Wednesday Walk Around the League: 7.22.09
by Jim Schmiedeberg on Jul 22, 2009 9:09 AM EDT
in New York Giants News
Email
Print
Good Morning Giants fans, training camp draws ever closer, and it's time to take our weekly look at the stories making headlines around the NFL:
- A disturbing story out of Reno, NV: A woman is claiming that Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger sexually assaulted her in a hotel room there last year.
- The Dolphins have added Marc Anthony to their ever-growing list of minority owners. I hear Kajagoogoo and Milli Vanilli are also interested. Did I just date myself? Yeah, I probably did.
- Clark Judge looks at some training camp battles for the NFC East.
- T.O. wants you to see the "real" Terrell Owens in his new reality show. Do you care? Does anyone? Honestly anyone who watches this show should be banished from football forever.
- The National Football Post has a great look at Steve Spagnuolo's first year as Rams coach
- Finally, Mike Florio from NBC Sports says plenty of teams should want Michael Vick, because only 13 teams have a QB better than him. (Thankfully he says the Giants are one of them, or I might have had to slap him) What I want to know is, how can you say a guy who hasn't played professional football in 2 years is still better than half the QB's in the league? And let's face it, we're not exactly talking about Joe Montana here to begin with. We're talking about a guy who had 2 seasons as an NFL QB that would qualify as decent. A better argument here might have been is he better than half the WR's in the league.
Have a great week everyone!
13 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
The Big Ben story seems so odd
I hope it turns out untrue, as Big Ben is one of those guys I sort of root for in the league (hate when the ones you like turn out to be scummers).
Agree...
Although a friend of mine who is a Steelers fan noted to me this morning that this is turning into a routine. Win a Super Bowl and then Ben does something stupid (see: accident, motorcycle).
"We're only going to score 17 points?" ~ Tom Brady
Off topic
but JP Losman signed with the UFL’s Las Vegas team, coached by Jim Fassel. I’m actually kind of excited for this league, although I think they would have been better off having it be a spring or summer league instead of during the fall. Still, the post makes a good point that if he plays well he could be signed by an NFL team with an injured QB.
I can’t see how they can succeed by playing in the fall, I really can’t
Blueshirt Banter: Covering the New York Rangers
Big Blue View: Unofficial New York Giants blog
by Jim Schmiedeberg on Jul 22, 2009 12:52 PM EDT up reply actions
On Vick
Plenty of teams should want Vick…at QB. I’m sorry but I %100 disagree with you. Numbers aside he still is the best athlete to ever play the position. I could argue that he didn’t really have talent around him to really be dangerous. Unfortunately I’m a transplant from NY and live in Atlanta…so a lot of times I had no choice but to watch the Falcons. All his WRs dropped a ton of balls thrown to them, including Roddy White who was a rook at the time. His best reciever was Alge Crumpler. On the other hand, the Falcons were the best running team in the league when he had Duckett and Dunn (DVD). He never had a offensive line built for him to be a pocket passer. Always undersized mobile lineman who can run and make blocks downfield. They were always a running team.
You don’t lose all that ability (especially athletic ability) in 2 years. If he goes to a team like San Fran, Denver, Carolina, Oakland, or Washington he is hands down better than what they have. That man took over games by himself and led his team to victory. You can’t say that about many teams QBs right now. Shaun Hill will not win a game by himself. Jamarcus Russell will not win a game by himself. etc…
The man will and should play QB again in the NFL.
not too mention
the stupidity of a West Coast offensive scheme that required accuracy (Vick’s weakness) and guaranteed that defenders would be near the LOS in perfect position to contain his scrambling.
Vick issues
Let’s face some reality regarding Vick: the guy’s been eating prison food for a while, so he’s not exactly where he would be physically if he were eating proper nutrition and working with a trainer. The speed of the NFL is miles away from whatever competition he may have seen in the prison yard. To get acclimated to playing at a decent (I won’t even say high) level in a short period is a long shot.
How he can demand to start in the NFL is a mystery to me. He one-hopped more passes than anyone I’ve seen a bit. He’s this generation’s version of Randall Cunningham, only Cunningham had a better arm and was far and away a better individual.
He’s a public relations disaster waiting to happen, and any team that signs him has to potentially deal with a negative publicity issue. What he should do is sign with the UFL, who has already offered him a contract. Then he could prove to people he still could play pro football and he has changed his personality to be accepted with open arms back into the NFL.
Another issue is the commish doesn’t like knuckleheads and Vick is a classic one. He may have served his debt to society, but not to the commish.
It doesn’t take long to get into game shape, if he has been working out at home, and gets into a camp somewhere he’ll be fine. I haven’t heard he demanded to start, if he did that is plain dumb and not a good way to come back. All I can say is if he shows a glimmer of athletic ability and goes to say a team with an iffy QB, the team should roll the dice on him.
The fact that you said he one hopped more passes seems a little off. In fact his WRs said he threw the ball too hard. Also on the PR nightmare other than having PETA down his throat the general public I think has forgiven him. I think the media has developed this whole notion of a PR nightmare. I know for a fact that if he played for a team in the south, they’d forgive him because people still don’t think its a big deal. I say he did his time, way too much time (stallworth kills a man gets 30days, Vick kills some dogs and gets 2 years, wtf?), let the man play.
With that said. I do feel that the UFL might do him some good. Their league ends around Thanksgiving. If he proves he can still play which he will, I think whatever team loses their QB to injury will look to pick up Vick.
Some Vick stats for you all to digest...
This is from Don Banks’ article today from SportsIllustrated.com (great read, by the way):
… here are just a few of the statistical realities that jumped out at me regarding Vick’s most recent NFL work:
• Vick lost seven of his last nine starts in 2006, as the Falcons wasted a 5-2 start and missed the playoffs at 7-9 — a tailspin that contributed to head coach Jim Mora losing his job after three seasons in Atlanta. Over his final two seasons, his fifth and sixth in the NFL, Vick’s starting record was a mediocre 15-16. These days, that’s roughly Matt Schaub territory, who, ironically, was Vick’s onetime backup in Atlanta.
• In those last nine starts of 2006, Vick threw for at least 200 yards in a game just once, in a Week 15 home loss to Dallas. Vick passed for 127 yards or fewer in five of his last seven starts, and had efforts of 109 yards and 81 yards in his final two games as a Falcon that season. For the year, he completed just 52.6 percent, and averaged only 154.6 yards passing per game, the 28th highest total among the NFL’s 32 starters. Yawn.
• You might recall that Vick broke single-season rushing records for a quarterback with 1,039 yards and an average carry of 8.4 in 2006. That helped Atlanta lead the league in rushing for a third straight year, and the Falcons established a single-season franchise rushing record with 2,939 yards. But Vick was also sacked a whopping 45 times that year, losing 303 yards, and fumbled nine times. In his last three seasons in Atlanta, Vick coughed up the ball an alarming 36 times, often in the process of running, and absorbed a whopping 124 sacks (41.3 per year). Elusive? Maybe not.
• Vick’s passer rating was a pedestrian 75.7 in 2006 (20th in the league), a slight improvement over 2005 (73.1). He threw for 20 touchdowns and a career-high-tying 13 interceptions that final season, but his two-year totals for 2005-06 were a modest 35 touchdowns with 26 picks. Include 2004 and Vick threw 49 touchdowns and 38 interceptions over the course of his final three seasons, with passer ratings that never climbed higher than ’04’s 78.1.
In other words, what’s all the fuss?
Look you can throw out all the numbers you want. Point out the mans worst season, his flaws. I Whatever. I’m just saying the man is an electric player and I want to see him back on the field at QB. It was awesome watching him play.
And also I don’t feel what he did was that serious. It was some dogs that you wouldn’t want next to your kids anyways sooo why all the fuss? Obviously I’m in the minority on that one so I’ll leave it at that.
It's not just the dogs
it is the fact he ran an illegal gambling ring as well. That is the real sticking point I think.
that's one the reasons he pled
Because if the details of that came to light, he’s never getting back in the NFL. Personally I think he’s been suspended for two years already AND been in jail. I have no problem with concurrent sentences. I think a suspension is silly at this point. It seems narcissistic on Goodell’s part, he just wants to make HIS point
I don't care where you are from
or how PC you are about different “cultures”, fighting animals in wrong. It’s disgusting, and frankly if it came down to saving the life of a human being who fought dogs, or the dogs themselves I’d take the animals 10 times our of 10. I sincerely dislike PETA as a whole, I’m an unapologetic meatitarian. But I believe the only punishment fit for Vick would be to personally try out a few of the devices he used on dogs. And it wasn’t just his own animals, he and his gang would drive around stealing other people’s home pets and throwing them in the ring as practice. There is a certain sociopathic tendency for people to be able to disregard an animal’s suffering for their own pleasure. From a football standpoint, I don’t care how much he works out, if he doesn’t get into a camp he will not be in “football shape” by this season. And how many teams don’t use a high number of short, accurate throws in their offense? The West coast has evolved throughout the league and influenced most everybody (maybe not the Raiders). Without having seen a live defense or thrown the ball to real NFL receivers in two years, how can he claim to be starting caliber at this stage? The man is sick and a proven liar, and any team that employs him, caveat emptor.
p.s. You are absolutely right about Stallworth, that is a travesty. Same awful judgement that lets Leonard Little still play. But two wrongs don’t make a right. And that case stinks even more, when you think about how quickly the victims family settled on a big payday.
Homer: Aw, twenty dollars! I wanted a peanut!
Homer's Brain: Twenty dollars can buy many peanuts!
Homer: Explain how!
Homer's Brain: Money can be exchanged for goods and services!
Homer: Woo-hoo!
by bigbluethruandthru on Jul 22, 2009 11:44 PM EDT reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Community Guidelines
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
Get Your Giants' Gear
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
