Tuesday, February 27, 2007

NFL Combine Wrap


Quinn Tells Teams, “I Would Totally Draft Me!”

NFL Combine Wrap

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

The NFL Combine is over and for the most part there were no real surprises, save Georgia Tech’s Calvin Johnson stating he wasn’t going to run the 40, then borrowing a buddy’s shoes to run an unofficial, but still blistering, 40 in 4.1 seconds. Did you miss that the first time? Four-Point-One-Seconds…Yeah. So aside from a guy riding on the back of a Cheetah and already improving upon his draft position (and Brady Quinn continuing to say stupid things) there were, as I said on Friday, no surprises…except I did read one jackass (who will remain nameless) who thinks Joe Thomas performed so well that the Raiders might take him with the first pick or some other team might trade up to number 1 to take him. Okay, before we start talking crazy-talk…or more pointedly, continue talking crazy-talk let’s remember recent Offensive Linemen selected in the First Round after impressive showings at the Combine who have since left their teams feeling disappointed and empty inside (kinda like how I felt after watching the Black Donnelley’s on Monday night): Mike Mamula and Robert Gallery, I'm looking at you. The main problem, as I see it, is that drafting a guy who is like 6’7” and 320-pounds of muscle and can bench press 245-pounds 80 times doesn’t tell you how good he’s going to be at stopping Dwight Freeney coming off the outside. A guy Joe Thomas’ size should be able to bench press a lot and since he’s young, should be able to not embarrass himself running the 40. But it's what he does on the field that matters, not when he's wearing Under Armour with visions of a "click-clack" commercial dancing in his head. Since it seems like a foregone conclusion that the Lions are drafting him, we’ll just have to wait and see how often John Kitna ends up looking at the roof of Ford Field. Last year the Lions were 29th in pass protection, giving up 63 sacks. By comparison, Baltimore (17), Indy (15) & Green Bay (24) didn’t give up 63 sacks combined! And just for the record, Indy gave up a League-low 15 sacks, which meant Peyton Manning was only sacked 3.1% of the time he dropped back to pass; Kitna on the other hand was sacked nearly 9% of the time. Indy was also the only team rated in the Top-5 for both pass protection and run blocking…that’s what you want in an offensive line!
So what does all of this mean for Joe Thomas and the scouts already swinging from his dingleberries? It means Thomas will probably find himself in Detroit, contemplating suicide by early-November. Although any time Matt Millen in involved with stocking a team with "talent," watch out. Seriously, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Millen waste the number 2 pick on Brady Quinn or Calvin Johnson, just you watch. Speaking of being surprised, I’m going to have to hand the Looks-Like-Tarzan-Plays-Like-Jane Award to someone…hmmm, gonna need a couple days to go over some Combine film to make that call.
Switching gears to the Boys of Summer, big news out of Red Sox camp this week as Diasuke Matsuzaka actually threw a baseball on US soil...with people watching! Early word out of Florida is that, yes, he can throw a baseball, wow. Now that the Red Sox have gotten that out of the way, let’s see how their $80 Million Dollar boy fares against hitters taller than 5’6” who weigh more than 147-pounds. The other big news is that Manny reported to camp early, which is only newsworthy because everyone just assumed Manny would be sleeping under his bed in a Northern Lights induced stupor until mid-March. So far, MLB has gotten off to an even more boring start than the Oscars…wake me the week before Opening Day.
Just when you thought the more interesting action on a basketball court was once again in college, the NBA comes out and tries to puff its chest out a little bit. This time, the crazy goings on come in the form of freak injuries; which befell Wisconsin big man, Brian Butch, via a dislocated elbow…ew. Not to be outdone, LA Clippers Guard, Shaun Livingston turned his knee into Spaghetti. I don’t mean to make fun of the guy and really I hope he has a speedy recovery, but just in case any of you sickos out there want to take a look: this is not for the faint of heart.

Random Observations:
What ever happened to Raul Mondesi?
The Indianapolis Colts haven’t even given up 63 sacks the last 3 seasons! 51, for those of you keeping score at home. They’ve also been ranked an average of 2nd in terms of run-blocking and pass protection over that time span.
Thinking about incorporating some UFC news into the TMQB…whether or not two dudes beating the crap out of each other qualifies as “sport” is debatable, but they’re definitely some pretty serious athletes; we’ll see.
Rulon Gardner should seriously just never leave the house. Although, with his luck he'd probably end up with an infected spider bite, then fall on a Steak knife trying to call a doctor...

Next Week:
More like Thursday or Friday; I count down my top 32 NFL Prospects.

1 Comments:

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