Sports

[gardenman]

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@teganslaw wrote:

FOX televised the Rams-Titans game last night. I was interested to see how Mariota would do; turned out the whole Tennessee team impressed me. I think Tennessee has found their quarterback. Mettenberger also played well. Mariota will undoubtedly make mistakes along the way, but he had poise, pocke awareness and will transition well in the NFL. The Titans might just be competitive in the AFC South.

SPURT, Orakpo made a couple nice tackles. It seems that Tennessee is happy to have him on their team. Just as long as Orakpo doesn't make too many tackles when the Titans play the Colts.....

It's early, but Tennessee is a team to watch this season.

On the other side, Foles didn't do well at all for St. Louis. Maybe just had an off game.

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I've rewatched the Eagles games from early last year when Nick Foles was the quarterback and I was kind of surprised at how poorly he'd played, despite the Eagles winning. He'd have a couple of good drives per game, but a lot of miscues and misfires. I had thought he was playing pretty well, but when I went back and watched the games again, it wasn't as impressive. When your team's winning you don't mind the wins being ugly, but watching Foles you could understand Chip's desire to move on. Nick just wasn't that good. So far this pre-season we're averaging 38 points a game and we're still not getting perfect quarterback play, but it's better than we saw last year.

The Rams don't have great offensive weapons, and their line isn't great, so if they're going anyplace Nick Foles will have to carry them, and I'm not sure he's up for the job. It could be an ugly year in St. Louis, especially if Bradford stays healthy and productive in Philly.

[sunshine45]

that wasnt a great game to watch, although we DID do a LITTLE in the last part of the game. disgusted with all of the penalties.....was it 20+??? i lost count and i was upset with some due to some questionable calls by the refs.

the NFL said that the hit on sam bradford was a legal hit. of course, that didnt stop a few eagles from trash talking suggs. they had a heated week for sure up in philly.

"When you start popping off about somebody's character, you cross the line," Harbaugh said Monday. "That's not really something that we would respect. But most of their guys over there understood the play and understood [Suggs] was playing hard and trying to get stops."

[gardenman]

sunshine45. The thing to me with the Suggs hit is that he was coming in completely unblocked and could have hit Bradford high, but opted to go low. Bradford's not a Cam Newton or Ben Roethlisberger type who you have to hit low to get down. He's not going to shrug off Suggs and run downfield. Given the chance he'll dive down rather than take the hit and he's not going to elude Suggs.

When you tackle a quarterback coming back from two knee reconstructions at knee level on a play where you're completely unblocked and able to tackle/hit him high, it's dirty. You just don't do that, especially in a pre-season game. Was it technically legal? Yeah, so is cut blocking in some situations and you can pretty much bet that if Suggs finds himself in a game against an Eagle lineman anytime in the near future, that he'll have them diving at his knee in a perfectly legal, but dirty manner just to send him a message. The league tends to be somewhat self-policing and Suggs is likely to find his knees a target for a few weeks, or longer as a result of that perfectly legal tackle.

It was just dumb, unnecessary, unprofessional, and potentially career threatening. It'll be noted on film by other teams and Suggs will be reminded that it's just not done. If he's lucky, he'll come out with two healthy knees. If he's unlucky, he'll get to spend the next year rehabbing. You just don't go for the knees on a pro player if you have a choice, and he had a choice.

[teganslaw]

Reggie Wayne is now a Patriot. He signed a one year contract with them after he passed the physical.He had spent 14 years with the Colts, so it's going to be an adjustment to see him in a Patriot's uniform. There are some posters on the Colts forums who consider Wayne a traitor (any team except New England), but I don't feel that strongly. The Colts didn't want him anymore; he still wanted to play another year or so of football; the Patriots needed another wide receiver. It's a disappointment to me, but he will be a good mentor to younger players. 

I hope he stays healthy and am glad that he will get to contribute more to the NFL. That's how things go now in the NFL; it's a business and players go where they're needed or where the money is. Not saying that Wayne left because of money, but the Colts didn't renew his contract and he still felt that he had more years to give. 

[teganslaw]

A lot going on in the NFL: Michael Vick signed a year contract with the Steelers. Didn't see that coming. I guess he's OK with being back up since the other back up, Gradkowski, is on IR list. Vick probably won't be in the spotlight like he was in New York.

Evan Mathis signed a 4 million year contract with the Broncos. The team evidently thinks that he can still be productive. I was wondering if he would find another team.

Mathis was taken off the PUP list and returned to practice. Good news for the Colts; he should eventually be ready to play later this season.

[nun ya]

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@teganslaw wrote:

A lot going on in the NFL: Michael Vick signed a year contract with the Steelers. Didn't see that coming. I guess he's OK with being back up since the other back up, Gradkowski, is on IR list. Vick probably won't be in the spotlight like he was in New York.

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I am really disappointed in the Rooney's on this move. I'd rather lose every game than him wear black and gold.

[gardenman]

I figured Vick would catch on someplace by the end of training camp, but I wasn't expecting Pittsburgh. I was more leaning towards the Jets or Bills. I'm not sure where Vick's head is these days. Last year he said he wasn't prepared when given the chance to start, and you always have to be prepared.

Evan Mathis really cost himself a lot of dough by playing his stupid game this spring. There was an offer for $6.5 million on the table with the Eagles and I think $7.5 million next year, that he refused to sign back in January. Now he's playing for $4 million. He kept thinking he could squeeze more money out of the Eagles and they finally just gave up on him and moved on. I don't know how much of the problem was Mathis and how much was Drew Rosenhaus, but they seriously mistook his value around the league. It's good that he hooked on with a team, but he cost himself a lot of cash in the process.

[gardenman]

Lots of injuries around the league this week. Jordy Nelson of the Packers went down. Orlando Scandrick of the Cowboys tore his ACL. Junior Galette of the Redskins tore his Achilles. Johnny Manziel of the Browns has a sore elbow which may be worse than sore since they're looking at free agent quarterbacks. (You don't hear a lot about Tommy John surgery on quarterbacks, but I wouldn't be shocked to see that for Manziel.)

Lots of teams are now looking at plans b, c, and even d in some cases. Of those injuries I think the Scandrick injury will hurt the Cowboys the most. He was a critical part of the defense and with a limited pass rush you need good cover guys. Now the Cowboys need that revamped defensive line and linebackers to step up and get pressure on opposing quarterbacks early and often.

The games this week are typically the dress rehearsal for the regular season. Regular players will play about the most we'll see them this pre-season. Hopefully no more major injuries pop up. Teams with multiple injured players will be watching the waiver wire like crazy to try and find some help. Chip Kelly may play his starters the least of any coach this week as his whole focus is on keeping everyone healthy for week one.

[Spurt]

@gardenman  Oh man the loss of GALETTE was a big one for us!!!! --- SHOOT!!!

Oh and more RGIII news Jason Reid who covers the Redskins for ESPN and the Post tweeted that several offensive linemen dislike RGIII.  To give Robert credit he did not point fingers at the OL in that poor performance in last week's game, of course he didn't take any responsibility for his lack of pocket awareness either (as Chris Cooley pointed out).  And he wouldn't confirm whether he had a concussion. RGIII seems to lack both awareness in the pocket and team leadership!!!!  It's time to move on to someone else at the QB position.....

[gardenman]

What I'm hearing now is that the Redskins will give RGIII the first eight games to either keep the starting job, or prove he doesn't deserve it. That seems insanely generous to me. Maybe RGIII will get the Redskins off to a 7-1 record. I suspect 1-7 is more realistic though. It'll be interesting to see. Given his injury history he may not even survive eight weeks.