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Jay cutler 's shoulder routine sports: michigan football preview |
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Minions! Okay, admittedly, this post is not for all of you. But for fans of the NFL and Fantasy Football, I'd like to give my take on what I'm seeing right now in the world of football. Here goes: The Arizona Cardinals will contend and very possibly grab a Wild Card spot this year. I think they're going to have an explosive Offense, akin to the Colts. Now that Playboy holdout Leinart is in camp, they may have a viable backup for Kurt Warner.LaDanian Tomlinson may be a great pick in Fantasy leagues this year, despite the Chargers going with an untested QB. Phillip Rivers looked good in his 1st Pre-Season game. I know it wasn't for real, but I think alot of people got the feeling that Tomlinson will benefit from the new, young starter.Clinton Portis injured shoulder may not be separated and in as bad shape as was first reported, but how will it affect him in the first half of the season. Will he be able to heal enough over the rest of training camp to be able to take the punishing hits from defenders and man-up enough to do his blocking asignments? This is a major question for the Redskins. If Portis is not 100%, or has to play semi-injured all season, doesn't their stock fall significantly? They certainly can't rely on old Mark Brunnell to lead them to the playoffs with his arm. My prediction is that if Portis has to play hurt, the Redskins don't make the Playoffs. BTW has anyone read or listened to Portis' interviews? What a thug-like egomaniac.If Terrell Owens is healthy at the start of the season and his hamstring doesn't cause him anymore problems during the season, I believe the Cowboys may represent the NFC in the SuperBowl. Call me crazy, but he may have been the missing piece. How much of a distraction is he being while he recovers? Parcells will push this team, but will Owens respond? I think this will probably be Owens' last chance.Alot of people are talking about the strength of the Baltimore Ravens and new QB Steve McNair. While I think they're better with him, if Jamal Lewis is not back to top form, teams will key on McNair and punish him into a missed time injury. No vintage Lewis, no McNair-led playoff appearance.My beloved Kansas City Chiefs are going to live and die by their ability to run the ball effectively. Without Willie Roaf on the O-Line, is that a possibility? Larry Johnson and Tony Gonzalez are great and will probably do well enough. But once again, they didn't address the glaring problem of having only 2nd-rate Wide Receivers. Bank the year on who? Eddie Kennison? Sammy Knight? Is there a chance we can re-sign Otis Taylor, Carlos Carson, or Joe Horn? And don't get me started on the defense.Keep an eye on the backup Running Back for the New England Patriots. His name is Lawrence Maroney and he is large. He'll back-up Corey Dillon and if what I saw the other night is true, the Pats are in good hands if Dillon goes down. In fact Maroney may push Dillon to the sidelines before the season is done. Check him out if you get the chance.The Oakland Raiders have ALOT of talent on Offense. The Denver Broncos have alot of talent period. Jay Cutler looked very professional the other night. Here's what I think about both teams. I hope both teams experience debillitating hemorrhoid problems sometime during the year, as they are the Chiefs' hated rivals and I despise both teams.The League-leaders in off-season arrests, the Cincinnatti Bengals (led by Chris Henry, with 4 off-season busts), are going to live and die by what Carson Palmer is able to do. No healthy Palmer? No deep playoff run. They should have represented the AFC last year, if not for Palmer's knee injury on the 1st play from scrimmage in the 1st playoff game vs. Pittsburgh. A shame. I like Ronnie brown, but I'm not sure he's ready to handle 25-30 touches per game. He's always shared time and last year, his rookie campaign, he only averaged 13-15 touches per game. If he's not up to the task, the Dolphins aren't anywhere near as good.The New York Giants? Close, but no cigar. Try the Carolina Panthers instead.Donovan McNabb, Brett Favre, and Chad Pennington are all in trouble this year.The Saints will surprise alot of people this year, and will actually do better if they rely on Reggie Bush rather than Deuce McPukeister.The best Defensive teams for fantasy players will be Chicago, Washington, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Carolina, and the Ravens.LenDale White of the Titans is obviously a self-important thug and if he doesn't get a hold of himself soon, may turn into Maurice Clarett.That's all for now on football. More as training camp progresses. Pay attention as the season moves along, and you'll see that Len Is Right!! I am, Len Tollerton
I keep promising to post this, so I guess I should do it sometime before the season actually starts. I have to get a Big Ten preview and a week 1 preview in yet! No team in the Big Ten has higher expectations year-in and year-out than U of M. No, not even the Buckeyes. Michigan sees itself as an elite program, but has struggled to get there since 1997. Last season's squad stumbled to 7-5 with some key losses and one notable win (Penn State). The talent level just wasn't there, and what was there didn't play up to potential. Don't get me wrong: this is not Indiana. The Wolverines return the most talented offense in the Big Ten from position-to-position. And when I say "return," I mean 18 of 22 starters from last year. Ohio State, by contrast, has 9 new offensive starters (yeah, they do return Troy Smith and Ted Ginn, Jr.). The coordinators are new. Ron English should bring a tenacity and aggressiveness to the front seven that we haven't seen since Jim Herrmann's early years. English did a good job with a young secondary. We'll see if English's results translate. The Ann Arbor News reports that the players look slimmer, fitter and hungrier. After blowing 5 second half leads in 2005 (see my comments on defense below), this couldn't come soon enough. Big Blue's conditioning was poor last year. Michigan won't go 7-5 again this year. I don't think they'll go less than 9-3. Let's look at why. On offense: I'm not quite as high on Lloyd Carr's other coordinator choice. Carr brings back Mike DeBord, architect of the successful Michigan O in the late 90s. That was then. This is the Mike DeBord offense that disappointed mightily at Central Michigan for 4 years (combined record: 12-36). DeBord moves from special teams back to offense. On the optomistic side, Michigan's personnel can run this offense far better than anyone the Chippewas could put on the field. DeBord supposedly has a few new wrinkles up his sleeve to combat stodgy, predictable playbook Carr employed last season (and the season before that, and the season before that...). The real issue is Lloyd Carr. Carr continued his decade-long streak of sitting on leads and playing not to lose on both sides of the ball when he has a lead. As bad as the players were in the second halves of the 5 losses, Carr contributed to the downfall with ridiculously conservative playcalling. DeBord has to wrest control of the play calling this year and stop running into 8 and 9 man fronts in the 4th quarter. The NCAA is loaded with wide receiver talent this year, and Michigan is no exception. Burner Steve Breaston is back, but it's Mario Manningham that emerged last year as the real talent. He'll be even better this year, and could emerge as the #1 receiver in the Big Ten depending on the direction the Buckeyes go. Tyler Ecker continues the recent tradition of solid Wolverine TEs. In that offense, he's always a factor. Michigan is at its most effective if Ecker is catching 3-5 passes a game off the play action. Manningham will undoubtedly become Henne's go-to replacement for Braylon Edwards. The other skill positions look good. Chad Henne had a terrible year last year, right? That's what I remember, but the stat sheet blows me away: 2,500+ yards, 23 TDs, 8 INTs. He did that with no offensive line, a predictable-as-sunrise offense, and a rickety running game. Despite what others might say, Henne's not John Navarre (who was pretty good in his own right, but hamstrung by a tired, plain offensive playbook). Chad is far better. He has to stay healthy--the Wolverines have limited backup options, with duties falling to the untested Jason Forcier. Henne gets Mike Hart back at running back again this year. Hart, when healthy, is a Maxwell or Heisman candidate. He wasn't 100% healthy as a freshman, and 2005 was a lost year. Hart must stay healthy this year for Michigan to compete for a BCS bid. Kevin Grady, his backup, came to Michigan with great fanfare but showed little last year. Grady has apparently dropped a little weight this year, but even with a new offensive scheme, I'm not sold on him--Hart will have to carry the load. The offense depends not just on play calling, but improved offensive line play. The O-line was horrible last year, and is still awfully young. Junior captain Jake Long looks to anchor the line after an injury-plagued 2005, but Michigan will rely on youngsters to backup essentially the same crew that fell apart last year. If Long is healthy, and the OL plays to its ability, Hart will stay healthier and have more room to run and Henne won't spend the season under pressure and on his back. Offensively, if the line holds and everyone avoids major injuries, Michigan has the most balanced, talented attack in the league. On defense: I love the hiring of Steve Szabo, even though he's a Navy guy. Together with English, I think we'll see a far more aggressive defense this year. Senior standouts DE LaMarr Woodley and CB Leon Hall are back, but more importantly, Michigan sports a deep, experienced defensive backfield. English had this group playing reasonably well last year and he'll have FS Ryan Mundy back from injury, too. Michigan's defensive backfield will have its work cut out in the Big Ten facing Troy Smith, Drew Stanton, Drew Tate and a host of talented WRs. If any unit is up to the challenge on the Maize-and-Blue this season, it's the DBs. What does the defense need to avoid? In 2005, the defense allowed 97 fourth-quarter points (and an OT FB) in 12 games. The 1997 championship team: 24 points. Like the offense, Michigan's defense must close out teams the way it didn't last year. Again, Lloyd Carr has to keep his hands off: the Wolverines must stay aggressive throughout the game, especially when they're up late. The bend-but-don't-break approach never worked for Wayne Fontes, either, Lloyd. On special teams: Senior Garrett Rivas is back to kick again this year. He's grown on me over the course of his career. I was not a fan initially, but he's been a solid kicker for a school with a tradition of shoddy kickers that goes back more than a decade. The speedy receiving corps will share the kick return duties, and probably break a few. Special teams aren't a plus or a minus for this team (for once). The schedule: The Big Ten schedule makers did no favors to Michigan this year. Two of the worst teams (Illinois and Purdue) aren't on the schedule at all, and Michigan gets tough games on the road. That's significant, because Michigan has not been an intimidating road team since 1997. I'm especially worried about the opening road game against Notre Dame. Michigan has not fared well on the road since '97: 1998: Notre Dame - Loss - 36-20 1999: Syracuse - Win - 18-13 2000: UCLA - Loss - 23-20 2001: Washington - Loss - 23-18 2002: Notre Dame - Loss - 25-23 2003: Oregon - Loss - 31-27 2004: Notre Dame - Loss - 28-20 2005: Wisconsin - Loss - 23-20 That's 1-7 in road openers. In every one of those games, Michigan was in it or blew a late lead. Sept. 2 - Vandy - WIN Sept. 9 - Directional Michigan - WIN Sept. 16 - Notre Dame - LOSS Sept. 23 - Wisconsin - WIN Sept. 30 - Minnesota - WIN Oct. 7 - MSU - WIN Oct. 14 - PSU - LOSS Oct. 21 - Iowa - WIN Oct. 28 - Northwestern - WIN Nov. 4 - Party State - WIN Nov. 11 - Indiana - WIN Nov. 18 - Ohio State - WIN Michigan must win big against Vandy. There's no Jay Cutler to bail out the Vandy O this year, and if Michigan struggles at home, it will not bode well for the season. In week 2, does it matter which direction we play? O.k., well, it's Central. It's still a win. Given Michigan's history on the road early in the year, and with ND returning 9 starters on offense, this will be too much for the Wolverines. This is a winnable game, though. With 2 weeks to tune up and work out the kinks, and what should be an improved defense, Michigan could exploit Notre Dame's offense. Michigan can hope that the ND/Penn State game the week before is a tough, emotionally draining one. Wisconsin is bad. The Minnesota game will be tough--the Golden Gophers get their standout young QB, Bryan Cupito, back healthy this season, returns all 3 WRs and will show the rest of the Big Ten what IU learned last year: Amir Pinnix will make you forget all about Maroney and Russell. Michigan can't overlook this game because the Spartans loom a week ahead. The MSU game would be tougher on the road, but I figure that Stanton and Michigan State should be self-destructing by this point in the year. Rivalry games are always hard to call, so I'll have more to say about this one the week of the game, I'm sure. The Penn State game doesn't look good on paper. Penn State returns plenty of talent. This game is in Happy Valley, following the MSU game, and with the Nittany Lions trying to avenge a 2005 loss...Like I said, the Big Ten schedule makers have given Michigan one of the toughest schedules possible. Michigan rolls against Iowa. I'm not sold on the Hawkeye defense, and I'm not sure that Drew Tate will get much chance to show off his talents on the other side of the ball. It'll be a tough year for Kirk Ferentz in this league. Michigan takes a week off--I mean plays Party Ball State on November 4th. The MAC has a way to go before I'll care about games like these, especially in the Big House. Michigan gets to beat up on a second Indiana school when they head to Indiana. Hopefully, IU will have 5 wins by this point, because the Hoosiers don't have the defensive talent to stick with the Wolverines. Michigan finishes the year with the trifecta of brutal road games at Columbus against an OSU team that could be undefeated...or maybe not. Troy Smith can't carry that offense alone, and teams will be happy to play containment, double Ted Ginn and make the running backs and offensive line beat them. We'll know lots more about this game after the Buckeyes play Texas early in the year. If Ohio State pounds on Texas, Michigan could be a speed bump on the way to the BCS title game for the Bucks. At this point, I don't know if I like Texas as much with an inexperienced signal caller. I certainly wouldn't put them in the Top 5 yet. I see Ohio State struggling a bit against the Longhorns, and finding a way to win. Michigan comes into Columbus hungry, with a title on the line, and leaves with a tight win. That's a long way off, though. It's a long season, but I see Michigan at 10-2 and a Big Ten co-champ. At worst, it's a 9-3 season. But, I'm an optomist. I never believed they'd blow 5 late leads, and I never picked them for 7-5 last year. 2006 should be an interesting year. Lloyd Carr had better learn to love the hot seat: this will be pressure packed. |
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