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Upon Further Review
August 7, 2008
Welcome to the latest
edition of “Upon Further Review” and can we officially say it’s over now? The
Brett Favre Saga... it’s done right? Green Bay is happy, the Jets are happy and
Favre is left wondering why the heck he decided to come back and play now (see,
I told you he should’ve just stayed retired). Can we all just stop talking
about it and him now?
Speaking of Favre... sorry,
I couldn’t resist... now that he is a Jet, Chad Pennington becomes the hottest
commodity on the free agent market. What team doesn’t need an underachieving,
weak armed quarterback on their roster???
This week I want to take a
look at some of the more important position battles in camps around the league.
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Green Bay. There isn’t
really a major position battle in Green Bay but you and I both know that
Aaron Rodgers will have to compete against the memory of Favre and all the
“what ifs.” If he stumbles, if he plays poorly for any length of time, if
the team doesn’t make the playoffs all will reflect back on Rodgers and then
fans and critics alike will start the wondering. They will all wonder
aloud, “what if we had Favre instead?”
Some will say that the pressure is off
Rodgers now that Favre is gone, not me. I say the pressure is on him even
more now. The Packers organization made a decision to go with Rodgers over
the Hall of Fame bound Favre and that decision put Aaron Rodgers right in
the crosshairs and I don’t envy him one bit.
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Miami (Josh McCown vs.
John Beck vs. Chad Henne) Wow! The only team with a worse quarterbacking
situation is the Chicago Bears and I will get to them a little later on in
this article. Talk about not having much to choose from. As of right now
the job is McCown’s to lose and, don’t blink, because he just might. John
Beck doesn’t really put fear in any teams and Chad Henne is untested. But,
with all that said, I think the job will eventually belong to Henne. He was
Parcells’ pick in the draft and he will be given the reins at some point,
maybe even opening day because the guys in front of him are nothing special.
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Oakland (Justin Fargas
vs. Darren McFadden) Fargas is ahead right now, but Al Davis doesn’t spend a
high draft pick on a guy to let him sit long. McFadden will get carries
early on and should eventually supplant Fargas as the team’s top ball
carrier. Besides, the combo of McFadden and JaMarcus Russell is just too
good to pass up. But don’t fret for Fargas though, he will still get his
carries and still put up decent numbers.
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Carolina (DeAngelo
Williams vs. Jonathan Stewart) Life just doesn’t seem to be treating
DeAngelo Williams all that well. The Panthers dump DeShaun Foster and it
appeared as if Williams will no longer have to share carries and can finally
be the feature back. Then the draft comes and the Panthers draft Jonathan
Stewart out of Oregon and now it looks like he will be sharing carries
again, if not get relegated to backup. It just doesn’t seem fair... oh
well; at least he’s getting paid really well to be backup.
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Tennessee (LenDale
White vs. Chris Johnson) Let’s be honest here, the Titans passing offense
sucks so these two will most likely get about the same amount of carries
when the season is over. White looks like an offensive lineman running with
the ball but he’s effective at moving the chains. Johnson will add an
element of speed and quickness to contrast the pounding of White so it
should be a good 1-2 punch for Tennessee and they will need it to be.
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Baltimore (Kyle Boller
vs. Troy Smith vs. Joe Flacco) How Kyle Boller has kept a job in this league
all these years I’ll never know. He is just completely inept and kills the
Ravens year after year (not that I’m complaining, being a Browns fan and
all). Troy Smith is a wild card here. No one is really sure what he brings
to the table; he is very much an unknown. Joe Flacco is the future and for
his sake he better hope not the present. I’ll make a prediction now, if
Flacco starts the year as the starter he will get killed behind that
offensive and he will be the next Kyle Boller. If the Ravens sit him and,
at the earliest, put him in about mid-season or, ideally, let him sit the
whole year it will only benefit him and he will grow from it. Look for
Boller to start the year and then give way to Flacco once the season is
lost.
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Dallas (Anthony Henry
vs. Adam Jones) This one is a no-brainer. Adam Jones will be the starter
for two very good reasons:
1. Jones is
simply better than Henry...period.
2. Jerry Jones
LOVES the marquee and flashy players and Jones certainly fits that
bill.
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Seattle (Julius Jones
vs. Maurice Morris vs. T.J. Duckett) If ever there was a situation that
screamed “3-headed monster,” it’s this one. Julius Jones is good, but not
great. There’s a reason Dallas let him go only to draft a younger version
of him in Felix Jones. Maurice Morris has been a career backup and there’s
no reason to think that he will be anything more than that this year. T.J.
Duckett is a short yardage and goal line specialist. By default the starter
will be Jones, but look for heaping helpings of Morris and Duckett.
This all brings me to my
final training camp battle...
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