NFL Football

Changing Defensive Fronts is usually a bad idea.

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Fryingpan Sports

Changing Defensive Fronts is usually a bad idea.

By Bill Smith

The NFL is a copycat league. The Ravens and Steelers had the best defenses in the league. They both play a 3-4. Last year there were 7 teams that played the 3-4 as their base defense. There are 9 new head coaches in the NFL this year and you can bet that some of them are going to change their D fronts to match their own style of play. Josh McDaniels, the new coach of the Broncos has already said he is going to switch to a 3-4. Packer coach Mike McCarthy isn’t new but he is changing to the 3-4 as well. While it may make the job of the new 3-4 based coaching staff easier, very seldom is that a good idea. The requirements of a 4-3 defensive front and a 3-4 are very different.

The hardest thing to find in the draft beside a starting quality NFL quarterback is an NFL quality nose tackle for a 3-4. The key to a 3-4 defense is the NT. He has to cause so much havoc on the line that the opponent has to dedicate at least … Read more at FryingPanSports

Will Vince Young ever be an NFL quality QB?

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Fryingpan Sports

Will Vince Young ever be an NFL quality QB?

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Kerry Collins and Vince Young

By Bill Smith

Technorati Tags: Collins,Young,Titans,NFL FOotball,Fisher,Texas,Longhorns,college football,NFL Draft

This week head coach of the Titans Jeff Fisher said that he wants Kerry Collins, the 36 year old free agent, back as the starter in 2009. That was bad news for Vince Young.

Collins played well but not spectacularly in 08 leading the Titans to the best record in the AFC with a QB rating of 80.2. He threw 12 TDs and 7 interceptions but managed the game very well taking maximum advantage of one of the top running games in the league. He had threatened to retire unless he was “promised” a starting job. He has never been a top QB and has a career passing rating of only 73.8.

Young was the 3rd overall pick in the 06 draft. He took over the starting QB spot in the 4th game of 06 and led the team to an 8-5 record including 6 wins in a row. The wins overshadowed a less than acceptable performance by Young. He had a QB rating of just 66.7 with 12 touchdowns but 13 … Read more at FryingPanSports

The NFL and NFLPA had better make sure that Tom McHale didn't die in vain.

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Fryingpan Sports

The NFL and NFLPA had better make sure that Tom McHale didn’t die in vain.

By Bill Smith

Technorati Tags: NFL,NFL Football,NFLPA,Upshaw,McHale,Ditka,Bears,Eales,Buccaneers,Dolphins,CTE,chronic traumatic encephalopathy

You may not recognize the name Tom McHale. He played as an offensive lineman in the NFL for 9 seasons with Tampa, Philadelphia, and Miami from 1987-1995 starting 23 of the 87 games in which he played. He died last May at the age of 45 from an accidental overdose of oxycodone and cocaine according to police. Tom was one of a large number of NFL players that suffered multiple concussions during his career. He was one of six players examined by researchers as part of the Sports Legacy Institute for chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) — and the sixth whose diagnosis was confirmed by a postmortem study of his brain.

McHale had his own demons including three stints in drug rehabilitation. His wife told the New York Times that he was in constant pain and was taking pain killers all the time. But his death along with the deaths of the other 5 players all have been in vain unless the NFL and the NFLPA do something about the problem. The larger issue is … Read more at FryingPanSports

Should the Lions draft QB Matt Stafford with the first pick?

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Fryingpan Sports

Should the Lions draft QB Matt Stafford with the first pick?

t By Bill Smith

Technorati Tags: Lions, NFL Draft, Stafford, Sanchez, Georgia, USC, Booty, college football, NFL Football

The Lions need a QB badly. The starter on their depth chart is Dan Orlovsky. In 4 seasons he has a QB rating of 71.8 with 8 TDs and 8 picks. Not good. Behind him is second year QB Drew Stanton but he was very inconsistent at Michigan State and has thrown only 17 passes in the NFL. Then there is the 3rd QB Drew Henson. Henson was a better baseball player than QB and was cut by a couple of baseball organizations. His football career included one start for the Pre-Romo Cowboys in 04 but he QB rating of 64.2 doesn’t impress anyone.

So according to reports the team is going to take a QB with the first pick. Maybe that sounded like a good idea when there were 4 good prospects in the race for the top QB in the draft. But Sam Bradford went back to Oklahoma and Colt McCoy went back to Texas. That left only Stafford and one year starter Mark Sanchez from USC … Read more at FryingPanSports