Are You Ready for Some Football - Week 3

[Imran Siddiqui]

Gotta agree with -JRabbit. Volek was jerked around. He was told he would be the starter, a week before the first game, they bring in another QB from the scrap heap and say he's the starter. No competition, nothing. Volek had every reason to get pissed.

[SlowwHand]

I'm glad Bud's went adios.

[SlowwHand]

Sun 1:00 Detroit Lions -6.5 Green Bay Packers

[Lord Avalon]

Originally posted by Guynemer

What does that make the Lions?

Seems to me William Clay Ford is pretty detached from running the Lions, so I don't think you can call it a "person fiefdom." Too bad the ownership can't be fired, because it's Ford's responsibility for keeping crappy GMs around, so the team isn't a consistent playoff contender.

According to this ESPN article from 8/28, there was competition for the Titans QB job:

Collins will challenge incumbent Billy Volek for the starting job, coach Jeff Fisher all but conceded, once he is able to assimilate the offense. Collins had indicated in the offseason, when there was much speculation about his future, that he would probably only resume his career if there was a team willing to provide him a chance for playing time.

At one point in the offseason, Collins considered retirement.

"Billy's got some competition," Fisher acknowledged Monday evening. "I've spoken with Billy. [He's] not too awfully pleased with it, but that's life in the NFL."
...
It's mine to lose, and even though we're not putting a lot of points on the board ... I feel comfortable with this," Volek said.
...
Both Collins and Volek agreed the competition will be good.

"It's going to make us a better team whoever comes out the other end of it," Collins said. "I know it's tough. I've been in the situation myself. We do have to be professional. I think we can work together."

From Philly.com 9/1

-- Kerry Collins likely will be the Titans' starter when they open the season next week against the Jets. Titans coach Jeff Fisher and offensive coordinator Norm Chow have not been pleased at all with the training-camp and preseason play of Billy Volek, which is why they signed Collins. Volek's reaction to Collins' arrival almost certainly guaranteed that he'll be traded or released very soon.

I googled that - I'm still not sure exactly where I got the impression that Volek had a bad training camp.

[Imran Siddiqui]

How much "challenging for the job" happened when signing him on August 28th and then he starts on Opening Day? It seemed they signed him and it was a foregone conclusion that he was the starter from that day on.

[Jaguar]

Billy Volek's preseason play was right in line with his usual solid performance as a starter. He completed well over 60% of his passes, and produced a QB rating of around 87, right about at his average. (Which is actually better than McNair's.)

It's clear that the Titans jerked him around and then he got pissed off, not the other way around.

[-Jrabbit]

Kerry Collins is dead last among NFL starters with a QB rating of 26.9, a completion percentage of 40.4, no TDs and 4 INTs.

Interesting fact: San Diego dropped its only experienced QB, AJ Feeley, on Aug 28, the same day the Titans signed Collins. They had only untested Charlie Whitehurst as their only backup to Philip Rivers. A conspiracy theorist would tell you that the plan to move Volek to San Diego was already in place at that point.

[SlowwHand]

More results are announced than behind doors negotiations, so I'm sure you're right.

[Dis]

Originally posted by Ming


The problem with the running game right now is that everybody is playing them to run. So they have been quite successful passing. If a team wants to try to stop the pass, I'm sure their running game will look a lot better when there aren't 8 or 9 guys in the box defending it

I never liked that argument.

I hate it when people say the passing game will open up the running game. You either have it, or you don't. Run comes first, then pass.

[-Jrabbit]

Uh, Dis -- you're wrong.

[Lord Avalon]

Originally posted by Dis

I never liked that argument.

I hate it when people say the passing game will open up the running game. You either have it, or you don't. Run comes first, then pass.

Yeah, if they put 8 or 9 men in the box and leave your receivers in single coverage, so what? Run it down their throats!

[Dis]

Originally posted by -Jrabbit
Uh, Dis -- you're wrong.

no I'm not. Just look how well these passing teams have done claming the passing game will open up the running game.

Granted, a couple have done well. The Eagles, though they haven't won a superbowl. And the Rams. But until Chicago can have a passing attack similar to the Rams in the early 21st century, I'm not holding my breath to them winning a superbowl.

They will go far, defense can do some amazing things. But you need a running game to keep the clock moving. I can't see them repeating what the Ravens have done. As the ravens had a damn good running back.

[Jaguar]

Yes, you're wrong.

[Dis]

just remind me of that when the Bears win the superbowl.

[SlowwHand]

Rex Grossman, Rudi Johnson earn FedEx Air & Ground NFL Players of the Week Awards

Congrats again to Grossman and his thumping of the powerhouse Lions.