Michael Turner Signs With Falcons?

by | Mar 2, 2008 | 2008 NFL Free Agency, Fantasy Football

The Atlanta Falcons announced Sunday that they had signed Michael Turner to a six-year deal.  Terms haven’t been released yet that we’ve seen.

On the surface, I don’t know that this one make sense for anyone involved.

The Falcons get a running back that has looked great in backing up LaDanian Tomlinson.  Which is good.  But the Falcons already had a back who has looked pretty good in what little time I’ve seen of him playing in Jerious Norwood.

And that brings me to why I question the deal from Turner’s stand point–not only do the Falcons have Norwood, but they haven’t even used him effectively in his first two years there. 

As the AP article points out, the Turner signing likely signals the end of Warrick Dunn’s time as the starter.  That’s a move that should have come last year, when Norwood was out performing him every week towards the end of the year, it seemed.

Yes, I’m probably jaded because I ended up with Norwood on virtually every one of my fantasy teams last year.  But I thought he showed in his rookie season that if given enough carries, he would eventually break a long one.  Yet for some reason, the Falcons refused to utilize him more, even when Dunn was turning in some putrid performances.

Dunn, who has always been labeled as undersized, and proved earlier in his career that he could be a full time guy, just doesn’t appear to have it any more.  He had only one 100 yard rushing game last season (27 carries for 100 yards even against San Francisco), and only 4 games in which he averaged 4.0 yards or more per carry (11 for 55 against the Panthers, 17 for 70 against the Colts, 8 for 32 against the Bucs, and 12 for 70 in the finale against the Seahawks).  At the same time he had 8 games where he averaged less than 3.0 yards per carry.

Yes, the entire Falcons team was God awful last year, with their QB going to prison before the season, and a head coach that lacked the fortitude to be an NFL coach, and left for college power house Arkansas before the season even started.

And Norwood did have a couple of clunker games as well.  And I did hear rumors about his work habits in training camp.  But only once did he get more than 10 carries in a game, and it has always looked to me like Norwood is the kind of guy that needs carries to get something going.  As it was, he gained 603 yards last year on 103 carries, a 6.0 yard per carry average.  Compared to Dunn’s 720 yards on 227 carries, a 3.2 yard per carry average, for the same offense.

Yes, Turner should be a good, possibly great player.  But was it a gaping hole that needed to be filled, compared to some other obvious holes the Falcons have?   If early speculation that Turner and Norwood will split time in the backfield is correct, will either be as effective as they might as the full time guy?  Will Turner complain about not finally being in the full spotlight, and will Norwood maybe start to complain as well?  (Or has he already?)

And, of course, probably the biggest losers in this one are once again the Fantasy Football players out there, who are faced with yet another two headed RB situation, where there were at least some hopes that Turner would find his own starting role, and the Falcons would finally start to utilize Norwood in a featured role as well.

Derek Anderson Signing-Makes Sense, or Not?

by | Mar 1, 2008 | I Said, He Said

Welcome to the first of what will probably be a regular piece on ZoneBlitz–we’re calling it (for now) ‘I Said, He Said’, where we go point-counter point on a particular topic.  I would guess 95% of these will end up being copied and pasted (more or less) from some of the Instant Messenger conversations we have.

And yes, our wives do wonder how two guys who can spend all day in communication on Instant Messenger could possibly know less about what’s actually going on in the other’s life…well, this explains it:

Andy: Derek Anderson agreed to terms with Cleveland
Tony: really?  I don’t get that one.
Tony: you like the Anderson signing?
Andy: I understand the Anderson signing.
Andy: Like it? Not sure. But I understand it.
Tony: I don’t
Tony: Take the picks.  Let someone else have the one year wonder.
Andy: This team has been horses**t and Anderson made them competitive. I don’t think you can have a dreg team for five years go 10-6 and then say to the fans “The QB that got us here is going elsewhere and we don’t care.”
Andy: Quinn could be the second-coming or he could be a career second-teamer.
Tony: Yes, but regardless of which he is, you have a decent amount invested in him.
Andy: right
Andy: But there is nothing wrong with him sitting for two seasons.
Tony: Now he might be the next Aaron Rodgers. Without the old, grizzled vet blocking his way.
Tony: There is when he’s going to start whining and complaining about not playing and earning his incentives.
Andy: And there is nothing wrong with the Browns trading Quinn either.
Andy: I think the Browns put themselves in position to really hold the cards.
Tony: I bet they’d have a tough time trading him.
Andy: I don’t.
Andy: Too many sh***y QBs in the NFL.
Tony: I think they f***ed themselves over.
Tony: *sorry, should have said tough time trading him for value.
Andy: I’m surprised the deal happened this early in FA.
Andy: But I don’t think it was a bad move for the Browns.

And just like that, we moved on.  So what do you think–did the Browns make the right move in re-signing Derek Anderson?

2008 NFL Free Agency Kicks Off

by | Feb 29, 2008 | 2008 NFL Free Agency

Less than two hours into free agency, and several signings are already being reported on ProFootballTalk:

Justin Smiley, Guard, to the Miami Dolphins for $25 million over 5-years
Kwame Harris, Tackle, to the Oakland Raiders, no details available
Jeff Faine, Center, to the Tampa Bay Buccanears, no details available, other than apparently the deal will make him the highest paid center in the league.

That’s right, the highest paid center in the league.  Maybe I’ve been asleep for the last couple years, but I’ve never heard anything about Faine that makes me think he’s worth that much, even if the Bucs had an astounding $44 million in cap space.

Other deals rumored to be close include Asante Samuel to the Eagles (for at least $10 million a year, another case of over paying), Randy Moss supposedly staying with the Patriots (for what Sid Hartman’s word is worth), and one that’s way out there, Derek Anderson supposedly signing with the Panthers (although that one could just have been someone having fun with Wikipedia, which has already come down).

There are also several visits rumored to be lined up, but frankly I’m too tired to get into that at this point.  All I will say is that if Bernard Berrian gets the deal he is rumored to want, I hope he’s not lining up in purple next year.

Happy New Year!

by | Feb 29, 2008 | Welcome

There’s the traditional New Year on January 1st, Chinese New Year in early February, and perhaps most importantly, there is February 28th, which annually marks the end of the NFL calendar year.  So at 11pm CST last night, the slates were officially wiped clean, the teams had to be under the 2008 salary cap, and contracts expired, making numerous players free agents.

And the 13,345,324th blog about football launched (that’s just a guess).

So what’s the story with Zoneblitz.com?  Well, take two brothers who spend way too much time analyzing, re-analyzing and analyzing again what goes on in the NFL, who like to argue a lot (sometimes just for the sake of arguing), and who each are (amazingly) married to wonderful women who (not so amazingly) couldn’t care less who is going to be taken with the 13th pick in the 3rd round of the NFL draft.

So, we’re hoping you’ll indulge us instead (if you really want to know more about us, feel free to check out the appropriately named ‘About‘ page). 

And if you’ve read this far, frankly you’re paying us more attention than they do when we start talking football.  So thanks for checking us out.  Hopefully you’ll be at least mildly amused, and come back for more.  Or come back just to mock us.  Whatever works.