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These are excerpts. To read the whole article click the link below.
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https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/08/28/h...-watt-texans-nfl-peter-king-monday-morning-qb
Monday Morning QB: J.J. Watt Helps With Hurricane Harvey Flood Relief in Houston
By Peter King
JAY CUTLER LOOKS POSITIVELY NIMBLE
MATT ROURKE/AP
PHILADELPHIA — Me to Jay Cutler: “Did you practice doing TV much this offseason before coming back?”
Cutler: “I mean, I’d be lying if I said I did.”
Cutler never worried about being politically correct. Or correct. He’s the Paul Zimmerman of quarterbacks. So when he walked away from football after last season for the FOX booth, at age 33, and to be a husband and dad to his three kids in Nashville, it just felt odd. In an era when the best quarterbacks talk about (and not flippantly) playing into their 40s, Cutler walked away totally healthy, five or seven years before his time.
Was he a great quarterback? No. Could he be a top-15 quarterback, a good player on a playoff contender, in the right place? Absolutely. “Without Jay, and I told him this, I’d never have gotten this job,” said his Chicago coordinator in 2015, Adam Gase, now Miami’s coach.
Then came the Ryan Tannehill knee surgery, and here came Cutler out of retirement. Strangely, I found myself rooting for him watching him practice against the Eagles. Two reasons: Just because a guy’s got a prickly personality doesn’t mean he’s an idiot. And there was this nagging thought when he retired that there was this unfulfilled part of his career, that we never saw the optimum Cutler. Will we now? Who knows.
But it’ll be a fascinating story. No one knows if this is a five-month detour on the way to a quiet life in Tennessee, or the rekindling of a fascinating career, a la Jim Plunkett. That’s why watching Cutler now, in his second act, will be fun.
Here, on one play, flushed from the pocket by the Eagles’ rush, Cutler moved right, bought time, and with his feet not set, slung a 33-yard pass to the end zone—a strike to backup back Storm Johnson. “As I’ve always told him: ‘You’re like Houdini. I call a bad play and you get me out of it,’” Gase said.
Cutler had his best year of an uneven career under Gase in 2015. He’s got a chance to reprise it now; that was my takeaway watching Miami practice. He’s picked up the offense quickly, is bonding well with his three big receiving weapons—Jarvis Landry, DeVante Parker, Kenny Stills—and says they “definitely” comprise the best receiving tandem he’s had. Cutler looks trim; he’s lost the pudgy early-career look he had and appears to have lost weight in the few months of retirement.
“It’s fun,” he said, stopping before getting on the team bus post-practice. “I am enjoying it a lot more than the past two years, just because I know how short-lived your NFL career is. It’s kind of a bonus. It’s a really good group of guys, and Adam does a great job of taking care of quarterbacks and the rest of the team, so it’s been fun.
“How do you think you’ll play?” I asked.
“No idea. With the talent we have on offense, we should be pretty good. We’ve got some guys who can play football, which makes it easier for me. A lot of things happen in a football season so we’ll have to see how it goes.”
Final question: “Ever get pissed at how you’re perceived?”
Pause. “Ummm,” he said. (His only pause to think during a short interview.) “Not really. Some of it is my fault. Some of it is how things went down. It is what it is. Right now I am just trying to make an impact with these guys and get to know them as quickly as possible so that we can have a good season.”
I feel for Tannehill, a worker bee and great teammate. But the Dolphins could be better with Cutler. They’ll sure be a lot more interesting.
* * *
WHAT DID WE LEARN FROM CAM NEWTON’S FIRST GAME SINCE JAN. 1? NOT MUCH
JOHN RAOUX/AP
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Before Thursday night, Cam Newton hadn’t played in a game in 33 weeks. It had been almost five months since his torn right rotator cuff was surgically repaired, and about three weeks since his sore shoulder forced him to sit out some practice time in training camp. So it was a matter of intense interest to see how Newton played in Jacksonville.
He played one series. Ten snaps. Two passes among those 10 plays—and both were thrown exactly three yards past the line of scrimmage. Both were complete. But there was no sign, positive or negative, about the arm. And though some around the Panthers feel coach Ron Rivera will give Newton a series or two in the preseason finale against Pittsburgh on Thursday night, the coach said he might not.
No one—Newton, Rivera, offensive coordinator Mike Shula—seemed too worried about Newton’s condition after the game. Rivera and Shula see him every day; who am I to doubt them? But if Carolina opens at San Francisco in 13 days, and that’s all anyone sees of game action for Newton, I’d be fairly concerned how he plays early in the season … and the high-scoring Saints and world champion Patriots loom in Weeks 3 and 4. Said Shula: “I’m sure there’s going to be some rust. We’re going to have to live with it.”
The good news in Newton’s one series? The running game was what Rivera has been harping on all off-season. Eight carries, 54 yards, a mixture of Christian McCaffery and Jonathan Stewart. And credit Newton for not pressing the issue, for not trying to change plays to make the kind of low-percentage throws that plagued him last year. Ten plays, 75 yards against a rising defense is good. Newton said he wasn’t worried about the lack of playing time. “If I don’t play next week, I have to pick it up in practice,” he said. “It’s not a big deal.”
It will be big, though, for Newton to be more accurate, and to take more of what the defense gives him. Maybe shoulder strength will be less important this year because theoretically he’ll be throwing shorter, higher-percentage passes in 2017, trying to recover from his seven-percentage-point drop in accuracy from 2015 to ’16. The idea for Newton is to still run some, but also to make more economical throws closer to the line of scrimmage—the way he did on his only two passes Thursday night.
“I’m in the best shape of my life,” he said. “People will see that this year.”
They may not see much before the opener. But look on the bright side if you’re a Panthers fan: Andrew Luck hasn’t even practiced yet after his offseason shoulder surgery. Newton’s ahead there. But with two significant new weapons on offense, the Panthers look to be a work in progress for a while early in the season. Newton’s got to get to know his guys.
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THE BURFICT BAN: FAIR OR NOT?
With virtually all other players in football, the Aug. 19 crushing hit on defenseless receiver Anthony Sherman of the Chiefs would not have resulted in a suspension by the NFL. But Cincinnati linebacker Vontaze Burfict is not like many other players.
He is one of the most fined and suspended players for egregious hits in recent NFL history. And as Adam Schefter reported Sunday night, Burfict will be suspended for the first five games for the hit on Sherman.
The history: You’ll remember how he cheap-shotted Steelers receiver Antonio Brown into wooziness in a playoff game two years ago, knocking him out of the following week’s game at Denver. Greg Olsen and Ben Roethlisberger have both accused Burfict of trying to intentionally injure them, and he was fined for both incidents.
The Brown hit caused Burfict to be suspended for the first three games of 2016. So, barring a successful appeal, Burfict will miss the opening five games this year after missing the opening three games last year.
View: https://twitter.com/LacesOrFaces/status/902021903434620928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.si.com%2Fnfl%2F2017%2F08%2F28%2Fhouston-flood-harvey-jj-watt-texans-nfl-peter-king-monday-morning-qb
On the hit in question in the Bengals’ second preseason game, Sherman came out of the backfield and had his head turned, so he was not looking upfield. It appears from the replay as though Sherman could not see Burfict coming and thus was defenseless. Burfict blasted Sherman either on the upper arm or shoulder pad/neck area (the replay is not conclusive), and down went Sherman. It was a big hit, and the 242-pounder flew to the ground.
A new rule this year gives defenseless receiver protection to an offensive player running a pass route—if the receiver is contacted from the side or from behind. Burfict approached Sherman from the side and hit him. The defenseless part is certainly correct. With his history, it’s going to be a tough case for Burfict to win.
There will be those, perhaps with good reason, who will say it's absurd to erase 31 percent of a player's season for a play that happened in a preseason game. I would be one of those. But the league will be quick to point out that Burfict lost the benefit of the doubt long ago. Clearly the NFL is tired of his act.
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THE NEW FALCONS STADIUM HAS 2,600 TVS IN IT
JOHN BAZEMORE/AP
ATLANTA — And a pretty cool “Halo Board” encircling the area just beneath the roof. That’s a circular scoreboard/video board/social-media board with vivid color and picture. You know what’s interesting about the board? It’s situated higher in the stadium than the 180-foot wide high-def screens high above either sideline in Dallas. I’ll tell you the difference:
When you’re in the second or third level of the Cowboys’ stadium, your eyes almost lock onto the screens because you can see the game far better on the screen than you can in real life. In Atlanta, you have to think to look up to the screens. You’re rewarded when you do look up, because the circular board is a stunner.
Two other things: The Georgia Dome lasted just 25 seasons. It’s almost like the Falcons barely liked it, and Blank was determined to build a showplace downtown. But you can’t go building new downtown football stadia every 2.5 decades; the cost and waste are just too high. “We designed this one to last 40 to 50 years, maybe longer,” Blank told me. It needs to.
The field seemed to play softer than some artificial turf fields, and the players agreed. “It was soft,” said center Alex Mack. “But the softer the better. Slows down those defensive lineman, who get faster every year.”
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“You can have a lot of body parts replaced. But you can’t do a brain transplant.”
—Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who also told Tim Rohan of The MMQB that he’s taking his future football career a year at a time.
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“What is he, a couple of months older than Jared? They hired a buddy for Jared. The NFL has nothing to do with being the friend or the buddy of the quarterback. You’ve got to coach them and work them hard with respect. But buddy? And this guy is a quarterback expert? An offensive expert? Wait a minute while I puke.”
—Former Rams coach Mike Martz on the current Rams coach, 31-year-old Sean McVay, coaching Jared Goff, to SB Nation.
I wonder what the encounter between Martz and McVay will be like at the 2033 meeting of the Rams Head Coaches Alumni Association?
Come to think of it, I doubt Jeff Fisher, Steve Spagnuolo or Martz would attend.
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“Everybody is entitled to their opinion, and I can understand that, and the bottom line is this—I’ve never been a head coach before, I haven’t won a game, I haven’t done anything. I know that it’s going to be a great learning curve, and I’m not going to pretend to have the answers to things that I don’t know. But what I am going to do is continue to look at myself critically and try to be the best head coach and leader that I can be for this team and this organization.”
—McVay, in one of several deflecting responses to Martz’s criticisms. I hope when I grow up I handle someone ripping me to shreds as well as McVay handled this.
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“You f------- sh------ me? Why you gotta do that? Jameis, you’re playing a great game and then your greed takes over. You’re so much better than that. ... You can’t do that, ever, ever, ever.”
—Tampa Bay coach Dirk Koetter, as captured by NFL Films for the HBO “Hard Knocks” show last week, ripping into quarterback Jameis Winston for throwing a careless, inexcusable interception at Jacksonville.
That’s the benefit of “Hard Knocks”: seeing real stuff when it happens, and when teams don’t over-edit the show. I credit the Bucs as an organization, and Nelson Luis as the keeper of the communications flame there. If “Hard Knocks” is going to exist, and it is going to be real, you need to see what really happens.
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NAMES OF THE PRESEASON
Arizona has them all.
• Cap Capi, LB. Longshot linebacker after stints in Baltimore and Miami. His name is actually Nordly Capi, and he sacked Matt Simms in Atlanta on Saturday night.
• Ironhead Gallon, S. The rookie free agent from Georgia Southern got the name from his father, who grew up a big Ironhead Heyward fan. Real first name: Deshawntee.
• Gump Hayes, CB. Formerly known as De’Chavon Hayes, he got the Gump nickname as a kid because of his Forrest Gump-like speed. Run, De’Chavon, Run didn’t quite work for a fast kid.
Haven’t even mentioned Budda Baker, Frostee Rucker or Scooby Wright III.
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THINGS I THINK I THINK
1. I think these are my thoughts about the preseason weekend:
a. Biggest positive surprise of the preseason? Baltimore’s defense. Now we have to divine whether that means anything. But what the Ravens’ first unit-plus has shown is great speed and pursuit, stout run defense led by Brandon Williams and Michael Pierce, and a fairly ancient secondary playing extremely well (47 percent opposition completions and 52.5 opposing passer rating). Shouldn’t overrate this stuff, of course, but the Ravens won’t be pushovers. And Marlon Humphrey, the first-round corner, is not afraid, a vital attribute for his position.
b. The Bills’ offensive yardage on their first five possessions: minus-1, minus-3, 36, minus-4, minus-1.
c. Watched the first three Kansas City offensive series in Seattle. And if the Seahawks stay healthy, they could win the NFC West by a lot because of that fierce defense.
d. News item: Blake Bortles named Jaguars starting quarterback over Chad Henne. Does it really matter? Does anyone doubt Henne or someone else will be the quarterback by Halloween?
e. Best preseason competition I saw: Dallas linebacker Sean Lee, in his first game of the preseason, zeroing in on Marshawn Lynch on a run play early in the first quarter, slamming him to the ground, and then chasing down Lynch on a sideline pass play. Lynch looks strong and quicker than he was at the end of his time in Seattle. Lee looks fast. That was great football.
f. The Lions’ first units are absolutely not ready for prime time, judging by their 24-0 deficit early in Friday’s home tilt.
g. The Eagles should be worried about their running game, but not their quarterback or the passing game.
h. Blair Walsh: 10 of 10 on PATs, eight of nine on field goals in three games. Looks like he’s rebuilding his lost Minnesota trust with the Seahawks. Then again, these games don’t count.
i. So that draft deal between New England and Carolina, the Pats moving down eight picks from 72 overall to 80 to pick up defensive end Kony Ealy, was a dud. The world champs cut him Saturday.
j. Chris Johnson didn’t help his case to earn the prime backup role to David Johnson in Arizona’s game at Atlanta. Fumbled twice, dropped a pass in his breadbasket … all in the first four minutes of the game. Andre Ellington looked significantly better.
k. Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee had a superb reminder of the great “distraction”Kaepernick was last year for the Niners.
l. If Jason Pierre-Paul plays in September the way he’s played in August, in very limited snaps, the Giants could have the NFC’s best edge combination—in Pierre-Paul and Olivier Vernon. “I am just getting warmed up,” Pierre-Paul said after the bizarro 32-31 Giants’ win over the Jets. Pierre-Paul was dominant against the Jets. My Lord: The way Pierre-Paul tossed aside right tackle Brandon Shell to get to Christian Hackenberg … scary.
m. Christian Hackenberg … scary.
n. Tyrod Taylor, concussed. Well, the Bills may end up seeing a lot more of Nathan Peterman than they ever thought in year one.
o. I loved Hue Jackson not babying DeShone Kizer in his start at Tampa. Kizer was throwing deep, and trying to find good and tight windows to throw into—and, more importantly, he was looking downfield consistently. Kizer’s not afraid. He needs to play.
p. Case study needed on how many teams passed for three full rounds and most of a fourth on Dak Prescott. Amazing how poised and confident he looks, and how confident he is throwing downfield. His play-action touchdown pass to Jason Witten was Boomer Esiason play-action stuff. (Which is very good. Boomer was the king of play-action.)
q. Darren McFadden is making the Dallas front office a little less worried about the outcome of the Zeke Elliott appeal with nights like Saturday against Oakland.
r. Myles Garrett is going to get his sacks unless left tackles have consistent help. Did you see the play when, almost like the old dance move the Limbo, the Cleveland pass-rusher literally slithered under Bucs tackle Donovan Smith to pressure the quarterback? Such an athletic move for a big man.
s. “I was hoping he’d look like that tonight,” Denver coach Vance Joseph said of Jamaal Charles (four carries, 27 yards) in his first NFL appearance in a color other than red.
t. Read Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe on Chris Berman. Heck of a column.
u. The reason Andy Reid can feel so comfortable making Tyreek Hill a full-time receiver (likely to make kick return cameos only) is that he has De’Anthony Thomas in reserve. Quite a reserve. Thomas burst 95 yards for a kickoff-return touchdown in Seattle.
v. Carson Palmer throws such a beautiful ball. His 28-yard fade to John Brown for a touchdown at Atlanta … perfect.
2. I think the Texans will be staying in Dallas at least through mid-day Tuesday, minimum. And it’s likely that their final preseason game, currently scheduled for Thursday night in Houston against the Cowboys, will be moved. The Cowboys have offered their stadium for the game, and they also have opened their practice facilities to the Texans. Houston will be practicing at The Star in Frisco on Monday at 9:30 a.m.
3. I think, as many have said, the Jaguars exercising the fifth-year option on Blake Bortles at $19 million will be a haunting decision for the franchise.
4. I think, regardless of the flippancy of the comment, this is another one that could, and should, haunt NFLPA president Eric Winston, the Cincinnati tackle. WCPO TV in Cincinnati, in an interview with Winston, quoted him saying about the future of football: “Honestly, I don't care, and I don't think the guys in this locker room care whether [the NFL] is going to be around in 20 years because none of us are going to be playing. …
If this thing dies out in 20 years, it dies out in 20 years. That's not really my concern.” On FOX Sports 1, former player Seth Joyner said he was “appalled and really blown away” by the comments. I have a lot of respect for Winston—he once guest-authored this very column—and have known him for most of his career as a guy who cares a lot for his fellow players. I did not like these comments at all. Those words are totally not in keeping with the history of the union, which has always said it makes decisions today for the players of tomorrow.
5. I think for an 84-year-old “reporter,” Gil Brandt is pretty darned young and frisky. Late Saturday afternoon he Tweeted that Odell Beckham Jr., trying to accelerate recovery on his sprained ankle and improve his chances to play opening day, had his second special treatment on the ankle at a facility in Phoenix. “Giants not involved in plan,” Brandt wrote. Hmmmm.
7. I think this hole the Bills have dug for themselves just seems to get deeper every day. The team last played a playoff game eight days into this century. Seventeen years into this century, the drought is far from over. The Bills, who sent Marcell Dareus home before the preseason game at Baltimore over a disciplinary issue, now need to have a serious discussion about his future in Buffalo. “Obviously, a guy with his contract status, you would hope that he would be a better leader than that,” GM Brandon Beane said.
Since being drafted in 2011, Dareus has been arrested twice, suspended by the league for substance issues, and now gets sent home for team disciplinary reasons. Since signing a six-year, $96 million extension in 2015, Dareus has had a four-game suspension and now this, and the Bills have to choose between paying Dareus $9.75 million in salary this year … or face the onerous task, if they choose to cut him, of splitting a $38.35 million hit for dead money over 2017 and ’18.
It’s all onerous, frankly. The contract was an idiotic one to agree to in the first place, based on Dareus’s off-field history. And now the franchise has another anchor on it. Say you were 10 years old and just getting into pro football when the Bills last made the playoffs.
Now you’ve gone through middle school, high school and maybe four years of college, and gotten married, and maybe just started a family. And your team’s been miserable every season. How much more are you ready to take? Not sure of that … but it ain’t over.
PETER KING/THE MMQB
8. I think one of the coolest things I saw over the weekend in Atlanta happened Friday morning at the John Lewis Invictus Charter School on the West Side, in the neighborhood that the Falcons hope gets a boost from the new stadium. There, about 150 gym teachers and school volunteers from around the state gathered to get taught the basics in flag-football coaching and league organization as part of the Falcons’ Rise Up 159 flag football programs.
The franchise is funding flag football programs at one school in all 159 Georgia counties, and providing a pool of grant money for other interested schools and youth programs, to encourage kids to play the game—and, frankly, to play anything. This is something all 32 franchises should be doing, in my mind.
The future of youth football is going to go more and more to flag, and rightfully so, with the legitimate fears of head trauma in tackle football for children before their brains are fully developed. “We wanted to include the entire state,” said owner Arthur Blank, “because every child should have a chance to play.
We wanted to find a way to share the game and encourage more playing and teamwork, and to get kids out doing things instead of being in front of a screen all the time.” The Falcons paid for the cost of substitute teachers for any school employees who came to Friday’s training, and some drove three to four hours from rural parts of the state to come. Laudable effort.
9. I think this about the Jerry Kramer nomination to the Hall of Fame: I am glad he will get another day in front of the full committee of 48 voters next February in Minneapolis. He will need 39 yes votes for enshrinement (as will fellow Seniors Committee nominee Robert Brazile). Once and for all, Kramer’s fate will be decided. That’s a very good thing.
The way the system works, it’s rare to come out of the morass of the Seniors pool, which consists of all players retired for more than 25 years. Kramer came out of the pool in 1997 and did not get 80 percent of the vote, so he was not enshrined.
Now he comes out of the pool again, and if he doesn’t get 80 percent, I doubt he’d ever again come out of the Seniors pool, which has at least 50 truly legitimate candidates waiting to have their cases heard. Kramer, in the years he was eligible as a Modern Era finalist, was a finalist nine times and never got the vote. So overall he’s 0-for-10. This is it.
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https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/08/28/h...-watt-texans-nfl-peter-king-monday-morning-qb
Monday Morning QB: J.J. Watt Helps With Hurricane Harvey Flood Relief in Houston
By Peter King
JAY CUTLER LOOKS POSITIVELY NIMBLE
MATT ROURKE/AP
PHILADELPHIA — Me to Jay Cutler: “Did you practice doing TV much this offseason before coming back?”
Cutler: “I mean, I’d be lying if I said I did.”
Cutler never worried about being politically correct. Or correct. He’s the Paul Zimmerman of quarterbacks. So when he walked away from football after last season for the FOX booth, at age 33, and to be a husband and dad to his three kids in Nashville, it just felt odd. In an era when the best quarterbacks talk about (and not flippantly) playing into their 40s, Cutler walked away totally healthy, five or seven years before his time.
Was he a great quarterback? No. Could he be a top-15 quarterback, a good player on a playoff contender, in the right place? Absolutely. “Without Jay, and I told him this, I’d never have gotten this job,” said his Chicago coordinator in 2015, Adam Gase, now Miami’s coach.
Then came the Ryan Tannehill knee surgery, and here came Cutler out of retirement. Strangely, I found myself rooting for him watching him practice against the Eagles. Two reasons: Just because a guy’s got a prickly personality doesn’t mean he’s an idiot. And there was this nagging thought when he retired that there was this unfulfilled part of his career, that we never saw the optimum Cutler. Will we now? Who knows.
But it’ll be a fascinating story. No one knows if this is a five-month detour on the way to a quiet life in Tennessee, or the rekindling of a fascinating career, a la Jim Plunkett. That’s why watching Cutler now, in his second act, will be fun.
Here, on one play, flushed from the pocket by the Eagles’ rush, Cutler moved right, bought time, and with his feet not set, slung a 33-yard pass to the end zone—a strike to backup back Storm Johnson. “As I’ve always told him: ‘You’re like Houdini. I call a bad play and you get me out of it,’” Gase said.
Cutler had his best year of an uneven career under Gase in 2015. He’s got a chance to reprise it now; that was my takeaway watching Miami practice. He’s picked up the offense quickly, is bonding well with his three big receiving weapons—Jarvis Landry, DeVante Parker, Kenny Stills—and says they “definitely” comprise the best receiving tandem he’s had. Cutler looks trim; he’s lost the pudgy early-career look he had and appears to have lost weight in the few months of retirement.
“It’s fun,” he said, stopping before getting on the team bus post-practice. “I am enjoying it a lot more than the past two years, just because I know how short-lived your NFL career is. It’s kind of a bonus. It’s a really good group of guys, and Adam does a great job of taking care of quarterbacks and the rest of the team, so it’s been fun.
“How do you think you’ll play?” I asked.
“No idea. With the talent we have on offense, we should be pretty good. We’ve got some guys who can play football, which makes it easier for me. A lot of things happen in a football season so we’ll have to see how it goes.”
Final question: “Ever get pissed at how you’re perceived?”
Pause. “Ummm,” he said. (His only pause to think during a short interview.) “Not really. Some of it is my fault. Some of it is how things went down. It is what it is. Right now I am just trying to make an impact with these guys and get to know them as quickly as possible so that we can have a good season.”
I feel for Tannehill, a worker bee and great teammate. But the Dolphins could be better with Cutler. They’ll sure be a lot more interesting.
* * *
WHAT DID WE LEARN FROM CAM NEWTON’S FIRST GAME SINCE JAN. 1? NOT MUCH
JOHN RAOUX/AP
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Before Thursday night, Cam Newton hadn’t played in a game in 33 weeks. It had been almost five months since his torn right rotator cuff was surgically repaired, and about three weeks since his sore shoulder forced him to sit out some practice time in training camp. So it was a matter of intense interest to see how Newton played in Jacksonville.
He played one series. Ten snaps. Two passes among those 10 plays—and both were thrown exactly three yards past the line of scrimmage. Both were complete. But there was no sign, positive or negative, about the arm. And though some around the Panthers feel coach Ron Rivera will give Newton a series or two in the preseason finale against Pittsburgh on Thursday night, the coach said he might not.
No one—Newton, Rivera, offensive coordinator Mike Shula—seemed too worried about Newton’s condition after the game. Rivera and Shula see him every day; who am I to doubt them? But if Carolina opens at San Francisco in 13 days, and that’s all anyone sees of game action for Newton, I’d be fairly concerned how he plays early in the season … and the high-scoring Saints and world champion Patriots loom in Weeks 3 and 4. Said Shula: “I’m sure there’s going to be some rust. We’re going to have to live with it.”
The good news in Newton’s one series? The running game was what Rivera has been harping on all off-season. Eight carries, 54 yards, a mixture of Christian McCaffery and Jonathan Stewart. And credit Newton for not pressing the issue, for not trying to change plays to make the kind of low-percentage throws that plagued him last year. Ten plays, 75 yards against a rising defense is good. Newton said he wasn’t worried about the lack of playing time. “If I don’t play next week, I have to pick it up in practice,” he said. “It’s not a big deal.”
It will be big, though, for Newton to be more accurate, and to take more of what the defense gives him. Maybe shoulder strength will be less important this year because theoretically he’ll be throwing shorter, higher-percentage passes in 2017, trying to recover from his seven-percentage-point drop in accuracy from 2015 to ’16. The idea for Newton is to still run some, but also to make more economical throws closer to the line of scrimmage—the way he did on his only two passes Thursday night.
“I’m in the best shape of my life,” he said. “People will see that this year.”
They may not see much before the opener. But look on the bright side if you’re a Panthers fan: Andrew Luck hasn’t even practiced yet after his offseason shoulder surgery. Newton’s ahead there. But with two significant new weapons on offense, the Panthers look to be a work in progress for a while early in the season. Newton’s got to get to know his guys.
* * *
THE BURFICT BAN: FAIR OR NOT?
With virtually all other players in football, the Aug. 19 crushing hit on defenseless receiver Anthony Sherman of the Chiefs would not have resulted in a suspension by the NFL. But Cincinnati linebacker Vontaze Burfict is not like many other players.
He is one of the most fined and suspended players for egregious hits in recent NFL history. And as Adam Schefter reported Sunday night, Burfict will be suspended for the first five games for the hit on Sherman.
The history: You’ll remember how he cheap-shotted Steelers receiver Antonio Brown into wooziness in a playoff game two years ago, knocking him out of the following week’s game at Denver. Greg Olsen and Ben Roethlisberger have both accused Burfict of trying to intentionally injure them, and he was fined for both incidents.
The Brown hit caused Burfict to be suspended for the first three games of 2016. So, barring a successful appeal, Burfict will miss the opening five games this year after missing the opening three games last year.
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On the hit in question in the Bengals’ second preseason game, Sherman came out of the backfield and had his head turned, so he was not looking upfield. It appears from the replay as though Sherman could not see Burfict coming and thus was defenseless. Burfict blasted Sherman either on the upper arm or shoulder pad/neck area (the replay is not conclusive), and down went Sherman. It was a big hit, and the 242-pounder flew to the ground.
A new rule this year gives defenseless receiver protection to an offensive player running a pass route—if the receiver is contacted from the side or from behind. Burfict approached Sherman from the side and hit him. The defenseless part is certainly correct. With his history, it’s going to be a tough case for Burfict to win.
There will be those, perhaps with good reason, who will say it's absurd to erase 31 percent of a player's season for a play that happened in a preseason game. I would be one of those. But the league will be quick to point out that Burfict lost the benefit of the doubt long ago. Clearly the NFL is tired of his act.
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THE NEW FALCONS STADIUM HAS 2,600 TVS IN IT
JOHN BAZEMORE/AP
ATLANTA — And a pretty cool “Halo Board” encircling the area just beneath the roof. That’s a circular scoreboard/video board/social-media board with vivid color and picture. You know what’s interesting about the board? It’s situated higher in the stadium than the 180-foot wide high-def screens high above either sideline in Dallas. I’ll tell you the difference:
When you’re in the second or third level of the Cowboys’ stadium, your eyes almost lock onto the screens because you can see the game far better on the screen than you can in real life. In Atlanta, you have to think to look up to the screens. You’re rewarded when you do look up, because the circular board is a stunner.
Two other things: The Georgia Dome lasted just 25 seasons. It’s almost like the Falcons barely liked it, and Blank was determined to build a showplace downtown. But you can’t go building new downtown football stadia every 2.5 decades; the cost and waste are just too high. “We designed this one to last 40 to 50 years, maybe longer,” Blank told me. It needs to.
The field seemed to play softer than some artificial turf fields, and the players agreed. “It was soft,” said center Alex Mack. “But the softer the better. Slows down those defensive lineman, who get faster every year.”
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“You can have a lot of body parts replaced. But you can’t do a brain transplant.”
—Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who also told Tim Rohan of The MMQB that he’s taking his future football career a year at a time.
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“What is he, a couple of months older than Jared? They hired a buddy for Jared. The NFL has nothing to do with being the friend or the buddy of the quarterback. You’ve got to coach them and work them hard with respect. But buddy? And this guy is a quarterback expert? An offensive expert? Wait a minute while I puke.”
—Former Rams coach Mike Martz on the current Rams coach, 31-year-old Sean McVay, coaching Jared Goff, to SB Nation.
I wonder what the encounter between Martz and McVay will be like at the 2033 meeting of the Rams Head Coaches Alumni Association?
Come to think of it, I doubt Jeff Fisher, Steve Spagnuolo or Martz would attend.
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“Everybody is entitled to their opinion, and I can understand that, and the bottom line is this—I’ve never been a head coach before, I haven’t won a game, I haven’t done anything. I know that it’s going to be a great learning curve, and I’m not going to pretend to have the answers to things that I don’t know. But what I am going to do is continue to look at myself critically and try to be the best head coach and leader that I can be for this team and this organization.”
—McVay, in one of several deflecting responses to Martz’s criticisms. I hope when I grow up I handle someone ripping me to shreds as well as McVay handled this.
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“You f------- sh------ me? Why you gotta do that? Jameis, you’re playing a great game and then your greed takes over. You’re so much better than that. ... You can’t do that, ever, ever, ever.”
—Tampa Bay coach Dirk Koetter, as captured by NFL Films for the HBO “Hard Knocks” show last week, ripping into quarterback Jameis Winston for throwing a careless, inexcusable interception at Jacksonville.
That’s the benefit of “Hard Knocks”: seeing real stuff when it happens, and when teams don’t over-edit the show. I credit the Bucs as an organization, and Nelson Luis as the keeper of the communications flame there. If “Hard Knocks” is going to exist, and it is going to be real, you need to see what really happens.
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NAMES OF THE PRESEASON
Arizona has them all.
• Cap Capi, LB. Longshot linebacker after stints in Baltimore and Miami. His name is actually Nordly Capi, and he sacked Matt Simms in Atlanta on Saturday night.
• Ironhead Gallon, S. The rookie free agent from Georgia Southern got the name from his father, who grew up a big Ironhead Heyward fan. Real first name: Deshawntee.
• Gump Hayes, CB. Formerly known as De’Chavon Hayes, he got the Gump nickname as a kid because of his Forrest Gump-like speed. Run, De’Chavon, Run didn’t quite work for a fast kid.
Haven’t even mentioned Budda Baker, Frostee Rucker or Scooby Wright III.
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THINGS I THINK I THINK
1. I think these are my thoughts about the preseason weekend:
a. Biggest positive surprise of the preseason? Baltimore’s defense. Now we have to divine whether that means anything. But what the Ravens’ first unit-plus has shown is great speed and pursuit, stout run defense led by Brandon Williams and Michael Pierce, and a fairly ancient secondary playing extremely well (47 percent opposition completions and 52.5 opposing passer rating). Shouldn’t overrate this stuff, of course, but the Ravens won’t be pushovers. And Marlon Humphrey, the first-round corner, is not afraid, a vital attribute for his position.
b. The Bills’ offensive yardage on their first five possessions: minus-1, minus-3, 36, minus-4, minus-1.
c. Watched the first three Kansas City offensive series in Seattle. And if the Seahawks stay healthy, they could win the NFC West by a lot because of that fierce defense.
d. News item: Blake Bortles named Jaguars starting quarterback over Chad Henne. Does it really matter? Does anyone doubt Henne or someone else will be the quarterback by Halloween?
e. Best preseason competition I saw: Dallas linebacker Sean Lee, in his first game of the preseason, zeroing in on Marshawn Lynch on a run play early in the first quarter, slamming him to the ground, and then chasing down Lynch on a sideline pass play. Lynch looks strong and quicker than he was at the end of his time in Seattle. Lee looks fast. That was great football.
f. The Lions’ first units are absolutely not ready for prime time, judging by their 24-0 deficit early in Friday’s home tilt.
g. The Eagles should be worried about their running game, but not their quarterback or the passing game.
h. Blair Walsh: 10 of 10 on PATs, eight of nine on field goals in three games. Looks like he’s rebuilding his lost Minnesota trust with the Seahawks. Then again, these games don’t count.
i. So that draft deal between New England and Carolina, the Pats moving down eight picks from 72 overall to 80 to pick up defensive end Kony Ealy, was a dud. The world champs cut him Saturday.
j. Chris Johnson didn’t help his case to earn the prime backup role to David Johnson in Arizona’s game at Atlanta. Fumbled twice, dropped a pass in his breadbasket … all in the first four minutes of the game. Andre Ellington looked significantly better.
k. Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee had a superb reminder of the great “distraction”Kaepernick was last year for the Niners.
l. If Jason Pierre-Paul plays in September the way he’s played in August, in very limited snaps, the Giants could have the NFC’s best edge combination—in Pierre-Paul and Olivier Vernon. “I am just getting warmed up,” Pierre-Paul said after the bizarro 32-31 Giants’ win over the Jets. Pierre-Paul was dominant against the Jets. My Lord: The way Pierre-Paul tossed aside right tackle Brandon Shell to get to Christian Hackenberg … scary.
m. Christian Hackenberg … scary.
n. Tyrod Taylor, concussed. Well, the Bills may end up seeing a lot more of Nathan Peterman than they ever thought in year one.
o. I loved Hue Jackson not babying DeShone Kizer in his start at Tampa. Kizer was throwing deep, and trying to find good and tight windows to throw into—and, more importantly, he was looking downfield consistently. Kizer’s not afraid. He needs to play.
p. Case study needed on how many teams passed for three full rounds and most of a fourth on Dak Prescott. Amazing how poised and confident he looks, and how confident he is throwing downfield. His play-action touchdown pass to Jason Witten was Boomer Esiason play-action stuff. (Which is very good. Boomer was the king of play-action.)
q. Darren McFadden is making the Dallas front office a little less worried about the outcome of the Zeke Elliott appeal with nights like Saturday against Oakland.
r. Myles Garrett is going to get his sacks unless left tackles have consistent help. Did you see the play when, almost like the old dance move the Limbo, the Cleveland pass-rusher literally slithered under Bucs tackle Donovan Smith to pressure the quarterback? Such an athletic move for a big man.
s. “I was hoping he’d look like that tonight,” Denver coach Vance Joseph said of Jamaal Charles (four carries, 27 yards) in his first NFL appearance in a color other than red.
t. Read Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe on Chris Berman. Heck of a column.
u. The reason Andy Reid can feel so comfortable making Tyreek Hill a full-time receiver (likely to make kick return cameos only) is that he has De’Anthony Thomas in reserve. Quite a reserve. Thomas burst 95 yards for a kickoff-return touchdown in Seattle.
v. Carson Palmer throws such a beautiful ball. His 28-yard fade to John Brown for a touchdown at Atlanta … perfect.
2. I think the Texans will be staying in Dallas at least through mid-day Tuesday, minimum. And it’s likely that their final preseason game, currently scheduled for Thursday night in Houston against the Cowboys, will be moved. The Cowboys have offered their stadium for the game, and they also have opened their practice facilities to the Texans. Houston will be practicing at The Star in Frisco on Monday at 9:30 a.m.
3. I think, as many have said, the Jaguars exercising the fifth-year option on Blake Bortles at $19 million will be a haunting decision for the franchise.
4. I think, regardless of the flippancy of the comment, this is another one that could, and should, haunt NFLPA president Eric Winston, the Cincinnati tackle. WCPO TV in Cincinnati, in an interview with Winston, quoted him saying about the future of football: “Honestly, I don't care, and I don't think the guys in this locker room care whether [the NFL] is going to be around in 20 years because none of us are going to be playing. …
If this thing dies out in 20 years, it dies out in 20 years. That's not really my concern.” On FOX Sports 1, former player Seth Joyner said he was “appalled and really blown away” by the comments. I have a lot of respect for Winston—he once guest-authored this very column—and have known him for most of his career as a guy who cares a lot for his fellow players. I did not like these comments at all. Those words are totally not in keeping with the history of the union, which has always said it makes decisions today for the players of tomorrow.
5. I think for an 84-year-old “reporter,” Gil Brandt is pretty darned young and frisky. Late Saturday afternoon he Tweeted that Odell Beckham Jr., trying to accelerate recovery on his sprained ankle and improve his chances to play opening day, had his second special treatment on the ankle at a facility in Phoenix. “Giants not involved in plan,” Brandt wrote. Hmmmm.
7. I think this hole the Bills have dug for themselves just seems to get deeper every day. The team last played a playoff game eight days into this century. Seventeen years into this century, the drought is far from over. The Bills, who sent Marcell Dareus home before the preseason game at Baltimore over a disciplinary issue, now need to have a serious discussion about his future in Buffalo. “Obviously, a guy with his contract status, you would hope that he would be a better leader than that,” GM Brandon Beane said.
Since being drafted in 2011, Dareus has been arrested twice, suspended by the league for substance issues, and now gets sent home for team disciplinary reasons. Since signing a six-year, $96 million extension in 2015, Dareus has had a four-game suspension and now this, and the Bills have to choose between paying Dareus $9.75 million in salary this year … or face the onerous task, if they choose to cut him, of splitting a $38.35 million hit for dead money over 2017 and ’18.
It’s all onerous, frankly. The contract was an idiotic one to agree to in the first place, based on Dareus’s off-field history. And now the franchise has another anchor on it. Say you were 10 years old and just getting into pro football when the Bills last made the playoffs.
Now you’ve gone through middle school, high school and maybe four years of college, and gotten married, and maybe just started a family. And your team’s been miserable every season. How much more are you ready to take? Not sure of that … but it ain’t over.
PETER KING/THE MMQB
8. I think one of the coolest things I saw over the weekend in Atlanta happened Friday morning at the John Lewis Invictus Charter School on the West Side, in the neighborhood that the Falcons hope gets a boost from the new stadium. There, about 150 gym teachers and school volunteers from around the state gathered to get taught the basics in flag-football coaching and league organization as part of the Falcons’ Rise Up 159 flag football programs.
The franchise is funding flag football programs at one school in all 159 Georgia counties, and providing a pool of grant money for other interested schools and youth programs, to encourage kids to play the game—and, frankly, to play anything. This is something all 32 franchises should be doing, in my mind.
The future of youth football is going to go more and more to flag, and rightfully so, with the legitimate fears of head trauma in tackle football for children before their brains are fully developed. “We wanted to include the entire state,” said owner Arthur Blank, “because every child should have a chance to play.
We wanted to find a way to share the game and encourage more playing and teamwork, and to get kids out doing things instead of being in front of a screen all the time.” The Falcons paid for the cost of substitute teachers for any school employees who came to Friday’s training, and some drove three to four hours from rural parts of the state to come. Laudable effort.
9. I think this about the Jerry Kramer nomination to the Hall of Fame: I am glad he will get another day in front of the full committee of 48 voters next February in Minneapolis. He will need 39 yes votes for enshrinement (as will fellow Seniors Committee nominee Robert Brazile). Once and for all, Kramer’s fate will be decided. That’s a very good thing.
The way the system works, it’s rare to come out of the morass of the Seniors pool, which consists of all players retired for more than 25 years. Kramer came out of the pool in 1997 and did not get 80 percent of the vote, so he was not enshrined.
Now he comes out of the pool again, and if he doesn’t get 80 percent, I doubt he’d ever again come out of the Seniors pool, which has at least 50 truly legitimate candidates waiting to have their cases heard. Kramer, in the years he was eligible as a Modern Era finalist, was a finalist nine times and never got the vote. So overall he’s 0-for-10. This is it.
