When there's nothing going on, some people just make stuff up. Whenever somebody says "according to league sources", you need to substitute these words: "I either made this up, or heard it expressed as an opinion on the radio by somebody having some relationship with the NFL."
According to league sources, Mike Pettine was all set to get rid of Johnny Manziel, but Ray Farmer and Jimmy Haslam want to "keep giving him chances".
Predictably, the article implies dysfunction and internal strife within the organization. After all, no two people can disagree without somebody getting voted off the island, can they?
I can't claim to know what thoughts Mike Pettine keeps hidden from us, but I can tell you this: He's not shy.
He's also logical and sane, so cutting Johnny Manziel after his rookie season never entered his mind. He won't push for that until he's certain that the kid is a bust--and nobody can say that after his limited body of work as a rookie.
He has "moved on" from Manziel to the extent that he named Josh McCown as the nominal starter. That was a smart move, since it took pressure off Manziel and put the ball in experienced hands. I agree with the coaches that McCown, with this supporting cast, will do just fine for now.
Blunt Force Trauma has said what he meant about that--quite clearly, as usual. How you can "read into" anything Mike Pettine says is beyond me. It's an act of desperation for muckrakers.
No, he never would have said in public "I want him outta here!" if that's how he felt, but no rational person could have felt that way (yet). Remember all the speculation about Josh Gordon being released after getting suspended for a year...for a few drinks on a plane (still can't believe that)?
WHY? So he can come back with the Bengals and avenge himself in 2016? When he costs nothing to keep? Jeez!
Of course, Johnny is on a short leash. Had he not gone to rehab, or at least calmed himself down and got busy with the playbook and his coaches, then Mike would be fed up with the kid. But for a few weeks now, Johnny has been doing all the right things
That's why Mike refused to rule Johnny out as the opening day starter. Most likely, he doubts that Manziel can make the leap from a back yard offense to a pro one, set up by a new offensive coordinator, by then. So am I.
But Pettine made it clear that the door is open on opening day, let alone game four, eight, or twelve of the season.
In this blog by Bryant Lucas, the writer is shockingly objective about what to expect from Manziel this season. Bryant seems to be one of the few who are aware that he has a strong arm, and is very intelligent.
But then he went off the rails, saying that his scrambling won't work in the NFL, and that if he tried, he'd get hurt.
Johnny is two inches taller than Seattle's Russell Wilson, and Wilson scrambles a whole lot. It's part of the offense they built around the guy. There's no reason to assume that Johnny can't do what Wilson does, as long as he protects himself the way Wilson does. Roger Staubach agrees.
But the rest of this blog entry was excellent.
Back to Mike Pettine: I love how Mike Pettine is growing as a head coach. When he came here, he stuck to his expertise, which was defense, and left the offense to Kyle Shanahan.
Now that he's got a good defense, and his new coordinator has his feet wet, he's taking a crash course on offense, complete with flash cards.
Pett is going about becoming a great head coach systematically. He knows he has to learn more about offense to really know what's going on .
But he's not a control-freak. He does feel the need to have a voice in everything that happens (since his job depends on it), but he's letting DeFelippo set things up, and just making suggestions (again I take this man at his word).
This not only helps Mike Pettine, but will help the offense. Every time he sees an offensive play, he automatically thinks about how his defense would try to stop it.
He's really good at that, and this is what he's talking about when he says "suggestions": "What if this guy does this and that guy does that?" I'll bet you the first-time coordinator is learning more from Mike Pettine than Mike is learning from him.
Ibraheim Campbell corrections: Again, everybody but Ray, Mike, and I seem to have completely ignored the Senior Bowl. All week, Campbell practiced extensively in coverage, and made a huge impression with interceptions and deflections. Then he clocked a 4.5 40.
"Lacks second gear in coverage". That's just plain wrong. What this comment means is that if a guy gets a step on him, he can't turn on the jets and catch back up. In reality, this is one of Campbell's strongest assets.
He was used primarily as an in-the-box strong safety, and no doubt this is what he does best. He does have weaknesses in coverage, but these have more to do with his backpedal and hips than speed.
Here is Donte Whitner's scouting report. In it, his negatives include lack of size, so forget about that part: Campbell is a brute. But the other knocks on him are about the same as those against Campbell.
Whitner became a Pro Bowler. So can Campbell.
Saved for last: Current standards of personal conduct are insane in general, and acutely so in the NFL. And the term "addiction" is even more abused than the made-up word "utilize".
THINK for one minute. Josh Gordon is addicted to marijuana? Oh, puh-leez! I grew up in the sixties. I was a "pot-head", surrounded by other pot-heads. You can't get addicted to pot! You can crave it, but quit it more easily than quitting coffee.
Dude, I've been everywhere. Coke, mescaline, acid, qualudes, and (always, all along) beer. And let me tell you something: Josh Gordon should be just fine. He's not addicted to anything.
And Johnny Manziel might never have even been a real alchoholic! He might have entered rehab for PR! The only real addiction I can talk about with him is to attention.
I hear these well-intentioned people talking about Johnny/Josh "saving their lives" and laugh. Even the guys who say it (Warren Sapp for one) KNOW it's a joke, and are playing to the crowd.
They're kids. What did you do when you were a kid--even not growing up in the sixties?
This crap has become rediculous in society in general, and downright insane in the NFL.
THINK. Don't be a sheep. Rediculous is rediculous.
This just in: Andrea Hangst is starting to grow on me. She projects the probable starters this season, and I'm impressed by how she backs up her opinions. For example, she points out that Mitchell Schwartze is Pro Football Focus's 33rd-ranked tackle.
And yes, this means I'm wrong in calling him above average. He's 33rd out of 64.
She also points out that John Greco ranked 8th among 64 guards, which is why she expects him to remain the starter, and for Cam Erving to take over right tackle for Schwartze.
I initially scoffed at her wide reciever projections, as she sees Andrew Hawkins and Taylor Gabriel (with Dwayne Bowe) ahead of Brian Hartline.
I love those two guys, but remain kind of skeptical, because they're both vertically-challenged small targets. On any vertical route, even between the hash-marks, sometimes even pinpoint touch-passes don't work.
I saw this too often last season, as Hawk or Gabriel had a step on a guy. A quarterback can only put so much air under a ball, and that cornerback chasing the little recievers was just in the way.
But then, this will be more of a West Coast scheme than we've ever had here, and that means a lot of slants and crosses. These little guys running horizontally and short/intermediate offer a clear target, so Andrea might well have nailed it.
Indeed, their best assets are their speed and explosiveness--they can create good separation consistently, which Hartline can't.
She goes to Football Focus once more to rate Barnidge ahead of Dray based on his better blocking scores, and I once more stand corrected (if these stats are as important as I think they are).
I can't agree that any of the DT/DE's will rotate with Shelton. Shelton can play DT (was impressive there at the Senior Bowl), but on this team there's no reason for him to wear himself out there. Nor are any of the DE/DT's much use at nose tackle.
I have a more minor issue at inside linebacker. Carlos Dansby is getting up there, and I believe they'll take some snaps off him to keep him fresh and healthy.
Finally, here's a good article from Zach Rainey on Isportsweb. His logic is pretty good, but then he falls into this Soap Opera bullcrap about Manziel being "forced on" Mike Pettine, internal drama blah-blah-blah.
I personally doubt that Mike Pettine was all-in with drafting Manziel, and may have been overridden. But I do think that if he'd been adamant, the pick wouldn't have been made.
And again, it was desperation, and not pressure from above, that forced Mike to start Johnny Manziel instead of the atrocious (sorry) Brian Hoyer.
Good article up til the fence-post gossip, though.
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