Nov

6

Broncos Ink Former Pats CB Ty Law

Posted by Matt Loede under Denver Broncos
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Defensive back Ty Law has agreed to terms on a deal with the Broncos. Kevin Poston, Law’s agent, confirmed the news Friday in an e-mail to The Associated Press. The agreement came after Denver’s media availability and a Broncos spokesman said the team had no comment.

Law is expected to sign the deal Saturday, pending the passing of his physical. He may even make it out to practice as the Broncos (6-1) prepare to host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

The 35-year-old Law, a five-time Pro Bowl selection, will fit right in with veterans Champ Bailey, Andre’ Goodman, Brian Dawkins and Renaldo Hill, all in their 30s.

Law becomes the latest former New England player to reunite with Broncos coach Josh McDaniels, who spent his previous eight seasons as an assistant with the Patriots.

A first-round pick by New England in 1995, Law helped the Patriots to three Super Bowl titles. He played for the New York Jets last season.

The Broncos have been relatively quiet on the free-agent front so far during the season, making just their second move.

Last week, Denver signed 16-year veteran punter Mitch Berger in place of Brett Kern. Berger got off to a rusty start, averaging 38.4 yards on eight punts in a loss to the Baltimore Ravens last weekend.


Nov

6

Packers Look to Get More Playing Time to First Round Pick B.J. Raji

Posted by Justin Brasser under Green Bay Packers
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The Packers have been waiting all season for their top pick, B.J. Raji, to live up to his first round status. While their other first round pick, Clay Matthews Jr., has been excellent, Raji has battled injury and the rustiness resulting from his hold out. He missed the first two games of the year due to that ankle injury and has seen only limited playing time since. However, he may finally get his chance to show his improvement this week.

Ryan Pickett, Johnny Jolly, and Cullen Jenkins will remain the defensive line starters, but as the season progresses, look for the Packers to use a deeper rotation to keep those guys fresh. Raji will play a larger role.

After looking slow and weak in his first two games, big B.J. had a great game against Cleveland, registering two solo tackles and a great push against the Browns’ line. Then he looked solid against the Vikings despite a fine worthy facemask penaly.

Raji discussed his improvement this week, “Yeah, and now I’m really starting to understand the defense. I’ve been more spectating and watching and learning than playing. So now, I’m getting my chance, and hopefully, I take advantage of it.” He also thinks that he has most of his power back.

Let’s hope that this $18 million man will prove that he was worth the holdout as he gets more significant playing time.

Nov

6

Week 9 Preview: Detroit at Seattle

Posted by Devon Heinen under Detroit Lions, Seattle Seahawks
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There are only a few things that could make the Seattle Seahawks happy right now.

1.) Fast forwarding till April for the NFL Draft.

2.) Waking up and finding out that their 2-5 season that’s been filled with injuries has just been a bad dream.

3.) A matchup against the St. Louis Rams, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or the Detroit Lions.

Thankfully, the Seahawks get one of those scenarios to play out this weekend when they play host against the hapless 1-6 Detroit Lions.

The Lions are coming off an embarrassing 17-10 loss at home against the St. Louis Rams.

In that game, the Lions’ offensive line was penalized 40 yards for three holding penalties and two false start infractions. Without superstar Calvin Johnson, the team’s wide receivers failed to record a catch until the fourth quarter when Bryant Johnson hauled in the team’s only two receptions from the wide receiver position.

Defensively, Detroit failed to bring down St. Louis quarterback Marc Bulger for a sack. This is surprising because Bulger’s offensive line had allowed the veteran quarterback to get sacked 16 times through the team’s seven games leading up to the road contest in Detroit. What’s worse than the lack of sacks in the game for the Lions is that missed tackles allowed Rams running back Steven Jackson to run wild throughout the entire game, especially during the fourth quarter when Jackson broke loose for ground gains of 10, 11, 17 and 25 yards.

If you just look at those things, you can’t help but think that this weekend’s matchup against the Lions spells a blowout win for Seattle.

This year, the Lions rank 27TH in the league in passing yards allowed per game with 251.9. In total, the Lions have given up 18 scoring strikes through the air compared to intercepting just five passes.

In two career games against the Lions, Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck completed 46 of 58 passing attempts for 417 yards and one touchdown through the air. No interceptions. Plus, 30 yards on 15 carries.

On the other side of the ball, David Hawthorne should be primed to have a big game. He has held his own so far in replacement of injured middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu. Tatupu’s out for the year with a torn pectoral muscle. In Week Eight at Dallas, Hawthorne recorded Seattle’s only two sacks and defensive forced fumble against the Cowboys. Look for Hawthorne’s productivity to continue this week, as the Lions’ quarterbacks have been sacked 24 times this season.

Seattle will get out to an early lead Sunday at Qwest Field and won’t look back due in large part to Calvin Johnson most liking missing his third game in a row for the Lions with a knee injury.

Seattle 28, Detroit 3.

Nov

6

Seahawks WR Houshmandzadeh Shocked at Comments About Wanting the Ball More

Posted by Matt Loede under Seattle Seahawks
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ESPN reports about T.J. Houshmandzadeh being shocked about the reaction from his recent comments about not getting the ball enough in Seattle:

Outspoken wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh is “shocked” with the fuss being made in his first Seahawks season over his angry gestures and comments about not getting the ball enough. Last weekend in Dallas, he angrily gestured toward Matt Hasselbeck to throw the ball with more loft immediately after he tried to zing a ball to the tightly guarded receiver near the Cowboys’ goal line in the first quarter. “Man, I’ve been doing that my whole career.

“Guys from Cincinnati texted me and told me they were surprised it took me until Game 7 to do it,” Houshmandzadeh said of his stomping and griping. “Whether I was right or wrong — which, you know, [I was] probably wrong — it was just the competitor in me. I didn’t mean no harm by it. I was just upset by the course of the game, which I would hope everybody is. People express themselves differently, obviously, but it never got this much attention before. I’m shocked,” he said.

Nov

6

The Basics: Vikings Simply Need to Tackle Better

Posted by Adam Warwas under Minnesota Vikings
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Chad_Greenway

If only running backs not named Adrian Peterson stood perfectly still and acted like a tackling dummy.  Then life would be easier on Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway who supposedly leads the league in missed tackles.

The stat is not officially kept, but I’ve heard that STATS, inc has him as the leader in missed tackles from multiple outlets.  He is, however, sixth in the league in solo tackles made which is a big accomplishment.

I noticed that Troy Aikman made numerous references to Greenway playing Pro Bowl quality football this year, and this struck me as slightly off because I had noticed his tendency to whiff on the ball carrier.

Missed tackles are a big problem for the Vikings this year, and many big plays could’ve been less damaging if they did a better job of wrapping up.  The Vikings can take comfort in knowing that they are not alone in this respect, and that NFL tackling is at an all time low according to many league sources.

For an explanation, check out this article which outlines why the quality of tackling has declined so greatly in the NFL.  I found it to be an interesting read, and it also made me feel somewhat better that the Vikings are not alone in this struggle.

That being said, I really hope they get their act together in the second half and start bashing some skulls and playing some hard hitting defense.

Nov

6

Colts Place Both CB Jackson and Safety Bob Sanders on IR

Posted by Matt Loede under Indianapolis Colts, Injuries
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The Colts are still rolling along at 7-0, but let’s just say that going undefeated for much longer is going to be a lot tougher as some big name players were put on the shelf Friday. The team today placed CB Marlin Jackson and strong safety Bob Sanders on injured reserve, ending each of their seasons.

Jackson, who missed the second half of the 2008 season after injuring his right knee during practice, suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury to his left knee during a non-contact drill Wednesday. He had been rehabbing the knee after he was hurt against Seattle on October 4th.

Sanders, a two-time Pro Bowler, tore his left bicep against the 49ers last weekend and will need surgery.
The shame of it is he had just gotten back in the lineup two weeks ago. He had missed all of training camp and the first five games of the year after undergoing offseason knee surgery. He has missed 40 of 87 games during his injury-plagued, six-year NFL career.

Indianapolis’ other veteran cornerback, Kelvin Hayden, is also expected to be sidelined for the next three to four weeks after he suffered a sprained knee during the 18-14 win over San Francisco. Hayden is not expected to undergo surgery.

“Not real sure (how long Hayden will be out),” coach Jim Caldwell said. “We’re kind of looking at probably a three to four week window.”

Nov

6

Check Out the New 80sTees.com NFL Gear!

Posted by Matt Loede under Product Reviews
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Christmas is closing in faster than you think, and now at 80sTees.com, they have great new NFL Gear for your favorite NFL fan for this holiday season!

At 80sTees.com, you can get great vintage NFL Gear – like T-shirts, and now they even have sweaters for those cold November and December games as well!

Today here on NFLGridironGab.com, we’re going to be giving away three of 80sTees.com vintage NFL t-shirts! We have XL’s of the Packers, Chargers, and Vikings!

All you have to do is email the following trivia answer to matt@NFLGridironGab.com. Here is our question:

How many receivers caught at least 100 passes in the 1995 NFL Season?

Good luck, and again, check out all the great NFL Gear 80sTees.com!

Nov

6

Week 9 Preview: Baltimore at Cincinnati

Posted by B.Clifton Burke under Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals
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In the backroom of a shady saloon just on the edge of town, the Ravens await. They sit there hunkered over a card-table with a half-bottle of cheap rum and an old, shaggy dog named Cleveland, curled up and sleeping at their feet. They’ve been there since daybreak and they say they ain’t leavin’ til the Bengals give ‘em another chance. On Sunday they’ll get their wish, but once again, might live to regret it.

Baltimore is still bitter about what happened last time. Cincinnati caught them by surprise and it took a month for the Ravens to recover. They rediscovered their hot hand last week on the way to pounding Denver 30-9, and now they’re ready for revenge.

Cincinnati is ready too. After completing their best win in years, the Bengals enjoyed a relaxing few days away from football and recuperated their damaged bodies. Now they ride back into town, healthier and more prepared than they’ve been all season, eager to keep the Ravens in their place: behind them in the standings.

The game plan is becoming redundant against these kinds of teams; spread out the wide-receivers, exploit the middle of the field against zone coverages, run hand-offs outside of the tackles to Cedric Benson, throw early to set up the run late. All of these efforts are designed to soften the hard edges of the Ravens defensive front seven. They’re still a tough team to run on (fourth in the league), but the Bengals smashed them to bits with the run in their first meeting. If Cincinnati can protect Carson Palmer and the passing-game gets moving early on, Benson and the offensive line will find life easier in the second half and wind down the clock while sustaining long drives.

Let’s face it; after last week, the Bengals offense appears that it cannot be defended in any one particular way. Palmer is back to playing at an elite level, Benson has demonstrated a blend of speed and power that now has him ranked among the league’s best runners, and the team is suddenly faced with a glut of quality offensive linemen; opponents can’t repel firepower of that magnitude!

The Ravens freaked out Bronco quarterback, Kyle Orton, early in the game last week by sending heavy pressure on blitzes which caused the scruffy signal-caller to scramble around and lose his composure. Still fueled by their hostility toward Palmer and the Bengals, I would expect Baltimore to cut loose and come after our golden boy with hatchets and spears all day on blitz-packages.

The theory makes sense; Palmer will eat any defense alive if he’s allowed time in the pocket to hang back and find open guys, and after their recent success with the blitz, there’s no reason to think Ray Lewis and his band of lunatics won’t go nuts at the mere sight of No. 9. He’s a marked man pursued by nasty renegades, bent on finishing the job and escaping with a win.

Therefore, something as basic as the screen-pass could lead the Ravens right into Cincinnati’s trap. Like an experienced matador, Palmer could invite the all-out blitz, wait for its raging eyes to come into sight, and at the last second side-step the violent encounter and dump off the screen to Benson with both an open field and a wall of blockers to work with. Voila!

If the Ravens pick up on the screen, yet continue to send additional blitzers, quick-outs to the Bengal receivers would force Baltimore’s corners to make open-field tackles—something they’ve struggled doing throughout the season. Once Palmer and the Bengals find success in the short-passing game in the face of the blitz, the Ravens will be forced to back off from sending all that pressure, and Cedric Benson will have room to operate on the ground.

At this point in time, it’s up to the Bengals to stop themselves on offense because opposing defenses aren’t rising to the challenge. If they can come close to matching the success they had against the Bears, the Ravens will have little chance of slowing Cincinnati down and winning the game.

On defense, nothing has changed since the last meeting between these two; stop Ray Rice first and Todd Heap second. Leave their receivers alone in one-on-one coverage, our corners can handle it. Keep the defensive line stretched out and contain Rice between the hash-marks. Play a shallow zone to keep Heap from finding space alone in the flats, and when the Bengals do blitz, send linebackers and safeties up the middle to flush Joe Flacco out of the pocket and make plays with his legs.

Cincinnati did a decent job containing Rice on the ground in Week 5, but missed a tackle to allow the big play on a screen pass; that can’t happen again this week. The newest version of the NFL running back—squat and meaty, compact and hard to tackle—has plagued the Bengals defense more than the league’s traditional backs. Two smallish, quicker runners, Rice and Houston’s Steve Slaton, have had the biggest impact in games against Cincinnati so far. That’s why stopping Rice, and not worrying about Willis McGahee or the trio of mediocre receivers, remains the defense’s top priority.

There is little reason to worry about the Bengals this week. Sure the Ravens are always a formidable group of roughnecks that seem consistently hellbent on pulverizing anything in sight. Sure they take pleasure in making Sundays a brutal affair where only the gruffest survive and often times bully their way into wins and playoffs. Sure they’re dressed like a bruise, but the team they so eagerly await at that rickety card table in the dingy hole-in-the-wall on the outskirts of town will not be out-muscled. They won’t be intimidated or shaken from their game-plan. They will take their seat opposite from these goons, stare them in the eye, and beat them for their pile once again.

Bengals 17, Ravens 0

Nov

6

Steelers-Broncos Ready for a Huge AFC Showdown

Posted by Chris Carosi under Denver Broncos, Pittsburgh Steelers
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steelers
Big match-up this week for the Steelers against the AFC West leading Denver Broncos. This game has always been interesting, let’s look at the history of this game in the last 15 years:

1997: (Home) W 35-24
1997: (Home) L 21-24 (AFC Championship)
2003: (Away) L 14-17
2005: (Away) W 34-17 (AFC Championship)
2006: (Home) L 20-31
2007: (Away) L 28-31

So it’s safe to say that in recent memory, Pittsburgh has had problems with this team, for a variety of reasons that go across both the Cowher and Tomlin eras and involve quarterbacks named Tomczak, Maddox, Stewart, Roethlisberger, Elway, Plummer, and Cutler, and two meetings in the AFC Championship game, with each team ruining the dreams of the other on their home field.

But the days of Jake the Snake and Elway are over, hello Kyle Orton. And the only figure that was there the whole time (Mike Shanahan) has been let go in favor of a new regime under Josh McDaniels. So far this year, the Broncos defense has really shown up as dominant, and they are currently 2nd overall in points allowed, 1st overall in yards allowed (8th against the pass, 3rd against the run).

This is Pittsburgh Steeler Territory for defense. What Denver has managed to do, with a new system, is hold teams and pass the ball. Their one loss, last week against Balitmore (this is yet another week in which Pittsburgh gets a team coming off a match-up against the Ravens) had the Ravens swarming, stopping Denver on all but 3 third downs, playing well against the pass, holding Orton with no TDs.

The Steelers two weeks ago against Brett “He’s Just Having Fun Out There!!!” Favre didn’t necessarily stop the passing attack (Favre had 300+ yards and hit 10 different targets) but they kept him from scoring and obviously the interception and fumble returns were the difference in the game. The Steelers were okay against the run, but not by any means stingy as one would want (Peterson had a decent game, but he was more effective as a check-down, ask Willie Gay).

The Broncos were not able to run effectively against Baltimore, who in turn were able to run more effectively than most teams, getting 84 yards on 23 carries, against Denver. Hey that’s nearly 4 yards per carry. Rashard Mendenhall has established himself at this point as the man, and so it will become very important to set up the Steelers passing attack with him having an effective game. C’mon, O-Line. Two weeks ago, Minnesota sacked Big Ben 4 times.

The passing game in the second half was mostly stifled–Minnesota had the ball for most of the game. If the Steelers O has troubles, is it possible to lean on the defense for another game? Sure. It worked last year all the time. But that’s a heart attack waiting to happen.

The Steelers have not been as good as usual against the pass. This has a lot to do with the pass rush on the quarterback. Ryan Clark is wounded. Aaron Smith is out. Orton has a good line, fast athletic receivers, but he’s not Fran Tarkenton.

I put my importance on this game on the Steelers pass rush. Somehow I think James Harrison is gonna get held a lot. The Denver Defense is at the top of the league in sacks (so is Pittsburgh). Every point will be important. I see this game tight until the 4th quarter.

Nov

6

NFL Lines for Week 9: November 8th and 9th

Posted by Matt Loede under Odds & Lines
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Date & Time Favorite Line Underdog Total
11/8 1:00 ET At Jacksonville -6.5 Kansas City 42
11/8 1:00 ET Baltimore -3 At Cincinnati 43.5
11/8 1:00 ET At Indianapolis -9 Houston 48
11/8 1:00 ET At Atlanta -10 Washington 41.5
11/8 1:00 ET Green Bay -9.5 At Tampa Bay 43.5
11/8 1:00 ET At Chicago -3 Arizona 44.5
11/8 1:00 ET At New England -10.5 Miami 46.5
11/8 4:05 ET At New Orleans -13 Carolina 52
11/8 4:05 ET At Seattle -10 Detroit 43
11/8 4:15 ET At San Francisco -4 Tennessee 41
11/8 4:15 ET At NY Giants -5 San Diego 47.5
11/8 8:20 ET At Philadelphia -3 Dallas 48

Monday Night Football Line

11/9 8:35 ET Pittsburgh -3 At Denver 39.5

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