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.)

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.

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.

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.

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.

– Much maligned second round pick Alan Branch has signed, leaving the Arizona Cardinals with just one draft choice left unsigned (first-rounder Levi Brown).

– Unsurprisingly, Michael Vick’s welcome seems to be worn out in the ATL.

– In other Vick news, the court house he attended today turned into a full blown nightmare. Good thing Vick has the support of three morons from Boston.

– Jonathan Ogden is being placed on the PUP list due to a lingering toe injury, meaning he probably won’t be seeing much action until week one of the regular season.  He will then play all 16 games.  Duh.

‘Boys finally unwrap Philly’s draft day present

According to the Star-Telegram, Dallas Cowboys’ first round pick Anthony Spencer has signed a contract for $9 million over five years. Dallas started signing their draft choices fairly late into the process, but thanks to this morning’s signing, Jerry Jones will have all his draft picks in camp on time.

In order to pluck the last pass rusher in the draft with a first round grade off the board, the Cowboys had to pull off the unthinkable, trading with arch rival Philadelphia. While it cost several other teams (Cleveland, San Francisco, Indianapolis) first rounders to move up in the ‘07 draft, Jones cleverly managed to obtain Spencer for a second, a third, and a fifth rounder.

Oh, That Wacky Giants Secondary

The New York Giants and first-round pick cornerback Aaron Ross have agreed on a five year deal worth as much as $13.5 million. For the Giants, Ross was the last draft pick to sign before the start of training camp tomorrow.

Ross comes over from a highly acclaimed Texas Longhorn secondary which also included the Vikings’ Cedric Griffin, the Titans’ Michael Griffin, the Raiders’ Michael Huff, and the 49ers’ Tarell Brown. It’s no wonder that it took Ross until his senior year before he would be named a full time starter.

– In an obvious direct response to our write-up two days ago, the Bears are now making headway with Lance Briggs.

– Priest Holmes is ready to resume his career with Kansas City. (We’ll see how that goes)

– Curtis Martin, however, is ready for retirement. (We feel 5% more confident that this is final)

– Bills’ second rounder Paul Posluszny signs his deal just in time for camp.

– The Eagles’ first pick, Kevin Kolb, is signed and ready to make Donovan McNabb’s life miserable.

It’s alright, everybody’s doing it…

With the salary cap having gone through the roof and many agents around the league clamoring in the ears of their talented clients, next week could see an abundance of holdouts and salary demands.

Agents for Asante Samuel and Lance Briggs have both come out and threatened to have their clients sit out not only training camp, but most of the regular season as well. These messy events take place every offseason thanks to the franchise tag, a tool used by teams to keep their star players from flying the coop. Of course, there’s a new salary cap in town now, and with it, a slew of new problems, disagreements, and ultimately greed.

It’s never too soon for an MVP list here at NGPF.

It’s only July and opening day is a ways away but we thought it’d be fun if we took a look at some of the league’s MVP candidates for 2007. Usually, just after the first month and a half of the season has concluded the clouded picture of candidates starts to become a little more clear.

Well, obviously, we can’t wait that long.

NGPF has gone out and rounded up the TEN most likely NFL players to be mentioned as an MVP candidate.

Brett Favre Continues His Slow Assault on the NFL Record Book…. 

It’s been a little over a week now since we first looked at some milestones that were on the horizon for running backs.  This time its the quarterbacks and two guys who are mentioned way too much by the mainstream media. 

Brett Favre is either first or second in just about every category there is for a quarterback, and is within striking range of owning every major NFL passing record.  He also leads the league in getting his ass kissed by T.V. commentators.(Look it up)

– Wade Phillips wants to instill more of a “family atmosphere” within the Cowboys’ roster. Terence Newman, one of the leaders of the Boys’, is apparently a key to this. What’s he gonna do, get his grandmother to rob some boy scouts?

– As a teenager, new Raiders’ coach Lane Kiffin dreamed of being a head coach in the NFL. A few years later, he’s the head man in Oakland and nearly finished with puberty.

– Will the Lions beat the clock in signing Corey Redding? With just under two hours to go we expect an announcement here any minute. This seems much more likely than the other two franchised players, Asante Samuel and Lance Briggs, signing their offers.

– Dolphins’ wideout Chris Chambers was pulled over for speeding, reckless driving, and, oh, a DUI early Saturday morning. It caught us off guard. We had no idea that guy even drank.

– The Dallas Morning News poses ten questions about the prospects of the Cowboys returning to the playoffs and winning.

– David Pollack won’t be playing football this year and will attempt a comeback in 2008 with the Bengals

– The Star-Telegram points out that there’s no need for a Larry Johnson trade involving the Cowboys: Arkansas super-back Darren McFadden is right around the corner.

– Marc Bulger is prepared to hold out if the Saint Louis Rams do not work on signing him to a new extension before training camp.  Putting that into perspective, camp is only a couple weeks away, and they don’t seem to be going anywhere in negotiations. Were I a Rams fan, though, I wouldn’t panic just yet that they won’t get it done.  Says Bulger in regards to the possibility: “I don’t think it’s going to happen, but you never know. I don’t want to rule anything out,” he said. “The Rams have been good to me. I’ve been there my whole career, and I think everything’s going to get worked out.

We Don’t Just Pick. We Pick Big (Country).

Recently we here at Next Gen Pro Football were invited to participate in a fantasy football mock draft featuring owners of various sport-focused blogging sites. After the lottery balls had fallen, we were “awarded” the #7 selection in the order (out of 12) and left feeling a lot like what the Boston Celtics must have felt last month heading into the NBA draft (see: not good).

Having participated in FF for about a decade now, we’re going to take this as an opportunity to show you how to approach a draft when you’ll be drafting in the middle of each round, a notoriously tough spot.