Bleacher Report - Articles by peter weber

Detroit Lions This Year's Atlanta Falcons?

peter weber — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 12:43:21 -0400

Sometimes I want certain things not to happen, just because I don't want to read it about 300 times between the Super Bowl and the start of the regular season. And I was so down when the Packers sealed the deal on the first 0-16 team ever, that I almost considered not reading any thing about the NFL this off season.

I knew it would be the only statement attached to any article about the Detroit Lions, because in every man's quest to talk football like John Madden, everything gets repeated and dumbed down so your mom can understand the article as well as I can.

On to business. I was scrolling through Fox Sports' list of players Detroit had signed this offseason, and except for a few players (Phillip Buchanon and Grady Jackson to name a few), nearly every player has "one year/terms unknown."

Now I'm not an expert, but I know the salary of a player is an exact science; for instance, the salary I'd receive in 2010 would have to be 125% of what I receive in 2009, and after a certain number of years in the league, your minimum base salary goes up.

But I do know that "terms unknown" means that this player is not being payed a lot. They have one year to make an impression on the coaches, other players, and on the field. That's what the Miami Dolphins and Atlanta Falcons did last season, and it worked pretty well for them.

They are not there to earn $4 million in one year, then get cut and be able to afford to sit on their couch for seven years. They are there to play football, and Jim Schwartz will kick their sorry butt out of town if they have any other agenda than football. They are there to instill a great attitude for preparation every week, they have a chip on their shoulder (and that builds character), and they will finish, because that is the attitude of their new coach.

And way more than half of the new players on Detroit are making little money, and they know that if they slack off, they're cut. They are there to make a difference and they have none of the money that Matthew Stafford has.

And unfortunately, Stafford is the one that matters. He is why Detroit might only sometimes win.

Guidelines for Football in the Olympics

peter weber — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 19:51:48 -0400

Combining the most loved sport in America with the biggest sporting event in the world (Yes, I am talking about putting the real football in the Olympics) has long been a dream of many, but there were way too many obstacles to clear it through.

First off, the physicality of the game would realistically allow for two or three games during the Olympics, and that is nowhere close to enough games for even the smallest of Olympic tournaments.

Secondly, the now extinct Euro football league, which was a minor league to the NFL, was the only place outside of North America were the American rules were played.

Here are some solutions to the biggest two obstacles. First off, shorten the game considerably. I'm thinking either three 10 minute periods (hockey style) or two fifteen minute half's (college basketball style) would work.

Then, to keep the clock running, each team would get four time-outs per game, and one challenge per game. Also, the only way to stop the clock otherwise would be to go out of bounds.

Secondly, seeing as the summer Olympics are running in 2012 and 2016, teams would get three years to prepare a team to get blood all over our uniforms, or seven years to make us short of breath.

So, with those cut-in-half games I proposed, the maximum amount of games you could play in the two week ceremony would be, at most, six—probably more like five. Five games is enough for 32 teams to enter a one-and-done tournament, and I can't imagine that many teams being able to field a team that could live through a game against an all-pro US team.

What About Brad Smith?

peter weber — Sun, 24 May 2009 17:04:30 -0400

As a die-hard Nebraska Huskers football fan, I have a special place for Brad Smith. He pretty much destroyed Nebraska in 2003, back in his Mizzou days, and I don't think I've ever gotten over it.

I've moved on, sort of. My other Favorite team is the Miami Dolphins, and I just can't seem to shake this guy, as he now plays for the Jets.

He is quite the running QB, having thrown for fifty six touchdowns and running for another forty five back in college. He is one of four players in NCAA history to run and throw for 200 points. The other three being Rick Leach, Antwanne Randle EL, and Josh Cribbs.

Drafted in 2006 he didn't get much time at QB, as he was behind Pennington, but was used as a RB (9 rec, 61 yards/18 rush, 103 yards, no touchdowns).

In 2007, he had a better year though (32/325/2 receiving, 12/45/0 rushing). He opened up more and started over half the season at WR.

Then the wildcat was made popular, and it became a back-up QB's/current WR's dream, as Smith, Randle El and Cribbs all ran it. That year, he had 12/64/0 receiving, and 12/113/0 rushing, and was 'opened up' in the wildcat with a completion and an incompletion for eightteen yards...whoopee.

But with a controversy over the incumbent back up, and the left-too-early USC dork duke it out (even Pete Carrol thought he should have stayed another year), there has been no mention about Brad Smith.

Why not him?

Dolphins' DE Randy Starks Charged With Battery

peter weber — Sun, 24 May 2009 16:20:45 -0400

Miami DE Randy Starks has been charged with aggravated battery, when he used his truck to pin an officer against another vehicle.

He was also charged with first degree corndogging.

I don't care how amazing he was supposed to be when he came in a couple of years ago, he is a moron. He should be cut.

Other teams (Cleveland, Dallas) allow players to commit crimes and still play. I do not want that type of player on the Miami Dolphins.

Mike Vick: Discussion Forum

peter weber — Wed, 20 May 2009 20:49:58 -0400

What are your thoughts on Micheal Vick?

Should he be reinstated?

Would you want your team to pick him up? And, if so, would you put him at what he does best, or maybe a RB or WR role—maybe at wildcat?

I say I want him back. The NFL is a business, and there are countless men in the business world who have committed felonies, even some murderers. He will be a huge ticket seller, a bigger public relations problem, and, at top form, one of the most exciting players in all of the NFL.

But, as a Dolphin fan, we already have Pennington, White, and Henne, so I would pass at him.

Travaris Jackson has No Room to Run, With or Without Brett Favre

peter weber — Mon, 18 May 2009 20:18:43 -0400

What does Tavaris Jackson have that 95 percent of other NFL QBs don't have? If you said sub 4.6 speed, then you are right (Vince Young, Seneca Wallace, Gerrard showed flashes, just to name a few).

Since that is the case, the majority of NFL playbooks, handed down coaching trees, do not factor into their plays that their QB might outrun DL and most linebackers. Now I looked for a while, but could not find any stats for percent of rolling out of pocket and throwing on the run.

Now after continually hearing that TJ was not a good quarterback, I decided to pay more attention on pass plays, rather than zoning out because AP wasn't running it.

Other than noticing that the Viking receiver's dropped it more than acceptable, I noticed that Childress barely ever had a designed play for Jackson to use his legs to create a huge mismatch.

Also, when your offensive leaders legs are among the best in the league at his position, letting him sit in the pocket and pretend to be a pocket passing game manager is lying to yourself, hurting your chances, and not letting him reach his full potential.

Now I'm not saying you should have him get 80+ yards rushing a game, but but if it helps him get out of trouble, set himself up for long runs, and helping him to move offenses horizontally, which can help during the play more than most people think, you will pass for more yards, and probably run for more also.

Another thing, if the Vikes do sign Favre, and Jackson gets in as a situational QB, it will be with the intent to force secondaries back in coverage to help his run as much as the underneath passing routes you can run with Harvin.

So if he is a situational runner with Favre, why not without?

Jason Taylor is Coming Home

peter weber — Wed, 13 May 2009 20:14:17 -0400

Jason Taylor just signed a one year, 1.5 million Sausage McMuffin deal with the Miami Dolphins. He will play on the left side, maybe go back to defensive end, and then he and Cameron Wake will play opposite Joey Porter. That would potentially give Dolphins about 19 sacks a game, and we might win a lot. I'd like to know y'alls opinion about the signing down in the comment box please.

The Perfect Season No One Sees Coming

peter weber — Wed, 13 May 2009 20:09:16 -0400

One of last year's most underrated and under-publicized stories was the Miami Dolphins record-tying 13 turnovers given up on the season.

The 1990 Giants had the record and they won the Super Bowl that year.

Toward the end of the season people were mentioning it, and you probably heard about it. The thing that frustrated me though, was that people didn't make a big deal about it. If you NEVER turn the ball over, you might win one or two more games that season—or as many games as you could have lost because of turnovers.

So I'm calling you out 2009 Dolphins. Yes you, Pennington, Brown, Williams, and our wonderful receivers. My challenge for you this year: don't turn it over at all. Not one single turnover.

Pennington—your excuse is you actually have a preseason to work with your wide receivers, not a hurried two weeks to learn the playbook, talk to the media, and get your jersey fitted.

Brown and Williams—you guys don't have that big of an advantage over last season, but however unreasonable or unfair this is, it is achievable...maybe.

Your quest has been given to you. Good luck and godspeed/godhands.

Dolphins Sign OL Ex-Sooner Quinn

peter weber — Sun, 10 May 2009 21:01:04 -0400

The Miami Dolphins have signed undrafted rookie free agent JD Quinn of Montana.

He was an offensive lineman on Oklahoma's 2006 and 2005 team before losing eligibility for accepting money from a car dealership.

He will be forced to pay $8,137 to any charity organization of his choice, and will also lose a year of eligibility after transferring to Division Two Montana.

Analyzing an Apparent Lack of Depth at Running Back for the Miami Dolphins

peter weber — Fri, 08 May 2009 19:13:19 -0400

Last year at this time, no one was talking about the Patriots quarterback depth, or the Chargers linebacking corps depth, but by September, it was the most beaten horse in nearly every article.

We now know that the Patriots had perhaps the best QB depth so far this decade, but can the same be said for the Dolphins running back group? Ricky Williams has expressed interest in playing only one more year for the Dolphins, although he recently added another year to his contract. That doesn't mean he can't ask to (or without his asking) be cut, to explore his options for other teams.

For Ronnie Brown, 2009 is a contract season for him, and to re-sign Brown would cost quite a lot. Although it is often unwise to re-sign a running back after his first contract, it is not unheard of.

But not signing a running back after his rookie contract is one of Bill Polian's (draft guru for Colts, previously Bills, during their years of dominance) principles, and we all know he's been pretty successful.

That means that potentially, this time next year, our only current running backs would be Lex Hilliard and Patrick Cobbs. Lex Hilliard is more of a power back—and was on the Dolphins practice squad last year—not getting any carries.

Although a proven deep threat in the wildcat last year, Cobbs has been quite limited in his runs, but did average seven yards a carry last year. But take away his 44 yarder against KC, he had 11 carries for 44 yards, a modest four yards a carry.

We all know that when you're a feature back, instead of just a situational back (wildcat, blow out time) you show your true stripes. So expect those YPC to change, but for now, expect running back to become a big priority.

Lorenzo Neal To Sign With Raiders

peter weber — Fri, 08 May 2009 14:14:12 -0400

FB Lorenzo Neal has signed an unspecified contract with the Oakland Raiders.

He has spent a majority of his career making decent running games better with his old-school style of blocking. Drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the fourth round back in 1993 out of Fresno State, he has since gone on to play for the Jets, Bucs, Titans, Bengals, Chargers, and most recently with the Ravens.

Brett Favre's Heroin? Football.

peter weber — Thu, 07 May 2009 23:09:27 -0400

Some where in the vicinity of the summer of 1996, Brett Favre became addicted to vicodin. Addicted to such a serious degree, that he was in a rehabilitation center for 46 days. He has since beat his addiction, and has became known as the "Iron Man."

From here on out is my own speculation.

Somewhere during the 1996 regular season, he realized that the pain he fought through during training camp, practice, and his regular Joe life in Mississippi pruning trees and bushes, went away during games. The adrenaline rush was amazing, intoxicating, and his perfect antidote.

He no longer needed his pain medications as he was in tip-top shape. But he missed all the feelings and sensations that came with pain killers. He found an incredible inflammation of his nerves, and suddenly, he felt invincible.

And he can't let that go. He can't leave his mental paradise, the spotlight, competition, and the adornment of all his fans. It will hurt him more than he knows, but his window is a hair-shy of being shut.

Brad Childress has shut the door on signing Favre. Soon he will face the withdrawl that comes with the off-season, every single season, until the day he dies.

Joey Porter—It Just Got Easier

peter weber — Thu, 07 May 2009 15:00:29 -0400

Just some thoughts on Jason Peters gone now.

We all know that Dick Juaron is not the brightest tool in the oven, but you have to assume that Jason Peters is better than Kirk Chambers, the next LT on the Bills depth chart.

So with Peters gone, we can only assume that his four sacks, three (three!) forced fumbles, and his seven tackles can only go up when the LT skill goes down.

Also, with Cameron/Derek Wake now putting pressure on the other side, less RB and FB help will go towards Porter.

My guess?

It's not realistic or fair to expect him to double his Buffalo stats from last year, but maybe it will be increased a little? So in those two games, it might do well to expect five or six sacks, maybe three or four forced fumbles, and 10 tackles.

Wow.

The "Worst" Recieving Corps in the NFL

peter weber — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:55:43 -0400

Anybody who read mock drafts all the way down to No. 25, irrelevant Miami, would see that a good majority of people thought Miami's WRs were horrible. Looking at the numbers, most might take that base-less accusation back.

The Dolphins had 491 passing attempts, taking it to a normal situation (taking out Brown or Henne throwing it) they only had 476 pass attempts. 476 pass attempts would rank 25 for most in the league, way below average. They did however run 448 times, which is 12th.

So they obviously, by league standards, ran more often, and passed less than most teams. That will greatly diminish your total receptions, and twist numbers to make them seem a lot worse.

Now I want to clear something up with everybody. There is no difference between a TE catching the ball, and a WR catching the ball.

That is were most people come from, because the Dolphins would frequently pass in two TE formations, which is almost unheard of in today's Satan/Spread offenses (listening to old people talk, there's no difference).

Out of Miamis top eight leaders in receptions, only three are WRs (two TE, three RB). They averaged 35 receptions each, and to ease concerns, their only three significant WRs (Camarillo, Bess, and Ginn) they averaged 55 receptions between the three of them.

I don't know how many teams can say that, 11 maybe?

My Prediction for the Miami Dolphins Next Year

peter weber — Tue, 05 May 2009 22:26:48 -0400

heres my completely unrealistic prediction for next years team. I might be wrong on every pick. Will be. Take it with a grain of salt. Actually so much salt, you can see your veins in your arm clog up like a gate to freedom in Sudan.

Week One: Falcons

Just got Tony Gonzolaz (I know I spelled that wrong, but you know who I'm talking about) and the scary part is Matty Ice got better. through the draft their defense got about six years younger, but replacing experience with energy might not always be good. MY amii's loss, but they played hard and looked good against a top 8 team.

Week Two: Colts

Assuming Peyton's bursa sack stays nice and clean (come on Olivia, use the Neosporin) and Donald Brown is going to blow ship up, they're defense got a year older, but with Moala getting down and dirty next to $20 million worth of defense ends, unfortunately another loss (0-2)

Week Three: Chargers

Merriman is only 80ish percent, and English is not coming along as expected (my guess) so their defense is just a hilarious as last year, but Rivers gets even better, and the offense carries this team.

But with the passing attack advantage going both ways for Miami (weird, I know), Miami gets win No. 1, and go to 1-2

Week Four: Bills

That gangsta is coming off a well deserved 3 game suspension, he's a wee bit rusty. So I'm guessing that Miami sells out against the run, and blitz like crazy and the same time, and Sean Smith, the massive CB stealing all of T.O.'s thunder, Miami gets a nice and easy win. 2-2

Week Five: Jets

Sanchez and Greene are scary as a Jewish accountant three hours before April 14, but there defense is lacking depth, lacking an identity, and that OL is a tad bit over rated. If they kept Coles or got Boldin, they might be a threat, but again I think that if you load the box, it takes away the run, and rushes the young one. 3-2. Giggity

Week Six: BYE

Week Seven: Saints

Miami hasn't been on the road in almost a month, and it shows. Wake, Porter, and CO. eat quarter back on a Breeze-less afternoon (hinting at his lack of passing yards) and the defense stays hilarious. 4-2

Week Eight: Jets

By this time, the weather has changed in the meadow lands in more than one way. It gets cold for the so-cal fellow, and their lack of wins is putting a lot pressure on the newbies (coach, QB, and half of the ravens 08 Defense). Offense is worse, and the defense is putting it together, but they still loose. 5-2

Week Nine: Patriots

Imagine a man who has lost millions in this stock market. He is drunk, all sloppy looking, has been crying for hours and looks like he hasn't showered or shaved in a week. Might be homeless. That's the mental image I think of us playing the '09 Patriots. Without going into the NSFW detail, 5-3.

Week 10: Buccaneers.

Jermaine Philips was a great safety, now Raheem Morris has him filling Brooks old shoes, and it won't work. Ronde is past his prime by about three years, and Ruud (Ruuuuuuuuuuud) is now the center peice and leader of this once dominant defense. Offense is the poor man's version of '08 ATL. But Miami wins, 6-3.

Week 11: Panthers

Tony Fiammetta was high on my late round favorites, and he can block the snot out Defenses and Deangelo and the new fellow out of Oregon (brain freeze, and by the way I highly recommend Blue Bunny's Birthday Ice Cream).

Defense gets older, and Delhomme has been a year shy of 40 for about 8 years now, but he's still only 34, cheater. They win, too bad, so sad. 6-4

Week 12: Bills

They suck, same explanation as week four, record is 7-4

Week 13: Patriots

http://www.gifbin.com/981464 7-5

Week 14: Jaguars

Britton, that rookie T, basically threatened to kill all 29 teams that passed on him. Craaazyyy...Ok, I think they got so much better since January. 7-6

Week 15: Titans

click that link from fight club, its hilarious, and I think that Tennessee will be good, again, because VY is still not playing. GO JEFF!! DON'T GIVE IN TO THE MINDLESS BUFFOONS WHO WANT HIM THERE!!!! This is not Madden folks. 7-7

Week 16: Texans

I have not ever believed the Houston Hype, and last years win is a fluke. We gotz better CBs to contain Johnson, and Miami also got better than Houston this off season, 8-7

Week 17: Pittsburgh Steelers

Last year, hardest schedule, 13-3, SB 43 champs, this year, very easy schedule, scary...8-8.

Don't know if Miami makes playoffs.

Miami Dolphins Will Not Follow Up Next Year

peter weber — Tue, 05 May 2009 21:16:15 -0400

The Miami Dolphins were as much a surprise to anybody else as they were to me last year, but judging by their new schedule, no one can expect them to do as well this year. Not only have they lost the element of 'watch out, we suck, so don't try as hard as you usually do' they now have, in my opinion the toughest schedule in the league.

Now take a guess what the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Buffalo Bills have in common. They both went 7-9 last year, and based on their record, they are the 'worst' team on MY Amii's schedule. Not yours, they're MY amii.

Any who, if this off season is any indicator, Buffalo either got a lot better or a lot worse, and with JAX's returning and drafted OL, they should have overcome their Achilles and made it stronger by drafting Rashad Jennings, a huge power running back who could perfectly complete Mo-Jo.

So the other 14 games, The Pats twice, Jets twice, and the NFC and AFC south (souths?) it's too early to see who has gotten worse, so obviously Miami has one massive doozy of a schedule next year. My final record prediction coming later.