Random thoughts from some of Week Two’s games

The second week showed the continued dominance of some units, while weaknesses became more glaring than the hot August sun for others:

Joey Harrington is still struggling, Vikings’ Adrian Peterson has some insane moves, Chad Pennington has Kellen Clemons hot on his tail, Vince Young still needs some work, Brady Quinn can throw touchdowns against the Lions’ 3rd string defense, the Panthers’ offense was completely inept against Philly, and the Jags have some wild running backs.

And now for some more organized thoughts on some of this week’s games.

The joys of football are upon us, and NGPF is here to catch you up on the games you missed

Good morning, America! I’m not sure about you, but I had a great time sitting back and watching some football on the good old HDTV. (I probably can’t say the same for my girlfriend, but hey, she needs her training too, right? After all, my weekends should be all but gone in a few weeks here.)

New Orleans bounces back and Buffalo puts up decent performance

Drew Brees showed America that the Pittsburgh loss was a deviation from what appears to be a dominating offense in New Orleans.  Talk about a team with young, yet polished, skill players in nearly very position…  I see a system as stat-friendly as Indianapolis and Cincinnati.

While it’s not glamorous, Olindo Mare may end up having a “resurgence” in the Superdome after a few too many years kicking from the Marlins infield dirt.

Welcome to Next Gen Pro Football’s pioneering effort into the world of live blogging.

For many of us that don’t have NFLN, this is our first glimpse of an actual NFL game since February.  Tonight will feature a match-up between the defending champioin Indianapolis Colts, and one of the NFC’s major playoff contenders, the Dallas Cowboys.

The game is on Fox, and scheduled for an 8pm kickoff.  So you know that really means 8:15 or something.

We’ll be back in a few minutes to give our thoughts on what to look for in this game, unless of course you enjoy Joe Buck’s baseball commentary.

The guy whose career just wouldn’t end has… ended… his… career.

The Indy Star has broke the biggest story of the week (and that’s not saying much): Tampa Bay FB Mike Alstott is set to announce his retirement at 2 PM PST today.

You can continue breathing now.

After spending 11 years with Tampa, he will retire as their all-time TD (71) and rushing TD leader (58). To that I say: wow, they sure haven’t scored too many touchdowns over the years.

Part two of the series I accidentally forgot about

Yeah, oops. Don’t cry though, because now that I’ve remembered, I’m going to finish what I started.

Last time, as a reminder, we revealed our picks ranked between ten and six.

10. Vince Young
9. Donovan McNabb
8. Steven Jackson
7. Matt Hasselbeck
6. Frank Gore

The final five candidates have been consistent performers in the NFL, and will continue to be so until they hang up their cleats. These are the stars of this era, but folks like Gore, Jackson and Young could soon push for their own spots among the league’s best of the best.

Rule of thumb: Bruises and sprains are better than tears

Yesterday we reported that both Jammal Brown of the Saints and Damion McIntosh of the Chiefs went down with what could have been serious knee injuries.

Well, the MRI’s are back, and it looks as though neither will miss significant time this season.

For Brown, it turns out he just slightly bruised his knee, and there still appears to be a chance he could make an appearance in the Saints’ second preseason game on Friday.  That’s what you call “very good news.”

Now with 50% more roster spots!

– Well, Atlanta’s bad breaks continue. The best player the Falcons have left, tight end Alge Crumpler, has been slowed by a bothersome left knee. Not much is known about this injury, but according to Bobby Petrino, Crumpler has yet to be seen at full strength this summer.

For the Falcons, this could be the straw that broke the camel’s back. New starter Joey Harrington would be relying heavily on Crumpler as a safety blanket, and if the Pro Bowl tight end’s status is up in the air throughout the year, the offense would struggle significantly as it learns a new system.

Cornerbacks? Who needs ‘em?

For the second time in two weeks, the Chicago Bears have traded away a reserve defensive back. Cornerback Dante Wesley, who had been the teams’ projected dime back, has been moved to the New England Patriots. For the Pats, it’s a clear sign that they’re bracing for the Asante Samuel holdout to last well into the season.  For the Bears, who knows what the hell they are doing.

Hide your left tackles!

The sweltering August heat isn’t being especially kind to NFL players today. A couple of high profile injuries occurred this morning, and while it’ll take all day and possibly tomorrow to find out the severity, lets get you caught up on what info is available today.

Knee Twisting

The Kansas City Chiefs had their prized free agent acquisition, Damion McIntosh, go down in the summer heat with what looks to be a serious injury to his right knee. The left tackle was brought over from Miami (mmm, Dolphin o-line table scraps) in hopes of securing the left side. Kyle Turley was a disaster last year at LT, and despite being brought back, KC would probably rather prefer not to go through that same scenario again.

Thank God for Skins-Ravens scrimmages replays

I was fortunate enough to catch a replay of Baltimore and Washington’s yearly preseason warmup last night, and for those of you that neither live in the mid-Atlantic nor have access to the NFLN, read on. And if you are on NFLN and/or live in the mid-Atlantic but still want to read what we have to say, then read on too.

Let’s first start by saying that the Baltimore Ravens have the look of a Super Bowl contender.

The Washington Redskins, uh, not so much.

 Around the league in less than two minutes…

– The Pittsburgh Steelers laid a whooping on the New Orleans Saints from start to finish in the first preseason game of 2007, with the big surprise coming from Mike Tomlin’s passing game absolutely torching the Big Easy secondary. Ben Roethlisberger was perfect on his ceremonious one drive, connecting two times to Cedrick Wilson for a total of 73 yards.

The other story of note? The Saints’ passing game was rusty, with Drew Brees finishing 1/6 for 6 yards & backup Jamie Martin rounding out the first half with a 3/8 and 26 yard outing. Painful to watch, frankly. But I’m sure the ship will right itself.

Stop working. Stop doing your homework. Stop hanging out with your wife/girlfriend. Catch up on the NFC training camps.
– The New Orleans Saints will help open the season against the Steelers on Sunday, and as is the norm for the Hall of Fame game, many of the players aren’t too excited about an extra preseason game.

Sean Payton, however, has taken this in stride, and believes this field trip to Canton will be a great learning experience for the team. It’s also going to be an opportunity to let a special teams group gel that will look completely different from the ‘06 unit.

Cards break the bank on rookie deal

One of the seven lengthy rookie holdouts of ‘07 has finally come to an end (on a guy that ESPN’s John Clayton firmly predicted would be signed the middle of last week). Levi Brown and the Arizona Cardinals have agreed to a deal worth a mind-boggling $62 million. The $18.5 million in guaranteed money in the six-year deal is right on par with what the #4 pick in the draft, Gaines Adams, received.

It’s gettin’ hot in hurr.

– The Arizona Cardinals offensive line woes may become a thing of the past if the first week of camp is any indication. Of course, this could be the product of a defensive front seven still learning the nuances of a new defense.

– With Michael Vick presumably done for the year and Warrick Dunn scheduled to miss all of the preseason after offseason back surgery, Bobby Petrino will look to throw the ball more.

All injuries, all the time…

– Chester Taylor looked like he could be done for the year after being carted off the practice field in writhing pain, the result of a blow delivered as Taylor attempted to catch a pass that was strung out in front of him.  Childress, though, downplayed the injury, calling it a right arm “contusion.” This, of course, is during a time when Adrian Peterson obviously needed a better opportunity to win the starting job.

The world says goodbye to a legend.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t say a brief word about Bill Walsh. At 75 years of age, Walsh finally succumbed to the leukemia that had been affecting him for quite some time. For the San Francisco 49ers and the NFL, it’s a day of great sadness, but also a chance to remember the man and the coach.

An absolute innovator in every sense of the word, Walsh changed the way offenses operate in the modern era. I remember watching a video about a year ago from the ’80’s of Walsh and Joe Montana demonstrating the basic concepts of the forward pass in the West Coast Offense.

Back to business

It’s been a few days since our last post, and both of us here at NGPF are either going through a move, or getting ready for one, so it’s made it a bit of a challenge to maintain the site. We still have big plans for Next Gen Pro Football, so we ask for everybody’s patience.

Now that we have that over with, let’s talk about some football.

There are seven rookies left who as of today are still yet unsigned.

Hold out news from around the NFL

With many NFL camps in full swing, it’s time to look at some players who were hold out possibilities. 

Larry Johnson, Marc Bulger, Lance Briggs, Asante Samuel, Michael Strahan, and Pete Kendall. 

Well let’s first look over who did end up reporting to camp. 

Lance Briggs of the Bears decided, along with his agent Drew Rosenhaus, that it would be in the best interest for the linebacker to be in camp on time, and be able to perform well enough to try again for a new contract next year.  Briggs signed his $7.2 million tender well in advance of Chicago’s first practice.

Houston and St. Louis sign their first round DT’s

Since it worked so well last night, we’re gonna go ahead and stuff two first round rookie signing updates into one again, and this time, we’re gonna take a look at two defensive tackles chosen in the top 13. 

Let’s first take a look at the contract signed by the 10th pick in the draft, Amobi Okoye out of Louisville.  Houston and Okoye’s agent have agreed to a contract worth a total of about $17.6 million, and Profootballtalk.com reports the deal, which also includes $12.78 million in guaranteed money, represents a 12.6% increase over the deal received by last year’s tenth overall selection.