With the Hall of Fame game being played this past weekend, the 2010-2011 NFL season is on the horizon. With teams in training camp and rosters being formed, I'll take you around the league in the coming weeks to preview each division. This week we start with the AFC South, a division dominated by the Indianapolis Colts. Will their run continue this year or will someone else take the division title? We'll go in order from worst to first from last year's season standings. Let's get it on!

Jacksonville Jaguars

Last year the Jags were plagued by injuries to their offensive line and inconsistency from the skill positions. Maurice Jones-Drew is still a talented running back in this league, but I'm not sold that his production will match the near-1400 yards and 15 touchdowns from last year. Torry Holt, Jacksonville's second-leading receiver last season, has departed for New England, leaving Mike Sims-Walker as the only wide-out of note on the roster. (Don't even mention Troy Williamson. He's a bust until otherwise noted.) Tight ends Marcedes Lewis and Zach Miller will be integral to David Garrard's success this season, particularly in the red zone. With only 15 TD's and 10 interceptions last season, Garrard needs to step up this year if he's to keep his job. Head Coach Jack Del Rio is on the hot seat too.

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It's been too long since I've gotten to talk about live Chicago Bears football! On Saturday the Bears will be in San Diego to take on the Charges in their first exhibition game this year. While I'll go in-depth at each position in later blogs, I'll let you know what to look for if you're in the mood to watch some scrubs fight for jobs.

Offensive line battles:

Regardless of the new offense Mike Martz is installing and the hiring of Mike Tice as o-line coach, the front five are shaky at best. Chris Williams has been getting all he can handle so far in training camp, going one-on-one with Julius Peppers almost exclusively. Still, this will be his first full year at left tackle, the position he feels most comfortable at. Unfortunately, the rest of the line isn't as solid.  Roberto Garza has shifted from right to left guard, ensuring a learning curve for his first few starts. Olin Kreutz is another year older and therefore more susceptible to the stronger interior defensive tackles. Seventh round pick Lance Louis is starting at right guard. Do I need to say anything else? Finally, Frank Omiyale is starting at right tackle, hopefully about to prove he's worth having on the team. Like I said, shaky at best.

Continue reading "Joe's Preseason Preview: Bears at Chargers"

Football is back baby! That means we get to watch our Bears in action! Here are my notes from tonight's 25-10 preseason loss to the Chargers:

-He wasn't in the game for long, but Jay Cutler looked well enough in the eight plays he was on the field. He completed both of his pass attempts to Johnny Knox for 47 total yards. Otherwise it was hand-offs and a sack for Jay tonight in a bland offensive gameplan. Still, there's a noticeable difference on that side of the ball thanks to Martz. We'll see how it looks going forward. Some fans were surprised at Cutler only playing one series, but I was fine with it. He'll get plenty of reps in the next two games. Though I honestly doubted Lovie's claim of playing his starters close to a half. Yeah, right.

Continue reading "Wright, Aromashodu stand out in Bears' first preseason game"

We're another weekend closer to the NFL kicking off for real! After my last look at the AFC South, this time around I'll be examining the teams in the NFC West, a division that is always up for grabs. (Unless you're the Rams.)

St. Louis Rams

When talking about the lowly Rams, number one overall pick Sam Bradford has to be first on your mind, and for good reason. After signing the most lucrative contract ever ($50 million guaranteed), expectations for Bradford will be similarly through the roof. The problem? He's still behind a porous offensive line that gave up four sacks on him during their first preseason game. Not exactly the best start. Right tackle Jason Smith (2nd year) starts at right tackle while rookie Rodger Saffold will be protecting Bradford from the left side. Young much? Piling on further pressure to Bradford is running back Steven Jackson, who, while still incredibly tough, isn't getting any younger. With only a few years left of Jackson in his prime, the Rams have to make these years count. Want even more problems? The Rams' wide receivers are hot garbage. While Bradford will probably start day one, I would be slower on the trigger. Unfortunately, the Rams don't have my patience or any slack at this point. 

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Forgive the extremely abbreviated posting, but I'm in the midst of a crazy nerd-filled weekend at Chicago Comic-Con and simply don't have the requisite time to fully flesh out a preseason game with the Raiders. Never fear though, I will be live-tweeting the game and posting a recap for all of you. Now let's get to a few of the things I'm looking for during Saturday night's contest.

-Jay-Mart: Part 2

 Okay, so nobody quite expected Jay Cutler to be pulled after only eight plays. This time around Cutler should play into the second quarter, giving fans a slightly clearer picture of what this offense will look like when the regular season rolls around. All of Mike Martz's bells and whistles won't be on display, but the basics of the system should come into view.

Continue reading "Joe's Preseason Preview: Raiders at Bears"

If you only managed to catch the first quarter or so of Saturday night's preseason game, you saw some pretty fugly football from Lovie Smith's Bears.  The offense was mediocre, the defense was bad and the special teams were awful. It's still a preseason game and therefore meaningless, but here's what I took from the Bears' 32-17 loss to the Oakland Raiders.

it was another slow start for a Bears first-team defense that gave up countless first-drive scores last season. Brian Urlacher left the game after only a few plays with a calf injury that's not believed to be serious. The pass rush struggled and the coverage downfield was nonexistent on a drive that ended with a Jason Campbell QB sneak for a touchdown. Corners were out of position and linebackers were missing their assignments. It was a less than stellar effort. Julius Peppers showed up on a few goal line plays late in the drive, but it was too late to jump-start the defense by then.

Continue reading "Bears hit early snags against Raiders"

You almost never know what you're going to get in the NFC South. With a "worst to first" story each year, are things finally settling in the South? Can the Saints repeat or are the Falcons ready to fly high? Here's my NFC South preview! 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Obviously, first-year head coach Raheem Morris was expecting better than 3-13 when the regular season started. Unfortunately what followed was a mess of a campaign, complete with three different starting quarterbacks. After Byron Leftwich and Josh Johnson's failures, first-rounder Josh Freeman was finally tapped to fill the starting role. Throwing only 10 touchdowns and 18 interceptions wasn't what he had in mind either. This season, Freeman won't be in a much better situation. While his top target Kellen Winslow is back at tight end, the second leading receiver Antonio Bryant was let go. This leaves Maurice Stovall, Arrelious Benn and Reggie Brown as Freeman's top threats. Yikes. If the offensive line can improve at all, perhaps Cadillac Williams can build off his 823 yard, 4 TD 2009 season.

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Aside from the lowly Bills, the AFC East is one of the most competitive divisions in the NFL. Formely the play-house of the Patriots, the East is closer than ever now that the Jets and Dolphins are starting to catch up. Here's how I think the 2010 season will play out for these four teams. 

Buffalo Bills

During last season's inconsistent campaign, the Bills could never gain any momentum. Quarterback Trent Edwards failed to improve in his third year in the league, giving way to Ryan Fitzpatrick and even Brian Brohm. Despite the relative success of Terrell Owens' one-year stay (lead the team with 55 receptions, so yes, it was a success), the Bills offense was unproductive through the air, relying too heavily on a decent ground game led by Fred Jackson. This year, 9th overall selection C.J. Spiller will bring some desperately needed explosiveness to this ailing offense through various forms. Wide-outs Lee Evans and Josh Reed couldn't make enough deep catches to scare defenses that crowded the line of scrimmage last season, a trend that cannot continue. Worse yet, the offensive line was horrendous and doesn't look much improved.

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Tonight the Chicago Bears take on the Arizona Cardinals in what will really be their final tune-up before their regular season opens up on September 12th. The third preseason game is always the outing in which you can place the most weight on how the team will perform in later weeks, as the starters will play into the third quarter and the coaches usually attempt to make a gameplan. Here's what I'll be watching for later tonight after I get back from being social and rev up my DVR.

Running back battle?

No, not between Matt Forte and Chester Taylor. That was never in question. The real competition tonight and next week is between Kahlil Bell and Garrett Wolfe for the third running back slot. Wolfe has always been an ace on special teams, but his production on offense hasn't proven worth his third-round selection. He's in real danger of losing his job to Bell and finishing his tenure with the Bears. We've even heard that GM Jerry Angelo has talked to a few teams about gauging their trade interest in Wolfe. Unless he shows something special, Wolfe looks to be on the way out and Bell on the way up.

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Well, if this third preseason game was any indication of how the regular season will look, Bears fans are in for a bumpy ride. The Bears' offensive woes continued against the Cardinals as the first-team unit failed to score any points. Here are my notes from Saturday night's 14-9 loss to the Cardinals.

 
Getty Images

-Mike Martz's offense couldn't finish off drives. Too many times the Bears made it into the red zone or enemy territory and failed to put points on the board. While they did show some flashes on a deep pass to Johnny Knox and screen passes to Matt Forte and Chester Taylor, it wasn't enough. For every one or two good plays, Chicago consistently followed-up with a poor one. They never appeared to be completely in-sync, ensuring some long film sessions during this short turn-around before Thursday's final preseason game.

Continue reading "Bears' offense can't finish against the Cardinals"