By Matthew Frank

New safety Antrel Rolle criticized the Giants for a lackluster effort and game plan this past weekend.   Rolle wasn’t very specific, but generally indited the coaches for a creating an atmosphere with no passion and a game plan that did not attack the offense well enough. 

It’s hard to say that he is wrong, though publicly airing this early in the season might not be the best idea.  The Giants came out very flat all game, and the defensive plan was clearly picked apart by the Colts.  The first game the defense got bailed out by a bunch of end zone interceptions which are not going to happen very often against a veteran quarterback.  The Giants better figure out what is going on quickly or they may be in trouble this weekend against the Titans.

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This is technically a 2 year, 6.6 million dollar contract, but 5 million of that is in 2013 and non-guaranteed, so it’s essentially a 1 year, 1.6 million dollar deal. That’s a good deal for a solid, but aging defensive lineman. He’ll continue to split time with Cam Thomas.

Grade: A

Deal for Chargers:

So far this offseason the Chargers have gotten rid of LaDainian Tomlinson, Jamal Williams, and Antonio Cromartie, lost Brandon Manumeleuna, added no draft picks for 2010, and resigned their 175 pound “running back” for 7.7 million next year. I think they have to best having the worst offseason. Cromartie is a good player, regardless of his character issues and I think he is worth more than a future 3^rd.

Grade: C

Deal for Jets:

The Jets could possibly have the best pass defense in the league next year. They got themselves a good cornerback opposite Darrelle Revis, who can only make Cromartie better. If they use their first 2 picks on pass rushers (one D-Line, one linebacker), which this move allow them to do, they could be nearly impossible to pass against. If Cromartie doesn’t pan out. Then all they lost was a 2011 3^rd rounder.

Grade: A

Antonio Bryant has two seasons over 1000 or more receiving yards in his career, both in contract years. In the rest of his career, he has averaged less than 600 yards per season. He’s also coming off of a season plagued by leg injuries and he’s had problems with pretty much every coach he’s ever had. He’s also been suspended for a year in his career once before for falling a drug test. Is that the kind of guy you want to pay 28 million over 4 years to? That’s how much Anquan Boldin got in his extension for the Ravens. All the Bengals had to do was give up that much money and two mid round picks and they could have gotten Boldin, a much more talented high character guy. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think the last thing the Bengals needed was to give another low character guy a longterm deal.

Grade: C-

Running Back/Full Back

Mississippi State

6-1 233

40 time: 4.65

Draft board overall prospect rank: #70

Draft board running back rank: #7

Overall rating: 74*

1/17/10: Not the most mobile guy, but he’s agile for his large frame, 240 pounds, and is a very strong and physical runner and he gets his pads down low to the ground when he runs unlike Toby Gerhart and should be able to be a decent running back at the next level and break tackles. However, he’s slower than Gerhart and doesn’t have much upside at all. In fact, one can argue that he ran the ball too much in college, 910 attempts in 4 years, and that will shorten his NFL career. He also has a DUI to his name and that is a bit of a red flag. He’ll be drafted in the 3^rdround range as a kind of, you know what your getting type guy. I don’t see him as a feature back at the next level.

            Anthony Dixon is being often compared to Toby Gerhart of Stanford this season because both are having amazing seasons and are big power backs that lack elite speed. I think, as a football player, Anthony Dixon is actually better than Heisman favorite Toby Gerhart. Dixon is a better pass protector, has better mobility, better hands, and a better college track record. However, he has more off the field troubles. He was arrested for DUI before this season, but was not suspended. When I heard, that, I thought that , coupled with a lack of elite speed, would make the former elite recruit a 6^th round prospect at best. Then he came out and had the best season of his career and flashed the potential to possibly be an every down back at the next level like Brandon Jacobs. I love players who perform consistently over multiple seasons. This entire season Dixon only rushed for less than 81 yards once and that was against Florida which makes it somewhat excusable, especially since he only got 15 carries in that contest. Dixon led Mississippi State in rushing not once, not twice, not three times, but in every single season in his college career. He has amassed almost 4000 rushing yards in his college career on 910 carries and 42 touchdowns. His use of hands in pass protection are elite for someone of his age and figure to improve as he matures. He also doesn’t fumble that often which is often a problem for young backs and he’s a good pass catcher for his size. If he can keep his off the field troubles away, he can be a nice backup, goal line back, and possibly a 3^rd down back. He also has the potential to be a feature back, which I don’t think Toby Gerhart has.

NFL Comparison: Michael Bush

*= For a breakdown of what this means, click here

Offensive Tackle

Rutgers

6-5 323

40 time: 5.35

Draft board overall prospect rank: #44

Draft board offensive tackle rank: #6

Overall rating: 79* 

3/15/10: How can I lower his stock if he didn’t do anything? Well simply that, he did nothing. He didn’t show up to his Pro Day, canceling at the last minute (Andre Smith anyone?). He needed to be in shape for his Pro Day after showing up out of shape to The Combine, but he didn’t even show up to the Pro Day, probably because he was even more out of shape. This show he lacks commitment (bailing at the last minute) and work ethic (being out of shape). Neither of those things are good for an offensive lineman. This guy might as well have BUST stamped across his forehead.

2/25/10: How does a 323 pound tackle bench 225 pounds a mere 21 times. There were already questions about his work ethic coming into this week and now the Andre Smith comparisons seem to be becoming more and more accurate. The upside is there, but is anything else?

1/19/10: He’s that Jason Peters type left tackle, overrated against the pass, but a huge mauler against the run. He’s only 20 years old and is still inexperienced at the left tackle position and has huge upside as a pass blocker, but right now the 330 pound tackle’s best attribute is his mauling run blocking and ability to use his large frame to his advantage. 

            6/29/09: Anthony Davis is a massive offensive lineman with huge potential. He’s a natural guard and an excellent run blocker, but Rutgers moved him over to offensive tackle because of his large size. He flawlessly made the transition to offensive tackle, using his long arms and strong upper body to protect Mike Teel, who led one of the Big East’s most electrifying offenses last season. He’s still very raw and struggles with the fundamentals at left tackle, but he’s the type of guy that coaches and GMs will take a chance on at the next level, with his high potential, and also knowing that he can play guard and probably right tackle if he doesn’t pan out at left. He’s a bit slow on his feet, which is expected because of his size. However, speed rushers can still blow past him. He doesn’t always play up to his size and he doesn’t always quite know how to use his size to his advantage. Still, the upside is there and with the way teams have been reaching for left tackles, Davis has a very good shot of going in the first round, assuming he continues to grow and learn the fundamentals of his new position as expected.

NFL Comparison: Andre Smith

*For a breakdown of what this means, click here

Bio: Anthony Brown is a lifelong Washington Redskins fan and 48-year season ticket holder. He has blogged about the Redskins since 2004 and now one of the talents behind Redskins Hog Heaven. Anthony reaches for a deeper understanding of Redskins performance, often challenging conventional wisdom of what’s going on with the team.

Anthony (Tony) Brown

Redskins Hog Haven

http://www.linkedin.com/in/tonybrown2007

http://twitter.com/SkinsHogHeaven 

At 31, Adams is not what he used to be and he’s coming off a down year, but the Bears got him so cheap in this resigning, 4.5 million over 2 years with 1.5 million guaranteed, that they almost had to do it. They’ve lost Tommie Harris this offseason and couldn’t afford to lose their only other proven defensive tackle, Adams, even with rookie Stephen Paea coming in.

Grade: A

Deal for Ravens:

Alright, everyone hands put your hands where I can see them, hands up. This poor action movie imitation is my way of showing that the Ravens just committed armed robbery. 30 teams’ fans right now are kicking themselves because there team wasn’t the one to pull this deal off.

Grade: A

Deal for Cardinals

Meanwhile Cardinals’ fans are probably hanging themselves. After 2 good years, that miserable franchise stench is coming back. They have lost Antrel Rolle and Kurt Warner already this offseason. They are probably going to lose Karlos Dansby and they might cut Adrian Wilson too and now they have lost Boldin. The truth is, though they could have gotten more value for their star receiver, they have the receiver depth to overcome this. Steve Breaston is more than capable of being a #2 and Early Doucet is a 2008 3rd round pick who showed good upside last year. He should be more than capable of replacing Breaston in the slot in Arizona’s 3 wide receiver offense. Still, though, not a happy day for Cardinals fans.

Grade: C+

By Kevin Harrison 

Emotions ran high, and then low, and then high again as the Cardiac Jets offense pulled off a heist as they were the thieves in Ocean’s 11 after the defense had thrown away what looked like an easy victory giving up 17 straight points. 

Things were looking great with the Jets holding on to a 23-lead and there were no signs that the defense was going to have a 4^th quarter meltdown; we were finally going to be able to sit back and enjoy the final quarter of the game.  Yeah right.  These Jets, while they continue to win, do not make it easy on themselves giving us another heart attack for the fourth time in five weeks.

With 12:00 minutes or so left in the game, the defense gave up a field goal to make the game 23-10.  Okay, that was fine.  The Jets were just going to go “ground and pound” and rush the ball to eat up some clock with a thirteen point lead.  Well, things were going well and then Shonn Greene fumbled the ball.  Before I could blink, the Texans hit ex-Jet, Joel Dressen, for a 43 yard TD and we were not just up 6 points.  Things started looking bleak and now we were in the middle of the game.  I started to feel nauseous.  Here we go again.

After doing nothing with the ball, the Texans have a nice drive for a touchdown to go up by one.  I could not even believe we were losing this game that we had such a nice lead in.  We now needed a field goal and guess what?  Sanchez is intercepted deep in their own end.  Crap; it was looking like the game was over.

Well, the Defense was ready and held the Texans to just three more points to go up 27-23 with just 55 seconds left.  Things were looking bad as we had no more time outs and after a nice kickoff returned, we get called for a personal foul to set us back another 15 yards

So, it was up to the Sanchize again.  Can he pull off another miracle comeback?  We may now how to re-nickname him the new Mr. 4^th Quarter after what he pulled off.  After two quick passes to LT, Sanchez goes back, about 24 seconds on the clock, and hits Braylon Edwards for a 42 yard pass to the Texans six yard line.  And, amazingly, he got out of bounds to stop the clock.

There was now 16 seconds left and 2/3rds of the stadium was outside watching on monitors.  Mr. Cool goes back and hits Santonio Holmes in the corner, who somehow kept his feet in bounds for the winning score.  Santiono does it again as well coming up big in big spots at the end of these crazy games in the 4^th quarter.

The Jets are 8-2.  We could be 2-8.  But, we are 8-2 and are riding a high on this miracle marathon.  I hope this race continues as this has been a year like no others — A year where this team just refuses to win.  I hope it continues thru February !

http://khbirdmantalkingjets.blogspot.com

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