Quotulatiousness

September 3, 2009

Tarvaris Jackson on the trade block?

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 09:19

Last month I wrote,

Sage Rosenfels and Tarvaris Jackson try to avoid saying anything newsworthy to the media. Hard to blame them . . . they’ve each just had their best chance for professional success kicked out from underneath them. I’m sure each is thinking “it’s only a one-year deal . . .”

Of course, there’s the other aspect: most NFL teams only carry three quarterbacks into the regular season — who’ll be the odd man out? Rosenfels played well in the pre-season opener, and was brought in for a 4th round draft choice. Jackson was a 2nd round pick, but still hasn’t shown that he’s able to be consistent. Booty is still the total unknown. Who will be given their walking papers?

The answer is apparently Tarvaris Jackson:

The Vikings have called teams to see what they would be willing to offer in exchange for backup quarterback Tarvaris Jackson, according to a league source.

The Vikings have four quarterbacks on their roster, which must be trimmed to 53 players by Saturday. Coach Brad Childress said recently the team possibly could keep four quarterbacks, but it seems more likely that it will trade or release one.

Jackson has been the subject of trade rumors since Brett Favre arrived. However, it remains unclear which direction the Vikings will go if they are unable to trade Jackson.

I’m not surprised, but I am disappointed. Jackson has the potential to be very, very good, as he demonstrated in the second pre-season game. Unfortunately, he’s not been as consistent as he needed to be. It’s likely he’ll be picked up by another team, but not many teams are looking at adding players right now: mandatory roster cuts are looming (teams must be down to 53 players by Saturday).

September 2, 2009

Gregg Easterbrook looks at “Favre-a-palooza”

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 09:41

Gregg Easterbrook’s annual NFC preview column includes his potted history of the previous two years of the adventures of Brett Favre:

Favre played well for Green Bay in 2007, then looked old and unhappy during the frigid NFC championship loss at Lambeau. In 2008, Favre played well for the Jets when the weather was clement, then looked old and unhappy once frost hit the pumpkin. Both 2007 and 2008 ended for Favre’s clubs with him throwing a killer interception on a cold day. Going to a dome team in Minnesota, Favre will mainly play indoors. This year the Vikes are likely to have only one cold-weather contest, at Chicago just after Christmas; in November, all their games are at home while their other outdoor December contests are at Arizona and at Carolina. It’s a schedule that could not be better if Favre drew it up himself.

There is obvious potential for fiasco in Minnesota’s bringing aboard Favre, and not just because his $12 million salary becomes guaranteed on opening day. Vikings players know Favre single-handedly dynamited the Jets’ organization last season — the starting quarterback was waived, the coaches fired — then walked out the instant it suited him. He demanded special favor after special favor from the Jets, then gave nothing back. Management and other players couldn’t wait for him to get out of Green Bay, so weary were both of Favre’s self-centeredness. Now he brings his “I love me” show to Minnesota. If the Vikings win, Favre will grab the credit; if they lose, Favre will once again say he was mistreated. No Vikings player other than Favre will get any media attention in 2008; if Adrian Peterson runs for 3,000 yards, Favre will claim the credit. Plus Childress waffled so much in his pursuit of Favre that now he seems weak, as if he were a factotum awaiting Favre’s instructions. Late in July, Childress told the Vikings’ locker room there was “not a chance” Favre would join the team, and that he expected them to rally around quarterbacks Jackson and Rosenfels. Now it turns out Childress was continuing to talk to Favre the entire time he was telling his team otherwise. What credibility can Childress have when it appears that he looked his players in the eye and lied to them?

The only way Childress retains his credibility is if the team wins through and goes deep into the playoffs . . . if they stumble, he’ll have sacrificed his chances of being re-signed as head coach for nothing.

September 1, 2009

Vikings beat Texans in 3rd preseason game

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 07:30

The Brett Favre era may have opened, but Adrian Peterson is still the heart of the team: he took a handoff from Favre for a 75-yard TD on the first play of the game. Here’s the press reaction:

Two weeks after joining the Vikings, Brett Favre played into the third quarter of his team’s 17-10 victory over the Houston Texans. The future Hall of Fame quarterback threw his first touchdown pass as a member of the franchise, twice lined as a wide receiver as the Vikings unveiled their version of the Wildcat offense and even threw a vicious block from that formation.

And if that wasn’t enough, Favre also caused a pregame stir when ESPN reported he might be playing with a cracked rib. But no matter what Favre was able to accomplish in his first extensive action in purple, one thing was made abundantly clear to the Vikings and a national television audience.

This remains Adrian Peterson’s offense.

It’s still very much the preseason, as the Vikings committed a disturbing number of penalties; they’re averaging 12 per game. Favre was scheduled to play the first half, followed by Tarvaris Jackson in the third and Sage Rosenfels in the fourth, but Favre lobbied the coach to get another series after halftime, so Jackson’s appearance was very short. Rosenfels got on the field after both teams had switched to second- and third-string players, so it wasn’t a great opportunity for him to shine like Jackson did in the previous game.

Favre will probably be getting a fine from the league for his illegal block on Eugene Wilson, who was injured on the play and did not return.

Update, 5 September: Yep. The league penalized Favre $10,000 for the illegal hit.

August 31, 2009

The last Whizzinator joke?

Filed under: Sports — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 07:21

Anyone remember Onterrio Smith? Anyone? Okay, an easier question: does anyone remember a Vikings player caught with a Whizzinator? That was Onterrio Smith. (Kinda topical posts on the old site legacy plays on:

Matt Little called his sister over the weekend and told her, “You’ll never guess what I just bought.” He then asked her if she had heard of the Original Whizzinator that had been in the news.

“She said, ‘Yeah, some idiot paid $750 for that thing.’ I said, ‘Yeah, that was me,'” Little said with a laugh Sunday night.

Little, 26, owns Buster’s, a sports bar in Mankato. He is the mystery man who purchased the Whizzinator that ex-Viking Onterrio Smith was so famously detained with at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport in 2005. That piece of inglorious local sports history — a device with a prosthetic penis attached to a jock strap and filled with “clean” urine to help pass a drug test — was up for auction Friday night in Shakopee.

It’s probably just the 7-year-old in me that finds it amusing that this particular device was being auctioned off in a place called Shake-o-pee.

August 17, 2009

Reducing the NFL pre-season

Filed under: Football — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 12:12

Mark Craig thinks the NFL preseason is too long (and it’s hard not to agree):

Let’s hope the commish steps up his goal of reducing the number of preseason games soon. VERY soon.

There’s never been another sport that’s so good in the regular season, great in the postseason and so completely awful and unwatchable in the preseason.

It’s bad for business, insulting to fans who have to buy full-price tickets to this garbage as part of season-ticket deals and pretty much useless for judging what’s going to happen next month.

For example, the Lions beat Atlanta 27-26 Saturday night. Way to go Lions. Way to start the Jim Schwartz Era. Restore the Roar, baby!

Oh, wait. The Lions were 4-0 in the preseason last year. That makes their preseason winning streak five and keeps their regular season losing streak at 17.

And that doesn’t cover the risks to starting players, as there always seems to be higher risk of injury during preseason games than regular season ones (this is not something I’ve seen stats on, and may just be a mistaken impression based on news coverage).

There’s much to be said about coaches needing a chance to see what players can do in game situations — there are some who look like superstars in practice but who can’t rise up to average in real games, and others who excel in games, but don’t look like much in practice. Talent is only part of what makes a good football player, and without some opportunity to play against real opposition, you really don’t know which category any given rookie player may be in.

August 14, 2009

Philadelphia signs Michael Vick to 1-year contract

Filed under: Football — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 12:46

I didn’t think they’d be the team which would eventually sign Vick, but the Eagles are his new employers:

According to Fox Sports, Vick will be paid $1.6 million this year, with a chance for the three-time Pro Bowl quarterback to make $5.6 million as part of a 2010 option. None of the money is guaranteed, according to an Eagles source.

Vick, 29, was the first overall pick in the NFL draft by the Atlanta Falcons in 2001. He received a 23-month federal sentence after being convicted for running a dogfighting operation in Newport News, Va. He spent 18 months in prison and was released from federal custody July 20.

The Eagles’ decision was driven by coach Andy Reid, who made it clear after the 27-25 loss that he felt as though Vick deserved a chance to turn his life around.

“I’m a believer that as long as people go through the right process, they deserve a second chance,” Reid said. “Michael has done that. I’ve done a tremendous amount of homework on this, and I’ve followed his progress. He has some great people in his corner, and he has proven that he’s on the right track.”

I’m not in the least surprised that Vick has caught on with a team: he’s still a very talented quarterback, regardless of his legal woes. I didn’t think it would have been anyone in the NFC East, however. I’d rather imagined it would have been a team in the AFC West . . .

August 10, 2009

Yesterday’s menu: random thunderstorms

Filed under: Administrivia, Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 07:18

I did mean to update the blog yesterday, but the pattern of thunderstorms coming through the area intersected perfectly with other activities, so that I didn’t get the chance.

Right after dinner, I sat down to watch the first NFL preseason game between the Buffalo Bills and the Tennessee Titans. Just after the introduction of the Hall of Fame inductees for this year, the power went out. It came back on again a few minutes later, so I got to see the most amusing fake-punt by the Titans, and a couple of first-down passes to T.O., and the power went out again.

This time, the power was out for about three hours. Much donder und blitzen, with lots of horizontal strikes of lightning, which was visually quite stunning.

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