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Kickoff
by MattÜber-commenter Eric came through today with three solid links and a kick ass picture, so this is the all-Eric Kickoff Edition.
Idiot-Proofing The Offseason. As we’ve seen (Mario Wililams, Jacoby Jones), free time can be dangerous for young players with lots of money. There’s only so much you can do about that through the winter and spring, but Smithiak have found a way to deal with it during the summer–shorten the amount of freetime by extending summer workouts.
One team subscribing to this theory is Houston. The Texans started their offseason program March 31 and won’t conclude until the week after July 4th, leaving less than two weeks between the end of the program and the start of training camp on July 25. It’s clear Texans GM Rick Smith and coach Gary Kubiak are hoping this wrinkle will pay dividends on the field. In a copycat league, many teams will be looking at the Texans to see how this plays out.
God, let them be smarter than the average Pats fan. A prediction from a Patriots blog re: AFC South standings. The Texans’ final record is a thing of beauty, this line about VY is gold. “VY needs to improve his incredibly poor accuracy. He seriously can’t hit a group of shirtless men in a bar.”
Not earth-shaking, but still informative. A USA Today piece breaking down the offseason changes, the need for people (read: Green, Schaub, Johnson) to stay healthy, and the arrival of Alex Gibbs.
Cannot Approach Reasonable Respectability. Finally, a little flashback humor.
June 25th, 2008 by Matt Andre Johnson, Babyeating-Sisterfuckers, Batman, Curious Coaching, I really dig my readers, Jacoby Jones' beer bong, Kickoff, Sandy Vag Trackback
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June 25th, 2008 at 9:18 am
Humor? I think not. More like barely suppressed painful memories. Now pictures of Carr failing in his little white gloves in Carolina, that’s comedic gold. This is just masochism. I need to rewatch the Denver game so I can purge that image out of my mind.
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June 25th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Actually, if you want to watch a great game, I recommend rewatching the Saints game from last year. I just watched it again the other day and man it was awesome. Mario had only one sack, but he just dominated that game. There was one play I had forgotten about where Reggie Bush tried to roll out to the flat to catch a pass and chip Mario on the way. They also had the guard pull out to try and block Mario. Mario knocked Reggie off his route, completely blew up the guard (knocked him right on his ass), and still got in Brees’s face enough to force an incompletion. The record show only an incomplete pass intended for Reggie, but Super Mario single handedly destroyed that play. It was awesome.
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June 25th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
I remember Mario putting a few serious hits on Bush in that game as well. Good memories, although my (far from expert) opinion is that he was even more destructive against Denver. It seemed like he started each play on the other side of the line of scrimmage.
If what the coaching staff is saying about his progress is true, then we’re in for a real treat this year.
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June 25th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
After that Saints fan I almost punched a guy for saying Mario 1. Wasn’t double and triple teamed the whole game and 2. that he had a bad game
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June 25th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
@Lee: Fuck him. You don’t have to take that shit!
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June 25th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
For me the best part of the Saints game was when all the Saints fans near us stopped cheering “Reggie” and all the Texans fans started giving a nice “Reeeegie” catcall. I think having all those Saints fans there was probably a good thing, as it shamed some of the quieter Texans fans in our section into getting louder.
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June 25th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Vega-
It was beautiful. The most fun home games last year were Saints and Denver.
Matt-
Another classic line in that interesting Pats prediction:
“The conference I love to hate just keeps getting better. There are four solid QB’s in the division, although two of those are on the Texans — sorry Tennessee, VY doesn’t count.”
It will also be interesting to see if Garrard gets complacent now that he has a big contract and no competition at all. I know he was safe with the ball last year, but it’s easier to manage games when you have nice running game and a defense that oft keeps the offense from having to play from behind. Garrard’s last year: Fluke or real?
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June 26th, 2008 at 12:07 am
@matt: just now got a chance to read all of this stuff. good content. thanks for being so diligent in bfd’s absence.
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June 28th, 2008 at 8:42 am
Denver game = Super Mario’s fuck you to the NFL.
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July 6th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
@JB - No, that’s this entire season when he destroys the league for not getting the Pro Bowl nod he should have