Sunday, December 11, 2011
CONGRATULATIONS
Congratulations to Robert Griffin III on an amazing Heisman season. Happy that a high character, Christian individual won the Heisman. RG3, as predicted, destroyed Andrew Luck and had one of the best acceptance speeches I’ve heard in a while.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Robert Griffin III VS Andrew Luck
Christian Fauria of ESPN First take seems convinced than a certain overachieving kid from Texas who likes wearing ninja turtle tube socks with his matching “turtles don’t do drugs” T-shirt is going to win the Heisman. If you have read this blog before then you probably know this kid is none other Robert Griffin III or RG3 as the cool kids like to say. Now think about that for a minute, the little known quarterback from Baylor is going to beat out Andrew Luck? You may very well be asking yourself what this guy is smoking, but if you look at the evidence you will see that Robert Griffin III should win the Heisman trophy.
RG3 has gone 267 of 369(72.4%) for 3,998 yards passing with 36 touchdowns to only 6 interceptions. On the ground he has 644 yards on 161 rushes with 9 touchdowns and is averaging 4 yards a carry. That blows Andrew Luck’s 261 of 373 for 3,170 out of the water. He also has 1 less touchdown than RG3 and 4 more interceptions. Also, RG3 has much less talent around him at Baylor than Andrew Luck does at Stanford. Think about that, Griffin III has better stats than Andrew Luck with much less talent around him. The only thing I can see that Andrew Luck has going for him is a harder schedule, but I think the better stats with worse talent outweighs a slightly harder schedule.
I am expecting a well-spoken, very intelligent young man, wearing his ninja turtle tube socks with his suit, accepting the Heisman trophy in a few weeks in New York with all of the eloquence of a well trained politician.
RG3 has gone 267 of 369(72.4%) for 3,998 yards passing with 36 touchdowns to only 6 interceptions. On the ground he has 644 yards on 161 rushes with 9 touchdowns and is averaging 4 yards a carry. That blows Andrew Luck’s 261 of 373 for 3,170 out of the water. He also has 1 less touchdown than RG3 and 4 more interceptions. Also, RG3 has much less talent around him at Baylor than Andrew Luck does at Stanford. Think about that, Griffin III has better stats than Andrew Luck with much less talent around him. The only thing I can see that Andrew Luck has going for him is a harder schedule, but I think the better stats with worse talent outweighs a slightly harder schedule.
I am expecting a well-spoken, very intelligent young man, wearing his ninja turtle tube socks with his suit, accepting the Heisman trophy in a few weeks in New York with all of the eloquence of a well trained politician.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Tim Tebow VS John Elway
For the first time in my life I believe I can agree with an ESPN talking head 90% of the time. A seemingly Herculean feat to say the least considering that this blog's name is a slap in the face to ESPN and NFL network analysts everywhere.
This man, who seems to embody the idea of No Nonsense Football, is ESPN First Take star Skip Bayless (@realskipbayless for all you twitter junkies).
The only person on any station that said, long before he was the starter, that Tim Tebow would be a success in the NFL. As he likes to say “I never said he will make a pro bowl, but he is a force of competitive nature” and that “he(Tebow) just wins games.”
I happen to agree with his analysis, in fact I would say that Tim Tebow is a better QB now that both Cam Newton, and better than John Elway was at the end of his rookie year.
Everyone says that he can’t throw the football, really? 1506 yards passing in 9 games with 13 touchdowns to 4 interceptions is someone who can’t throw? And that’s only half his stats as he doesn't just throw the ball with his 682 yards rushing and 9 touchdowns.
“He can’t win in the NFL, he is garbage!” -Stephen A. Smith.
Hmmm, “are you kidding me?”, as Skip Bayless loves to say. He is 6-3 in his career. For those unwilling to do the math that means winning twice as many games as you lose in your first 9 starts means you can’t play in the NFL. Sounds like nonsense to me. If this was the record of a veteran pocket passer then nobody would say there was anything wrong with it.
Cam Newton, who is touted as being the greatest young QB in the NFL since Dan Marino, has thrown 14 interceptions, more than 3 times as many as Tim Tebow with only 2 more starts than Tebow. Cam Newton also has thrown 12 touchdowns 1 less than Tebow has in 2 less starts than Cam. He has also lost twice as many games as Tim, and has over 100 yards less rushing. In fact Cam only leads in three categories; completion percentage, passing yards (as his coach is running the spread offense and not the triple option), and has one more rushing TD than Tebow.
So Stephen A. Smith, you think Tim Tebow is so terrible, well what about Cam Newton who you, like the entire ESPN collective think is the greatest thing since sliced bread? Even Mr. Bayless has said he would take Cam over Tebow, that is part of the 10% of the time I don’t agree with him.
What’s that Mr. Tebow hater? You’re still not convinced; you say Cam Newton is an untested QB who may never amount to anything? Alright then how about a juicier, more controversial comparison.
John Elway had 1,663 yards passing in his rookie year, with a completion percentage of 47.5 with 7 touchdown passes and 14 interceptions passing and 146 yards rushing with 1 touchdown on the ground. Tebow beats Elway in all of those categories, and Elway had more starts and more pass attempts. Tim has a completion percentage of 47.2 essentially the same as Elway did at that point. Tim Tebow also has more wins and less losses (6-3) right now than Elway did in his whole rookie year (4-7, he didn’t play in the other 5 games).
I think we should all just shut up about how Tim can’t throw the ball and can’t win games and all of the other nonsense ESPN analysts such as Stephen A. Smith and Chris Carter would lead you to believe. Just give Tebow the time you would give any other young QB. Imagine if Denver had rode John Elway out of town after his first 9 starts, someone else would have gotten the future HOF, so who knows, maybe Tebow is really a John Elway trapped in the body of a linebacker.
This man, who seems to embody the idea of No Nonsense Football, is ESPN First Take star Skip Bayless (@realskipbayless for all you twitter junkies).
The only person on any station that said, long before he was the starter, that Tim Tebow would be a success in the NFL. As he likes to say “I never said he will make a pro bowl, but he is a force of competitive nature” and that “he(Tebow) just wins games.”
I happen to agree with his analysis, in fact I would say that Tim Tebow is a better QB now that both Cam Newton, and better than John Elway was at the end of his rookie year.
Everyone says that he can’t throw the football, really? 1506 yards passing in 9 games with 13 touchdowns to 4 interceptions is someone who can’t throw? And that’s only half his stats as he doesn't just throw the ball with his 682 yards rushing and 9 touchdowns.
“He can’t win in the NFL, he is garbage!” -Stephen A. Smith.
Hmmm, “are you kidding me?”, as Skip Bayless loves to say. He is 6-3 in his career. For those unwilling to do the math that means winning twice as many games as you lose in your first 9 starts means you can’t play in the NFL. Sounds like nonsense to me. If this was the record of a veteran pocket passer then nobody would say there was anything wrong with it.
Cam Newton, who is touted as being the greatest young QB in the NFL since Dan Marino, has thrown 14 interceptions, more than 3 times as many as Tim Tebow with only 2 more starts than Tebow. Cam Newton also has thrown 12 touchdowns 1 less than Tebow has in 2 less starts than Cam. He has also lost twice as many games as Tim, and has over 100 yards less rushing. In fact Cam only leads in three categories; completion percentage, passing yards (as his coach is running the spread offense and not the triple option), and has one more rushing TD than Tebow.
So Stephen A. Smith, you think Tim Tebow is so terrible, well what about Cam Newton who you, like the entire ESPN collective think is the greatest thing since sliced bread? Even Mr. Bayless has said he would take Cam over Tebow, that is part of the 10% of the time I don’t agree with him.
What’s that Mr. Tebow hater? You’re still not convinced; you say Cam Newton is an untested QB who may never amount to anything? Alright then how about a juicier, more controversial comparison.
John Elway had 1,663 yards passing in his rookie year, with a completion percentage of 47.5 with 7 touchdown passes and 14 interceptions passing and 146 yards rushing with 1 touchdown on the ground. Tebow beats Elway in all of those categories, and Elway had more starts and more pass attempts. Tim has a completion percentage of 47.2 essentially the same as Elway did at that point. Tim Tebow also has more wins and less losses (6-3) right now than Elway did in his whole rookie year (4-7, he didn’t play in the other 5 games).
I think we should all just shut up about how Tim can’t throw the ball and can’t win games and all of the other nonsense ESPN analysts such as Stephen A. Smith and Chris Carter would lead you to believe. Just give Tebow the time you would give any other young QB. Imagine if Denver had rode John Elway out of town after his first 9 starts, someone else would have gotten the future HOF, so who knows, maybe Tebow is really a John Elway trapped in the body of a linebacker.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Week 7 in review: Colts at Saints/ Ravens at Jaguars
Week 7
Colts at Saints
I imagine when the big wigs at NBC decided to go with the Saints-Colts matchup, they were probably thinking “Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Super Bowl XLIV Rematch!!”
Yeah, ummm, we got Curtis Painter getting schooled by Drew Brees.
62-7, if this is the rematch, I think it firmly shows the Saints deserved to win the Super Bowl.(of course who didn’t think they did already)
All joking aside, this was a fantastic outing for the Saints, who never, ever, ever, blow out a bad team; they always play down to the competition. Not this team however, the Saints destroyed them.
There really isn’t much to say, the Saints played what looked like a flawless game against a deeply flawed team.
With this win the Saints resolidified their spot at the top of the NFC South, and are now in 3rd place overall in the NFC behind the undefeated Green Bay Packers and the 5-1 San Francisco 49ers.
Ravens at Jaguars
Now this, in my opinion, was a much better game. It was a back and forth power struggle. A game between two of the best defenses in the league; the always powerful Ravens, and the mostly unknown Jaguars.
All you would hear all week is how the Ravens were going to “make a statement against a terrible Jaguars team.” Umm, not exactly, the Jaguars went up 6-0 at the half and didn’t allow a single first down in the first two quarters. They were tied in the turnover ratio with each team having a fumble recovered. In the second half the Ravens finally got a first down with 5:00 left in the 3rd quarter. The Jags would then score another field goal before Joe Flacco connected to Anquan Boldin for late touchdown making it 9-7 Jags leading.
It then appeared as if the Jaguars were gonna blow the lead, as the Ravens attempted an onside kick and appeared to recover it, but upon further review the football was found to have travelled nine and a half yards, just short of the ten required, resulting in an illegal touching penalty, Jaguars ball.
Josh Scobee connected on a 51 yard field goal. The Ravens got the ball back with little time left. Joe Flacco dropped back, scanning the field, then he released the ball, with the same release, trusting his instincts and his training, and then Drew Coleman jumped in front of his intended receiver and with that interception sealed the game, and possibly resurrected the Jaguars season.
MJD also did something not many have done over the years, breaking the 100 yard rushing mark against the Baltimore Ravens defense.
The Jaguars did something most don't even attempt, and those who do usually fail. The Jaguars beat the Ravens at their own game, physically destroying them at the line, playing tough defense and using a ground and pound running game that just would not be stopped.
This could be a turning point in their season, with the Texans next they have a chance to gain ground in the wide open AFC South.
The Jaguars(2-5) are currently 3rd in the division behind the
Texan(4-3) and Titans(3-3).
Colts at Saints
I imagine when the big wigs at NBC decided to go with the Saints-Colts matchup, they were probably thinking “Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Super Bowl XLIV Rematch!!”
Yeah, ummm, we got Curtis Painter getting schooled by Drew Brees.
62-7, if this is the rematch, I think it firmly shows the Saints deserved to win the Super Bowl.(of course who didn’t think they did already)
All joking aside, this was a fantastic outing for the Saints, who never, ever, ever, blow out a bad team; they always play down to the competition. Not this team however, the Saints destroyed them.
There really isn’t much to say, the Saints played what looked like a flawless game against a deeply flawed team.
With this win the Saints resolidified their spot at the top of the NFC South, and are now in 3rd place overall in the NFC behind the undefeated Green Bay Packers and the 5-1 San Francisco 49ers.
Ravens at Jaguars
Now this, in my opinion, was a much better game. It was a back and forth power struggle. A game between two of the best defenses in the league; the always powerful Ravens, and the mostly unknown Jaguars.
All you would hear all week is how the Ravens were going to “make a statement against a terrible Jaguars team.” Umm, not exactly, the Jaguars went up 6-0 at the half and didn’t allow a single first down in the first two quarters. They were tied in the turnover ratio with each team having a fumble recovered. In the second half the Ravens finally got a first down with 5:00 left in the 3rd quarter. The Jags would then score another field goal before Joe Flacco connected to Anquan Boldin for late touchdown making it 9-7 Jags leading.
It then appeared as if the Jaguars were gonna blow the lead, as the Ravens attempted an onside kick and appeared to recover it, but upon further review the football was found to have travelled nine and a half yards, just short of the ten required, resulting in an illegal touching penalty, Jaguars ball.
Josh Scobee connected on a 51 yard field goal. The Ravens got the ball back with little time left. Joe Flacco dropped back, scanning the field, then he released the ball, with the same release, trusting his instincts and his training, and then Drew Coleman jumped in front of his intended receiver and with that interception sealed the game, and possibly resurrected the Jaguars season.
MJD also did something not many have done over the years, breaking the 100 yard rushing mark against the Baltimore Ravens defense.
The Jaguars did something most don't even attempt, and those who do usually fail. The Jaguars beat the Ravens at their own game, physically destroying them at the line, playing tough defense and using a ground and pound running game that just would not be stopped.
This could be a turning point in their season, with the Texans next they have a chance to gain ground in the wide open AFC South.
The Jaguars(2-5) are currently 3rd in the division behind the
Texan(4-3) and Titans(3-3).
Friday, October 21, 2011
The Change Of Theme
In honor of me throwing my backing behind Baylor University QB Robert Griffin III for the Heisman trophy, I have changed the theme of the NNF site as well, just wanted everyone to know.
As well as I have found it both depressing and hard to keep up with writing about the Jacksonville Jaguars, I will be writing about my favorite team the New Orleans Saints, as well as the Jags and any other things I feel like writing about.
As well as I have found it both depressing and hard to keep up with writing about the Jacksonville Jaguars, I will be writing about my favorite team the New Orleans Saints, as well as the Jags and any other things I feel like writing about.
Robert Griffin III
Imagine a Quarterback who runs a 4.4 40 time.No, not Michael Vick or Vince Young.
Now, imagine a Quarterback who has a 78.6 completion percentage.
No, not Drew Brees or Chad Pennington.
Imagine a Quarterback who can gun a football downfield with great accuracy.
No, he is not Tom Brady or Ben Roethlisberger.
Imagine that this quarterback has the best work ethic in college football. He also has the character and good sense to stay out of trouble.
No, he is not Tim Tebow.
Imagine he is a straight A, honor roll student, who already has a degree and is planning on starting his law degree next fall.
No, this is not a young Steve Young.
If you are anything like me, you probably are skeptical of this Quarterback existing, or that he must have been overhyped.
Well I’m here to tell everyone that the 6’2’’ 220 lbs. Junior Quarterback from Baylor University, Robert Griffin III, is truly what he sounds like, a possible once in a generation pro prospect.
And I don’t mean like the way Michael Vick was, as he turned out to be the first of about seven in a generation, with guys like Vince Young, Aaron Rodgers, Tim Tebow, Cam Newton, and Ryan Fitzpatrick, stealing his thunder of being a running quarterback in the NFL.This Kid can run, but he can also throw it extremely well. He has one of the most coveted natural throwing motions in a pro prospect.
His high delivery, allows him to throw it over tall defensive linemen. Also it complements his cannon arm.
But the thing about RG3 is he can not only run it, he can not only throw it deep, but he can throw the timing routes, he can hit the intermediate routes, and he can almost always fit it into the tight windows necessary to complete deep fly routes.
A quarterback who can make all of the throws is an extremely rare talent in College Football today.
As of his 4th game in the 2011 season he had more touchdown passes than incompletions and had not thrown a single interception yet. As of his 6th game he has a 78 percent completion percentage, missing only 40 of his 182 pass attempts.
He also has thrown 20 touchdowns and only 2 interceptions.
But the thing that really stands out about this kid is his strength of character, and his leadership qualities.
RG3 takes the practice field, wearing his lime green teenage mutant ninja turtles tube socks and matching“turtles don’t do drugs” T-shirt.
This is a typical occurence on the Baylor practice field. Robert has a sock collection only a preschooler could love. His collection includes Scooby Doo, Cookie Monster, Elmo, Angry Birds, and Sponge bob.He said in an interview “I have enough different types[of tube socks] that I can wear a different pair every day for two months.”
And while usually a Heisman canidate quarterback's choice in socks doesn't shed much light on his character, in this case it does.This is very good insight into the mind of RG3. For one, I thing that his socks are his form of rebellion. And while some guys are smoking pot, some guys are getting blitzed; he wears lime green ninja turtle socks.
He has said he doesn’t care what people think of him, he does whatever he has to do and holds himself to his own high standards. Rather he has to make an A, complete a pass, lift another weight, or buy another pair of cartoon character tube socks. It is also evident he doesn't care about what people think of how he looks with those lime green socks.
He has earned his degree in political science after three years, and is staying through his Senior year to get credit towards his law degree.
Despite all of the accolades and praise he gets, he still remains a humble yet confident leader.
He is a devout Christian and has spoken in many interviews about his faith and personal relationship with God, drawing yet another comparison to Tim Tebow.
The thing about him is, he is like Tim Tebow in very many respects from what I can tell, but he is better than Tim Tebow, and I am a supporter of Tim Tebow.If he stays on the straight and narrow, and I see no evidence that he won’t, he could be one of the greatest college quarterbacks in the history of the NCAA, and possibly in NFL history as well.
And when he does go into the draft, I think he should be a top 10 draft pick, if not the number one overall pick.
In fact I will go on record now and say this kid has got something special and barring a huge setback or catastrophic injury, will be a hugely successful starting quarterback in the NFL.RG3 should also win the Heisman this year, and if he doesn’t, he will have been robbed or injured.
All in all, I think Baylor fans actually have a reason to watch football this year, next year, and possibly the year after
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
David Garrard, Luke McCown, Deji Karim, and where the Jags stand
David Garrard was released today, on September 6, 2011.
When this was annouced, I was expecting to hear that Blaine Gabbert was going to be named the starting quarterback. But alas, it was not to be as Luke McCown was named the starter going into week one.
Listening to John Clayton on ESPN, I wondered where he got his information from.
The first thing he said was Luke McCown is not intended to be the starter and this is all part of a transition to Blaine Gabbert, well it may well be, but if it is, they most certainly will not wait until week 9 to put in Blaine Gabbert, especially if Jack Del Rio wants to keep his job.
Honestly, I think Luke McCown will be the starter until about week 4 at which point two things will happen.
Jack will realise he cannot win with Luke McCown, and two Blaine Gabbert will have learned the majority of the offense (he is a very quick study, and hopefully has been studying it since the draft).
Or Luke McCown really is intended to be the starter for this year, he certainly out performed Garrard and even Blaine in the pre season.
For the Jaguars this is a golden opputunity, and if they can get Gabbert on the field in week 4 or 5, then they can capitalize on Chris Johnson missing training camp and possibly being out of shape or under conditioned, and they can capitalize of the fact that Kerry Collins and not Peyton Manning will be the Colts starter for the forseable future as Peyton has a serious spinal injury and may need a second neck surgery.
The Jaguars have the potential to win the AFC South this year, and if they live up to it this year, they may yet be ready to make a super bowl run in the next couple of years, especially if Deji makes the most his oppurtunity with Rashad Jennings being on IR he has the chance to prove to the Jaguars that he can be a viable third down back and maybe even split carries with MoJo to give them a two headed monster in the backfield, not unlike what they had with MoJo and Fred Taylor.
All in all this move to release Garrard will either paint Gene Smith and Jack Del Rio as geniuses, jumping to the rookiee at just the right moment, or as idiots who got rid of the only decent Quarterback on the roster 5 days before the first game of the season.
When this was annouced, I was expecting to hear that Blaine Gabbert was going to be named the starting quarterback. But alas, it was not to be as Luke McCown was named the starter going into week one.
Listening to John Clayton on ESPN, I wondered where he got his information from.
The first thing he said was Luke McCown is not intended to be the starter and this is all part of a transition to Blaine Gabbert, well it may well be, but if it is, they most certainly will not wait until week 9 to put in Blaine Gabbert, especially if Jack Del Rio wants to keep his job.
Honestly, I think Luke McCown will be the starter until about week 4 at which point two things will happen.
Jack will realise he cannot win with Luke McCown, and two Blaine Gabbert will have learned the majority of the offense (he is a very quick study, and hopefully has been studying it since the draft).
Or Luke McCown really is intended to be the starter for this year, he certainly out performed Garrard and even Blaine in the pre season.
For the Jaguars this is a golden opputunity, and if they can get Gabbert on the field in week 4 or 5, then they can capitalize on Chris Johnson missing training camp and possibly being out of shape or under conditioned, and they can capitalize of the fact that Kerry Collins and not Peyton Manning will be the Colts starter for the forseable future as Peyton has a serious spinal injury and may need a second neck surgery.
The Jaguars have the potential to win the AFC South this year, and if they live up to it this year, they may yet be ready to make a super bowl run in the next couple of years, especially if Deji makes the most his oppurtunity with Rashad Jennings being on IR he has the chance to prove to the Jaguars that he can be a viable third down back and maybe even split carries with MoJo to give them a two headed monster in the backfield, not unlike what they had with MoJo and Fred Taylor.
All in all this move to release Garrard will either paint Gene Smith and Jack Del Rio as geniuses, jumping to the rookiee at just the right moment, or as idiots who got rid of the only decent Quarterback on the roster 5 days before the first game of the season.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Week 2 Falcons at Jaguars
15-13, ahh a win, and in typical Jaguar fashion, they won with defense not offense, the main thing to take away is how good the Jaguars defense was against what many would call an elite offense.
The Jaguars first string defense was able to man htandle the Falcons, allowing only one TD and a little over a hundred yards of total offense.
Then, the Jaguars second string defense showed that they might have just as much talent as the starting defense.
The Jaguars has constant pressure on the Falcons QB's all night, and despite not having any sacks, they caused numerous passes to fall incomplete, and stuffed the run allowing only 72 yards rushing to Michael Turner and Co.
The standouts in this game for the Jaguars were Cecil Shorts, who had some good catches and is looking like a good number two receiver.
The others were the Blaine Gabbert, who showed good pocket prescense, and not quite as rusty as a Rookiee QB with no offseason should be (i.e. Jake Locker, Christian Ponder), and as I said before the defense overall, but Jeremy Mincey in particular.
He led the team with 3 tackles and was constantly running the RBs and WRs into the tackles of teammates.
I thought even before this game, and this just reafirms to me that the Jags have one of the most underatted defensive lines in the game today.
All in all I think the Jags are in for a good year.
The Jaguars first string defense was able to man htandle the Falcons, allowing only one TD and a little over a hundred yards of total offense.
Then, the Jaguars second string defense showed that they might have just as much talent as the starting defense.
The Jaguars has constant pressure on the Falcons QB's all night, and despite not having any sacks, they caused numerous passes to fall incomplete, and stuffed the run allowing only 72 yards rushing to Michael Turner and Co.
The standouts in this game for the Jaguars were Cecil Shorts, who had some good catches and is looking like a good number two receiver.
The others were the Blaine Gabbert, who showed good pocket prescense, and not quite as rusty as a Rookiee QB with no offseason should be (i.e. Jake Locker, Christian Ponder), and as I said before the defense overall, but Jeremy Mincey in particular.
He led the team with 3 tackles and was constantly running the RBs and WRs into the tackles of teammates.
I thought even before this game, and this just reafirms to me that the Jags have one of the most underatted defensive lines in the game today.
All in all I think the Jags are in for a good year.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
A Profile On Colin Kaepernick
Colin Kaepernick no.7
6'5''
233 lbs.
He Ran a 4.53 40 yard dash and scored a 37 on the Wonderlic test (50 is a perfect score)
And those two stats really personify Kaep, things you don't usually hear together, athletic yet not a blithering fool like some athletes, the big man on campus, yet still humble.
A woman came into a sporting goods store that Kap was working in, and asked what number the quarterback for Nevada's wolf pack wore.
Kap responded telling her he was pretty sure it was 10 and he would be happy to find one for her.
A reporter asked his coach at Nevada about his tattoos and he told them that he was a kid with a pet tortoise who was on the honor roll, if they were looking for a story about a kid who escaped the gang life then they needed to look somewhere else.
Which, by the way, his tattoos are all Biblical or faith related, including a tattoo of the word faith across his bicep, and tattoos of Psalms 27:3 and 19:39, as he is a devout Christian.
And his 120 pound tortoise? His name is Sammy.
Now on the football field, his intelligence and leadership show, as do his athletic skills, he was only the fifth player to pass for 2,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in the same season and became the first player to do that in back to back seasons, in his Sophomore and Junior years at Nevada. He was also part of the first trio of players to rush for 1,000 yards on the same team in the same year.
Then in his senior year he once again passed for over 2,000 yards and ran for over 1,000 yards, and became the first, and currently only, Division I College Football player to pass for over 10,000 yards and run for over 4,000 yards in a career.
On the field he is a great leader, as was evident in his first NFL preseason game where he was on the 49ers sideline trying to fire up his teammates to rally against a much better Saints team.
The other thing I noticed is his odd throwing motion gives him a quicker release then most Quarterback, without diminishing his throwing power, and he has great speed and decision making abilities when he takes off with the football.
All and all I think Colin Kaepernick has all the intangibles and tangibles to be a starting quarterback in the NFL.
Re-Formatted on 1/29/13
6'5''
233 lbs.
He Ran a 4.53 40 yard dash and scored a 37 on the Wonderlic test (50 is a perfect score)
And those two stats really personify Kaep, things you don't usually hear together, athletic yet not a blithering fool like some athletes, the big man on campus, yet still humble.
A woman came into a sporting goods store that Kap was working in, and asked what number the quarterback for Nevada's wolf pack wore.
Kap responded telling her he was pretty sure it was 10 and he would be happy to find one for her.
A reporter asked his coach at Nevada about his tattoos and he told them that he was a kid with a pet tortoise who was on the honor roll, if they were looking for a story about a kid who escaped the gang life then they needed to look somewhere else.
Which, by the way, his tattoos are all Biblical or faith related, including a tattoo of the word faith across his bicep, and tattoos of Psalms 27:3 and 19:39, as he is a devout Christian.
And his 120 pound tortoise? His name is Sammy.
Now on the football field, his intelligence and leadership show, as do his athletic skills, he was only the fifth player to pass for 2,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in the same season and became the first player to do that in back to back seasons, in his Sophomore and Junior years at Nevada. He was also part of the first trio of players to rush for 1,000 yards on the same team in the same year.
Then in his senior year he once again passed for over 2,000 yards and ran for over 1,000 yards, and became the first, and currently only, Division I College Football player to pass for over 10,000 yards and run for over 4,000 yards in a career.
On the field he is a great leader, as was evident in his first NFL preseason game where he was on the 49ers sideline trying to fire up his teammates to rally against a much better Saints team.
The other thing I noticed is his odd throwing motion gives him a quicker release then most Quarterback, without diminishing his throwing power, and he has great speed and decision making abilities when he takes off with the football.
All and all I think Colin Kaepernick has all the intangibles and tangibles to be a starting quarterback in the NFL.
Re-Formatted on 1/29/13
Pre Season Week 1 Review Pt. 2
The second thing I would like to draw attention to was the play of a couple of Saints players, Joseph Morgan, an undrafted free agent Wide Receiver for the Saints, he had only one catch, although it was an amazing grab, but he really shined on punt returns, he had only one return that went for less than 10 yards, and that one was a fair catch.
He averaged 17 yards per return and had one amazing punt return for a TD.
Then there was the the play of Joique Bell, the 5'11'' running back the Saints signed last year when Chris Ivory and Pierre Thomas were placed on IR, he had 9 attempts for 52 yards and averaged 5.8 yards per carry, and some really nice runs, much like the next guy on my list Chris Taylor another running back, he had 39 yards rushing and TD on 9 carries and averaged 4.3 yards per carry.
Both of those guys showed flashes of being good running backs, and potentially could be starting running backs in the NFL, and I maintain that any team that doesn't have quality players at a few positions should be signing the guys the New Orleans Saints cut.
The other great showing I saw from the Saints was backup QBs Chase Daniel and Sean Canfield.
My expectations for Chase Daniel can be put like this, Blaine Gabbert was his backup, i.e. he is better than Blaine Gabbert, and you should all know by now what I expect out of Blaine Gabbert, I expect better out of Chase Daniel.
At 6'0'' and with deadly accuracy so far (a 62% completion percentage against), he would appear to be another Drew Brees style Quarterback, with the ability to scramble very well.
Sean Canfield is a whole other cat, at 6'4'' he has protypical size for the position, now I haven't seen much of him in the NFL in his first game he went 1/2 with 21 yards.
In his Senior year of college football, he had 3,271 yards passing and a 67.9% completion percentage, and 21 TDs to 7 Interceptions (3-1 TD-Int ratio).
Both of them should have very good NFL careers, one with the Saints once Drew Brees retires (probably Chase Daniel) and one with another team.
He averaged 17 yards per return and had one amazing punt return for a TD.
Then there was the the play of Joique Bell, the 5'11'' running back the Saints signed last year when Chris Ivory and Pierre Thomas were placed on IR, he had 9 attempts for 52 yards and averaged 5.8 yards per carry, and some really nice runs, much like the next guy on my list Chris Taylor another running back, he had 39 yards rushing and TD on 9 carries and averaged 4.3 yards per carry.
Both of those guys showed flashes of being good running backs, and potentially could be starting running backs in the NFL, and I maintain that any team that doesn't have quality players at a few positions should be signing the guys the New Orleans Saints cut.
The other great showing I saw from the Saints was backup QBs Chase Daniel and Sean Canfield.
My expectations for Chase Daniel can be put like this, Blaine Gabbert was his backup, i.e. he is better than Blaine Gabbert, and you should all know by now what I expect out of Blaine Gabbert, I expect better out of Chase Daniel.
At 6'0'' and with deadly accuracy so far (a 62% completion percentage against), he would appear to be another Drew Brees style Quarterback, with the ability to scramble very well.
Sean Canfield is a whole other cat, at 6'4'' he has protypical size for the position, now I haven't seen much of him in the NFL in his first game he went 1/2 with 21 yards.
In his Senior year of college football, he had 3,271 yards passing and a 67.9% completion percentage, and 21 TDs to 7 Interceptions (3-1 TD-Int ratio).
Both of them should have very good NFL careers, one with the Saints once Drew Brees retires (probably Chase Daniel) and one with another team.
Pre-Season week 1 review Pt 1.
When I begin to look back at week 1 there was one thing that seemed like a glaring problem with the new rules, I didn't see hardly any kick returns, and the ones I did see usually were tackled before the 20.
I have a problem with that because there are at least 3 big name guys (Devin Hester, Josh Cribbs, and now Patrick Peterson), as well as many not as big names (Courtney Roby, Deji Karim) who make their living as kick returners, if you take that away, much of their individual allure goes away.
I think they need to move the kick back to the 30 yard line, and if you want to make the game more exciting make a touchback be out to the 10 instead of the 20 so they are more inclined to take it out of the end zone.
The second thing I noticed was all of the upsets; you had the expected blow out of the Jags by the Patriots, and of the Saints over the 49ers.
But then you had the Carolina Panthers beating the Giants, the Miami Dolphins beating the Falcons, the Cleveland Browns beating the defending champion Packers, Arizona winning, over anyone, and my favorite the Seattle Seahawks beating the anointed ones, the Chargers.
I personally believe that is because all of these teams simply have better backups, with the exception of the Chargers defeat, where I believe Seattle is the better team, with the addition of Sidney Rice, the Seahawks have given Charlie Whitehurst (who will be the starter probably by week 8) another big target to play opposite of Mike Williams.
They also added TE Zach Miller giving them bookend TEs with John Carlson.
Now there are two things I would like to bring attention to that I saw in week 1.
The first is the QB who I have been following since the NFL Combine, Colin Kaepernick
(that's Cap-er-nick) who against the unyielding pass rush of the New Orleans Saints had a few good plays and didn't look half bad.
Now don't get me wrong, he looked like a rookie, but he made some good reads and dumped it underneath for a first down instead of trying to force it downfield on a couple of occasions, and when forced out of the pocket he kept his eyes downfield, and when nothing opened up, then he would run it himself.
The impressive thing in his runs, were that he is extremely gifted as a scrambler and did something his fellow number 7 never does that usually gets him injured, he slid down feet first.
And he was definitely better than Alex Smith.
Now he had two interceptions, the first one was just a bad pass, the second wasn't his fault as Nate Bussey just made an amazing break on the ball, and made a play that some safeties couldn't make.
I have a problem with that because there are at least 3 big name guys (Devin Hester, Josh Cribbs, and now Patrick Peterson), as well as many not as big names (Courtney Roby, Deji Karim) who make their living as kick returners, if you take that away, much of their individual allure goes away.
I think they need to move the kick back to the 30 yard line, and if you want to make the game more exciting make a touchback be out to the 10 instead of the 20 so they are more inclined to take it out of the end zone.
The second thing I noticed was all of the upsets; you had the expected blow out of the Jags by the Patriots, and of the Saints over the 49ers.
But then you had the Carolina Panthers beating the Giants, the Miami Dolphins beating the Falcons, the Cleveland Browns beating the defending champion Packers, Arizona winning, over anyone, and my favorite the Seattle Seahawks beating the anointed ones, the Chargers.
I personally believe that is because all of these teams simply have better backups, with the exception of the Chargers defeat, where I believe Seattle is the better team, with the addition of Sidney Rice, the Seahawks have given Charlie Whitehurst (who will be the starter probably by week 8) another big target to play opposite of Mike Williams.
They also added TE Zach Miller giving them bookend TEs with John Carlson.
Now there are two things I would like to bring attention to that I saw in week 1.
The first is the QB who I have been following since the NFL Combine, Colin Kaepernick
(that's Cap-er-nick) who against the unyielding pass rush of the New Orleans Saints had a few good plays and didn't look half bad.
Now don't get me wrong, he looked like a rookie, but he made some good reads and dumped it underneath for a first down instead of trying to force it downfield on a couple of occasions, and when forced out of the pocket he kept his eyes downfield, and when nothing opened up, then he would run it himself.
The impressive thing in his runs, were that he is extremely gifted as a scrambler and did something his fellow number 7 never does that usually gets him injured, he slid down feet first.
And he was definitely better than Alex Smith.
Now he had two interceptions, the first one was just a bad pass, the second wasn't his fault as Nate Bussey just made an amazing break on the ball, and made a play that some safeties couldn't make.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Preseason week 1, Jaguars at Patriots
Patriots 47
Jaguars 12
Alright to me, that score means nothing, as do these stats
Blaine Gabbert
9/16, 85 yards
What does mean something to me is that Blaine Gabbert seemed, to me, to be making good enough reads against a very good Patriots defense.
His teammates didn't help him very much with a very poor offensive line and more than a few dropped passes.
This may sound like nonsense to anyone reading this but the most promising things from Blaine Gabbert were not in the stats but in the things you don't see in the box score, he showed poise and seemed fairly comfortable in the pocket, and contrary to most people's beliefs he didn't break into cold sweats, start screaming, and fumble every time they put him under center.
He had a few bobbled snaps but he made good reads and accurate passes most of the game.
The problem he had was that his receivers wouldn't catch the ball on quite a few plays, and his linemen weren't making all of the blocks needed for a Quarterback to look flawlessly sharp.
Now a lot of people are comparing his numbers to those of fellow rookie Quarterback Ryan Mallet of Arkansas.
Mallet went 12 of 19 for 164 yards and a TD pass. But the thing to note is, let’s face it, the Patriots have a much better receiving core and offensive line than the Jaguars.
With guys like Stevan Ridley(who I will get to later) and Taylor Price, who had 105 yrds and a TD, the Patriots obviously have an advantage when compared to guys like Jason Hill, Kassim Osgood, and Zach Miller, and I think you will see why Ryan Mallet came out on top in this competition.
Also Blaine went up against the first string defense of New England, whereas Mallet went up against the Jags second string defense.
The positives that I saw from Blaine Gabbert,(good reads, accurate throws, pocket presence, ect,) far outway the negatives that I saw.
Now does he still have a way to go, yes, he needs to learn the whole offense, and get a few more games under his belt, but I think by the time the season starts he could be just as good, if not better than David Garrard.
He made accurate throws most of the time, and as I said before his receivers dropped more than a few passes.
I say that if the Jaguars want to win they need Blaine Gabbert to blow them away in the rest of their pre-season games and win the starting job because as I said before Garrard is Trent Dilfer with the occasional big play potential of Michael Vick.
The other promising thing that I saw was Deji Karim as a punt returner and a running back.
Mark my words, if Deji Karim gets enough carries, he will unseat Rashad Jennings as the second running back on the depth chart and offer a breather to MoJo occasionally.
And I personally think he has the potential to be much like Maurice Jones-Drew, and should he reach that potential the Jaguars will have a two headed monster much like when they had Fred Taylor and MoJo.
Now, if you have watched or read anything about this game, you have doubtlessly heard about Stevan Ridley, well I am going to talk about him as well, as he was by far the most impressive player on either team, with 111 yards of total offense (64 rushing, 47 receiving), and 3 TDs (2 rushing, 1 receiving), he beat the second most impressive player which was Taylor Price.
Now me being an LSU fan I had a feeling that Stevan Ridley was going to be a great sleeper and had he been drafted by anyone other than New England he would be a 1,000 yard rusher as a rookie.
If he has a similar performance throughout the pre-season he will be the starting running back over The Law Firm of Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis.
And Danny Woodhead will be their 3rd down, Kevin Faulk-esque running back.
All and all I think Jaguars fans and coaching staff should be very happy with what they witnessed against the Patriots and should they start Blaine Gabbert, they will most likely have a winning record and have a shot at taking down the dreaded Indianapolis Colts.
Jaguars 12
Alright to me, that score means nothing, as do these stats
Blaine Gabbert
9/16, 85 yards
What does mean something to me is that Blaine Gabbert seemed, to me, to be making good enough reads against a very good Patriots defense.
His teammates didn't help him very much with a very poor offensive line and more than a few dropped passes.
This may sound like nonsense to anyone reading this but the most promising things from Blaine Gabbert were not in the stats but in the things you don't see in the box score, he showed poise and seemed fairly comfortable in the pocket, and contrary to most people's beliefs he didn't break into cold sweats, start screaming, and fumble every time they put him under center.
He had a few bobbled snaps but he made good reads and accurate passes most of the game.
The problem he had was that his receivers wouldn't catch the ball on quite a few plays, and his linemen weren't making all of the blocks needed for a Quarterback to look flawlessly sharp.
Now a lot of people are comparing his numbers to those of fellow rookie Quarterback Ryan Mallet of Arkansas.
Mallet went 12 of 19 for 164 yards and a TD pass. But the thing to note is, let’s face it, the Patriots have a much better receiving core and offensive line than the Jaguars.
With guys like Stevan Ridley(who I will get to later) and Taylor Price, who had 105 yrds and a TD, the Patriots obviously have an advantage when compared to guys like Jason Hill, Kassim Osgood, and Zach Miller, and I think you will see why Ryan Mallet came out on top in this competition.
Also Blaine went up against the first string defense of New England, whereas Mallet went up against the Jags second string defense.
The positives that I saw from Blaine Gabbert,(good reads, accurate throws, pocket presence, ect,) far outway the negatives that I saw.
Now does he still have a way to go, yes, he needs to learn the whole offense, and get a few more games under his belt, but I think by the time the season starts he could be just as good, if not better than David Garrard.
He made accurate throws most of the time, and as I said before his receivers dropped more than a few passes.
I say that if the Jaguars want to win they need Blaine Gabbert to blow them away in the rest of their pre-season games and win the starting job because as I said before Garrard is Trent Dilfer with the occasional big play potential of Michael Vick.
The other promising thing that I saw was Deji Karim as a punt returner and a running back.
Mark my words, if Deji Karim gets enough carries, he will unseat Rashad Jennings as the second running back on the depth chart and offer a breather to MoJo occasionally.
And I personally think he has the potential to be much like Maurice Jones-Drew, and should he reach that potential the Jaguars will have a two headed monster much like when they had Fred Taylor and MoJo.
Now, if you have watched or read anything about this game, you have doubtlessly heard about Stevan Ridley, well I am going to talk about him as well, as he was by far the most impressive player on either team, with 111 yards of total offense (64 rushing, 47 receiving), and 3 TDs (2 rushing, 1 receiving), he beat the second most impressive player which was Taylor Price.
Now me being an LSU fan I had a feeling that Stevan Ridley was going to be a great sleeper and had he been drafted by anyone other than New England he would be a 1,000 yard rusher as a rookie.
If he has a similar performance throughout the pre-season he will be the starting running back over The Law Firm of Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis.
And Danny Woodhead will be their 3rd down, Kevin Faulk-esque running back.
All and all I think Jaguars fans and coaching staff should be very happy with what they witnessed against the Patriots and should they start Blaine Gabbert, they will most likely have a winning record and have a shot at taking down the dreaded Indianapolis Colts.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Why The Jaguars QB Of The Future Should Be The QB Of The Present
Blaine Gabbert
6'5''
234 lbs.
3186 passing yards, 16 TDs, 9 INTs, and a 63.4 completion percentage in his last year of college football as well as another 240 yards on the ground with 5 rushing touchdowns.
Sounds like a good candidate for a first year starter to me.
The only knock on him is that he played in a spread offense in college, hmm, so now he's too stupid to learn how to take a snap under center?
Let's think about this for a minute, the transition from a spread to under center shouldn't be to much harder than going to play with and developing a rhythm with a new center.
Also he had to have taken some snaps under center in high school.
At the very least, he took a few snaps from under center at Mizzou, so it's not like it's an entirely different experience for him.
I would be more worried about him learning the new playbook, or getting timing down with the WRs.
So, to me at least, this whole business about he played out of the shotgun almost exclusively sounds like a bunch of nonsense, besides, if he can throw the ball and run the ball better than David Garrard (which I think he can), then line up in the shotgun, ease him into it, heck line him up in the pistol, it's half way between the shotgun and the ace (or singleback if you prefer).
My point is, David Garrard is a game manager who can occasionally make a huge play with his feet or make a great deep throw.
Kind of a hybrid between Trent Dilfer and Michael Vick.
Blaine Gabbert, I think, can be (this year) a guy who can make most of the throws and make a play with his legs.
Eventually I think he can be on the same level as Aaron Rodgers, as he has a similar skill set.
Now with Garrard's tight back and Jack Del Rio not wanting to take any chances Blaine will get his chance to impress against the new look Patriots.
In the preseason the Patriots will probably look like the old look Patriots as the hoodie isn't stupid enough to show everything he's got in an exbition game.
The thing to watch for in the Jaguars pre-season opener is to see how Blaine does under center (he may have 2-6 bobbled snaps), how he does with his reads, and whether or not he gets "happy feet" and tries to run too often instead of staying in the pocket.
In closing I predict, should the Jaguars start David Garrard they will probably struggle early unless Maurice Jones Drew carries the team on his back.
And by week 6 Blaine Gabbert should be the starter if Jack Del Rio wants to keep his job.
6'5''
234 lbs.
3186 passing yards, 16 TDs, 9 INTs, and a 63.4 completion percentage in his last year of college football as well as another 240 yards on the ground with 5 rushing touchdowns.
Sounds like a good candidate for a first year starter to me.
The only knock on him is that he played in a spread offense in college, hmm, so now he's too stupid to learn how to take a snap under center?
Let's think about this for a minute, the transition from a spread to under center shouldn't be to much harder than going to play with and developing a rhythm with a new center.
Also he had to have taken some snaps under center in high school.
At the very least, he took a few snaps from under center at Mizzou, so it's not like it's an entirely different experience for him.
I would be more worried about him learning the new playbook, or getting timing down with the WRs.
So, to me at least, this whole business about he played out of the shotgun almost exclusively sounds like a bunch of nonsense, besides, if he can throw the ball and run the ball better than David Garrard (which I think he can), then line up in the shotgun, ease him into it, heck line him up in the pistol, it's half way between the shotgun and the ace (or singleback if you prefer).
My point is, David Garrard is a game manager who can occasionally make a huge play with his feet or make a great deep throw.
Kind of a hybrid between Trent Dilfer and Michael Vick.
Blaine Gabbert, I think, can be (this year) a guy who can make most of the throws and make a play with his legs.
Eventually I think he can be on the same level as Aaron Rodgers, as he has a similar skill set.
Now with Garrard's tight back and Jack Del Rio not wanting to take any chances Blaine will get his chance to impress against the new look Patriots.
In the preseason the Patriots will probably look like the old look Patriots as the hoodie isn't stupid enough to show everything he's got in an exbition game.
The thing to watch for in the Jaguars pre-season opener is to see how Blaine does under center (he may have 2-6 bobbled snaps), how he does with his reads, and whether or not he gets "happy feet" and tries to run too often instead of staying in the pocket.
In closing I predict, should the Jaguars start David Garrard they will probably struggle early unless Maurice Jones Drew carries the team on his back.
And by week 6 Blaine Gabbert should be the starter if Jack Del Rio wants to keep his job.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
The Reason For The Name
If you are like me, you live, breath, eat, and sleep football, and if you are like me you also find a lot of the "talking heads" and so-called "experts" a bit annoying with all of their predictions that have little basis in reality. I.e. picking Dallas and San Diego for the Super Bowl for at least the past three years, despite Dallas not being able to make the playoffs most of the time, and when they do being decimated by Brett Favre (of course he retired so maybe we should crown Dallas), and San Diego getting beaten by Indianapolis every time they start to get anywhere in the playoffs, not to mention their inability to win the anything before December.
This year the football gods on ESPN have appointed the Texans as the ruler of the AFC South, and second only to the Patriots in the overall AFC, hmm, really?
The team that went 6-10 last year, and managed to be terrible despite having Matt Schaub, the league leading rusher (Arian Foster), and Andre "the giant" Johnson, not to mention Mario Williams and Brian Cushing. That sounds like another San Diego to me, another team not able to live up to their talent level.
Anyway, back to my point, they pick teams such as Philadelphia, Houston, and Dallas, who have tons of big names, but still have not proven anything, instead of the teams who have made the quiet moves that count in the offseason such as the New Orleans Saints and the Jacksonville Jaguars.
I will be primarily covering the Jaguars, with a secondary focus on the Saints, and a tertiary focus on the playoff picture, and other up and comers.
Anyway, this is my mission statement of sorts and I feel as if I'm drifting off topic, so let me say in closing that the reason for the name is this will be one of the last safe havens' of common sense and NO NONSENSE (and football as well).
This year the football gods on ESPN have appointed the Texans as the ruler of the AFC South, and second only to the Patriots in the overall AFC, hmm, really?
The team that went 6-10 last year, and managed to be terrible despite having Matt Schaub, the league leading rusher (Arian Foster), and Andre "the giant" Johnson, not to mention Mario Williams and Brian Cushing. That sounds like another San Diego to me, another team not able to live up to their talent level.
Anyway, back to my point, they pick teams such as Philadelphia, Houston, and Dallas, who have tons of big names, but still have not proven anything, instead of the teams who have made the quiet moves that count in the offseason such as the New Orleans Saints and the Jacksonville Jaguars.
I will be primarily covering the Jaguars, with a secondary focus on the Saints, and a tertiary focus on the playoff picture, and other up and comers.
Anyway, this is my mission statement of sorts and I feel as if I'm drifting off topic, so let me say in closing that the reason for the name is this will be one of the last safe havens' of common sense and NO NONSENSE (and football as well).
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