ARCHIVOS MR PLAYBOOK (2008)

One of the Denver Broncos many running backs (Selvin Young) has made a really wild statement... He is not even been named the starter in a crowded backfield that includes veteran Travis Henry and recently signed veteran Michael Pittman, and he is already mouthing off to the press saying that he will run for 2000 yards this season.

We think we know our NFL teams and we are always on top of our fantasy stuff, but stuff like this, no one really knows until they speak out to the public.

What is the key to having a winning team? According to many experts, having a great quarterback under center really improves your chances of winning... this next 2008 season will be a weird year regarding the Quarterback position for many teams, here In this post Ill try to observe the teams with the most unstable QB situations and the way the future will likely pan out...

No word still on the future of Miami's former defensive star Jason Taylor, the 33 year old veteran defensive end is still uncertain to what is going to happen in the future, the bright side of it is that if no team picks him up and Miami lets him go, it seems as if he has a future in television, plus he has already made comments that he would love to be an actor after his NFL career.

Rumors fly around the NFL all the time, this time is a big one... Just got word from another source that the St. Louis Rams are up for sale, and there IS a potential buyer, not only a potential buyer but a former rival of the Rams... ex 49er owner and sometimes controversial Eddie DeBartolo.

Not only are there problems with Domenic Rhodes and his number back in Indy, but also in New York there is a similar contreversy... rookie Safety and recently no. 31st pick in the NFLDraft Kenny Phillips of Miami was drafted by the Giants this year...

His number in the University of Miami.... #1, not an acceptable number for Safeties... however... In honor of recently deceased Safety Sean Taylor, he decided to wear #21... whats the real problem with that???
Its that Tiki Barber used to wear #21 in New York... so some fans are not happy about the decision, however its not easy to argue with him cause hes wearing it as a tribute... so its a real conflict back in NY and I like the idea of the tribute, but not if you are playing for the Giants and the Redskins are a division opponent and you see them twice a year... anyways...

If the Giants wanted to preserve that number untouched they would have it retired or reserved for retirement before Kenny uses it....

- the Rookie

Domenic Rhodes, the ex Raider running back, has returned to the Colts to be the dangerous tandem he once made with Joseph Addai... but whats the problem now? his number is now in use by Safety Melvin Bullit... players normally have obsessions with their numbers being their sources of luck or energy or something... but they eventually have to accept their situation when the number they use is a retired one, or a prohibited one for their position (remember Reggie Bush's ordeal with No. 5... he had to change it to 25....), so the situation now is not that simple because Bullilt use to wear that number in the university in honor of his father and hes not giving it up without a fight...

I say, given Rhodes situation right now, he should just quit being a baby and grab any number... his job is not yet guaranteed, plus if the fight goes in too deep, the morale of the team might be in trouble...

- the Rookie

I guess The Rookie got carried away by his feelings... he says that he's been reading a lot, doing research, that the experts are putting the Jaguars over the Colts and the Patriots... even over the Cowboys... but I guess that happens when you only read what you want to believe!! reading only Jaguars fans blogs and such… but let’s hope he doesn’t make the same mistake in future rankings.

Anyway... here's my ranking.

- The Mentor

I will be doing several rankings of the teams, this is the ranking before the PreSeason, I hope to do one before the season, and maybe one midway... its a good way to see how your fantasy players will do and of course where your team ranks among others...

Feel free to criticise, however these rankings I do them based on a lot of research, do not think its exclusively my own personal opinion, of course I wrote it, but based on what ive read...

Here they are from best to worst:




- the Rookie

Right now there are two divisions in the National Football League that are incredibly strong... even the best analysts cannot predict the way the standings will finish.


The first one, and in my opinion the toughest one is the AFC South, which includes the explosive offense of Peyton Manning, Joseph Addai and Reggie Wayne in the Colts, the ShutDown defense of Jacksonville with stars like Reggie Nelson and Rashean Mathis plus a D-Line to be afraid of. Then you have the other dominating D-Line in the division Kyle Vanden Bosch, Cortland Finnegan and Albert Haynesworth stopping the run and crushing QBs in Tennesse and last but certainly not least you have the recently discovered offense of the Texans with Andre Johnson and Matt Schaub... so not only is it a big display of names but it really is a tough division, some experts have the standings with three teams finishing 11-5!!! while the fourth one with a 10-6 record.....


The other tough division in the league is the NFC East which includes, the showboats of newly discovered actor......NOT Terrell Owens and Media darling Tony Romo for the love them-hate them Cowboys, the newly improved defense of Lito Sheppard and Asante Samuel in the Eagles, the Improved young offense of the super bowl defending champions with Shockey, Jacobs, Manning and Burress, and last but again not least, the tandem of Clinton Portis and Ladell Betts plus their improved young QB Jason Campbell in the Redskins...

So expect big games between these divisions, Im specially looking forward to the meeting of the Colts-Jags 2 times a year, and the Cowboys-Giants and Cowboys-Eagles games... they promise to be far more entertaining than last year, and I have a gut feeling that at least one of the Super Bowl contenders this year will be from this divisions... Id like to see a Jacksonville-Cowboys game..... but thats just me...

Here is my crazy ass predictions for the end of the year division standings:

AFC South

Indianapolis 12-4
Jacksonville 12-4
Houston 11-5
Tennessee 10-6

NFC East

Dallas 11-5
Eagles 10-6
NYGiants 9-7
Washington 8-8

- the Rookie

The Mentor will like this post for being an anti-Cowboy post... what is up with T.O. trying to act on tv? first of all, get your butt back to training camp instead on focusing on stupid sitcoms and second of all, if you are going for tv dont accept a role in a sitcom featuring Flavor Flav.

Anyways... here is the video where we see the horrific acting of Terrell Owens, maybe you should stick to catching balls from Tony Romo instead of acting or pretending to act...

The show is called Under One Roof and it airs on MyNetworkTV. Lets hope T.O. stays more time on the field and less on the set...




- the Rookie

A question that many of our fantasy readers are wondering, and something we have to address here at MR, is the unstable QB situation of the Baltimore Ravens. It has not been that stable throughout the years, since their best QB has been maybe Veterans Steve McNair or Trent Dilfer back when they won the Super Bowl with a dominant Defense...
This situation is still a question mark for fans... who will be #1 on the 2008 season? there is still a lot of talk about Kyle Boller getting the number 1 job in Baltimore, however, they did pick up Delawares big strong armed QB Joe Flacco on the first round of the draft, surprising a lot of people as Michigan Chad Henne and Louisville`s Brian Brohm were still available... So will it be Boller or Flacco, only the minicamps and the preseason will define this, however, not only are these two QBs battling the position, throw into the mix the 2006 Heismann winner and second year Quarterback Troy Smith, who the ravens drafted back in 2007 and we have a great QB battle so the one that comes out as #1 will sure be a competitive player...

In My opinion, I do not recommend Baltimore Quarterbacks for your fantasy teams... at least not yet, for I think that the Ravens will use a technique similar to the one the Cardinals used back then with Leinart and Warner... this time they will use Boller and Flacco...

Could be an interesting mix, and maybe by the end Flacco will take the reins if everything goes smoothly...

- the Rookie

Just saw this on an NFL fan page and I thought it was pretty funny...

"For sale: Left-handed quarterback, 27, with starting experience in the NFL. Hasn't played in 20 months. Good pedigree. Plenty of guts. Missing spleen. Must be willing to pick up $2-million salary. Any draft pick or best offer."

- Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Can you guess who the fellow is?


TIP:



- the Rookie

The Dallas Cowboys have agreed for the second straight year to appear in a 5 episode television show in HBO called "Hard Knocks"... a show that will focus on the Cowboys training camp.

Can you imagine Terrell Owens doing or saying stupid things just to be on camera all the time?? or Tony Romo dating... marrying... or being dumped by Jessica Simpson??

Only Jerry Jones will do something like this... I mean the man loves show business... but the real question here is... will this have any affect on the team preparation for next season?? I mean, they could not handle very well that their star QB went to Los Cabos with his girlfriend for the weekend just before the game against the Giants last season... we'll have to wait and see if the team can focus on training rather than entertaining.

By the way... as much as I like to see the Cowboys doing all of these things... and getting distracted... I really think they need to get serious... especially their QB Tony Romo, he hasn't won a playoff game yet... he has proven nothing!! but his doing a lot of things off the field, for example he's going to try to qualify for the U.S. Open golf tournament this week... instead of just focusing on what he does... and that is... PLAYING FOOTBALL!!

Where are Tony Romo’s priorities?? Is football about third on his list… behind his girlfriend and golf?? I mean c’mon… you don’t see Payton Manning or Tom Brady getting distracted… and those guys have won Super Bowls… and Tony Romeo… he hasn’t won a single playoff game yet.


- The Mentor

keeping you up with the news as promised, Indianapolis Colts WR Marvin Harrison has been cleared of all charges from the Philadelphia police, however Rumors have been strongly surrounding this incident in that supposedly it was a failed hit, and they were after Marvin, no causes have been yet identified, but it is believed to have something to do with his family.
I hope its nothing like this and this is all just a confusion...

Let the man go back to training camp....

- the Rookie

The Pittsburgh Steelers sure know how to spoil their players, and you could call it spoiling them or you could call it a genius way of rebuilding a team and making sure you have a winning franchise in the future.

Not only did they sign Big Ben for 8 years and 102 million dollars contract, but also, he had expressed his interest for a big WR, what do they do? they draft big target WR Limas Sweed with the second round draft pick. They are not content with that, they also draft a great RB who has self described as the next LaDainian Tomlinson, Illinois Rashard Mendenhall comes up as a great backup to willie parker and another useful weapon on offense for Mr. Roethlisberger.

It sure does look like the organization is doing everything in its power for another super bowl run, and I would fear the steelers any season, this is one of the teams I like to call: wild card teams... they can play great all of a sudden and be a big competitor for the Playoffs every year...

Other teams in my opinion, that have earned this Wild Card tag recently are the Cleveland Browns, the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Tennessee Titans, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Denver Broncos.

- the Rookie

The Buccaneers are passing through a weird phase in their offseason, they have actually 6 quarterbacks on their roster, not to mention the seventh, who you could still count because he never filed the correct paperwork for retirement (Jake Plummer, look closely in middle of pic).
For the other 6 quarterbacks, only time and practice will tell.

Whats the deal? why 6, it turns out, the odds are not so bad, because their starting QB is Jeff Garcia, so he has a secure place on the team, and is coming off a pro bowl season...... but, hes 38 years old!!!! (same as Favre) so retirement is pretty close, behind him, will be probably Brian Griese, who is 33 years old and is nothing more than a wise old veteran, but Gruden likes this kind of players, remember Rich Gannon on the Raiders? or Brad Johnson with the Bucs?

Those are by now the only two spots secure for the third spot the battle is between Bruce Gradkowski, Luke McCown and Rookie Josh Johnson from San Diego State University...
Chris Simms will probably be cut soon, and the fate of someone else is in Grudens hands... in my opinion they should remain with Garcia, Griese, Gradkowski and Johnson. If this happens, Luke McCown will be a talented Free Agent QB for some teams interested, maybe also Chris Simms, but his health is always a question mark...

- the Rookie

Ive added a new section to the right hand part of MR Playbook, and its called The Police Report, you can check it frequently to see which players have been involved in which scandals recently... with the growing number of jail cases in the NFL this was a main need for the page, there you can go and check before each week to see how your fantasy players are doing on their behavior...

- the Rookie

Adarius Bowman, a WR prospect out of Oklahoma State University, could be said that had the worst offseason for any rookie there was this year. Some might say they had horrible performances on the combine, some may have bad senior bowls, but to have been kicked out from a university and then accepted in another one, then arrested for marijuana charges, and sentenced to 12 months in jail after pleading guilty to possession, could be said that is a really really really bad off season for a player.

Here are some personal notes on Bowman, who if it wasnt for his off the field issues, could be a big threat and a huge playmaker on a team....

After transferring to Oklahoma State, Bowman became an All-Big 12 performer as a junior. But his senior season was cut short by injury and followed by a disappointing performance at the Senior Bowl.

Until recently Bowman had been projected to be taken in the top four rounds, but off-the-field issues and a poor performance at the NFL combine hurt his prospects.

Bowman was arrested on April 1 in McMinn County on charges of marijuana possession. He had previously been arrested on the same charge during his freshman year at the University of North Carolina and was subsequently kicked off the Tar Heels’ team.

After pleading guilty to the most recent charge of marijuana possession, Bowman’s sentenced to 12 months in prison.

What a sad fact that this kind of things ruin a promising career, he can now only hope that after serving time, he gets another shot at the big game.

- the Rookie

News Flash Alert: Indianapolis Colts WR Marvin Harrison has allegedly been linked to a shooting in Philadelphia. Harrison, owns a bar in Philly and its known that he has 25 guns. We still dont know hes involvement in the incident, but sources say that he might have been the shooter.