July 09, 2008
Still down in Dallas, one day to go and our second magazine will be all done. In the meantime, check out Tiffany and I talking Cardinals.
To me, the big questions here are whether Matt Leinart is a legitimate quarterback option with Warner in the background. And whether Leinart's re-emergence will hurt the value of Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald.
July 02, 2008
Since Larry Fitzgerald's second season, he and Anquan Boldin have always been drafted in close proximity. That has changed this year. Fitz is now a second-round pick, while Boldin is going early in the fourth. The question is whether there should be such a gap.
Continue reading "The Boldin-Fitzgerald gap" »
June 12, 2008
New Marshawn Lynch developments, including a dancing pedestrian and Lynch's previous interactions with the police. Apparently Lynch has been tossed from a few local bars for ordering soda, then pouring ihis own liquor into the glass. Thrifty.
The Arizona quarterback rotation could be coming back. (Although I doubt it). The Cardinals are yet another team done with OTAs this week.
Continue reading "Skinny Posts: BYOL" »
March 12, 2008
The blog has been quiet lately as I've helped out on our baseball video previews and started to get ready for a Japan trip to see the in-laws and watch some Red Sox International. Then this place will really get quiet, although the timing feels right as we head into the Donnie Nickey/Dan Klecko/Danny Clark phase of free agency. Here are a couple loose thoughts on the events of the past few days ...
The Texans could be posturing or they could really be hesitant to draft a first-round running back. Considering their system, I'm betting the latter. Chris Taylor sounds like a nice deep dynasty league pickup.
Continue reading "Skinny Posts: Hackett, Boldin, and Darling" »
March 11, 2008
Larry Fitzgerald finally re-signed with the Cardinals, with the last negotiating point being that he could break the news himself to push traffic to his website. Okay, I made that last part up, although honestly I wouldn't be surprised.
Fitzgerald took some public hits for dragging the negotiations out, but it was the organization's fault and responsibility. They made the contract and they made it highly difficult to meet his contract escalators. He met them - good for him.
Continue reading "Fitzgerald re-signs; will numbers decline?" »
March 10, 2008
March 01, 2008
With my wife out of town, Pancake Blocks is back to the working weekend. The action has slowed on Day two of free agency, but not by that much. Let's take a look at what's transpired since I last checked in here.
While Randy Moss might be frustrated, no other teams have stepped up to the plate. I can't think of many fits to be honest. Jacksonville made the most sense, but they are out of it following the Jerry Porter signing. Philadelphia, Denver, and Washington sound like fits but no contact has been reported. Which is possibly what is frustrating Moss. It reminds me of when Adam Vinatieri had no takers for a while because everyone assumed he'd return to New England.
Continue reading "Skinny Posts: Moss hanging around" »
February 15, 2008
I wrote up the first six rounds of my "Day After Super Bowl" Mock Draft earlier this week. Here are a handful of notable names that fell far into the mid-to-late rounds.
Edgerrin James, 7.01- Arizona should get someone to split carries, so this is about right. I don't they will cut him though.
Continue reading "Falling Big Names" »
February 08, 2008
Thanks to everyone for chipping in on my Thomas Jones vs. Edgerrin James quandry yesterday. I wound up going with Jones, then Justin Fargas the next round. My RB2 spot would be weak, but S. Jackson-Owens-Ocho-Boldin-Brees would make up for it. Plus, this is a February Mock. You just look for value.
One of the reasons I passed on James was that his uncertain situation in Arizona. I think the Cards are more likely to draft a first day running back than New York (although both teams may), and James could get cut and be a backup elsewhere.
Continue reading "Fitzgerald could hold key to Edge's future?" »
February 07, 2008
This is one of the quietest times in the NFL calendar, with early July being the only thing that comes close. In a few weeks the Scouting Combine hits, then free agency, then teams start their offseason programs shortly thereafter.
I usually take my vacation now, but I'm delaying it about six weeks this year to go see the Sox play in Japan, assuming I can get tickets this week. Instead, I'm mostly starting my advance work on our magazine, whose due date gets earlier each year.
One enjoyably odd exercise I'm participating in is a day-after Super Bowl Mock Draft done by email. First time I've ever done one before free agency, or the NFL Draft for that matter. I will write about the results for next week, but wanted to mention one decision I was just faced with. Late sixth-round, I need a running back and they represent the best value for my team.
Continue reading "Early Mock Decision" »
November 28, 2007
After a fast start to the season, Anquan Boldin has been very quiet since Arizona's Week 8 bye. While still showing some aftereffects from a hip injury that forced him to miss three games, Boldin has caught only 16 passes for 212 yards and a touchdown over the last four weeks.
He's taking a backseat to Larry Fitzgerald in the offense and there are indications Boldin isn't happy about it. Using our targets report, I decided to check if Boldin's displeasure had merit.
Continue reading "Boldin unhappy with Fitzgerald's emergence?" »
October 19, 2007
Before the season, I wrote that the fates of the impressive 2006 rookie quarterbacks (Vince Young, Matt Leinart, and Jay Cutler) would help define this fantasy season. Quarterbacks usually take their biggest leap in their second season, but all three of these guys have struggled.
* Matt Leinart was ineffective, stuck in a rotation, and then broke his collarbone.
* After being a top-5 fantasy quarterback when he played last year, Vince Young is the QB25 this year and may miss this week's game.
* Jay Cutler has been erratic. And while I believe his numbers are encouraging except for an ugly TD:INT ratio (4:6), he just took a major hit with Javon Walker out indefinitely.
Continue reading "Cutler, Walker, Young continue slide" »
October 12, 2007
More notes from the Cardinals-Rams tape last week ...
* Edgerrin James had some nasty struggles this game inside the ten. He was stuffed at the goal line once, fumbled another time, and held to one-yard gains in two runs late in the game. James had similar problems at times with Indianapolis, often coming out of the game near the end zone. I checked the numbers, though, and this game was not indicative of the rest of James' season near the goal line. He's barely had the ball there at all, and he's played well before Week 5. We'll watch to see if it's the start of a trend.
* One thing I did notice with James is that he's wearing down during games. He has a 5.0 YPC average with his first ten carries of the game, and is under 3.5 thereafter. Maybe Ken Whisenhunt should get the backups more involved.
Continue reading "Cardinals Notes" »
Kurt Warner is being looked at as one of the best free agent pickups of the season, but there were some signs for concern last week in St. Louis. Warner didn't play very well. The Cardinals won, but it was mostly because Gus Frerotte kept throwing the wrong team.
The Rams had the blueprint for beating Warner: knock him silly early and hope he starts to panic. They threw a lot of blitzes at Arizona, and were mostly successful. In 28 dropbacks, I saw Warner hit seven times, most of them early. I charted 11 "bad passes" which is a very high number for that many attempts. Warner also had a fumble and was generally inconsistent against a poor defense.
Continue reading "Trouble for Kurt?" »
October 01, 2007
From Audibles at the line, Mike Tanier says, "I like Herm Edwards too, despite teasing him in Rundown all the time. He’s just not a great “Xs and Os” guy. He’s a lot like Marty Schottenheimer, but with Larry David writing his press conferences."
From Mike Silver's Monday column, one Rams player has a surprising comment: "I'm worried ... Looking at our schedule, and I'm scared we might go 0-16."
Continue reading "Notable Quotes" »
September 28, 2007
It looks like Anquan Boldin will probably miss Sunday's game, making Bryant Johnson a decent wideout pickup if you are in trouble. Johnson, though, has looked slow to pick up Ken Whisenhunt's offense and has struggled this year. He's always been serviceable as a fill-in starter the last few years, but that was under Dennis Green. I'm ranking Johnson 47th at wideout.
If I was going for a deep sleeper at wideout from that game, I'd much rather go for Nate Washington against a Cardinals secondary that can be exploited. He's entering the rankings at 41.
September 19, 2007
I think this article was intended to applaud Matt Leinart's work ethic last week.
But I can't be the only one that wonders why it took a terrible Week 1 performance and some nudging from his coaches and Edgerrin James to show up early and leave late. "There may have been a little bit of a nudge, yes," coach Ken Whisenhunt said.
Continue reading "Leinart no longer slacking?" »
September 12, 2007
Every NFL week is full of surprises; the ones early in the year just get more attention. Here's a quick list of players I'm watching closely this week.
1. Marshawn Lynch - After watching the Shortcuts of this game, I'm pretty sure he's for real. You can't teach breaking tackles. A good game against Pittsburgh would solidify his RB2 status.
2. Chris Brown - The Titans offensive line was fierce. Let's see if they can blow up the Colts.
3. Jaguars runners - Their offensive line got pushed around. Look for a better effort against the Falcons.
4. Saints offense - I know it was only one game. But I still want to see what they do against the Bucs.
Continue reading "Surprises" »
September 11, 2007
Was it good defense or just bad offense played by the 49ers and Cardinals on Monday night?
A 49ers optimist could point towards their offseason additions making a big difference, especially Nate Clements and rookie LB Patrick Willis. Arizona could hope that the team's new 3-4 scheme will fit their personnel better. They sure knew how to use Adrian Wilson.
Continue reading "Leinart, Smith off to poor starts" »
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