During a week in which the Patriots visited the White House to celebrate another Super Bowl win and also come to grips with the suicide death of Tight-End-Turned-Killer-Aaron-Hernandez, probably few are paying attention to what’s taking place with the New England running back corps.
While the Patriots have had a great offseason, and will undoubtedly emerge as Vegas’ odds-on favorite to win yet another Lombardi Trophy, the team’s strategy at RB has been interesting, to say the least.
New England signed Buffalo backup Mike Gillislee to an offer sheet and extended Super Bowl hero (he should have been the MVP) James White. These moves come on top of signing Bengals backup Rex Burkhead and entertaining soon-to-be-former Vikings great Adrian Peterson. That leaves the futures of big back LeGarrette Blount, coming off an 18-touchdown season, and Dion Lewis, coming off a partial season where he looked solid following an ACL recovery, up in the air.
So, what does Bill Belichick have in mind?
Andy: First off, let me say this: In Belichick I trust. I don’t know what he has in mind, but he’s one of the few coaches in the league with the pedigree where I will trust what otherwise would seem as a reach. That said … some of these moves are interesting, to say the least.
Blount left once before, then pouted his way out of Pittsburgh to return. He seems like a perfect fit in New England, where he has averaged 4.0 yards per carry over the last two seasons and scored 25 TDs, including 18 during 2016.
Did the end of the 2015 season carry over into 2016? Or were injuries the cause of the team winning six fewer games?
And does the 2016 season leave Marvin Lewis on the hot seat, coaching for his job in 2017? With several off-season changes, including an offensive line that has incurred a 60 percent turnover, can he lead another winning team?
Anthony Cosenza, an editor with Cincy Jungle, joined us to share his insights.
Zoneblitz: The Bengals fell from 12-4 to 6-9-1 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2010. What went wrong?
Cosenza: It all depends on who you ask. Injuries to star players including Vontaze Burfict (plus a two-game suspension), A.J. Green and Tyler Eifert all played a role in the six-win drop-off. While I think that played a role, I think the Bengals’ frugal ways in free agency caught up to them last year, as did the lack of dividends in recent draft classes that once seemed promising.
Major turnover at the assistant coach ranks, including Hue Jackson (offensive coordinator) and secondary coach (Vance Joseph) also didn’t help matters, as the units often looked confused and/or stale — particularly at the end of the year. As far as on-field issues, the offensive line play may have been the most surprisingly egregious of any unit. That definitely caused problems for the offense.
However, while all of these factors contributed, I maintain the opinion that this team had a major problem getting over the heartbreaking playoff to the Steelers to end the 2015 season. After such an implosion, the team kept Marvin Lewis at the helm and one has to wonder if the message fell on deaf years after his 0-7 playoff record. (more…)
Cincinnati won the NFC North in 2015 and finished the season a heartbreaking couple minutes from advancing to the divisional playoffs. That fell apart in 2016, as injuries and inconsistency dropped the Bengals to 6-9-1.
That means after 14 seasons, Marvin Lewis has a solid winning percentage, but the team still has not advanced in the postseason under his leadership. Can the Bengals rebound and make another postseason run? And even if they do, what will it take to get the team’s first playoff victory in the 21st century?
Larry Spicer, a contributing writer for Stripe Hype, joined us to share some thoughts.
Zoneblitz: The Bengals fell from 12-4 to 6-9-1 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2010. What went wrong?
Spicer: The loss of Hue Jackson was a major one for the offense and cannot be understated. The offensive line struggled mightily last season. Although Brandon LaFell and Tyler Boyd did an admirable job, with the injuries of A.J. Green and Tyler Eifert, the offense lacked playmakers that opposing defenses really feared. Add to that inconsistency in the running game. I felt that though the defense struggled early, they really picked up as the year went on. (more…)
One of the worst kept secrets in the league this offseason has been the Texans’ reported desire to give Tony Romo one last chance to make a Super Bowl run. But his retirement announcement Tuesday came out of the blue and the Texans’ backup plan apparently is Tom Savage. The third-year youngster has played in five games with two starts.
Now, he is reportedly the starter-in-waiting for a team that has a defense with Super Bowl aspirations and offensive skill talent that went underutilized due to the ill-advised signing last off-season of Brock Osweiler.
Is Romo really done? And is Savage a sufficient backup plan? Or do the Texans need to expand their search and find a way to bring a more veteran presence to this otherwise solid top-to-bottom roster?
Andy: Tom Savage? Really? The Texans’ plan for 2017 revolves around Tom Savage?
No disrespect intended to the young QB-to-be, but … really? You blew the 2016 season waiting for Brock Osweiler to blossom. You wasted DeAndre Hopkins waiting for Brock Osweiler to happen. And you botched the Super Bowl worthy season put forth by a Texans’ defense that was great even minus the great J.J. Watt.
I’m not 100 percent convinced Romo is done. But I’m also not sure how much I care. I made the argument over the weekend that Colin Kaepernick might be a better option than Romo for this Texans team. I’ll stand by that now. Maybe even Jay Cutler deserves a look. Maybe Savage is ready. But you cannot – you simply cannot – go into the 2017 season with the talent you have and only Tom Savage as a legit option to be the QB, not if you want your team and fan base to buy in. (more…)
With the breaking news that the four-letter network just can’t stop talking about–that Tony Romo is taking his ball and going home…or to the broadcast booth to replace another former NFC East quarterback, the inevitable question has come up multiple times today with said network on as background noise in the office (and with Stephen A. Smith, noise is the operative word):
DALLAS – DEC 14: Taken in Texas Stadium on Sunday, December 14, 2008. Dallas Cowboys Quarterback Tony Romo on the sideline during a game with the NY Giants speaking with Jason Garrett.
Is Tony Romo a Hall of Fame quarterback?
His resume is impressive–at least for a non-drafted free agent playing the most important position under for the biggest brand in professional sports today. And if I’ve heard right, most of the blowhards have him going into the Hall at some point.
Romo started 127 games in his 13 year career (playing in 156), finishing with a 78-49 regular season record. He completed 65.3% of his passes, threw for 34,183 yards, and had a 248-117 TD to INT ratio. His career QB Rating was 97.1.
Of course, the flip side of things–he was 2-4 in the four playoff appearances he led the Cowboys to. He did throw for 8 TDs to 2 INTs in the playoffs, but his completion % dropped to 61.6%, and his rating dropped to 93.0.
Perhaps even more telling–he had just four Pro Bowl appearances (in an era when some questionable names appeared in the Pro Bowl), and had zero All-Pro selections. Whie his career passer rating ranks as 4th all-time (behind Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson and Tom Brady), his career numbers also put him at 29th all-time in Yardage and 21st in touchdowns. He averaged less than 10 starts per season in his career (partly due to injury, partly due to not starting until his third season), starting all 16 just four times–and only three times in his career did he lead the team to more than 8 wins (and four more seasons at 8 wins–two of which were injury shortened).
At the end of the day, when you look at the era he played in, it would be my opinion that Romo doesn’t stack up to the competition to make the cut for the Hall–Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees are locks, Rodgers almost certainly is, and there is still Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger (multiple time Super Bowl winners), not to mention younger guys like Cam Newton, Russell Wilson and Joe Flacco with a lot of years left to pad their profiles.
Romo had a decent career, that had he not spent a lot of the last few years injured, may have warranted more of a look–but the more I look at it, I’m not even sure why their is as much coverage being devoted to it as their is–at the end of the day, we’re talking about a guy that started fewer games, won fewer playoff games, appeared in fewer Super Bowls and won fewer MVPs than Rich Gannon–so where is the Gannon for Hall of Fame discussion?
A few years ago, Colin Kaepernick was considered one of the league’s top young stars. He was leading the 49ers to a Super Bowl, and Ron Jaworski was raving about how he might be one of the greatest quarterbacks ever to play the game.
Things have slowly unraveled since then. He remained the Niners’ starter in 2013 and 2014, but then struggled in 2015, eventually getting benched for Blaine Gabbert of all people. And then he took a knee during the national anthem and all hell broke loose.
Does he deserve another shot to be an NFL starter? And is he still jobless because of his play on the field or because of his political opinions off of it?
John: I’ve always had mixed feelings about Colin Kaepernick. He’s not your prototypical NFL passer like an Andrew Luck or Peyton Manning, but he certainly can be dynamic when he’s on his game.
That stretch run in 2012 was extraordinary, and we saw some flashes of that old Kap after he got back into the starting lineup last year. He threw 16 touchdowns and only four interceptions in 12 games, while logging an impressive 90.7 passer rating. Plus, he again showed the ability to change a game with his legs, rushing for 113 yards in a game against Miami.
Is Kaepernick a strong NFL starter? No. Will he ever be? Probably not. But if Case Keenum and Matt Barkley were good enough to start multiple games in 2016, there’s certainly a place for Kap in this league.
A team like the Browns, Jets or 49ers could do a lot worse than signing Kaepernick to an incentive-laden contract a year or two while developing their quarterback of the future. And if you’re the Jags, why not take a flier on a guy like Kap to put a little pressure on a disappointing Blake Bortles?(more…)
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