Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Far from Favre

I watched the Green Bay Packers first preseason game since 1992 not to include #4 Brett Favre. Instead the Packers are looking to the future. I was so sick of hearing everyday about every little Brett Favre/ Packers thing. In the end the Packers won. They don't have to pay Brett anything and Brett is safely tucked away in another conference almost guaranteeing that the Packers will never have to see the old #4 on the other sidelines. (Unless the NFL gets crafty and schedules a Packers-Jets Preseason game next year). I thought both sides were wrong but it is still hard to imagine the Packers treating their franchise's icon the way they did. Diva's expect to be treated like diva's. People don't line up for lineman's autographs they line up for Brett's autograph. Alas Brett is now a Jet and the Broncos will have to face him in the windy Meadowlands later this year.

Meanwhile Aaron Rodgers started his first preseason game for the Packers. It's not hard to see he has talent and a strong arm. He do what few have done: be a successful after a legend. Rodgers still looks inexperienced though. He got sacked on a safety blitz and looked uncomfortable when pressure was applied by a weak Bengals defense. He did however show good accuracy on his fastball throws but needs to work on his touch passes. His one interception was not his fault. Rodgers literally hit his receiver between the numbers and the ball bounced off and was picked off. The only other weakness I saw was that he stares down his intended receiver. If he does that too often a good defense will catch that on film and take advantage. The only other question is Rodgers durability. He's never started a game yet managed to get injured enough to where he wouldn't have played the next game.

Who's behind Rodgers? Just two rookies with no experience at all. Looks like the Packers have put all their eggs in one basket.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Preseason Rules

Preseason often gets dumped on by experts but 3 years ago I started watching it and I found out a lot. First off that Cutler and Marshall would be great players. Last year I saw the Broncos would have troubles stopping the run. You just have to know how much preseason to watch. The third game is the best because the starters often stay in until the third quarter and by then you should see their true colors. The fourth preseason game is just to see who will be cut the next day. It's the most worthless game.

Today the Broncos traveled down to Houston to play the Texans. The Broncos were not impressive. The offensive line was manhandled by Houston's second string defensive line. Ryan Clady got his welcome to the NFL moment from Mario Williams. Williams constantly moved Clady where ever he wanted. Nothing new with the Broncos defensive line. They still can't generate a pass rush. The Broncos had to break the vanilla defense and blitz to get pressure. Then the new kicker Prater missed his first FG attempt. He won't be playing for Denver if he misses those easy ones in the regular season.

Mike Shanahan promised this past week on his radio show that the Broncos would make the playoffs this year. If the Broncos don't get better soon they're guaranteed to finish the season below .500.