http://www.yardbarker.com/content/player/2271 Recent articles about Joe Horn en-us In an almost daily occurance, there is an unhappy WR. Today that guy is Joe Horn. Horn wants out of The ATL because he's not going to be anything more than just a situational guy. While I understand his frustration, Horn is 36 and not too many teams are looking for a guy his age makinh his kind of coin; up to $18.5 million with incentives with $2.5 million in base salary this season. Of course Dallas and Philly fans both think they need WRs so the speculation of him going to one of those two teams has started. http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/falcons/stories/2008/05/12/falcons_0513.html Tue, 13 May 2008 10:04:42 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/266393 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/266393 1. Tom Brady, Patriots (2000) 2. Joe Montana, 49ers (1979) 3. Steve Largent, Oilers (1976) 4. Shannon Sharpe, Broncos (1990) 5. Ken Houston, Oilers (1967) 6. Terrell, Davis, Broncos (1995) 7. Andre Reed, Bills (1985) 8. L.C. Greenwood, Steelers (1969) 9. Charles Haley, 49ers (1986) 10.Rodney Harrison, Chargers (1994) 11. Charlie Joiner, Oilers (1969) 12. Art Shell, Raiders (1968) 13. Dan Fouts, Chargers (1973) 14. Richard Dent, Bears (1983) 15. Zach Thomas, Dolphins (1996) 16. John Stallworth, Steelers (1974) 17. Rayfield Wright, Cowboys (1992) 18. Harry Carson, Giants (1976) 19. Dwight Clark, 49ers (1979) 20. Seth Joyner, Eagles (1986) 21. Mark Clayton, Dolphins (1983) 22. Mike Webster, Steelers (1974) 23. Harold Carmichael, Eagles (1971) 24. Earnest Byner, Browns (1984) 25. John Taylor, 49ers (1986) 26. Clyde Simmons, Eagles (1979) 27. Hardy Nickerson, Steelers (1987) 28. Matt Hasselbeck, Packers (1998) 29. Jamal Anderson, Falcons (1994) 30. Karl Mecklenburg, Broncos (1983) 31. Bob Kuechenberg, Eagles (1969) 32. Mark Schlereth, Redskins (1989) 33. Hines Ward, Steelers (1998) 34. Mark Bavaro, Giants (1985) 35. Keenan McCardell, Redskins (1991) 36. Trent Green, Chargers (1993) 37. Greg Lloyd, Steelers (1987) 38. Marc Bulger, Saints (2000) 39. Tyrone Braxton, Broncos (1987) 40. Ahman Green, Seahawks (1998) 41. Larry Brown, Cowboys (1991) 42. Brian Sipe, Browns (1972) 43. La'Roi Glover, Raiders (1996) 44. Jesse Sapolu, 49ers (1983) 45. Leon Lett, Cowboys (1991) 46. T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Bengals (2001) 47. Troy Brown, Patriots (1993) 48. Aaron Kampman, Packers (2002) 49. Joe Horn, Chiefs (1996) 50. Brian Westbrook, Eagles (2002 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 17:27:28 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/242386 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/242386 Glen Dorsey says he'd love to be a bird. No sorry my fellow Eagles fans I'm talking about the other birds down south. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Indianapolis – A twinkle flickers in Falcons coach Mike Smith's eyes when he talks about the middle of a defense. As Jacksonville defensive coordinator he had Marcus Stroud and John Henderson anchoring his defense. When those behemoths needed a break, Smith sent in former Falcons tackle Grady Jackson for part of last season and in the playoffs. With the No. 3 pick in the NFL's 2008 draft, the Falcons may have a chance to fortify the middle of their defense. Louisiana State University's Glenn Dorsey could be available. The Falcons must examine extensive medical reports on the tackle. Indianapolis president Bill Polian has a long history of picking top talent. Polian scouted Dorsey when the Tigers played Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl following the 2006 season. "He was a force," Polian said. "He can do it all. He can stop the run. He can rush the passer. He can beat you one-on-one." While part of the defensive tackles' job is to take up blockers, Dorsey has shown that he's more than just a space-eater. His unit helped LSU to its BCS national championship title last season. "I'm not sure that many people can win a battle one-on-one against him in pass protection," Polian said. "To have a player that's inside like that, that is a force, that's good, a real positive." Miami has the first pick in the draft, followed by St. Louis. Both could snap up Dorsey before the Falcons get a chance on April 26th in New York. "He's an impact guy, he's an every-down guy, first, second and third," said Billy Devaney, St. Louis' vice president of player personnel after leaving his assistant general manager's position with the Falcons this year. "He elevates people around him, makes them better. ... The guy's going to be a great pro." A possible draft scenario would be Miami drafting quarterback Matt Ryan and St. Louis taking defensive lineman Chris Long. That would set up the Dorsey to Atlanta move at No. 3. "I'd love to go to the Falcons," Dorsey said. "I'd love to be a Bird." Dorsey did not to workout at the NFL scouting combine. He measured 6-feet-1 1/4 and weighed 297 pounds. However, his assortment of injuries at LSU, including a stress fracture in the right tibia, sent off a medical alert. Dorsey was at the hospital from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, getting tests. "MRI's, CAT scans, everything," Dorsey said. "(There were) things from high school that they wanted to check out. It was quite interesting." Dorsey, who plans to workout for the scouts on LSU's pro day on March 26, noted that he played in all games last season with the injury. "I know I had a hairline fracture my junior year on my right tibia," Dorsey said. "I'm not sure how the test came out." He remembers how the injury happened. "I bumped it up against something in the weight room," Dorsey said. On the field, a lot of teams have tried to block into Dorsey's knees with chop blocks. "I've seen quite a few," Dorsey said. "Most of the time you are able to slide your foot with it. But a couple of times, I just got caught in it at the wrong time." He's seen an assortment of block attempts designed to slow him down. One, against Auburn last season, resulted in an injured right knee. "It just happened in a play where a guy accidentally went high on me and a guy hit me low," Dorsey said. "It kind of twisted my knee up a little bit." The Auburn block drew the ire of LSU head coach Les Miles. But Dorsey has moved on. "I'm not concerned about it," Dorsey said. "I let it go." Dorsey seemed to take the extra medical scrutiny in stride. "I'm not surprised by it at all, there's a lot of money they put in," Dorsey said. "Even if you were not hurt you are going to be sore after all these examinations Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:08:16 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/170099 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/170099 This was not a good year for the Dirty Birds. The misfortunate commenced with the Michael Vick, and his eventual plea bargain leading to jail time, rather than game time. Having watched football for many years, I have heard of players quitting on teams, but never a coach quitting mid-season, but that's exactly what first year head-man Bobby Petrino did with 3 games remaining. The 2007 edition of the Atlanta Falcons will go down as one of the ugliest teams on the field, off the field, and also in the stats sheets. There were a few exceptions, of course, such as WR Roddy White. However, the majority of the Falcons helped make the 2007 season one to forget for Falcons fans and their fantasy owners. Sun, 20 Jan 2008 07:50:11 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/77947 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/77947 This morning I heard another ex-NFL player once again take a shot at ex-Falcons coach Bobby Petrino. At this point I am starting to get sick and tired of the hypocrisy of the NFL and its media. Wed, 19 Dec 2007 14:52:27 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/48958 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/48958 Roddy White, Alge Crumpler, DeAngelo Hall, Chris Houston, and Joe Horn have been fined by the NFL for honoring Michael Vick last week. Roddy White lifted his jersey after a touchdown revealing a "free mike vick" message. When Clinton Portis lifted his own jersey with a Sean Taylor tribute message, he received no such fine. OF COURSE Clinton had every right to honor Taylor and he SHOULDN'T have been fined, but the NFL cannot pick and choose who to punish for violating the very same rule. Forcing your beliefs and ideals on others is a slippery slope. Mon, 17 Dec 2007 23:00:52 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/47652 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/47652 "I just don't think [coach] Sean Payton wanted me back," Horn said after being let go by New Orleans. "I asked to be released because I felt betrayed by a head coach who wanted to prove he could win without Joe Horn." Is he full of himself or what... Mon, 10 Dec 2007 13:25:25 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/42253 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/42253 After being asked the inevitable question if the Pats are running up the score, and of course the cheating question, Horn had this to say... "It's not Randy's fault. It's not Tom Brady's fault…I'm not blaming none of the players. You were caught cheating, so that's what you're going to retire with. That's what you're going to be known for in the Super Bowls that you won. Regardless, you were cheating, and you won those Super Bowls. Don't get mad now and try to score 70 or 80 points on teams when you could have did it when you weren't cheating. So, I'm not trying to dog anybody but, it is what it is. They've got a great football team and I think personally they could go 19-0. But the fact is, at the end of the day, when you hang your retirement up, all you're going to be left with, besides your name, yeah, those three Super Bowls were great, but you were kind of cheating in knowing what the defenses were calling over there." Don't cry Joe, im sorry you will never win a SB in your NFL career. Fri, 23 Nov 2007 16:36:16 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/38326 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/38326 So, last Sunday I had been waiting all week for the Patriots vs Cowboys. Sitting on my hands, just really excited to see a shoot out of monumental proportions. Friday morning my wife hits me with some news: "Don't forget we're going to a birthday party on Sunday." "Sunday!? What time Sunday?!" "3:00." "What the... Who the..." Suddenly my ears begin to smoke. Everyone knows kids birthday parties are on Saturday! Who in the hell has a birthday party at 3:00 on Sunday?! My initial reaction is, "I'm not going." But, rationality hits and and decide that I do like these people and I don't want to look like a dick...so I go. Begrudgingly... Needless to say, I didn't watch much football on Sunday. I TiVoed the game, but it just wasn't the same. I couldn't check my fantasy stats as the game went on for fear of seeing the score...it was just ruined. But, anyway, I went 7 for 11 last week with Kurt Warner going down in the first quarter making him a push, bringing my season total to 47 for 69 (68%). Let's do it again, shall we? Better Than Usual: QBs Marc Bulger - STL @ SEA - It's gonna be a tough matchup in the world's loudest stadium against a pretty good defense. But, apparently Scott Linehan flew over the edge a couple of days ago during a team meeting about how bad the Rams have sucked. Apparently it was such a furious tangent that it's made Bulger decide to come back, sore ribs or not. That sounds like a fire has been lit under some asses. Trent Edwards - BUF vs. BAL - Wait, what? Yep. Here's my logic. The Ravens are expected to be missing Ray Lewis and Chris McAllister on Sunday. Trent Edwards was recently named the starter despite J.P. Losman coming back and having done nothing to lose the job. Expect Edwards to try his damndest to keep this job against a hobbled mecha-defense. Read more at ArmchairAssociation.com... Fri, 19 Oct 2007 21:36:59 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/32056 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/32056 Welcome back to my own version of Two-A-Days. You're once again reading this blog so I guess it's safe to assume I didn't bore you to death with the last version. So without further ado – Let's examine the NFC & AFC Southern Divisions. AFC South If you happen to be a fan of the AFC South then you know two things are for sure. One- Peyton Manning is bound to put up more Touchdowns than any other Quarterback in the league and Two- Vince Young will fall prey to the dreaded Madden curse. Well, maybe not two. But you definitely know Peyton will toss up more TD's than any other QB. So let me tell you how I feel the AFC south will break down this year. Let us start with the newest team in the Division, the Houston Texans. In the off-season the Texans took a gamble on a Quarterback who only started two games in his professional career and lost both games. I am talking about Matt Schaub, who used to back up Michael Vick in Atlanta. Of coarse a lot of people think the Texans took a huge chance on trading for a back up. Houston is used to being second-guessed. After all, these are the same Texans who drafted Mario Williams over Reggie Bush. When the Texans finally inked Schaub they cut their once number one draft pick David Carr. Carr who holds the NFL record for most sacks in one season. Which is a good record to have if you play on defense. But not if you happen to be a starting quarterback. Matt Schaub will finally get a chance to lead a team throughout the entire season and not just in a back up role. The question is was he worth all the Texans gave up for him. A lot of fans across this country have mixed feelings on Schaub. The ones who are skeptical have the right to be; so far numbers wise in the preseason Schaub isn't the better Quarterback on this team. Sage Rosenfels holds that stat with 388 yards passing and four touchdowns. Their running game has seen many faces. This year they picked up former Green bay Packer Ahman Green, who was signed to be the starting running back in Houston. Anyone who has seen Ahman Green play in Green Bay knows that he can be a dangerous Running back. The only problem is keeping him healthy. That has always been Green's problem and his consistent injury problems, which were his problem in Green Bay, will most likely plague the Texans as well. Fortunately for them their back up running back Wali Lundy has been looking solid. Their Wide receiver position for the Texans happens to be a bright side to this offense. With top wide receiver Andre Johnson leading the way and rookie Jacoby Jones turning heads in the preseason. Now as far as the Texans defense goes, well for their last two drafts they used their picks on two defensive players – Amobi Akoye and Mario Williams. And in the past year Mario hasn't had the year they expected out of him. So with one more year under his belt the coaching staff hopes that he has adjusted and can become that playmaker he was supposed to be out of college. Now with Amobe Akoye, there was no questioning this draft pick. This kid is a fast learner and should do a great deal for the Texans right out of the gate. The Texans are looking to build a defensive strong team, but if they want to take over this division they need to get it together on offense. Our next team is the Jacksonville Jaguars. Coach Jack Del Rio has built a team with one hell of a defense. But as I said before, if you want to be the team to beat in the AFC south then you have to be strong on offense as well. And I am not saying that this team doesn't have an offense. Because the potential this offense shows is incredible. With the great running duo if Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones Drew they have the potential to make it into the playoffs. The only problem that they have is the consistency of the quarterback position. We are heading into Byron Leftwich's fifth season. Now the last two or three seasons Byron has been injured. Which hasn't given the Jaguars the stability that a team needs at the quarterback position. And Jack Del Rio realizes this, which is exactly why he has named David Garrard the starting quarterback for the Jaguars. This is big, I mean huge. This could change the entire AFC south. Because the Jags have always been seen as this team with a tough defense but an unstable offense due to the quarterback position. But now David Garrard is given a chance to start an entire season, which gives the receivers in Jacksonville time to get comfortable with one QB, assuming that Garrard stays healthy. But he hasn't really given any reason to think he'd get injured so this remains a good thing for the Jags. Onto the Tennessee Titans lead by Quarterback Vince Young, who has won many awards in the past few years. First with his college Texas, he defeated the USC powerhouse and became a National College champion and MVP of the National title game. He then went on to the NFL winning the Rookie of the year. Not to mention in many fans eyes one of the greatest honors a player can be given, gracing the cover of Madden. Or one of the worst honors, depending on if you believe in superstitions. But the Titans have a lot more to worry about on offense than a Jinx that may or may not be true. Like worrying about how Vince Young will do during an entire season. Last year worked because coaches didn't know what Vince was bringing to the table. Now they have footage on him. Smart coaches will game plan for Vince and stick spies on him. Last year Vince got away with a lot of things that he did in College. I just don't think he'll be able to do the same thing this year. He's going to have to be more of a prototypical Quarterback. I am not questioning if he can be that type of quarterback. I am worrying if he has enough pieces around him to become that kind of Quarterback. Last year Drew Bennett was his favorite target, Drew Bennett is now a Ram. The majority of the Titans receiving core are either rookies or has-beens. The most credible wide receivers with successful careers that they have are Eric Molds and David Givens. And Molds couldn't secure a job with the Texans and Givens has yet to prove that he can be a NFL player outside of the Bill Belichick scheme. Their Run game suffered a hit when Travis Henry went to the Denver Broncos. So far in the off-season LenDale White has proven that he can handle the load that was left by Travis Henry. Which is good cause rookie running back Chris Henry hasn't proven he can handle life in the NFL yet. Their defense was ranked if not last close to last in 2006. So if they even want to challenge for a playoff spot this year, their defense better step up big and Vince better hope that he doesn't suffer the same fate as the last seven players who dawned the Madden cover. And if he manages to survive that he better prey that one of these has-beens or rookies in the wide receiving core steps up this season. Cause if they don't step up the Madden Jinx might not hit him but the sophomore jinx will. Now onto the kings of the AFC South division and in 2006 the entire NFL, Super Bowl XLI champions – The Indianapolis Colts. The Colts have been the bullies of the AFC south division ever since it was proclaimed a division in 2002. I really don't know where to start with this team. Last year around this time so many experts were talking about how the Colts weren't going to be as good as they once were since Edgerrin James was no longer a Colt; That they could not replace that kind of production with a back up and a rookie, when all Joseph Addai and Dominic Rhodes combined for 1,000 yards. And their receiving core; well, is there any better in the NFL? I wouldn't be surprised if when it is all said and done that the trio of Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne and Marvin Harrison become the best threesome since the Triplets of Dallas. If they win one or two more Super Bowls they may even be better. If I had to pinpoint a weakness in this team it would have to be the defense. Last year their run defense was like watching a train wreck. In fact their entire defense was rank 21st in the entire league. It looked as if the once invincible Colts were going to be one and done in the playoffs, due to their insufficient defensive play. But the return of Bob Sanders changed all of that. Once Bob Sanders came back during the playoffs it seemed as if they were playing with the best defense in the league. Which makes you wonder, were they really that bad? Or were they saving their best stuff for the right time. Well I guess we'll never know. All we do know is that they saved their best stuff for when it counts, they saved it for the Super Bowl and they became World Champions. So this is how I see it breaking down in the AFC south this season. I see the Colts dominating the division again. Followed by the Jacksonville Jaguars who will wrap up one of the AFC Wildcard spots. The Tennessee Titans will come in third if Vince doesn't get hurt and last will be the Houston Texans, who I still haven't see any improvement on the Offensive line. You can change the quarterbacks all you wish. If they're not protected then they will be on their back most of the season. NFC South It seemed to me that last years NFC south champions rose from the ashes to dominate their division. After all, before 2006 the Saints were still suffering from when Mike Ditka gave up nearly two seasons of draft picks in order to get Ricky Williams. But last years Saints were the feel good story of the year. After hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, the city was looking for something to keep their minds off of the devastation. Which is what their football team provided them. From their home opening win in the superdome against the rivaled Atlanta Falcons. To when they nearly made it to the super bowl, falling just shy against the Chicago Bears in the NFC championship. The Saints sure gave their fans hope. Now the question in 2007 is will the Saints be able to repeat the success they had last year, or will fade away? We start off with the Media circus that is the Atlanta Falcons. We all know what the Falcons are dealing with this season. With the whole Mike Vick saga and I am not going to get too much into it. I will simply say that Mike Vick has not only harmed his fans by lying to them, when he stated that he had nothing to do with dog fighting. But he also has harmed his fans by leaving them with the quarterback situation that will surely cripple the team for the entire season. No one forced Michael Vick to be involved in this horrid act; he took it upon himself to fund a dog-fighting rink. That is all I have to say about that. Those remarks about crippling the team by the quarterback position weren't meant to disrespect Joey Harrington cause I have seen what this guy can do. When he wants to be good he can be really, really good. The problem is he is only good in flashes. In Detroit he was rarely good then when he started in Miami and they faced the Lions he played a game that would put Tom Brady to shame. Now if he can play that way, play with a sense that he needs to prove himself. If he can somehow play like that every game than the Falcons have found a player worthy of replacing Vick. But he has yet to prove that he can do that which makes the Falcons much lesser of a team. Now there are rumors of the Falcons grabbing Byron Leftwhich who has just been cut by the Jaguars. Which may be an improvement from Harrington. It all depends on if Byron can remain healthy throughout the season. The rest of the offense really isn't that much better. Their wide receivers are spotty at best. They show flashes of being a NFL worthy group of receivers. Their best receivers consist of veteran Joe Horn, Roddy White, Michael Jenkins along with Tight End Alge Crumpler. Those guys are in my opinion are a mediocre group of receivers. But you can win with them. As we saw in 2004 when they made it to the NFC championship. The problem I always thought was Mike Vick. He's a run first quarterback much like Randal Cunningham in his younger years. Except Randal eventually learned to rely on his receivers, to this point Vick has failed to do this. The Falcons Running backs aren't looking any better either. The starting running back Warrick Dunn had major back surgery in the off-season and it has yet to be determined if he can last an entire season. Now they do have Jerious Norwood. Who turned a few heads last year with some amazing plays. But with no Mike Vick for defenses to game plan for the opposing teams can pay more attention to the rest of the team. Their defense hasn't looked as good as it did in the past. In 2006 it placed 22nd in overall defense and it doesn't look like it will get any better for the Falcons in 2007. We turn our attentions towards the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Who in the off-season signed a gang of quarterbacks for their team. Two worth mentioning are Jake Plummer and Jeff Garcia. Plummer eventually retired and Garcia won the starting job. Yesterday was the day that all NFL teams had to make all cuts; you'd think that the quarterback position would trim down a little. Well no, when most teams go into the season with three quarterbacks at the most. The Buccaneers have four quarterbacks. Their running game took a hit last year when Cadillac Williams sat out most of the season due to injury. This year they hope to have him start the entire season. Good luck with that Bucs. The way Gruden runs his starting backs it will take a lot of luck. But I really don't blame Gruden for running Cadillac as much as he did. His wide receivers weren't stepping up. Hopefully for Gruden's sake, Jeff Garcia can reenergize this team as he did with the Philadelphia Eagles when McNabb went down in 2006. Cause if he doesn't I see Gruden looking for a Job in 2008. Jon Gruden looked like he was trying to rebuild a younger defense through the draft. A little too late in my opinion. He should have attempted rebuilding this team when they couldn't repeat as Super Bowl champions. But instead Gruden has tried to win with the same tired team for too long. I believe Gruden is not a Coach who builds teams. If you recall Tony Dungy was the one who built their super bowl team, Gruden just led them to win it. Gruden is too impatient to work with young players. Therefore he cannot rebuild. Which is why he relies on veteran quarterbacks to win his games. Like Rich Gannon, Brad Johnson and now Jeff Garcia. And Grudens impatience is why the Buccaneers won't sniff the playoffs this year. Even in an age when a record of 8-8 gets you a playoff spot in the NFC. Next is the Carolina Panthers, and the Panthers were many sports writer's favorite to represent the NFC in the super bowl last season. Mean while they didn't even get into the playoffs. So it goes to show you how much the ESPN Analysts and sports writers' know. This season a lot of those same "experts" are calling for the Panthers to make up for when they failed last year. I say they don't have a chance taking the division cause they face the Saint twice a year. They may be able to take a wildcard spot, but I doubt it. Don't get me wrong; I think the Panthers have good team for the most part. Their defense finished in the top ten overall. And in the preseason their defense is up there as well. Their offense looks good as well. You have a really good duo of Running Backs with DeShaun Foster and DeAngelo Williams running the rock. Their Wide Receivers look good this year. As always you can count on Steve Smith and their number one draft pick Dwayne Jarrett is supposed to be the second coming of Keyshawn Johnson. Pair those guys with Drew Carter and Keary Colbert and you have a great core of receivers. So with all those positives on offense and defense what is the problem? Well their quarterback is the problem. The once Super Bowl quarterback Jake Delhomme is looking worse and worse as the season goes on. I would say he hit a rough patch but he's been playing bad since last year. Which is a good reason why they picked up David Carr. Now I know what you're thinking, that there's no way Carr can replace Delhomme. But I think he can, see Carr came up on a bad team. So by association he was bad. Now he's on a good team, with good players. A team that was supposed to be among the best in the NFC. Remember David Carr was a number one Draft pick before. So he has what it takes to do good things. And with the Panthers it is only a matter of time before he does great things. But it will take time for that to happen. Mean while right now the New Orleans Saints are looking to dominate their NFC south rivals once again. This is a team that almost made it to the super bowl last season. I think if the NFC championship was held in the Superdome that the Saints would have won the NFC championship. But it wasn't held in the superdome and the Bears won the NFC championship. But this is a new season. Drew Brees has a core of really good young receivers to throw to, not to mention Reggie Bush. Who has one season of NFL experience. I see this being Bush's breakout year. There may be no stopping Reggie once he gets going. And when teams are focusing on Bush, Brees can air it out to Colston or hand it off to the big bruiser Deuce McAllister. Most people agree that this offense is the best in the NFC on paper. On the flip side of that their defense is the exact opposite. They gave up way too many big plays last season. Even though the numbers state that the Saints defense finished 11th in overall defense last season. The big plays that they give up prevented them from getting into the super bowl. So in order for the Saints to do even better this season they need to eliminate the big plays from other teams and let this offense do their thing. Even if this defense doesn't improve I can see this offense outscoring their opponents enough that to improve on their 10-6 record from last season. So I see the NFC breaking down like this, The Falcons will finish in last place, due to all the detrimental things that have happened to them in the off-season. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will improve on spot from last year to come in at third place, I feel that Garcia will energize them enough to win them a couple more games this season. The Panthers will come in at second place; I see the Delhomme era ending in Carolina and the Carr era beginning. And this may come to no surprise to anyone, as the Saints take home the Division. Sun, 02 Sep 2007 19:32:59 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/25702 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/25702 Wide receivers. These are the guys who give fantasy managers more headaches than any other position. You know how it goes. One week your WR2 grabs 3 balls for 40 yds, while that scrub on your bench catches 4 balls for 110 yds and one long TD. So you switch them next week and the scrub goes 3-25, while your WR2 who you were cursing last week is putting up 7-60 and a TD on your bench. What you want is a WR who will get at least 5 catches a game and always top 50 yds and hopefully the century mark on a weekly basis, plus a red-zone look a game. So it begins -- the great search for consistency. The best way to find that consistency and eliminate those headaches is to grab true #1 WRs on their own teams. There are only 32 out there in a perfect world, but with teams like Oakland and Tennessee around, the list of true-impact #1 WRs are much more limited. Just like I did in my previous blog post: http://www.screamingsports.com/en/profile/profile_readblog.aspx?b=2526 in which I broke down all 32 teams' running back situations, I have detailed all 32 teams' wide receiver situations below. The teams that have a star next to them are the teams that I believe possess a true #1 WR who will get 5+ catches and put up some fairly solid numbers week-to-week. The teams with two WRs listed are guys you can also take who will put up numbers like WR1s because they play for such good offenses. Upon further breakdown, there are only 20 teams that possess true #1 WRs. Among the 12 teams without a star, only Detroit and New England have desirable options. They have so many good options that I don't see any one WR putting up big numbers. There are others that you can gamble on like Atlanta, Chicago and SF, who I didn't list as having a big #1 because I'm concerned the poor QB play won't allow for big numbers. Then there are the rest of the teams, which I wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole (Jac, KC, Min, Ten, etc.) So the stars show just 23 big-producing guys, and maybe a few sleepers I left off (Brandon Marshall, Santonio Holmes, etc.) Looking at the big picture heading into a draft with 12 teams, you'll notice that there are only about 2 of these guys for each fantasy team. Keep that in mind, and try to grab 3. You'll have much fewer headaches starting Braylon Edwards, a true #1 WR on his own team, rather than starting Greg Jennings, a clear-cut #2 WR on his own team. Here is the breakdown: *Ari - Fitzgerald, Boldin Atl - Horn Bal - M. Clayton *Buf - L. Evans *Car - S. Smith Chi - Berrian *Cin - C. Johnson, Houshmandzadeh *Cle - B. Edwards *Dal - Owens *Den - Walker Det - Roy Williams *GB - Driver *Hou - A. Johnson *Ind - Harrison, Wayne Jac - M. Jones KC - Kennison Mia - Chambers Min - Williamson NE - Moss *NO - Colston *NYG - Burress *NYJ - L. Coles Oak - Curry *Phi - R. Brown *Pit - Ward *SD - V. Jackson SF - D. Jackson *Sea - Branch *Stl - Holt *TB - Galloway Ten - B. Jones *Was - S. Moss Draft accordingly. Wed, 22 Aug 2007 16:35:29 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/24602 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/24602 I wish I could take credit for this quote, but I found it on a local (Georgia) sports board, Georgia Outdoor News. "He's (Joe Horne) always been an average receiver with an above average mouth". For someone who has yet to play a game wearing a Falcons Jersey, Horne has now proclaimed himself the "mouthpiece" of the Atlanta Falcons. He appeared on the Dan Patrick show over the weekend rambling how the media (he specifically mentions Nancy Grace) has been quick to find Michael Vick guilty and so he offers his thoughts that Vick needs to play with the team and the team supports him and wants him to play. It might be different if Horne was a team leader with some experience around the Falcons locker. He's the new kid on the block! If anyone were to proclaim themselves to be speaking for the Falcons team, it should be Keith Brooking or maybe a well-respected player like Warrick Dunn. Brooking's comment was only that he had been impressed with Vick's dedication to learning the Petrino Offense in the off-season. This says nothing about the "team" supporting Vick and wanting him to play. There is a time and place for everything! The one thing the Falcons need right now is cohesion. The Falcons do not need publicity-starved teammates offering blanket statements of support. I'm quite certain there are some team members that are very tired of the negative publicity that Vick has generated since January of this year but they have not sought out a public forum to speak out against him. Instead, they handled it professionally and with some dignity. Now, it's time for Joe Horne to learn some as well. No smack needed!!! Last night on the local news, Keion Carpenter (former Falcons player and former Vick teammate from VT) was proclaiming his support for Vick and saying how Vick wants to play and his teammates should be there to "uplift" him. ("Uplift" is his word choice, not mine!). He also went on to say that Vick has been "misinterpretated". ("Misinterpretated" is his word choice, not mine!) Note to Carpenter, the next time you decide you want to comment, perhaps you should consult a dictionary. Then, just maybe, will you be respected. Just so you know, "misinterpretated" is not a word, but misinterpreted is. Wed, 25 Jul 2007 12:34:56 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/20911 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/20911 Vick made owners look like geniuses in last seasons fantasy playoffs. In week 15 he had a career game where he... Big sleeper in the draft! Mon, 02 Jul 2007 16:49:18 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/18248 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/18248 I won't be selecting Joe Horn in any fantasy drafts. It's no fluke that all these talented receivers have flopped in Atlanta. It's because their Herpes-infested quarterback can't get them the damn ball. Thu, 08 Mar 2007 07:48:29 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/10942 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/10942 Joe Horn has a big mouth, but I didn't know it was this big... "If I wanted out of New Orleans that bad, I would have just kept my mouth shut and let them move the team to San Antonio." Thanks for saving New Orleans, Joe. Wed, 07 Mar 2007 22:38:35 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/10921 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/10921