Wednesday, August 31, 2011

2011 Herbie Awards -SI.com's 2011 Preseason All-Americas - Gholston bounced out of NFL?

2011 Herbie AWARDS


BORN TO RUN: BEST RUNNING BACKS
1. LaMichael James, Oregon
2. Trent Richardson, Alabama
3. Marcus Lattimore, South Carolina
4. Edwin Baker, Michigan State
5. Chris Polk, Washington

CATCH A RISING STAR: TOP WIDE RECEIVERS
1. Alshon Jeffery, South Carolina
2. Justin Blackmon, Oklahoma St.
3. Ryan Broyles, Oklahoma
4. Jeff Fuller, Texas A&M
5. Juron Criner, Arizona

QUARTERBACKS: POCKET PRESENCE
1. Andrew Luck, Stanford
2. Matt Barkley, USC
3. Kellen Moore, Boise State
4. Landry Jones, Oklahoma
5. Nick Foles, Arizona

QUARTERBACKS: DUAL-THREAT
1. Denard Robinson, Michigan
2. Robert Griffin III, Baylor
3. Darron Thomas, Oregon
4. Dan Persa, Northwestern
5. Nathan Scheelhaase, Illinois

RIGHT TO EXCITE: MOST EXCITING PLAYERS
1. LaMichael James, Oregon
2. Greg Reid, Florida State
3. Marcus Lattimore, South Carolina
4. Alshon Jeffery, South Carolina
5. Justin Blackmon, Oklahoma State

RODNEY DANGERFIELDS: PLAYERS WHO DON'T GET ENOUGH RESPECT
1. Nick Foles, Arizona
2. Alfonzo Dennard, Nebraska
3. Michael Thomas, Stanford
4. B.J. Cunningham, Michigan St.
5. Nathan Williams, Ohio State

ALL TOGETHER NOW: BEST POSITION UNIT
1. Oregon RBs
2. Arkansas WRs
3. Florida State secondary
4. Alabama LBs
5. South Carolina DL

SHHHHH, DON'T TELL: BEST-KEPT SECRETS
1. Robert Griffin III, Baylor
2. Luke Kuechly, Boston College
3. Chris Polk, Washington
4. Xavier Rhodes, Florida State
5. Jeremy Ebert, Northwestern

HITS KEEP COMING: BIGGEST HITTERS
1. Vontaze Burfict, Arizona State
2. Lavonte David, Nebraska
3. Shayne Skov, Stanford
4. Nick Moody, Florida State
5. Kenny Tate, Maryland

FRESH APPROACH: TOP TRUE FRESHMEN
1. Jadeveon Clowney, South Carolina
2. Anthony Johnson, LSU
3. Malcolm Brown, Texas
4. Braxton Miller, Ohio State
5. Isaiah Crowell, Georgia

THE ULTIMATE HERBIE
1. Kirk Cousins, Michigan State
2. Andrew Luck, Stanford
3. Kellen Moore, Boise State
4. Ryan Broyles, Oklahoma
5. Emmanuel Acho, Texas

ACC North Carolina Florida State over Virginia Tech
Big 12 Missouri Oklahoma
Big East Rutgers South Florida
Big Ten Northwestern Ohio State over Iowa
Pac-12 UCLA Oregon over UCLA
SEC Florida Alabama over South Carolina
National championship game: Oregon over Alabama



SI.com's 2011 Preseason All-Americas

OFFENSE DEFENSE

QB Andrew Luck
Sr., Stanford
Heisman hopeful passed for 5,913 yards and 45 touchdowns before forgoing the NFL draft.

DE Brandon Jenkins
Jr., Florida State
Racked up 13.5 sacks and 21.5 tackles for loss in 2010, tied for third and fourth in the nation.

RB LaMichael James
Jr., Oregon
Sparkplug rushed for 1,731 yards in 2010, including 257 and three TDs in a rout of Stanford.

DT Jared Crick
Sr., Nebraska
Three-time all conference pick paced the Huskers in sacks (9.5) and TFLs (17) last year.

RB Marcus Lattimore
So., South Carolina
Workhouse tailback burst onto the scene as a freshman, rushing for 17 scores.

DT Billy Winn
Sr., Boise State
Disruptive force notched five tackles, an assisted sack and a forced fumble against VaTech.

WR Justin Blackmon
Jr., Oklahoma State
Biletnikoff winner recorded 2,042 yards and 22 TDs during breakout sophomore season.

DE Quinton Coples
Sr., North Carolina
Carolina native finished 16th in the nation in sacks per game last season and had 10 on the year.

WR Ryan Broyles
Sr., Oklahoma
OU's top target finished with at least 1,100 receiving yards and 14 scores in 2009 and 2010.

LB Vontaze Burfict
Jr., Arizona State
Relentless junior totaled multiple sacks against Wisconsin, Oregon, USC and Stanford.

TE Michael Egnew
Sr., Missouri
Emerged as a top pass-catching tight end in 2010 with 90 catches, 762 yards and five TDs.

LB Luke Kuechly
Jr., Boston College
Consensus All-America ended 2010 with 183 tackles, 20 more than any other player.

T Nate Potter
Sr., Boise State
Two-time All-WAC pick anchors an o-line that surrendered just eight sacks last season.

LB Courtney Upshaw
Sr., Alabama
Had 15 tackles, five sacks and three forced fumbles in final two games against Auburn and MSU.

G Barrett Jones
Jr., Alabama
Anchors a unit that helped 'Bama backs run for more than 183 yards per game in 2010.

CB Cliff Harris
Jr., Oregon
Lightning-quick corner had six INTs and 17 passes defended in Oregon's 12-1 2010 campaign.



C Mike Brewster
Sr., Ohio State
6-5, 305-pounder was the only junior to be named a Rimington Trophy finalist in 2010
.
S Mark Barron
Sr., Alabama
All-SEC safety has accumulated 169 tackles during his illustrious Crimson Tide career.

G David DeCastro
Sr., Stanford
Headlines a line that allowed just 13 sacks since 2009, providing time for QB Luck.

S Harrison Smith
Sr., Notre Dame
Dominated the Sun Bowl against Miami, corralling three INTs in Notre Dame's 33-17 win.

T Riley Reiff
Jr., Iowa
6-6, 305-pounder started every game and earned second-team All-Big Ten honors in 2010.
CB Jayron Hosley
Jr., Virginia Tech
Hauled in an FBS-leading nine picks during his phenomenal 2010 season in Blacksburg.


SPECIAL TEAMS

K Carson Wiggs
Sr., Purdue
Has kicked the four longest field goals in Purdue history: 59, 55, 53 and 52 yards.

KR Eric Page
Jr., Toledo
5-10 speedster sprinted for 871 kick return yards and three TDs in sensational sophomore effort.

P Drew Butler
Sr., Georgia
Former Ray Guy Award winner boasted a 44.5 yards per punt average in 2010.

PR Cliff Harris
Jr., Oregon
Doubling as an explosive return man, Harris had 546 punt return yards and four scores last year.



Gholston bounced out of NFL?
Vernon Gholston, who only last week pinned some of his failings with the Jets on his playing time, is again looking for work. Talking to Bears personnel down at training camp earlier this month, I asked around about [Gholston]. The responses were lukewarm at best. ... Saw it myself just watching one-on-one pass rush at practice. Didn't see explosion off the line or a player that was schooled on using his hands at the point of attack. No question he was an athlete (and a NFL combine talent), but knowing football, I didn't see a player that was going to stick in Chicago. There was something, well, missing. And now we should really wonder if Gholston is done -- for good. Think about for a minute. Gholston has now washed out under Rex Ryan and Lovie Smith.



Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Madden NFL 12 Reviews




Madden 12 Reviews

ign.com


8.0



Gamespot Review



7.5




Madden NFL 12 review: Vacuum-sealedby Mike Suszek

Reviewing, let alone investing in an annual sports game series is difficult. In my experience, Madden fans are typically the reluctant type; they hope for vast improvements every year and expect a new game that will blow them away. Madden NFL 12 is not that game. It's not the kind of game that answers every problem players have with football games. But this year, EA Sports tackled some core issues that elevates this game as one of the best in the series.
One of the first things players will notice is a general improvement in all things related to presentation. Madden 12 mimics real NFL broadcasts this year with better-positioned camera angles and perfectly placed broadcast graphics that show game and season stats. The concept of "just like you're watching it on TV" shines through in the smallest of details, from the stickers and scuffs on helmets to the grass stains players earn on their jerseys. Laying out Jay Cutler and constantly seeing a reminder in the dirt on his shoulder was a badge of honor for me (and for my middle linebacker, while we're at it).
The main complaint I have with Madden 12's presentation, aside from the cardboard crowds, is the commentary, which is at near-disaster levels. Gus Johnson and Cris Collinsworth return this year, with recycled lines from Madden 11 in hand, calling each game fairly inaccurately, blandly, and with as much vagueness as possible. Besides hearing the same lines about safeties being on islands all the time, I'd heard one touchdown pass considered a "big gain" that kept the drive going. If you plan on playing Madden 12, plan on having something else to listen to.
Gameflow received a small upgrade, with a box that offers an option for players to scroll through plays based on aggressive, conservative, and gameplan-based play calling. What once was a single button option is actually worse in some ways, as gameflow doesn't provide you with any play art or even the formation for the plays you select. A cover 3 in a 3-4 set isn't the same as a cover 3 in a nickel 2-4-5 formation, which makes gameflow a sort of blind-leading-the-blind option for play calling. This is the worst for the amateur players that the system is meant for, as the opportunity is lost for players to learn how formations and plays work, and why they work in certain circumstances.
Blending together the game's mostly-improved presentation and gameplay are added animations. EA Sports boasts over a hundred new player animations in Madden 12, enough added variety to give you the necessary sense of uniqueness in each catch and hit. Player fluidity is impressive this year, to a degree that embarrasses previous versions. This year, you actually control players up until the moment they collide with another player. This means one of my biggest issues with Madden 11 can be left in last year's game: no more suction.
Past games had players warp and slide into place for blocks, tackles, catches, and nearly any player animation within the game. Unfortunately, this meant being near an incoming defender was just as good as being wrapped up by them. Instead, I've seen no instances in Madden 12 of players warping awkwardly into an animation, whether it's my fullback opening a running lane for me, or a receiver making an amazing catch. This player fluidity doesn't just make the game look better, but it makes the game play much better than Madden 11.
While some will be disappointed to see no changes to the online franchise mode, the offline franchise mode received the most work this year. Franchise mode's more noteworthy additions add excitement to the offseason general manager process, such as a new rookie scouting system and free agent bidding. Scouting a handful of players out of the upcoming draft class unlocks a few stats at a time, leading up to a more tense, exciting drafting period. Players have the option to allow the game to simulate any part of franchise mode but, as I've learned, some decisions are best left to the player. In my case, skipping the contract signing process for all the rookies I'd drafted my first time through led the game to actually not sign all but one of them to my team. It was a nightmare finding my future star quarterback's glowing ratings fully unlocked on another team's roster, with no plausible trade to bring them to my team.
I didn't necessarily need that quarterback, though. My offline franchise, where I was controlling the Cincinnati Bengals, saw Andy Dalton on a hot streak for the first few games of the season. This is possible through dynamic player performance and player traits, which accounts for each player's individual tendencies, skills, and fluctuating confidence and consistency. Now having Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady on your team (and especially on the opponent's team) doesn't feel essentially the same thanks to their ratings, as both play in a unique manner.
Likewise, the "be an NFL superstar" mode has been turned into a micro RPG. Superstar mode in Madden 12 is exactly as it should be: creating a player and participating in games and practices nets you skill points, which you use to boost your player's individual ratings. I started out by upgrading my strong safety, who was drafted by the Oakland Raiders, at his speed and acceleration ratings before working on his coverage ratings, as superstar mode limits you to controlling only your created player. Games go fast in superstar mode, and a few hours of diligence takes you through an entire season. Sadly, the disbursement of skill points is terribly imbalanced, and my strong safety went from his starting 66 overall rating to a 99 overall before the start of the second season. After that, there was far less incentive to continue his career, so I chose to force an early retirement for him.
Better yet is the addition of online communities. Past Madden games had players matching up online with others in a mostly random environment, without any certainty that the player they were about to clash with would play with class and sportsmanship. Online communities in Madden 12 allow you to join both private and public groups, each with an impressive amount of options that makes playing a game within the community a unique experience. Joining up with other Packers fans, or with my 4th String Madden league friends, or creating my own "2 Minute Drill" community, offers something fresh and reliable in the online front. Each community contains leaderboards for both head to head and team play games, which is wonderful for the 98 percent of Madden players that have no hopes of reaching the upper tier of the global online leaderboard.
Madden 12 is a good game despite itself. Amidst its major shortcomings is the price tag on much of the add-on content. In an era where NBA 2K11 provides an excellent example of how to offer players a new, arguably appropriate way to play with legendary players, Madden 12 charges players (albeit optionally) for the opportunity to play with football legends in Madden ultimate team. With all the fun to be had in superstar mode or Madden moments live, I'm disappointed that I can't create and share my own Madden moments with others online. As good as the game is, it is victimized by its own business model.
Madden 12 does not respond to every fans' frustrations. Every year, the series brings a balance of improvement and ongoing flaws. Considering this year's game as a whole, improvements like the new presentation style and lack of player suction heavily outweigh the more minuscule issues that remain. It's a good kind of frustration for players, the kind where this year's game is definitely better than last year's, which may actually be enough incentive to give it a shot.



3 1/2 out of 5






How Madden NFL 12 Uses You as a Beta Tester

Madden reviews are pointless. That includes this one. I'm not entirely sure when that happened -- or why. But I think playing and evaluating Madden NFL 12 this year has helped me shape some theories.
To the person who only occasionally plays, let alone purchases Madden, it's a big challenge recognizing the differences from year to year -- and the reviews don't really help matters. In the past five years, the series has seen some pretty significant ups and downs in quality, but you'd never know that by looking at the average scores for the franchise over that period (80, 85, 85, 85, 84, according to one popular review aggregator.) It's all too predictable. The tide rolls in. The tide rolls out.
For an entirely different audience, sports gaming enthusiasts like me, the yearly release of Madden represents a conduit to the most enjoyable hours to be had playing video games. There really is no substitute for the type of competitive tension and excitement offered by playing sports games with friends (fighting games come pretty close.) It's no wonder then that review scores matter little to this crowd -- we need that conduit at any cost.
In fact, we're willing to put up with all manner of problems, glitches, and exploits just to get that fix. What's worse, many of those issues aren't even identified until weeks or months after the reviews have been written and the scores all tallied (I'll give you a head start on a good one for Madden 12, though: Goal Line formation, QB Sneak is basically broken. Give it a try on 1st and 10 some time and watch Jay Cutler rumble for nine yards like he was shot out of a cannon.)
As a result, we become a de facto post-release testing and QA department for EA Sports. We self-police and enter into gentlemen's agreements to avoid "rocket catches" and "nano blitzes" for the sake of making the game more fair, realistic, and fun. And every year you'll find posts all over the 'net stating that "so-and-so on the Operation Sports forums has a set of sliders that makes the game play much better than it does out of the box!" Every year. The tide rolls in. The tide rolls out.
Some of the problem stems from the short development cycle for a Madden game -- that more or less ensures the team has to fix holes in the hull while they're sailing the ship. And every year, they patch up a dozen leaks, but spring nine more. For example:


•The new collision system removes most of the suction and warping that's plagued the blocking, running, and tackling in the series -- but it also results in an inordinate number of pinball-type animations, rather than more natural wrap tackles and arm tackles.

•The presentation has been revamped with all-new broadcast-style cameras in authentic locations -- but all too often, the camera cuts to a close-up of an empty patch of the field, or a scene of my starting cornerback warming up for a game-winning field goal, rather than my kicker (that one had me rubbing my eyes to make sure I was not hallucinating.)

•The player models have reached an incredible new level of detail that includes great uniform dirt and degradation, making them look more realistic than ever -- but between plays, they still walk around like robots and bump into each other, destroying that realism.

•There are a few very nice gameplay/control enhancements, like the ability to pump fake to a specific receiver -- but you'll find that the anemic in-game manual omits some of them (hold the L trigger and press the face button that corresponds to the receiver you want to fake to, for the record.)

The biggest problem for Madden at this stage in its existence, though, is that it seems to lack a clear direction or vision of what it should be. Instead, it's listing back and forth, rudderless, between attempts at being a serious simulation and trying to attract a more casual audience, and it's not doing great service to either. I fear we'll be waiting until it makes its way to new hardware before genuine creative thinking and innovation returns to the series.
The good news for Madden fans is that the game is still tremendously entertaining and is a noticeable improvement over last year's big-play-oriented score/snore-fest. Defense is once again fun to play and it feels well within your power to stop even superstar running backs and receivers. The CPU plays a much better, more varied game, and you'll see scores in the teens and twenties more often than scores in the forties and fifties like last year.
Just know going in that franchise faithful who have ponied up $60 every year since, oh, 1992, definitely deserve something more. We deserve a brand new boat for once.

B-




Madden 12 Review
Arrowhead addict patrick allen

Hurricane Irene slammed into New York City this weekend. While the damage wasn’t as bad as some ratings hungry Whether Channel executives would have you believe, the rain and wind were crappy enough to keep me inside playing Madden NFL 12.
Thus I will give you my rambling first impressions of the game. I’m a casual gamer so I am just going to talk about what stood out to me and what I think most people will be interested to hear. As with all reviews, your mileage may very. Each person will probably have a different impression of the various aspects of the game. These are mine.
From a game-play perspective, Madden 12 is a big upgrade over Madden 11. While there is a lot here that is familiar, there is enough that is different that it doesn’t feel like a retread of last year’s entry.
For starters the game looks a lot different. The broadcast style has changed, as has the lighting. The Madden team also added 3-D grass whish really looks great. Sometimes a player’s foot will sing into it a little too far but on the whole it is really cool to see the individual blades of grass in the cut scenes.
The new tackling animations, which you probably got a taste of in the demo, are fantastic. They feel a lot more realistic than anything we’ve seen in previous Maddens. The players appear to have weight to them and balance seems to matter. Suction tackles are also gone for the most part which might be the biggest improvement in the entire game. It is also nice to see that when a ball-carrier gets engaged with one tackler and another tackler comes flying in, they actually make an impact and change the direction the ball carrier falls. In previous editions the extra tackler would just run by or fall down.
The defense is also much smarter in Madden 12. I am sure I will start finding money plays the more I play but so far, playing offense is much more difficult. In the past, any time I got in 3rd and long situations, I could just throw a deep pass over the middle and pick up the first down. In Madden 12, just like in the real NFL, 3rd and long is a really bad situation to find yourself in. The middle is taken away so all those old money plays won’t work. If you try to force your pass into coverage, you’ll get picked off.
Another great addition is that defensive players will break off their routes if it is appropriate. If a corner is in man coverage on your receiver and you check down to your receiver in the flat, he’ll break off his route to break up the play. He might get there in time and he might not but the days of abusing the flats for a quick and easy first down appear to be over.
More after the jump.
The running game feels more realistic as well. In past versions of the game I found early on whether or not I was going to be able to run the ball on a particular defense. If I could run early, I could run the whole game and rack up ludicrous amounts of yards.
If I found the defense was playing the run tough, I couldn’t get anything going. Every run would be stuffed in the back-field. I’d finish the game with 12 yards rushing if I was lucky. It was like the game just decided I wasn’t running and that was the end of it.
In Madden 12, the running game is balanced. You might have success on one play then get stuffed on the next. In most games I played with the Chiefs, Jamaal Charles seemed to average around five yards a carry, which is close to what he does in real life. When I ran with Thomas Jones, he was not as effective, just like in real life. It isn’t perfect yet but it is getting better.
My favorite part of this year’s game has to be the new “Dynamic Player Performance.” This is a new AI system Madden has developed so that each player is not only unique but changes throughout the season and individual games.
Players are assigned different attributes that can impact their in-game performance. A player is given a “consistency” rating and a “confidence” rating. These are important because they determine how a player will perform on the field. A guy like Peyton Manning, who is incredibly consistent, will always be pretty good. However, a guy like Chiefs MLB Derrick Johnson, might be great one game and disappear the next. Just like in the real NFL, some guys show up every Sunday and some guys only show up when they feel like it.
There are also hot and cold streaks. These only come into play in Franchise Mode. If a player has a really good game he might go on a “hot streak.” This is indicated by a little flame or ice icon next to the player’s name. Players on hot streaks will perform with a higher rating for up to three games. Once their streak is over, they will go back to their default rating. How long a player stays on a hot or cold streak depends on their consistency.
One thing I found annoying about this addition was that the game doesn’t show you what sort of increase a player is getting. All you know is that he is on a hot streak. I think it would be much more interesting to see the actual rating change on the player page. If Matt Cassel gets on a hot streak, maybe his rating goes from an 86 to a 90. A cold streak might take him down to an 80. Unfortunately, all you see is the fire or ice icon.
So how does it work? At this stage it is hard to say. I haven’t played enough games to really workshop something like this but I can give you my initial impressions.
When playing in Franchise Mode, the game to game streaks seem to work really well. Playing through a season with the Chiefs, Eric Berry and Brandon Flowers went on hot streaks at the same time. Accordingly, the KC defense became very stingy. Berry was all over the field making tackles. He had an interception and even blocked a FG. Flowers shut down his man and when he was thrown at, he nabbed the interception. He had two in the game. It seemed pretty realistic. It really felt like those guys were just having a really good day.
On the other side of the coin, Matt Cassel went on a cold streak and I suddenly had a difficult time getting the passing game going. I then had to rely on the running game and Jamaal Charles to get the offense going.
While there are no hot and cold streaks in individual exhibition games, there is Dynamic Player Performance. If a player makes a mistake, it could change how they perform for a little while. For instance, if a RB fumbles, he might suddenly get super protective of the ball. His paranoia about fumbling again causes him to cover the ball and brace for hits. This means he loses a little bit of his elusiveness and he is thus less effective.
QB’s who throw a pick or get sacked might get a little gun shy. A player that is less confident might start pulling the ball down and running with it instead of staying in the pocket and taking another sack.
When these work it is great. Sometimes, however, it isn’t clear what the heck the game is thinking.
To check the DPP you just need to pause the game. On the right, there will be a little menu telling you what is going on with select players. Sometimes it seems to reflect what is happening in the game but sometimes it seems completely random. For instance, once it told me the entire Chiefs offensive line was playing poorly. On that drive I ran the ball down the field with ease.
Again, I am still getting used to it so I may not fully understand the system yet. I can tell you that when it is working, it can be really fun. Playing against the Ravens earlier today, I noticed Joe Flacco was feeling trigger happy. I adjusted my defensive game play accordingly, sending more blitzes and eventually forcing Flacco to throw a pick.
An important thing to note is that you can impact how DPP pans out. A player going on a cold streak or getting a little rattled is not a death sentence. If your QB goes cold, try getting him a few easy completions to get his confidence back up. As you do that, his rating will improve as will his play.
While DPP may not be perfected just yet, it makes the game a lot more fun and a lot more realistic. In the past, games of Madden seemed to go one way or the other. This year there are a lot more highs and lows, just like on Sunday.
The big new feature that is supposed to be the feather in EA’s cap this year is the revamping of Franchise Mode. Being a Franchise player myself, I have been waiting for this moment for a long time. The hot and cold streaks really add a lot to the experience but there are other additions that really rock.
There is a new scouting system that makes perfecting your team much more interesting. There are now different phases so that you can scout players throughout the season, then at the combine, pro days and even individual workouts. In each stage you have a finite number of players you can scout. The longer you stick with a guy, the more you can find out about him. By the end of the process, you can bring in five guys for an individual workout. That will give you the actual rating of those players, including their potential. For the other guys, you’ll have to go on whatever info you were able to collect.
Of course getting the rating doesn’t mean you get the player. For that, you still have to go through the draft. The draft feature is pretty much the same. The menus are a little more clear and it is easier to follow. The only big change here is that you are able to trade future draft picks throughout the game. So if you are a Raiders fan, you can trade away all your future draft picks for busts. Just like in real life.
Another key change comes in the free agency period. No longer can you sign whoever you want so long as you have the cap space. Now you actually compete with other teams in a free agency bidding frenzy. It is fast and furious but it is a lot of fun. Free agency goes in waves just like in real life. The top free agents at each position go first. Each player is available for about a minute so you need to cycle through and quickly input bids on your targets. As you do so, other teams will place bids on the players as well. It is all automatic so all you need to do is hit a button to outbid a team. The team who places the last high bid “agrees to terms” with that player. The contract details are worked out late. Once all the top tier guys are gone, you move on to the second tier guys and do it all over again. It is a lot of fun.
Madden 12 also introduces cut days. Just like in real life, you can fill up your roster in the preseason. You won’t know the final rating of all of your rookies and undrafted free agents until after the last cut-down so you have to choose wisely. Each week, you have to cut a few more players. The longer you keep a guy, the more you learn about him. This is fun and actually gives you a reason to play the preseason games.
The absolute worst aspect of the game is the broadcast presentation. Most of the commentary is recycled from last year’s games. The new stuff is interesting but gets repetitive very quickly. It is also extremely buggy. You will score a TD while Chris Collinsworth is in the middle of a monologue and you’ll be kicking the extra point before Gus Johnson yells “touchdown!”
There was also a weird instance where I was playing the Ravens and Johnson announced that Terrance Cody was about to kick off. Seriously?
There also appears to be a lot of calling players just by their number. It isn’t that they don’t have recordings of the player. On one play, Johnson will tell us that Tamba Hali made a tackle and on the next he will call him “number 91.” It happens a lot and it is kind of annoying.
The new entrances are fine but they also get old really quickly. The announce crew also introduces the key players the first time the offense and defense take the field. I noticed on offense there were recorded bits about Jamaal Charles, Matt Cassel and Dwayne Bowe but on defense I only ever heard Johnson talk about Brandon Flowers.
There are also spots of audio that are not the same quality as the others. Particularly at the beginning of the game during the coin toss. This sounds really shoddy and unfinished. This may be corrected later but it really should have been ready out of the box.
It is evident that commentary was not the focus this year and it shows. EA seemed to put all their work into revamping Franchise Mode and improving the overall game-play. In these areas, they succeeded.
In closing, this is a pretty good game, especially if you like Franchise Mode. As with every new Madden, the longer we all have to play it the more we will find wrong with it. They clearly haven’t perfected everything. For instance, play action is still pretty much impossible to run.
Still, this is definitely an improvement over Madden 11 and the new features really make it a new game and not just a $60 roster update. If anything, EA finally seems to be focusing on the stuff that matters. The game play is much improved and the addition of DPP really makes me excited for the future of the game. Hopefully EA will continue to develop this AI and uses it to make players even more true to life.
Those searching for the perfect football sim won’t be impressed. For me at least, as a casual gamer and a big football fan, I’m having a lot of fun playing the game. For me at least, that is what is all about.

Monday, August 29, 2011

College Football TV Roundtable - NFL Top 10 Players



College Football TV Roundtable
Richard Deitsch
With Stewart Mandel, Andy Staples and George Schroeder

Good article from si.com on all of the college football tv announcers. I have to go with Herby as the best. Craig James is a negative piece of garbage and of course Erin Andrews would brighten any sidelines!

Few televised sports inspire more passion than college football, especially when it comes to opinions on announcers and the networks that employ them. With kickoff less than a week away, I asked college football writers Stewart Mandel, Andy Staples and George Schroeder to join me for a roundtable on a number of television-related topics:

1. Which college football announcers and announcing teams are must-watches for you and why?

Stewart Mandel: Now that Gus Johnson is joining the college football realm (for Fox), he will be my first real "must tune in." (i.e.: I might turn on a game I otherwise wouldn't.) Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit have earned their role as the Saturday primetime crew. You know it's a big game when you hear Brent's voice, and Herbstreit has consistently gotten better as an analyst. Gary Danielson (when he's not relentlessly shilling for the SEC) is hands-down the best game analyst in terms of breaking down action in real time. Todd Blackledge is not far behind. And Mike Mayock really emerged as a star on Notre Dame games last year. Joe Tessitore and Rod Gilmore may be the best pairing on television; it's a shame they're buried doing the Friday night late game. Sean McDonough also does a great job with play-by-play.

Andy Staples: I'm thrilled that Gus Johnson is going to be calling college football. When he calls an Oregon game and tracks that offense ripping up and down the field, his head might actually explode. I think Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit provide the right gravitas for what is often the most hyped game of each week. I also love the Musburger drinking game, which I unfortunately can never partake in because I work Saturdays. I like Rece Davis as the play-by-play guy on Thursday nights. He's also great in the studio on Saturdays. Davis is the best college football ringmaster working, because it's clear he knows the sport and loves the sport. As for analysts, I'm a big fan of Ed Cunningham -- and not only because of The King of Kong. Cunningham consistently offers the most intelligent analysis in a language viewers can understand.

George Schroeder: It's probably in large part because of the matchups -- one of the biggest games of the week, and in primetime -- but Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit have become a fun pairing for me. Musburger can overdo it, but how can you not get excited when he does? Herbstreit has become really good, too, in expanding far beyond his College GameDay role. I'm really looking forward to Gus Johnson on Fox. Not for technical expertise. For insane fun. At the Pac-12's media day in L.A. last month, you knew he was there before you saw him. ("We're at FOX! STUDIOS!" -- or something like that.) Anticipating when Gus happens is half the fun, the potential energy. When it goes kinetic: MADNESS!

Richard Deitsch: Agree with much of what's been said above. Herbstreit is simply terrific as an analyst, and his chemistry with Musburger (even with Brent's tendency to overhype an event) is really enjoyable. College GameDay ranks with TNT's Inside The NBA as the best in class for a studio show and that's in large part because of Chris Fowler, who treats his role like a professional. Staples is right. Ed Cunningham is underexposed. I still like Verne Lundquist on college football and he and Danielson are an enjoyable pair, even with Danielson's sis-boom-bah-ness for all things SEC. What else? Sean McDonough is a terrific game caller and I'd like to see more Tessitore and Gillmore, too. If you read me, you already know what I think about Mayock: He's the best football analyst working today. I'm not part of the cult of Gus when it comes to football. He'll be fine, but the sport doesn't lend itself to frenzy outside of end-of-game situations.

2. Which college football announcer/s are the least appealing for you and why?

Mandel: Craig James and Jesse Palmer. James' glaring conflict of interest (more on that later) aside, it's still two ex-jocks glad-handing each other and spewing clichés for three-and-a-half hours. I feel bad for Rece Davis, a true pro, who spends Thursday nights wedged between those two and Saturdays moderating the Mark May-Lou Holtz circus act.

Staples: Craig James, because he adds very little to the broadcast, and ESPN has sacrificed much of its journalistic integrity to protect him in the wake of his campaign to get Mike Leach fired at Texas Tech. If ESPN replaced James with any random ex-jock, viewers wouldn't complain a bit. Yet for some reason the network has bent over backward to protect James. It makes no sense.

Schroeder: Other than Craig James? Even aside from the helicopter-dad/Mike Leach/Texas Tech stuff, I'm not a big fan. And how can we leave aside that stuff? Since he is still employed, can we at least eliminate the weekly weird-workout feature with James (and Jesse Palmer) and the home team's strength coach on those Thursday night games? We get it, James was a big-time athlete and he's still able to toss around big tires.There are a lot of forgettable announcers out there. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though. As much as I enjoy listening to him, Musburger walks a fine line. When he crosses it, he can override the game. I'll take a dialed-back, who-was-that-announcer broadcast and be more than satisfied.

Deitsch: That Craig James gets such prominent assignments remains a mystery on the D.B. Cooper scale. He is unpopular by any fan metric you choose, including performance and likeability. The fact that former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach is suing James merely adds noise here. ESPN management says it values James for his relationships with coaches but what that ultimately leads to for viewers is little more than backslapping commentary. The network deserves to get crushed for keeping him on the air. I'm not as bothered by Palmer as some of the other guys but I agree with everyone on Holtz, whose act wore thin around the time Ron Powlus graduated from Notre Dame. Again, Holtz is an example of Bristol management having a tin ear with a broadcaster whose name far exceeds his value. Same with James.

3. If you could change anything about ESPN's college football coverage, what would you change and why?

Mandel: It's far too late to stop, but ideally there'd be more separation of church and state between the programming and journalism sides. The Bruce Feldman incident and the Longhorn Network have shown that horse has left the stable for good.

Staples: Lately, it seems as if ESPN has tried to set the agenda for college coverage. This is a bad idea. The big story is what it is, and people will seek coverage of it even if it happens to be SEC coaches "Car Wash" day. There will be days when I turn on College Football Live and I wonder if I even cover the same sport. The fact that ESPN is in bed financially with all the conferences shouldn't affect its journalism choices. Really, ESPN is so massive that the business relationships don't have to affect journalism choices. At this point, the conferences need ESPN more than it needs the conferences. So it shouldn't kowtow.

Schroeder: See my answer to No. 2, and the weekly workout feature. But I'd also like to see more Rece Davis and less Dr. Lou. Rece Davis is really good. He's a big reason why, aside from the actual games, College Football Final is my favorite TV on fall Saturdays (although to be fair, I don't see as much of College GameDay as I'd like; out here in the Pacific time zone, the pre-dawn start interferes with my sleeping habits). With Holtz, it's not so much that I want less of the former coach, but less of the caricature he plays. Or maybe it's not a caricature? His interplay with Mark May often feels really forced.

On the subject of GameDay, I wish we could rewind a few years. I'm really glad Lee Corso has recovered so well from the stroke. The GameDay guys -- talent, producers, everyone -- have done a great job helping him. Against the odds, his weekly headgear choice turned into and remains must-see TV -- it's cheesy silliness, but it's somehow so right. If this is possible for a segment on a preview show, it has become iconic. I just wish we could have the old Lee back (wait, I guess I mean the younger Lee; ah, you know what I mean). When Corso finally retires, the show is going to take a huge hit.

Deitsch: This won't happen but I'd like to see the hiring ethos change from former college coaches to information gathers. There's value in hiring ex-coaches but not if they provide vanilla commentary as they bide time for their next job. The Holtz-May shtick is bad television and the truth is the segments make May, who is a bright guy, look silly and less credible. If you want me to believe that Jenn Brown was the best candidate in America for such a high-profile gig, I'm going to have to see something resembling journalistic instincts soon.


Are regional networks (Big Ten Network, Pac-12 Network) good for the sport?
Mandel: Absolutely. I don't know why it's taken so long, but major media companies are finally realizing that A) college football is huge and B) fans can't get enough coverage of it. The major networks can only show so many games, talk about so many teams. If you're a Purdue fan and you can watch a network that shows all your games and talks about your team every night of the week, that's a dream come true.

Staples: Of course. Variety for the consumer is always a great thing. Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott points out frequently that college football has been undervalued and underleveraged for years. Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany probably figured that out before anyone. That's why the creation of the Big Ten Network might be one of the most important things to happen in college sports in decades. The appetite for college football is huge. The conference networks give viewers more of what they obviously want.

Schroeder: To paraphrase a lot of coaches, no question! Let's see what the Pac-12 Network actually becomes, especially with the regional network components, but in terms of showing games -- what's not to like about every football and men's basketball game for a league being televised? It's good for the fans, and good for the sport. All of this assumes widespread distribution. The Big Ten had issues but has them mostly resolved. What's the Pac-12 Network going to do with satellite providers and cable systems that aren't Comcast, Cox, Time Warner or Brighthouse? Also, what pricing tier will the network be on? But in general, I think the conference networks are a big positive for college football (and hoops, too).

Deitsch: It's fantastic programming for the diehard conference fan, and I love the auxiliary benefit of non-revenue sports such as women's basketball and track and field getting added exposure on football's back. Here's the big downside: Regional networks, in general, are not a great place to find journalism. No matter how ESPN spins it, The Longhorn Network is a PR arm of Texas. The network's existence also creates an impossible situation for ESPN's college football producers and reporters (plenty of whom care about reporting). For every story ESPN does on Texas and its opponents, they'll be skeptics wondering what the motivation was for the story. As one longtime ESPNer told me, the LHN will be the worst decision in the company's history regarding its newsgathering arm.

5. ESPN's Beth Mowins was given a fulltime slate of games this season, joining Pam Ward as a fulltime play-by-play announcer on college football. Does gender matter to you when it comes to a college football game-caller?

Mandel: Not if the person is good. Pam Ward has taken a lot of criticism -- probably too much so -- and I'm sure much of it was gender-based. But for me it was more that she just wasn't very good. Beth Mowins has been exceptional in everything she's done and I look forward to hearing her call football.

Staples: No. Ability matters.

Schroeder: No. I'll admit it used to be a bit jarring, as though something was out of place, because it was so unusual. Not anymore. Either way, I just want competence. But I don't think we're going to see too much deviation from the standard formula -- all-male booths -- in the near future.

Deitsch: Not for me. I've been touting Mowins for a long time, and I appreciate ESPN management finally catching up with me. She'll be great. I think gender still matters for some viewers when it comes to announcing football, but the more women get an opportunity as game-callers, the less that will be an issue.

6. How big of an advantage is the Longhorn Network for Texas?

Mandel: It depends on what's ultimately allowed. Showing high-school games would be a game-changer, but I think there's so much pressure on Texas and the NCAA right now to block it. Otherwise, it's a slight advantage financially but not that much exposure-wise, because no one that's not a Texas fan is going to watch it.

Staples: It's huge. Besides Notre Dame, no other school has the combination of marketing muscle and huge fan base to make this work. Texas is the dominant school in a state of 25 million people. That fact alone guarantees wide distribution. If they ever are allowed to broadcast high school games on The Longhorn Network, it will give Texas an almost prohibitive recruiting advantage.

Schroeder: Will they be showing Dillon High's games? Even without high school games, it's a giant advantage in a lot of ways. Think of the potential just considering the 'Inside Texas football' type of programming -- carefully sanitized Hard Knocks meant to present the football program, in this case, in nothing but the most positive light. Never mind the high school games, recruits will be promised serious exposure -- and then they'll get it. Fans will lap it up. The kids will love it. How could it not help? That said, Texas already gets almost every player it wants from in-state, and rarely even ventures beyond the borders (you might have heard, but it's a whole other country). It's not like there are a bunch of kids who've been getting away from the 'Horns -- but figure fewer get away now.

Deitsch: Huge advantage. For starters, it's a direct message that Texas is linked to the biggest television brand in sports. Obviously, as the guys mentioned above, showing high school games in the future would be a killer ap for recruiting.


How valuable are sideline reporters on a college football broadcast?
Mandel: I respect many of them (Erin Andrews, Tracy Wolfson, Holly Rowe) and the hard work they do, but it's hard to argue game coverage would be worse off without the 30-second coach interview on the way into the locker room. They do prove valuable on occasion when major injuries arise, or other unexpected behind-the-scenes developments come up. Case in point: When Erin Andrews described the "mass confusion" on the West Virginia sideline when the coaches botched a late-game situation during one of Bill Stewart's first games as head coach.

Staples: Very valuable. Go back to the West Virginia-Colorado game a few years ago. In 30 seconds, Erin Andrews encapsulated what would be the entire Bill Stewart era at West Virginia.

Schroeder: It depends. The best reporters give us a sense for the mood on the sidelines, and provide really useful nuggets. But that's the best of them. I see most sideline reporting largely these days as a series of pre-packaged sidebars, and the quality of that coverage varies with the reporter.

Deitsch: The value for me comes in reporting things the viewer can't see (injuries, the emotion of the crowd). The best of the lot ask pointed questions of coaches, especially at end of a game when emotions run raw and high. There's tons of value there. The worst are merely part of the school's PR apparatus and value relationships with the coaches and players more than informing the viewers



The Scouts Inc. NFL Top 10 Players

1Tom Brady95AGE: 34DOB: 8/3/77HT: 6-4WT: 225POS: QBAtt 492Comp 324Yds 3,900TD 36Int 4QBR 76.0Player AnalysisBrady has an excellent combination of size, intelligence, instincts and arm strength. He is just an above-average athlete but shows enough foot quickness and agility to slide in the pocket and deliver the ball effectively downfield. His poise enables him to find his second and third options.
MORE ANALYSIS
Brady has excellent vision and reads coverages and pressure packages as well as anyone. He can power the ball into tight spots or use touch on delicate throws. Brady can improvise and deliver the ball from different angles, but isn't an outstanding creator when plays break down. He is excellent at getting rid of the ball to avoid the sack.
CLOSE ANALYSIS

2Peyton Manning95AGE: 35DOB: 3/24/76HT: 6-5WT: 230POS: QBAtt 679Comp 450Yds 4,700TD 33Int 17QBR 69.5Player Analysis
Manning is primarily a pocket passer and has just enough agility and quickness to step up or to side-step the pass rush. He is not going to extend the pocket with speed or agility very often.
MORE ANALYSIS
He has a very strong arm and has shown the ability to throw from various angles and launch points while still maintaining his accuracy. Manning understands the offensive scheme and is given a lot of freedom to change plays at the line of scrimmage. He is an elite quarterback and still playing at a very high level.
CLOSE ANALYSIS

3Darrelle Revis95AGE: 26DOB: 7/14/85HT: 5-11WT: 198POS: CB
Tkl 32 Solo 42Sack 0Int 3FF 0TD 2
Player Analysis
Revis has outstanding quickness, agility and speed to challenge the top receivers in the league. He is at his best in press man coverage, in which he can use his long arms to get an effective jam on his opponent off the line of scrimmage.
MORE ANALYSIS
He has good vision and instincts. Revis is a solid run-support player who shows decent pop as a tackler. He doesn't have outstanding pure speed on the perimeter but understands angles and leverage. He can be dangerous with the ball in his hands after a turnover.
CLOSE ANALYSIS

4Adrian Peterson95AGE: 26DOB: 3/21/85HT: 6-1WT: 217POS: RBAtt 283Yds 1,298Avg 4.6Long 80TD 12Fum 1Player AnalysisAdrian Peterson continued to be one of the most productive ball carriers in the league in 2010. He was banged up and missed some time for the first time in his short four-year career but has been extremely durable since he entered the league.
MORE ANALYSIS
Peterson is an excellent combination of size, strength and athleticism. He has impressive power on contact but tends to carry his pads too high at times. He can break tackles or move the pile. Peterson is an instinctive inline runner with excellent lateral agility to find creases between the tackles. He has deceptive burst and speed to pick up chunks of yards and rip off long touchdown runs. He is a reliable receiver out of the backfield but isn't outstanding in this phase of the game. Look for Peterson to be even a larger part of the Vikings' offense with a new quarterback at the helm in 2011.
CLOSE ANALYSIS

5Aaron Rodgers94AGE: 27DOB: 12/2/83HT: 6-2WT: 225POS: QBAtt 475Comp 312Yds 3,922TD 28Int 11QBR 67.9Player AnalysisRodgers has size, strength and athleticism. He makes good decisions and puts the Packers in position to win almost every game. He shows good vision and the ability to read defenses.
MORE ANALYSIS
Rodgers can power the ball into tight windows with his arm, and he can improvise when plays break down. He is effective in the pocket or off play-action, and while he doesn't have great speed he can pull the ball down and move the chains with his legs.
CLOSE ANALYSIS

6Drew Brees94AGE: 32DOB: 1/15/79HT: 6-0WT: 209POS: QBAtt 658Comp 448Yds 4,620TD 33Int 22QBR 65.9Player AnalysisBrees has missed just one game in the past five seasons and is consistently one of the leading passers when it comes to completions, completion percentage and quarterback rating. He can make plays from the pocket and has the foot quickness and speed to extend the pocket and make plays from the perimeter.
MORE ANALYSIS
Brees has a great working knowledge of the passing game and excels when it comes to reading coverages and adjusting on the move. He knows how to game plan and sees possibilities as they develop. Brees brings a great combination of a physical skill set as well as the mental skills to attack a defense.
CLOSE ANALYSIS

7Andre Johnson93AGE: 30DOB: 7/11/81HT: 6-3WT: 225POS: WRRec 86Yds 1,216Avg 14.1Long 60TD 8Player Analysis
Johnson brings a rare combination of size, speed and athleticism. He is a good route runner who has the speed to challenge the secondary down the seam yet can run combination routes with excellent foot quickness, agility and acceleration.
MORE ANALYSIS
Johnson can get in and out of his breaks with foot quickness and a burst to separate from defenders and has a wide receiving radius that allows him to extend to make difficult catches. He can go up and high point the ball in a crowd and has the strength to overpower most cornerbacks when challenged.
CLOSE ANALYSIS

8Ben Roethlisberger93AGE: 29DOB: 3/2/82HT: 6-5WT: 241POS: QBAtt 389Comp 240Yds 3,200TD 17Int 5QBR 59.8Player Analysis
Roethlisberger is a big, strong-armed quarterback with above average athleticism. He has quick feet for his size and can slide and improvise to make effective throws downfield.
MORE ANALYSIS
Roethlisberger is the toughest quarterback in the league to get on the ground, with great instincts to avoid pressure and natural body strength to break tackles. He has great vision and patience to find his second and third options but can be a bit of a gambler.
CLOSE ANALYSIS

9Joe Thomas93AGE: 26DOB: 12/4/84HT: 6-6WT: 312POS: TGP 16GS 16Player AnalysisThomas is an excellent combination of size, strength and athleticism. He has great instincts and reactions. His technique is strong for such a young player, and he obviously takes his craft seriously.
MORE ANALYSIS
Thomas can get to the second level as a run blocker and is adept at hitting a moving target downfield. Thomas could stand to add more strength. He is a physical lineman that can set the tone in the running game.
CLOSE ANALYSIS

10Larry Fitzgerald92AGE: 27DOB: 8/31/83HT: 6-3WT: 218POS: WRRec 90Yds 1,137Avg 12.6Long 41TD 6Player Analysis
Fitzgerald has quickly risen to arguably the most electric receiver in the NFL. He brings a rare combination of size, speed, athleticism and receiving skills. He is a good route runner who can sink his hips to get in and out of his breaks with good foot quickness and a burst to separate from defenders and has a gear coming out to maintain the separation.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

No timetable for Crosby's return - ‘Canes may declare at least a dozen players ineligible - Buckeye Wide Recievers Progress -


Transition of Jordan Hall

That is also where Jordan Hall has done a lot of his work this fall. The team’s No. 3 tailback from a year ago could start the season as the No. 1 back while Herron is out, but that won’t be his only role.
With so many other capable backs in their backfield, the Buckeyes are lining Hall up in the slot to get him out in space.
“He is a running back, but he creates so many different matchup problems for defenses when we put him out in the slot,” Drayton said of the junior out of Jeannette, Pa.
“(He is) just really natural in understanding coverage and can avoid reroutes by linebackers. If you get a guy like that in space against a linebacker you have to feel good about that.”







Progress of Philly Brown

Another reason the receiver group has made such a big jump this fall is the progress made by both Philly Brown and Chris Fields. With Posey and Boom Herron suspended, Brown is actually the team’s third-best returning pass-catcher from a year ago (behind Jake Stoneburner and Reid Fragel).
He caught eight passes for 105 yards and a touchdown as a true freshman in 2010, but struggled to come down with some of the big catches that were within his grasp down the field.
“I can really count one hand the amount of times he’s let the ball get to his body (this fall),” Drayton said.
“So that’s the improvement you’re going to see.”
It has paid off, as Brown as been one of the team’s most explosive offensive weapons in camp. Cornerback Bradley Roby called him the hardest guy to cover because of his speed and quickness, but Fields has also done a good job catching the ball out of the slot.







‘Canes may declare at least a dozen players ineligible

It’s been a couple of days since there’s been anything in the way of real news regarding the scandal-plagued Miami football program, but there could be a development forthcoming that’s significant while at the same time expected.
According to the Miami Herald, and citing a source close to the investigation, Miami is expected to declare at least 12 football players* ineligible ahead of the Hurricanes’ season opener Sept. 5. The dozen or more players are currently under investigation by the NCAA regarding allegations that they received impermissible benefits from former UM booster Nevin Shapiro.
The move to declare the players ineligible would be a procedural one; the school is responsible for declaring a student-athlete ineligible, then seeks reinstatement from the NCAA. The Association would then determine eligibility on a case-by-case basis, whether an immediate reinstatement is in order — as was the highly-controversial case with Cam Newton — or whether game suspensions are warranted, which occurred with Ohio State, Georgia and North Carolina among others in the last year.
UM could decide to allow the players to remain eligible, but would face much stiffer
sanctions if the NCAA ultimately proves the allegations levied against them by Shapiro.
“If those players aren’t first declared ineligible, then reinstated, before they participate and they’re found to have violated rules, the school will be in much deeper trouble,” the source told the Herald.
Stacey Osburn, the NCAA’s associate director of public and media relations, further explained the decision facing the school, telling the paper that “[t]he reinstatement decision regarding the student-athlete’s eligibility is completely independent of the investigative process that determines the school’s responsibility,” adding that “as soon as the facts are determined regarding the student-athlete’s involvement, then the reinstatement process can begin. The reinstatement process is likely to conclude well before the close of an investigation.”
In other words, if UM holds out any hope of the 12 players — including nine projected starters — being cleared in time for the opener against Maryland, they need to declare them ineligible and seek reinstatement much, much sooner rather than later.
(*those 12 players are quarterback Jacory Harris; defensive tackle Marcus Forston; receivers Travis Benjamin and Aldarius Johnson; safeties Ray-Ray Armstrong and Vaughn Telemaque; defensive ends Adewale Ojomo and Olivier Vernon; linebackers Sean Spence and Marcus Robinson; cornerback JoJo Nicolas; and tight end Dyron Dye.)








No timetable for Crosby's return
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Sidney Crosby's agent says there's no set timetable for the Pittsburgh Penguins star to return from a concussion, though Crosby is expected to make a full recovery.
Agent Pat Brisson discussed Crosby's recovery and medical status on the team's official web site, apparently in response to reports out of Canada that say the 24-year-old's offseason training regimen has been shut down because of recurring symptoms from a concussion that has sidelined him since January.
Brisson says Crosby recently visited specialists in Michigan and Georgia. Brisson says Crosby's symptoms recurred when he got to 90 percent exertion in his offseason workouts, which were adjusted accordingly.
The Penguins open training camp on Sept. 16 and the regular season on Oct. 6, but Brisson says Crosby's return won't be dictated by those deadlines but by his health.



Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Summitt again fighting uphill battle - Peyton optimistic, but Colts don’t think he’ll play Week 1


Peyton optimistic, but Colts don’t think he’ll play Week 1
msnbc.com
For the first time since Jim Harbaugh started Week 17 in 1997, the Indianapolis Colts expect to have a quarterback other than Peyton Manning at the helm when they start the 2011 season.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that the Colts are preparing not to have Manning: They signed Kerry Collins today, and ESPN’s Chris Mortensen is reporting that the Colts’ top brass does not believe Manning will be ready for the regular-season opener in Houston.
However, Manning remains hopeful that he’ll be far enough along in his recovery from neck surgery that he can line up under center against the Texans. Given Manning’s track record of never missing more than one play because of injury, no one should bet against Manning if he thinks he can do it.
But there’s no question the Colts are in trouble. Signing Collins at the last minute is a stopgap measure because Curtis Painter and Dan Orlovsky have been dreadful during the preseason, and while Collins with two weeks’ preparation might be better than Painter and Orlovsky, he’s obviously nowhere near as good as Manning.
The Colts knew Manning’s neck injury was serious, and they shouldn’t have waited this long to get themselves a capable backup for the injured Manning. Now the team that has had the most reliable quarterback situation in all of football over the last decade is heading into the regular season with a huge question mark at quarterback.








Summitt again fighting uphill battle

A doctor friend has some patients who are, to say the least, rather annoying hypochondriacs. One in particular, after some routine tests, said to her, "Tell me the truth: Am I dying?"
She replied, "Yes … eventually. So am I. So is everybody ever born. But you're not anywhere near dying now."
I cackled upon hearing that.
"Really?" I asked. "You said that?"
Indeed she had. "It was what he needed," she said. "He had to stop feeling sorry for himself and start living."
There are some people like that: Those who are so obsessed with what might happen, they never seem to experience what is happening. Those who turn every headache into a potential brain tumor, every cough into lung cancer, every setback into the end of the world.
Then there are the majority of us. We worry, but we overcome it. We slump into self-pity, but we gradually pull ourselves out. We are afraid, but we comfort ourselves by thinking of who we can count on.
And there are those in a relatively small group who basically put everybody to shame: The harder things get, the tougher they become. The bigger the obstacle, the more determined they are to scale it. The greater the fear, the braver they grow. Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt is one of those people. In fact, she's pretty much their ringleader.
From elevating an entire sport to juggling motherhood and a career, Pat Summitt has a knack for overcoming adversity.
Summitt has now revealed publicly the diagnosis that she has had a little time to come to terms with: early-onset dementia. Most of the rest of the world is finding out about it today, and many are struggling with it. They're feeling sick to their stomachs; their eyes are watering; they are in disbelief.
And those are just the UConn fans. You don't even want to know how hard the people in Rocky Top are taking this.
Yes, it's OK to chuckle a bit at that. There has never been a celebrated women's sports rivalry that has grown as fiercely hostile as that between Tennessee and UConn in basketball, and yet today the Orangebloods and the Bluebloods are in the same foxhole.
What does that say about a person's stature? When your absolute rivals -- people who've been madder than hell at you -- are not just sending good wishes so as not to appear gauche, but truly are stricken and want you to know they care.
Summitt is going to fight this monstrous illness with humor, with an iron will, with everything she can symbolically get her hands on to throw at it. When she says she's not going to allow there to be a pity party for her, you better believe it. What she means is, "I'll kick your &$$ if you try to feel sorry for me."

Far-reaching, long-lasting impact

Some of the greatest players in women's basketball have worn Tennessee orange and played for Summitt. That includes one of the current contenders for MVP of this WNBA season: Indiana's Tamika Catchings. The most spectacular Lady Vols career was that of Chamique Holdsclaw. The biggest news of the past week in the WNBA was the return from injury of Candace Parker, who led Tennessee to back-to-back NCAA titles in 2007-08. Two current Tennessee players, Shekinna Stricklen and Glory Johnson, were on the U.S. team that just won the World University Games gold medal in China.



And when you consider coaches who either played for or worked with Summitt, you're not looking at a coaching "tree." You're talking about a coaching forest.
She has touched so many lives, shaped so many careers, mentored so many to be better than they ever thought they would be.
You could pick up the phone today and start calling people who've been impacted by Summitt. You could do it 12 hours a day, every day. A year from now, you'd still be calling, with no end in sight.
But it just hit me, when I heard the news about Summitt's condition, that I wanted to talk to Abby Conklin. She finished her Tennessee career in 1997, when Tennessee won one of its more improbable titles -- if you could say that about any of the championships a great coach wins.
Conklin was one of those players who just always cracked me up. A 6-foot-3 forward from Charlestown, Ind., she has this no-nonsense way of putting things that made her seem like she could have been the wisecracking country girl in a Robert Altman movie.
Pat Summitt has touched so many lives, shaped so many careers, mentored so many to be better than they ever thought they would be.
Tennessee was the defending national champion, but lost 10 games in 1996-97 and dealt with a crisis in confidence. The Lady Vols finished fifth in the Southeastern Conference. After one very tough loss in January 1997, in a tearful locker room, the undaunted Summitt told her players: If you keep giving this kind of effort, I promise you it will pay off.
The scene in a very different locker room after Tennessee's NCAA title victory over Old Dominion in Cincinnati on March 30, 1997, was not one of wild celebration. It was serene. Pashen Thompson, happy but worn out, munched on pizza. Fellow senior starter Conklin, just as tired and just as happy, was reflective.
"There's something about that woman," Conklin said of Summitt. "She gets things out of you that you never knew were in you."
Conklin has subsequently coached, too. Now she's in San Francisco, going to school for graphic design. Like other former players, she is reeling after finding out about Summitt's condition. I asked her about her memory of what she'd said on her last night as a Lady Vols player 14 years ago.
"Yes, she totally pushed me beyond where I would have pushed myself," Conklin said. "I was a good player in high school, one of the best in my state. But you don't understand what it's like to play at the next level at that age. I worked harder playing in her program than I ever had in my life."
I asked Conklin if there were any particular moments since her days in Knoxville during which the strength she built from playing for Summitt had been of great help to her.
Conklin began to cry. Then she said, "Hang on a second. I'll get it together, I promise."
She did, and then explained what 2011 has been like for her family. In January, Conklin's father, Harlo, collapsed at home. He was, at one point, clinically dead. He underwent quadruple-bypass surgery and is still recovering. Then this summer, Conklin's mother, Frances, fell ill.
"She's been diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer," Conklin said. "It's terminal."
Conklin recently went home to Indiana to spend time with her parents. The moment she walked in, a nurse was there changing her mother's colostomy bag. Very late the next night, the bag began to leak and needed to be changed again.
"My mom was freaking out, my dad was upset," Conklin said. "These are things I'd never dealt with before. Heck, I'd never even changed a baby's diaper."
But in her head, immediately, Conklin could hear what Summitt might be saying.
Abby! Abby Conklin! What on earth are you doing? Your mother needs you! You're going to let a little bag of crap scare you? Take care of this! Now! You can do it!
"And I got my dad calmed down," Conklin said. "I said, 'It's going to be OK.' I'd seen part of the process. I called one of my family members who'd gotten instructions on doing it, and she explained the rest to me. And my mom said, 'I knew you would figure it out.'
"I remember thinking, 'Yeah, I can do this,' because I played for Pat. I can be my mom's rock. I can face this, because that's what you have to do as a Lady Vol. You rise to the occasion."

A master at making it work

This is the part of playing sports that athletes in their mostly carefree teens and 20s don't realize will still be with them later. When the people whom they always leaned upon might suddenly need them to be truly strong.
Eventually, everyone faces those moments when life can be messy and sad and demand things of us that we don't think we can handle. The luckiest among us will have someone like Pat Summitt in our past whose words echo in our brains.
Summitt has won more than a thousand games. She has eight NCAA titles. She has done a remarkable job of keeping up with every player who has been a part of that mammoth success over a nearly four-decade span.
But Summitt can't possibly know all the times when a woman was confronted with a sick child, or a crumbling relationship, or a frail parent, or a job loss, or a frightening X-ray … then remembered being a girl who cursed under her breath after an exhausting workout in Knoxville. And thought, "I got through that. I'll get through this. Pat wouldn't expect anything less of me."
Summitt is a great storyteller. When she won her last championship, in 2008, she recalled the day when she was about 12, and her father took her to a hayfield to do work she'd never done before. It was an all-hands-on-deck existence for the family. Richard Head would barely coddle a newborn, much less a strong girl he knew could think for herself.
He gave her no encouragement. Just an order: "When I come back to get you at the end of the day, this work better be done."
Of course, she figured it out. Just as she would later figure out how to coach when there were so few female role models. How to overcome multiple knee surgeries. How to build a national-championship program. How to elevate an entire sport. How to juggle motherhood with an all-consuming career.
Summitt is now facing a challenge that no one has really figured out. It seems so grossly unfair, so cruel, so wrong. Yet hasn't she been running uphill her entire life?
And isn't the ability to stand up when you most feel like falling down the lesson she has been teaching all along?






Last Colts QB To Start Not Named Peyton
Peyton Manning has started every regular-season (208) and postseason (19) game for the Colts since being drafted in 1998. The last QB not named Peyton Manning to start a regular-season game for the Colts was current 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh (pictured, in a 39-28 loss at Minnesota on Dec. 21, 1997).

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

-Travis Hafner might need foot surgery - Big Ten goes back to the future - Shock waves from earthquake felt during Indians-Mariners game -




Raiders select QB Pryor in third round of NFL supplemental draft
si.com
NAPA, Calif. (AP) -- The Oakland Raiders always have been seduced by size and speed so it came as little surprise that they used a third-round pick Monday in the NFL's supplemental draft to select former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor.
Pryor's agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said his client was excited about going in the third round after waiting until last Thursday to find out he'd even be eligible for the supplemental draft and not working out for teams until Saturday.
"We're tickled and thrilled that Terrelle went in the third round and to the Raiders," Rosenhaus said. "The third round is quite an accomplishment for a young man who had his pro day 48 hours ago and didn't know he would be in the draft until Thursday morning and wasn't able to meet with any decision makers."
The Raiders used the 18th selection of the third round for Pryor, forfeiting a pick in that round in the 2012 draft.
Pryor immediately headed to the Bay Area after being drafted and Rosenhaus said he hoped to finalize a contract as soon as possible to get Pryor on the practice field. Rosenhaus has already negotiated a third-round deal with the Raiders this summer with rookie cornerback DeMarcus Van Dyke.
BANKS: Same old Raiders
"We're optimistic this will be a smooth negotiation," he said. "We enjoy working with the Raiders and he's very excited."
Pryor will be able to practice immediately after signing and play in the remaining two exhibition games. But he will not be eligible to practice with or play for Oakland during the regular season until the team's sixth game.
While there has been some speculation that Pryor's future could come as a receiver or tight end, Raiders coach Hue Jackson said he views Pryor as a quarterback and he will start his career there.
"The guy had a very storied career at Ohio State," Jackson said. "He can throw it, he can run with it. He's smart, he's tough, he's played in big games. He's another young athlete that we'll add to the mix that plays quarterback and we'll work with him and get this guy to be a good player."
When he was allowed to enter Monday's draft, he was handed a five-game suspension by Commissioner Roger Goodell - the same number of games he would have sat out had he returned to Ohio State. Pryor has said he will not appeal the suspension.
Pryor gave up his final season with the Buckeyes after an investigation into the team's memorabilia-for-cash scandal that cost coach Jim Tressel his job.
His selection by the Raiders hardly is surprising. Oakland often makes bold moves in the draft because owner Al Davis covets size and speed. Pryor ran a 4.36 in the 40 during his workout for 17 NFL teams Saturday. At 6-foot-5 and 232 pounds, he is similar in height to JaMarcus Russell, the LSU quarterback chosen No. 1 overall by the Raiders in the 2007 draft.
But Pryor is much more mobile. As a junior, Pryor had his best season statistically, throwing for 2,772 yards and 27 touchdowns with 11 interceptions. He also ran for 754 yards and four scores while helping the Buckeyes win the Sugar Bowl.
BURKE: No guarantees with Pryor pick
"We all know how Al Davis likes big players who can run and Terrelle brings a dimension of size and speed that's unique to the quarterback position," Rosenhaus said. "The Raiders are a good fit for him because they have had an unsettled quarterback situation for a number of years and have worked in a number of different players. Any young quarterback would like the opportunity to go there and compete and be the guy."
Oakland's starting quarterback is Jason Campbell, now in his second season with the Raiders after being acquired from Washington, where he spent five seasons. Campbell is in the last year of his contract, as are backups Kyle Boller and Trent Edwards.
The Raiders considered drafting a quarterback to groom for the future in April but did not find the right fit. Now they have Pryor to fill that role.
Pryor said he's thankful for the opportunity to play in the NFL.
"The type of guy that you're getting is a competitive guy, a feisty guy that wants to win and will do anything to win," he told the NFL Network. "Work hard and a person that is just opportunistic. I'm just waiting for an opportunity and when I get it, I'm going to have success."
Pryor will be joined by a former teammate when he signs with the Raiders. Oakland had drafted cornerback Chimdi Chekwa in the fourth round in April and Chekwa gave Pryor a glowing review.
"He was a guy who can make the throws on the football field," Chekwa said. "He also has that threat of scrambling and running. When we needed a big play in college, he made that play. When we went against him in practice, first-team offense versus first-team defense, we had to spy him, do different things. He makes you have to account for the quarterback running."
Oakland is now without picks in the second, third and fourth rounds next year. The Raiders traded the 2012 second-round pick along with a 2011 seventh-round selection for third- and fourth-round picks this past draft to take offensive lineman Joe Barksdale and running back Taiwan Jones. They sent their fourth-round pick a year ago to the Redskins for Campbell.
Oakland could recoup some picks as compensation for losing Nnamdi Asomugha, Zach Miller and Robert Gallery as free agents.
No other players were chosen in the draft. Also eligible were former Georgia running back Caleb King, former Northern Illinois safety Tracy Wilson, former Western Carolina cornerback Torez Jones, former Lindenwood University defensive end Keenan Mace, and former North Carolina defensive end Mike McAdoo.








Shock waves from earthquake felt during Indians-Mariners game

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Shock waves from an earthquake on the East Coast made the press box sway slightly and sent some fans toward the exits during the first game of a doubleheader between the Indians and Seattle Mariners.
As the Mariners were batting in the fourth inning Tuesday, the press box high above home plate and the third-base line moved left and right and continued for nearly 30 seconds. Fans sitting in the upper deck at Progressive Field noticed the unusual movement, and weren't sure what was happening.
"It went on for at least a minute," said Betsy Hammond, who was attending the game with her husband, Tim, and their three children. "We were looking around and someone stood up and yelled, 'Is that an earthquake?' Then someone who works here came over and said they heard it on the radio."
Play was not interrupted on the field. The Indians reported no structural damage to the 43,000-seat ballpark.
The Hammonds were celebrating their son Liam's 10-year-old birthday with his first game -- one he'll never forget.
"My first thought was, 'That's weird, I can't move this seat,"' Tim Hammond said. "I thought it was the wind. I know the stadium is made to move, but I didn't know what was moving it. I was thinking maybe they blew something up on that movie set. A lot of people got up and were like 'We're out of here."'
Filming for "The Avengers" is taking place on East 9th Street near the ballpark.
The 5.8 magnitude earthquake centered northwest of Richmond, Va., shook much of Washington and was felt as far north as Rhode Island and New York City.
"The odd thing was that it went on for a long time," Betsy Hammond said. "Then, the longer it went on, the more I wondered what was happening."








Big Ten goes back to the future
good article from pat forde espn.com

The operative theme in the Big Ten in 2011 is change. But one throwback element to the league that should appeal to fans still nostalgically attached to the 1970s glory days.
Running quarterbacks.
Denard Robinson finished fourth in the nation in rushing yards per game last season.Back in the Bo and Woody days, the Big Ten had an array of mobile quarterbacks -- Michigan's Rick Leach and Ohio State's Cornelius Greene were both 2,000-yard career rushers on great teams. Charlie Baggett ran for more than 1,700 yards in three seasons at Michigan State. Minnesota had an athletic quarterback who went on to play defensive back in the NFL -- a guy named Tony Dungy.
But even that mid-'70s bunch is nothing compared to what the conference will put on the field this fall. The Big Ten has become the dual-threat capital of college football.
Thanks to the arrival of Nebraska, the league has the nation's top three returning quarterbacks in rushing: Denard Robinson of Michigan (131 yards per game), Taylor Martinez of the Cornhuskers (74 yards per game) and Nathan Scheelhaase of Illinois (67). They combined for more than 3,500 rushing yards and 31 rushing touchdowns last year.
But it hardly stops there.
Northwestern returns Dan Persa, its second-leading rusher in 2010 and top scorer on the ground with nine touchdowns. Russell Wilson, a career 1,000-yard rusher in three seasons at North Carolina State, steps in as the new quarterback at Wisconsin. Minnesota is turning over the position to MarQueis Gray, who was primarily a wide receiver last year.
Purdue probably will start Robert Marve but also use dual-threat QB Rob Henry, who ran for more than 500 yards last year when thrust into the lineup by Marve's knee injury. Iowa's James Vandenberg is no scrambler, but he replaces an equally immobile Ricky Stanzi. Whoever gets the job at Indiana will be more elusive than Ben Chappell (though less accomplished as a passer, too). If Edward Wright-Baker or freshman Tre Roberson is the starter, either will be a legit dual threat.
The only Big Ten teams that appear to be getting less dangerous on the ground at quarterback are Ohio State (which lost 2,000-yard rusher Terrelle Pryor) and Penn State (which saw its best running quarterback, Kevin Newsome, transfer). But both will still run the ball from that position, especially if freshman Braxton Miller wins the job for the Buckeyes and Rob Bolden wins it for the Nittany Lions.
The exception to the leaguewide trend is Michigan State's Kirk Cousins, who has lost more yards than he's gained through three seasons as a Spartan. But he throws it plenty well enough to make up for his lack of wheels.
Ten years ago, Antwaan Randle El of Indiana was just about the only Big Ten quarterback running with regularity. Now it's the '70s all over again, and the runners are everywhere.
"I think it's a special league for quarterbacks," Persa said. "You've got a lot of talented players."
Bo Pelini knows a challenge when he sees one. Last year in the Big 12, the Nebraska coach had the only quarterback who finished among the top 15 rushers in the league. This year, defending that kind of quarterback will be a part of the game plan almost weekly.
Year of the Quarterback ESPN has dedicated 2011 to examining one of the most crucial positions in all of sports -- the quarterback.
Year of the QB »
"You've obviously got to account for the quarterback in the running game and how he's going to affect you," Pelini said. "It's hard. It creates more stress on your defense. You've got to worry about your rush lanes.
"I feel like we do well against mobile quarterbacks. But let's face the fact, it's not easy to do."
If anything can make Big Ten defensive coordinators feel better about slowing down all the run-pass quarterbacks, it's that some of the best might not be running as much as they did last year.
At Michigan, a change of offense from spread to something more West Coast-ish figures to keep Robinson in the pocket more often. At least that's the plan, and Robinson says he's OK with that. But he was a Rich Rodriguez recruit for a reason, and that reason is his ability to make defenders miss on the run. So don't expect Tom Brady back there.
"We're smart enough to have elements he does well from what he did in the past in the spread in our offense," new Michigan coach Brady Hoke said.
And there is always the option to freelance.
"A broken play," Robinson said, "is always part of the game."
At Northwestern and Nebraska, the motivation for fewer quarterback keepers is to keep the starter on the field all season.
Martinez was banged up for much of 2010, missing two games in the second half of the season. After racking up five 100-yard rushing games in the first seven, he ran for a total of 95 yards in the final seven.
Persa blew out his Achilles in the 10th game of the season and missed the final three. Even before that major injury, he was a beaten man from all the running he did.
Minnesota QB MarQueis Gray is expected to do big things with his legs this season."The hits really wore on me toward the end of the year," Persa said. "It was tough; I'm not going to lie. I was beat up. It kind of got old waking up Sunday and thinking, 'I can't walk.' I felt like I got hit by a train sometimes.
"But a lot of it was my fault. A lot of hits I could have avoided. After the second or third game, the coaches were on me to slide more and get rid of the ball."
Given the altered approaches in Ann Arbor, Lincoln and Evanston, the guy who might emerge as the most dangerous runner in the league is Gray. His new coach, Jerry Kill, let QB Chandler Harnish run it 344 times the past three years at Northern Illinois, and he loves what he sees out of Gray.
"Without a doubt the most gifted athlete on our squad is MarQueis," Kill said. "If MarQueis would have had a lot of quarterback reps, I think it would be scary where he's at right now because he's so athletically gifted.
"I remember recruiting MarQueis out of high school. We weren't in it very long because we were at Northern Illinois, and we weren't going to get him. But he throws the ball very well, much better than what people understand. I think our big key is how we are going to utilize his talents at quarterback."
If the coaches at Minnesota are smart, they'll utilize his legs. Just like almost everyone else in the Big Ten in a back-to-the-future season at quarterback.





Travis Hafner might need foot surgery
Surprise! Surprise!!
CLEVELAND -- Cleveland Indians designated hitter Travis Hafner might need season-ending surgery on his right foot.
Indians trainer Lonnie Soloff said Tuesday that surgery is among the options the team is exploring for Hafner, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list Monday. He is wearing a walking boot after an MRI showed a strained tendon in the bottom of the foot.
Soloff said a decision would be made in the next two days. The Indians entered Tuesday's doubleheader against Seattle tied for second in the AL Central with the White Sox, 5½ games behind Detroit.
Hafner has been playing with pain since injuring the foot on a slide in April. He aggravated the injury running the bases Sunday against Detroit after getting a single, a hit that broke an 0-for-16 slump.
Hafner is hitting .281 with 11 homers and 49 RBIs in 82 games.

New Coach's Records Perdiction
• Luke Fickell, Ohio State: As if succeeding one of the most successful coaches in school history isn't hard enough, Fickell also has to break in a new quarterback (either senior Joe Bauserman or highly touted true freshman Braxton Miller) following the early exit of Terrelle Pryor and will be without suspended starters Dan Herron, DeVier Posey and Mike Adams for the season's first five games. A senior-depleted defense must reload, too. Even a program as stacked as OSU isn't immune to a down year. Predicted 2011 record: 8-4.