2004 NFL Thread - Page 9

Paul Hackett's offense isn't very malleable, and Quincy Carter never struck me as someone that would excel in his system. If Hackett wouldn't change his offense for Vinny last season, I doubt he'd do it for Quincy, regardless of how long Chad's out for (and 2-4 weeks is starting to sound optimistic BTW).

well, harrison is the kind of player than any team would love to have, but indy may not be able to afford his new contract alongside manning's opulent one and have a decent team at the same time.

but why would they have high draft picks? did they exchange picks with anyone?

Well, I didn't make it to the game (too hungover from my birthday celebration/Metallica concert on Saturday), but I watched it on TV...congrats to the Falcons for hanging in there and pulling out the victory. And congrats to Big Ben R. for not letting Gerard Warren "take his head off". What a dumbass. Cleveland might have had an edge going into this game to make the upset, and then Warren opened his big fat stupid mouth and ended any chance of a letdown for the Steelers. I'm proudly wearing my Steelers jacket today at work. Just waiting for Duce to get healthy again before I start feeling too confident. They'll need every RB they have when the Baltimore re-match comes up again.

There's a 90% chance I'll be roadtripping to Cincy next weekend with the wild hope that all of this quality Steeler play will continue. I hope there's some midweek threats or trash talk from the Bengals, or that that Bengal WR sends antacid to the Steeler DBs or something to keep the Steelers on edge. Law of averages says they're due for a letdown game. On the other hand, they play well on the road when Steeler nation infiltrates the home crowd, and that happens in Cincy better than just about anywhere else.

Hesitant to say it, but I think Vick is finally getting it. Look out for the Falcons.

Steelers...my own personal law of averages had them losing to the Pats...now I won't be surprised if they go undefeated the rest of the season. With their schedule its a very realistic possibility.

Nice to see Daunte will back the vikings pretty much on his own yesterday, but good god that defense is so porous.

High enough picks that overlooked, decent defensive players can get brought in.

Marvin Harrison is probably the biggest pussy in the NFL. I'd like to see his numbers without Manning and an offense that is basically loaded at all the skill positions.

This just in from ESPN Radio: Eli Manning will start vs. the Falcons this weekend.

Eli starting can only help the Giants in the long run.. I just hope Tom Coughlin realizes that when he throws two first-half picks and he resists the urge to pull him.

The Jags survived with Garrard at QB.. both of those Drummond punt returns were flukes (FL00KS AH TELLS YA!) but Jimmy Smith is anything but a fluke.. I really, really, really hope he becomes the first Jaguar into the Hall of Fame. IMO he's deserved it.

Yeah yesterday they were saying that Kurt was going to start. Eli's probably going to get knocked around next week. Moreso if he holds onto the ball forever like Kurt.

They've edged ahead of the Packers on my list of teams that will beat the Eagles in the NFC Championship Game.

well, mcnabb held onto the ball forever on MNF and he did pretty well anyway, no?

but isn't switching to a rookie QB when your veteran starter is healthy, a way of saying "this season is lost; we concentrate on the next one now"?

Yes slowpulse but its also saying " Lets put the young wipper with fresh legs in there that can actually move instead of having a flagpole QB that takes more hits than a 1987 Darryl Strawberry. " but seriously that Giant offensive line is awful. I wish either guy well but no matter who is back there they are going to get sacked continually.

I don't want Eli to be injured, but I do want him to get knocked around a few times. He has come into this league with a very arrogant attitude and really gave thanks or credit to anyone, nor did he say anything positive (to my knowledge) about the job Kurt did in the first 10 weeks.

I want his ego to be bruised more than anything over the next few weeks. No rookie should act like he did and still does.

it's also interesting to note that the team he absolutely did not want to play for - the chargers - are doing much better than the one the crybaby so desperately wanted to go to. in the long run he may have chosen the better team, but at the moment it just looks like he got served. and if the chargers end the season with a better record than the giants, i hope players and coaches in san diego all go "eli... who?"

First, I don't think Eli Manning regrets going to the Giants one bit, I've seen Eli Manning's mug on NFL commercials, websites and national advertising campaigns all season. Any of you guys actually know what Philip Rivers looks like? Think Jeremy Shockey, the kind of exposure you get from playing in NY is ridiculous.

Now off to TO and Nicollette Sheridan doing the dirty.

Why is this a story? I've seen worse on beer commercials, I'm thrown cheerleaders left in right in outfits only strippers would adorn and I'm inundated with constant references to erectile dysfunction. Hell, last nights Smallville—at eight o'clock no less—showed a bare baked woman grinding on Lex Luther.

Why does anybody even care?

The team Manning is on has ZERO to do with his national exposure. Phillip Rivers isn't on national campaigns merely because his name isn't Philip Manning.

So, you're saying playing in the media capital of the world doesn't effect his marketability? That must be why Jeremy Shockey gets more endorsement dollars than Tony Gonzalez, because of that popular dad of his that... uhm... ran out on him?

I'm not denying his name is already out there, but playing in NY provides far more lucrative options to Manning than playing in San Diego.

Shockey gets endorsments because 1) He was labeled as the 'next coming' straight out of college, Gonzales wasn't 2) His first game ever produced one of the best plays from a TE people had seen in a while 3) He puts himself out there for the public to see and embraces a bad-boy image that people eat up (if Gonzales went to Maxim parties and built up a 'Hollywood' image, he'd get more exposure) and 4) he's white. If merely playing in NY makes someone so marketable, where is Chad Pennington's national campaigns? What about Tiki Barber? The only time you get to see him is when he's partnered with his twin brother and he's one of the top players at one of the marquee positions in the sport.

Ad campaigns are about name recognition and the parity of the NFL allows for players in any market who are good enough and willing to put their private lives out there from any city to make a name for themselves. People like Terrell Owens (and Shockey) get campaigns because he's made himself a household name with his antics while people like Manning get them because he has the most famous name in the sport right now.

Tiki Barber? The man with the TV spots on local news channels, a spot on the YES networks "This Week in Football," an hour long show on ESPN Radio, and commercials with his brother Ronde (seriously, if Tiki were on the Cheifs, I doubt the ad's would even exist, but I suppose you'd disagree).

People even got on him last season for not focusing enough on football due to his perceived "overexposure." What a strange player to pick.

Chad Pennington? The guys not even played a full season and he's the third highest paid quarterback in the sport (as far as gauranteed money goes). I'm sure he'd get some if he cared, but he never struck me as the media conscious type.

Anyway, if you believe a players market has no bearing on his marketability so be it. It's not like you're going to change my mind.

You're talking about NATIONAL marketability, not local NYC. Being stuck in the area you must not realize that no one outside of NYC knows shit about Tiki Barber and most who do only know of him as a RB you draft in a fantasy league when all the other good backs are taken. OF COURSE he gets local attention - you think Tony Gonzales doesn't do commercials in KC? That isn't what we were talking about.

Contrary to what you may believe, the NY Giants aren't a nationally beloved team. Being in NY only means shit if you're on the Yankees, Knicks or Rangers and to a lesser extent, the Jets.

People care about the Jets nationally?

When you’re a Jet,
You’re a Jet all the way
From your first cigarette,
To your last dyin’ day.

Not since Namath.

I'm really looking forward to the Bears/Colts game. Not because the Bears are going to win(they won't) but because Manning has a great chance of getting hit alot. If the Bears had Urlacher, Tillman, Grossman, and a healthy Jones I'd give them a 40% chance of winning.

The front 4 of the Bears can actually get a rush w/out a blitz(sometimes) and they have a habit of getting many turnovers. I want to see Peyton running for his life and having to use smelling salts.

As I said, to a lesser extent. I certainly think they have more interest than the Giants.

I don't think that's ever going to happen as long as Howard Mudd is in charge of this o-line group. The guy could turn me into a Pro Bowl-caliber left tackle.

Really? That's quite surprising. The Jets are certainly the second class team in this city, hell, they don't even have their own stadium. Though, when one team has as many Super Bowl appearances in the past 25 years as the other has playoff wins (3), it's not all that hard to understand why.

Thats a horrible thing to say Anya. Seriously.

Oh, come on. It's football!

Asking for a pass rush and then those pass rushers hitting Peyton to the ground again and again is horrible? The object is to get to the QB before he can hurt you. Now if I wished Peyton to leave on a stretcher that would be bad. Smelling salts just means he's been hit about 15 times.

Krenzel is such a shit QB. Sure the Bears are down 34-3 but he cannot hit a reciever. Again this week he missed a WR for a long TD by missing his mark by a few yards. Bears missed their chances early to make it competitive when LB Briggs dropped an INT that would have went for a 7-7 tie. Then the Bears didn't recover a fumble on kickoff down 7-3. Then the Bears turned it over again and again. Way to not show up Bears.

The Cowboy's meltdown continues, MUWAHAHAHAHA!!!

Don't feel bad, Anya. We've made a lot of solid D's look silly this year.

Also, seeing Edge back and running at full speed gives me a fucking boner. The guy is just a superb back.

I knew Manning would eat up the secondry. RW McQuarters is a bad DB, no Tillman, and a rookie corner. The lack of an offense killed any chance of a decent game.

Anyone catch Fox's announcement of the SB Halftime show? Sir Paul McCartney. Very safe choice. No worries about boobs popping out, a rocker cussing out the crowd, or pre show protests by any group. Hopefully Ringo will show up.

good god, i have never seen so many flags being thrown outside of a raiders game in today's Falcons-Giants game.

Very ugly.

Eli, was on the verge of having a fantastic day if it werent for dropped balls and a few rookie jitters.

Yeah, the wins are nice for the Falcons, but christ, they've played some shitty football. It looked like two completely different teams in the two halves.

I made some money on them falcons but fuck did they make me earn it. Drew Brees looks ready to go back to sucking, i think the bye made him realize he's playing over his head. Archie Manning looks fucking evil. SF really does suck, tampa had no starting DTs or Ss left and they still couldnt do shit...

Yeah, the Falcons are going to screw around and lose one of these games sometime this year if they keep melting down in the 2nd half. It's actually not too different from last year, except the defense is good enough to win the game this time. I think they got a bit too conservative in the 2nd half, although Mora's mantra supposedly is "attack, attack, attack".

And Big Ben finally had an off week, but the Pittsburgh D and the running game were enough to hold it together. If that's his biggest "off" week this season, we're in good shape.

And finally the talk about how Garrard is better than Leftwich can just stop.

The Jaguars looked inept passing the ball with Garrrard yesterday. Time to get Big Byron back and sling it.

He threw for 226 yards, 1 TD, rushed for another TD and accounted for zero turnovers in a win. Did you expect him to throw 4 touchdowns every game with that shitty receiving corps?

No kidding. These are huge numbers for Brees. He's getting a little bit of recognition as of late, and he's making me proud to have stuck with the Chargers this season.

Numbers-wise, he ended up OK, but watching the game, he looked like "Old Drew" as opposed to "New Drew" - he was inaccurate, jumpy, missed open receivers, etc.

I've always kinda liked the Chargers (Fouts, Jefferson, Marion Butts, LT, etc) so I hope it was more a blip than a permanent regression.

I think Brees has legit weapons around him. He is a very capable QB, and he is showing it now. Having LT take 37 carries usually means the QB is going to make few mistakes. He is having an amazing year still. I felt he looked pretty good against the Raiders, but yes it wasn't his best performance.

Wasn't Brees also hurt coming into the week?

He was overthrowing receivers and looked like he was panicking on more than a few occasions, numbers aren't everything, before u bitch about my comments please let me know if you even watched the game...

Yeah, I'm excited because someone in one of my fantasy leagues dropped Leftwich a few weeks ago when he got hurt, and I immediately picked him up after I heard him say in an interview that he'd be back in 2-3 weeks. Now he'll be starting for me this weekend vs. Minnesota.

Canuckle's favorite QB threw for over 300 yards and gave San Diego their first win in Kansas City in the last 8 tries.

Cleveland and Cinci decided to play flag football. Rudi Johnson makes my fantasy team smile. Speaking of I was impressed with Holcomb a few years ago when he torched Pittsburgh secondary and if I was a team in need of a QB (*cough* Miami *cough*) i'd seriously consider getting him.

Eli Manning outside of a few deep balls looked awful. Armani Toomah is looking more like a 4th string receiver than a 1st.

Ben Rothlesberger could become more popular than Bradshaw in Pittsburgh and he only throws for about 150 yards per game.

Clinton Portis is doing nothing in Washington. So glad I stayed away from him in fantasy.

Bud Adams loses to the Texans. That had to hurt speaking of McNair is a voodoo doll.

Tampa Bay must have an itch to go golfing on a sunday in late December.

Denny Green doesn't know what the hell he's doing on offense in Arizona.

AJ Feeley guts it out and helps the 9ers get 1 step closer to their first ever no.1 draft choice.

Mike Vick is getting it done and Atlanta is hungry.

Seattle looks ready to fold.

New England pimpslaps Kyle Boller and the Ravens. Corey Dillon setting himself up as an MVP candidate while Ray Lewis tastes his cleats.