Review Of The Top 15 NFL Veteran Acquisitions 2008

By Andy Benoit, www.NFLTouchdown.com

Last June I broke down the Top 27 NFL veteran acquisitions. Here is a review of how the top 15 turned out. There were some huge busts, but a surprising number of veteran acquisitions were successful.

Grading key: A: Star Quality B: Solid Veteran Pickup C: Lived up to expectations D: Not a great fit F: Disaster

1. Jared Allen, Vikings
Grade: A
14.5 sacks, terrific against the run.

2. Alan Faneca, Jets
Grade: B+
Made the Pro Bowl despite whispers that he lost his edge. Thomas Jones had a career year running behind him.

3. DeAngelo Hall, Raiders
Grade: F
Have we ever seen a $70 million star get cut after only half a season? Raiders deserve as much blame as Hall.

4. Asante Samuel, Eagles
Grade: A
Continued his Pro Bowl ways as a playmaker in Philly’s Cover 2.

5. Jonathan Vilma, Saints
Grade: B
Stayed healthy and pumped some life into New Orleans’s anemic run defense.

6. Alge Crumpler, Titans
Grade: D
Good blocker, but Bo Scaife remained Tennessee’s best tight end.

7. Kris Jenkins, Jets
Grade: B
Perhaps the most dominant defensive player in the league for the first half of the season. Then he hit a wall.

8. Jacob Bell, Rams
Grade: C
Played in 13 games, but Rams needed more than just one man to resurrect their injury-plagued offense.

9. Shaun Rogers, Browns
Grade: A
Shocked everybody by playing hard and being dominant throughout most of the season.

10. Corey Williams, Browns
Grade: D+
Wasn’t a great fit as a 3-4 DE. Not brought in for pass-rushing, but Browns expected more than only 0.5 sacks on the year.

11. Marcus Stroud, Bills
Grade: B-
Everyone in Buffalo loved him.

12. Michael Turner, Falcons
Grade: A+
Finished second in the league in rushing and was a huge reason why Atlanta shocked the country by reaching the postseason.

13. Jerry Porter, Jaguars
Grade: F
No big deal – Jaguars are accustom to seeing their receivers fail.

14. Donte Stallworth, Browns
Grade: D-
His immortal injury bug actually found ways to bite him in pregame warm-ups.

15. Javon Walker, Raiders
Grade: F
He almost retired before the season even began.

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Why the NFL Pro Bowl in Miami Idea Stinks

By Andy Benoit, www.NFLTouchdown.com

A few years ago I wrote in one of my NFL Touchdown preview books that the NFL should move the Pro Bowl from the week after the Super Bowl to the week before, in order to make the event part of the Super Bowl hype. I was proud of myself at the time for constructing what I thought was a shrewd idea.

However, I had a conversation with my close friend, Jeff Coruccini, owner of the website FantasyFootballStarters.com. Jeff told me my idea was, basically, terrible. He said the point of the Pro Bowl is not to draw fans and big ratings, but rather, to reward players, media and major NFL sponsors with a fun, relaxing trip to Hawaii. I found myself changing my mind and agreeing with him at the time.

Now that the NFL actually has moved the 2010 Pro Bowl to the week before the Super Bowl, I find myself agreeing with Jeff even more. In short, hosting the game two weeks early in Miami next year is a bad idea. A horrendous idea. We’ve heard players such as Peyton Manning and Ray Lewis speak out against the plan. Here are five reasons why the 2010 Pro Bowl idea stinks.



1. The NFL is indeed hoping the Pro Bowl can add to the Super Bowl hype. But none of the players in the Super Bowl will be able to play. Plus, there’s already so much Super Bowl hype that adding an event as major as entire game will be overkill. The Pro Bowl won’t build the Super Bowl hype, it will just make fans less receptive to the rest of the ubiquitous Super Bowl hype.



2. Super Bowl players won’t be the only guys sitting out. You’ll probably see most of the players from the losing teams of the AFC and NFC championship game pass on the opportunity, as well. Think about it. A player’s season comes to an end on Championship Sunday. Do you think he really wants to pack his bags on Monday, get on a plane and immediately endure another week of practice? And do you think he’ll want to be down in Miami, surrounded by Super Bowl hype, which constantly reminds him that he came so close but fell short? And normally the Pro Bowl is coached by the staff of the losing team from the championship game. Are any of those coaches going to want to immediately go back to work for a meaningless game?



3. On top of the Super Bowl players and championship game players sitting out, you’ll still get your usual slew of veterans and injured guys passing on the game as well. Usually a fourth of Pro Bowlers stay home. With the game being two weeks earlier, that means players will have had two less weeks to rest and heal up after the season. Don’t be surprised if more than 50 percent of players sit out.



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NFL Touchdown Super Bowl Snide Remarks

By Andy Benoit, www.NFLTouchdown.com

This goes down as the second greatest Super Bowl of all time. Super Bowl XLII still has the edge because of the magnitude of the Giants upset and New England’s perfect season.

At around the fourth quarter’s 2:30 mark, I found myself praying that this game wouldn’t go to overtime. The worst thing that could happen for the league would be to have the game go to an extra period and be decided on the first possession.

Santonio Holmes was spectacular Sunday, but Ben Roethlisberger was the Most Valuable Player. Just about every one of Holmes’s catches was a result of Roethlisberger somehow extending the play. Big Ben was simply a magician. He has now joined Peyton Manning and Tom Brady on the NFL’s top tier of quarterbacks.

For the Cardinals…it was a great run. They had an opportunity to win this game, but their secondary wasn’t able to manufacture any big plays. Domonique Rodgers-Cromartie was a huge reason this team reached the Big Game. On the surface, it seems that his struggles Sunday night were a huge reason his team came up short, as well. But thanks to Roethlisberger’s magnificence, Rodgers-Cromartie was asked to hold his coverage for a drastically extended period of time. And he didn’t get a whole lot of help from his safeties.

The Kurt Warner Hall of Fame debate is going to be extremely interesting. I think the fact that Warner has been insanely prolific in all three of his Super Bowl appearances will get him in. But there may be some voters who hold onto the memory of his to James Harrison interception at the end of the first half.

Speaking of that James Harrison interception….it was one of the greatest plays in NFL history. Earlier this year in a Monday Night game, Cleveland’s Brandon McDonald picked off Donovan McNabb in the end zone at the end of the first half and nearly ran it back as time expired. But he didn’t I happened to be sitting up in the Monday Night booth for that game and asked Ron Jaworski at halftime if he’d ever seen a play like that. I was surprised when he said No. That’s the first thing I thought of when Harrison reached the end zone to end the half in this game. Not only was this an incredibly rare play for a Super Bowl – this was an incredibly rare play for a football game.

A little tidbit that no one seemed to notice after the game was Harrison saying to Andrea Kramer that the Steelers had called a max blitz for that play, but that he figured Warner would release the ball quickly, so he decided to drop back. Dick LeBeau was lauded for the play-call, but it sounds like the NFL Defensive Player of the Year just improvised.

You could easily make a case for Harrison as the Super Bowl MVP. Besides the huge interception return, he also collapsed Warner’s pocket all night, and drew three holding penalties from left tackle Mike Gandy. LaMarr Woodley was equally as dominant on the right side.

A few more notes on the Steelers…

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