cleveland Browns designated placekicker Phil Dawson as their franchise player. They, like many other NFL teams, brought in another kicker for training camp, don't want to wear out the #1 guy. The Browns signed former Mizzou placekicker Jeff Wolfert as their camp kicker. Wolfert, for you non-Mizzou fans, missed but 4 field goals in two seasons after walking on from the Tiger swimming team. He also kicked over 100 PAT's without a miss. In their game against Green Bay, Wolfert kicked a PAT & field goals of 44 & 46-yards. He may not unseat Phil Dawson in Cleveland, but I think he'll wind up on someone's roster by opening day. I loved wide receiver Randall Cobb before the draft, wanted him for the Chiefs & after watching him in his NFL debut Saturday night, I can tell you he is going to be everything I thought he would be. Cobb will force coach Mike McCarthy to fit him into this very talented Packer wide receiver rotation. Also of note in this game was Browns starting quarterback, Colt McCoy, who was 9 of 10 for 135-Yards & a touchdown in one quarter of work.
The Patriots continue looking under every rock for veteran players who might still have something left. Wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh & safety Darren Sharper will work out for the Pats on Monday. Houshmandzadeh is probably slower than any receiver the Pats currently have, so this is somewhat of a mystery, they need deep speed. The Patriots never addressed that need in the draft or in free agency. Sharper was a great player for a number of years in Green Bay, Minnesota & New Orleans, but after watching him last season, I have doubts as to how much he has left in the tank. He just can't cover the deep centerfield anymore.
The Cam Newton era began for the Carolina Panthers on Saturday night as the number one overall pick made his NFL debut against the New York Giants. He followed Jimmy Clausen who threw a picksix on his 1st attempt but came back on the very next drive to lead the Panthers to a score, a 12-yard TD toss to TE Greg Olsen. Newton struggled, completing just 8 of 19 passes.
How bad is the quarterback situation in San Francisco? If you saw any of this game, you'd know it isn't all Alex Smith's & rookie Colin Kaepernick's fault. The Niner offensive line was horrible the other night surrendering 6 sacks & another 10 hits on their quarterbacks. Kaepernick fumbled twice, Smith once. It was very hard to watch, I thought one of them was going to get hurt seriously as their throwing arms were hit down after down. New coach Jim Harbaugh may have seen enough to make a move, at least a temporary one until Kaepernick is ready to start. Dante Culpepper will get an audition with Harbaugh's team on Monday. Culpepper is bigger & way stronger, but he's always been a serious fumbler, so I don't know how much of an improvement a guy who last played in the UFL will be.
The SEC gave, what is essentially a temporary thumbs down to Texas A&M moving into their conference in 2012. I said temporary, this may not be over as the statement released sort of left the door open for future expansion to 14 teams. It could happen quickly or not until next year, but the SEC has college football brand superiority, especially when we're talking television revenues. Adding two solid teams, say A&M & Florida State, would only add to those revenues. A&M may have a difficult time escaping the BIG-12, financially that is. Their out could cost as much as $20 million, but they would make it back in their first season of SEC TV bucks. I'm sure this story will drag on for weeks. But this is the last you'll hear of it on these pages until something more concrete happens.
I expect the NFL to add Terrelle Pryor to the supplemental draft that takes place on Wednesday. Ohio State informed the league they had dismissed Pryor from their program. Pryor & his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said he had quit the team "to save his teammates from the stress of having him as a teammate." The difference between quiting & being dismissed may save a shattered ego somewhat but it doesn't help his chances with the NFL. If he was dismissed, he's eligible, no question.
Mizzou coach Gary Pinkel said during spring workouts he wanted to get away from the running back by committee his Tigers used last season after Derrick Washington was suspended & later dismissed from the team. After 10 practices, Pinkel designated junior running back Kendial Lawrence as his starter. It looks like he made the right choice. In Saturday's first scrimmage, Lawrence ripped off back-to-back 60-yard touchdown runs. He finished the afternoon with 133-yards on just 8 carries. More importantly, he showed Pinkel & everyone else, he is a threat to take it to the house every time he touches the ball. Just as important to Tiger fans, new starting quarterback James Franklin had a solid quarter & a half, completing 16 of 23 for 187-yards, a touchdown & an interception. True freshman quarterback Corbin Berkstresser, who I just bragged on Friday, threw three picks on his 16 of 29 passing day. Not a good showing. Jimmy Costello had a hot hand with 12 of 13 for 109-yards. Receivers T.J. Moe, Michael Egnew, Rolandis Woodland(subbing for injured Jerrell Jackson) & backup TE Andrew Jones, all caught 6 passes. Wes Kemp, also a starter, caught but one pass but it was a 25-yard scoring toss from Franklin.
Kendial Lawrence
On the defensive side, Mizzou's first 5-star recruit in years, Sheldon Richardson finished his 1st scrimmage with 3 tackles, 2 for loss. In the sack department, starting defensive ends Brad Madison & Jacquies Smith plus LB Will Ebner all had one. But it was true freshman Shane Ray from Bishop Miege High School who led Tiger defenders with 2, playing against fellow 3rd teamers. Linebacker Zavier Gooden had a tackle for loss & also blocked a field goal attempt. So what we learned from Pinkel's first scrimmage of summer camp was the guys he is expecting to excel, did just that on Saturday.
Up in St. Joseph, head coach Todd Haley cranked up the intensity on Sunday after a day off following a pretty lackluster showing Friday night against Tampa Bay. Full pads & lots of hitting was the order of the day. Making his first appearance was newly acquired offensive tackle Jared Gaither. He looked pretty lean for a man 6'9" & 340-pounds. What kind of shape Gaither's in is another issue. Haley said in his pre-practice news conference he wanted to get a baseline on Gaither's conditioning. The coach said he would play Gaither at left tackle with the 2nd team for now. I have a few thoughts on Gaither. I was led to believe he had issues with some of his Raven teammates. But former Baltimore teammates Kelly Gregg & Le'Ron McClain now with the Chiefs, both vouched for Gaither. In fact they gushed about what a great deal it was to acquire him & have him as a teammate again. So what is the truth? Normally it's found somewhere in the middle. Gregg & McClain might not have anything but positive memories of playing with Gaither prior to him sitting out the entire season last year with back problems. But there might be other Ravens who did have issues with Gaither. Like I said, probably somewhere in the middle. Another thought about Gaither's conditioning. He hasn't done much since being placed on I.R. before last season. With the lockout, he hasn't participated in any practices, played in a game(s) or been in a weight room in a calender year. That's a lot of sitting around. Is that why the Raiders backed off signing him nearly 3 weeks ago? Was it his back or his lack of conditioning that scared Oakland? There's a possibility Scott Pioli will place him on the PUP list. If he can get himself into playing shape & his back is willing, Gaither could return to active duty by week 7 or 8. If that happens, I wonder if Haley & O-line coach Bill Muir will want to start Gaither on the left side & move Brandon Albert to right tackle? In a perfect world, that is the right move, Gaither is a superior left tackle to Albert but making such a move with Albert, when he never played that position, could be risky in the middle of the season.
In today's practice, rookie OLB Justin Houston was moved ahead of Cameron Sheffield. This could change after next week's game, but based on Friday night, that's the right move, Sheffield was invisible & Houston looked like he had the kind of potential we saw before he was drafted.
The Raiders got a lot of bad news recently. Speedy wide receiver Jacoby Ford broke his hand in practice & will be sidelined for another 2-3 weeks. Fellow wideout Chaz Schilens, who missed most of last season, injured his left knee & is "week-to-week" according to coach Hue Jackson. Backup safety Hiram Eugene sustained a dislocated hip, requiring surgery & he will be lost for the season.
I watched the Colt-Rams game Saturday evening & simply put, the Rams are headed in the right direction. Looking at their roster & after seeing them play, I'd say St. Louis is the favorite to win this division. That's if they can survive the 1st half of the season when they face Philly, NYG, Baltimore, Green Bay, Dallas & New Orleans. The second half includes home & away with the NFC West & Cincinnati. They looked like a playoff contender against the Manning-less Colts. Quarterback Sam Bradford looked like a playoff QB as he led his team to 17 points in 4 possessions. Rookie tight end Lance Kendricks had a big night & looks like the type of weapon in the middle of the field Bradford was lacking last year. Danario Alexander should contribute after finally getting his knee right & going thru a training camp with the Rams. Brandon Gibson & Austin Pettis should also be a part of the WR rotation. Now if Jon Avery can return from ACL surgery, Bradford should have a good group of receivers to utilize. Cadillac Williams & Jerious Norwood are the much needed relief for Steven Jackson in the backfield & the addition of tough-guy offensive guard Harvey Dahl completes the Ram O-line. Kicker Josh Brown boomed a 60-yard field goal before half & added a 53-yarder in the second half. This team will score, can they stop their opponents enough to be a playoff team? I think they will.
The Cleveland Browns designated placekicker Phil Dawson as their franchise player. They, like many other NFL teams, brought in another kicker for training camp, don't want to wear out the #1 guy. The Browns signed former Mizzou placekicker Jeff Wolfert as their camp kicker. Wolfert, for you non-Mizzou fans, missed but 4 field goals in two seasons after walking on from the Tiger swimming team. He also kicked over 100 PAT's without a miss. In their game against Green Bay, Wolfert kicked a PAT & field goals of 44 & 46-yards. He may not unseat Phil Dawson in Cleveland, but I think he'll wind up on someone's roster by opening day. I loved wide receiver Randall Cobb before the draft, wanted him for the Chiefs & after watching him in his NFL debut Saturday night, I can tell you he is going to be everything I thought he would be. Cobb will force coach Mike McCarthy to fit him into this very talented Packer wide receiver rotation. Also of note in this game was Browns starting quarterback, Colt McCoy, who was 9 of 10 for 135-Yards & a touchdown in one quarter of work.
The Patriots continue looking under every rock for veteran players who might still have something left. Wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh & safety Darren Sharper will work out for the Pats on Monday. Houshmandzadeh is probably slower than any receiver the Pats currently have, so this is somewhat of a mystery, they need deep speed. The Patriots never addressed that need in the draft or in free agency. Sharper was a great player for a number of years in Green Bay, Minnesota & New Orleans, but after watching him last season, I have doubts as to how much he has left in the tank. He just can't cover the deep centerfield anymore.
The Cam Newton era began for the Carolina Panthers on Saturday night as the number one overall pick made his NFL debut against the New York Giants. He followed Jimmy Clausen who threw a picksix on his 1st attempt but came back on the very next drive to lead the Panthers to a score, a 12-yard TD toss to TE Greg Olsen. Newton struggled, completing just 8 of 19 passes.
How bad is the quarterback situation in San Francisco? If you saw any of this game, you'd know it isn't all Alex Smith's & rookie Colin Kaepernick's fault. The Niner offensive line was horrible the other night surrendering 6 sacks & another 10 hits on their quarterbacks. Kaepernick fumbled twice, Smith once. It was very hard to watch, I thought one of them was going to get hurt seriously as their throwing arms were hit down after down. New coach Jim Harbaugh may have seen enough to make a move, at least a temporary one until Kaepernick is ready to start. Dante Culpepper will get an audition with Harbaugh's team on Monday. Culpepper is bigger & way stronger, but he's always been a serious fumbler, so I don't know how much of an improvement a guy who last played in the UFL will be.
The SEC gave, what is essentially a temporary thumbs down to Texas A&M moving into their conference in 2012. I said temporary, this may not be over as the statement released sort of left the door open for future expansion to 14 teams. It could happen quickly or not until next year, but the SEC has college football brand superiority, especially when we're talking television revenues. Adding two solid teams, say A&M & Florida State, would only add to those revenues. A&M may have a difficult time escaping the BIG-12, financially that is. Their out could cost as much as $20 million, but they would make it back in their first season of SEC TV bucks. I'm sure this story will drag on for weeks. But this is the last you'll hear of it on these pages until something more concrete happens.
I expect the NFL to add Terrelle Pryor to the supplemental draft that takes place on Wednesday. Ohio State informed the league they had dismissed Pryor from their program. Pryor & his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said he had quit the team "to save his teammates from the stress of having him as a teammate." The difference between quiting & being dismissed may save a shattered ego somewhat but it doesn't help his chances with the NFL. If he was dismissed, he's eligible, no question.
Mizzou coach Gary Pinkel said during spring workouts he wanted to get away from the running back by committee his Tigers used last season after Derrick Washington was suspended & later dismissed from the team. After 10 practices, Pinkel designated junior running back Kendial Lawrence as his starter. It looks like he made the right choice. In Saturday's first scrimmage, Lawrence ripped off back-to-back 60-yard touchdown runs. He finished the afternoon with 133-yards on just 8 carries. More importantly, he showed Pinkel & everyone else, he is a threat to take it to the house every time he touches the ball. Just as important to Tiger fans, new starting quarterback James Franklin had a solid quarter & a half, completing 16 of 23 for 187-yards, a touchdown & an interception. True freshman quarterback Corbin Berkstresser, who I just bragged on Friday, threw three picks on his 16 of 29 passing day. Not a good showing. Jimmy Costello had a hot hand with 12 of 13 for 109-yards. Receivers T.J. Moe, Michael Egnew, Rolandis Woodland(subbing for injured Jerrell Jackson) & backup TE Andrew Jones, all caught 6 passes. Wes Kemp, also a starter, caught but one pass but it was a 25-yard scoring toss from Franklin.
Kendial Lawrence
On the defensive side, Mizzou's first 5-star recruit in years, Sheldon Richardson finished his 1st scrimmage with 3 tackles, 2 for loss. In the sack department, starting defensive ends Brad Madison & Jacquies Smith plus LB Will Ebner all had one. But it was true freshman Shane Ray from Bishop Miege High School who led Tiger defenders with 2, playing against fellow 3rd teamers. Linebacker Zavier Gooden had a tackle for loss & also blocked a field goal attempt. So what we learned from Pinkel's first scrimmage of summer camp was the guys he is expecting to excel, did just that on Saturday.
Up in St. Joseph, head coach Todd Haley cranked up the intensity on Sunday after a day off following a pretty lackluster showing Friday night against Tampa Bay. Full pads & lots of hitting was the order of the day. Making his first appearance was newly acquired offensive tackle Jared Gaither. He looked pretty lean for a man 6'9" & 340-pounds. What kind of shape Gaither's in is another issue. Haley said in his pre-practice news conference he wanted to get a baseline on Gaither's conditioning. The coach said he would play Gaither at left tackle with the 2nd team for now. I have a few thoughts on Gaither. I was led to believe he had issues with some of his Raven teammates. But former Baltimore teammates Kelly Gregg & Le'Ron McClain now with the Chiefs, both vouched for Gaither. In fact they gushed about what a great deal it was to acquire him & have him as a teammate again. So what is the truth? Normally it's found somewhere in the middle. Gregg & McClain might not have anything but positive memories of playing with Gaither prior to him sitting out the entire season last year with back problems. But there might be other Ravens who did have issues with Gaither. Like I said, probably somewhere in the middle. Another thought about Gaither's conditioning. He hasn't done much since being placed on I.R. before last season. With the lockout, he hasn't participated in any practices, played in a game(s) or been in a weight room in a calender year. That's a lot of sitting around. Is that why the Raiders backed off signing him nearly 3 weeks ago? Was it his back or his lack of conditioning that scared Oakland? There's a possibility Scott Pioli will place him on the PUP list. If he can get himself into playing shape & his back is willing, Gaither could return to active duty by week 7 or 8. If that happens, I wonder if Haley & O-line coach Bill Muir will want to start Gaither on the left side & move Brandon Albert to right tackle? In a perfect world, that is the right move, Gaither is a superior left tackle to Albert but making such a move with Albert, when he never played that position, could be risky in the middle of the season.
In today's practice, rookie OLB Justin Houston was moved ahead of Cameron Sheffield. This could change after next week's game, but based on Friday night, that's the right move, Sheffield was invisible & Houston looked like he had the kind of potential we saw before he was drafted.
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