Eric Weddle is a great player and a top 5 safety in this league. I just don’t like the idea of giving 5 years, 40 million, with 19 million guaranteed the richest deal ever for a safety, to anyone not named Troy Polamalu or Ed Reed. This deal pays Weddle like he’s Polamalu or Reed and he’s not.
Grade: C
By Paul Smythe
Oh wait, things have already gotten out of hand.
I was originally planning on this post being an analysis of the game, but you know what? Screw that. This game does not need an in-depth analysis. The only two things that should result in this for the Miami Dolphins is +1 in the loss column and the firing of Special Teams Coordinator John Bonamego.
Last night was the most embarrassing performance I have ever watched by a special teams unit. It was also arguably the most embarrassing showing in the history of the NFL.
I don’t know if there has ever been a team that outgained their opponent by 135 yards and still lost by 27 points until now. You have to be pretty bad on special teams to do that, so I guess the Dolphins qualify
So, thank you John Bonamego.
Thank you for costing us a game that we could have very easily won and putting us in another early hole. We all thought we had avoided the early hole after our 2-0 start. Well, we were wrong. Here we are again with a bad record in the beginning of the season.
Now, instead of winning we end up looking like one of the worst teams in the NFL. Instead of pulling even with the Jets atop the division we are now what seems like an eternity behind both New York and New England.
It may only be a one game deficit in the win-loss column, but it is really so much more because of the two game deficit in the divisional win-loss column.
This game was an early must-win, and we definitely didn’t win. Instead we became the first team to allow a kickoff to be returned for a touchdown, a blocked field goal to be returned for a touchdown, and a interception returned for a touchdown all in the same game. And, it was pretty much all John Bonamego’s fault.
Admittedly, Bonamego was not out there on the field. He was not one of the tacklers that was beaten on the kickoff TD allowed. He was not one of the blockers who allowed the Patriots to block a punt or the field goal returned for a TD.
But, he sure as hell should not get off without blame for this one.
The Miami Dolphins special teams has been horrible since he has been here, and tonight’s performance just brings that fact out for everyone to see. Consider this:
Our special teams is the 25th worst in kick return yards with 21.6, and that was with Pro Bowl kick returner Clifton Smith returning the ball for the first two games. You can try and blame Smith all you want, but no kick returner has been successful in the Dolphins kick return system of late.
In just four games so far this season the Miami Dolphins special teams has allowed three blocked kicks, a kickoff returned for a touchdown, and more yards returned on a kickoff than any other team in the NFL.
But, here’s the kicker. They haven’t just allowed more yards per kickoff return by a couple tenths of a yard.
THEIR AVERAGE YARDS ALLOWED IS 5 YARDS MORE THAN ANY OTHER TEAM IN THE NFL
They have averaged 35.8 yards per kickoff return. In second place is the Tennessee Titans with 30.8 yards per return. That is the most sickening statistic I have seen in a very, very long while.
Pair all of those stats with the two kickoffs that went out of bounds, and you have one of the worst special teams in the history of the NFL.
Let me put it is perspective for you. I looked through the NFL record book to find the record for the highest average yards allowed in a season for one team.
“Why?” you ask.
Because I’m pissed off and I want to prove my point.
Anyways, would you like to know the record? Trust me you really don’t, but I will tell you anyways.
It is 29.5 kickoff yards allowed by the 1972 New York Jets.
The Miami Dolphins are averaging 6.3 more yards allowed per return than the worst average in NFL history.
Granted, the Jets average was after 14 games. But still, if the Dolphins keep John Bonamego then they may very well shatter that record.
So, please Miami Dolphins, put somebody else in there. You can pay them $50 million dollars a year for all I care as long as they don’t get in the rest of the team’s way.
Just give me an average special teams unit, and let the offense and defense take care of the rest.
By Matthew Frank
The New York Giants take on the Indianapolis Colts this Sunday night. While all the commentators are concentrating on the Manning v. Manning matchup, this game boils down to another three things:
1) The Giants Pass Rush
The Giants need to get pressure on Peyton Manning all night. And by pressure I mean without big, sell-out blitzing pressure. 3rd and longs killed this team last year and that was largely due to the lack of push by the front four leading to massive blitzes. If Kiwanuka, Tuck, Umeniyora, and company get in that backfield often, the rest of the defense should be able to neutralize the passing game. The Indianapolis offensive line is also really beat up with several players coming back early from injury. Expect the defense to come out in a lot of nickel looks and really put a lot of pressure on the receivers. The Giants can’t count on Peyton Manning throwing several red-zone interceptions like they got last week.
2) The Giants Running Game
In case anybody missed it, the Texans ran right over the Colts last week decimating them for 257 yards on the ground. With Bob Sanders out, the Giants should be licking their chops over Bradshaw and Jacobs running over and through the Indy defense. Last week the New York offensive line had a lot of issues getting blown back repeatedly. The Giants don’t have to be as dominant as Houston was last week, but they certainly need to show marked improvement or rumors of their demise may start to get played up.
3) Special Teams
The Giants don’t need to be world beaters here; just merely competent. Will Matt Dodge actually show up, or will we be shopping for a punter next week?
All in all a really tough game considering who they are playing, but this game is winnable. If the defense can hold their own, the offense should be able to get going. Let’s just hope the defensive line can introduce themselves to Peyton early and often.
http://www.bigbluefootballreview.com/
Spotlight #1: Iowa State OT Kelechi Osemele
Spotlight #2: Texas A&M RB Cyrus Gray
1st quarter
9:20: Osemele technically gives up a sack, but it wasn’t his fault. The quarterback fell. Osemele’s man happened to be the first guy to touch him after he fell.
8:41: Gray forward for 4 yards.
8:30: Gray targeted, but inaccurate high. Christine Michael (yes, that’s a guy’s name) was in on the first 2 drives for Texas A&M, but now Gray is in.
8:09: Osemele with an excellent block on a run play.
7:35: Osemele tries to block Sean Porter. The 6-2 230 pound Porter, who had 7.5 sacks coming into this game as a 3-4 outside linebacker for A&M, is way too quick for Osemele. Tackle for a loss.
2nd quarter
14:04: Sean Porter unblocked to the quarterback, bats down a pass.
14:00: Osemele allows a pressure. He’s hurt on the play, but doesn’t have to leave the game.
12:53: Osemele slow to get into a 2nd level block.
12:13: Osemele again having trouble with his man. He doesn’t look very quick at all.
12:02: Cyrus Gray in on this drive, 3 yards on an outside run. Not a lot there.
10:30: Gray is wide open for a dump off, takes for it a gain of 17 in space.
9:00: Osemele gets great push on a run play, but can’t open up a big hole though. 3 yard run towards Osemele’s side.
8:02: Great job blocking by Osemele on a drive. Nice job of selling the pass.
7:02: Gray up the middle for 4 yards.
5:47: Gray finds a crease on an outside run, picks up 6 yards.
5:19: Gray on a designed outside run, but the outside is well covered. Great vision and instincts to cut back and run north and south for a 1st.
5:01: Gray with two nice cuts on an outside run for 6 yards. Excellent change of speed. He’s really getting into a rhythm.
4:32: Gray showing excellent vision and change of direction for 7 yards. Nice explosion and burst too.
3:58: Osemele asked to block for a long time on a deep play. Good job. He’s been very impressive when his man doesn’t beat him off the snap.
3:35: Osemele opens up a big enough hole for Iowa State to convert 3rd and 1.
3:05: Osemele struggles a but on a pull block, but good instincts to recover it after the back fumbles.
0:19: Osemele with a powerful run block.
3rd quarter
11:10: Gray cuts for a few.
10:55: Awesome straight line speed on an outside run by Gray, finds a hole for a huge gain and shows great acceleration and speed for 31 yards.
5:42: Gray takes a shovel pass for 14 yards in space.
3:47: Osemele on Porter again, struggling again.
3:43: Osemele with a huge pancake of a guy about to give chase on his quarterback trying to flee the pocket.
3:16: Osemele wins the matchup with Porter this time.
3:00: Osemele helps blow open a nice seam on a short quarterback run.
2:05: Gray with a nice spin move followed by great downfield explosion to turn a broken play into 12 yards.
1:49: Gray showing excellent patience and vision to wait for and find a hole. 8 yard again.
1:12: Gray with a pickup of few yards to convert 3rd and 2, he’s so good at changing directions.
4th quarter
14:20: Gray up the middle for a few yards.
13:25: Gray can’t turn nothing into something on 3rd and 1. Too many defenders in the backfield.
12:58: Gray stuffed by multiple guys on 4th and 1.
8:05: Gray catches one out of the backfield for a few.
6:28: Osemele can’t block Porter again.
5:53: This time Osemele blocks Porter.
5:09: False start by Osemele.
4:18: Osemele in on a double team on Porter, but doesn’t see the cornerback blitz, which he should have picked up as he was on a double. Sack.
3:45: Gray for a few on an outside run against a stacked box. Good job staying in bounds with the lead late.
3:01: Gray makes a nice cut, breaks a tackle, and again doesn’t go down on first contact.
2:25: Gray picks up 5 up the middle on first down. This time his cut can’t break it.
1:40: Gray stuffed by a couple guys for a short gain.
1:01: Gray stuffed for no gain against a stacked line.
0:00: Cyrus Gray the highest rated backup running back in college football for good reason. He’s a backup to a great running back in his own right, Christine Michael. He has a history of success as a starter, 200 carries for 1133 yards and 12 touchdowns, 34 catches for 251 yards and a touchdown. He’s still having a great season as a backup, 134 carries for 646 yards and 7 touchdowns, 16 catches for 147 yards after this game. Also, with all of the running back committees in the NFL, it’s good to see a college running back who has success in a college running back committee and is okay with being in one as long as his team is winning. He and Christine Michael are reportedly very good friends.
Gray showed off his abilities in this game. He’s not the biggest guy at 5-10 205, but he’s got good speed and he’s very tough to bring down. He has great patience and vision and cuts well. He can catch out of the backfield as well. He’s a typical shifty back and would fit well in a zone blocking scheme at the next level. I don’t know if he’ll be anything special at the next level, but he’s someone who can split carries with another back and give you good production. He had a good game today with 125 yards on 21 carries and 3 catches for 35 yards, though he was hardly playing a great defense. He looks like a 3rd rounder.
As for Osemele, he really struggled with Sean Porter’s quickness. Osemele is a former guard playing tackle at 6-5 345 and he looks like he belongs back at guard in a power blocking scheme. He’s not athletic enough to play tackle at the next level. He doesn’t get low enough and he has trouble with quicker guys. However, if a guy can’t beat him off the snap, Osemele does very well. He’s also an excellent run blocker, which I why I feel he’d fit as a guard much better.
He was considered a potential first round prospect as a guard coming into the season, but his stock is slipping now that he’s struggle as a tackle. I still feel he has late 1st-early 2nd round abilities as a guard and could be a steal if he slips into the 3rd round or so after a poor year at left tackle. He reminds me a lot of someone like Mike Iupati.
This move doesn’t mean the Bengals won’t look at cornerbacks earlier in the NFL draft. Like Nate Clements, Jason Allen is over 30 and just a stopgap. Allen might not be a starting caliber cornerback, but he was one of the better nickel cornerbacks last season for Houston and he can also play safety, a position of need for the Bengals. With Leon Hall no sure thing for 2012 with a torn Achilles, the Bengals did well to add a veteran and cheap (2 years 8.2 million) depth cornerback. He’s especially cheap when you compare him to Richard Marshall and Dmitri Patterson, who got 3 years 16 million, despite being inferior nickel cornerbacks.
Grade: A
It was a home-coming of sorts. Brett Favre, the Jets fearless leader for one not quite magical season just two years ago, returns to the Meadowlands for the first time since 2008’s end of season collapse. This time; however, he’s wearing purple. This game has Monday Night Football written all over it. Brett Favre is in the midst of controversary after reports surfaced that he was taking pictures of his tally-wacker and sending it to a female Jets employee. Randy Moss also returns to the Meadowlands for his second time this season also now wearing purple since his trade from our division rivals, the Patriots. This game also marks the return of our summer hold-out, Darrelle Revis who looks to shut down, Mr. Moss, and put him on his island. Oh wait…did I forget to mention the debut of Santiono Holmes in a Jet uniform fresh off serving his four game suspension for a substance violation? And let’s not forget the return of Calvin Pace, the team’s best pass rusher, coming back from his pre-season injury.
Things were looking good back in 2008 with Favre at the helm. We were 8-3 which included a game where the Jets destroyed the then undefeated 10-0 Titans. From there, things then basically went to the crapper. The off-season was a typical “will he retire” or “won’t he retire” game which football fans have grown accustomed to over the last few seasons. Luckily, the Jets decided to move on and make a trade with the Browns to snag Mark Sanchez who will hopefully lead this team to the Promised Land. Now, in front of a national audience, the Jets defense needs to payback Mr. Favre for his time spent in Green and White by putting him on his ass.
Come on; all of us Jets fans were thinking the same thing. Here we go again. Favre with the ball, only down two points. I was surely thinking disaster. But, I’m learning that these are a totally different bunch of Jets. These Jets are winners. These Jets are closers. These Jets are atop the AFC East, winners of 4 and a row, and are a team on a mission.
At started out as a snoozefest as we were going to field goal them to death. Folk did have a nice 53 yard FG to go along with four other ones we booted through. We just couldn’t move the ball that well when having the ball in good field position and always knocking on the door of the Vikings. Part of the issue had to be the rain or whatever that monsoon was. It looked like it was snowing. LT had a great game running and Shonn Green had huge touchdown run in the 2nd half to put us up by two scores.
The defense looked good except for a few second half drives. We shut them out in the first half with some great play by Cromartie on Moss. Bart Scott had a fumble recovery when Favre tied the record with Warren Moon for the most career fumbles. Later in the game Favre breaks the record with his second fumble of the evening which was then recovered by Darrelle Revis. I liked that Darrelle wasn’t on Moss. Cromartie did a great job. It gave Darrelle a break in getting into game shape. The second half things got a little hairy with the Vikings connecting on a 3rd and 17 for their first score of the game and then a short while later on 3rd and 19, Favre connects to Randy Moss for his 500th career touchdown. It was such a perfect pass that I have to give Cromartie a pass on that one. The defense for the most part put on some great pressure. Jason Taylor had a huge sack at the end of the game. Dwight Lowery had a monsterous interception for a touchdown that sealed the game putting us back up by two scores. Drew Coleman also had a nice game getting a sack and feeling like he was all over the field.
And our special teams were great. Brad Smith responded for a Vikings touchdown by darting 39 yards to the Vikings 20 yard line which set us up for our fifth field goal.
It wasn’t the prettiest game but when the field was dry and the rain stopped, the offense and defense stepped up their game to seal the deal.
http://khbirdmantalkingjets.blogspot.com/
In terms of value, I think Joseph was the best cornerback on the market. At 48.75 million dollars over 5 years and 23.5 million guaranteed, Joseph was a much better value than Asomugha at projected 80-85 million over the same amount of time. Joseph is one of the top cornerbacks in the league, but because he’s been stuck in Cincinnati next to Leon Hall, he’s very underrated. He’s also 3 years younger.
I think Houston is the most improved team this offseason and a legitimate Super Bowl contender. Offense wasn’t the problem for them last year with Arian Foster, Matt Schaub, Andre Johnson, and a great offensive line. Defense was. They’ve improved so much defensively this offseason. They added a legitimate starter through the draft in JJ Watt. They also got Brooks Reed, who will split time with Connor Barwin at rush linebacker, and Brandon Harris, who will be a valuable nickelback for them, through the draft.
They are also getting DeMeco Ryans make from injury. After a terrible rookie year, 2010 1st round pick Kareem Jackson will be better in his 2nd year. Glover Quin can’t possibly be a worse free safety than he was as a cornerback last year. They also added a great defensive coordinator in Wade Phillips. Now they add a legitimate #1 cornerback in free agency. Peyton Manning is hurting in Indy. Why can’t this team win the division and contend for a Super Bowl.
Grade: A
Bill Parcells loves his linebackers and Dansby fills a huge hole in the middle of Miami’s defense. They gave him a fair rate, 5 years 43 million, especially when you consider that Dansby was the youngest of the top free agents. I have no major complaints here, but I’m not in love with the deal either.
Grade: A-
Defensive Tackle/3-4 Defensive End
Texas
6-3 305
40 time: 4.85
Draft board overall prospect rank: #46
Draft board 3-4 defensive end rank: #8
Overall rating: 78*
4/8/10: LaMarr Houston burst onto the scene this year as the best defender on Texas’ underrated defense. Colt McCoy and Texas’ offense was the flash, but their defense has several unknown and underrated defenders and, unbeknownst to the common football fan, will be solid starters at the next level and Houston leads that pack. He was known mostly as a run stopper before this year, playing that 4-3 nose tackle position for the Longhorns, but he stepped up in a huge way with the pass rush this year with 7 sacks, though you have to wonder about the whole one year wonder thing. Houston fits that mold and I like to see players who have at all too good years before I would feel extremely comfortable using a 2nd rounder or higher on them. Houston’s physicality and fitness show that he should be able to keep this up, but I’m not sure if he’ll ever be an elite pass rusher at the next level. His agility and pass rushing moves do not suggest that he will be, though the numbers in his past say otherwise. His leverage is good, but his hand usage needs improve as does his bull rush. He doesn’t have long arms and might not fit perfectly into a 3-4 because he’s a bit undersized height wise. He plays out of control sometimes and is not a great fundamental tackler. If you take away the 7 sacks he had this year, he might not get drafted, which worries me, but even if he’s not an elite pass rusher at the next level, his strength and physicality against the run should keep him alive as a starter in the NFL. I’d say he’s worth a 2nd rounder.
NFL Comparison: Marcus Spears
*=For a breakdown of what this means, click here
51 million with 30 million guaranteed over 6 years is a lot for a guard, but Mankins is worth every penny. He is one of the two or three best guards in the league, if not the best. He played amazingly last season for someone who had been holding out for over half a season. Without a holdout distraction, he should be even better this season and for several seasons in the future.
Grade: A
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