The MMQB Training Camp Tour Blog

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Keeping the Defense in Detroit

Emily Kaplan reports from a physical practice at Allen Park, Mich where defensive coordinator Teryl Austin has his work cut out for him in 2015. Plus, KalynKahler's dispatch from Anderson, Ind., where veteran free agents Frank Gore and Andre Johnson arrive to spark the offense.

Detroit Lions Training Camp Report

Emily Kaplan writes:

Site: Detroit Lions practice facility, Allen Park, Michigan.

What I Saw: Full-padded practice, Monday Aug. 11. Gray skies on a muggy morning.

Three things you need to know about the Lions:

1. Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin is one of the NFL’s rising coaching stars. He has a tough assignment in 2015. Austin directed the NFL’s top run defense and second-best scoring defense last season, but now the Lions are without defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, who took outlandish money with Miami in free agency. Suh cannot single-handedly be replaced — and the Lions also lost Nick Fairley, C.J. Mosley and Andre Fluellen — but Austin has enough pieces to continue his aggressive 4-3 scheme. The big offseason acquisition for the Lions was Haloti Ngata, the perennial Pro Bowl tackle from Baltimore. Ngata, nursing a hamstring injury, has yet to practice but should be fine for the regular season.

He’s transitioning from a two-gap scheme with the Ravens, but should plug in fine to Austin’s system. Tyrunn Walker is a breakout star to watch alongside Ngata and defensive end Ezekiel Ansah is looking to make the jump in his third year to be an elite pass rusher. If all goes as planned with the front seven, playmaking linebacker DeAndre Levy will be freed up once again and wreck havoc on offenses. There’s a lot of “ifs” to fall into place, but trust that Austin can make it happen.

2. Welcome to year two of Joe Lombardi’s offense. The Lions are hoping they’ve worked out the kinks from Lombardi’s debut season as play-caller. In implementing a similar playbook Lombardi used with the Saints, Detroit had middling results. Quarterback Matt Stafford posted a career-low with 14 turnovers and a high completion percentage, but he rarely connected for the explosive throws that define have defined his career.

The key for 2015 is to maintain the efficiency, but increase big plays his top tandem, Calvin Johnson and Golden Taint. The running game should include a heavy dose of second-round pick Ameer Abdullah, a shifty, exciting back that’s been the recipient of much gushing in Allen Park.

3. Can Detroit build off of its success? The Lions haven’t had back-to-back playoff appearances since 1995. They only have one playoff win in the Super Bowl Era. Coach Jim Caldwell opened up camp by saying he expects Detroit to be a playoff team, and be better than 2014 where it went 11-5 and finished second in the NFC North behind Green Bay. The prediction seemed more nonchalant than brazen, but Caldwell’s team is no lock to succeed in the NFC North, where Green Bay is just as strong as 2014 and Minnesota is on the upswing.

What will determine success or failure for the Lions… If the loss of Suh isn’t too much to overcome, plain and simple. Can Ngata and Co. dial up enough pressure to maintain Austin’s aggressive style?

Player I saw and really liked... Michael Burton, the rookie fullback from Rutgers. Burton stonewalled both Stephen Tulloch and DeAndre Levy on one-on-one blocking drills (though Levy got the better of Burton in their rematch). Either way, I was impressed and Burton is poised to be the starting fullback.

Five dot-dot-dot observations about Detroit... Even the greats need to be coached up sometimes. It was interesting to sit behind the sideline during red zone drills when wide receiver coach Robert Prince was explaining a route to Calvin Johnson….

If top pick Laken Tomlinson wins the left guard spot as expected, the Lions will have an offensive line all under the age of 26, though that’s not necessarily a bad thing as they get a little more athletic than they were last year….

There aren't many position battles on this team. The only other high-profile one is for the other defensive tackle spot alongside Ngata betweenTyrunn Walker and Caraun Reid, which I expect Walker to win…..

This was an extremely active practice with lots of hitting. Probably the most physical practice we’ve seen on this trip, minus the session with the Atlanta Falcons.

The one name on the roster I’d forgotten about... Stephen Tulloch, who tore his left ACL in Week 3 in 2014 and missed the rest of the season. It was great seeing him out — and hitting — on Monday. The linebacker is the quarterback of the defense, an instinctive and emotional leader who will be a big addition in the retooled defense.

The thing I will remember about Allen Park… Matt Prater (another name on the roster I had forgotten about) kicking through skinny goalposts. They’re actually arena league goalposts (nine feet across), and are twice as thin as NFL-regulation goalposts (18.5). Prater used these in Denver, and he believes they improve his accuracy so he asked the equipment guys in Detroit to install them.

Gut feeling as I left camp... I like Caldwell. I really like Austin. I want to believe in a team coached by them. I think they will be just as good as they were in 2014, but I’m not sure that’s enough to keep up with the Vikings and Packers in this division.

—@emilymkaplan

 

[LACHAMP46]

I'll say, I actually like what the Titans, Bucs, Skins, and Jags are doing...Those lines in Tenn. & Washington should be improved ( man I like Donovan Smith & Taylor Lewan....I actually like a bunch of the Titans linemen...Skins line should work well if Moses can start at RT, moving Scherff inside)...So all those QBs may get some comfort back there...The Skins pick up Jr. Gallette for cheap, while the Jags have to spend all that $$$ on free agents..You all know what I think of FA's....trouble...Defenses on the rises for the Jags (even without Fowler), Falcons, and those damn Skins!!! Don't we have any more picks of theirs? This was a good, LONG read...I kinda like MMQB as a news source better & better..Reminds me of the ole school SI....they must be related....

Just wanted to quote that to make it visible for those who won't be reading all 3 articles.

Well, now you made me read the whole damn thang....

The one name on the roster I’d forgotten about: Austin Pettis. Not that I’m kicking myself for this. The former Rams third-round pick joined the team this past January. I only remembered him because during special teams gunner drills, which Pettis was partaking in, some kid up against the fence kept yelling his name. “Austin I know you hear me,” the kid eventually shouted. Pettis was left with no choice but to acknowledge the screamer, which he did by looking over (helmet off) and gently sticking an index finger in the air.

Too funny....your only fan and you're trying to ignore him...shame on AP...shame, shame, shame....ahahahahahahahha...LOL

 

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A One Quarterback Town

Jenny Vrentas reports on the Cleveland Browns, where Josh McCown is in firm position as the starter.

Cleveland Browns Training Camp Report
Jenny Vrentas writes…

Site: Cleveland Browns Training Facility, Lou Groza Blvd, Berea, Ohio

What I Saw: Morning practice, Tuesday, Aug. 11. Party cloudy, low 70s.

Three things you need to know about the Browns:

1. There isn’t a QB competition. Coach Mike Pettine might not be guaranteeing that Josh McCown will start Week 1, but the 13-year veteran is, in Pettine’swords, “firmly” the starter ahead of Johnny Manziel. McCown takes all the first-team reps. “What has helped this year is Josh knowing he is firmly the No. 1,”Pettine said. “It’s unfair to look back to a year ago and say, well, Brian Hoyer obviously didn’t help Johnny. They were in a competition.

The circumstances are different this year. Josh is secure in his job, but at the same time he can help mentor those other guys in the room.” In the practice we saw, McCown looked mediocre. Pettine was really excited about a strike McCown threw off his back foot to Taylor Gabriel to convert a first down, against a cornerback who was starting to undercut the route. But many of his throws seemed to lack zip, including a floater into the end zone that was easily picked off by CB Joe Haden.

2. Johnny Manziel is being held more accountable in year two, on and off the field. “What we did not do a good enough job here [last year], not nearly a good enough job, is holding him accountable, even when he wasn’t the guy,”Pettine said. “That’s the main reason why I made the switch at the QB coach position.” Pettine fired DowellLoggains and replaced him with Kevin O’Connell, the 30-year-old who worked with Manziel pre-draft and was a backup quarterback for the Jets when Pettine was coaching there.

After a rocky rookie season and an offseason stint in rehab, Manziel’s mental focus and energy have improved significantly, Pettine said. An example: He rarely gets a question wrong in meetings. “The times when he is frustrated are when he wants something to be right and it’s not done right,” Pettine said. "He’s a work in progress, but the will is definitely there. I think he realized he let a lot of people down, and he wants to make amends for it.”

3. The number of offensive skill players who have been banged up is bad news for a team trying to install a new offense. During one 11-on-11 team rep, I looked at the roster to see who the back was taking reps with the first team: RBJalenParmele. He signed with the team last week. RBs Terrance West and Duke Johnson, plus WR Dwayne Bowe, are among the key players who have missed time this camp with injuries.

What will determine success or failure for the Browns: Whether they get the Josh McCown who threw 13 TDs and 1 INTs in Chicago in ’13, or the one who threw 11 TDs and 14 INTs for the Buccaneers last season. One big difference from Tampa Bay that the Browns believe plays in their favor is the quality of their offensive line, anchored by players like LT Joe Thomas and C Alex Mack. Even in practice, you can tell that McCown has time to throw and there aren't a lot of broken plays.

Player I saw and really liked:WR Taylor Gabriel. The thing you notice when watching the 5-foot-8, 167-pound receiver is his easy quickness. After theundrafted rookie surprised with 621 receiving yards in his rookie season, he’s primed for a big role in 2015.

Five dot-dot-dot observations about Cleveland: Manziel was has been experiencing some mid-training camp elbow soreness, but is still expected to play in the preseason opener Thursday. During the practice we watched, he was dressed in full pads but didn’t participate in the team 11-on-11 period. His throwing arm—his right arm—was wrapped in a sleeve and the only throws he made were left-handed during drills. …

Mike Pettine has adopted a new tactic this spring: sitting in the quarterback meetings. The former defensive coordinator hopes his perspective can help the offense scheme up ways to be successful against different styles of defense. “It’s re-energized me,” said Pettine, a high-school QB who also called the offensive plays when he was a high school coach. …

Ex-QB Terrelle Pryor’s chances of making the team as a receiver may take a hit from him being sidelined for the first preseason game with hamstring tightness. He is a very raw route-runner, but Pettine said Pryor’s excellent ball skills give him a chance. …

Center Alex Mack, back from a season-ending broken fibula, on working with a new QB: “Um, well, we’ve had a lot of QBshere….” Good point.

… Pettine awards orange-and-brown camouflage practice jerseys to the unit on the team that won the previous day’s practice. The offense was wearing the camo jerseys Tuesday, and Pettine said the offense has actually won more practices than the defense so far in camp.

One name I’d forgotten about: WR Dwayne Bowe. Ray Farmer’s big free-agent signing has been sidelined with a hamstring injury, so it’s hard to have any real idea what kind of impact he can make on the Browns offense.

The thing I will remember about Berea, Ohio: The elementary-school age Browns fan briefing his friends on the status of the quarterback position. “Johnny hasn’t taken snaps,” he said ominously. The football fixation runs deep in this city.

Gut feeling as I left camp: The Browns were 7-9 without any consistent quarterback play last season. They hope McCown can be a stopgap at the position, but you have to wonder if they’ll be able to score enough points to keep up with the rest of the division.

-Jenny Vrentas

 

[-X-]

Baltimore and the Four Pillars of Football Success

So THAT'S where Spagnuolo went wrong.
He forgot to finish the slogan.

 

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http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/08/15/buffalo-bills-training-camp-report

Buffalo Bills Training Camp Report

The Rex Effect is on full display in Buffalo. The Bills are brazen, heavy-blitzing and perhaps a quarterback away from being a contender.

by Emily Kaplan

Site: St. John Fisher College, Pittsford, NY.

What I Saw: Partially-padded night practice, Wednesday, Aug. 12.

Three things you need to know about the Bills:

1. The Rex Effect. Jenny Vrentas' SI cover story says it all. This is Rex Ryan’s team now: aggressive on defense, sound in the run game, and brazen in personality. The Bills have bought in, and fans have too. According to the Bills, they have sold the most season tickets in the franchise’s 55-year history. As Buffalo looks to break its 15-year playoff drought, the city feels confident that Ryan — who declared this will be his last coaching stop — is the man to lead them.

2. The Bills are a quarterback away from being a contender. Though Ryan has brought a new swagger to a team muddled in mediocrity, some things haven't changed in this football-crazed city. Buffalo doesn't have a s tarting quarterback. In the 15 years since the Bills have made the playoffs, they have cycled through 15 leading men.

This year, it's a three-way competition between 2013 first-round pick E.J. Manuel, whose growth was stunted by being forced on the field too soon, Tyrod Taylor, the longtime Joe Flacco backup, and Matt Cassel, a 10-year journeyman. None in the trio exactly excites, but Buffalo has so much talent across the rest of the roster, it might be able to win anyway.

3. To compensate for its biggest vulnerability (quarterback) General Manager Doug Whaley built around the position. Whaley stacked his roster with talented skill positions, committed to a strong run game and re-stocked an already dominant defense. Percy Harvin, Sammy Watkins, Robert Woods and LeSean McCoy could be one of the most dynamic skill groups in the NFL. If the quarterback proves at least adequate, Buffalo’s playmakers could carry the offense.

Another underrated addition was Greg Roman as offensive coordinator. Roman directed San Francisco’s impressive run game over the last four seasons, and his offense is predicated on deception through various pre-snap motions and formation changes to out-smart defenses. And of course, there’s the defense, a staple of any Rex Ryan-coached team. The Bills ranked fourth in total defense last year, led by a stud front seven: Pro Bowlers Kyle Williams, Mario Williams and Marcell Dareus, as well as Jerry Hughes, who was so impressive during mini-camp that Ryan benched the 27-year-old because he “ruined practice” for sacking the quarterback too many times.

That defense was sturdy last season, even in a 4-3 scheme that barely blitzed. Add in Ryan and defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman’s signature creativity in pass rushing and this is one scary good unit.

What will determine success or failure for the Bills: If they consistently win the 13-10, 14-13 type games. The way this team is built, the Bills are only going to win in a grind-it-out, low scoring style. Buffalo will rely on its defense to carry it and for its offense to be just good enough.

Player I saw and really liked. A.J. Tarpley, linebacker. There’s so much emphasis on the front seven in a Rex Ryan-coached team, specifically versatility. When Kiko Alonso was traded to the Eagles, Buffalo looked a little thin at linebacker. Tarpley — underrated out of Stanford — can play different linebacker positions, as well as special teams, and is a dark horse candidate to make the team. At Wednesday’s practice I saw why. Twice he pushed through the backfield to get to the quarterback. Coaches have sung praises about Tarpley’s practice habits and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s on the 53-man.

Five dot-dot-dot observations about Buffalo. The Bills were liberal with resting key players, some nursing injuries, some just for maintenance. Among those who did not practice: Fred Jackson, Richie Incognito, Percy Harvin, Kyle Williams, Alex Carrington, John Conner and Jimmy Gaines. Also, Sammy Watkins sat out for some drills late in practice …

Incognito didn’t practice (ankle) but rode the bike on the sideline, as well as some exercises with super-sized ropes that exemplified just how much girth and athleticism he has… Just one snippet, but Tyrod Taylor stood out among the three quarterbacks for me. Running the read option, Taylor had a few nice plays and consistently found his receivers. Matt Cassel had a few too many overthrows and I saw at least one interception from EJ Manuel….

Rookie hazing is alive and well in the NFL, but if it’s as light-hearted as the Bills’ displayed on Wednesday, I’m perfectly fine with that. Teammates taped rookie corner Ronald Darby to the goalpost with athletic tape and then doused him with cold water. Darby laughed during the entire ordeal: refreshing, safe post-practice fun….

One of the reasons Harvin signed with Buffalo was that he wanted to prove he was a wide receiver, not just a gadget guy. The Bills seem committed to that, too. “We’re not going to lose the fact that he can be a weapon in other areas,” says wide receivers coach Sanjay Lal. “But Percy is a wideout with us. And he’s going to be a good one.”



The one name on the roster I’d forgotten about. Jerome Felton, fullback. With the run game being so important to Buffalo as it tries to mitigate its quarterback conundrum, I kept a close eye on the backfield during practice. With LeSean McCoy resting, I wanted to know what the depth looked like. I left feeling concerned. Felton, who has reached official journeyman status with his fifth team since 2008, dropped at least two passes during drills and also fumbled on the goal line.

Apparently the day before we arrived, Ryan — staying true to character — boasted that Felton was the best fullback in the NFL, which means he must be having a good camp. One practice isn’t indicative, so I’m curious to see how Felton fares this season.

The thing I will remember about Pittsford: The impending arrival IK Enemkpali, the reserve linebacker who was released from the Jets after cold-cocking quarterback Geno Smith, breaking his jaw. What fortuitous timing that Team MMQB happened to be in Pittsford on Wednesday as Buffalo claimed Enemkpali on the waiver. It all unspooled quickly. Bills staffers stayed on message, Jets writers frantically reached out to follow up on the juicy story, and Rex Ryan kept cool as he stuck it to the team that unceremoniously fired him seven months ago.

This further cemented that Rex Ryan is going to do things the Rex Ryan way, and that this team is not afraid to take chances on those seeking redemption. Besides Ryan and Enemkpali, Buffalo added Percy Harvin (proving himself as more than a gadget-guy after burning through four teams in four years) and Richie Incognito (centerpiece of the 2013 Dolphins locker room bullying scandal who took a one-year hiatus from football). That’s quite the contingent of people looking to prove themselves, and I have a feeling that’s a theme Ryan will cling to in 2015.

Gut feeling as I left camp: What a fun year this is going to be. So many rich storylines, so much talent and an incredible ceiling — if everything pans out, and there’s a lot of ‘if’s.’ I wish the Bills had even a slightly above average quarterback, but I still think they have the propensity to challenge New England’s reign AFC East, and are a strong Wild Card candidate this season.

 

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http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/08/17/miami-dolphins-ndamukong-suh-nfl-ryan-tannehill

What Suh Will Do for Fins

The next Albert Haynesworth? Highly unlikely. Big-ticket free agent Ndamukong Suh should be worth every penny... as long as the Dolphins let him do what he does best

by Andy Benoit

Lynne Sladky/AP


After Week 11 last season, yours truly proclaimed the Miami Dolphins to be the best defense in the NFL. Over the next six weeks, the Dolphins made a mockery of that. Take out the Week 13 Monday night contest in which the Jets decided not to throw against them, scoring only 13 points, and the Dolphins allowed a staggering 36.0 points per game down the stretch (including 37 in a home loss to those same Jets in the season finale). They went 2-4 to finish the season 8-8, par for the course in their three years under head coach Joe Philbin.

Before their face-plant, the Dolphins had been allowing 18.0 points a game, third best in the NFL. So what happened? And, to cut to the chase, does spending $60 million in guarantees on Ndamukong Suh take care of it?

Your answer to those questions reflects your core football values. Go back to those final six weeks. The secondary took a step back. Injuries to veterans like cornerback Cortland Finnegan (who has since retired) and free safety Louis Delmas cast inexperienced youngsters and even a midseason street free agent—cornerback R.J. Stanford—into the starting lineup. Miami’s run defense also sputtered, as it has been wont to do late in the season during Philbin’s tenure. However, the run defense woes were only for the first three of those awful last six weeks.

And in one of those weeks—the first Jets game—the Dolphins were victorious despite allowing 277 rushing yards. They surrendered 201 yards on the ground to the Broncos and 183 to the Ravens, both losses, but then held opponents to a respectable 110.3 rushing yards per game over the final three weeks. To pin the downfall on the run defense is to oversimplify the problem.

There’s also an argument to be made that the Dolphins were never the league’s best D in the first place, and that they had weaknesses all along that simply caught up to them. They were somewhat average in the secondary and had had injuries at linebacker earlier in the year.

Or there’s this: The Dolphins, despite the injuries, still had an adequate, in many spots even above average, collection of players—the problem was they didn’t dictate the terms of engagement often enough. Though well-versed in coordinator Kevin Coyle’s Bengals style double-A-gap pressure packages, the Dolphins did not generate game-wrecking pressure on opposing quarterbacks.

Top pass rusher Cameron Wake had 11.5 sacks, but counterpart Olivier Vernon had just 6.5, which still ranked second on the team. All-around, both were quieter than they’ve been in recent years. The team’s 39 sacks tied for 16th in the league. Forced to play in reactionary mode, Miami’s back seven was bound to be exposed eventually.

So instead of paying $17 million in guarantees to re-sign underrated defensive tackle Jared Odrick (who joined Jacksonville) and just $3 million in guarantees to retain Randy Starks (now in Cleveland), GM Dennis Hickey and his new cohort, former Jets executive Mike Tannenbaum, shelled out the $60 million for a certain soft-spoken, hard-biting ex-Lion.

Suh, we know, can penetrate. And nothing wrecks an offense like penetration. But just how much should the pursuit of it cost? According to OverTheCap.com, the Dolphins in 2016 will be spending 18.45% of their salary cap on Suh. (The next highest percentage on a defensive lineman in 2016 is the Bucs spending 8.4% on Gerald McCoy.)

Miami’s defensive line as a whole costs more than the rest of its linebackers, safeties and corners put together. And so it comes as no surprise that the back seven heading into this year looks about as weak as it did heading out of last year.

In revamping the D-line (the Dolphins also drafted nose shade Jordan Phillips in the second round), Hickey and Tannenbaum are essentially doubling—actually, at $60 million over $20 million, tripling—down on the old adage that games are won and lost in the trenches. It’s hard to argue with that; we’ve seen many great defenses ride a strident front four deep into the playoffs.

Hickey witnessed this firsthand as a member of Tampa Bay’s scouting department in the late 90s. And, though constructed differently, Tannenbaum’s AFC Championship defenses with the Jets were stellar up front.

It’s not just about what Suh does for “the front.” Flanked by Wake and Vernon, Suh fundamentally changes the job descriptions for others on defense. With the ball now likely to come out of the quarterback’s hands quicker, corners don’t have to hold their coverage as long. And someone like strong safety Reshad Jones can build on his 2014 career year (yes, it was a career year, even if “stats” don’t reflect it) by taking more chances when rotating down into the box. Passing lanes can be jumped.

Linebackers who last year had to prepare for pressure concepts in Coyle’s system can now spend more time practicing and studying coverage. Because with Suh, sending extra pressure is rarely needed. Not only can the 307-pounder penetrate, he’s also the best in the business at attacking blockers to set up stunts and twists for fellow defensive linemen.

This is why the Lions rarely blitzed when they had Suh. Of course, the counter argument is that the Lions never won anything of substance with Suh. In fact, their 2014 playoff appearance—just the second of Suh’s tenure—came on the strength of a defense that, under new coordinator Teryl Austin, started doing more with pressure packages than under previous regimes.

There are no true apples to apples comparisons between NFL teams, but the defensive lines Suh played on in Detroit and the one he’ll play on in Miami come pretty close. Both surrounded the perennial Pro Bowler with quality gap-shooters.

One must also consider the age-old concern about big-ticket free agents: when you sign one, you’re getting him on the verge of a career downswing. Suh is only 28; he won’t hit a wall anytime soon. But he is unlikely to get much better, either. And now having registered nine figures in guaranteed earnings in his career, you can’t help but wonder about his motivation.

Though not personally liked by all, Suh is respected by peers and is reputed as a prideful competitor. Most likely, he will not become the next Albert Haynesworth. Still, Miami’s coaching staff ought to review that chapter in Washington’s franchise history. In 2009, Haynesworth, like Suh, a dominant three-technique, signed in Washington for what was at the time a record-shattering $41 million guaranteed. Upon arrival, the team tried converting him into a one-technique, much to his chagrin.

Being assured $41 million for his services, any man with a modicum of integrity would have bucked up and give 100% no matter how displeased he was. But instead of becoming possibly the best one-tech in the league, Haynesworth essentially said, Why the hell should I? For the small price of what remained of his presumably shallow self-honor, he could phone it in, keep his body unbattered and be safely out of the league, healthy and rich, by 30.

Still, Washington can be faulted for a mistake that Miami can learn from. The Dolphins must emphasize Suh’s greatest strengths, which for him, as with Haynesworth, means being a penetrator. Suh doesn’t have to always play the three-technique; in fact, in Detroit, he was extremely effective when lined up as a defensive end, and he was an important cog in the few snaps he spent as a nose shade. But wherever he lines up—and it will indeed be the three-tech most of the time—he needs to be a featured part of an attack. Rarely if ever should the Dolphins ask Suh to simply stalemate two blockers and plug gaps.

In the end, there are only so many things you can do with one defensive player. The Dolphins are hoping that this number of things outweighs the number of soft spots that Suh’s presence has left in the rest of their defense.

Entering his second year in Bill Lazor's system and with a much-improved receiving corps, the mobile Tannehill is poised for a breakout season. (Rob Foldy/Getty Images)

Dolphins Nickel Package
1. If Ryan Tannehill can become a more consistent and precise passer, he has a chance to be a top-10 quarterback. He’s already top 10, if not top five, in mobility. Second-year coordinator Bill Lazor will continue featuring this in his Eagles style system. As a pure passer, Tannehill is more mechanically sound than, say, Cam Newton, which is why he’s increasingly steadier in and out of the pocket. He’s also cast in a system that will unburden him by calling a lot of quick-timing throws. The Dolphins were wise to sign the now-27-year-old to a long-term contract this past offseason. Tannehill’s value is poised to jump this season.

2. A year ago, Tannehill was strapped with a receiving corps that was lethargic in spots and unreliable in others (pretty much wherever Mike Wallace lined up). Now, running a three-receiver base offense, Miami might have the most complete receiving corps in the NFL. They drafted Louisville’s DeVante Parker in Round 1 and traded for smooth former Saint Kenny Stills, who can provide a potent vertical element within the context of an offense.

They also signed 10-year veteran Greg Jennings from Minnesota. Jennings has caught at least 59 balls in each of the last seven years (excluding an injury riddled 2012 campaign in Green Bay), but he may not even get on the field considering big-bodied Rishard Matthews is a more unique matchup creator at No. 4 and second-year slot man Jarvis Landry is too good in space to sit for longer than the occasional breather.

Several of these receivers will have to settle for smaller numbers; with ex-Browns tight end Jordan Cameron also arriving via free agency, there simply won’t be enough catches to go around. That’s a great problem to have.

3. Lazor’s scheme is similar to Chip Kelly’s, only with more pre-snap motion and shifts. The Dolphins are more experienced in it now, and with their offensive line woes not fully corrected but amended enough to keep most pages of the playbook alive, this could be one of the league’s most difficult offenses to gameplan against.

4. A name to keep in mind: Damien Williams. The undrafted second-year running back plays with a burst, most evident in the passing game. He won’t supplant fourth-year finesse back Lamar Miller, but he should warrant 10-12 meaningful snaps a contest.

5. A guy on this defense worth mentioning but who hasn’t been covered is weakside linebacker Jelani Jenkins. The 2013 fourth-round pick has near sideline-to-sideline speed and innate quickness in the box. He’s also adept in most coverage situations.

 

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http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/08/08/nfl-training-camp-tour-blog-week-2

In Philly, Sam Bradford is Spot On

Robert Klemko reports from Philadelphia, where Sam Bradford might become the league's best game manager. Plus, Peter King begins the West Coast leg of the training camp tour from Renton, Wash., where the Seahawks’ vaunted secondary looks a little different this summer

Philadelphia Eagles Training Camp Report

Robert Klemko writes...

Site: One NovaCare Way Philadelphia, PA, site of the Eagles practice facility, a stone’s throw from Lincoln Financial Field.

What I saw: A morning practice in shells.

Three things you need to know about the Eagles.

1. The LeSean McCoy-Demarco Murray swap was an even better deal for Philadelphia than you think. Of course, it wasn’t a pure swap -- Murray signed with Chip Kelly’s Eagles in free agency and the Bills swapped McCoy for Kiko Alonso – but it’s all the same. The feeling in Philadelphia, despite Murray’s limited exposure on campus, is he will leave far fewer yards on the field and will eliminate the negative yardage plays you get with the shifty McCoy.

2. The additions of Byron Maxwell and Kiko Alonso make this defense significantly better. Maxwell joins a pass defense that finished near the bottom of the league, and his presence should help ease the transition of Walter Thurmond into what is a new position at safety. Maxwell looks good in camp and has expressed eagerness to shed the notion his success in Seattle was a product of the talent assembled around him.

3. Sam Bradford will not win you any fantasy titles, but he may just dethrone Alex Smith as football’s best game manager. He’s been uber-accurate in camp and has built a nice rapport with first-round rookie wideout Nelson Agholor in camp. Kelly’s offensive identity is more about maintaining tempo and ball security and less about the quarterback taking matters into his own hands, and Bradford seems to be the right man for that job.

What will determine success or failure for the Eagles in 2015… The interior offensive line. That’s the biggest question mark heading into the season, with Kelly listing four first-team left guards this week. Seems to us the battle is between little-used converted tackle Allen Barbe (eight career starts), Matt Tobin (who for all intents and purposes failed his audition at left guard early last season), and John Moffitt, who spent a year out of football before un-retiring this offseason.

At right guard, Andrew Gardner played ho-hum to finish the season and could very well be replaced by Moffitt or Tobin. The interior line is obviously critical to Murray’s production in Kelly’s inside zone running game. Injuries could devastate this unit, as evidenced by a poor performance from the reserves early this preseason.

Five dot-to-dot observations… I think Tim Tebow is more valuable to the Eagles as a third QB than Matt Barkley, given what he can do at the goal line, and regardless of how he performs in the preseason. New extra point rules will make two-point conversions a factor in the winter in Philadelphia and throughout the northeast and Midwest, and I believe Kelly will keep a roster spot open for a guy who can thrive in the red zone…

The Eagles are already experiencing a spate of injuries, though we get the sense none are serious enough to threaten Week 1 appearances. Among the non-participants when The MMQB rolled into town: Alonso, Murray, Zach Ertz and Mychal Kendricks…

Among the various curiosities of a Chip Kelly practice, one stood out. During one offensive period, quarterbacks took snaps with a full plate of receiving options, but instead of offensive and defensive lines, faced a handful of coaches wearing shoulder pads with black netting rising from the back collar, meant to simulate the outstretched arms of pass rushers. A dozen camps, and that was a first…

The Eagles have a curious setup: Select fans and friends and family of players line the practice field in hospitality tents and are free to observe many drills within about 15 feet of the players. Upon entering the practice field, Eagles players took advantage of an opportunity to shake hands with a dozen or so handicapped visitors lining the indoor and outdoor exits…

There isn’t much idle time for players at a Kelly practice. Often, we say six sessions going on at once, whereas in many other cities on the tour, players stood around for long periods while special teams operated.

Gut feeling as I left camp: Kelly may pull off the increasingly rare feat of winning a division without the best quarterback in said division. 10-6, with a deep playoff run that ends abruptly in Green Bay or Seattle and validates Chip’s flurry of questioned offseason moves.

-Robert Klemko

Seattle Seahawks Training Camp Report

Peter King writes...

Site: Renton, Wash.

What I Saw: Morning practice, Monday, Aug. 17. Sunny, 76 degrees. A postcard day on the shores of Lake Washington. If I’ve ever been to a more perfect day for an NFL training camp practice in 32 years covering the game, I certainly don’t recall it.

Three things you need to know about the Seahawks:

1. The secondary looks downright bizarre. When the first nickel defense took the field this morning, here’s who it was: rookie fifth-round pick Tye Smith at left corner, veteran free agent Cary Williams (Ravens, Eagles) at right corner, ex-Colt Marcus Burley at slot corner, undrafted 2014 free-agent Dion Bailey at free safety, undrafted 2015 rookie free-agent Ronald Martin Jr., at strong safety. The entire secondary’s a double take this summer.

Richard Sherman should be back at left corner in a day or two—his hip flexor’s sore—but who know when strong safety Kam Chancellor (holding out with three years left on his contract) comes back, and it’s likely but not certain that free safety Earl Thomas (shoulder labrum surgery) will be back for the opener. It’s a weird dynamic here in the secondary. Maybe three-quarters will be back for the opener in St. Louis in less than four weeks, but you hate to hear two guys from such a great position group entering the season a little ouchy.

Jimmy Graham gives Russell Wilson the power-forward target he’s never had. (Photo: John DePetro/The MMQB)

2. Jimmy Graham gives Russell Wilson the power-forward target he’s never had. In practice this morning, Graham leaped high above a safety—didn’t catch his number—and finger-tipped a catch a good 10 feet off the ground. He looked like a forward snaring an alley-oop pass for a basketball dunk. Graham’s also working to disprove the worries of him as a blocker. When I watched him with the tight ends in blocking drills, he worked harder there than he did in receiving drills.

3. You could easily make the argument than Tom Cable is the most important assistant coach in the NFL this year. “I can see your point,” Pete Carroll told me this afternoon. In a little more than two weeks of training camp, the Seahawks have had five starting left guards—today it was converted tackle Justin Britt—while struggling to maintain control of the middle of the line.

Gone, too, is center Max Unger (in the Jimmy Graham trade with New Orleans), and so career backup Lemuel Jeanpierre steps in at center. “The good thing about Tom,” said Carroll, “is he’s very good at getting guys ready to play early.” This will be a vital part of the early season for the Seahawks, who open at the defensive-front-strong Rams and at powerful Green Bay.



What will determine success or failure for the Seahawks: I say whether they can build a bridge with Chancellor, and whether the offensive line can avoid being the sieve that it looks like right now.

Player I saw and really liked: B.J. Daniels, wide receiver. Strange story. Pete Carroll has always loved athletic players. And last year, when Daniels was a number three quarterback, he got practice reps elsewhere, and the Seahawks liked his versatility. He’s pretty much run his course at quarterback—the coaches didn’t think he had a shot to stick this year—and so had him try wide receiver.

This morning, he made the best catch I’ve seen any receiver make in my 17 camps thus far, a diving, one-handed snare in close coverage along the sideline, made with a violent landing, somehow holding onto the ball when he fell. One coach told me that despite a deep receiving corps (finally), Daniels will have a legitimate chance to make the team if he continues to play like that—in part because of the versatility he brings to the roster.

Five dot-dot-dot observations about the Seahawks: Amazing to see the little cubicle upstairs in the coaches’ wing of the facility, with assistant linebackers coach Loifa Tatupu in it. Yes, the former Pro Bowl linebacker for Seattle. Carroll says he’s adjusting well to the maladjusted life of being an NFL coach in his rookie coaching season …

Controversial second-round pick Frank Clark, kicked off his college team at Michigan after a domestic-violence charge, has been very impressive early in camp …

Defensive coaches like what they see in former Browns defensive tackle Ahtyba Rubin. He should be in a three- or four-man rotation among the defensive-line heavyweights. Rubin’s 325 pounds …

Coaches love rookie wideout/returner Tyler Lockett, who returned a kickoff for a 103-yard touchdown in the preseason opener. He could be the receiver/returner the Seahawks hoped they’d have when they dealt for Percy Harvin two years ago …

Speaking of Harvin, Carroll had no comment to me and USA Today’s Jarrett Bell about Harvin’s comments to Tyler Dunne of the Buffalo Newsabout Doug Baldwin and Golden Taint being jealous of Harvin when he arrived in trade in 2013. “You’re not going to hear us talk about that,” said Carroll.

The one name on the roster I’d forgotten about. Michael Barrow, linebackers coach. The rookie assistant and 13-year NFL linebacker transitions from the University of Miami to a big job here—coaching Bobby Wagner, Bruce Irvin, K.J. Wright et al. Most importantly, he used to be my neighbor, just the next street over, in Montclair, N.J., when he played for the Giants 13 years ago. I mean, let’s get the important things straight here.

The thing I’ll remember about Renton. The view. The incredible view. I love coming to camp here. Even thought I’m a professed lover of teams that travel to training camp, August in Seattle is one of the most beautiful months in any city in the world. Today, with just a wispy cirrus cloud floating overhead for the two-hour workout, was one of those days that makes you wonder, Exactly why is it that I don’t live here?

Gut feeling about this team as I left town. I’m worried about the protection for Russell Wilson. Quite worried. Look for lots of wheel routes, screens and quick hitches and bubble screens—and jump balls over the middle on quick throws to Jimmy Graham. I just don’t think Wilson’s going to have the time he had last year. But, and this is a big “but,” I trust Tom Cable to solve the issues and salvage a decent line out of this group. If he does, there’s no reason why Seattle’s not in the NFC Championship Game again come January.

—Peter King

 

[-X-]

I’m worried about the protection for Russell Wilson. Quite worried. Look for lots of wheel routes, screens and quick hitches and bubble screens—and jump balls over the middle on quick throws to Jimmy Graham. I just don’t think Wilson’s going to have the time he had last year.

 

[Prime Time]

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/08/21/kansas-city-chiefs-wide-receivers-jeremy-maclin-alex-smith

Chiefs Getting Wide Right

After trotting out the worst receiving corps in football last year, the Chiefs finally made the move to add a legitimate No. 1 wideout (Jeremy Maclin) to Alex Smith’s underrated stable of weapons

by Andy Benoit

Orlin Wagner/AP


Heading into the 2014 offseason, the most obvious “team need” in the NFL was Kanas City’s at wide receiver. Their lineup consisted of an increasingly sluggish Dwayne Bowe, injury-prone Donnie Avery, first-round bust A.J. Jenkins and 2012 seventh-rounder Junior Hemingway.

The 2014 draft had offered one of the richest, deepest wide receiver classes in history. And so more than a few heads were scratched when the Chiefs brain trust of head coach Andy Reid and GM John Dorsey passed on taking a receiver. They went into the season with the league’s most lackluster collection of wideouts, and it played out exactly how you thought it would. Worse, actually. Not a single Chiefs wide receiver caught a touchdown in 2014. There are more than a few teams that couldn’t achieve such destitution even if they for some reason tried.

How much of a problem is this? In the big picture, it’s at least a moderate one. Let’s not overthink things too much. In the NFL, wide receivers are increasingly important and if yours aren’t scoring touchdowns, your offense isn’t maximizing its success. Acknowledging this, Reid and Dorsey finally moved to correct the situation this past March, signing a legitimate upper-tier starter in ex-Eagle Jeremy Maclin ($55 million over five years). He’ll replace Bowe, who was released (and latched on with Cleveland).

Besides drafting developmental projects Chris Conley in Round 3 and Da’Ron Brown in the seventh, little else was done to fortify Kansas City’s still very average receiving group. But that’s O.K. When your quarterback is Alex Smith, it doesn’t make sense to dedicate significant dollars and cap space to wideouts. Smith is not a flame-throwing playmaker like an Aaron Rodgers, an Andrew Luck or a Joe Flacco. He is a meager-armed athlete who moves well overall but doesn’t command games from the pocket.

Logic would hold that being a lesser raw talent, Smith would need better receivers around him. But it’s closer to the opposite of that. Smith’s playing style will not allow him to regularly do the things a quarterback must do to capitalize on big-time wide receivers. He won’t push the ball downfield or fit anticipation throws into the tight windows that tend to surround receivers whom defenses have specifically game-planned for.

He doesn’t have the arm, and therefore has not cultivated the mentality to play this way. When it comes to throwing, Smith is as cautious as your grandmother approaching a yellow light. That’s not the worst thing, necessarily. This caution keeps his interception numbers low. (Amazingly low, in fact. After throwing three picks in a Week 1 loss against Tennessee last year, Smith threw just three more the entire rest of the season.)

Pardon the football slur, but Smith is a caretaker. You don’t want to dedicate major cap space to targets a caretaker is unlikely to fully use. Maclin is a very good receiver, even excellent at times. But defenses aren’t going to construct entire game plans around the seventh-year pro. And neither will Reid.

In his third season with the Chiefs, Reid has built a brilliant, user-friendly offense tailored to his quarterback’s strengths and weaknesses. And Smith has rewarded his head coach by running the system exactly as designed. For a coach who sleeps at the office, scheming until the wee hours of the morning, there’s nothing better than stability under center.

Reid’s plays are usually constructed for Smith’s initial option to be clearly defined. Smith has the intelligence to drop back and make full-field reads. But punctuating these reads usually demands a strong arm and quick trigger finger. Again, not his game. So, in Kansas City, Reid’s West Coast-intensive system has been built largely on screens, single-high zone coverage beaters and misdirection concepts. To help ensure they get the static, predictable defensive looks that many of these tactics exploit, the Chiefs operate a lot out of base personnel or unbalanced formations.

They have all the right types of pieces for this sort of puzzle. Running back Jamaal Charles is terrific on the perimeter, augmenting the outside zone game that’s so heavily tied to the misdirections. A versatile receiver, he’s also lethal on screens. Down the stretch last season, Charles lost some of his touches to De’Anthony Thomas, the team’s fourth-round pick in 2014. Thomas entered the league as a hybrid running back/wide receiver, much like former Chief Dexter McCluster.

In this system, opposing defenses have treated him almost entirely as a third receiver, playing nickel when he’s on the field. (Expect Reid to build some custom “11” personnel run plays for Charles, or underrated backup Knile Davis, to exploit this.) Thomas’s short-area burst, open-field acceleration and sheer speed are also great on misdirections. Many of his touches come on reverses, swing passes and backside screens.

Last season it took defenses a few weeks to realize that they needed to specially account for Thomas. This year they’ll be more familiar with the 5-8, 175-pounder but they might not necessarily be more prepared to stop him, for they will also have to pay closer attention to Travis Kelce. Entering his third season and second as a starter, Kelce is on the verge of being a top-five receiving tight end (or better). He can line up anywhere in the formation and beat man coverage, plus he’s shown a knack for locating the holes in zones and exploding out of them after the catch. Few tight ends in the league run as well as he does.

Maclin, with his run-after-catch prowess, is just another piece in Reid’s puzzle. He’s a tough matchup inside or outside. The only difference with him and the other guys is Maclin is not a contributor in the ground game. He won’t run-block as well as Kelce (who, granted, is still learning here), he won’t take handoffs like Charles or be featured on very many jet sweep concepts like Thomas. But that’s fine. There are only so many of those touches to go around. Something unique that Maclin will do for this offense: get the ball in the end zone.

Knile Davis gives the Chiefs a second No. 1-caliber back. (Peter G. Aiken/Getty Images)

Chiefs Nickel Package
1. Backup running back Knile Davis could easily be a top-10 NFL running back if cast in a starting role. The 2013 third-round pick runs with patience and a controlled quickness, making him great in a north-south game. That’s a nice complement to the east-west style of Charles (who, it should be noted, is a better tackle-breaker than your typical east-west runner). That said, there’s not room for both backs’ talents to be fully utilized. Unfortunately, the rest of the NFL hasn’t seen enough of Davis for a team to offer up a second-round pick or higher for him.

2. Center Rodney Hudson, now a Raider, will be missed. The question is, how sorely? The Chiefs drafted Missouri’s Mitch Morse in the second round with the hope of converting the left tackle into an athletic center who can anchor the O-line on outside zone stretch runs. Hudson’s mobility, here and also in pull-blocking, was huge for a rushing attack that last year ranked 10th in yards per game, and fifth in yards per carry. If Morse can’t make an immediate positive impact, the Chiefs ground game, even with an upgrade at left guard (Ben Grubbs replaces the departed Mike McGlynn) and the anticipated continued run-blocking improvements of left tackle Eric Fisher, will take a step back.

3. Good on the Chiefs for locking down Justin Houston long-term. They had to pay top-market price, but Houston has become top-market player. He has improved steadily each year since being a third-round draft pick in 2011, and not just as a pass rusher (where he was as dominant last season, as his league-leading 22 sacks suggest). He’s stellar against the run, both in terms of setting the edge and pursuing in space.

4. It’s hard to understand the Chiefs’ run defense finishing 28th in yards allowed last season and 30th in yards per attempt. For starters, they had the league’s most athletic and destructive nose tackle in Dontari Poe. They also got solid run-stopping from defensive end Jaye Howard. Houston can set the edge and opposite him, Tamba Hali plays low and is hard to sustain blocks against. Some Chiefs bloggers pinned the problems on fill-in inside linebacker Josh Mauga, but that’s lazy, faulty analysis derived from the assumption that the 2009 undrafted ex-Jet would be a major drop-off from Pro Bowler Derrick Johnson, who tore his Achilles in Week 1.

Despite what advanced stats would have you believe, Mauga actually flashed with regularity as a downhill attacker. Maybe the help around him wasn’t always effective, but he usually was. With Johnson back, things could stabilize. Then again, Poe has been sidelined following July back surgery. His absence will really hurt the Chiefs, especially in their speedy but undersized dime package.

5. The first-round selection of cornerback Marcus Peters reaffirms how committed the Chiefs are to playing man coverage under defensive coordinator Bob Sutton. Man coverage allows Sutton to use the full gauntlet of his many high-speed dime blitz packages. The Chiefs have two other high quality corners to go along with Peters: Sean Smith (starting in Week 4; a DUI conviction got him suspended for the first three games) and last year’s third-rounder Phillip Gaines, who was terrific in five starts as a rookie.

 

[Prime Time]

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/08/21/new-york-jets-training-camp-report

New York Jets Training Camp Report

A stout defense, questions at quarterback, and just a little bit of drama. Jenny Vrentas reports from Floram Park as the Jets try to move past the punch heard 'round the NFL.

by Jenny Vrentas

Site: New York Jets Headquarters, Florham Park, N.J.

What I Saw: Afternoon practice Wednesday, Aug. 20, moved indoors into the fieldhouse because of storms. It was mostly a “cards” practice, with the Jets running scout-team plays off cards in preparation for their second preseason game.

Player I saw and really liked: WR Quincy Enunwa, a sixth-round pick last year, has been working a lot with the starters. The coaches seem to like using his bigger build (6-foot-2, 225 pounds) in the slot in certain situations, over fifth-year receiver Jeremy Kerley.

Three things you need to know about the Jets:

1. Ryan Fitzpatrick laughs off the criticism of his so-called “noodle arm,” but there’s something to it. The 32-year-old quarterback does not throw the ball with great velocity, which was put into sharp contrast as he rotated with rookie Bryce Petty slinging balls into the end zone in 1-on-1 drills. Now, Fitzpatrick is a smart, savvy veteran who is thoroughly familiar with Chan Gailey’s offensive system, and for that reason, some people in the league say they would have rather faced Geno Smith than Fitzpatrick early in the season. Whatever limitations Fitzpatrick’s arm has, Gailey will plan around them, but don’t expect a robust deep passing game for the Jets with Fitzpatrick as the starter.

2. Todd Bowles has done a good job leading his team past the punch heard ‘round the NFL. The new Jets head coach acted quickly and decisively when he heard that IK Enemkpali had broken Geno Smith’s jaw by punching him in the locker room, moving to cut Enemkpali and turn the page to Fitzpatrick as the starting QB. There are still varying accounts of what exactly happened that day--curiously, CB Darrelle Revis continued to say, “guys have been very supportive on both sides, on IK’s side and on Geno’s side” — but Bowles never flinched in moving forward and that seems to have served the team well.

3. The defense may not be as stocked as it looks on paper. Muhammad Wilkerson, the anchor of the defensive line, has been out for two-and-a-half weeks with a hamstring injury, and the Jets are still waiting to hear whether or not Sheldon Richardson will miss more than his four-game drug suspension after a summer charge for resisting arrest. Antonio Cromartie has struggled during camp, too, raising questions about if the 31-year-old cornerback has reached the cliff of his career.

Bowles knows how to scheme around personnel deficiencies, something he did to great success with a Cardinals defense thinned by injuries and suspensions last season, but still, it’s concerning for a unit that will be relied on to carry the team this season.

What will determine success or failure for the Jets: Besides the obvious question of quarterback play, one thing I noticed about this team is the number of cornerstone players over age 30: Revis, Cromartie, Brandon Marshall, D’Brickashaw Ferguson, Nick Mangold, David Harris, etc. The Jets are counting on these guys not sliding down the backslope of their career.

Five dot-dot-dot observations about the Jets: You have to appreciate Bowles’ honesty when discussing why they signed QB Matt Flynn: “He was the only one available,” he said matter-of-factly. Flynn, who never played a snap during his brief training camp stint with New England, still isn’t ready to play because of a lingering hamstring injury. But the Jets can pick his brain about their division rivals, at least. …

The Jets may have to carry four QBs on their 53-man roster early in the season if they decide not to put Smith on IR with a designation to return. Given the timetable of his recovery, it probably makes sense to leave Smith on the active roster, but they will have to compensate at another position. Petty, the fourth-round pick from Baylor, is still too raw for NFL action, which is why the Jets had to add Flynn as a veteran back-up for Fitzpatrick while Smith is sidelined.

… RB Stevan Ridley, who tore his ACL and MCL last October with the Patriots, is still on the physically unable to perform list. His availability when the season begins is looking more and more doubtful. …

Look for Eric Decker to move around the field more this season. During practice, he was taking snaps in the slot and ran a reverse. Last year with the Jets, Decker was mainly confined to the outside as he tried to fill a No. 1 receiver role, but the addition of Marshall via trade this offseason will allow Decker more flexibility. …

Bowles’ defense is still being installed, which is normal for a complicated system with a lot of moving parts, but that reinforces why it’s important not to have a knee-jerk reaction to anything that happens early in the preseason. “We just had an install of seven plays the day before,” Revis said. “Todd is giving us increments of his defense as we go. I’m sure by the third preseason game, we’ll have the whole defense.”

One name I’d forgotten about: Jason Babin, the veteran pass rusher who is with his eighth NFL team. He played in all 16 games for the Jets last season, and his odds of sticking on this year’s roster were, oddly enough, improved with the release of Enemkpali.

The thing I’ll remember about Florham Park, N.J.: In the media room at the Jets facility is a plaque listing the winners of the annual “good guy” award, presented to the most media friendly member of the team. There’s an eerie tradition —coincidence or not? — that the winners of the award usually end up being not long for the team. I hadn’t been back in Florham Park in a while, and I noticed the 2014 winner: Rex Ryan.


Gut feeling as I left camp: They’re starting over with a new regime, but these Jets will face the same old problem—as stout as the defense might be, will the offense be able to score enough points to compete?

 

[Prime Time]

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/08/08/nfl-training-camp-tour-blog-week-2

Can the Injury-Stricken Giants Stay Healthy?

Jenny Vrentas' report from East Rutherford, N.J., where the Giants look to kick the injury bug, Eli Manning's contract negotiations linger and Jason Pierre-Paul is still a no-show. Plus, Jenny's take on Jets camp, as the team tries to move past the punch heard 'round the NFL.

New York Giants Training Camp Report

Odell Beckham Jr. is an electrifying presence at Giants training camp. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Jenny Vrentas writes...

Site: New York Giants Headquarters, East Rutherford, N.J.

What I Saw: Evening practice, Thursday, Aug. 20. Giants were mostly working off cards to prepare for their second preseason game.

Three things you need to know about the Giants:

1. Jason Pierre-Paul is still missing from Giants camp, and the Giants are still largely in the dark about just how bad the star defensive end’s injuries are after his July 4 fireworks accident. Steve Spagnuolo helped make his reputation as a defensive coordinator by playing combinatorics on the defensive line, and for now, he’s doing it without his best chess piece. The other players on the board: Cullen Jenkins, Johnathan Hankins, Robert Ayers, Jr., Kerry Wynn and former third-round pick Damontre Moore, whom the Giants are still trying to get more consistent play from.

2. Eli Manning is one of the last players in the NFL who would let lingering contract negotiations affect his play on the field. That doesn’t mean he and his agent would be willing to accept less than market price (and market price, as it turns out, would likely end up making him the highest paid player in the NFL). Semantics aside, there are always disagreements in contract negotiations until, well, an agreement is reached. But the way we know Manning is wired, he will play the same regardless of what’s going on at the negotiating table.

3. The offensive line is still a work in progress in pretty much every sense of the word. The opening-day lineup isn’t even set. Right now, they’re working with rookie LT Ereck Flowers, LG Justin Pugh, C Weston Richburg, RG John Jerry and RT Marshall Newhouse, while Geoff Schwartz is still working his way back from a season-ending left leg injury. The Giants have a very deep group of offensive playmakers, but in order to get the ball to those playmakers, the line has to play with some measure of consistency.

What will determine success or failure for the Giants: It’s the same story of the last few years—will they be able to win in the trenches? Despite efforts to upgrade in the draft and free agency over the past few seasons, the offensive and defensive lines are still two huge question marks for the team right now.

Player I saw and really liked: I watched a cards practice, so it’s hard to make too many assessments from that, but is it any surprise that it’s impossible to take your eyes off Odell Beckham, Jr., on the practice field? Beckham caught a crossing route and sliced and diced his way through the defense for what would have been an 85-yard touchdown. The electricity he brings to the field is tangible.

Five dot-dot-dot observations about the Giants: WR Victor Cruz insisted that his strained calf muscle, on the opposite leg as the patellar tendon tear that ended his 2014 season, is a minor injury that will not sideline him for an extended period of time. He was running around before practice, a good sign.

… Injured left tackle Will Beatty, who is sidelined with a pectoral tear, still attends almost every practice, supporting his teammates from the sideline. …

The Giants were lucky in that second-round pick Landon Collins suffered only an MCL sprain, rather than a more significant knee injury in the first preseason game. He’ll be out more than a week, but was already taking walk-through reps on Thursday night. …

The fact that the first three observations were all related to injuries underscores the fact that, despite tracking players’ workloads and moving around practice times, the Giants still have not kicked the injury bug that has plagued them the past few years. …

I get a kick out of the fact that Tom Coughlin is now calling the different sections of practice not “periods” or something like that, but rather, “mods.” Great word.

The one name on the roster I’d forgotten about: Most of the NFL had forgotten about Brandon Meriweather, the oft-suspended safety who was last with Washington in 2014. Desperate for help at the safety position, after Mykkele Thompson was lost for the season with an Achilles tear and Nat Behre (calf) and Landon Collins (knee) picked up short-term injuries, the Giants signed Meriweather off the street. He’s been working with the second-team defense, trying to get up to speed.

The thing I’ll remember about East Rutherford, N.J.: The detail with which Justin Pugh described the dental work that sidelined him for a practice earlier in the week. “I fractured my back molar,” Pugh began. “It was a long process trying to figure out how to fix it.” In earnest, Pugh then described that long process. “It got infected. It was no good. I did it probably six months ago. They kept telling me I was grinding my teeth. I had to wear a night guard. It was ridiculous. Then they find found out once it got infected that there was probably something wrong with it more than just grinding my teeth.

I had to go to an oral surgeon to get the image they needed to finally see. So they took the tooth out, put a bone graft in and all this stuff. I didn’t know you could do all that.” Pugh is an affable guy generally, but the Giants offensive line has taken a lot of heat this summer, so here’s guessing he wanted to make clear that he wouldn’t miss a practice for just any old dental work. Message received.

Gut feeling as I left camp: The skill position talent on offense is impressive enough to believe the Giants are capable of putting up enough points to be competitive against any team. Of course, there’s always one big if with this team—if they can stay healthy.

—Jenny Vrentas

 

[Prime Time]

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/08/24/dallas-cowboys-training-camp-report

Dallas Cowboys Training Camp Report

Peter King's dispatch from Oxnard, Calif. as the Cowboys get excited for a revamped pass rush featuring Randy Gregory and (soon) Greg Hardy.

by Peter King

Site: Grass fields adjacent to the Residence Inn, the Cowboys’ training camp for 10 summers since 2001. The team has committed to have most of training camp in southern California through at least 2017. It fits with owner Jerry Jones’ love of fame—Los Angeles is 70 minutes south, give or take a traffic jam—and a temperate climate more suitable to football training than the torrid summers in Texas.

What I Saw: Afternoon practice, Tuesday, Aug. 18, versus the St. Louis Rams. Fight-marred. Brawl-marred, really. Sunny and 81.

Three things you need to know about the Cowboys:

1. Once Greg Hardy returns from his suspension, the defensive line will be somewhere between formidable and respectable. The ban is likely to be four games for Hardy, and already the Cowboys are licking their chops at a duo of Hardy and rookie Randy Gregory coming off the edge. Hardy hasn’t talked in camp, but he and Gregory have been quiet off the field and productive on.

2. The running back rotation starts with Joseph Randle, then gets interesting.It’s not impossible to think Dallas could be in the market for a back at the camp cutdown time. As of now, Darren McFadden and Lance Dunbar look like the next two in line, and Jason Garrett is certain to not repeat 2014, when the Cowboys handed or passed the ball to DeMarco Murray 447 times. Randle is likely to be a 200-carry guy, and then Dallas could go in a few directions. McFadden just has never been durable, so the Cowboys figure if they manage his carries, maybe he can give them 100 quality ones.

3. Tony Romo feels better than he has in several years. No back pain. After an off-season of back-specific exercises (and only one or two rounds of back-torquing golf), Romo, who had to take Wednesdays off last year simply to survive the season, has gone through camp this summer with no pain. The day I saw him was the fourth straight day he’d practiced at camp. “For me,’’ he said, “that’s a milestone.”

What will determine success or failure for the Cowboys: Simple. It’s the ability to be able to generate a pass-rush, and to stop the run better this year. The Cowboys allowed more sacks (30) last year than their defense recorded (28). That seems crazy. It’s just another sign that, as good as the Cowboys’ offensive line was last season, the defensive front—low sack numbers, 4.2 yards per rush allowed—simply must be better this year.

But in passing situations this year (once Hardy returns from his likely four-game ban for domestic abuse), defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli could line up Demarcus Lawrence and Gregory at end, with Hardy and impressive former third-round pick Tyrone Crawford inside. The potential disruption there, if Hardy comes back in 2013 form, will be huge. Dallas plays Tom Brady, Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers in the final 12 weeks, and I’d like my chances in those games if that Dallas foursome can stay on the field, and be productive.

Player I saw and really liked: Randy Gregory, defensive end. I wrote about the rookie from Nebraska, the 60th overall pick because of college baggage, while visiting Dallas camp. Dallas drafted Gregory hoping he might become a Jason Taylor-type, a lithe pass-rusher who could grow into an every-down 4-3 end. The early signs for Gregory are good. Off the field, he’s done what smart rookies. “I have not heard a word out of him,’’ said Tony Romo. “He just comes in and works. He understands what’s got to do to be good.”

Five dot-dot-dot observations about the Cowboys: Randle looks to have more juke to his game than DeMarco Murray but not the power …

It’s still early, but Sean Lee looks fast and disruptive at middle linebacker, and the Cowboys need him desperately, particularly with the four-game suspension to linebacker Rolando McClain to start the season …

With tremendous run-game teacher/offensive line coach Bill Callahan gone to Washington in the off-season, it’s up to first-year line coach Frank Pollack to tutor rookie La’el Collins, who has been a star of camp. He’s still working with the second unit, but he could eventually challenge left guard Ronald Leary to start …

The best rookie offensive lineman in football last year, guard Zack Martin, went down in the practice I saw against the Rams and stayed down. Turns out he suffered a neck stinger, and the Cowboys decided to keep him out of action for a few days. Amazing to see the circle around Martin, and the concern. Jerry Jones looked ashen …

Hard to believe Jason Witten, entering his 13th year, will play this season at 33. Still looks young and takes every rep with the first unit. As The MMQB’s Andy Benoit points out, the more effective Witten is (and durable), the better it is for the development of Dez Bryant, who needs the defensive attention focused on the middle of the field so he can have more freedom over the top.

The one name on the roster I’d forgotten about. A.J. Jenkins, wide receiver. The former Niners first-round wideout is probably not going to make the team, but he will add another team to his NFL tour of teams. Everyone keeps bringing Jenkins in to see what the Niners might missed with him, and the answer continues to be not much. He’s had 17 career receptions, all in Kansas City, and likely won’t beat out fifth-round pick Devin Street.

The thing I’ll remember about Oxnard. The brawl. Three brawls, actually. Weirdest thing about the fights—which I believe have absolutely zero consequences (except the Cowboys’ seeming inability to get Dez Bryant to grow up a little bit and stop his incessant yapping) and zero meaning—was that they took place under a huge cutout of Stan Kroenke’s head. The Kroenke-head was held up by a fan in front of the huge rooting section chanting for the Rams to return to Los Angeles.

Gut feeling about this team as I left town. I felt better about the defensive line because of Gregory’s progress … but what of Hardy? When will he play? Will he be the dominant force he’d been in 2013? I also don’t think it’s any sure thing that Sean Lee, who’s missed 31 of Dallas’ last 48 regular-season games with injuries, can stay upright. So I left with much optimism about the offense, and cautious optimism about the D.

 

[Prime Time]

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/08/25/arizona-cardinals-training-camp-report

Arizona Cardinals Training Camp Report
by Peter King

Site: University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Ariz., the second season the Cardinals have trained inside the retractable-roof stadium, to avoid the 105-degree daily temps in the Valley.

What I Saw: Chargers-Cards preseason game, Saturday, Aug. 22, 7 p.m. Mountain Time.

Three things you need to know about the Cardinals:

1. Carson Palmer has no pain in his knee, and he can take a hit. By my count in his three series in this game, he took five pops: two on sacks and three after releasing the ball. “I need that,’’ he said after the game. “Just like you need to get in shape after tearing your ACL, you also need to take hits—and feel what it’s like to take a hit and get back and keep playing.” Good news for the Cards: They’re 13-2 in Palmer’s last 15 starts for the team, and he is playing completely pain-free—he says.

2. James Bettcher, the new defensive coordinator, is not trying to reinvent the wheel post-Todd Bowles. Bruce Arians promoted Bettcher from outside linebackers coach to coordinator after Bowles left for the Jets’ coaching job. Bettcher has never called defensive plays before, and Arians has trained him in camp by having an unscripted 11-on-11 period to end many practices this summer, with Bettcher making play-calls quickly, in response to formations he sees from the offense.

Smart move by Arians, instead of playing summer camp by the script, which many teams do. Bettcher is just 37, and eyebrows got raised when Arians went inexperienced and in-house instead of taking a veteran coordinator who had made big calls before. “I didn’t want the players to come in here and have to learn anything different,’’ Arians said in the spring.

“I wanted to core of our defense and the playbook to remain the same.” Still, all eyes will be on Bettcher, to see if he make this defense more consistent than it was last year—when the Cards were beat up from the start and allowed 41, 29 and 35 points to Denver, Atlanta and Seattle, respectively.

3. Rodney Gunter is the camp star so far. Unearthed by Steve Keim and top personnel lieutenant Terry McDonough six days before the draft—and scouted on-site on a rutted rural field in Florida by defensive line coach Brentson Buckner, the fourth-round defensive lineman from Delaware State took first-unit snaps at nose tackle against San Diego. The staff loves him, and he may get the start opening day for Corey Peters, lost for the season with an Achilles tear.

What will determine success or failure for the Cardinals: Palmer’s health. You can say about most teams what you say about the Cardinals: They’ll be a contender as long as the starting quarterback stays upright. When Carson Palmer went down with a torn ACL in game nine, the Cards were playing for survival the rest of the way. After starting 8-1, they went 3-5 (including the playoff loss to Carolina) with Drew Stanton and Ryan Lindley playing. Nine months after ACL surgery, Palmer looks fine. If Palmer doesn’t play 13 games or more, Arizona’s playoff chances take a very big hit.

Player I saw and really liked: J.J. Nelson, rookie wide receiver, Alabama-Birmingham. GM Steve Keim and staff have unearthed another second-tier wide receiver to help an explosive passing game. Two years ago, it was Jaron Brown, an undrafted free agent from Clemson. Last year, it was John Brown, a third-round sleeper from tiny Pittsburg (Kans.) State.

This year, it’s Nelson, in the fifth round. Carson Palmer’s first completion of the game on this night was a 57-yard bomb winged up the left side that speedster Nelson ran under and caught diving near the sideline. He’s had a strong camp and will make the team—and gives Arziona a strong future at the position and good depth right now.

Five dot-dot-dot observations about the Cardinals. Larry Fitzgerald turns 32 Aug. 31, and with all the new receivers on the roster, you’d think it’s phase-out time for him. Then why’d he catch 15 more passes than any other receiver here last year? “I just come into the locker room every day and I’m happy they’ve still got a locker for me,’’ he said …

Sean Weatherspoon was a key free-agent signing, even though he’s missed nine games in 2013 at Atlanta (knee) and 16 games in 2014 (Achilles tear). But he strained a hamstring in the first practice this summer and hasn’t been able to come back from it. He’s frustrated, as is the team, which penciled him to start at inside linebacker alongside Kevin Minter, and there’s no sign when he’ll be healthy …

Hard to tell the wideouts without a scorecard, and hard even with one. You’ve got two “J. Brown” players, back-to-back, on the roster: John Brown, number 12. Jaron Brown, number 13 …

You forget how fortunate the Cardinals are to have a roof in the summer. When I walked into the stadium an hour before the game, the gauge on my rental-car dashboard read 106 degrees outside. When I turned on the car an hour after the game, it read 96 …

At running back, if Andre Ellington stays healthy, I’d expect him to get 60 percent of the carries, and Chris Johnson (hamstring will keep him out another 10 days) to be the change-of-pace back and get maybe 100 touches.

The one name on the roster I’d forgotten about. A.Q. Shipley, center. Could win the center job and be a vital cog in keeping Palmer healthy. Shipley’s motivated, for sure. He was released by the Ravens in camp last year, claimed by the Colts, started the first four games of the year despite having near-zero knowledge of the offense, and replaced after four starts by an undrafted free agent. He’s the favorite to win the center job.

The thing I’ll remember about Phoenix. The Arizona Biltmore Hotel. One of the training-camp treats with the Cards’ camp back in the Valley (they used to practice in cooler climes, up the road in high-altitude Flagstaff) is the summer rate at my favorite hotel in the United States. Even in the dog days of summer, having an evening drink on the outdoor patio at the Biltmore is living life very, very well.

Gut feeling about this team as I left town: I don’t feel as good about the defense as I thought I would. They’ll miss Darnell Dockett, and they’ve never replaced troubled inside ‘backer Daryl Washington, who was great two years ago, and they’ve got a defensive coordinator who’s never called plays before. And, of course, there’s the Palmer health question. He’s 35. I think I’ll pick Arizona as a playoff team, with an asterisk. Palmer has to be under center 80 percent of the time.

 

[Alan]

A lot of questions, probably as many as the Rams, on the O-lines of all the NFCW teams.

 

[Prime Time]

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/08/26/new-orleans-saints-nfl-training-camp-report

New Orleans Saints Training Camp Report

There's a new D in New Orleans. Robert Klemko reports from The Greenbrier, where the defense is different, Drew Brees looks better than ever and Brandin Cooks is due for a breakout season

by Robert Klemko

Saints wide receiver Brandin Cooks is due for a breakout season. (AP Photo)

Site: The Greenbrier, White Sulphur Springs, W.V.

What I Saw: An afternoon practice at The Greenbrier

Three things you need to know about the New Orleans Saints:

1. The D is different, though not necessarily better. A defense that gave up the second-most yards in football a year ago still has several big question marks after Mickey Loomis made a flurry of offseason moves to plug the leaks, and one big move that opened up a new void. Second-round rookie Hau’oli Kikaha has played well enough in camp to be penciled in at strongside linebacker, but he’s a natural pass rusher who could struggle diagnosing plays against real competition.

Jairus Byrd, the headline free agent pickup a year ago, has yet to practice since suffering a torn lateral meniscus last October. Big-bodied corner Brandon Browner, who was barely serviceable last season in New England, looks like the starter opposite Keenan Lewis as the Saints continue to wait on Stanley Jean-Baptiste, last year’s second-round pick.

On the bright side, rookie inside linebacker Stephone Anthony plays and behaves like a 10-year pro at this early juncture. Defensive end Cameron Jordan figures to see more double teams with the release of troubled linebacker Junior Galette, who was promptly signed by Washington.

2. Brandin Cooks will be a breakout star in 2015. That’s my prediction, after watching him poke holes in Saints defenses in camp and media accounts of him tearing up the Patriots in joint practices. He’s earned high praise from coaches, teammates and even Pats coach Bill Belichick after turning in 53 catches for 550 yards as a rookie slot receiver in Jimmy Graham’s shadow, then spending much of the offseason perfecting his timing with Drew Brees. Minus Graham, the Saints will go as far as Brees and Cooks go. So far, so good.

3. Speaking of Brees, he looks better than ever. An oblique injury tampered with his throwing motion in 2014 and contributed to his 17 interceptions. That’s not terribly above par for Brees, who threw 19 picks in 2012 and 22 in 2010, but after watching the 36-year-old in practice and preseason, I believe him when he says he’s 100%.

The trick will be keeping him at full strength. The Saints spent much of the draft on defense, but the one selection they did dedicate to the offensive line, first-rounder Andrus Peat, hasn’t performed like the heir apparent to Zach Strief at right tackle, much less a potential replacement for ho-hum left tackle Terron Armstead (Obviously, it’s too early to write him off).

Five dot-dot-dot observations about the Saints: Running back Khiry Robinson, a Saints undrafted pluck in 2013, looks like more than a backup to Ingram and the newly acquired C.J. Spiller…

Jean-Baptiste, whom the Saints hoped would be starting by now, stumbled in joint practices with the Patriots, especially when tasked with man coverage…

The Saints NEED a healthy return by Byrd, who plans on being ready for the beginning of the season. His backup, Rafael Bush, is more special teams contributor than reliable plug-in…

Max Unger is already a big improvement over Jonathan Goodwin, the journeyman center who started 14 games last season in New Orleans. An afterthought in the trade that sent Jimmy Graham to Seattle in exchange for a first-round pick, Unger could elevate a middling rushing attack to one of the best in football…

As defensive assistant to Rob Ryan, Dennis Allen, the former Raiders head coach, has spent much of his time working closely with the secondary. Integrating Browner and his unique skillset into a group that has yet to practice with Byrd is his first and biggest test.

Gut feeling about this team as I left The Greenbrier: 9-7. My favorite to win the NFC South and repair the division’s once-sterling reputation. For a team looking to bounce back from 7-9, a lot depends on Byrd and Cooks, two unique players at positions that will define the fortunes of this team. Replacing Graham will involve more balance on offense, and I’m expecting a big year for Ingram & Co. at running back.

 

[Prime Time]

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/08/26/pittsburgh-steelers-offense-ben-roethlisberger-nfl

The Evolution of Big Ben

With the defense in a transition state, the Steelers are relying heavily on an offense that's transformed into the league's best. At the helm is QB Ben Roethlisberger, who guides a unit teeming with young, rising stars

by Andy Benoit

As the Steelers undergo what they hope will be a smooth transition into a new era on defense, they fortunately have an offense they can lean on heavily in the meantime. In fact, it’s the best offense in the NFL. And it’s become that through very traditional means: by accumulating the best players.

Start with the man under center. (Oh actually, let’s mention the center. When Maurkice Pouncey is healthy, he’s one of those “best players.” His combination of athleticism and football IQ is second to none at his position; let’s hope he can bounce back from his recent ankle injury sometime before the holidays.)

Ben Roethlisberger, 33, is coming off the best season of his likely Hall of Fame career—something no one would have imagined given how his sandlot style has so often left him battered and bruised.

That playing style has also been grossly under-appreciated. Because Roethlisberger looks like a big oaf, few have noticed that he’s one of the most remarkable athletes of his era. We’ve never seen a physical specimen quite like the 240-pounder. It’s not just that Roethlisberger can brush off would-be sackers; it’s that he does so without compromising his arm strength or accuracy, which are both tremendous.

His brilliance is overlooked because it doesn’t appear smooth and polished. But that’s the inherent nature of it. Last season, according to ESPN’s Week 11 Monday Night Football broadcast, Roethlisberger’s quarterback rating after being contacted was 158, with an 80 percent completion rate. The league average for completion percentage in this category is 43.8. Let that sink in.

The reason Roethlisberger is coming off a career year—4,952 yards, 67.1 percent completion rate, 32 touchdowns and just nine interceptions—is that he’s evolved into a very fine pocket passer. It comes from a new sense of discipline, both in his mechanics and reads. No quarterback in the league has evolved more over the past decade.

Roethlisberger will only continue to get better in this capacity, especially given his rich supporting cast. By season’s end, Pittsburgh’s receiving corps will be the most feared in football. It starts with Antonio Brown, who complements his quarterback’s style perfectly. The 27-year-old has a sense for “uncovering” late in the play, when things break down. And he’s propagated Roethlisberger’s newfound success within structure by being the quickest, most precise route runner in the game.

Last season Brown led the league with 1,698 receiving yards and set an NFL record with 11 consecutive games with at least 80 yards through the air (dating back to the previous year). But by the end of this season, Brown may not even be the Steelers’ most dangerous pass catcher. As a fourth-round rookie in 2014, Martavis Bryant caught 26 balls. Eight of them reached the end zone. Six of those eight went at least 18 yards, and three went at least 35 yards.

This past offseason, in an effort to get better against press coverage, Bryant added more than 10 pounds to his 6-foot-4, 211-pound frame. Assuming that doesn’t slow any part of him, the only thing keeping Bryant from 1,000 yards will be Markus Wheaton, an ascending possession receiver with his own sharp movement skills who also deserves touches. And let’s not forget, general manger Kevin Colbert just drafted Sammie Coates in the third round. Scouts project his best NFL attribute will be his ability to stretch the field.

Brown, Bryant and Wheaton are all superb in wide receiver screen concepts, which, with speed and quickness overflowing at this position, have become the Steelers’ primary method of getting the ball on the perimeter. Another critical piece in the screen game is running back Le’Veon Bell, who is dangerous not just out of the backfield but also from the slot and even split out wide.

In fact, he can run a nearly full route tree, not just the bushes and shrubs of screens and flares. Offensive coordinator Todd Haley has said that Bell, who finished second on the team and first among all NFL backs with 854 receiving yards in 2014, is good enough to start at wide receiver in the NFL.

That will never happen, of course, because he’s already the game’s best all-around running back. Patience and vision amplify Bell’s combo of light feet and size. Though built to break through defenders, the 230-pounder is much more of a finesse runner, even with approximately four-fifths of his carries going between the tackles.

Through Bell, we’ve seen from Pittsburgh the real benefit of having copious talent on offense: the infinite possibilities for shuffling your scheme. Shortly after Haley joined the Steelers in 2012, many started to criticize his system. It was predicated on time-sensitive, three-step drop-backs and inside zone running—styles of play this offense, and especially its two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback, had not embraced before. Even with a bumpy start to his tenure, the criticism of Haley was mostly unfair.

The Haley complaints are moot now anyway, because his “system” has expanded into so many different dimensions. The Steelers are the new Patriots; you don’t know what brand of football they’re going to play on a given week.

Last year, for example, their inside zone running game down the stretch morphed into a high volume man-blocking ground game, featuring “counter” and “power” runs behind the superb pull-blocking of right guard David DeCastro. This was a smart adjustment, as the slower-developing runs played favorably to Bell’s patience and allowed tight end Heath Miller to block on the move, making him much more effective.

Another example of the system’s alterations was the spread game. The Steelers would go four-wide and split out Bell, creating an empty backfield. With Bell’s pass-catching prowess and the talent at wide receiver, this almost always ensured a favorable matchup somewhere. Empty sets, because they usually leave offensive linemen with no help-blockers, are naturally conducive to the three-step timing principles that Roethlisberger has honed under Haley. And, in Pittsburgh’s case, they’re an easy way to get the most talent on the field.

Ben Roethlisberger (Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

But then go back to Weeks 8 and 9, when Roethlisberger erupted for six touchdown passes against the Colts and six against the Ravens. In these contests, the Steelers, catering largely to Bryant’s speed, featured more of a deep-dropping, vertical aerial assault. Haley shifted from the minimum five-man protections to six, and often seven-man protections.

Roethlisberger, who normally would have treated this as a green light to go sandlot and let play structures break down, rewarded Haley with a calm, poised commitment to working through his progressions from the pocket. Those two games, and especially the first half of the Colts game, were as fine a quarterbacking display as you’ll see.

There were also times when the Steelers went with heavy personnel, using three tight ends (aka “13”) or two backs and two tight ends (“22”). This primarily was for the newfound power running game. How many teams can win with a four-wide spread and an overloaded heavy formation? And how many can still win on plays thatfall out of structure?

The Steelers will need all of these elements working in 2015. Their goal of 30 points a game is realistic and on par for the demands that their inevitable defensive growing pains will place on them.

Steelers Nickel Package

1. Mike Tomlin has an enviable swagger, the type of swagger that comes from having achieved major success as the NFL’s youngest head coach. But Tomlin’s greatest strength since accepting the Rooney Family’s job offer in 2007 has been his humility. Tomlin hails from the Tony Dungy tree. He was the Bucs’ secondary coach from 2001-05 and the Vikings’ defensive coordinator in 2006. In Minnesota, he ran what he learned under Dungy: a straight Tampa 2 scheme. When he joined Pittsburgh, he inherited a decorated 3-4 defense that was coordinated by Dick LeBeau, one of the founding fathers of the zone blitz. Dungy’s and LeBeau’s systems are, in many ways, almost antithetical. While other coaches in Tomlin’s position would have looked to make their mark and install their own system, Tomlin wisely took a back seat and let LeBeau carry on.

The Steelers were firmly entrenched in 3-4 personnel and had finished in the top three in points allowed in two of the three years prior to Tomlin’s arrival. Tomlin has continued to afford his assistants considerable autonomy, and they’ve rewarded him with excellence. This is why Steelers fans shouldn’t be worried about Keith Butler, the previous linebackers coach who now takes over at defensive coordinator. Butler is part of a culture that will allow him the freedom to succeed. And, like his head coach, Butler is smart enough to not change a system that, despite a few recent struggles, really isn’t broken.

2. Butler’s biggest challenge will be overcoming a slipshod secondary. With Troy Polamalu gone, the veteran ingenuity is no longer there. Free safety Mike Mitchell is now the secondary’s signal-caller, and he’s much more equipped to play strong safety, where there’s less emphasis on reads and spacing and more on attacking.

If Mitchell doesn’t get better as a center fielder, this team won’t make the playoffs. Because when your projected starting corners are William Gay and his famous five-yard cushion, plus Cortez Allen, who fell more rungs last season than any other healthy NFL player still in is 20s, you’ll need your safety to atone for his teammates’ mistakes.

3. Recognizing their paucity of corners, the Steelers drafted Senquez Golson in the second round. That’s unusual for them. Typically, Colbert has waited to draft his corners in the middle rounds. (He still did that this year, too, taking another corner, Doran Grant, in the fourth.) Golson is already out for the season following a shoulder surgery.

With the arrival of Brandon Boykin, it will be surprise if Grant gets significant snaps in 2015. There’s a reason no rookie Steelers corner has started more than nine games since 1997 (Chad Scott). The matchup zone concepts of this 3-4 pressure scheme are some of the most complex in football. No system takes more time to learn than Pittsburgh’s.

4. The system’s complexity explains why James Harrison is still around. Jarvis Jones, a 2013 first-rounder, battled injuries last year, but when he got healthy the coaching staff didn’t feel comfortable cycling such a young player back into the lineup midstream. Ideally, the Steelers would have liked to sign Harrison later in training camp. His presence only takes reps away from Jones and new first-rounder Bud Dupree. Harrison, at 37, doesn’t have the same speed and quickness that he possessed in his prime, but he’s still just as powerful.

5. It’s imperative that Lawrence Timmons build on his Pro Bowl season. At 29, he joins Harrison as the elder statesman in the front seven. And playing behind what will be an up-and-down front three (headlined by Cameron Heyward, and relying heavily on second-year pro Stephon Tuitt, who is currently nursing an ankle injury), he won’t have as much margin for error in reacting hard to misdirection fakes—something the explosive Timmons has always been wont to do.

 

[Prime Time]

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/08/08/nfl-training-camp-tour-blog-week-2

Spirit in Santa Clara

Peter King's dispatch from Santa Clara, where there's a sense of overconfidence among the players, considering the massive roster overhaul. The Niners will be good enough, but have too many holes at receiver and cornerback to contend. Plus, Robert Klemko's report from The Greenbrier, where the defense is different and Drew Brees looks better than ever

NaVorro Bowman (Jeff Chiu/AP)

San Francisco 49ers Training Camp Report
Peter King writes…

Site: SAP Performance Facility, Santa Clara, Calif. The performance center is adjacent to Levi’s Stadium. This used to be a standalone year-round facility. Now the team uses the place for expanded coaches’ offices and meeting space, while the players’ lone locker room is a short walk away inside the stadium.

What I Saw: An afternoon practice on Aug. 21. Not an intense one, with the second preseason game 50 hours away.

Three things you need to know about the 49ers:

1. What’s better about Colin Kaepernick? It’s early, and training camp, when a quarterback knows he’s not going to get hit, is a bad period to judge any quarterback on his decision-making. But those who have watched Kaepernick here say he is going through his progressions more consistently (a weakness in the past) instead of looking at his first option and maybe a second and then taking off.

He’s enjoyed working with new quarterback coach Steve Logan—out of football for three years—and make no mistake about it: The Logan-Kaepernick relationship is a key to whatever success this team has. The Kurt Warner work in the offseason also helped Kaepernick be a better student of the game. But we’ll see the real fruits of Kaepernick’s offseason when Mike Zimmer and the Vikings send some weird rushes at him in week one.

2. Look for Carlos Hyde to be the dominant back, and Reggie Bush to get 10 carries a game, max, on average. The Niners are going to be a heavy run team, the way they were with Frank Gore every year of Jim Harbaugh’s reign. Gore (255 carries, 1,106 yards) had the kind of year last year the Niners expect the 235-pound between-the-tackles back Hyde to have this year, with maybe a bit of an uptick from Gore’s 4.3 yards per rush. This camp has been all about getting Bush into the offense but keeping him from stressing his long-problematic knee woes.

3. The Aussie Rugby Leaguer, Jarryd Hayne, has an excellent chance to make the team. The plugged-in beat guys (like Matt Maiocco and Matt Barrows) have Hayne—who played football last spring for the first time in his life—as a likely final-53 roster presence after two preseason games. I think he’ll make it because of his return ability (21.6-yards-per-punt return) and his aggressive play on special teams. What a story, particularly for a neophyte running back on a team that had good running-back depth to start with.

What will determine success or failure for the Niners: I think the defense is going to be good enough. Not great, but good enough, with comebacks by Darnell Dockett and NaVorro Bowman—though the new legal problems of key cog Ahmad Brooks at linebacker put another cloud over the defense, adding to the ones left by so many retirements and firings. But it’s going to be up to Colin Kaepernick to score more than the 19.1 points per game the Niners averaged last year.

Player I saw and really liked: Hayne. Not to make this a Hayne love-fest, but it’s amazing how quickly he’s adjusted to the game. Part of that is because he’s used to making the kind of over-the-shoulder, fingertip catches he’ll have to make as a running back and returner because of his rugby past. Part of it is because of his will. “It’s not about the money for me,’’ said Hayne, a two-time Rugby League MVP (though it’s not called that in Australia), after practice. “It’s about the challenge. It’s wanting to do something totally outside my comfort zone.”

Five dot-dot-dot observations about the Niners: The late Sean Taylor’s cousin, 2014 fifth-round pick Keith Reaser, is an aggressive cover guy vying for the starting spot opposite Tramaine Brock. San Francisco’s very shallow at cornerback …

The Niners haven’t been much of a screen team in recent years, but look for that to change on third downs with Reggie Bush on screens, and some wheel routes as well …

A news chopper hovered over the stadium for three minutes during practice. “Turf watch,’’ said a Niners PR man, in the wake of new turf having been installed post-Taylor Swift concerts. The turf is always a story, and rightfully so, at Levi’s Stadium. One more detour on the way to a good field now, with a Luke Bryan/Florida Georgia Line concert set for Saturday night (Aug. 29). New turf again will be installed after the concert (it won’t be finished probably till Tuesday, with the final preseason game at home on Thursday), in the hopes it will be in good shape by the time San Francisco opens at home 13 days after the installation, against Minnesota on the opening Monday-nighter, Sept. 14 …

Receiver depth is a big issue. With Jerome Simpson banned for the first six games (substance abuse), it’s up to former Ravens Anquan Boldin and Torrey Smith to be the prime targets. Quinton Patton and undrafted rookie DeAndrew White—who started opposite Amari Cooper at Alabama—are in line for significant snaps …

The players love Jim Tomsula. Whether that wins any games, we’ll see.

The one name on the roster I’d forgotten about: The tight ends coach, Tony Sparano, who, in this man’s opinion, did a good job with the dysfunctional Raiders last year as interim coach but didn’t get the full-time gig after the season. The Sparano appointment by head coach Jim Tomsula sets up an interesting father-son coaching pairing: While dad coaches the Niner tight ends, son Tony Sparano Jr., coaches tight ends for Rex Ryan with the Bills.

The thing I’ll remember about Santa Clara: There’s significantly more confidence here than the players probably have a right to have. “Every year there’s change everywhere in this league,’’ Anquan Boldin told me. “I don’t think this is any big deal. I really don’t. I’ve had new coaches. I’ve had lots of new teammates. This is just another year.”

In truth, of course, there’s been a massive overhaul here, but Tomsula and the staff have players believing it’s just another year with a little tinkering. Will that mean anything when the games start? I doubt it, but it’s interesting to note. Boldin’s not the only one who says that.

Gut feeling about this team as I left town: San Francisco won’t be as bad as the world thinks. I mean, not 3-13 bad. But the Niners have lost too much, and have too many holes (receiver, cornerback, linebacker especially if Brooks is lost, and offensive line) to contend. Tomsula and the braintrust should be happy with a .500 season.

--Peter King

 

[DR RAM]

If we disregard all the comments in this article that Peter King said, do we have to take back the good things he said, when he reported about the Rams this year? I'm so confused.....

 

[Prime Time]

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/08/28/...h-departure-haloti-ngata-nfl-matthew-stafford

Lions and Life After Suh

A year ago the Lions rode Matthew Stafford’s late-game heroics and a dominating defense to the playoffs. Stafford and a potentially high-powered offense return, but Detroit’s defense is in deep trouble after losing the one man who made them go against the run and the pass

by Andy Benoit

Every year brings a handful of teams that surprise us, in ways both good and bad. Predicting who it will be in any given season is a fool’s errand; that’s never stopped anyone before. And it won’t here.

Sorry Michiganders, you’re not going to like the way this prediction goes.

The Lions are coming off an 11-5 season that saw them reach the playoffs for only the second time in 15 years. Four of their 11 victories came in games decided by four points or fewer—each of those wins featuring a Matthew Stafford-led late-fourth quarter go-ahead drive. The Lions were on the wrong end of just two close games: Week 5 against the Bills and the Wild-Card loss at Dallas.

In the NFL, a close, hard-fought victory can be every bit as commendable as a rock-solid one. But watching the Lions on film week to week, this looked like a club that was, in some ways, eking by and searching for an identity. The only sure thing about them was that they could stop the run. They ranked first league-wide in rushing yards allowed, both per game and carry. This despite being a defense that, prior to the snap, often aligned both safeties deep.

Strong safety James Ihedigbo is one of the league’s best at filling down into the box after the snap, but he wasn’t the driving force behind the run D’s stinginess. Inside linebacker DeAndre Levy was as good as anyone at his position, showing fluidity, quickness and an understanding of angles week in and week out. But he wasn’t the driving force either. You can probably guess who was. (You probably knew already.) And so you also know he now plays in Miami.

Photo by Matt Hazlett/Getty Images

Ndamukong Suh, with suddenness off the snap and man-child power, could command double-teams and still collapse blocking structures. He’s not the only interior difference-maker up front who left in free agency. Nick Fairley, who played with tremendous strength and leverage, is now in St. Louis. And sturdy backup C.J. Mosley is also in Miami.

Besides a formidable run wall, Suh and Fairley gave the Lions a dimensional four-man pass rush through stunts and twists, often creating one-on-one scenarios for rising star end Ziggy Ansah and the pliable Jason Jones. To fill the defensive tackle void, the Lions traded for Haloti Ngata. At 31, the longtime Raven can still dominate, but stylistically, he’s really more of a replacement for Fairley, not Suh.

The problem is, Ngata is the only replacement Detroit brought in. Suh’s vacancy will be filled by a rotation featuring the likes of ex-Saints fringe man Tyrunn Walker, fourth-round rookie Gabe Wright, last year’s fifth-rounder Caraun Reid and journeyman Jermelle Cudjo. (General rule of thumb: the more guys in contention for playing time at a single position, the worse shape that position is in.)

Second-year defensive coordinator Teryl Austin, formerly the Ravens’ secondary coach, will have to approach the game differently this season. Last year, Austin did a great job with coverage changeups, infusing new life into a defense that had been schematically vanilla for the previous five years under Jim Schwartz.

But Austin’s changes were mostly coverage-based; the Lions cycled from zones to man to hybrid matchup zones. This variety, employed behind an often-dominant front four, obfuscated the fact that the Lions weren’t really all that good at cornerback.

History says their luck here will run out in 2015. In the NFL, all weaknesses get exposed eventually. Darius Slay, a second-round pick in 2013, found his NFL footing, putting together a very solid year in perimeter isolation coverage, but he wasn’t impermeable and isn’t necessarily feared. Across from him is where the Lions scratched a winning lottery ticket; Rashean Mathis, now 35, had previously spent his entire career in zone-based schemes.

Mathis held up surprisingly well in man-to-man, but by starting him again the Lions are essentially buying more lottery tickets with last year’s small winnings. The one positive in the secondary is that GM Martin Mayhew did find a potential replacement for Cassius Vaughn, a slot defender upon whom opposing quarterbacks feasted.

The leading contender for this spot is Josh Wilson, though there’s also 2014 fourth-rounder Nevin Lawson. In case Lawson, working his way back from a foot injury, isn’t ready Mayhew signed veteran Chris Owens and spent a third-round pick on Alex Carter (perhaps long-term security).

At least solidity at safety can help stabilize the cornerback situation. Mayhew’s underappreciated free-agent signing from two years ago, Glover Quin, continues to pay dividends, spurring much of the versatility that Austin has constructed his scheme around.

Overall, though, it’s a pretty average defensive backfield. And Austin’s coverage changeups, which could compel quarterbacks to hold the ball a beat longer, won’t have the same effect without an interior pass rush pushing the pocket. Austin will have to do more of what he’s done selectively but effectively: bring pressure. This will demand more diversity with his fronts and an increased willingness to take chances.

Expect Ansah to move around even more as a joker, and expect plenty of blitzes from Levy, who is great in this capacity. An excellent illustration of this blueprint—and the unfortunate dichotomy that came from it—was the Wild-Card game at Dallas. In the first half, the Lions brought the heat and ate Tony Romo alive. But then Mathis got hurt, the secondary thinned and Austin got cautious and kept more bodies in coverage. That’s when the Cowboys got hot.

Hindsight is 20/20, of course. Austin might have continued to bring pressure only to watch Dez Bryant torch No. 4 cornerback Mohammed Seisay (now a Seahawk). We’d be wondering why Austin didn’t amend his scheme to hide his diminished personnel. The point: holes in any part of a lineup force a coach to make tough decisions. With more holes in the lineup this year, Austin’s job is more difficult.

And this is just the pass defense. It’s even harder to hide leaks in your run defense, especially when the leaks are right up the middle. Levy, a sensational reader-and-reactor, will have less space and more bodies around him in 2015.

At Mike ’backer, don’t be surprised if Austin goes with the less dynamic Stephen Tulloch (coming off a torn ACL) instead of up-and-comer Tahir Whitehead. This would indicate conservativeness on the defensive coordinator’s part. Tulloch, a 10th-year veteran, knows where to go; Whitehead doesn’t always, but he gets there more explosively.

If the Lions are to survive their defensive downgrades, they’ll have to take more schematic chances in 2015. In the past, they compensated for their defense with a higher-powered offense. It made them fun to watch, but also fun to play against. They registered just 21 victories from 2011-13. It seem they’ll be pushed into a similar approach in 2015.

Matthew Stafford played generally mistake-free football last year. But with a likely need for more points, will the old gunslinger re-appear? (Matt Hazlett/Getty Images)

Lions Nickel Package
1. Head coach Jim Caldwell is an offensive guy, but Detroit’s system has much of second-year coordinator Joe Lombardi’s stamp on it. Lombardi installed some of the concepts he learned as quarterbacks coach under Asshole Face in New Orleans. These show up mostly in Detroit’s running game, screen game and more conservative pass protection principles. Matthew Stafford’s numbers declined in his first year in this system, but he finally played with near-regular discipline. The $64,000 question: With Stafford presumably more comfortable in the voluminous scheme, will he maintain that discipline or renew his cavalier ways?

2. Perhaps one reason Stafford was more disciplined in 2014 was that Calvin Johnson’s injuries robbed the QB of his wide-casting safety net. Stafford, who can throw with velocity from multiple platforms and arm angles, couldn’t always just sling the ball to his superstar. This is just a hypothesis, though. Stafford’s numbers in the six games where Johnson was either out or noticeably hampered were basically identical to his numbers in games during which Johnson was healthy. But the games without Johnson also came earlier in the season, when Stafford was less comfortable in the system.

3. If the Lions don’t get more out of tight end Eric Ebron, they’ll have no chance at the postseason. Johnson and Golden Taint are a well-fit tandem; Johnson stretches the field vertically while Taint, with his shiftiness and stop/start control, stretches it horizontally. But such contrasting styles also makes a straightforward coverage gameplan more possible.

We saw this last season, when opposing defenses regularly put their biggest corner on Johnson (often with safety help) and their quickest (which usually also means smallest) corner on Taint. There has to be a pass-catching weapon who forces defensive coordinators to make difficult decisions about who to put on the field and in what coverages. That’s what the freakishly athletic Ebron was drafted 10th overall in 2014 to be. But as a rookie, Ebron was rough around the edges in just about all facets.


4. Second-round rookie running back Ameer Abdullah has intriguing raw physical traits. The man he’ll eventually replace, Joique Bell, does not. Bell is 5-11, 230 but runs with the measured control (a more callous term: sluggishness) of a 245-pounder. He does, however, have lighter feet than you’d expect, making him surprisingly viable on screens and with the occasional cutback.

But obviously, if the Lions thought these traits could shine all the time they wouldn’t have drafted Abdullah. Especially considering that the depth at running back was already set, with Theo Riddick providing quickness and burst as a receiver out of the backfield.

5. Left tackle Riley Reiff must get a little sounder. He was beat in a few critical scenarios last season, including some instances in which he had a tight end helping him. That should never happen. Reiff is the most talented player along what, in terms of athleticism, is a very average front five.

 

[fearsomefour]

Click link below to watch videos.
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http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/07/27/nfl-training-camp-tour-blog

MON JUL. 27, 2015
#TheMMQBTour Blog

We kick things off in Minnesota with Peter King’s Vikings training camp report—including observations on Adrian Peterson, Teddy Bridgewater and some intriguing new faces, plus exclusive MMQB video. And Peter weighs in on breaded walleye and beer at baseball nirvana, Target Field. Next stop: Steelers camp in Latrobe.

by Peter King

Welcome to our Training Camp blog
By late August, The MMQB will have taken you to every camp in the NFL. But not only to camps—we’ll take in ballgames and meet fans and experience lots of Americana along the road as we visit places we hope to bring to life for you. Please talk to us along the way … we’ll have plenty of chances to interact with you. Send your comments about the blog or about your team to us attalkback@themmqb.com. And check back two, three, four, nine times a day for our offerings on all things training camp.

Sunday, July 26, 2015
Minnesota State University-Mankato | Mankato, Minn. 7 p.m.

Minnesota Vikings Training Camp Report
What I Saw: Afternoon practice, Sunday, July 26. Sunny, 85 degrees, very humid.
Three things you need to know about the Vikings:

1. Adrian Peterson doesn’t look or sound like a bitter man. Maybe it’s his faith, or maybe it’s his ability to accept what he cannot change, or maybe he’s simply a happy man. Whatever, Peterson looked like his old self on the practice field, and I wrote about his state of mind for The MMQB in my Monday column after he missed 15 games last year stemming from charges of child abuse from whipping his 4-year-old son. One thing that didn’t make the column cut: I asked him if he had regrets about life in the last year. “I don’t get that year back, and there is a lot I could have accomplished in that year,” he said as a hot sun beat down on him between morning and afternoon sessions. “But then again, it was one less year of the wear and tear on the body. In that sense it was awesome. But not being able to get that year back, it hurts a little bit.”

2. Mike Zimmer’s defense will find the pass-rusher it needs, but how about the safety? Zimmer thinks Anthony Barr is ready to be an impact player on his defense, and he’ll need to be. Everson Griffin needs help rushing the passer. But there’s a fight on for the safety opposite Harrison Smith, and no one’s in the lead.

3. Teddy Bridgewater looks and acts older that he did in his rookie year. He looks more ready to take an NFL season’s pounding. Bridgewater’s not afraid of picking up the reins of the offense, even with Adrian Peterson and some old salts on the offensive line. “The one thing about Teddy,” offensive coordinator Norv Turner said, “is it’s not too big for him.” Zimmer: “Teddy’s really cerebral.”

What will determine success or failure for the Vikings: I say it's the protection for Bridgewater. The offensive line was shaky and in transition last year. Tackle Matt Kalil must rebound, and rookie T.J. Clemmings from Pitt likely needs to win one of the starting guard jobs for the group to shine. “We’ve got strong weapons on offense,” said Mike Zimmer, “but we’ve got to protect Teddy.”

Player I saw and really liked: MyCole Pruitt, rookie tight end, Southern Illinois. Because the Vikings have a good but injury-prone tight end, Kyle Rudolph, fifth-round pick Pruitt could become a vital player. Norv Turner loves his catching radius, and when I watched practice, I saw a 258-pound NFL body with quickness to make linebackers miss.

Five dot-dot-dot observations about the Vikings: Zimmer told me he wouldn’t go away from Blair Walsh as his post-touchdown alternative (going for one instead of two) with the movement of the PAT from the two-yard line to the 15 this year. “At least not till the weather gets really bad,” he said …

Good to see Kirby Wilson, the former Steelers running backs coach burned in a house fire in 2012, coaching the running backs hard on Sunday. He’s in his second year in Minnesota after seven years on the Steelers’ staff, interrupted by getting severely burned at home before a 2011 season playoff game …

Wideout Mike Wallace, coming off his embarrassing end at Miami, is doing and saying all the right things here. But proving time for him doesn’t come in July in camp. It’ll come in a pressure game in December …

I really like the depth at cornerback. Trae Waynes, the first-round pick, looks the part of an early-season impact player …

Something I have never seen before: Wideout Cordarrelle Patterson on a Segway riding around camp—with only the foot portion of the vehicle. No handlebars. It’s controlled simply by the feet and one’s balance.

“We’ve got strong weapons on offense,’’ said Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer, “but we’ve got to protect Teddy.” John DePetro/The MMQB

The one name on the roster I’d forgotten about. Brandon Bostick, tight end. Remember the guy who missed the catchable onside kick for Green Bay in the NFC title game, helping the Seahawks come all the way back to win late last January? The Vikings signed him, and he’s here, trying to break into a crowded tight end depth chart.

The thing I’ll remember about Mankato. Jake’s Stadium Pizza, just down the street from Vikings camp in a little strip mall. Impossible to be thin in this town once you’ve discovered this cheesy magic.

Gut feeling about this team as I left town. I’m drinking the Kool-Aid. I think if Bridgewater continues his natural progression—he was the league’s second-highest-rated quarterback over the last five weeks of the 2014 season—and offensive coordinator Norv Turner continues to school him in the fine art of not turning it over, this team will be a serious threat the Packer division supremacy.

I think Bridgewater is going to be very good and I think the Vikings are going to be challenging for the division in a pretty short period of time.