Sports

[teganslaw]

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@ccassaday wrote:

Looks like Parris Campbell is already impressing everyone in rookie mini camp for the colts.

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Ballard and Reich think highly of Campbell's talent. If everything goes accordingly to plan, Campbell will be a major part of the Colts's offense this season.

As far as other sports, I used to like baseball, but got tired of it. I watched some basketball games, and while they're not boring, I just can't get excited about it.

Our city has a minor league hockey team, which is very popular and always sells out, but not interesting to me.

The only sport I follow is the NFL.

[gardenman]

Parris Campbell is one of those athletic freaks who will look great in OTA's, but expect him to not look so hot when he's going against experienced pro DB's. They'll manhandle the kid and get him off stride. They'll knock him off his routes and generally just annoy the heck out of him. It'll take him a year or two to adjust to the pro game before you truly know what you've got in him. It's that way with pretty much every wide receiver. They flash and look awesome until the pads go on. Then the DB's get their hands on the kids and the flashing ends. Oh, from time to time they'll break free and make a play to give you a hint of their potential, but what you see in the OTA's from receivers is often an illusion. Come September you'll get a better feel for the kid. He's an amazing athlete with tremendous upside, but NFL corners aren't bad athletes themselves. In college guys like Campbell can pretty much just run by corners. Not so much in the NFL. He'll likely have a tough first year, improve year two, then really start to flash in year three.

That transition from college to pro football is pretty tough for many positions. Defensive linemen, wide receivers, quarterbacks and offensive tackles have the toughest time transitioning. The guys they go against in the pros are bigger, tougher, faster, and sneakier than anyone they've faced before. Running backs can transition a bit easier as they just grab the ball and go. Offensive guards tend to do okay because the center can help them out on most blocks. Linebackers, inside linebackers with fewer coverage responsibilities anyway, can also transition pretty easily. Cornerbacks and safeties can adjust pretty quickly also. Their positions tend to be more purely athletic. 

Guys like Campbell though will find it a whole new game once the DB's take the field opposite them. Those pro DB's will grab you, push you, pull you, and just generally annoy the heck out of you until you learn how to defeat them. They'll read your route and jump it. When you run a 4.31 forty in college, you don't have to learn all the subtleties of the position. You can just put your feet down and go. Adjusting to the pro game will be a challenge for him. 

The Eagles new wide receiver JJ Arcega-Whiteside has a slight edge in that he was never blazing fast, running a 4.5 forty. Because of that college DB's could run with him. He pretty much had to learn the subtleties of the inside handfighting, subtle push-offs, and positioning himself to make the catch and shield off the defender. Being two tenths slower and being forced to learn the subtleties should make his NFL transition a bit easier, but we still won't see him at his best for a few years. Slower receivers tend to get forced to be an NFL type receiver earlier as they don't have a big speed advantage. Long term, they don't have the potential of a burner like Campbell once he's truly learned to play the position, but short term they tend to be more productive, because they've had to already had to engage DB's on a routine basis and couldn't just run by them.

[ccassaday]

Parris Campbell is a big kid. He is a former running back. He isn’t going to get knocked around as easily as people think.  He will need to learn the nfl route tree but he is a smart kid. In the meantime the colts need a player to do exactly what he did st OSU and will use him that away until he gets experience. 

[ccassaday]

The colts have so many offensive weapons if everyone stays healthy it’s scary. I don’t know how teams will cover everyone. Campbell could be open a lot. Reich is going to have a field day scheming for this offense.

[gardenman]

Okay, with the draft and free agency largely behind us, it's time to make the first of many fearless forecasts about the coming NFL season.

Let's start with the AFC East. I predict the Patriots will win the AFC East. Shocking, I know. I don't think it will be all that easy however. Buffalo, of all teams, might just scare them a bit. All of the AFC East teams loaded up on defensive tackles to pressure Brady up the middle and by next year those guys may just be able to do the job. The Jets could contend but I think they're still a year or two away. The Dolphins still strike me as going in the tank this year. Why trade for Josh Rosen? I don't know but they certainly aren't helping him a lot by immediately saying they still might draft a QB next year.

On to a more challenging pick, the AFC North. It won't be the Bengals, that much I'm sure of. The other three teams are kind of a mix. The Browns look danged impressive on paper right now. The Steelers look a bit weaker. Every AFC North team has studied the film on Lamar Jackson and are drawing up plans to contain him. So, who will win? I think it'll be the Browns. With both Landry and OBJ as wide receivers, Baker Mayfield fearlessly giving those guys chances at the ball, it's hard not to see them scoring thirty or more points a game.

On to the AFC South. I like the Colts over the rest here. I think the Texans are very good also, but I think the Colts will edge them out. Tennessee is still waiting for Mariota to finally be all that everyone thinks he can be. Jacksonville is likely to find out why Nick Foles isn't a full time starter in the NFL. Nick can be great, but he can also be pretty mediocre. He's the ultimate wide variance QB. He can go toe to toe with Tom Brady in the Super Bowl and win, or he can  lose to an undrafted rookie. You just never know which Nick will show up.

On to the AFC West. The Raiders and Broncos won't win. The Chiefs scare me. They've made a lot of changes to that defense and hired Spagnuolo as their DC and he hasn't been especially effective as a DC in recent years. They're going to have to score a lot of points to win games. With Mahomes they can, but will they? I think the LA Chargers will eke out the win, by the narrowest of margins over the Chiefs. The Broncos are in QB purgatory. The Raiders are being rebuilt, I just don't know into what.

On to the NFC. In the NFC East it's a two team race between the Cowboys and the Eagles. I'm taking the Eagles. (No surprise there.) That Eagle roster looks solid top to bottom. There's been no real big coaching changes or shakeups. The locker room is solid. Players are generally happy. They're three deep with quality starters at most positions. That Cowboy stars and scrubs roster building routine leaves a few too many holes for other teams to exploit. The Giants are a train wreck. They seem to think they have a plan, but it's not a clear one to most of us. In the last two years they've traded away their defensive line and replaced them with inferior players. They haven't done enough to shore up the offensive line. They've got issues everywhere. The Redskins are on a bit of an upswing and Haskins could be the real deal for them. They just need another year or two in my opinion. Haskins will need to grow into the NFL game and his receivers will need time to adjust also. They could use a quality young tight end to grow with Haskins.

On to the NFC North. The Bears seem like the solid pick here. They do seem to have trouble with kickers however. They brought in a bunch of guys the other day and had them all kick 43 yard fieldgoals (the infamous double-doink range in the playoffs) only to have six of the eight miss. The Packers revamped the defense and look stronger on defense, but they're still pretty much counting on Aaron Rodgers to be a magician on offense and elevate the play of average players. You really wonder how good he could have been with a better supporting cast. The Vikings need to figure out their QB situation. Cousins has just one more year left on his contract after 2019 and this will be a big year for him. The Lions just don't inspire me now.

In the NFC South we've got the Saints and a bunch of question marks. The Saints should win it. The Falcons are all over the place. Were they that bad last year, or was it a fluke? In Carolina Cam Newton is coming off his second shoulder surgery. Did they fix the issue or will he be playing handicapped yet again? Tampa's just a mess. Jameis Winston is an engima. So much talent, but so ineffective. His stupid eating wins last year and the expression on the players around him was priceless.

On to the NFC West. The Rams look pretty solid but that Super Bowl hangover is often an issue. The Seahawks and Niners aren't far behind the Rams. I guess I'd take the Rams, but either of the other two could jump them. Both could jump them in fact and knock the Rams completely out of the playoffs. The Cardinals promise to be interesting. They've brought in a losing college coach with his air raid offense and a rookie quarterback. Sure. What could possibly go wrong? Well, just about everything. I've got a very bad feeling about the Cardinal situation. Nothing they've done makes a lot of sense to me. You have a college coach who has a losing record despite having had Baker Mayfield, Patrick Mahomes, Case Keenum, Johnny Manziel, and Davis Webb as college quarterbacks. Now you think he'll win in the NFL? Maybe, but I find it highly doubtful. How the heck can you lose with those guys as quarterbacks?

So, that's the first of many way too early guesses at how the season will go. I suspect the Rams will slide back into the pack a bit this year. The Bears strike me as being a big threat. The Eagles also. The Patriots still look like the class of the AFC. The most fun team to watch this year may just be the Browns. Baker Mayfield is a gunslinger similar to a Brett Favre and he's got lots of weapons around him. Keeping them all fed and happy may be his biggest problem. With Landy and OBJ as his wideouts, he can pretty much just hang the ball out for one of them when he gets in trouble and they'll likely make the play. Playoff inexperience may knock them out of the playoffs pretty quickly, but they could scare quite a few teams this year.

Who will get that first overall pick next year? It'll probably come from a pool of the Bucs, Jags, Cards, Giants, Lions, Bengals or Raiders. I think the Giants may have an edge there. They've been systematically losing their best defensive players (Jason Pierre Paul, Olivier Vernon, Landon Collins, etc.) and then traded away their best (maybe second best to Saquon?) offensive player in OBJ. They're staying married to Eli Manning who hasn't been great in quite some time. Their offensive line is still not solid. The Giants fanbase is angry and confused and I suspect the players are also. The Bengals will probably find a way to win one or two more games than they should. Nick will play well enough for the Jags in enough games to keep them in the middle of the pack. The Raiders, Lions and Bucs will likely win a few too many games. I've got the Giants getting the pick of the litter in QB's next year with a new GM and head coach making the pick. I think we'll see a repeat of this year's draft where the team with the first overall pick will have drafted a QB high the previous year and replace him already with a new kid.

[Spurt]

@gardenman 

I agree for the most part...It will be interesting to see if anyone tanks for Tua, could be Bucs, Dolphins, Bengals or crazy Raiders????

Here's my too early predictions for 2019 season:

AFC EAST--

Patriots--Beli is like Faust..I think he.sold his soul 'cause he  just keeps winning..

J*E*T*S---JETS, JETS, JETS---they made some nice additions. Sam has a year under his belt and will improve his performance

Bills-I was really torn between Jets and Bills for 2nd/3rd place..Bills made some nice additions, but the difference was the QBs Allen vs Darnold.  I like Darnold better...

Dolphins---Ẃhat the heck is this organization doing....????  They get Rosen, but still talking about getting a QB????  Poor Rosen...

AFC NORTH-

Browns- They finally made some excellent decisions especially when they got Mayfield who brought swagger and a new  attitude to the team. And they made some nice moves this off season too....The Dawg Pound will be howling with joy this season!!!

Ravens--Their QB play scares me a bit, but I like their coach and their defense....

Steelers--JMHO but I think there's a lot of behind the scenes stuff going on in the locker room...Has Tomlin lost the team?  I wonder how many players secretly and silently agreed with AB about Ben, and Ben is getting old...their defense has some holes too...

Bengals---They stuck with Coach Marvin Lewis and stayed status quo too long...they could be tanking for Tua and moving on from Dalton in 2020.....

AFC SOUTH

Colts-Andrew is healthy, front office has done an excellet job in adding needed pieces, we will definitely see them in the playoffs...

Texans--They lost some key players in free agency, I dont know if they did enough to give Watson more protection...Looks like they are going to lose Clowney, they still havea healthy JJ Watt but he needs help, they lost Honey Badger, I see them taking a step back.....

Jaguars--I think finally getting rid of Bortles and signing Foles is just what the doctor ordered. They made a couple of good additions in the draft too...

Titans ---Something about Mariota I don't like...and he's always banged up..29th in passing yds.....they need some work.  New OC and it looks like they are going with more of a ground game. They are decent on defense....

AFC WEST--

Chargers--They may have little support at home games, but they are a solid team...starting with their fiesty QB, Rivers, decent running game, they lost a couple of good FAs on defense...but still should be solid...

Broncos--This division is a mess, the Broncos got 2nd place with the assumption Flacco stays healthy and because of their defense ......

Chiefs-I dont care if this team has the "wonder kid" Mahomes,  this team is a catastrophe...look how many players they have lost due to character issues, this team has organizational problems...I point a lot of the blame on Andy Reid and just look at his past and his own personal family issues.  While Mahomes can keep them in games, their defense is awful....31st on pass defense/ 27th rushing defense....

DaRaiders--Their swan song in California before its VIVA LAS VEGAS!!!  What is Jon "Chuckie" Gruden and GM Mayock doing ---who the heck knows....decent QB, no rushing game, and let players go at positions they needed the most...

[Spurt]

Here's my too early predictions for 2019 season NFC:

NFC EAST--spent more time on my division...

Eagles--Yep, @gardenman  providing Wentz stays healthy the Eagles will win the Division...the team has a nice balance of talent offensively and defensively.....If they lose Wentz to injuries, the Eagles will still win the Division but it will hurt them in the playoffs.

Redskins--This is more of a hopin' and wishin' and providing the roster stays healthy, which is a BIG "if"....and more to do with the remaining competition in the NFC East!!!  The defense looks pretty good---Collins was an excellent pickup in FA, got our edge rusher in the draft as well as help in the secondary....we already had some decent players on defense--Kerrigan, Allen, Payne, Ioannidis,  and I like youngsters Apke and Settle...maybe Norman will be inspired to show up .....Offensively we have problems and a lot will depend on some rookies and young players, shining...and some folks staying healthy...I think they go with Case, I dont think Colt will be ready to go with injury set back, or maybe Haskins will be thrown in the fire..personally I think he needs to sit a bit, but we will definitely need for his college teammate, McLaurin to be productive--we desperately need our rookie WR's McLaurin and Harmon to stép up even though rookie WRs normally don't do that in their rookie yr...going againt the odds..WR Richardson says he's healthy and ready to produce, and we have 2018 Mr. Irrelevant, the "mighty" Quinn......RB Guice says he's ready--hope so...we also  have AP and Thompson at RB...I think the team plans to use more of a ground and pound scheme.....can talented TE Reed EVER stay healthy??? And what about our aging pro-bowler and all important LT Trent Williams??????.....rest of the OL is pretty decent and we added depth in draft--WHEW !  Lots has to happen, but thankfully Cowboys/Giants have their own issues....

Cowboys---Jerrah thinks his team is better than ever--he's somewhat dillusional..He expects new OC Kellen Moore to make an immedite difference..He's counting on rookies Hill and Quinn....Can Elliott stay out of trouble off the field????  And what to do about their mediocre QB that wants to get paid??? Yet Stephen Jones said Dak's contract needs to be team friendly...so that should be interesting...  I think they'll miss Beasley more than they know...Witten should've stay retired...they havent signed WR Cooper to an extension yet...Can Sean Lee stay healthy...Lawrence got his money--five-year, $105 million extension with $65 million in guarantees, most money guaranteed for a non QB.  Will he become complacient now that he got his cash????  Can center Fredrick stay healthy? 

Much has been made of Redskin's Snyder, meddling, Jerry makes him look like an amateur...here's what "coach" Jerry had to say:  "I think we have (made improvements) coaching wise," Jones said. "We are going to do that scheme-wise. We are going to have real scheme changes on offense. That is going to improve us. I don't mean to be trite. We are going to make a big effort to be better offensively. We are going to try to challenge the defense more. We are going to try to expand our options.".....  

Giants--Much has been made made of the Giant's QB situation and the heir apparent....Rookie CB Ballenine was shot and wont attend rookie mini camp .....Shepard will be Eli's main WR target after losing OBJ....Rookies will need to step up on the defense...their bright spot remains RB Barkley

[Spurt]

Here's my too early predictions for 2019 season rest of NFC:

NFC North----

DaBears--QB Trubisky will grow this year and be better, good defense, cant say enough about getting Mack from Raiders last year...what a steal..hopefully Special Teams...i.e. kicker will be better.....

Vikings--A lot of pressure on Capt Kirk this year, will he and WR Thielen get along or will we see more sideline confrontations??? Their D needs to step up...what the the heck happened there???

Packers--Well they have Aaron Rodgers, but he has a lot of new faces to work with starting with new head Coach Matt Lafleur,  Clay Matthew and others are gone..will take time for entire team to gel...

Lions---Former Patriot Coach continues to rebuild...

AFC SOUTH--

Sàints--Saints and their fans were heartbroken last year, oh so so close to a Super Bowl, they will be doubly motivated this year, and who knows when Brees will decide to retire...they gotta get it done NOW!!

Falcons--This team is so inconsistent They have power on offense with Matty Ice at QB and Julio at WR...their defense relies on a tad smaller and speedier players,  but they get over powered by opponents bigger O Lines

Panthers--Big question mark with QB Cam coming off shoulder surgery. Their defense is pretty decent...

Bucs---Bruce Arians takes control as Head Coach.  Big question mark remains at QB, with Winston's issues on and off the field...Perhaps he will have to be jettisoned for this team to make improvements.

NFC WEST--

Rams--Rams are loaded with talent, but what will their Super Bowl loss have on Goff's confidence, and what's up with RB Gurley and his knee??  Talent on D didnt show up sometimes...

Seahawks--This team is an enigma, totally revamped roster, and still had a10-6 record in what looked to be a rebulding year.  Cant count them out especially with their home field advantage.

49ers---With Jimmy G coming back at QB who knows what they can or will do! They added DE Bosa to help their D, and Deebo at WR to their offense...good draft picks...

Cardinals---Rookie head Coach Kingsbury, rookie QB and #1 draft pick Murray, and a looney GM, and lots of holes and rebuilding to do....Larry Fitzgerald is one of the few positives 

[teganslaw]

The Colts are being hyped up right now, which is good but also scary. They have the weapons, and I like what Ballard has done, but there is always the chance of injuries. That would be the thing that prevents them from winning their division. Houston doesn't scare me, as the Colts seem to have their number, especially when they play in Houston.(  Just ask TY Hilton.) Jacksonville is the AFC South team that gives the Colts the most trouble. If Foles is having a good day, they could be tough.

I would like to see someone other than NE win the AFC East. The Bills had a good draft, it would be amazing if they won.

I don't think the Chiefs will be as dangerous this year. Mahomes will probably still be good, but I don't expect him to have the kind of numbers he had last year. KC just lost too many good players.

[gardenman]

Every Sunday without football gets us one week closer to football. We're getting closer and closer each and every week now.