Blaine Gabbert: Ready to start?
While everybody is fawning over Cam Newton and Andy Dalton, there is a third rookie quarterback set to be handed the starting gig.
After cutting starter David Garrard in the preseason, it was clear that Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio was prepping first round pick Blaine Gabbert to become the club’s eventual leading man. The only question was when. Luke McCown had to fill the starter’s role for a week and a half. Jack Del Rio declined to name a starter for week 3, but the guess here is that Gabbert will get the start this week against Cam and the Panthers.
Drafted 10th overall out of Mizzou, Gabbert was seen to be a better classical drop-back quarterback than Cam as draft day neared. He has a strong arm and is accurate with his tosses.
After the embarassment of a 32-3 drubbing at the hands of the Jets last week, the Jags can only go up from here. Gabbert got under center for the first time in a regular season game in Week 2, as he closed out the game with a strong 5/6 passing for 52 yards. Granted it was garbage time, but he showed solid poise as he hit his check down receiver on several occasions.
Once Marcedes Lewis gets healthy, he and Gabbert could combine to form a formidable threat. Maurice Jones-Drew and Deji Karim will only help Gabbert, as both backs are solid receivers out of the back field.
Daniel Thomas finally gets rolling
After being drafted in the second round by the Dolphins this year, Daniel Thomas was expected to come in from day one and pound the ball between the tackles. Miami had rid themselves of both Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown in the offseason, and they were anxious to have their rookie back shoulder the load.
But a slow start in the preseason had many pundits scratching their heads. Here was this big-bodied back who had the ability to slash between the tackles, but he was struggling against swarming pro schemes. Then a hamstring pull in the last preseason game had some getting off the bandwagon all together.
His performance against the Texans this weekend showed what the hype was all about. After Reggie Bush struggled to eat up any yards on the ground, Thomas was given the ball. The rest is history. He scampered 18 times for 107 yards, with a long run of just 14 yards. His nice stat line was not just one breakaway play and then some decent running. He was running with his head down and eating up yards on the groud.
Reggie had just 6 carries for 18 yards, and one catch out of the backfield. After looking strong early in the Dolphins first game of the season, Bush has regressed significantly and finds himself struggling to get carries once again.
All eyes are on Dexter McCluster in KC
Hopes were high for Jamaal Charles coming into the season. The fourth year back out of Texas was coming off a season in which he eclipsed the 1600 yard mark on the ground, and there were rumblings of 2,000 coming into this year.
But that talk ended in a hurry this week, after he tore his ACL on a innocuous looking run, his foot slipping on the orange pad that marks the first down line. But the show must go on for Kansas City. So the ball now goes to Dexter McCluster.
McCluster was used more as a receiver than a runner in his rookie season, catching 21 balls as a slot man for 209 yards. He did also sprinkle in 18 rushes behind Charles last year. However, Todd Haley and the Chiefs offensive staff converted McCluster to a running back this year, a seemingly prescient move after Charles’ loss.
Thomas Jones will also compete for touches out of the backfield, but if Dexter can show enough durability to handle 15 or more runs a game, then Jones could find himself struggling to pick up touches.
McCluster has a similar running style to Charles, a slashing downhill attack that works well in the Chiefs offense. Charles emerged in his second year in the league, improving from 357 yards as a rookie to a 1120 as a sophomore.
Dexter McCluster could be the break out star of 2011 (if he holds on to the ball.)
The league’s #1 defense is in Houston
Wade Phillips is still in Texas you know? He is just doing what he does best, putting together devastating defenses. Remember when DeMarcus Ware had 20 sacks? That was with Wade.
Now Phillips is leading a resurgent Texans defense as they make a mockery of the suddenly pathetic AFC South. Indy is hopeless. Jacksonville is neither rebuilding nor winning. Tennessee’s vaunted run game is neither here nor there.
Brian Cushing is back to the form that he showed in his rookie season to lead the Texans linebacking corps. The USC alum had a rough ride last season with a supplement-related suspension, but he looks to have shaken the rust this off season.
While much of the league was paying attention to the Eagles signing corner Nnamdi Ashomugha, the Texans got themselves a cover man with arguably better skills. Jonathan Joseph inked a lucrative 5 year/$48.75-million free agent deal with the Texans this summer, and many believe that the former Bengal is just coming into his own as an elite shutdown corner.
Then there is the new energy man on the defensive line. J.J. Watt, a rookie defensive end out of the University of Wisconsin, has stepped in and taken a starting spot on Wade’s 3-4 defensive line. He occupies the right side of the offensive line, while Cushing, DeMeco Ryans and Mario Williams come around the other edge. Williams is now playing as a standup hybrid outside linebacker. He has Julius Peppers like athleticism, and dominates smaller players with his size.
Rams are not quite ready
Hopes were high for St. Louis this year, as quarterback Sam Bradford was coming off of an exceptional first year. But the dreaded injury bug bit the team early in Week 1, with Steven Jackson going down with a strained quad.
Questions about Jackson’s durability coming into this season were raised frequently, as the suddenly ancient 28-year old running back might be on the steep slope downwards. We see it frequently with bruising backs, as they lose half a step, and are unable to break away from the line of scrimmage.
The glaring hole in the Rams’ attack last year was anything resembling a respectable wideout. The team that once featured Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt were lining up a scrap heap of talent last year. So while they did not make a splash for a big name receiver, they managed to sign Mike Sims-Walker away from the Jags, and hope that he can become the number one man. Sims-Walker did shine on Monday night, a good initial sign.
Word around Rams camp this year was that tight end Lance Kendricks had formed an immediate bond with Bradford, and the two were set to take off as a tandem. Every team with a young quarterback these day seems to have the protection of an equally young and talented tight end. Dalton and Gresham. Stafford and Pettigrew. The next was supposed to be Bradford and Kendricks.
It stil may happen, but through two games, the two have hooked up on just two occasions. Kendricks did have several drops in Week 1, including one en route to the end zone, so let’s hope his confidence isn’t shot just weeks into his rookie season.
The rise of the spread
Teams are no longer using tight ends in the classical fashion. It looks like something out of Hawaii or Texas Tech’s play book. A pair of wide receivers, double tight ends as well as a slot receiver. The Patriots are doing it. The Panthers are doing it. The Saints have been doing it for years. The Lions are putting up serious points with it.
The NFL is no longer a running league. Instead, we are watching a run-and-gun league, with strong armed quarterbacks eating up the defense. Opposing defensive coordinators cannot seem to scheme anything to prevent the onslaught that is coming at them.
The thing about the double tight sets that are often run out of the modified spread, is that they rarely act like true tight ends. Many time one, or both, of them are standing up on the line. They are used rarely in blocking schemes and are walking mismatches downfield.
The key to this offence is in fact the emergence of the super athlete tight end. The 6-foot-6, 265-pound end who can run a 4.5. The league is filling up with them, and the linebackers and corners relegated to covering these guys are left without a chance.
We all knew that Cam Newton was special, but I cannot imagine anyone predicted him to eclipse 400 yards through the air in his first two career games. But with Jeremy Shockey and Greg Olson acting as his double tight-end combo, Brandon LaFell emerging as a downfield threat, and a revitalized Steve Smith streaking down the sideline, Cam has the perfect spread set up to rip the league apart.
