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.

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.

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.

 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.

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.

Tampa trims the fat

In a downright surprising move today, Simeon Rice was released by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  Finishing second on Tampa’s all-time sack list, Rice only managed to play half the season in ‘06. Despite his career low season sack total, it came as an astonishing move, just a day before the first Bucs’ practice of training camp.

After failing his physical, Rice’s $10.45 million cap figure for ‘07 became too expensive for the team to keep aboard. A player sure to garner Hall of Fame attention, Rice will enter his 12th season if he finds an interested team. The talk around the league is that after having played at such a high level for so many years, he might have lost that spark for the game once his shoulder started slowing him down.

Tampa Bay reaches terms with the 4th overall pick in the 2007 draft

Adam Schefter of NFL Network reported earlier today that Gaines Adams has signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, making him the highest picked player yet to sign with his team. According to the Sun Sentinel, the deal is for six years, and although the terms haven’t been disclosed yet, The Red Zone is reporting the deal to be for as much as $46 million with just over $18.5 million in guaranteed money.

– 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.

Falcons finally get some good news

According to Profootballtalk.com, Jamaal Anderson and the Atlanta Falcons have agreed to terms on a five-year deal worth 13.4% over last year’s eighth pick. As a team desperately in need of a good PR move, it makes sense that the Falcons became only the second team out of the top 26 to come to an agreement.  Since the deal doesn’t seem to have been inked until late Wednesday night, we expect to hear official confirmation sometime early tomorrow.

Kansas City just got a lot more interesting (the team, not the city)

As we touched on in our Short Slants earlier today, Priest Holmes is now expected to report to training camp on Saturday. When we first heard about the possibility of this, we’ll admit, we didn’t take it very seriously.

After letting our brains digest the news, we contemplated what all this could mean.

Do you hear that? It’s the sound of Jerious Norwood’s draft stock rising

Boy. When it rains, it pours, huh? Warrick Dunn’s future as the Atlanta Falcons’ starting running back has now been put in serious doubt. Earlier today, ESPN reported that Dunn has had his second surgery of this offseason, going under the knife for a herniated disc. After undergoing surgery for a shoulder injury about six months ago, this could be another sign that the 10 year vet’s body is breaking down.

– Tarik Glenn has officially called it quits, and with that, the Colts’ chance of repeating takes a major hit. Peyton Manning’s blindside will now be protected by rookie second rounder Tony Ugoh. Little Trouble for Big Country.

– Dolphin’s rookie quarterback John Beck(also known as Not-Brady Quinn) was impressive in camp sessions today, and Ted Ginn was at home without a contract.

– Arthur Blank was allegedly on the verge of suspending Michael Vick for four games this season.

New Orleans signs last draft choice

Wideout Robert Meachem and the New Orleans Saints reached an agreement today, and according to ESPN’s John Clayton, the deal is for just over $11 million. The contract for this year’s 27th pick represents about an eight percent increase over last year’s deal at the same slot. This is right on par with the rest of the rookie contracts signed towards the back end of the first round.