Danny Amendola Heads to St. Louis

Amendola has a chance to impact a poor Rams team.


In what is likely a move of desperation, the St. Louis Rams have signed wide receiver Danny Amendola off of the Philadelphia Eagles practice squad. Amendola was making a real push for a roster spot after a strong preseason, but lost a numbers game and was sent to the practice squad.

It's probably no coincidence that Amendola is heading to St. Louis as two former assistants under coach Reid now hold prominent position on the Rams coaching staff.

Steve Spagnuolo is now the Rams head coach after serving as a defensive assistant in Philadelphia a few years back, and Pat Shurmur was brought in by Spags after serving as the Eagles quarterbacks coach last season.

Reid, and the entire coaching staff, sang the praises of Amendola all through training camp and the preseason but just could not find any room for him on the final roster.

While coaches usually try to keep good players, even if it's just on the practice squad, it's not out of the question that Reid talked up Amendola to Spags and Shurmur.

Amendola will most likely return kicks and punts for the Rams before seeing any time on offense, but should get his shot before the season is out. He could be a real surprising break-out kind of player as he's a bit like Kevin Curtis, but with better hands.

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Broncos Looking At Offensive Tackle

Scout.com is reporting that the Denver Broncos have worked out free agent offensive tackle Chris Patrick today. Patrick worked out previously with the Broncos, and has also drawn interest from the Seahawks.

Patrick could be signed to the Broncos practice squad, or he could be signed to the Broncos 53 man roster. Were Patrick to make the Broncos 53 man roster, he would likely spend the majority of his time as a healthy scratch.

Patrick spent 2008 with the Philadelphia Eagles, but he did not see any game action. Patrick is entering his third NFL season, and could develope into a solid back up offensive lineman.

Read The Full Article:
http://rfor6.blogspot.com/2009/09/broncos-looking-at-offensive-tackle.html

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Mike Singletary Approval Rating, Week 2

ESPN.com has their NFL Head Coach Ratings up and in week 2 Mike Singletary is leading with a 96% approval rating.  That's surprisingly close to our approval rating from last week, which sits at 97%.  38 folks actually voted no, and I have to say I'm curious how it plays out this week.  Also, last week we had 1,893 votes.  ESPN's week 2 Singletary votes are at 1,918, so let's try and surpass the World Wide Leader.

Things started out great in week 1 and now they've only managed to improve in week 2.  The 49ers may not have completely run away with the win against Seattle, but they did bring the punishment.  The team is clearly going to be a very physical team this season and other teams best be prepared for it.  Given the use of the nutcracker drill and all the padded practices, does this really surprise anybody?

What will be interesting to see is how the team holds up over the course of the season.  Will they be worn down come November and December?  A quick look at their schedule shows what should be two exceedingly winnable games to end the season versus Detroit and at St. Louis.  Not guarantees, but games good teams win handily.  Before that though the team goes to Seattle, hosts Arizona and heads to Philadelphia.

In looking at the whole physical training camp issue, I guess there are two divergent schools of thought: 1) The team will wear down later in the season from the tough start, or 2) the team will actually be just as strong in December because they've conditioned themselves accordingly.  I tend to lean towards getting worn down, but maybe Coach Singletary's motivational abilities can help overcome that.  I'm not really sure at this point and guess we'll just have to wait and see.  I don't think the approval rating has anything to do with this issue, but I'd be curious to hear what folks have to say on this issue.  It's something we discussed during the preseason, but I think it's something worth re-hashing now that the team is off to a nice start.

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Thomas Johnson To Start In DT Peria Jerry's Place

Straight from Mike Smith's mouth comes the news that Thomas Johnson is set to assume the starting role left by Peria Jerry's season-ending injury.

Because Smitty also committed to a rotation at defensive tackle, it's not like Johnson's going to be out there for every snap of a game. The Falcons also have Trey Lewis, rookie Vance Walker and defensive ends Jamaal Anderson and Chauncey Davis, either of whom could move inside in a pinch. It's a rotation that should be able to approximate or exceed Jerry's production, but there's nobody there that figures to be as helpful in pass rushing situations, a major concern against the New England Patriots this week.

For his part, the more traditional run stopper knows he's bringing a little something different to bear than Jerry:

"It’s a blow ‘cause Peria brings something different than I bring to the team," he said. "He brings quickness and pass rush ability and speed. I’m more of a kind of power guy. It’s going to hurt us but we have other guys who can fill in and take over."

My best guess is that Johnson will alternate with either Davis or Anderson, depending on the situation. I think Lewis should get a shot because he still has intriguing talent, but he's never been healthy and I'm not sure where the coaching staff stands on the guy. Walker should get a few snaps in the rotation and could benefit hugely if he can play well, but he's buried for the moment and will have to work his way up.

The gist here, I think, is that while losing Jerry hurts quite a bit, it's not as doom and gloom as my initial reaction had it being. There's still depth here and Johnson could step up in a big way, so let's lend him our support and hope for the best. I'm still concerned about generating any kind of pass rush from that spot, though. Your thoughts?

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NFL.COM DRIVE OF THE WEEK

NFL.COM DRIVE OF THE WEEK

02:15 ? Bucky Brooks breaks down Cincy's 12-play drive, which was capped by Chad Ochocinco's TD grab.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/cincinnati-bengals/09000d5d812d0cc3/Drive-of-the-Week

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Niners Nation sits down with 49ers QB legend
Steve Young

With all due respect to Jed York, I think our interview with him as been surpassed on the awesomeness scale.  Yes indeed, I had the amazing opportunity to conduct a phone interview our Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young yesterday.  How did this come about?  Well, it was thanks to the NFL Hall of Fame and Edelman Sports & Entertainment Marketing.  Steve Young has teamed up with the Hall of Fame on a program called Van Heusen Fan's Choice.  In a general sense, the Hall of Fame is asking fans who they think should be in the Hall of Fame.  This program allows fans to take part in a variety of activities:

• Campaign for their favorite players
• Interact and debate with Hall of Famers, experts and fans from around the country
• Contribute their own analysis and commentary
• Post video messages in support of their favorite players
• View statistics and information for all 130+ candidates
• Nominate and vote for the Fan’s Choice Class of 2010
• See how their picks compare to the Board of Selectors
• Participate in daily polls and trivia

Anyways, I was able to use this interview to get Young's thoughts on some potential 49er Hall of Famers, along with some other 49er-specific questions.  I had 15 minutes with Young but I'll be honest, when I ran out of questions at the 8 or 9 minute mark, I was actually too nervous to quickly come up with questions off the top of my head.  Yea, this was just a little bit nerve-wracking.  As was mentioned yesterday, I had to fight to avoid a Chris Farley/Paul McCartney moment.  To steal from shlecko:

"You remember when you played the Packers in that playoff game…and you almost tripped before throwing that game-winning touchdown…? Remember?"

"Yes."

"That was awesome."

After the jump, my interview with 49ers QB Steve Young (and yes I had to ask him about his time in law school!

NN: It’s a pleasure to speak with you Mr. Young.

SY: Hey David how are you?

NN: I’m doing pretty good.  First off, can you tell us how you got involved with this program?

SY: Well first of all you have to get into the Hall of Fame to get involved.

(Laughter – mine probably a bit more awkward than his)

SY: But, I think the Hall is reaching out to fans to get more involved with the whole process.  I think there is a little bit of how it happens and continuing to help people get more integrated into what’s going on with the Hall, who should be in there and how it happens.  I think it’s important.  If you know something about how the Hall works, it comes up on your radar a couple times a year but I think that fans have a lot more opinion about it and I think that’s why the Hall is reaching out.

NN: Is there any one particular player outside of the first year players this year probably deserves a little more publicity for their Hall of Fame campaign that maybe wouldn’t normally get it?

SY: Well, I think anytime you have somebody that isn’t in, because Super Bowls and championships have a way of defining people, and it makes it a lot easier with Emmitt and Jerry going in.  It’s kind of easy to have the qualifications other than the Super Bowls.  But there’s a lot of guys that toiled that were superior players.  You know, Chris Carter is somebody like that, where he didn’t go to Super Bowls so it’s not that easy hook that they look for.  But yet, if you saw him play, he was one of the best of all time.

NN: Do you see him potentially ending up getting sort of the Art Monk treatment where it just takes several years for whatever reason even though he’s put up these amazing numbers?

SY: Uhhh, no. I think it’s a little different.  I think Chris will go.  I think that there’s a strong sense after a first ball hall of fame receiver, there greatest in history, will open the door to a lot more receivers (a little static made this come across a little confusing on the recording).

NN: More specific to the 49ers, a guy like Roger Craig.  Speaking of championships, he was with all these great teams.  He was kind of the Ladanian Tomlinson or Marshall Faulk first with the receiving game.  Do you think he potentially gets in down the road?

SY: Yea, because I think with that whole run of the 49ers for 25 years, it’ll catch up.  Joe, Ronnie, myself and Jerry, so then what?  Then they’ll start selecting the guys that should be, like Craig and Charles Haley.  I kind of wish he had been there long term.  It would have made a difference for us, but what are you going to do.  You’ve seen it already with Fred Dean.  That’s the next group of people you’ll see.

NN: Somewhat related to the Hall of Fame, do you see any particular 49ers on the team now, especially now that they’re starting to maybe turn things around, one of those next guys that might be on their way towards the Hall of Fame.

SY: Yea, definitely, on each side.  On defense you have Patrick Willis. [On offense Frank Gore, if he can stay healthy].  Yesterday definitely helps. (Laugh).  But you need those kind of stars that have that kind of potential.

NN: Looking at the 49ers of now, looking at the quarterback position, Shaun Hill doesn’t quite exude that Hall of Fame "grace," you might say, but is he the type of guy that can lead this team to the proverbial promised land?

SY: Well I think he’s already 9-3 as a starter, so that’s a good start.  He looks very steady and with more weapons they could become more explosive.  He doesn’t have a lot of downside (my recorder cut off parts of this answer for whatever reason.  His general thoughts were that Hill could prove to be a very solid quarterback down the road, particularly as the team gets more weapons in).

NN: Looking back at your own career, outside of winning the Super Bowl, is there any particular game or moment that stands out as one of your favorites?

SY: Well any game that we had late in the year with the Cowboys or Packers during those years, and they’re not all happy memories to be honest with you, but there’s a couple.  That’s what defined who we were at that time.  I don’t know that I really appreciated it as much as I should have.

NN: I had a non sports-related question.  I’m entering my third year of law school.  I knew you had earned your law degree but I didn’t realize it happened right in the middle of your career, and I was just wondering how you were able to do that when you’re dealing with the stress of these big games, and you’re getting a law degree,

SY: Yea, I go from the Super Bowl to class the next day…I did it in six years from 88 to 94.  It worked out, I was tired by the time it ended and I was about done with it.

NN: I can imagine.  This is my third year and I am definitely ready to be done with it.  And I don’t have to learn a playbook every offseason

(Awkward laugh on both ends at my amazing attempt at humor)

SY: Good for you.

NN: Thank you.  I know you were in town for Eddie Debartolo’s enshrinement in the 49ers Hall of Fame.  Have you had a chance to meet or speak with Jed York since he’s become the face of the franchise.

SY: Yes I have, briefly, interacting in different events coming across each other.  This event yesterday was really Jed bridging himself to his uncle, that kind of owner, setting himself up for something great.  And they’re hopefully on there way.

NN: They’re definitely showing improvement.  There is that one weapon out there, Michael Crabtree that hopefully will get back in the fold.  I guess the 49ers filed tampering charges over the issue with the Jets recently…

SY: Oh really?

NN: Yes, they announced it on ESPN this morning that they’ve, the unnamed sources have indicated that.  And I know Jerry Rice had a few comments yesterday before the game.  Do you think that something will get done with Crabtree and getting him onto the field?

SY: Yea, he can’t sit out, he’s got to agree to something.  But I think that he could be stubborn (more cut off, basically saying maybe he really doesn’t want to play in San Francisco – basically just gonna have to wait and see how it plays out).

NN: You had your own slightly wayward wide receiver in Terrell Owens.  I know hypotheticals are hard to work with, but if your career hadn’t been cut short, do you think things might have turned out differently with TO in San Francisco?

SY: It’s hard to say….new ownership changed everything.

NN: Thanks again.  I really appreciate you taking the time to speak with me today.  Thank you very much.

SY: Ok, take care.

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Arkansas-Alabama Preview

Quarterback Greg McElroy #12 of the Alabama Crimson Tide

Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett (15)

Alabama coach Nick Saban finally saw his team play at a high-intensity level for a full game in last weekend's blowout of a lesser opponent.

With its SEC schedule set to open, Saban's squad is likely going to need the same preparation and execution to get past high-powered Arkansas.

The third-ranked Crimson Tide look to take their first step toward winning their second straight SEC West title Saturday when they host the Razorbacks, led by the nation's top-rated quarterback in Ryan Mallett.

After Alabama (3-0) led Florida International by six points at halftime before a second-half surge helped it post a 40-14 victory Sept. 12, Saban questioned the team's enthusiasm. He knew he had talented players and wanted to see them come out and play solid ball for the full 60 minutes against North Texas last Saturday.

The Crimson Tide responded, racing to a 30-0 halftime lead and winning 53-7 in the program's highest-scoring game since a 56-7 victory over UTEP in 2001.

"Until today, I wondered, 'Was this team really going to fulfill its full potential?'" Saban said. "I just wasn't pleased with the lack of consistency we played with in the first two games. We played really well at times and at other times we didn't, but I feel like we were much more solid and we made some improvement."

The Tide racked up 523 yards of offense and the Mean Green didn't get in the end zone until late in the third quarter, when most of Alabama's starters were on the bench with the team leading by 44.

"Everything we've done up to this point is all good and grand as far as getting the cobwebs out," said quarterback Greg McElroy, who completed 13 of 15 passes for 176 yards and two touchdowns last week. "Now it's time to really start playing. Our goal is to win an SEC championship, an SEC West championship, all those things. And we can't get it without a victory next week."

The Tide, who went 8-0 in conference play last season to win the West before losing to eventual national champion Florida in the league title game, will likely need another strong offensive performance to keep pace with the Razorbacks (1-1, 0-1).

Arkansas boasts the second-best offense in the Football Bowl Subdivision, averaging 538.0 yards, and came up on the short end of a 52-41 loss to then-No. 23 Georgia last Saturday night.

Mallett threw for 161 yards and three touchdowns in the first quarter to help the Razorbacks jump out to a 21-10 lead, but the potent offense struggled to get the ball in the end zone down the stretch, scoring six points in the final 20 minutes.

"We've got to keep executing," Mallett said. "We didn't execute in the fourth quarter like we did in the first half. We have to continue to get better. We put up numbers but not enough points. We could have had a couple more touchdowns."

Mallett is the key to the offense, throwing for 717 yards in two games. The transfer from Michigan set two school records Saturday with 408 passing yards and five touchdowns, and leads the FBS with a 193.5 passer rating.

The Tide are stout on defense this season, giving up a league-best 185.3 yards per game, but facing Mallett and the Razorbacks will likely present a bigger test than lining up against teams from the Sun Belt Conference like they did the last two weeks.

"We're going to have to ramp it up a notch," Saban said.

"This is a really good football team, especially an outstanding offensive team, but a really good team overall and it's going to be very challenging for us. It's a little different than what we have played against to this point, so there are a lot of challenges here and we'll see how we respond to it."

Saban hopes to have star receiver Julio Jones (bruised right knee) and tailback Roy Upchurch (high ankle sprain) back for this game after they sat out last weekend.

In last season's 49-14 win over Arkansas, Jones caught a 25-yard TD pass while Upchurch rushed for 91 yards and a touchdown on seven carries.

The Tide have won three of four overall against the Razorbacks and four of five in Alabama.© 2009Football news from a chick?Wikio

Read The Full Article:
http://ck0712digit.blogspot.com/2009/09/arkansas-alabama-preview.html

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Stoops Is Done Commenting on Bradford's Status

Read The Full Article:
http://www.gnextinc.com/ousoonersblog/2009/09/coach-stoops-is-done-commenting-on.
html

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Coach Stoops Is Done Commenting on Bradford's
Status

Read The Full Article:
http://www.gnextinc.com/ousoonersblog/2009/09/coach-stoops-is-done-commenting-on.
html

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UTEP-Texas Preview

Texas senior quarterback Colt McCoy

UTEP quarterback Trevor Vittatoe (10)

Though Colt McCoy was recovering from the flu, Texas managed to exact revenge on a conference rival last week, pulling out a win over the only team it lost to last season.

With their Heisman hopeful quarterback healthy again, the Longhorns have to like their chances of staying undefeated against UTEP.

McCoy and the second-ranked Longhorns look to build on their first Big 12 win by continuing their dominance of non-conference opponents when they host the Miners on Saturday.

Texas (3-0) didn't distinguish itself early in last Saturday's game against visiting Texas Tech, which kept the Longhorns out of last year's Big 12 title game and perhaps the national championship game by beating them 39-33 in November.

The Longhorns struggled early, perhaps in part because McCoy was feeling the effects of an illness that kept him out of most drills during the week. Texas staggered to a 10-3 halftime lead, with its only touchdown coming on a 46-yard punt return.

McCoy felt better after eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and drinking a children's hydration drink at halftime. He completed 15 of 18 pass attempts in the second half and threw his only touchdown early in the fourth quarter to help Texas to a 34-24 victory.

"I just felt weak in the first half. I wasn't myself," said McCoy, last season's runner-up for the Heisman Trophy. "At halftime I ate a bunch and drank a bunch. I felt recharged. I ended up playing great."

Coach Mack Brown was encouraged by the way his team responded to its biggest test of the young season. The Longhorns cruised to blowout victories in their first two games against Louisiana-Monroe and Wyoming.

"Survival," Brown said. "I'm proud of the way our guys grew up, the way they worked, and fought and hit."

Brown has good reason to be proud of his team's performance against non-conference opponents. Including bowl games, Texas is 25-1 against teams outside the Big 12 since the start of the 2004 season, the lone defeat coming against then-No. 1 Ohio State on Sept. 9, 2006.

Since a 38-28 loss to Arkansas on Sept. 13, 2003, the Longhorns have won 21 in a row against unranked non-conference foes by an average of 36.6 points.

That is bad news for the Miners (1-2), losers of 10 straight against Top 25 teams and 3-46 all-time against ranked opponents. They dropped their most recent meeting with the Longhorns -- who were ranked 10th at the time -- 42-13 last Sept. 6.

Texas won its three previous matchups with UTEP, which is visiting Austin for the first time since 1933.

McCoy was 20 for 29 for 282 yards, four touchdowns and one interception in last year's meeting. Dan Buckner, then a freshman, caught one of those TD passes for the first reception of his career.

At 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, Buckner is flourishing after moving from wide receiver to what Texas calls its "flex" position, lining him up closer to the ball. After catching five passes in 12 games as a freshman, he is second on the team with 17 receptions and 223 yards through the first three games of 2009.

Buckner said making the move was about getting a chance to play, and it's worked out well for him and the team.

"It gets me on the field," said Buckner, who caught McCoy's touchdown pass last week. "I just want to play, contribute and win."

UTEP got its first win of the season last Saturday, scoring the first 31 points in a 38-12 rout of New Mexico State. Donald Buckram rushed for 113 yards and two touchdowns, and Vernon Frazier also ran for two scores as the Miners compiled 14 more points than they had in their first two games combined.

Coach Mike Price liked what he saw last week, but he knows it will take a very strong performance to hand Texas its first defeat.

"We're going to be challenged in every phase this week," he said. "We just have to play better, play closer to our potential. ... We have a lot of work to do. We're not there yet."
© 2009Football news from a chick?Wikio

Read The Full Article:
http://ck0712digit.blogspot.com/2009/09/utep-texas-preview.html

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