WHAT WE LEARNED FROM WEEK THREE OF THE PRESEASON, PART ONE

Above: Frustration sets in

by Ryan Meehan

Thursday night began the beginning of week three in the NFL preseason.  While a majority of the preseason is useless, week three is usually the last game where the first string guys start so it holds a little bit of water.  Not much, but seriously – How big does your bathtub need to be?

Needless to say, there were a few things that I picked up from the first two days of this weekend nonetheless.  Although the games do not count in the standings, there are some warning signs that can alert us as to what might happen once the games do finally begin to matter.  This will be the first part of a two part series where I outline what I saw in the Thursday and Friday games…

Sports Blog Movement NFL Preview: Ten Things To Watch For in The 2013 Season

By J-Dub and Ryan Meehan

Over the next few weeks, the group here at Sports Blog Movement will be breaking down the upcoming NFL season from all possible angles, including many that do not involve wearing pants.  Given all of Meehan’s citations for indecent exposure and J-Dubs’ inability to find any pants that actually fit, we’re just the guys to kick this thing off and let you know what we have planned here at SBM over the next couple of weeks.  Here’s what you can expect:

• August 21st – AFC East – SBM Contributor Patrick Young
• August 22nd – NFC East – SBM Contributor Ryan Meehan
• August 23rd – AFC North – SBM Contributor Patrick Young
• August 24th – NFC North – SBM Contributor Jeremy Wiebe
• August 25th – AFC South – SBM Contributor Kody Brannon
• August 26th – NFC South – SBM Contributor Jeremy Wiebe
• August 27th – AFC West -SBM Contributor Ryan Graham
• August 28th – NFC West – SBM Contributor Ryan Graham
• August 29th – SBM Exclusive – The Ex-Kicker’s Round Table on the 2013 NFL Contenders & Pretenders – J-Dub

As far as today’s installment is concerned, J-Dub and Meehan are here to tell you about ten things you may not be expecting, but that you should definitely keep an eye out for, because they are a hell of a lot more likely to happen than you winning your office pool, fantasy football league, or whatever other bullshit in which you wrap your football Sundays .

1) The Impending Collapse of the New England Patriots

God bless Bernard Pollard.

It may not happen this year, but it’s happening soon.  In general, the Patriots are getting old in front of our very eyes, and specifically, the offensive line sucks, the only way they can move the ball on the ground is to send it FedEx, and right now Tom Brady has fewer targets than the Polish Air Force did in 1939.  This team is a Tom Brady injury away from 5-11 season and we all know it.  When Tom Brady got his ACL and MCL smashed in game one of the 2008 season and Matt Cassel took over, the Patriots finished 11-5, as opposed to winning their first eighteen games of the season the year before.  Brady is the only thing they really have left, because the Patriots have more missing pieces than a garage sale jigsaw puzzle.

The “Tebow Theory:” Eventually, Somebody Is Going To Build An NFL Offense Around a Quarterback Who Can’t Throw

 

With the arrival of Tim Tebow in New England, this seems like as good as time as any to explore in detail a discussion I’ve had with several football fans. The NFL of the past few years has become a league infatuated with the passing game to a point where several offenses in this league almost completely ignore the running game. The teams that do this have a luxury in today’s NFL…they have a quarterback who can throw the ball.

The team that has had the most success with this approach is obvious; the New England Patriots. In Tom Brady, New England currently has a guy who is clearly one of the great quarterbacks in the history of this league. Offenses built around the passing game, such as that of the current Patriots, the Peyton Manning-era Colts, or even their predecessors such as the Dan Marino-era Dolphins or the “Air Coryell” San Diego Chargers all shared a common trait; they all had top-flight quarterbacks. Hell, even the Los Angeles Rams of the 1950’s used two all-star quarterbacks (Bob Waterfield and Norm Van Brocklin) to set all kinds of early NFL passing records.

The problem with this approach is two-fold. First of all, not everybody can get an All-Pro quarterback. It’s not like they grow on trees. That begs the question: What do you do if you can’t get one of these “big-time” quarterbacks? Right now in the NFL, there are far too many teams taking the square peg/round hole approach, meaning they are trying to turn guys who just don’t have the requisite skill sets into the ringmaster of an NFL aerial circus. This is why NFL fans get to watch far too much bad quarterback play.

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TIM TEBOW TO THE PATRIOTS AND JASON KIDD WANTING TO COACH THE NETS: TWO IDEAS I CAN GET BEHIND‏

by Ryan Meehan

There are a couple developing sports stories I’d like to discuss briefly, and one of them I can honestly say I didn’t see coming.  Feel free to use the comments section to weigh in on what you expect out of these two situations, that’s what that space is for. 

Is it just me..or…?

A few weeks ago a fellow blogger penned an excellent article that focused on the problems within the NBA. Essentially, he lamented the NBA has tuned into something he isn’t really a fan of anymore.

I’ve felt the same way for years. For me, the love affair ended when they changed the rules for traveling so LeBron and Kobe could be mentioned in the same sentence with Jordan.

This of course is patently absurd.

If you gave two full strides to Jordan without having to put the ball on the ground he would have averaged 40 PPG for a decade. Hell, if the current rules had been in place in the 90’s Shaq would have been able to post up from beyond the free throw line. And I’ve made my feelings about flopping pretty clear….

But this isn’t about the NBA.

This is about the NFL. Continue reading →

THE SHOW PONY FINALLY GETS SENT HOME

Tim Tebow hits the road

by Ryan Meehan

On Monday Tim Tebow showed up to the Jets’ training facility to work out and was promptly escorted to Rex Ryan’s office where he was informed that he was being let go by the team.  This should not have been a surprise as they drafted Geno Smith and had six quarterbacks that would have been on their way to start workouts next week. 

What We Learned: The 2012 NFL Season Showed Us Two Things About Quarterbacks

1) The “Elite Quarterback” Discussion Got Blown Up

The Super Bowl essentially was the induction of Joe “Gummy Bear” Flacco into that silly media-created status of “elite quarterbacks.”  Joe Montana’s Right Arm has the best run-down as to why even the most ardent Flacco-haters now have to stifle themsleves, but this piece is more about how the whole discussion about “elite” is obsolete.

Not only is it a silly notion, but it got destroyed by the emergence of a crop of dynamic young signal-callers.  In his piece, JMRA makes reference to “Game Manager University,” and I’m going to extend the academic concept to rate NFL quarterback in 2012 on a simple grade scale.

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SBM Exclusive Feature: Sports Doppelgangers, Volume 18

What good is a blog if you can’t occasionally post pictures of some ripped, shirtless guys? Especially when they look alike, and especially when one of them is Tim Tebow. Since we have no idea where the Tebow train’s next NFL stop will be, we better use up our Tebow-ganger now. This is why today’s installment gives you Tim Tebow and Australian rugby player Kayne Lawton.

Tebow’s Excitement & The Jets Lack of Support Make A Dumb Trade Laughable

Yesterday quarterback Tim Tebow was announced as the newest member of the New York Jets. What they didn’t tell us: that Tebow is really, really, really excited. As much as I want to, I cannot hate on Tim’s spirit and his love for football. What I can criticize is why someone who is so well spoken can come off as such a dumb jock in a press conference. Some media people say he handled it well, and he did, but in not the way he spoke. He handles the fact that not one Jet front office personnel was there with him. How are you going to host your own press conference? An ill timed press conference during the NFL owner meetings, where Jets ownership and head coach Rex Ryan were yesterday. Said Tebow about their absence, “I have bosses, too, and they wanted me to stand up here and talk to you
all,” he explained, “so I can blame it on them because they made me do
it (NFL.COM)”.

How can a newly acquired player be the lone representative for a franchise? Ask Guy Smiley and the New York Jets.

Peyton Manning Becomes a Denver Bronco: The Rocky High Facts, Figures and Feelings

Twelve days after being cut from the team that drafted him number 1 overall in 1998, Peyton Manning apologized to media members in Denver about taking to long to make up his mind. The question: which team will the quarterback choose? Broncos, Titans, or 49ers? He joined owner Pat Bowlen and VP of Football Operations, NFL Hall of Famer and two time Super Bowl winner John Elway in announcing his signing with the Denver Broncos. With his comfort level staying intact by remaining in the AFC, his first visit on his tour of free agency seemed to make a lasting impression.

I love it. He looks great in orange and blue.

I love it. He looks great in orange and blue.

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