Recapping Giants-Eagles with John Fennelly
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Category Archives: General Football
Talking Jets with Brian Bassett
Jets lose uglily
It seems like some in the media and blogosphere want to partly exonerate Antonio Cromartie for his brutal performance in the Jets’ 34-24 loss to the Raiders yesterday. I do not. Sure, at least one of his four penalties was probably a bad call, but most of them weren’t.
Cromartie finished second on the team with five tackles, but that’s generally a bad sign for cornerbacks. Darrelle Revis, for example, finished without a tackle. With Revis playing his typical dominant coverage, the Raiders obviously targeted Cromartie from the start — so much so that it became easy to forget Revis was even playing for long stretches of the game.
But worst of all, Cromartie followed a strong special-teams performance against the Jaguars with a backbreaking boot and bobble of a kickoff that led to the Raiders’ second touchdown in about a minute, a massive momentum shift that doomed Gang Green.
Not long later, Cromartie added injury to ineffectiveness, hobbling into the locker room with what is supposedly a bruised lung.
The Jets’ offense managed 24 points, impressive considering the sad state of their offensive line. Rookie center Colin Baxter played a hell of a lot better than he did against Jacksonville, but was physically overmatched by the Raiders’ strong defensive line on multiple plays.
It didn’t help that the rest of the Jets’ offensive line struggled, missing blocks and blowing assignments. The Raiders sacked Mark Sanchez four times. Most of the Jets’ best plays came on roll-out passes and runs outside the tackles, away from the overwhelmed interior linemen.
Sanchez had a good day, considering the constant pressure from the Raiders’ defense. But his lone interception came on an awful decision, throwing on the run to a multiply covered Derrick Mason in the end zone on a broken first-down play.
Previewing Jets-Raiders with Brian Bassett
Very video-heavy day today, I know. I had a doctor’s appointment and it’s Friday. Ease up.
Previewing Giants-Eagles with John Fennelly
Huh?
In order to help protect against future concussions, Vick is planning to refit his helmet with Kevlar padding, the CEO of Unequaled Technologies told Paolantonio on Wednesday.
Rob Vito told ESPN that he will meet with Vick in Philadelphia on Friday to refit his helmet to help Vick deal with the post-concussive blows to the head in Sunday’s home opener against the New York Giants.
“The 100-year-old foam everybody is using in helmets is antiquated,” Vito said. “Concussions are the injury of our age and really they should not be happening anymore.”
– ESPN.com.
Wait, does that work? And if so, why isn’t everyone in the NFL wearing Kevlar-lined helmets?
Cornering the market
Asomugha is a “press” corner, meaning he lines up right on top of receivers like a basketball player on defense and dares them to get past him, a technique that used to be called bump and run when a corner was permitted to be far more physical with a receiver until the ball was thrown….
Passing offenses are based on impeccable timing. Asomugha’s primary ability is to force quarterbacks to improvise. He disrupts routes through strength and technique. Asomugha engages in hand-to-hand combat in the 5-yard zone where such tangling is legal. The receiver is aiming for a clean release to get into his pattern immediately. Asomugha aims to redirect him, without grabbing a fistful of jersey or getting too blatant with his grappling.
– Robert Weintraub, N.Y. Times.
Click through and read all of Weintraub’s very technical feature on Nnamdi Asomugha. It makes me miss the hell out of playing football.
Recapping Giants-Rams with John Fennelly
Recapping Jets-Jaguars with Brian Bassett
Kafka metamorphs* into first-string QB
After Michael Vick left last night’s game with a head injury, the Eagles turned to a quarterback named Mike Kafka. The broadcast didn’t make nearly enough jokes about his name.
In 2006, I watched a pitcher named Ari Kafka enter a game for the Everett AquaSox of the the Northwest League. It was the AquaSox’ season opener, and Kafka faced several hitters and left without retiring any of them, finishing the day with a rather Kafkaesque infinite ERA.
*- I don’t think this is actually a word. Is there a verb form of metamorphosis, or is it just morph?
Tedquarters 