NFL: Week Two Rookie Recap

Darren McFadden, Oakland – McFadden had a breakout game this week piling up 164 yards on 21 carries against the hapless Chiefs.  McFadden showed everyone why he was considered the top talent available in the draft.  The only real knock on his performance is that he put the ball on the ground twice which was main knock on his game coming out of Arkansas.  McFadden’s performance made him the second leading rusher amongst rookie backs this year with 210 yards and 5th in the NFL.

Chris Johnson, Tennessee – Continued to shine for the TItans posting his first 100 yard game of his career piling up 109 yards on 19 carries.  Johnson’s 202 yards rank him third amongst rookie runners.

Johnathan Stewart, Carolina – Stewart came up big for the Panthers scoring two second half touchdowns to go with a career high 77 yards.  Stewarts 130 yards rank 4th amongst rookies and his two touchdowns are the most amongst all rookie running backs.

DeSean Jackson, Philadelphia – Jackson posted another 100 yard recieving against Dallas hauling in 6 balls for 110 yards.  Jackson’s 12 catches rate second amongst rookies and his 216 yards are tops amongst rookies and 4th in the NFL.  He is quickly emerging as the top wideout in the 2008 rookie class.

NFL: Thoughts on Week 2

As an Eagles fan last night’s loss was awfully tough to take.  It is not solely because it was against Dallas but because of the feeling that Philadelphia had a chance to put Dallas away and could not pull the trigger.  Not to mention the last play they ran.  Was that really the best they could come up with.  I thought we have always been told that you have to throw to or past the marker on 3rd or 4th down.

The game was somewhat encouraging in that McNabb looks like he is playing with a purpose this year.  He was moving around in the pocket and hitting his targets.  If not for some dropped passes he would have had his second 300 yard game in as many outings.

I was also very impressed with how well the run defense played.  They kept Marion Barber contained most of the game and held the Cowboys as a team to just 2.8 yards per carry.  There were only two runs where Barber really had significant gains.

The secondary, on the other hand, was atrocious at times.  What they were doing with Sheldon Brown on Terrell Owens at times just boggles my mind.  Fortunately they made the right adjustments and Owens was a nonfactor after he scored his second touchdown. 

NFL: Week One Rookie Recap

The first week of the NFL season featured some impressive debuts from the class of ‘08.  We saw two rookie quarterbacks, Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan, win their pro debuts for the first time since 1971 when Archie Manning and Jim Plunkett won their debut games.  We also saw a back go for 100 yards rushing a reciever catch over 100 yards worth of passes, and another back compile 100 yards of total offense.

Matt Ryan, Atlanta – Ryan played about as well as could be expected for a rookie making his first start in the NFL.  The Falcons game planned this one perfectly to a tee relying heavily on the running game which has plenty of quality depth with Micheal Turner and Jerious Norwood toting the ball for the Falcons.  Ryan simply delivered when asked to.  His ability to complete passes downfield kept the defense honest allowing Micheal Turner to rack up 220 yards on the ground.  Ryan looked sharp completing 9 of his 13 passes for 161 yards and no interceptions.  He made a couple of big time throws and did not make any of the dumbs ones that rookies are wont to do.  

Joe Flacco, Baltimore – Flacco was essentially good enough to get the job done.  The positives are that he did not turn the ball over and showed some wheels in taking a 38 yard scramble to the house.  The negatives are he only completed 51.7% of his passes against a bad defensive team in the Bengals and did not complete one throw over 15 yards.  Basically he did not do anything to screw it up and Coach Harbaugh was willing to utilize a dominant running game to monopolize the ball.

Matt Forte, Chicago – Forte was the league’s top rookie rusher piling up 123 yards, including a 50 yard romp to the end zone, leading the Bears to a 29-13 blowout of the Colts.

Chris Johnson, Tennessee – Some folks snickered when the Titans selected Johnson in the first round, especially when they desparately needed to find someone for Vince Young to throw the ball to.  Johnson proved his crtics wrong yesterday by racking up 127 yards of offense (93 rush, 34 rec) and a touchdown.  Johnson was one of the lone brights spots on offense in what was an otherwise pedestrian game.  Ultimately the Titans needed to get a playmaker on offense and it appears as though they have one in Chris Johnson.

DeSean Jackson, Philadelphia – The lone rookie wideout to catch more than 2 balls and had about as good of a debut as one could have expected catching 6 balls for 106 yards including two that went for over 20 yards.  He also gave the return game a shot in the arm with a 60 yard punt return.

Ray Rice, Baltimore – A rather lackluster debut of 64 yards on 22 carries including a fumble.

Felix Jones, Dallas – Scampered his way to 62 yards on 9 carries including a TD run the first time he touched the ball.

Jonathan Stewart, Carolina – Gave the Panthers exactly what they wanted with 53 yards on 10 carries in relief of DeAngelo Williams. 

Steve Slaton, Houston – A so-so debut of 43 yards on 13 carries in a game that Houston was never really in from the start.

Rashard Mendenhall, Pittsburgh – Mendenhall managed just 28 yards on 10 carries in a game that saw teammate Willie Parker go for 138 yards and 3 scores.

John Carlson, Seattle – The rookie tight end caught four passes for 52 yards in a solid debut outing.

Keith Rivers, Cincinnati – The top rookie tackler of the week recording 10 tackles against the Ravens.

Antoine Cason, San Diego – The rookie corner recorded six tackles including a forced fumble that led to a Chargers touchdown.

Derrick Harvey, Jacksonville – Drafted by the Jaguars to bolster the pass rush the rookie defensive end was ironically the only rookie to record an interception this week.  He also managed to knock down two other passes but failed to record even a tackle.

NFL: Week One Thoughts

One initial thought as the Bears maintain comfortable lead with just under ten minutes to play: Is the balance of power finally shifting back to the NFC?  Consider that the Carolina Panthers, considered to be a marginal playoff team, stunned the San Diego Chargers at home with a last second touchdown and the Bears coming off of a 7-9 season and not considered a serious threat are handling the Colts quite easily.  The Chargers and Colts were two teams heavily favored to make deep playoff runs this year.  In fact the Chargers and Colts were second and third respectively in ESPN’s preseason power rankings while the Bears and Panthers were 25th and 20th.

Living in Durham I hear a lot of Panthers fans say Delhomme has to go, but after the throw he made to win that game today I wonder what they think now.  It is amazing how much better the Panthers are with Delhomme under center and they won this game without Steve Smith, their best player.  Carolina was able to basically run the ball at will racking up 142 yards getting 4.9 per carry, however, without Smith in the lineup the passing game suffered from untimely drops and a costly fumble that eventually led to a Chargers touchdown.

The defense held its own.  It allowed only two touchdowns on sustained drives while the Chargers other score came on a 28-yard drive following a D. J. Hackett fumble.  The one negative to take away was San Diego was able to get deep a few times and the pass coverage broke down in the middle of the field a few times.

Watching DeAngelo Williams carry the ball yesterday I could not help but wondering why DeShaun Foster go the bulk of the carries the past two seasons in Charlotte.

2008 NFL Draft: Thoughts on the Eagles

As an avid Eagles fan I am not sure what to think of how things went down over the weekend.  I guess the deal for their #1 pick was too good to pass up and it potentially gives them some leverage to get a blue chipper in next year’s draft depending on how well the Panthers do next season.

• I do not really get the Trevor Laws pick when they already had adequate depth at DT and bigger needs elsewhere.
• The DeSean Jackson pick is an intriguing one, but I have to ask myself why it is he went from being a potential top 10 pick last summer to going in the middle of the second round this spring.  He has blazing speed and should help bolster the return game but I cannot help but think he is another Ted Ginn, Jr. when it comes to what he will contribute to the offense.  I would have taken my chances on Malcom Kelly who has above average speed and more of pro body than Jackson does.  Or, I would have taken Dexter Jackson who has a bit more muscle mass than DeSean does and is equally as fast.
• I don’t get the Bryan Smith pick at all.  For a 230 pound DE to make it in the NFL he needs to playing in a 3-4 scheme and needs to run the 40 in 4.6 or better and Smith is doing neither here and he is not fast enough to convert to LB unless they are thinking of sticking him in the middle.  I would have gone with DaJuan Morgan or Tom Zbikowski here.  They need to find someone to play SS and think about a potential replacement for Brian Dawkins.  I think both of these guys could play SS in the league next year.  Or, I would have considered Andre Caldwell here.  He is built similar to Donte Stallworth and he runs like him too.
• Micheal McGlynn I have no real problem with.  He projects as a potential RT and can move inside and backup at guard.  The Eagles need to look at Jon Runyan’s replacement and if he ends up being an adequate replacement then this is a good pick.
• Quintin Demps is an intriguing pick here.  I think they reached for him a bit, but I don’t think he is going to end up being a safety either.  I have a sneaking suspicion that Reid has designs on putting him in as the nickleback as he is better in pass coverage than run support and has the speed to hang with almost any receiver in the league.  If they can successfully convert him to corner then this becomes a steal of a pick.
• I don’t get the Jack Ikegwounu pick either.  He shredded his knee so he won’t be ready for training camp and he had limited speed as it was.  On top of that I hear he may be facing some jail time on a burglary charge.  I’ll be surprised if he ever steps foot on Lincoln Field as a member of the Eagles.
• Micheal Gibson should compete and have a shot at making the club as a backup lineman.
• Joe Mays is another wasted selection.  He simply does not run well enough to be a successful LB in the NFL.
• Andrew Studebaker has the speed to be a pass rushing specialist but will probably amount to little more than that.
• Finally OT King Dunlap out of Auburn has the skills to be a NFL starter it just remains to be seen if he can live up to the potential he had coming into Auburn.

Overall the Eagles got some players who should help next season but there are more question marks than certainties in this draft class.  McGlynn, Demps, and Dunlap are project players that could turn this into either a very good draft for the Eagles or a very mediocre one.