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As the offseason slows down, ideas for those twice-per-week SportingNews.com items are harder to come by. My editor there, Barry Reeves, had a great idea recently — which players are under the most pressure for 2008?
Here are seven of them. You might agree, you might disagree. (That’s why we’ve got a comments section.)
By the way, SportingNews.com has launched a redesigned web page, which looks pretty good to us (especially since the new PFT “blowfish that’s happy to see you” logo appears on the front page). It’s part of a broader revamping of the brand and the products, which will include the launch next month of Sporting News Today, a 365-day digital newspaper delivered via e-mail. For free. (You can sign up for it here.)
June 18th, 2008 at 9:14 am
You’re supposed to do ten. Everybody’s list is ten; not 7, not 12 (because some writers would have to take their shoes to keep count).
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June 18th, 2008 at 9:32 am
Rodgers is definitley under alot of pressure, but from all we have seen so far from him is that he will be able to handle it quite well. The only thing I am worried about him is whether he is injury prone or not?
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June 18th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Definitely agree with Smith being near the top. Rodgers might be a little higher in my mind. There’s a world of pressure on that kid and the media will be all over it. For Smith, the media wrote off SF when TO left town and rarely makes its way back. Rodgers may have a longer rope because he’s just taking over the team now and is in the shadow of such a big name.
This is definitely Smith’s “no excuses” year. According to all reports Smith has been the best QB of the bunch in camp and he seems to finally be pulling away. Nolan wants to have a #1 QB named early to get all the snaps under Martz’s offense. If Smith cannot succeed under Martz then he may never succeed in this league.
It may sound odd, but Eli may be under some serious pressure this year. Given the market, and how the Giants and Eli both somewhat over-achieved last year it could be a bumpy ride.
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June 18th, 2008 at 9:46 am
“there are plenty of reasons to fear that Allen could eventually be wearing orange again”
You listed exactly one reason, and it’s as likely or unlikely as something like Merriman doing ‘roids again. Arbitrary.
Also, probably 2/3 of all QBs are “under pressure.”
Romo - badly needs to win a playoff game
Tardvaris - may or may not have realized the difference between the forward pass and a jump shot
Matt Ryan - drafted not only to be a franchise QB, but also to re-brand a whole team
Cutler - gots the diebeetus
Grossman - his last shot to prove he should ever start anywhere beyond 2008
I won’t deny the QBs you did list, although some are less interesting to discuss than others. Like, McNabb has been “under pressure” literally every day since he was drafted.
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June 18th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Good article Florio.
I’d like to point out 1 thing about Reggie Bush. When he was coming out of college everyone was saying he could be the next Gale Sayers. I went on a different approach. I said he could be the next Warrick Dunn. Undersized, shifty, mostly just fast. (Not to bring down Warrick Dunn, but he’s mostly an average player) Of course my friends scoffed at me. I remember in particular my one USC friend gloating how all of those players are future HOF’s in the making.
I like how now Bush and Leinart are on the ‘under pressure’ list. Winston Justice sucks a$$ (just ask Osi), and LenDale’s team just took a RB in the 1st round.
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June 18th, 2008 at 10:07 am
No Pacman….er….Adam Jones on your list? The guy is on his last chance in the NFL (well, Al Davis will take him if he screws up assuming that screw up doesn’t get him banned for life). Assuming this guy gets reinstated, he is going to be under the microscope on and off the field. People are going to watch to see if he can behave, get along with his teammates, not upset team chemistry, and whether he can perform on the field to justify Jerry Jones taking a risk on him. Add the fact that Goodell will be waiting to pull a suspension trigger if Pacman… ummm…. Adam breathes funny.
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June 18th, 2008 at 10:14 am
I agree with the full list. You might even consider putting Trent Edwards on there. I haven’t written off JP just yet, and if he doesn’t produce, we could see another Bears/Jets/Cardinals in the AFC East with the Quarterback Shuffle.
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June 18th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Jared Allen seems like a stretch for the hot seat this year. Teams that give up so much much historically have given the player the benefit of the doubt with one year of poor performance.
On the other hand, if he goes back on the sauce, all bets are off. Gotta admire what he’s done so far after sitting last year, and wish the best for him.
Travaris Jackson, on the other hand, better get rear view mirrors put in his helmet if he plays at all like he did when the Vikes had a chance at the playoffs.
It’s really no surprise that QB’s would be on the hotseat: the are the most scrutinized (and blamed) position in the NFL. In one way or the other, McNabb’s been on the hot seat since the Super Bowl loss in ‘04, so this is almost a yearly rite of passage for him.
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June 18th, 2008 at 10:20 am
I’d say Tavaris Jackson is under at least more pressure than Jared Allen, and probably under more than any other player.
1. That team, except for QB is loaded. The WR corp is now at least competent. The OL is strong and the RBs are the best duo in the league. The D will be top 10. An average NFL QB wins the division with this team, and a playoff game.
2. He plays QB.
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June 18th, 2008 at 10:47 am
rkab says:
“It may sound odd, but Eli may be under some serious pressure this year. Given the market, and how the Giants and Eli both somewhat over-achieved last year it could be a bumpy ride.”
Yeah, that sounds odd. Eli shrugged some pressure with his playoff performance for sure, but still must prove himself this year all over again. Romo has more pressure imo, especially for a playoff win.
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June 18th, 2008 at 11:05 am
I’d put my boy Marc Bulger down on the ‘honorable mention’ portion of that list. His OLine was horrible last year but along with Jackson he’s supposed to be our best player and he needs to step up this season.
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June 18th, 2008 at 11:43 am
I’m agreeing with other posters that T. Jackson needs to be on the list. Best running game in the league and arguably best run defense, but no QB to get them a first down on 3rd and 9. I’d probably put him on there instead of either Allen or Leinart. In Leinart’s case, they don’t have the talent in the running game or on defense where people are giving them a chance to win the division.
I’m a Packers fan, but Minnesota has an opportunity to take the North if they get good QB play.
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June 18th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
I agree Alex Smith is on the hotseat. My bet is that he’ll do very well. Whatever else you think of Martz, look at the dubious QBs he’s worked with in the past: Trent Green, journeyman to All-Pro. Marc Bulger, a nobody cut from a bad team to Pro-Bowl MVP. Kurt
Warner, grocery bagger and Brenda whipping boy to Superbowl victory, league MVP. Kitna, average QB to highly productive QB working for the worst organization in the NFL, other than maybe, the Rams.
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June 18th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
It’s funny that you use Fresno State talking about Reggie Bush, when USC needed to be bailed out by multiple bad calls (PAC-10 ref crew) to win that game. Bush also threw a punch at a Bulldog player which in most cases would have resulted in an ejection, but for Bush, it only got a penalty.
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June 18th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
You could add Richard Seymour to that list. His contract is up after 2009. But he’s been very mediocre the past two years and the price of that line will go up with Willfork up. If they have to pick between the two, Willfork is the easy choice.
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June 18th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
You have to admit that if Romo isn’t in the top 7 (he should be) he has to be at 8. He has to continue to compete and win regular season games to put himself in a position to win a playoff game. He has been notorious for screwing up late in the season. That’s when his pressure will build in, and he will start turning to Jessica or some other blonde bimbo du jour to ease his troubled mind (or other body parts). Maybe even in Mexico on a bye week?!?!
Not that it’s a distraction or anything…..
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June 18th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
These seven are run-of-the-mill players under the most pressure. Allen just needs to repeat a performance that was not record breaking and the rest have failed to live up to expectations.
So what.
A player that should be on the initial list is QB JaMarcus Russell. He’s in the “new-age” category. A player who has the potential to redefine football–not just the QB position–and appeal to a fan base from other continents that the NFL owners and executives do not even know how to hope for at this time.
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June 18th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Thank you for not kicking the dead horse that is Rex Grossman.
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June 18th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
I agree with having Buss, Leinart and to some extent, Alex Smith on this list.
Rodgers is following a legend, and that very rarely goes well for a QB. The Packers do have a lot of good young talent, so that will help take some pressure off Rodgers shoulders.
McNabb? He’s about done. I think he’s just a QB showing age, on a team that probably won’t contend.
I don’t think Derek Anderon is feeling pressure. He came from nowhere basically, and has already surpassed many expectations. The heat should really be on the Browns organization, for the hard decision on their future QB that needs to be made soon.
Jared Allen? Why? All he has to do is stay off the booze. He’s going to have a great year, with those two big fat DT’s taking up blockers and leaving him solo against some very average OT’s on his schedule.
It will be interesting to see if Florio references this list at the end of the season, and gives compares it to his “hotseat” projections.
Why seven players?
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June 18th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Who’s this Alex Smith guy?
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June 18th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
“Tardvaris - may or may not have realized the difference between the forward pass and a jump shot……Cutler - gots the diebeetus”
JAWADSUGGS you crack me up man. “I’m a Packers fan, but Minnesota has an opportunity to take the North if they get good QB play.”
ETRONSMAN you forgot to mention for that to happen rogers has to suck. WHEN he shows himself to be a good QB GB will only have to beat MN once to take the division beacause lets face it: MN is more likely to choke against lesser teams than GB
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June 19th, 2008 at 8:18 am
Oops
I meant to say Allen and Anderson just need to repeat performances that were not record breaking and the rest have failed to live up to expectations.
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