The return of the Squibster. Now the good and the bad. The good is that my most excellent boss and coworkers filled in quite nicely and that is most appreciated.

The bad is the Squibster is diagnosed with Cancer and undergoing chemotherapy. This will go on for 6 months and may limit my blogging at time to time. Fear not, they say the cancer is one that is curable, so let us move forward with our dreams of football!

Purple People Eaters

In the days of old, the Purple People eaters did not need to blitz that often. The front four was too busy ransacking the QB anyway. But these are not the days of the Purple People eaters of Minnesota. This is a new Viking team led by Brad Childress and he likes to stop the run. Brad will stop the run even at the risk of letting passes go all over the field.

And it appears the passes are going all over the field.

The Vikings’ philosophy on defense since Brad Childress took over as head coach in 2006 has been to stop the run first. Last season, the Vikings were No. 1 in the NFL in rushing defense, and they are again this season (74.8 yards per game). The pass defense, though, has been another story. In Tomlin’s lone season, the Vikings tied for last in the NFL and this year they are alone at the bottom (283.1). source

This Sunday the Vikings take their blitzing philosophy in opposing the Detroit Lions. The two teams both like to stop the run and both give up way too much passing offense.

On offense the Lions stress the pass almost exclusively. Lately they have run off about 5 or 6 running plays to start the game and then rarely run again. They stink running the ball and the Vikings will be wasting their time trying to stop the Lions running game, because they don’t run.

The Vikings on the other hand have struggled at QB and have had great success when Adrian Peterson is in at running back alternating with Chester Taylor. There is talk that Peterson will play in this game.

Now let’s get back to the blitz. Who is more prone to the blitz than David Carr when he played for the Texans? You got it. Jon Kitna with the Detroit Lions. Hmm, with no threat of the run and a team that likes to blitz… Geez, are my Lions going to get killed? Will Jon Kitna and sore knee survive?

The Vikings have been on a mini roll and attribute it to more blitzing.

The keys have been different looks up front, blitzes and man-to-man coverages mixed with the zone scheme that comes from the Tampa-2 philosophy Minnesota considers its base defense. Now the Tampa-2 is in use less than 50 percent of the time.

Surely Coach Mike Martz, the offensive guru of the pass happy Lions, has seen this and will adjust? Right, Mike. Mike, are you there?

NFL Football Fan Question Will the blitz stymie the Lions?

Be sure to check out my companion blog at NBA Obsessed.

As always, any NFL Football related comments are welcome.

More blogs about football.

Post from: EveryJoe

Vikings bringing the blitz

It was spring training and Charlie Frye was the incumbent quarterback getting lots of snaps.

Brady Quinn was the celebrated first round draft pick needing lots of snaps.

And then there was Derek Anderson.

Ultimately, Derek won out and has played so well that no ones calls for Charlie Frye (did anyone, anyway?) or Brady Quinn.

Derek Anderson has morphed into a game-changer, and most especially, a winner. Of all the majestic passes he’s tossed this year, perhaps none was as needed as the screen he threw to Jamal Lewis last week in overtime.

This has become Anderson’s team. He has the goods; the strong arm, the smarts, the drive to win while proving critics wrong.

In talking to Jamal Lewis this week, the running back broke down the evolution of the young quarterback.

“This guy is in the weight room, he is in the classroom, he is in the facility more than anyone,” Lewis said. “Day in and day out he is there. We feed off of that. That’s where it comes from. It’s a new offense and he studies to perform like that. And believe me, when you come from where he’s come from, you have something to prove every week. That fire burns. We love it. During training camp there was a lot of competing going on. He couldn’t get the entire offense down, or take all the snaps with the first team, because he had to compete with Charlie Frye and Brady Quinn. Now it is his system. It’s his team.”

Boy is it ever. Anderson is sixth in the NFL in yards, ahead of a guy named Peyton Manning. He protects the football, with just nine picks against 17 touchdowns. source

Will Derek and the Cleveland Browns catch the Pittsburgh Steelers and make the playoffs.

No on catching the Steelers. The Steelers have a great defense. The Browns defense has huge leaks in it.

Make the playoffs? Maybe as a wildcard depending on Derek Anderson staying red hot. The AFC has lots of contenders that are pretenders.

So is everything rosy in Cleveland?

No. Derek is a restricted free agent at the end of the year. Can Cleveland afford to pay Derek and Brady and not play Brady?

Anderson is a restricted free agent at the end of the year. This situation has Drew Brees/Phil Rivers written all over it. There is no way, when you watch him play and you hear the words Lewis chooses, the organization can let him leave.

But that is next year. Right now Derek has Cleveland winning and if you drafted him in your Fantasy Football League everyone thinks you are intelligent again. (Of course, we know better).

NFL Football Fan Question Will the Browns be able to build a defense?

Be sure to check out my companion blog at NBA Obsessed.

As always, any NFL Football related comments are welcome.

More blogs about football.

Post from: EveryJoe

Derek Anderson and the winning Browns

Coach Rod Marinelli believes in Jon Kitna and all of the Lions

Lions fans have waited for 50 years.

50 years and no championships.

50 years is a long time.

We got used to not being a contender. Just give us an occasional playoff berth.

Then we got used to not making the playoffs. Just give us a .500 season.

Then we got used to losing all the time. Just get rid of Matt Millen.

Now we have Jon Kitna, Mike Martz, and Coach Rod Marinelli.

Now we have a victory against the Chicago Bears.

The Lions wobbled and staggered at times, but they finally ran away from the Chicago Bears with a 34-point outburst in the fourth quarter for a 37-27 victory at Ford Field.

The score made the game look like a track meet. It wasn’t. It was a fight from start to finish. The Lions didn’t win on a knockout, but they landed enough shots to make their record 3-1. They are in second place in the NFC North, one game behind the first-place Green Bay Packers.

Chicago, with a defense shredded by injuries, dropped to 1-3. Four defensive starters did not play Sunday. source

Toughness

When the Bears are in town, it is always a test of manhood. The Lions passed the test this time. A whole lot of that attitude comes from Jon Kitna at quarterback and Coach Rod Marinelli.

“I challenged them,” Marinelli said. “It was going to be a 15-rounder. It was a situation where they had to win, too. They took everything we had. We took everything they had, too.”

From the top of the franchise down, there was a feeling in the Lions’ locker room that the team’s character has changed to reflect Marinelli’s never-break attitude.

Offense

What was really special was the ability of the Lions defense to hang in there until the offense could take over.

The Lions broke out of their shell in the fourth quarter Sunday with 34 points to beat the Bears, 37-27.

It was the most points ever scored in the fourth quarter in the NFL. The previous record was 31 points by three teams. The last was by Atlanta over Green Bay on Sept. 17, 1981.

“The NFL is a funny thing,” Kitna said. “Momentum and emotional swings in this game are what tend to carry things.” source

Yeah, no kidding the Lions set an NFL record or most points in the 4th quarter.

Defense

But we were talking defense here. Coming off a huge loss to Philadelphia and Donovan McNabb, the Lions were ready and it showed.

The defense pressured the quarterback, stopped the run in some big spots and had three key interceptions. Linebacker Ernie Sims had the first of his career. Cornerback Fernando Bryant got his first interception in four years.

It only seemed fitting, though, that the Lions defense was present and accounted for since the franchise honored their last championship team.

Hall of Fame middle linebacker Joe Schmidt and many others from that 1957 defense were on hand to take a bow for making Detroit a champion in pro football. source

So there is Defense, there is Offense, there is Coach Rod Marinelli, and there is Jon Kitna as the inspirational leader.

Yeah, Jon Kitna and the Lions are for real.

NFL Football Fan Question Are you prepared to handle a winning Lions team?

Be sure to check out my companion blog at NBA Obsessed.

As always, any NFL Football related comments are welcome.

More blogs about football.

Post from: EveryJoe

Jon Kitna – are Lions for real? Rod says getting there

Hey, did Devin Hester just run by here?

Defense wins Championships.

We hear that all the time and we tend to believe it.

There is a slight problem with that bromide. We say it so much that it is forgotten that you still have to out score the other team.

Oh, so maybe, Offense wins Championships?

No, no, no. Defense still wins Championships, but you have to have an offense to go with it.

The Chicago Bears made it all the way to last years Super Bowl without a lot of offense. Directly responsible for that lack of O was Rex Grossman, everyone’s whipping boy, the poster child for bad quarterbacking.

Your intrepid author has a theory that is yet to be proved. Actually, it is more of a hypothesis dealing with the improvement of Rex Grossman given time and reps.

There seems to be real reason to be excited about where he is today, compared to the end of last season when he appeared to be a shell-shocked young QB overwhelmed by his severely up and down play and the legitimate questions that brought to a team that had a chance to win it all. Smith likes to remind you that it was Grossman’s first full season as a starter. That he had 7 games where his passer rating topped 100. That despite his ups and downs, he still lead the team to the No. 2 scoring offense in the league. Now, he feels with that experience, he will only get better.

My sense in watching Grossman, and talking with him in training camp, is that he is a bit different this time around. He still has the arm that shows you why coaches fall in love with him, and he still has that care-free spirit, which is why teammates love him. But he does seem to be a little more cautious of what he’s saying to the media, while at the same time he seems to have found a comfort zone in who he is as a person, and how he needs to run this offense.
source

Chicago still hurts from coming so close to winning it all, only to fail due to lack of efficient offense, so they have been busy in the off season creating new weapons to throw at their opponents.

Other than the hopefully improved Grossman, Pro Bowl KR Devin Hester has been added to the offense, and looks impressive every time he touches the ball. Following the cue from the Saints’ use of Reggie Bush, the idea is to get the ball in Hester’s hands and let him go.

Hester will line up at WR, but don’t look for him to just take off down the field looking for a deep pass. Whether it’s a quick WR screen, a “hot read” quick pass over to his side, a reverse, a quick slant route, whatever it takes to give him a chance to use the speed and moves that allowed him to take back an NFL-record six returns (plus one on the opening kickoff in the Super Bowl) for touchdowns in his rookie season.

Rookie Greg Olson has looked excellent in practice, Bernard Berrian still has great speed as the opposing wideout, and Cedric Benson is looking for a breakout season now that he is the man at tailback.

The Chicago offense looks ready to put up the big time points.

Oh, did your gallivanting author mention that Defense wins Championships? Did you ever wonder about that statement?

Is it because your team stops the other team on the goal line? Well, it can be.

The over looked factor for the Bears is the excellent field position they enjoy in most games due to their defense. This is where the great Defense pays off. It is far easier for a solid offense to start up close to their own 50 rather than their own 20. It just takes fewer plays to score and mistakes may not be as fatal.

Yeah, Defense wins Championships, but Rex Grossman is ready to lead the Bears Offense to victory!

NFL Football Fan Question Are you on board with the Bears new offense?

As always, any NFL Football related comments are welcome.

More blogs about football.

Post from: EveryJoe

Rex Grossman is better and the Bears will Growl

Squibkick readers with Post Doctorate Lions degrees

They are at it again. The Lions are making predictions.

Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz was asked to comment on Jon Kitna’s prediction of 10 victories this year.

In all, it could be a devastating attack once Johnson assimilates himself. Martz won’t come out and say it, but you see his eyes twinkle when he talks about this group. Ten wins? Maybe Kitna should have gone higher.

“I’m surprised he conceded six games, to be honest with you,” Martz says. “I wouldn’t put a limit on how many games we’re going to win this year.” source

Interestingly enough, Jon Kitna wants to rephrase his prediction.

For a team that went 3-13 last year, that’s a bold statement. But that’s the effect Johnson has had. Quarterback Jon Kitna thinks the team will win at least 10 games.

“It’s not necessarily a prediction,” Kitna says, “as much as an expectation. It will be a disappointment for us if we don’t win at least 10 games.”

Still it should be fun to watch with all the skill players poised for good year, i.e. Roy Williams, Mike Furrey, Tatum Bell, etc.

There is also improvement in the offensive line with the additions of Edwin Mulitalo and George Foster.

Those incredible predictors now have Calvin Johnson under contract and we await his prediction.

Just to out do themselves the Lions won their preseason game.

Calvin had something to do with that.

Calvin Johnson showed a glimpse of what’s to come from the No. 2 pick in the NFL draft.

Johnson caught two passes for 45 yards late in the first half to set up a score and the Detroit Lions rallied late to beat the Cincinnati Bengals 27-26 on Thursday night in the exhibition opener for both teams.

The 6-foot-5, 239-pound receiver displayed his speed and savvy on his first catch, sprinting and settling into a spot behind a cornerback and in front of a safety. On the next play, Johnson used his body and leaping ability to shield first-round pick Leon Hall for a 21-yard reception that was the second and final ball thrown to him. source

Yeah, yeah, it is only a preseason game where a lot of guys you never heard from played. Still, around here, we celebrate any Lions victory.

All Hail, Calvin Johnson!

Now where is that prediction?

NFL Football Fan Question How many will the Lions win?

As always, any NFL Football related comments are welcome.

More blogs about football.

Post from: EveryJoe

Calvin Johnson joins the predictors

Charlie Sanders convinced Lions fans in the 70’s that he was All Pro!

When a player makes the Hall of Fame, it is big news. When a Detroit Lion makes the Hall of Fame, it is unbelievable news.

Charlie played on the Lions during my youth and was one of the few inspiring players on the team, as he made impossible catches with defenders draped all over him.

NFL Football Charlie Sanders factoid

Sanders was the only rookie selected to the Pro Bowl in 1968. He is the seventh tight end to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and his seven Pro Bowl selections are more than any of the first six tight ends in Canton. source

Here is the rundown by the Hall of Fame.

Charlie Sanders
Tight End 6-4, 230
(Minnesota)
1968-1977 Detroit Lions
Third round pick by Lions, 1968. . . Combined great leaping ability, big hands, strength, speed and elusiveness. . . Seven Pro-Bowls. . . All-NFL three straight seasons. . . Recorded 30 or more receptions seven times, 500-plus receiving yards six seasons. . . Lions’ all-time reception leader (336) at time of retirement. . . Team’s leader or co-leader in receptions six of his 10 seasons. . . Named to the NFL’s All-Decade Team of the 1970s. . . Born August 25, 1946 in Richlands, North Carolina. source

This was an era of football where the Lions had Lem Barney, Mel Farr, Greg Landry at quarterback, and Earl McCulloch at wideout.

That was pretty much it. If you were going to win it had to come from these 4 guys or Charlie and often it came from Charlie hauling in a pass over the middle as he dove across the goal line snagging the ball in his big mitts.

NFL Football Charlie Sanders factoid Sanders and his wife, Georgianna, have nine children and live in Rochester Hills, Michigan. One of his daughters is a pro boxer, and one of his sons played football at Ohio State University, and had a brief NFL career with the Detroit Lions. source

Gil Brandt talks about Charlie Sanders.

Sanders grew up in North Carolina and probably would have gone to college at Wake Forest or somewhere closer to home, but he was recruited to Minnesota by Lou Hudson, the great Gophers basketball player who, like Sanders, had attended Dudley High School in Greensboro, N.C. (as an aside, we drafted Hudson for the Cowboys in 1966, as a receiver, but he opted for a 13-year NBA career instead). source

Charlie went on to have a great pro career convincing Lions Fans everywhere that your offense should come out of your tight end.

Even though he was a rookie tight end still lining up in a four-point stance, he caught 40 passes — and he finished second in offensive rookie of the year voting, behind Lions receiver Earl McCullouch. It might be the only time that teammates finished one-two in the offensive rookie voting. Sanders averaged more than 12 yards per reception in each of his 10 NFL seasons and finished with a 14.3-yard average for his career.

Sanders is still fifth on Detroit’s all-time receiving list (336) and he still works for the Lions in their pro personnel department.

NFL Football Fan Question Did you get to see Charlie play?

As always, any NFL Football related comments are welcome.

More blogs about football.

Post from: EveryJoe

Charlie Sanders – a true Hall of Famer!

Bill Walsh passes away at the age of 75

Bill Walsh is dead and yet his legend continues to grow. Long live the king of the West Coast Offense.

Walsh went 102-63-1 with the 49ers, winning 10 of his 14 postseason games along with six division titles. He was named the NFL’s coach of the year in 1981 and 1984. source

When did Bill invent the West Coast Offense? Speaking to Pat Kirwan of NFL.com..

Walsh then explained to me how he was coaching in a Northern California farming town with a large population of Portuguese kids all about the same height and weight. He realized his players had to be quick and perfectly coached in order to have a chance against the bigger teams he faced.

He invented a goal-line offense in which he could simply have the quarterback yell “shift” and the linemen would become backs, the backs would become linemen, the wide receivers moved to tight end and the tight end would move to wide receiver. The opposing team would have to call a timeout or they would end up missing someone in the shift.

The most amazing thing about the discussion that night was when Bill took a napkin and not only diagramed the series of plays he developed, but he also wrote in the names of every player on the field. It had to be 50 years since he was at that high school and without blinking an eye he recalled every player. I was in awe! source

Ahh, vintage Bill Walsh.

Friendly Bill was always ready to share what he had learned. Speaking to Clark Judge of CBS Sportsline.com

The only time in my weeks of discussions that spring when we created our 6½-hour video series that I saw him get frustrated or disappointed was when we talked about the late stages of his 49ers days. His coaching days were over and all he wanted was for the young coaches to come by and ask for his knowledge. He was so inquisitive himself as a young coach that I always got the feeling he couldn’t understand why any aspiring coach wouldn’t stop by his office and keep asking questions.

Bill just seemed to know how to handle people at all times.

Yes, he was great for the game, but not because he developed the West Coast offense or saw something in Steve Young that others did not. It was because he understood its people and how to position them for results. source

Just read these great stories on Bill by Clark Judge of CBSSportsline.com.

First one about an ailing assistant coach.

He was the guy who later that season suggested the 49ers have a halftime ceremony honoring offensive line coach Bobb McKittrick when McKittrick was fighting liver cancer.

I didn’t understand the move, thinking it was premature and insensitive to McKittrick, in the middle of a battle I wasn’t sure he would lose. But Walsh was all about timing, and he thought the time was perfect to honor one of the team’s most respected and cherished assistants.

And so the 49ers did, with McKittrick leaving the locker room to appear on the field with his wife and a group of U.S. Marines. I remember thinking how poised McKittrick was and how ramrod straight he stood. I knew he was in pain. Everyone did. But he seemed grateful for the occasion and thanked everyone.

He never made it to the next season.

Afterward, I told Walsh that what he did for Bobb McKittrick that afternoon was give him one of the last great days of his life, and that I would hope that somewhere, someone would do the same for me if I were dying. source

Now a story about rebuilding the 49ers.

And that’s when it dawned on me that Walsh always, always was ahead of the curve. He had asked to see me that afternoon in 1999 because he needed an ally to help him with a painful rebuilding program that would purge the club of beloved veterans and rattle its fans.

It would also put the 49ers back on the map, but that didn’t matter at the time. Walsh needed someone to explain what he was doing and why he was doing; more, he needed someone to explain why it was good for the San Francisco 49ers.

Walsh would go on to rebuild the club a second time, stocking it with so many starters from the 2000 draft that San Francisco would make the playoffs in 2001 and 2002. It was incomprehensible to me that a team that had grown as old as it had by 1999 could rebound that quickly.

You had to be truly impressed with Bill Walsh.

“I always said that he was an artist and all the rest of us were blacksmiths pounding the anvil while he was painting the picture,” said Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren, who was Walsh’s offensive coordinator with the 49ers. “There is always more than one way to win games but that was how he chose to do it.”

Whatever you thought you knew about football quickly vanished once Professor Walsh began his lecture. His unique perspective and vision reshaped and redefined the game. source

Yeah, Bill Walsh rules, always did, always will.

There will never be another one like him, that is for sure.

NFL Football Fan Question Will you miss Bill Walsh?

As always, any NFL Football related comments are welcome.

More blogs about football.

Post from: EveryJoe

Bill Walsh rules, always did, always will

Chasing Devin Hester is futile

You have Hester lining up on one side with speed to burn and Bernard Berrian lining up on the other side with speed to burn. Should you double Hester? Won’t that leave Berrian one on one?

Does this mean the Bears might stand for something more than just run crushing pass stopping defense?

The Bears are experimenting with Devin Hester at wide receiver and so far, without pads, Devin is looking awful fast and awful shifty.

Hester continued a trend that began during offseason workouts by standing out like a flashing neon light during the Bears’ first training camp practice at Olivet Nazarene University on Friday. The cornerback-turned-receiver lined up split wide, in the slot and in the backfield. He looked like a natural while running routes and catching long and short passes. source

What, no way, you say?

The cornerback-turned-receiver lined up split wide, in the slot and in the backfield. He looked like a natural while running routes and catching long and short passes.

We all remember Devin for his exciting rookie season, like who could forget the Cardinals game?

Hester proved his big-play ability during his rookie season by returning an NFL-record six total kicks or punts for touchdowns before opening Super Bowl XLI with an electrifying 92-yard kickoff return against the Colts, prompting the Bears to attempt to get the ball in his hands more often by moving him to offense full-time.

Devin has doubters

There are doubters out there that say Devin will never make the transition as very few players are able to convert from defense to offense.

There are even those that say Devin tried to play receiver at Miami, but struggled with the playbook. Dan Werner was Miami’s offensive coordinator and is now at Mississippi and said he saw no evidence that Devin had a hard time absorbing the playbook.

”We’d only get him for about five minutes a day, and we’d give him four or five plays and use him whenever we could,” Werner said. ”The things we did with him he picked up fine. I don’t know what it would be like to give him the whole game plan, but we didn’t have any issues.”

Bears offensive coordinator Ron Turner said Hester’s route-running and ability to absorb offensive plays and terminology are what has surprised him most about what thus far has looked like a seamless transition.

The All Powerful Bears

Don’t look now, but with an improved Rex Grossman, Cedric Benson coming into his own at tailback, rookie Greg Olson at Tight End, and then Berrian and Hester at wideouts, the Bears are shaping up to be one powerful offensive team or at least much improved over last year.

Now here is the key! Watch as a team plays the Bears. The Bears defense finds a way for their offense to get excellent field position. Now add in more firepower on offense and look out!

This is all conjecture at this point, because they have not even put on the pads, but what if Devin is All Pro potential? How would you stop the Bears?

NFL Football Fan Question Will Devin pull through with a fantastic year on offense?

As always, any NFL Football related comments are welcome.

More blogs about football.

Post from: EveryJoe

Devin Hester gives the Bears the fastest receivers known to mankind