I need to clarify that this post isn’t about Favre.  I swore him off already and I’m sticking to it.  This article is about the Vikings and why they would want Favre at Qb because I don’t understand the attraction.

Minnesota is a good football team who went 10-6 last season.  They did that with all sorts of turmoil at the Qb position and went out and immediately got Sage Rosenfels to apparently take the position and bring some stability.  To start last season they threw Tavaris Jackson in as the starter and then benched him for Gus Frerotte before bringing Jackson back as the starter later in the season.  Jackson ended the season with a 95 passer rating and had a good year despite the perception of it.  Is Favre going to be better than that?  Favre had a rating of 81 and dropping and I don’t care that he wasn’t healthy went the JETS went to pot because the point is that Jackson is getting nearer to his prime while Favre is far away from his.  Is this even about Favre or just about his desire to try to beat the Packers because if so the Vikings are shooting themselves in the foot.  They have a great running back and a good solid defense and they can/should win their division again this season.  Even if Jackson isn’t the starter and Rosenfels is then they are still better off as a TEAM going that direction.  

Sometimes you have to look at your pro team like a college program and run it that way.  Favre is the senior who has played well but the players under him are better.  The same logic is perfectly used when talking about Greg Paulus who will try to play QB for Syracuse this year.  If he starts for Syracuse they are idiots.  Syracuse is building and it is better for the long term of the program and team if a younger better player starts instead of hoping that Paulus is the answer.  The kids below lose an entire year of development and that is exactly what Favre would do to this team.  Let Jackson grow and let him play because it is best for the long term of the player and the team.  You’ve invested this much already to quit and start with someone else who is already past their prime.

I think it is only a matter of time before the commish comes out and gives an official position on Plaxico Burress and his playing status for this coming year.  Burress is a highly talented wide receiver who was waived by the Giants after a number of off field issues with the most notable being when Burress shot himself in the leg at a bar. 

Most recently Burress had his trial pushed back to September and that put the Commish in a tough spot.  I’m assuming that he was waiting to hear from the courts as to Burress’ guilt or not guilty verdict but with September being the start of the season he will have to come out sooner than later as to what he is going to do.  As it stands now every team in the league that has interest has been scared off by what might happen to Plaxico.  His name is Plaxico.  Man that kills me. 

If a team signs PLax they would give him a signing bonus and then might not even get to have him during the season.  If Plax is forced to sit out it will hurt his ability to make money in the future due to the fact that nobody is going to really want a wideout who sat out the previous year and especially one who would be expected to keep his nose clean during that time. 

I like watching PLax because the guy is like a train wreck and you can’t turn away.  I wonder what he’ll do next to sabotage his situation when it is finally resolved because we all know he will.

I’ve never quite understood why recently people still about USC like they are the end all when it comes to college football.  Sure, they are a great program and produce 10 pro’s a year but are they all that as a college program?  YES.

USC is all that as a college program but they aren’t without competition.  I’ve read numerous times how different college programs try to get “USC” type athletes.  I’ve never read about teams wanting to get “Florida” type athletes.  When I say “Florida” I mean the university and not the state.  Many teams want players from the state of Florida but even those athletes are now referred to as “USC” types and it’s starting to drive me a little crazy. 

Florida has won 2 of the last 3 National titles and deservedly so.  They are a great program that puts many pros into the league each and every year.  Why don’t people put them in the same class as USC?  I can clearly say that the SEC is better than the PAC 10.  I can clearly say that Florida plays tougher road games each and every year than USC.  I know Florida has the benefit of playing in a conference championship game while USC doesn’t and that does play a difference but I’m sick of hearing about Pete Carroll this and that when Urban Meyer is just as deserving if not more. 

In all honestly I know that most of would have loved to have seen USC vs Florida for the national title last year but with the current format that may not be so easy to happen.  Either way, I can hope that these two meet this coming season for the National Title.

When the Chicago Bears traded Kyle Orton and 4 draft choices to the Broncos for Jay Cutler it wasn’t even the player that people paid attention to.  Nobody even thought about Orton going to Denver in that deal and Bears fans are just happy to finally have a proven solid quarterback to lead the team.  Orton wasn’t terrible but he certainly wasn’t great.  His job was to avoid mistakes and he did that and I assume he’ll do the same thing with the Broncos. 

This past week Kyle Orton was named the starter for the Broncos after apparently beating out Chris Simms who hasn’t really played football in 3 seasons.  New Broncos coach Josh McDaniels has to have some supreme confidence here in his ability to create good quarterbacks but this one is going to be a bit of a stretch.  Denver has gone through some massive offseason changes and Orton is the headliner. 

The Chicago Bears used Orton as a protector instead as a major force of offense.  The Bears are built on ball control and Forte to run the ball.  With Denver Orton may have to be more of a playmaker and it will tell a lot about him.  The Bears never felt confidence in Orton to really create offense but will Denver?  I’m hopeful that the Bears do well with Cutler and that he proves to be worth the picks to acquire him.  I’m hopeful that Orton does well because he has paid his dues and is a proven winner in the NFL.  I just hope the Bears get the better end.

I find it so fascinating that baseball was hammered with steroids throughout the 90’s and 00’s yet football has been basically nothing during the same timeframe.  Anyone else noticing this?

Football is a powerful sport driven by bigger, faster and stronger players than ever before.  Players sustain more career threatening injuries than ever and that isn’t going away.  Players that were once lineman are now linebackers and safeties and that just can’t be normal.  I know that in all sports that training methods have improved and we’ve gained knowledge in nutrition and all that and I’m fine with that, but the size and speed of these athletes is something that has to be questioned.

I’m waiting for the bubble to burst and I won’t hide it.  Shawne Merriman got busted a few years back and was suspended 4 games.  He came back and the whole thing is as if it never happened.  Other players have been busted and it has been relatively quiet.  I’m waiting for the bubble to burst because it will soon enough.  One day the Radomski of football will come out and spill his beans.  Someones own personal McNamee will come out and talk and it will lead to a pro football Mitchell investigation and we’ll learn about a lot of players.  I’m just waiting patiently.

While I’m waiting patiently I’ll do what I did when it was happening in baseball…loving every second of it.  The NFL is great with steroids or without, i’m just not naive enough anymore to believe that players aren’t using.  I even understand why they would use steroids because those signing bonuses can set up generations for life.

You may have read last week that the NFLPA has agreed to pay a group of nearly 2100 retired players over 26 million dollars.  The agreement comes 6 months after a jury awarded the players 28 million dollars but this will put an end to the suit.  The retired players allege that they haven’t been financially rewarded for their likenesses on video games and trading cards and they were right according to the jury.

What does this mean for those players?  If my math is right that is nearly 13 thousand for each of the players.  Not a great deal of money but a decent amount.  As part of the settlement the players agreed to not bring this up again so this is final.  It doesn’t make me happy one bit.  The NFL was started and made popular by these players.  They had terrible protective equipment and health coverage.  Many of the players were injured beyond repair and especially for their time.  Since then we have video games where we proudly be the early teams and the early players and bring them back to life so to speak.  The NFL makes a lot of money for this endeavor and could share the wealth greater than they do. 

What about the old players and the retirements they get or is that a whole new ball of wax?  Some old players like Earl Campbell can’t walk today but they gave all they could to the NFL and to their cities and they deserve better compensation and retirements.  The league allows rookies to make crazy amounts of money while never having played while greats like Earl Campbell are stuck in wheelchairs or far worse.  Seems backward to me. 

I’m glad the older retired players got something but if you ask me they should be getting a whole lot more.

The spread is the latest offense to catch fire throughout the country and it is at all levels of football. I have seen my 6th grade nephew play games where the spread is used by both teams. At http://www.touchdownskills.com/ , we get asked a lot about products that we have that feature the spread offense. We get asked so much that I thought I would just include them in this blog post for the day.

I’ve included the titles and webpages of each one here.  Please feel free to click each link to learn more about each product.  I recommend anything done by Rich Rodriguez because of his past success in the industry.

The Spread Offense: Outside Run Game

The Spread Offense:  Inside Run Game

Bill Lynch:  The Spread Offense 2 Pack

Simplified Spread Offense

The Four Vertical Spread Passing Game

Of the videos listed, the 1st two are Rich Rodriguez and both are great productions.  They both feature the running game.  If you are looking at understanding the spread offense for younger players you would want to look at the Simplified Spread Offense.  The 4 Vertical Spread Passing Game gives great insight into throwing the ball from the spread.  You can’t really go wrong.  Click any of the links and read about the products.  Let us know if you have any questions.

Let the guy go. Vince says he wants to either play or be traded and if I’m gm I’m on the phone right now with several teams who needs qb’s. I’d call the Lions, Bucs, Raiders…anyone who has a qb problem and get Vince out of there.

What leverage does Vince have? His team excelled when he went to the bench last season and he’s never proven himself as a passer in this league. Vince has a career 68.8 qb rating which is lower than Rex Grossman’s. What does Vince do well?

I believe Vince can run the ball well and has some decent leadership skills. I believe Vince has a lot of physical tools. I also believe that Vince will never make it in the NFL as a passing Qb and if the Titans are smart they will get rid of him now while he still has some value and some team will value you him as a project and someone with enough talent to turn this thing around. If I was gm I wouldn’t touch the guy with a ten foot pole.

What are the Titans going to do here is the question? If they play Young they risk showing that he doesn’t have it as a qb. If they don’t play him then teams still wonder if the guy can play but he might be a team cancer.

If I’m gm of the Titans Vince would be as good as gone.