The Seer Returns
Another glorious NFL season is upon us! I was going to write a comprehensive Week 1 preview, complete with predictions against the spread, but ultimately I was too lazy. Maybe next week, but maybe not. I did, however, see a few items of note over the course of the weekend.
Carolina can't feel good about their loss to the Packers last night. The Panthers suffered as much turnover as any recent Super Bowl champion, losing 7 starters from last year's overachieving (but still good) team. Many of those losses were on the offensive line, and it really showed against the Packers, who aren't exactly noted for having an upper-eschelon defensive unit. Given that Carolina's strengths are running the ball and giving Jake Delhomme time to get the ball to his very good receivers, a letdown on the offensive line could spell real trouble down the road. What's more, one of those outstanding receivers has just been lost to injury for a huge chunk of the season, at minimum. You don't want to take too much away from Week 1, but there's no doubt that getting manhandled at home by a less-than-dominant Packers team isn't a great way to start.
As for the Packers, I thought they looked pretty good, and should give the Vikings a decent run at the NFC North title. Of course, the secondary is dealing with holdout issues that absolutely need to be resolved before they play Minnesota, and any injury to Ahman Green or Brett Favre would more or less put the season on ice. Hopefully that won't happen; this could easily be Favre's swan song, and I'd like to see him go down in a blaze of glory befitting his great career.
Speaking of the Vikings, it was an interesting opener for the home team. The defense allowed the Cowboys to pile up a few yards, if not points. Most disturbing was the Vikings' inability to get any real pass rush on Vinny Testaverde, who has all the mobility of the Statue of Liberty after she's ruptured three achilles tendons. That's not good for a defensive front that was supposed to be much-improved with the addition of Kenichi Udeze and a re-dedicated Chris Hovan. Udeze's debut seemed serviceable; I at least noticed him in the offensive backfield on a few different plays, which is much more than I can say about Hovan. It would be hard for Hovan to be any more invisible than he was last season, but I think he managed it against the Cowboys.
Even more worrisome was Ken Irvin rupturing his achilles in a pre-game workout and being lost for the season. I thought Brian Williams did a magnificent job of playing while hurt, and though Rushen Jones didn't have a great game, he wasn't awful, either. They are bringing in a couple corners for tryouts this week, including Terrence Shaw. They'll sign somebody for depth, but the corners are going to belong to Williams and Antoine Winfield for the near future, and that's probably what was going to happen eventually anyway, so the depth and nickle package are probably what will suffer the most.
On the other side of the ball, the news is somewhat better. The Cowboys were the top-rated defense in the league last season, and the Vikings put up 35 points without their starting running back or a big game from Randy Moss. Duante Culpepper looked to be in complete control, running at the right moments, throwing nice deep balls and displaying excellent touch and accuracy on short passes. He has so many weapons to choose from, it's sick.
One of those weapons, Onterrio Smith, is going to be an interesting player to follow this season. Smith is a tireless self-promoter, the self-proclaimed Steal of the Draft from 2003, but Smith doesn't have to be in the game long before he gives himself reason to celebrate. The dude can flat-out play. He's fast and shifty, and he seems to have an innate ability to hit the hole quickly and slip through it without much contact. He doesn't have Michael Bennett's breakaway speed, but he's got enough speed to make defenses pay if they don't play the run.
The Vikings were fortunate to have Smith's services, as they are awaiting word from the NFL regarding Smith's appeal of his four game marijuana supsension. The Vikings easily could have been down to only their third and fourth backs, but the league's delay on the ruling meant that the Vikings would get Smith's services while Bennett healed, and hopefully will have Bennett back at full strength when Smith's suspension finally begins. In the long run, though, Smith's suspension could have a benefit. That's four games that he can't get hurt, and he should enter the middle of the season with much fresher legs than a lot of other guys in the league.
This is a good team. They aren't perfect by any means, but they have the talent to go as deep as any team in the NFC.
Moving on to other teams, I was impressed with Denver's Quentin Griffin. A lot of people want to attribute the success of any Denver back to their offensive line schemes, and there's no doubt that it has been a great line over the years. But Alex Gibbs, the architect of those great lines, has moved on to another team, so sooner or later people are going to have to acknowledge that a Denver has also had a lot of talented backs over the years.
Griffin is the real deal. I don't think he's necessarily a Pro Bowl-type talent, but he showed me more than enough elusiveness, quickness and running instinct to believe Denver can ride him the same way they rode Clinton Portis, Terrell Davis and others. I won't compare Griffin to Barry Sanders, but there is a resemblance of stature and style.
On the whole, I'm not sure what to make of Denver. I love Champ Bailey; I couldn't help imagining how formidable the Vikings would be with a playmaker of that caliber on their defense. But what to make of Jake Plummer? I just can't see that guy taking a team deep into the playoffs. Yeah, he looked nice running those bootlegs, but you have to remember he was doing that against a Chiefs defense that hasn't forced a punt since Hank Stram was coaching. I think Denver's a borderline playoff team, and not a serious contender for anything important.
The Chiefs? I think they're in for a tough year. You can only go so far if you literally can't stop people. Priest Holmes is magnificent, but you need more than that. The lack of talent or upside in the receiving corps is embarrassing, Tony Gonzalez notwithstanding. I think they'll make the playoffs and then die immediately. And when they die, it's not going to be pretty, because the Chiefs are not a young team. The window is closing, if it's not already shut.
10:09:16 PM 
|
|
