October 2011
30 posts
Week 8 Recap: In 140 Words or Less
Mother nature crashed the party on Sunday, leaving this New England-based scribe fresh out of electronic resources, so apologies for the delay in delivering you your weekly dose of NFL recap-ness. Evidently a couple of offenses (I’m looking at you New Orleans and Dallas) thought that if we couldn’t see them play, their efforts would go unnoticed. Au contraire! A week after...
Interview with Arrowhead Addict
The folks over at Arrowhead Addict, one of the premier Kansas City Chiefs blogs, interviewed me for my take on the Chiefs. Be sure to check our their site:
www.ArrowheadAddict.com
Here’s the story link: http://arrowheadaddict.com/2011/10/28/talking-chiefs-with-field-yates/
And here’s the full transcript of the interview:
For starters, can you just give the readers a quick ...
Week 8 Picks: And 5 Keys to a Chiefs Victory on...
So let me start with an announcement of sorts: each week I’ll be writing a piece for ArrowheadPride.com, the best Chiefs website out there for KC fanatics. The piece I’ll be doing will focus on the 5 keys for a Chiefs’ victory, and it’ll kick-off with a bit on the Chiefs and Chargers Monday Night tilt. Here’s a copy of the article, followed by my Week 8 Picks:
...
Week 8 Preview: In 140 Words Or Less
Any good scout learns an important lesson early on in his young talent seeking career: trust what you see, not what you hear. The tape doesn’t lie. A player is what the tape says he is.
Except when he isn’t.
It doesn’t happen often, but circumstances arise where no matter how much you fall for a player on film, he just isn’t a fit for you team, regardless of...
State of the AFC East
Here’s a little project I’m going to start up, and I’ll take the liberty to spread it out over a couple of weeks so that each installment can be dressed with careful detail and attention.
With political debates heating up, it’s natural for Americans to examine the state of our nation. Politically inclined I am not, so I’ll let you peruse other blogs for...
Week 7 Monday Night Football: In 140 Words or Less
No offense, but the Ravens were just terrible on offense on Monday night.
Joe Flacco found Anquan Boldin for a late score to pull Baltimore within 2 points of the pesky Jaguars, but that was all of the offensive firepower the Ravens could muster up for head coach John Harbaugh.
Ray Rice fumbled for the first time since 2009 (522 touches in total since then), and Joe Flacco put on another below...
Week 7: Put a Bow On It
Dallas RB DeMarco Murray entered Sunday’s action with a bare NFL resume, save an uneventful 24 carries for 71 rushing yards, but that all changed with one 91-yard scamper that set the tone for the Cowboys on Murray’s record-breaking afternoon.
A third round draft choice in 2011, Murray carved up the Rams defense for 253 yards on just 25 carries, boasting the impressive combination...
Week 7 Recap: In 140 Words or Less
Reality Check Sunday dawned on the NFL during Week 7, and 32 NFL franchises are left revisiting their fortunes.
Reality check: that team (Detroit) we thought was really good? Humbled.
Reality check: the team (Kansas City) we buried after a putrid 0-3 start? Not dead yet. Actually, not dead at all, as the Chiefs will play host to the Chargers next Monday night with first...
Week 7 Picks: Managing Palmer Expectations
Author’s Note: This was published minutes before reports indicating that Carson Palmer won’t likely start (after all). Feel free to skip the preview and head down to the picks.
It’s rare for the NFL spotlight to draw on a match-up between a quarterback who hasn’t played in over year, and a coordinator that hasn’t faced him in 3 seasons, but such will be the case when...
Week 7 Preview: In 140 Words or Less
Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr., the rapping son of Chicago more commonly known as “Common,” (excuse the pun) was on to something when he professed that he was “Not looking back, or too far in front of me/The present is a gift, and I just wanna be.”
You see, Common — whether or not he intended to — highlighted the unpredictable twists and turns that life deals us...
Potentially Something
An old friend recently briefed me on the value of potential: it’s potentially very high. Or low. Potentially.
But tricky as potential may be, we constantly refer to how much of it a player — usually a young one — has.
No exception to this habit is CJ Spiller, the Buffalo Bills’ 2010 first round draft pick and a player many considered a dynamic game-changer coming out...
Breaking Down the Carson Palmer Trade
Just when you thought we were headed for a typically dull NFL trading deadline, two of the NFL’s most predictably unpredictable franchises pulled off a swap that truly only the two of them could engineer.
The 4-2 Cincinnati Bengals finally made use of the most invaluable trading chip in football (the quasi-retired QB Carson Palmer), and were compensated with a package that even the...
Week 6 Monday Night Football: In 140 Words or Less
New York Jets 24, Miami Dolphins 6
Darrelle Revis further cemented his status as the best defensive player in football, and the Miami Dolphins further cemented their desperation for Andrew Luck in a 24-6 loss at MetLife Stadium to the New York Jets.
The Jets weren’t much better offensively (racking up less than 300 yards in total), but Mark Sanchez didn’t turn the football over and New York...
Week 6 Recap: Put a Bow On It
Football — like anything else — is perpetually evolving to keep up with the times. The days of grind-it-out offenses catalyzed by between the tackles runners are long gone, and the spread offense is all the rage. There are punters today that look like linebackers of yesteryear, and there are linebackers today that are simply titanic. The pace of the game is faster than ever...
Week 6 Recap: In 140 Words or Less
It’ funny (or cruel, depending on who you talk to) how things can change.
Rewind to a week ago at this time and you’d find the streets of Detroit more jovial than they’ve been in years. Images of the depressed Motor City of earlier this millennium had — at least temporarily — evaporated, and the city was buzzing with enthusiasm about two of its favorite sons,...
Invaluable Commodities
Week 6 commences in just a matter of hours, and that means we’ll be one game closer to understanding just what the 32 NFL teams are made of.
It also means we’re just days away from the NFL’s trade deadline, which occurs this Tuesday. And while the likelihood of a franchise altering trade leading up to the deadline is slim — we’ll save those for baseball and basketball — there...
Week 6 Picks & The Game of the Week
Pardon my giddiness, but I continue to be unable to contain my excitement for this weekend’s match-up between the undefeated Detroit Lions (that still feels odd to type) and the 4-1 San Francisco 49ers (again, odd). The match-up will take place at Ford Field in Detroit, which has quickly established itself as a rowdy atmosphere for visitors, and that’s played right into...
Week 6 Preview: In 140 Words or Less
We’re five weeks deep into the NFL season and finally the picture of the NFL landscape is starting to come into focus…sort of. Here’s what we know: Green Bay? Really good. Indianapolis? Really bad. In between there, how many teams do you full confide in? Take, for example, the Detroit Lions. The Lions are quickly evolving from a feel-good NFL story to a force to be...
The Only Choice
In a move many have long held to be more inevitable than improbable, Tim Tebow was named the starting QB for the Denver Broncos in place of the incumbent Kyle Orton.
Tebow is an undeniably transcendent figure in the football world, and presents the rare case of back-up quarterback whom his home faithful clamored for even when the starter performed proficiently. (Not this year, of course,...
The Devin Hester Dilemma
Just 9 months ago, the Chicago Bears hosted the NFC Championship, but fell short against the eventual Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers. Since then, little has gone according to plan, and the Bears already sit 3 games out of first in the NFC North behind not just the Packers, but also the roaring Detroit Lions. The playoffs are quickly a fading reality in Chicago, and one has to wonder...
Monday Night Football Week 5: In 140 Words Or Less
Detroit 24, Chicago 13
In front of a crowd that would make any NFL enthusiast proud, the Detroit Lions marched on and over the Chicago Bears en route to a 24-13 victory on Monday Night Football.
Calvin Johnson further catapulted himself into the MVP conversation with a 130-yard receiving night, and, most importantly, Detroit ran the ball with great proficiency. Jahvid Best scampered for an...
Week 5: Put a Bow On It
Contrary to what teams like Indianapolis and Arizona may be feeling today, the future is bright league-wide for the NFL. In a league filled with talented, seasoned teams like the Steelers, Ravens, Patriots and Saints, its a group of up-start rookies like Cam Newton, Andy Dalton and AJ Green that spent Sunday making headlines, and franchises’ fortunes are turning more rapidly than ever.
Newton...
Week 5 Recap: In 140 Words Or Less
Many of you know I frequently allude to the NFL season as a marathon, but it’s a different marathon that I want to begin this piece with.
(For those of you not interested in running, or carbo-loading, or hearing anything about my morning “stroll” through downtown Chicago, feel free to scroll down to the game recaps).
I, along with nearly 50,000 others, took to the streets of Chicago to run...
Breaking Down "Ground and Pound" (Plus Week 5...
I remember circling around the terminal at the Kansas City airport on a chilly March day in 2010 as I awaited the arrival of Thomas Jones, the recently released former Jets running back who we were bringing in for a free agent visit. (One of my responsibilities as an in-house scout for the Chiefs was to drive free agent visitors to and from the airport).
Jones was coming off of a career best 1,402...
Week 5 NFL Preview: In 140 Words or Less
If you’re a fan, it’s the one weekend of NFL football you hate. If you’re a player or coach — more often than not — it’s a weekend you clamor for. I’m referring of course to the bye week, which starts this weekend as 6 teams have the Sunday off. For 7 of the next 8 weeks, anywhere between 4 and 6 teams will have their turn at a bye, and that ...
20/20 Hindsight: 5 Acquisitions that Haven't...
I remember the first player scouting report I wrote during my time in Kansas City, when I profiled Hamza Abdullah, a defensive back for the Arizona Cardinals. Being that it was my first go-around at writing a report in my professional career (I previously wrote countless reports as youngster during my time in New England), I exhausted myself through film study, statistical analysis...
Act Not In Haste: Power Rankings & Free Agent...
I came to learn a lot of invaluable lessons during my tenure in the NFL, particularly during my last year in Kansas City, a year ago. After a quick 3-0 start, our team was promptly humbled by back-to-back road losses, including one to a team (Houston) that would prove to be just a mediocre squad by the end of the year. Losing sucks — especially in the NFL, when you put 100 hour weeks into...
Week 4 MNF Recap: In 140 Words or Less
The NFL probably wishes it had a mulligan on scheduling Monday night’s game, but nonetheless the Buccanneers held off the Colts 24-17 and pushed forward to 3-1 and tied for 1st in the NFC South.
The Bucs were their usual resilient selves, finishing a comeback late in the 4th quarter with a LeGarrette Blount 35 yard scamper to seal the victory. Blount’s big night (127 yards) was a welcomed sign,...
Week 4 Sunday Recap: Put A Bow On It
It’s easy enough for me to unveil my award winners for each week’s Put a Bow On It segment, but I’d be dis-servicing you all by not momentarily acknowledging how spectacular so many individuals were on Sunday afternoon. In both losing efforts and victory, star players and relative unknowns showcased their talents to a magnificent degree, and to choose just one for each of...
Week 4 Recap: In 140 Words or Less
Stop me if you’re heard this one before—what a Sunday.
Just when you thought the NFL couldn’t possibly raise the stakes, a rookie QB steers the lowly Bengals down the field in the closing seconds on his way to a romp of the previously undefeated…Buffalo Bills.
The story of this Sunday was finishes. The young Bengals rallied from an early deficit behind the...
