2013 Offseason Update, Week 16

Levi's Stadium, set to open in 2014, will be the 49ers new home
and was chosen to host Super Bowl L in February 2016.
Photo from Wikipedia.

Happy Memorial Day everyone!

Homes Chosen for Super Bowls L and LI

The San Francisco Bay Area was awarded Super Bowl L (50) on Tuesday. It will be just the second time the area has hosted the NFL’s biggest game. In 1985, Stanford hosted Super Bowl XIX and Joe Montana led the 49ers to a 38-16 victory over the Dolphins in Dan Marino’s first and only appearance in the title game. It was the closest a team has come to winning a Super Bowl at home.

Houston was awarded Super Bowl LI, which is tentatively set for February 5, 2017. Houston hosted Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004 and Tom Brady won his second ring as Adam Vinatieri again came through in the clutch. It was also the site of Janet Jackson’s famous ‘wardrobe malfunction.’

Kansas City Changing their Offense?

Reports last Monday suggested that Alex Smith was running the Chiefs’ offense out of the pistol last week, a formation mostly used with read-option sets like what the Redskins and 49ers used with RGIII and Colin Kaepernick last year. With a running back like Jamaal Charles, this sort of formation could work. But it might make it less likely for Dwayne Bowe to lead the league in receptions like he plans to do.

Michael Crabtree Tears Achilles

Doctors have not said for sure that Crabtree will not return this season, but it would be a late-season return if it comes at all. Last year, after Alex Smith’s concussion, Crabtree and Kaepernick developed quite a rapport and the two enjoyed a high level of success late in the season and through the playoffs.

Charles Woodson Returns to Oakland

Woodson’s first home in the NFL was in Oakland, and now that his career in Green Bay has come to its end, he is returning to the Raiders on a one-year contract. It’s a good opportunity for both parties. Though the Raiders have been a struggling franchise for many years, the defensive secondary is one area in which they have done a good job of drafting and developing solid players. Woodson has the opportunity to be a part of a solid secondary late in his career and the young Raiders players will have a lot of experience to draw from by watching and listening to him.

‘Puff on the NFL’ to take New Direction this Season

As I mentioned at the beginning of the offseason, I am now writing for ACC Battles, covering several athletic teams here at the University of Maryland. Because of that, I have less time for projects like this blog.

That said, covering the NFL truly is my passion and I am not prepared to give it up completely. So this year I will be doing something a little different. During the regular season, I will be focusing on the Redskins and Ravens, the two local teams. I will also cover prime-time games in depth (Thursday-, Sunday- and Monday-night games) and will predict every game of every week. But, until the playoffs, my main focus will be the Redskins and Ravens. I will still be watching as many games as possible, but I will not recap every game as I did last season.

I’d like to thank everyone for their support and for reading all my blog posts. As always, if I’m missing anything important, or if you just want to hear my thoughts on any other offseason news from the past week, feel free to contact me via my Twitter account, @cpuffnfl.

2013 Offseason Update, Week 15

The 'Patriot Killer' is now a member of the Tennessee Titans and has
chosen not to attend the Raven's White House visit in June.
Photo credit to IBN Sports Wrap.

There were a few interesting pieces of news this week. In addition, a friend of mine has been arguing with me that Joe Flacco is an elite quarterback due to his recent Super Bowl MVP award. So I’d like to go over my top current NFL quarterbacks and cover why I don’t consider Flacco one of the NFL’s elite just yet.

Bernard Pollard to Boycott Ravens’ White House Visit

When the Ravens visit the White House as Super Bowl champions this June, Bernard Pollard will not be with them. The safety was released by Baltimore in March and is now with the Titans on a one-year deal.

Some think Pollard is being childish, holding a grudge, and that he will regret this decision when he is retired from the NFL, especially if he fails to win a Super Bowl with another team. But I respectfully disagree. I would not want to carry the memory of visiting the White House with my former teammates and the team executives who released me so soon after helping them win it all.

Freeney, Cribbs Land on West Coast

Josh Cribbs has been in the NFL since 2005, Freeney since ’02, and both have known only one team during their careers.

In eight years with the Browns, Josh Cribbs has made three Pro Bowl rosters and was named to the NFL 2000s All-Decade Team. He is also tied with Leon Washington for the most kickoff return touchdowns in NFL history with eight. He signed a one-year deal with the Oakland Raiders on Wednesday.

Dwight Freeney is entering his 12^th year in the NFL after spending the first 11 in Indianapolis. He was a major part of a strong defensive unit that helped the Colts win Super Bowl XLI and was a part of their AFC Championship in 2009. A 7-time Pro Bowler and the Colts’ all-time sacks leader, Freeney was a part of the NFL’s 2000s All-Decade Team with Josh Cribbs. He agreed in principle to a two-year deal with the Chargers on Saturday.

NFL’s Top Quarterbacks

At any given time, there can be several elite active quarterbacks in the NFL. There have also been times when there were no elite active quarterbacks. Right now, I see four of them.

1) Aaron Rodgers

2) Peyton Manning

3) Drew Brees

4) Tom Brady

I also see two quarterbacks who have shown flashes of brilliance but who have minor inconsistencies keeping them from being truly elite.

5) Matt Ryan

6) Eli Manning

Then I see a few more quarterbacks who could get there but have either been severely too inconsistent or are just too young to be considered in that group so soon.

7) Joe Flacco

8) Tony Romo

T-9) Robert Griffin III, Russell Wilson, Colin Kaepernick

My Take on Joe Flacco’s ‘Elite-ness’

Now, before the Flacco lovers rip my list to shreds, let me first say that I was more generous to Joe than NFL.com, who this week ranked him the 13^th best quarterback in the NFL, behind Ben Roethlisberger, Andrew Luck, RGIII, Colin Kaepernick, Russell Wilson and even Cam Newton. They put Flacco in a group of ‘Solid Dudes’ with Tony Romo, Matt Stafford and Jay Cutler.

Now, the real question you probably want answered is: why do I rank Matt Ryan and Eli Manning not only ahead of Flacco, but far enough ahead that they deserve their own group in which I do not include Flacco?

Well, in Eli’s case, he has shown consistent growth over his career. He had a solid, if under-reported, season in 2007 helping his team to a wild-card birth and a Super Bowl victory over the 18-0 New England Patriots. He was a big part in the Giants constantly getting better over the course of that season. He continued his growth until he had a truly elite season in 2011. Last year was the first time in his career that he took a step back from his previous accomplishments. For that, I do not consider him elite, but he could join that group with another strong season or two and more consistency afterwards. Remember that Manning had a much better season than Joe Flacco did during the Giants’ 2011 Super Bowl run.

Matt Ryan has been one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks since his sophomore season, consistently putting up great regular season numbers. He would have been the league MVP last year if it wasn’t for his 5-INT game against the Cardinals. In fact, in just about every way except for passing yards, I think Matt Ryan is a better quarterback than Drew Brees and Tom Brady. The thing holding him back is a very poor game or two every regular season and the postseason troubles. Granted, most of their postseason failure has been more due to poor game planning than due to Ryan – with the one exception being their 24-2 loss to New York in 2011 – but until he clearly gets over that hump, it will be difficult to make a strong argument for him being elite.

Now, what about Joe Flacco? He’s won a playoff game every year of his career, the first quarterback to do so through five seasons in the league. He just won Super Bowl MVP – though I do call your attention to the fact that other non-elites like Jim Plunkett, Doug Williams and Mark Rypien have also won that award – and threw for 11 TDs and no INTs during the postseason, leading the Ravens past the Colts, Broncos, Patriots and 49ers. So why in the world don’t I consider him elite?!

It takes more than 4 spectacular postseason games to make you elite. “But it’s the playoffs,” you might say. “They’re the most important games.” Not so. If you don’t play well in the regular season, you generally don’t make the playoffs. Based on his playoff numbers, he should have been able to throw for 44 touchdowns during the regular season. He threw just 22. He played two terrible games against the Steelers when Big Ben wasn’t even playing. The only truly elite game he played during the 2012 regular season was in Week 1 against the Bengals – you could make an argument for the Raiders game, but it’s the Raiders, they don’t count.

So Matt Ryan had one non-elite game in 2012, Joe Flacco has one actually-elite game in 2012. It’s not even close right now, in my opinion. That doesn’t mean that Flacco couldn’t rip off a season for the ages in 2013. If he does so, I’ll concede that he is an elite quarterback. But that won’t mean that he was elite before 2013 began. He’s just not there yet. Joe Montana wasn’t elite yet when he won his first Super Bowl MVP in 1982. So stop rushing the process Flacco Faithful.

2013 Offseason Update, Week 14

After 16 seasons, all in Tampa Bay, Ronde Barber is retiring from the NFL.
He is the NFL record-holder for sack and consecutive starts by a cornerback.
Photo credit to buccaneers.com.

It’s a dead period in the NFL. I was too optimistic when I planned on writing multiple blog posts each week over the course of the offseason. As it is, it’s difficult to find enough worthy topics for a weekly update. Here is what I’ve got for you this week.

Ronde Retires

Tiki Barber retired in 2006 but is currently unretired and a free agent in the NFL. At 38-years-old, twin brother Ronde is unlikely to have any comeback bids in his future.

The Tampa Bay lifer only led the league in interceptions once, in 2001, the year before helping the Buccaneers secure their first and only Lombardi Trophy in Super Bowl XXXVII.

He was never an interception king, but he played sound defense for 16 seasons and is the franchise record holder for interceptions. He was selected to five Pro Bowls and finished his career with 215 consecutive starts, and NFL record for a defensive back (he made 200 consecutive starts at cornerback, also an NFL record, before making a start at safety in Week 2 of this season.

Barber also ends his career as the NFL record holder for sacks by a cornerback, with 28 in his career. Though his numbers don’t measure up to the all-time great NFL defensive backs, like Ronnie Lott and Deion Sanders, most sports writers are calling Ronde Barber a shoe-in for the Hall of Fame.

Texans Hope Defense can Win for Offense

Gary Kubiak confirmed this week that Brian Cushing is back and “looks good.” Cushing was lost for the year midway through last season. The defense mostly overcame the loss with J.J. Watt having a stellar year, but the offense proved to be a weakness late in the season and in the playoffs.

Unless Matt Schaub returns to 2010 form, the defense will need to be even better than in 2012, and Cushing is the key.

John Abraham Moves On

Abraham is out in Atlanta, but has been in talks with the Tennessee Titans for a week now. The news that the parties were working on a deal came out last Monday. There haven’t been many updates to the story, other than Mike Munchak confirming on Saturday that they are still considering John Abraham as an addition to the roster.

Abraham was a solid defensive end for the New York Jets for several years before being traded to Atlanta and becoming an even more imposing presence on the defensive front. However, a rough 2012 which included injury problems late in the season led the Falcons to release Abraham despite signing him to a 3-year contract worth over $16 million last June.

If I’m missing anything important, or if you just want to hear my thoughts on any other offseason news from the past week, feel free to contact me via my Twitter account, @cpuffnfl.

2013 Offseason Update, Week 13

Murphy Holloway is leaving basketball for the NFL, hoping to follow in the
footsteps of other tight ends like Tony Gonzalez and Jimmy Graham.
Photo credit to baltimoreravens.com.

Unless you are interested in a list of draft picks that signed contracts last week, there wasn’t a whole lot going on in the NFL last week. Still, I skimmed through the news to put together a few topics of interest.

Ravens Searching for Diamonds

Baltimore’s defense stood out even from Joe Flacco’s 11-0 TD:INT ratio in the playoffs, but the Ravens have lost a lot of players on that side of the ball. In an attempt to build the unit back up in as little time as possible, Baltimore hired Steve Spagnuolo on Friday to be their Senior Defensive Consultant. His association with the New Orleans Saints’ defense in 2012, the worst in NFL history in at least one category, may hurt his chances of becoming a coordinator for a while, but he still has a very good defensive mind and is a very good addition to Baltimore’s staff.

He isn’t the only possible ‘diamond in the rough’ the Ravens landed last week. Murphy Holloway, a power forward from Ole Miss who was integral in helping the Rebels advance to the 2^nd round as a #12 seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament, signed with the Ravens as a tight end. Murphy averaged 14.5 points per game and 9.7 rebounds per game and helped Ole Miss win 27 games this year, tying a school record.

AP Says No Jokes about 2,500

Shortly after the Vikings’ week 17 game against the Packers ended, and halted Adrian Peterson’s rushing total for the season just 9 yards shy of Eric Dickerson’s record, Peterson announced that he would come back even stronger in 2013. His goal? 2,500 yards, a total that would smash Dickerson’s record by nearly 400 yards.

On Wednesday, Peterson told the media that his goal was no joke, saying, “Enjoy this last year because the record’s going down, with ease.”

2,000 yards has been the goal standard for running backs for a long time, and is even more so today as 2-back teams are in the majority across the league. Peterson is hoping the set the bar even higher.

Dolphins to Move?

I really doubt there’s anything to this story. However, a bill that would help the Dolphins with stadium renovations was shot down over the weekend, and it will significantly hurt their bid to host Super Bowl L, a game many stadiums are vying to host.

Dolphins’ owner Stephen Ross said that there will be no renovations without help from public funds and of course the media immediately took that to mean that a move is possible, or even likely, in the Miami Dolphins’ future.

Like I said, there is little chance the Dolphins’ will move, and certainly nothing that has happened that suggests that it is likely. Still, the Los Angeles Dolphins has a certain, odd ring to it.

Brian Banks Fighting for Roster Spot

Some of you may still not know him by name, but you all know the story of the young man who had a bright future in football but was wrongly accused of rape while in high school. He lost several years of his life but has an attitude and a focus that even the biggest hater has to admire.

The Falcons picked him up, and they insist it wasn’t charity. The 27-year-old rookie is on the roster as a linebacker and ran the defense from the middle during Atlanta’s rookie minicamp.

Of the experience, Banks said, “It was real good today to get out there. I’ve been in film the last two weeks, so to get a chance to get out there and put all the knowledge that we’ve been putting on paper out onto the field was a really good experience for the first time. It was really fast-paced. I made a lot of really good moves, made a lot of mistakes, so adjustments will be made.”

If I’m missing anything important, or if you just want to hear my thoughts on any other offseason news from the past week, feel free to contact me via my Twitter account, @cpuffnfl.