1. Matt Cassel – I was very impressed by Cassel last year, and I am fully in favor of the Chiefs’ decision to make him their QB of the future. That doesn’t mean that I don’t have more than a few concerns about his immediate future, though. His team is monumentally short of real talent around him, and there are real concerns about whether the offensive line will give him the time he needs, or the time he became used to last year. I am optimistic in the long term, but this year could be a real problem. The Chiefs weren’t a good team last year, and they have a lot of work left to do until they become a good team again.
Sports Betting Section
MADDUX'S WINNING PICKS
MADDUX'S LIVE ODDS
SITE FEATURES
1. JaMarcus Russell – The guy is a freaking first overall pick, but he has shown precious little that makes us think that he deserves it. Sure, there are excuses there – his team is run by morons and lacks talent, and so on. Even when you take that into consideration, though, you have real questions. He showed signs of a little bit of progress at the end of last year, but up to that point he was making the same boneheaded mistakes well into season two that he was making in season one. He’s freakishly athletic and he’s massive, but nothing about his game seems to be instinctive or natural, and it certainly isn’t pretty to watch. What is most lacking in watching him, though, is the killer instinct that makes the great quarterbacks great. You can overcome a huge deficiency in natural ability if you want it more than anyone else, and Russell has done nothing to convince me that he wants it at all.
I’m off on one final holiday of the summer to rest up for the frenzied joy of football season. I won’t say exactly where I am heading, but for the next 10 days I will be in a small western Canadian town that is quite likely the greatest place on earth. There’s a lake, mountains, sunshine, great food, good beer, and few people. Heaven. I didn’t want to leave you all high and dry while I was gone, so thanks to the magic of technology a new article will appear each of the next nine days. We are in the last lazy days of summer, so I wanted to do something that has the potential to be fun, but which also will help to get us ready for the upcoming NFL season. Each day will feature a top five list (or a bottom five as the case may be) on a different theme. Read, enjoy, discuss in the comments, and have a great week. Without further ado:
Goodbye, Arena Football. It’s been fun. I guess. As I am sure you have probably heard, the AFL liked taking the last year off so much that they have made their absence permanent. They have ceased operations indefinitely, and are reportedly about to declare bankruptcy. It’s the end of a 22 year era.
The Giants are, quite obviously, on crack. I understand why they would want to get the Eli Manning contract situation dealt with so it isn’t a distraction. I just don’t understand why they had to break the bank like they did to do it. Just think about it for a second – Eli Manning is now the highest paid player in the league! Albert Haynesworth got a bit more guaranteed cash, but Eli annually makes the most. Do you believe for a single second that he deserves that? I admit to having a few problems with Eli that might color my opinion slightly, but come on. This Manning is hard pressed to be legitimately called a top ten QB in the league, so there is no question that he is overpaid with this deal. I wish them luck and all, but I have absolutely no faith in Manning, or that this deal is going to turn out well for the team. Frankly, I think it could all turn out badly.
It is so nice to be able to be talking football again. We always talked about it some, of course, but now things are really getting rolling. I love summer for the weather, but sports are at their best in the fall. With training camps well underway everywhere now, let’s take a look at some of the stories that have caught my attention today:
Carson Palmer is well on his way to wasting even more of his impressive talent. He’s coming off a lost season thanks to elbow problems, and he isn’t exactly setting a positive tone now – he has already missed two days of practices since training camp started. It was only because of the flu, but it’s still a bad omen. I was sure Palmer was going to be a megastar when he came out of college, but he has been frustratingly mediocre in the last few seasons. I put about 98 percent of the blame for that on Marvin Lewis. If you have read this site for while then you have heard this before, and you are certainly going to hear it again – Lewis is the worst coach in football. The Bengals have been pathetic underachievers for much of his tenure, and they will continue to disappoint for as long as the team’s management refuses to come to their senses and get themselves a real coach. Palmer, and the city of Cincinnati, deserves better.
Someone up there has a seriously twisted sense of humor. That’s really the only explanation for the three horrifically timed injuries in the NFL this weekend. First, in his first practice after Brett Favre’s continued retirement made him the likely Vikings’ starter, QB Tarvaris Jackson sprained his MCL . It doesn’t seem to be particularly serious at this point, but knee injuries can definitely linger for quarterbacks. He could miss just a couple of days, or he could be out for a couple of weeks or more. Either way, this will be a good chance for Sage Rosenfels to seize the advantage in the QB race if he is up to it.
Wow, am I ever glad that people don’t bet on swimming. Or maybe people do, but only the real degenerates. What’s going on right now at the World Championships is that swimming has descended into being a total mockery of a sport, and they seem to have little interest in doing anything about it.
Well, it’s been an interesting day in professional football for this weeks NFL picks. The hallmark story involves the legendary Brett Favre, who, at 39 years old, turned down the starting spot with Minnesota today. Additionally, QB Michael Vick is certainly a person of interest these days and there are a few other guys who are worth considering on this weeks nfl picks.
Betting News
Online Sportsbooks
