Year: 2012

UNC/Louisville

stevenlourie Uncategorized

Spotlight #1: North Carolina DE Quinton Coples

Spotlight #2: North Carolina WR Dwight Jones 

1st quarter

14:14: Coples with a nice swim move to the inside, the run play goes outside, however.

13:45: Coples gets around his man, but the quarterback rolls out to the opposite side.

13:40: Coples into backfield unblocked, but gives a weak effort in chase of the ball carrier.

13:01: Coples disengages nicely from a double team, gives quarterback chase on a rollout.

11:04: Donte Paige-Moss (DPM) in on a few plays, clear passing downs, two nice plays against the run actually, disengages and wraps up twice when run at. North Carolina has so many good defensive ends, that DPM, once a projected 2012 1st round pick, has been relegated to nickel work in favor of Kareem Martin, a potential 2013 top 10 pick, opposite Quinton Coples. This has obviously hurt his stock, but he has another year of eligibility and he is really talented. He could be a top 15 pick in 2013 should he return and play well as a senior. Run play is his weakness at 255 pounds, but it’s good to see him do well against the run here. He’s also a hell of a pass rusher.

9:30: Jones is covered with bracket coverage, but he still catches a ball in stride for a 31 yard gain. He could have scored, but just stepped out. Smooth hands, good size, good catch in stride. Nice play.

7:21: Coples run at, but he gets a tackle for a short gain.

5:46: Coples doubled, but he’s still able to disengage and get in on a short tackle. Coples has been doubled a lot tonight, even with all the talent North Carolina has on their line. Louisville has also run several roll outs opposite him. They’re afraid of him.

5:17: Another roll out away from Coples. Exactly my point, they’re afraid of him.

2nd quarter

14:55: Coples ties up a blocker on a linebacker blitz by zach Brown, another first round prospect on North Carolina’s excellent defense. Brown hits the quarterback as he throws for an incompletion.

13:16: Coples disengages from another block with a spin, gets in on a tackle for a short gain.

11:39: Coples off the edge fast and helps stuff a guy running up the middle from behind on 4th and 1, failed 4th down conversion by Louisville.

10:54: Coples disengages from a block and gets in on a tackle for a loss of 3. I know it’s just Louisville, but they haven’t been able to block him at all today, even with doubles.

7:27: Coples run at again, short gain. He’s a stud, completely dominating against the run.

6:50: Coples gets around his man on a speed rush, but again, it’s a rollout away from him.

6:16: Coples draws a hold, gets free anyway, puts a big hit on the ball carrier in the backfield, but the tackle is somehow broken. The hit is big enough to slow him for someone else to come in and stop him for a 4 yard loss.

5:06: Zach Brown drops in coverage like a defensive back and gets a huge pick in field goal range.

2:16: Jones targeted, way inaccurate high. North Carolina’s offense has barely been on the field tonight and when they have, they haven’t moved the ball well with the exception of that one play to Jones for 31.

1:29: Same old, same old. They run at Coples again and again he’s stuffed for a short gain. He’s not going to show up on the stat sheet as having a lot of tackles for a loss, but stuffing guys for 1 or 2 yards is almost as good and he has does that on seemingly every other play tonight.

0:53: Coples has a run go to a gap to his left, disengages quickly and dives, but can’t quite get the tackle. Still a very nice effort.

0:29: Coples well blocked in pass protection, one of the few times today.

0:17: Coples jumps early, false start penalty.

3rd quarter

13:34: Jones over the middle on 3rd and 6, can’t quite yet the first because of a nice tackle from behind.

11:32: Coples with a strong rush to the quarterback, but falls near the end of the play.

10:06: Jones converts this first down with a nice inside move within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage off of the defensive back, could have turned into a big play if not for a nice open field tackle.

8:50: Sophomore Marcus Smith with his 2nd sack of the game for Louisville.

5:41: Coples lines up inside here, takes on blocks and allows the defensive end to get free for a quarterback pressure.

4:12: Marcus Smith with his 3rd sack of the night. He was unblocked and the quarterback rolled right into it. Smith is only a sophomore, but he now has 3 sacks on the season. Louisville is a young team with a lot of guys who could be future draft picks. Smith could be one of them. He looks good.

1:42: DPM gets into the backfield, misses a tackle.

0:13: Coples blows off the snap, cannot be blocked, excellent in chase, helps force the quarterback out of bounds for a loss on 3rd and 8.

4th quarter

12:21: Jones on a deep route, blows past a defensive back, comes back for an underthrown deep ball , plucks it out of the air with a man covering, breaks a tackle with pure power, with two guys trying to break him down. A very impressive play. First he dragged the two guys a few yards, then he broke free and run towards the end zone.

12:10: DPM draws a hold, gets into the backfield for a quarterback pressure anyway.

11:19: DPM disengages from a block with great quickness, gets a tackle for a short gain. He’s held up better against the run in limited action today than he has in the past.

10:26: DPM forces another hold, this time against a double team. He hasn’t played a lot today, but he’s definitely flashed when he’s played. I really hope he doesn’t do something stupid like declare this year and returns so we can have a full year of tape on him as a starter in 2012. He could be a top 15 pick in the 2013 NFL Draft,

6:35: Coples gets into the backfield on a running play again. No tackle here, but the North Carolina defensive line is able to get a tackle for loss.

5:40: Coples beats double again and gets in the quarterback’s face during a pass.

2:29: Coples around the edge, gets to the quarterback on a 3 man rush, but the quarterback does a good job of stepping up, moving away, and getting the ball off before Coples can catch up in pursuit.

2:15: Coples pancaked on a double team.

1:47: DPM in for Coples, again looking good pushing his man back with his hands, strong.

1:28: DPM with a quarterback pressure.

1:16: DPM with another quarterback pressure.

1:02: Coples back, gets back into the back field, combines to flush the quarterback from the pocket.

0:42: Coples blows past his man, hits the quarterback, who breaks the tackle with a spin.

0:00: I know it was just Louisville, but Coples looked awesome. At the very least, he didn’t do anything to hurt his standing as a top 5 pick. He’s not a Robert Quinn type, but he’s more of a Mario Williams type (6-6 285 4.7) excellent against the run, above average as a pass rusher. He didn’t fill the stat sheet, without a sack, and with only a half tackle for loss, but there’s are reasons for this.

For one, Coples was frequently double teamed. Louisville also frequently rolled out away from him, not allowing him to get any sacks. He was, however, frequently in the backfield and got consistent pressure on the quarterback. While he didn’t have a ton of tackles for loss, he did have a lot of tackles for a short gain. Louisville averaged less than 3 yards per carry in this game and Coples is a big part of the reason for that. He couldn’t be blocked and frequently disengaged in a timely manner when run at. I don’t know why they ran at him so much. I would like to see him against tougher competition, but I will be watching North Carolina/Miami next week so that should be a tougher test.

Also, though I wasn’t spotlighting Donte Paige-Moss, he had a great game. I was able to watch him a lot because he came in for Coples often on clear passing downs. That’s not a knock against Coples. That just says he’s the 3rd best pass rusher on his team and on North Carolina, that’s not a bad thing. DPM and Kareem Martin could be top 15 picks in 2013, specializing in rushing the passer. Besides, Coples is an elite run stuffer for his position. He also can’t move inside on passing downs that much because North Carolina has a pair of future NFL players at defensive tackle as well.

Anyway, Moss looked great in both pass rush and, surprisingly, run stuffing. At 6-4 255, he’s not a great run stuffer and that’s why he’s become a situational player for North Carolina. However, he’s still a very talented player and if he returns for next season, he will start opposite Martin and both could become top 15 picks. I can’t wait to spotlight him next season. Martin too, though I wasn’t able to see much of him tonight, focusing more on Coples and, when he came in the game for him, Donte Paige-Moss.

Going to the offensive side of the ball, Dwight Jones had 4 catches for 91 yards and a score. That’s pretty impressive considering North Carolina completed just 12 passes for 178 yards and that score. I have no idea why he’s not getting first round consideration. He’s a beast at 6-5 230 and he has everything you like in a receiver, good hands, good speed, excellent size, instincts, route running, etc.

In 6 games this season, he has 37 catches for 605 yards and 7 touchdowns. North Carolina has 100 completions for 1341 yards and 12 scores this year. He’s 15th in the FBS in yards, 3rd in touchdowns. I know he hasn’t played the toughest schedule this year, but he had a great game against Virginia and Chase Minnifield (5/85/1), a potential first round pick. Also, he’s consistent, no fewer than 85 yards in a game this year. He had 62 catches for 946 yards and 4 scores last year. I can’t understand why he isn’t a first round prospect, but he’ll be one here, provided he keeps this up.

UCLA/Arizona

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Spotlight #1: Arizona WR Juron Criner 

Spotlight #2: Arizona S Robert Golden 

1st quarter

14:55: Criner with an excellent 2nd level block on a long run on a reverse pitch.

13:50: Criner just overthrown in the end zone deep. Good effort.

13:00: Foles throws unnecessarily off his back foot. Still complete deep.

12:44: Criner covered one-on-one, defender slips, easy pitch and catch for a 4 yard touchdown on a fade.

9:38: Criner open for an easy pitch and catch for 9 yards off play action.

8:13: Criner runs a nice short out route, catches one for 8 yards.

7:22: Golden takes a bad route to the ball on a long run, blocked off the play by a 2nd level block and couldn’t disengage.

5:55: Golden allows a completion on 3rd and 2. Poor instincts to not pick up the receiver short.

5:10: Golden misses a tackle on the sideline, slows the ball carrier a bit to allow a teammate to actually bring him down.

4:10: Golden is the 8th man in the box, blocked off the play on an 8 yard run.

2:53: Golden bites on a play fake, goes towards running back’s side, touchdown pass goes the other way. May not have been completely Golden’s fault, but he was out of position because of a play fake bite on a touchdown play.

2:46: Foles takes a sack because he had the ball too long. This is a bad habit of his.

0:08: Criner with a good short catch on a quick throw for a few yards and a 1st down conversion. He’s shown good short route running here in the first quarter.

2nd quarter

14:37: Criner plucks one out of the air on an inaccurate throw against tight coverage in the end zone. In a highlight reel catch, Criner reached over the head of the defender to pluck it for 6.

8:46: Golden chases a guy out of bounds after a gain of a bunch, 6 yards.

7:54: Golden stays in his gap on a quarterback run and gets a tackle on the sideline after a gain of 5.

7:05: Golden explodes up for a tackle for loss on 3rd and 5.

5:02: Criner takes one in the flat quick on 2nd and 1, takes it for a few with a decent move to convert the first down.

4:16: Criner plucks one against tight coverage for a good gain.

3:30: Criner beats his man deep, gets separation and makes an easy catch in the end zone for his 3rd touchdown of the half. 5 scores on 5 drives for Arizona early.

3:12: Nelson Rosario hasn’t done much early, nice deep, high catch and good open field moves, but a fumble, recovered by Arizona.

2:59: Criner isn’t the only receiver having a huge night for Arizona. #2 receiver Gino Crump, a former walk on and a first year starter as a senior, has 8 catches for 89 yards and has made some nice plays. Arizona is having their way with UCLA’s defense.

2:25: Criner draws a pass interference penalty on the defense deep for 15 yards. They’re having all sorts of trouble with this kid.

2:04: Criner gets a nice downfield block on a long run.

 

3rd quarter

14:06: Golden is one of two guys on deep coverage, incomplete and could have been picked by the other guy.

13:42: Criner targeted, but slips.

9:24: Criner takes one in the flat and gets 9 yards in space and almost the first down.

7:28: Foles throws an ill advised, inaccurate ball deep, picked.

6:53: Rosario with an awful drop. Such an easy catch, dropped.

6:48: Rosario drops another pass. This one was harder, but should have been a catch.

6:21: Criner catches one and breaks two tackles with two separate nice moves to almost convert 1st and very long.

5:20: Criner targeted, goes up to get one against double coverage, but can’t quite bring it down.

1:59: Golden makes a nice play on the ball to intercept it, but out of bounds. Would have been tough to keep in bounds.

4th quarter

14:38: Nick Foles is done with a 45-7 lead. Let’s see if Criner stays in.

12:21: Krump draws pass interference.

10:32: Criner is done.

0:00: Arizona came into this game 1-4, but they sure didn’t look like it. Arizona scored on all 6 of their first half drives and took a 42-7 lead into the locker room. They didn’t play as well in the 3rd quarter and they took their starters out in the 4th, but they still won 48-12. Almost every one of their offensive skill players had a good game, even their running backs and this was a team that couldn’t do anything on the ground coming into this game.

Juron Criner finished the game with 10 catches for 101 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also had a pass interference drawn and got almost every one of his targets. He could have had more, but he didn’t even play in the 4th quarter and in the 3rd quarter, he only had 1 catch with a huge lead. Criner had each of his 3 touchdowns in different ways. His first one was an easy one. The cornerback covering him one on one slipped on the route and Criner was wide open for a 4 yard touchdown. On his 2nd one, he didn’t get any separation, but he didn’t need to as he was able to reach over the defender and win an inaccurate jump ball against tight coverage for 7 yards. On his 3rd touchdown, he simply beat his man deep for 25 yards and made an easy catch as Nick Foles’ put it right on the money for him.

That 25 yard catch was Criner’s longest and he really didn’t show a lot of big play and separation ability. However, he proved himself to be a reliable target, a good short to intermediate route runner, a red zone threat, and also a good run blocker, partially contributing to Arizona’s surprisingly good game on the ground. UCLA’s defense didn’t provide much of a test for Arizona, especially not on this night, but the 6-4 Criner had 75 catches for 956 yards and 11 touchdowns in 11 games this season (missed one with an appendectomy) after 82 catches for 1233 yards and 11 touchdowns last season. He looks like a 3rd rounder or so.

Proving that UCLA really did not come to play defensively, Criner’s partner at wide receiver, Gino Crump, not the greatest receiver, also had 9 catches for 104 yards. On the year, he has 65 catches for 610 yards and 2 touchdowns. The 6-2 210 pound receiver had some nice plays, but he’s a one year starter and a former walk on. He flashed some potential, but if he does anything at the next level, it’d be as an undrafted free agent.

The guy throwing the ball to them, Nick Foles, also had a great game. He was 26 of 39 for 291 yards, 3 touchdowns, and one ugly, ill advised pick. It is also worth noting that one of those touchdowns to Criner was inaccurate and a great play by Criner to bring it in for a touchdown. Foles has a great arm and he’s got good accuracy, but he one of those guys who doesn’t have “it.”

He’s not a winner, going 4-8 this season. He has poor pocket presence, taking 23 sacks in each of the last 2 seasons and that’s not all on his line. He has a tendency to hold the ball too long and he’s not mobile either. He also has a tendency to check down too much, rather than leading drives and taking shots downfield, even though he does have a great arm. His footwork needs work as well, as he tends to throw off his back foot, but he has a good enough arm to complete long completions in spite of that, as he did tonight. That might be work at the next level.

On top of that, he starts seasons well, but doesn’t finish them well. This season, he started with 10-0 TD-INT, but finished 18-14 TD-INT in his last 8 games. On the season, he completed 69.1% of his passes, 7.7 YPA, and 28 touchdowns to 14 interceptions. Last season he had a very high completion percentage (mid 70s) to start the season, but finished at 67.1%. I thought that was related to a leg injury that he came back too quickly from, but it’s starting to look like a trend. He has enough to work with that he should be a 2nd day pick, but nothing more.

UCLA wasn’t awful offensively, but turnovers, drops, and missed field goals killed them as they tried to keep up with a perfect Arizona offense in the first half. Nelson Rosario was to blame for a lot of that. Continuing his inconsistency, Rosario had an awesome catch and run after, but fumbled. He also had a pair of terrible drops. He led UCLA in receiving with 4 catches for 78 yards. On the season, the 6-5 receiver had 61 catches for 1105 yards and 4 touchdowns. He’s got all the physical tools, but he does stupid stuff a lot and he plays in a weird offense. He’s probably a late round pick.

As I said, UCLA didn’t have a bad game offensively, with 323 yards of total offense. Robert Golden for Arizona didn’t have a great game. The 5-11 200 pound safety will probably have to play cornerback at the next level. He looked very undersized in this one and struggled against the run. He had a few nice plays and his share of tackles, including a tackle for loss on 3rd down, forcing a field goal that was missed. However, his season stats aren’t that great, 69 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 1 pick, and 5 deflections and he just didn’t impress me. If he gets drafted, it’ll be late.

 

UCF/BYU

stevenlourie Uncategorized

 

Spotlight #1: BYU OT Matt Reynolds

Spotlight #2: BYU DE Hebron Fangubo 

1st quarter

13:14: Fangubo gets to the outside on a screen pass and makes a tackle on a running back trying to spin away. He stops it for a short gain.

8:36: Excellent block on the outside by Matt Reynolds. Destroyed the defensive lineman. He’s very strong.

6:09: Quarterback tries to run to the outside, Fangubo, who is on the outside of the line, is able to react and give chase. He’s not nearly in time however as the quarterback is able to release and complete the pass.

3:20: Fangubo able to get push against a double team, draws the blockers and allows the blitzer to get to the quarterback for a sack.

2:11: UCF’s Darius Nall breaks free for a big sack. He was left untouched on a confusing blitz, but still a nice play by the cancer survivor.

2nd quarter

11:06: Reynolds very quick to pick up a man in zone blocking.

9:03: Fangubo in on a stuff in the backfield. Gets off the line quick for someone his size and so powerful.

8:21: Fangubo runs to the outside and is able to make the tackle on the quarterback for a small gain and a 3rd down stop.

4:19: Great pass protection by Matt Reynolds. He swallows up yet another defensive lineman.  

1:23: Reynolds uses his hands so well. He’s so strong and has great technique.

 

3rd quarter

14:10: Reynolds mirrors his man in protection the whole way. He’s having a great night tonight. He might be older than most prospects and not that athletic, but he’s a starting caliber right tackle in the NFL.

13:31: Missed cut block by Reynolds.

12:39: UCF cornerback Josh Robinson with a big hit to make his man drop a pass. Robinson also had a pick earlier this week. He’s only junior, but he’s a 3rd year starter and an excellent player and a huge part of this great defense. He could be a day 2 pick or higher in 2013, assuming he stays in school this year.

11:22: Great instincts and awareness by Fangubo to plug the hole to stop the ball carrier for a minimal gain.

4th quarter

14:11: Fangubo doing everything. Now he bats down a pass at the line of scrimmage.

12:05: Reynolds dominates a guy at the line of scrimmage. Just pushed him back like he was a ragdoll. Just outmuscling him.

10:29: An excellent block by Reynolds paving the way for a rushing touchdown.

10:21: Fangubo has to run to the outside again. He moves well for his size. He forces the quarterback out of bounds.

9:16: Fangubo blocked out of the way on a 3rd and 1 running play. UCF gets the first.

0:00: Fangubo was an extremely impressive player. BYU runs a 3-4, one of the few teams in college football who does, and Fangubo primarily lines up at 3-4 defensive end. At 6-1 330, he’s best suited for nose tackle at the next level, a position he lines up at occasionally for BYU. He’s extremely mobile for someone his size and he makes plays all over the place, but he’s also disciplined and knows when to stay at home and plug a gap. He’s extremely strong and uses his hands very well. He doesn’t have a ton of moves, but what 330 pounder does. He’s comfortable taking up multiple blocks and plugging multiple gaps and he can still get some push against 2 guys. He’s having a great season so far and if he keeps this up, he’s definitely a candidate to be a late riser in the draft because of how rare true nose tackles are.

As for Reynolds, he had an excellent game. I know it was just UCF, but he looked like a man among boys out there. He uses his hands extremely well and he just gobbled up pass rushers the whole night. He has excellent technique. However, since he’s 24, you expect him to be a man among boys out there, especially against UCF. He’s not the most athlete guy and he’ll definitely need to move to right tackle at the next level. However, I think he’s a plug and play right tackle who can start very early in his career. He is worth a 2nd round pick.

Another very impressive player was UCF’s Josh Robinson. The small school corner likely won’t come out this year as a mere junior, but he’s someone to look for into 2013. He had an interception, a huge tackle, and was huge in coverage for a UCF defense that ranked among the best in the league coming into tonight and held a potential future pro prospect in Jake Heaps to 16 for 34 passing. 

 

Ty Warren Broncos

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Warren hasn’t played in a 4-3 like Denver’s in a while and that could have part of the reason why the Patriots cut him, possibly moving to a 4-3 after bringing in Albert Haynesworth. He also is coming off of a major injury. However, this deal only has 2.5 million guaranteed, 10 million total over 2 years, but light on guaranteed money which is good because Warren is a risk. He also fills Denver’s biggest need by far.

Grade: A

 

Tyson Clabo Falcons

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I was thinking someone would overpay Clabo this offseason after he made the Pro Bowl last season. He’s an above average right tackle, but I don’t think he deserved to make the Pro Bowl and he definitely didn’t deserve to be paid like a left tackle or anything. So did the Falcons overpay Clabo? Clabo gets 27 million over 5 years with 11.5 million in guarantees. I think it’s a pretty fair deal. It’s not a great value or anything, but they didn’t overpay.

Grade: A

 

Tyson Alualu Scout

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3-4 Defensive End/Defensive Tackle 

California

6-3 294

40 time: 4.87

Draft board overall prospect rank: #41

Draft board 3-4 defensive end rank: #5

Overall rating: 79*

1/20/10: Not a great athlete, but makes up for in with hustle and work ethic which is a major plus for his draft stock in my eyes. He also has experience in a 3-4 scheme as a defensive end, which gives him an advantage over the other 3-4 defensive end prospects in this draft class. He has 13 sacks over the last 2 years and always seems to be in good position to make the tackle. He isn’t an ideal 4-3 defensive tackle at 4-3, but he’ll fit some schemes and can move inside on nickel packages. He can also play some 4-3 left end depending on how a team views him because he has experience as an edge rusher.

            11/8/09: Alualu is the stereotypical overachiever that NFL scouts love. He has amazing heart and hustle and consistently exceeds expectations. Unlike most 3-4 defensive end prospects, Alualu has experience at the position playing 3-4 at Cal. He has a good size, speed combination for a passer rusher and is great at using his hands on bull rushes. He has good initial quickness, upper body strength, and leverage. He’s a natural run stopper and gets into gaps to break plays up before the ball carrier expects it. Relentless in pursuit of the ball carrier and plays faster than he’s timed. He lacks the size to play defensive tackle in the NFL. He’s nothing more than a nickel package defensive tackle in a 4-3 defense because he doesn’t have the size to play multiple gaps. He lacks great natural athleticism and doesn’t have very long arms, but he is a gym rat and has good self made athleticism. He doesn’t have a huge ceiling, but should be the type of 3-4 defensive end that stabilizes a defensive line for 8-10 years in the NFL.

NFL Comparison: Cory Redding

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

Tyron Smith Scout

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Offensive Tackle

USC

6-6 310

Draft board overall prospect rank: #11

Draft board overall offensive tackle rank: #1

Overall rating: 89 (1st round)

40 time: 4.93

4/12/10: Tyron Smith is an athletic freak. He bulked up from the 280-285 he was listed at last year as a Junior at USC in 2010 to 310 pounds for his Pro Day. He isn’t just bigger, but he carries it well. He ran a 4.93 at his Pro Day and he lifted 31 reps of 225 despite having freakishly long 36 3/8 inch arms. His long arms suggest room to bulk. He also just looks like a beast. He’s in amazing physical shape with very little body fat. I think he’s more athletic than Trent Williams was coming out last year and Williams’ athleticism got him drafted at #4 by the Redskins.

The big difference between him and Williams and is that Williams struggled at left tackle his senior season at Oklahoma. He had an impressive college career, but most of that was on the right side. He couldn’t handle the left side in college, but was drafted so high because of his athleticism. I frequently described Williams as a fast right tackle and nothing more last season.

Smith, meanwhile, has never played on the left side, with the exception of a few snaps here and there, so left tackle is a complete projection for him. However, given how well he played at right tackle, I think he could play the left side in the pros. He is a better technician than Williams was and he’s only 20 years old. The only reason he didn’t play left tackle as a sophomore or a junior was because USC had Charles Brown, a 2010 2nd round pick, at left tackle in 2009 and Matt Kalil, a projected 2012 top 5 pick, at left tackle in 2010. He wasn’t forced to play right tackle for lack of talent. He has plenty of that.

The only thing that prevents me from giving him an elite grade is his lack of experience on the left side. There’s a chance he just won’t be able to play the position in the pros. We don’t know because it’s an absolute projection. Teams can have him line up on the left side in drills in individual workouts, which they have been doing and the results have been very good, but that’s no substitute for playing the left side in game action.

Other than that, this is a very good prospect. He’s athletic with room to grow and a superb work ethic. He has very good technique for his age and dominated on the right side in college, most notably dominating fellow potential top 10 pick Cameron Jordan in their matchup this season. He’s a mauler against the run and he’s athletic enough to be an elite pass protector, although he’s still somewhat raw in his pass protection. His range starts at 9 to Dallas and I doubt he falls past New England at 17.

NFL Comparison: Jason Smith

 

Tyler Thigpen

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By Paul Smythe 

Tyler Thigpen is expected to make his first start with the Miami Dolphins in front of a national audience Thursday night against the Bears. 

This is going to be a huge game for Thigpen, and if he plays like he did at the end of the Tennessee game he may very well become the starting quarterback in Miami for a long time.

Last week when he came in for the injured Chad Pennington and Chad Henne, Thigpen was able to give the offense a big spark and lead a scoring drive.

With the exception of his very first pass, Thigpen was on the mark and pretty much perfect on every one of his throws. He was able to scramble and make plays when he needed to, and because of him the Dolphins were able to pretty much seal the game.

My guess is that the Bears (and the rest of the football community) won’t be expecting Thigpen to do well. Chicago is probably just thinking about how lucky they are that Miami is going to be without their 1st or 2nd string quarterbacks. Not long form now they will find out, though, that Thigpen is a very dangerous quarterback.

What excites me so much about Thigpen is how well he can create plays with his feet. I was reading about him earlier, and someone called him the poor man’s Michael Vick, which is actually a very good analogy. He may not have the speed of Vick, but he is very similar in style to Vick. Heck, I wouldn’t mind him being similar to Vick after his performance on Monday night.

There is also a good chance that left tackle Jake Long will be able to play Thursday, so Thigpen should have the necessary protection to play his game. I have a good feeling about this game. Our offense won’t be robotic any longer. We may actually see a couple big plays. The Dolphins let the offense loosen up a little bit, and that was evident with the long flea-flicker play from Henne to Brian Hartline.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you are ready for some early football.

Go back to Dolphins Fan Spot 

http://www.dolphinshout.com/

Troy Smith

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By Michael J Morris

With both teams licking their wounds to kill time on the flight to England, it was anyone’s game Sunday between the 49ers and the Denver Broncos.  The Broncos, coming off their embarrassing 14-59 performance against the Oakland Raiders a week prior and the 49ers losing to the Carolina Panthers.

Last week, David Carr was given an opportunity to take the reins as the quarterback of the quarterback-less 49ers, but failed to meet expectations similar to those of the team at the start of the season.  Although his time under center was forced because of an injury to Alex Smith late in the game against Carolina, it was enough to see that his decision making was too much like Alex and it was time to give plan C a try.

Plan C goes by the name of Smith, Troy Smith, the Heisman winning quarterback that was drafted out of Ohio State in 2007.  The same Troy Smith that had a website made for him by Browns fans urging Cleveland Browns management to take him in the draft.  Browns management failed to listen but the poll is still out to whether or not that decision will be a costly one. Smith would be drafted in Day 2 at the end of the fifth round.

 

 

Don’t get me wrong, Troy Smith didn’t have a great game, as he only passed for 197 yards and a score, but he did get the job done, completing 8 of 10 passes for 110 yards with a late touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree that put them ahead.

You couldn’t expect a guy who a week ago was third in line, but to see that he took advantage of his opportunity and kept from making a mistake that those ahead of him would most likely have made gives a little hope to the quarterback situation.

The defense was able to keep Kyle Orton and the Broncos out of the red-zone, allowing them only 16 points on the day despite a 369 yard outing by Orton. Frank Gore made Smith’s job a lot easier as well, carrying the rock for 118 yards and a touchdown.

“Our receivers just told our coaches, ‘you know, let’s play,’” Gore said. “We can’t try to hold stuff back. You know our coaches called it and Troy did a great job … he made big plays when it counted and when we needed it.”

I’m sure the bye week couldn’t have come soon enough for Coach Singletary and his staff.

“We’re going to continue to go forward with Troy Smith right now,” Singletary said. “We’re going into the bye week and as far as Alex Smith is concerned, it’s a week-to-week deal. I’ll wait and talk to our doctors, trainers, whatever. But we’ll make those decisions when we need to.”

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Trey Huguley

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Born in Houston and raised by such passionate Oilers fans that they might have even worn “Luv Ya Blue” suits to work, at an early age Trey developed a deep interest in Houston football. Devastated when Bud Adams selfishly ripped the Oilers from the clutches of Houston football fans, he was born again in 2002 when the Texans came to town. (Although he tends to avoid memory of the David Carr era). 

A die hard Houston Texans fan, Trey is a sports enthusiast/independent filmmaker/writer, who’s passion for writing and sports led to creating http://www.HoustonSportblog.com in 2008. Here, he and his guest writer, Garrett, express an opinionated, fun look at the Houston Texans, Astros, Rockets and more.  Notably, Trey is also a very avid and successful Fantasy Football player, who is never afraid to share his strategies on how the game should be played.

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