Browns boot Baxter

by | Aug 9, 2008 | NFL Random Thoughts

Contract terminations typically aren’t huge news these days. Hundreds of guys playing otherwise meaningless preseason games right now will be bagging groceries and supersizing your McDonald’s order starting in the next couple weeks.

Cleveland’s decision to release Gary Baxter is worthy of slightly more than a sidenote, however. The injury-prone defensive back signed with the Browns in 2005, playing five games that season before injuring a pectoral muscle. He played three games in 2006, then tore both patellar tendons in a game against Denver.

Baxter has popped up from time to time in newspapers and network stories as he worked diligently to try and revive his career. He had surgery earlier this week to remove loose cartilage and the Browns decided they had seen enough.

It’s hard to blame the Browns. They haven’t gotten a ton of return on their investment since 2005. It’d be a great story if Baxter were somehow able to make it back from his injury woes. While it now looks like he’s got an uphill climb ahead, he deserves some credit for his efforts whether he makes it or not.

LaMont Jordan sees extensive time

by | Aug 8, 2008 | Fantasy Football, NFL Random Thoughts

Most mornings I keep the television off – it’s too easy a source of distractions while I try to get some real work done. But this morning I had it on with the sound off when NFL stats from last night started scrolling by. One line that jumped out at me was LaMont Jordan’s 19 carries.

The former Jet and Raider utilized those carries well, rumbling for 76 yards and one touchdown. Again, I try not to put too much stake in preseason football. But when I saw that I mentally moved Laurence Maroney’s down on my as-of-yet put-to-paper fantasy draft cheat sheets.

It’s not that I think Maroney is a bad running back or that he is going to be replaced as the starter in New England. But Bill Belichick last year seemed to show a preference for a more hard-nosed running style as opposed to Maroney’s breakaway style. Sammy Morris, before getting hurt, received 85 carries in six games, scoring three touchdowns before Maroney even once broke the stripe.

Maroney certainly came on toward the end of the season and into the playoffs and in games where Belichick needs to run more than pass I would expect that he will get a plurality of the carries, if not a clear majority. But in games where the coach thinks he can open up the deep passing game by pounding away with runs in between the tackles with a couple battering rams like Jordan and Morris, don’t discount the possibility that Maroney could become a non-factor in those games – much like he did at times last season.

I don’t expect Tom Brady to duplicate 50 touchdowns or Moss to match his 22. But Belichick loves the deep ball and at times it seems he feels more apt to get there without Maroney rather than with him.

Pennington to … Chicago?

by | Aug 8, 2008 | NFL Random Thoughts

Miami and Minnesota have been mentioned as the likely landing spots for former New York Jet signal caller Chad Pennington. But perhaps the team with the most inept current situation – and thus the biggest need – might be the Chicago Bears.

Kyle Orton completed seven of 10 passes for 56 yards and no interceptions but he did fumble for a 9-yard loss in the second quarter. Rex Grossman, who is slated to start at Seattle next Saturday, was four for eight with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Garrett Wolfe, but he also threw an interception on the opening drive of the second half.

Orton and Grossman are both hampered by the lack of skilled wide receivers, but they are both of limited skills as well. Grossman has long been capable of the fantastic but has more often shown a penchant for the absurd while Orton has won a lot of games doing little more than managing the offense and attempting not to make mistakes.

If the Bears coaching staff has internally set this season aside as a building year it’s possible a move for the 32-year-old Pennington doesn’t make sense. But if that were the case why wouldn’t the Bears have brought in a young “quarterback of the future” to learn on the job, or at least figure it out from the sidelines? Caleb Hanie really hasn’t ever been mentioned as an heir apparent candidate.

So if the Bears are approaching this season thinking they can rebound from last season’s disaster a step up in quarterback play would go a long way in accomplishing that. Pennington doesn’t have a great arm, but he always completes a high percentage of his passes and he’s considered a good teammate.

At worst he could come in and perhaps offer the winner, err, lesser loser of the Orton-Grossman competition some sage veteran advice. At best he could come in and provide a steady upgrade at the position that could create enough of a passing threat to perhaps open some holes for Matt Forte, Kevin Jones, and a running game that could be fairly decent.

The Chicago Sun Times thinks it’s unlikely the Bears call, but the Chicago Tribune’s David Haugh thinks the subject at least warrants picking up the phone. Don’t you?

EDIT: ESPN News is reporting that Pennington’s agent says six teams have expressed interest in Pennington but the screen crawl does not say who those six teams are.

Hester makes case to start

by | Aug 4, 2008 | NFL Random Thoughts

Devin Hester apparently is making a case to start for the Chicago Bears at wide receiver this fall.

Umm, I think I could make a case to start for the Chicago Bears at wide receiver this fall.

Okay, maybe that’s a stretch. And Hester did apparently beat both Nathan Vashar and Charles Tillman, two solid cornerbacks, in practice, according to the Chicago Daily Herald. But it’d still be more surprising if he didn’t make a case for a starting role given that he is competing with Mark Bradley (injury prone), Marty Booker (aging) and Brandon Lloyd (crappy).

They might not have a choice but to give him significant minutes on offense. But my biggest worries if I were the Bears would be A) Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton throwing him the ball and B) whether a regular role in the wide receiver rotation would have an adverse effect on his skills as a return man.

If the answer to the latter question is yes I’d be hesitant to put him out on offense every down. As a receiver he is unproven. As a return man he is a game changer and by scoring four or five touchdowns on punts and kickoffs could easily steal a game or two that the otherwise offensively undertalented Bears don’t deserve to win.

McCarthy didn’t like Rodgers in San Fran?

by | Jul 30, 2008 | NFL Random Thoughts

We here at Zoneblitz are huge fans of Pro Football Weekly. It’s 30 issues annually are among our favorite NFL fodder and it’s because the Arkushes and the rest of its writers get people to tell them things that other reporters either don’t get or won’t write.

In the August issue’s Audibles section PFW quotes an anonymous NFL figure saying that when he was in San Francisco, Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy was the leading proponent for drafting Alex Smith ahead of Aaron Rodgers because he didn’t think his current quarterback was a leader.

McCarthy thought Rodgers “was too ‘into himself,” according to the source, who speculated that was why old-timer Brett Favre never warmed up to him.

People change and three years of maturity gained while sitting on the bench has likely left Rodgers  in a better spot than Smith. He’s probably more ready to play than Smith was when forced to take the helm almost immediately – in fact he could very well become the poster child for why a rookie quarterback should sit for a year or three before being thrust into the starting job.

But Rodgers’ statements to Sports Illustrated about how Packers fans should “Get on board or shut the hell up” show he’s still got a ways to go in the maturity department. That’s not to say he’s going to be  a bad quarterback or a good one. But those words coupled with the thoughts of the PFW source definitely lend an eye into why Rodgers dropped on draft day.

Rod Smith retires

by | Jul 25, 2008 | NFL Random Thoughts

This wasn’t a surprise after the announcement that he was going to need another hip replacement surgery, but Denver Broncos wideout Rod Smith announced his retirement Thursday. He entered the league as a free agent with Denver in 1995 and 12 seasons later he leaves with 849 catches and two Super Bowl rings.

With some of the prima donna crap that goes on in pro sports these days Zoneblitz offers a tip of the cap to a player who, by and large, not only played well but did so in a mostly quiet and classy way. I don’t know if he’s a Hall of Famer or not, though coach Mike Shanahan thinks so.

Regardless, he made the most of his ability, he put up some solid, solid years, and he took pride in being a teammate, lining up next to Shannon Sharpe and blocking for Terrell Davis. There’s got to be something said for that. Good luck in your retirement, #80.