Sundry Sunday Items

Really, really do not understand all the love Cutler is getting. Just do not see it myself.
Favre really sounds like he is going.

burmafrd:
Simple, he played in a system where the only star was him, and he made the most out of it with pretty good numbers, then he went to the Senior Bowl and the coaches of North raved about the guy saying that he’s nearly ready for the NFL.

Every year we have to listen to if Favre will retire, I’m getting tired of it. Either he is or he isn’t. Emmitt didn’t get this kind of treatment. Favre had a horrible team behind last year but still played real bad. He had like 30 INT’s or something.

If the 49ers win the toss, does it kind of hurt the Cowboys? If they trade the pick to MIA and pick up the 16th pick, won’t they be looking probably at LB?

So Cutler looked good in a system made for him; looked good at the Senior Bowl (did not impress me that much) and now he is just about the top QB pick? No wonder so many of these guys go bust!!!

All this hype for the three QBs. In the long run the Brady’s, Montana’s and Johnny U’s were not top notch according to the, then, experts. I expect the same to be true here. Some sixth round weak armed draft pick will be leading the Cardinals to the SB in two or three years.

Yeah, well, QB is the most important position in Football. Last year Smith was drafted because he looked real good against his competition, unfortunately for the 9ers (Not!) the competition was a whole notch bellow average.

But you know, Norm Chow and Fisher aren’t known for being easy with their QB’s, they’re demanding and Cutler just had one week to train in a system alot different than what he used to play.

Chandus and burmafrd,

I saw it. I saw Culter go crazy in the Florida game. A much better team on their turf. Was getting blitzed and hit. Was making play after play.

There was one where the DE on his blindside came unblocked behind him. The guy had him lined up and went for a killshot between his shoulder blades. Without breaking his gaze downfield he ducked at just the right moment, spun away, found a secondary target downfield and fired a bullet for a first down.

NFL films runs a highlight of a guy who had a habit of making a similar eyes-in-the-back-of-his-head move. Guy named Staubach.

He’s for real. That’s not to say he’ll be Staubach, but I think he’s closer to being a good pro QB than Vince Young.

Still not convinced he is the second coming of Montana, Elway, etc. Any decent QB can have a couple of hot games. Can make some big time plays.
I have looked at his record and what he has done and just do not believe that he is all that.

Rafe,
Your comment about Vince Young is right on…he is a long way from being a top notch NFL quarterback…he is a tremendous athlete but I don’t see him as a first year starter at all….I don’t know that much about Cutler but I see he is getting a lot of pre-draft press coverage,,,,,,and my 2 cents worth about Favre: it is time for him to go before he gets hurt, Aikman realized that after multiple concussions, I hope he got thruogh to Favre.

Jay Cutler = Jeff George.

He looks the part, and will sucker a lot of people in based on a few really good games. But for anyone to say he’s more ready or a better prospect than Vince Young, is just another black’s can’t be as good as white’s in the NFL at the QB position. Vince Young led the nation in passer rating and was the first QB EVER to rush for 1000 and pass for 3000. He is a pass first QB that can run as well as any of them. I’ve only seen one other QB that runs with the kind of vision and balance that I see in VY, and his last name just happen to be Young too. So please spared me. There is a reason Cutler went to Vandy to play and it isn’t because of their fine Medical research program. This is not to say that he can’t or won’t be a good QB in the NFL, but I’d say VY has proven his point on the field. Let Cutler do the same.

Ah, Cash has emerged from his cave.

Touchy, touchy, touchy. Can’t say a discouraging word about your beloved VY. I trust my eyes, Cash, and my assessment has nothing to do with race. That you immediately jumped in to claim so says more about your state of mind prejudices and insecurities than anything else.

Of course, I never said Young wouldn’t be a good NFL player. I simply said I think Cutler has less work to do. It has everything to do with mechanics and accuracy, but hey, if you’re this defensive of my non-existent slights of Young you must be a really defensive person.

When you use college stats or racism to back your opinion, you’ve lost the argument. College isn’t the Pros, Vince Young is so overated as a quarterback, he’s better suited as a wideout, VERY Poor mechanics, not a strong enough arm to throw the 15-20 yard outs,throws off his back foot too much, poor accuracy and is nowhwere as fast as Vick. Leading the nation in passer rating against some second tier teams in college. This is a guy whose draft status sky rocketed from one game against a very poor defense. Cutler is alot better prospect with all the tools with a bigtime NFL type arm than Vince Young. Young, like Vick cant win championships running for your life with the ball in the NFL. MY prediction is that Vince Young will be the bust of the draft in the first ten picks as a QB, but as a big wideout, he’d be the first wideout taken in the draft.

ESPN is reporting that Ricky Williams failed another drug test. If this is true, he will be suspended for a whole season.

I can’t say that I’m disappointed.

All you Vince young haters still baffle me. How can you say he doesnâ€â"¢t have the arm to throw the 15-20 yard out when he beat Ohio State with just such a throw and I donâ€â"¢t recall anyone calling them a second tier team? Neither was Michigan in Last years Rose bowl. Nor was USC who ESPN went out of their way to suggest was the best college team of all time. The fact is Vince is amazingly accurate but it just doesnâ€â"¢t look like its going to be when it leaves his hand, however passer rating does not lie. How can you sing the praises of Vandy and Cutler when they played a “second tier” schedule as well? Sure you can pick out a game like Florida, but remember Florida was in the gutter when they played.

It all comes down to the fact that while Vince may not start his first year, he will be a star. He is the best leader to come out of college in many years. The guy is unflappable. Three major comeback wins over top 5 teams in less then a year is nothing to sneer at.

But yall keep hating and let him fall to the Cowboys. He’ll be ready to play by the time Drew is done. I donâ€â"¢t think it will happen, but I can hope…

yeah, Vince Young, the next quincy carter. Passer ratings in college mean nothing in the Pros. I wouldn’t use the term amazingly accurate in describing his throws, his recievers bailed him out alot, thats not just my opinion, I’ve seen it for myself, heard it and read it many times.

Looks like ricky Williams is heading for another year of vacationing compliments of the NFL substance abuse program. What a clown and to think some folks wanted dallas to trade for this idiot!!!

Hey impatient,

Take off your Vince Young underoos and read what I said or more precisely note what I didn’t say.

Did I say he was inaccurate? No.
Did I say he would flop? No.
Did I say he was an overrated? No.
Did I say his arm sucked? No.

Based on what I’ve seen, Cutler has better mechanics compared to Young.
I was complementing Cutler. And I praise Cutler BECAUSE Vandy IS a second-tier team and they played a lot of top-tier teams better because of him.

Is Vince Young the only QB worthy of praise in your world? Do you really think his mechanics are beyond reproach, because I know a lot of UT fans who love the guy but say he’s got a lot of improving to do.

If that’s hating in your book, you’re not going to find much love anywhere.

Rafeal,

That rant was directed at Derrick, not you. I respect what you said. It makes a lot of sense, and I respect Cutler. Thats why it makes more sense for a team like Oakland or the Jets to take him because he can start right away. Just the same as the Titans taking Vince makes sense because they have a couple more years of McNair before they hand the reigns over. Itâ€â"¢s just bothersome to hear some say that Vince is going to choke in the league or choke in a bowl or a particular game and see him carry his team and be the face of resiliency.

Fair enough. Sorry for the cheapshot. I hate being misquoted.

No worries next time i will point my spear ;-)

Cash,

If Jay Cutler is Jeff George without the ‘I don’t care what my coaches say, I’m gonna do it this way’ attitude, Jay will become one of the best QBs in the NFL. There was nothing wrong with Jeff George, that a new head wouldn’t have fixed.

Let the record show, at the begining of the College season, Rafael predicted VY as a WR. So Raf, your eyes deceive you my friend. I wouldn’t trust them as much as you do. You can talk about mechanics all day, but being calm and cool under pressure, along with athletic ability are the things that count. Roethlisberger didn’t have all of the measured stats of the QB’s taken in front of him but what he has is confidence. VY is a natural born leader that took a pernieal underachiever and made them believe.

Derrick, I backed my stance with stats young man. If it were a white kid with the same stats as VY, he would be called a mobile pocket passer. VY is regularly refered to as a run first QB, which is so far off the mark, that if you say that, it’s only because you’ve barely watched the kid play. Sure he throws side armed, but so did Bernie Kosar. Kosar was a couple of plays from being in multiple Super Bowls. In addition to that he runs, NOT like Mike Vick but like Steve Young. With great balance, vision, and the ability to set up his blockers well. At some point you have to give the kid some respect. He got shafted for the heisman, and came back on the biggest national stage college football has ever seen and did his job. Why would you want someone
else taking snaps under center?

In one respect, Aikman has a point. But, it seems to me he is indulging in some serious re-writing of history.

He seems to always leave out one salient point — he was cut.

When I review my memories of Troy’s final season, the ones that stand out are of him struggling with a back problem, that even cortisone shots could not fix. [I still remember him saying how good he felt after taking his second or third cortisone shot. That lasted less than one series into the next game.] It was almost as painful to watch him drop back to pass, as it was for him to do so. Then, he got the final concussion, which finished him for the year.

During the following off-season, the Cowboys, as usual during that timeframe, were tight against the cap. Aikman was due a roster bonus in March. The Cowboys tried to persuade him to delay the bonus until June. He ultimately refused, so the Cowboys cut him.

So, the point Aikman has is that the Cowboys had screwed up their cap situation, otherwise that bonus wouldn’t have bothered them. The fact that the Cowboys were not going to be big players in free agency, together with the lingering cap problems, probably persuaded Troy to force the Cowboys’ hand.

However, the speculation at the time was, that the Cowboys never intended to go forward with Aikman, whether he delayed that roster bonus or not. Troy also seems to forget that no other team wanted him as a starter. He might have been able to hang on as a backup somewhere, but no team was about to pay him starter money and hand him that job.

HE was the one who made the decision that he (and his back) didn’t want to go through another training camp as a backup. So he retired.

I have the utmost respect for Troy Aikman and all he accomplished as a Cowboy, but he seems to be rationalizing away the facts, by saying that his assessment of the Cowboys situation was the primary reason for his retirement. Wrong! The fact that he could no longer get a job as a starter, was the primary factor in his retirement. His back and his concussions were the reasons that no team was interested in him — in other words, his physical condition.

If he could have remained healthy, he might still be playing today. Perhaps, even for the Cowboys.

Cash,

If Vince Young is lucky, he will be drafted by a team that knows how to maximize his skills, rather than try to cram him into some scheme for which he is not suited. It might even be interesting to install that option play he ran so well [the name of which has escaped me].

The problem, though, when you have a quarterback who relies so much on his running ability, and that quarterback does not have solid professional passing skills, you wind up with a quarterback who has the longevity of a running back. The main problem I see with Young right now, is the lack of speed in his delivery. That troubles me a lot more than any mechanical issues, although mechanical issues may be slowing his release.

Let’s face it, every quarterback who comes into the NFL is a longshot to succeed. We have all seen too many Ryan Leafs, and Tim Couches, and Akili Smiths, etc, etc, etc, fall flat on their faces, despite their collegiate accomplishments and awards, to expect that Young (or Leinart, or Cutler) will waltz into the NFL and just take over.

I hope Young does well, but it is not a given, and it might take some time.

I am one who does not think Leinart will be all world. I think he will be a good one but not as good as Palmer or ROths is starting to be. I also think Cutler is over rated; he just did not have that many games that impressed me. Young will need work- a lot of it- but he shows signs already of being better then Vick was when Vick came into the league- he seems to want to pass and uses his legs to buy himself more time then looking for a reason to run.

Since when is Cutler going to Vandy an indicator that he is not that good? Just because he didn’t go to a big-name school? That didn’t seem to bother Brett Favre or Jerry Rice.

One question I have about the idea of Cutler being drafted by the Jets is where they are going to come up with the cap space to pay the signing bonus for a Top 5 QB? I don’t have exact statistics on it, but it seems like Top 5 QB’s usually get pretty big bonuses, and with Young and Leinart likely commanding some big contracts Cutler’s agent will have two other deals to point to when it comes time for his client to get paid. How many more players are the Jets going to have to cut?

I was not on the Vince Young bandwagon ever, even after the Rose Bowl. I have no idea how he will perform as a pro, but for anyone who says he doesn’t have a strong or accurate arm…that’s is not true at all. I watched him in the NCAA All Star Skills competition a few weeks ago and he acme in 2nd in the throwing distance competition, throwing it 72 yards. Brodie Croyle threw hsi 2 yards further. Young also came in second in the accuracy competition to Drew Olsen, and Young won the scramble and pass competition going away.

I saw quite a few of Young’s games the last 3 years. I only saw Cutler at the Senior Bowl practices and then his fairly unimpressive performance in the actual game. Since the Senior Bowl game performance is not what matters to scouts, I’ll forget about that one. Cutler looked pretty good in the practice drills and was solid, kind of reminded me of Eli Manning a bit. Nothing spectacular, but I would like to see him play in an actual game because I have heard that he is a really great QB. I have actually seen Vince Young prove that he is, as did millions of others a couple of months ago. Whether he can do it in the NFL will likely get down to being in a system that knows how to utilize his incredible talents.