Sunday Football Fever

The Falcons put a beating on the Detroit Lions to open the 200 season.

Rookie QB Matt Ryan threw a TD with his first NFL pass and the route was on.  Michael Turner set a franchise single-game rushing record, with 220 yards and scored 2 TDs.  Jerious Norwood added 93 yards and TD.

The Good

The offensive line opened huge holes for Norwood and Turner and allowed Ryan plenty of time to look down field and find his receivers (allowed 1 sack).  Ryan looked good but still showed signs of inexperience, forcing some throws into coverage.  But overall, he looked poised and managed the game very well.  If Turner and Norwood can continue to put up yards like they did today, then Ryan won’t be asked to win many games this year.  And that’s a good thing.

The Bad

As I mentioned above, Ryan still made some poor decisions, but that should improve with more reps.  The Falcons still had too many penalties (7 for 68 yards) and most were stupid penalties.

The Ugly

Pass coverage.  John Kitna was 24/33 for 262 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT.  John Kitna.  The Lions had receivers wide open all game long and the only time the Falcons got any significant pressure on Kitna was late in the game, when the Lions had basically stopped running the ball.  The Falcons need to work on improving their pass rush and their coverage in the secondary.  They’ve still got Delhomme (twice), McNabb, Brees (twice) and Rivers, all of whom could torch the Falcons secondary if they don’t improve.

Interesting Stat

Attendance was 62,310.  Not a full house, but a good start, considering the bad taste left in most Atlantan’s mouth after the Michael Vick/Bobby Petrino mess of last season.

Overall it was a good job by Falcons.  Their offensive line played well enough to allow the running game to flourish and that took the pressure off Ryan.  As long as they can continue to play like they did today, then Ryan has a real opportunity to develop into the franchise QB the Falcons badly need.

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Tags: atlanta falcons, bobby petrino, defensive line, detroit lions, donovan mcnabb, drew brees, jake delhomme, jerious norwood, john kitna, matt ryan, michael turner, michael vick, offensive line, phillip rivers, secondary

About a week after legally changing his name from Chad Javon Johnson to Chad Javon Ocho Cinco, the Bengals have announced that they have started “the process of listing the former Chad Johnson as Chad Ocho Cinco for all club business, per the legal change of his surname effected in Florida. The list of appropriate changes will include Ocho Cinco wearing his new surname on the back of his jersey for Sunday’s season opener at Baltimore.”

I still think it’s all very funny…

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Tags: chad johnson, chad ocho cinco, cincinnati bengals

Tom Brady says he’s ready to go for this Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs.  In fact, Brady said he “could have played in all four exhibition games”, but apparently decided to rest instead.  Probably a wise decision.

This is obviously good news for the Patriots.  As I heard on PTI last night: The Patriots without Tom Brady are like… the Kansas City Chiefs.  Since he’s started 127 straight games, it’s hard to know for sure if that’s accurate, but it sounds about right to me.

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Tags: kansas city chiefs, new england patriots, tom brady

The Browns are an interesting team heading into this season.  I’ve heard a lot of people say they think the Browns will make the playoffs, while others have said they’ll be among the worst teams in football.

Either way, they finally got some good news — Braylon Edwards and Derek Anderson both returned to the practice field.  They could be a lethal combination this season, so it’s great to see them playing together again.

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Tags: braylon edwards, cleveland browns, derek anderson, practice

Apparently pleased with what they’ve seen so far this year, the Miami Dolphins have signed Ricky Wililams to a one-year extension, keeping him on the team through the end of the 2009 season.

Ricky’s 2008 salary is a paltry $730,000, but could be increased with “easily achievable incentives”.  His 2009 salary is expected to be higher.

Filed under: Contracts, Player News | No Comments

Tags: contract, miami dolphins, ricky williams

Chad Johnson Ocho Cinco is crazy, but hilarious.  He’s been pushing for people to call him “Ocho Cinco” for a few years now, so why not legally change his last name to it?  Now he can have it on his jersey (”maybe”, according to ESPN) and his Wikipedia entry is already Ochofied.

I think it’s brilliant.  He’s always wanting to do the “next best thing”, so this fits right in with that.  I still think he’s an idiot, but this move had me laughing out loud, so that’s gotta count for something.

Filed under: Player News | 1 Comment

Tags: chad johnson, chad ocho cinco

17 months after he was suspended for being an idiot, Adam “don’t call me the Pacman” Jones has been reinstated by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

Jones says he’s “always wanted to be part of the star” (playing for the Dallas Cowboys) and it understandably pleased with the reinstatement.

Goodell has made a lot of solid moves since he’s become the commish.  I agree that Jones should have been suspended, but I also agree that now’s the time to give him another chance.  Let’s see what he does with it…

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Tags: dallas cowboys, pacman jones, roger goodell, suspension

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has officially reinstated Brett Favre, and Favre reportedly will head to Green Bay and report to the Packers on Monday.

This simply will force the Packers to make a move.  Will they really keep him as a backup?  Trade him?  Release him?

Personally, I think trading him is their best move.  They’ve planned on having Aaron Rodgers starting, and now they have a chance to add another quality player to help the team if they trade Brett.  We’ll find out soon…

Filed under: Preseason News | No Comments

Tags: aaron rodgers, brett favre, green bay packers, roger goodell

The Boston Globe highlights a handful of rule changes for the upcoming NFL season.  Their article is largely about how the Patriots will deal with the changes (they’re a Boston paper, after all), but the changes are interesting.

• The “force out” ruling on sidelines catches is gone. In the past referees could rule that a player would have come down inbounds if he hadn’t been forced out of bounds.  Now you need two feet on the ground inbounds, period.  If the defender forces you out on your way down, too bad.
• The 5-yard incidental facemask penalty is gone. It’s either a 15-yarder or nothing.
• Instant reply on field-goal and extra-point attempts. This is certainly a result of Phil Dawson’s bizarre field goal against the Ravens last year.  It cleared the crossbar, then hit the curved part of the support bar, then bounced back over the crossbar.  It was initially ruled no good, but then the officials correctly changed that ruling.  It was a nice job by the officials, but it was silly that they weren’t allowed to use the replay on it.  Now they can.
• Teams can designate two defensive players to have radios in their helmets, but only one of them can be on the field at a time.

All in all, I like the changes.  The first two help to remove some arbitrary calls from the refs and make things more cut-and-dried, while the others are just standard steps forward.

The season is getting close!

Filed under: League News | No Comments

Tags: boston globe, facemask, instant reply, new england patriots, rules

At a news conference today, Dolphins coach Tony Sparano announced that Jason Taylor won’t be attending any off-season workouts, including training camp.

Taylor denies any problems between him and new VP Bill Parcells, but that is likely at the center of this.  Taylor says that “at the end of the day, I will show up and I will do anything I need to do, and I will be the best football player I can be.”

The problem is, no one knows when that day will be…

Filed under: Preseason News | No Comments

Tags: bill parcells, jason taylor, miami dolphis, tony sparano, training camp