Sixty-six things to Watch this Season

03 Sunday Aug 2014

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Now that training camps are open and we start games tonight, I’m really beginning to get a buzz about the new season. One of my targets for this season is to watch a regular season game of every NFL team, and as I was thinking about this I started to put together a list of players and things I am interested in. To this end, I present my sixty-six things to watch in the NFL this season.

Arizona Cardinals

The Cardinals has the best record of a team not to make the playoffs last season, and I remember the talk of their good defence and whether you could trust Carson Palmer at QB. However, the two players I’m interested in seeing this season is Larry Fitzgerald and Patrick Peterson. I am aware of the quality of Fitzgerald, but have never really watched him in depth so I want to see what separates him from other receivers. Peterson is many peoples’ second best corner behind Richard Sherman, a three time Pro Bowler in his first three seasons, I want to see how he plays as I don’t even know if he is a man or zone corner.

Atlanta Falcons

The Falcons crashed from their first playoff win to a 4-12 record last season. The draft buzz was that they were going to move up to take a pass rusher, but they stayed put and picked up a much needed tackle. I think this was a good decision, as part of the reason that the Falcons had such problems last year is the thinness of their roster that was caused by them trading picks to move up and target specific players. It will be interesting to see how their first round tackle Jake Mathews plays and if he helps their line as they try to bounce back from last year. I’m also interested to see how effectively they can rush the passer and what happens on the defensive side of the ball.

Baltimore Ravens

So now I’m writing about the enemy. The Ravens took a step back after their Super Bowl win of the previous year. This is perhaps not surprising given the player turn over during the off season, but they will be hoping for better things this year. I shall be interested to see if they can finally develop a stable offensive line that cab help improve their offense, and what makes Torrey Smith such a favourite target of Flacco. With their Pro Bowler Terell Suggs calling for Flacco to be more vocal in his leadership, I shall be taking a close look at his own play.

Buffalo Bills

The Bills had another disappointing season in 2013 and went for broke in the draft by trading up for Sammy Watkins. I shall be interested to see how quickly he can have an impact given that it often takes time for a receiver to develop in the NFL. On the defensive side of the ball, I shall be taking a look at Mario Williams and just how effective his is as a pass rusher.

Carolina Panthers

Having won their division last year, you would think that the outlook for this season would be positive. However, having lost their left tackle to retirement on an already suspect line, and with an underpowered receiving core before the loss of Steve Smith, it looks like Cam Newton might be in for a touch season so that will be my first thing to watch. On the other side of the ball, Luke Kuechly in two seasons has already established himself as an All-Pro tackling machine that should definitely be watched.

Chicago Bears

Last year, under a new coach, there was a different style of Bears team. Usually a limited offense ably supported by brilliant defense, we had a role reversal last year. However, with the backup QB moving on after an excellent season, all eyes will be on whether Jay Cutler can thrive for an entire season and continue the turn around on offense. On defense, the Bears have let Julius Peppers go and I will be fascinated to see how they rebuild the defensive line and get pressure on the quarterback.

Cincinnati Bengals

I could write an entire post on the Bengals season, but I shall limit myself to three players on the playoff win or bust Bengals. I shall start with AJ Green, a top ten talent according to the players of the NFL, who is pushing himself to do better in the playoffs. On defence, one of my favourite sights in the NFL just happens to play for the Bengals, Geno Atkin gets so much pressure as a tackle and everyone should take a look. Also, wherever the ball goes, you’ll find Vontaze Burfict there or not far behind, always fun to watch.

Cleveland Browns

The Browns were one of the better 4-12 teams that you could see last year, and took a game off the Bengals. Sadly, as is often the case with the Browns, I’m not sure that this year looks to build on last year’s foundations. There have been changes in coaches, management, and their star receiver is done for the year with a suspension (appeal pending). Add to that, they have drafted the infamous Johnny Manziel, whose off season is already problematic, and he is sat behind Brian Hoyer, there seems to be a lot to worry about. The defense was solid, but where their season will go depends on what happens with their two QBs. One thing that will help them is their seven time Pro Bowl left tackle Joe Thomas, who is definitely worth a look.

Dallas Cowboys

The self-styled America’s team, full of flash and bombast in the way they’re run, look to be in for an interesting season. They have already lost their best defensive player to injury having lost their leading pass rusher in free agency. I see plenty of scoring for them next year on both sides of the ball. On offense I shall be looking at Dez Bryant to see what make him so good. On defense, Barry Church led the team in tackles, splitting some time at Linebacker in the nickel defense, so it will be interesting to see how he is used this year and if those numbers were inflated by team needs last system.

Denver Broncos

Sometimes it is important not to over think things and so the first thing I shall be looking at with last year’s Super Bowl loser is Peyton Manning for the simple fact that when he has his team running, it is a joy to watch. I’m also interested to see how Von Miller will play this season and to take a proper look at his skills.

Detroit Lions

The Lions missed out on the playoffs again last season and seemed to lack discipline as they failed to make the most of a down year from the Packers. On offense they have one of the great receivers in Calvin Johnson, so I want to look how he deals with coverage always shading to him. On defense, the Lions are built around their line so I want to take a look at them with Ndamukong Suh playing for a contract, Nick Fairley and Ezekiel Ansah, their line will probably define their season in how it plays.

Green Bay Packers

The Packers demonstrated just how good Aaron Rodgers is with their struggles whilst he was recovering from a broken collar bone, but sill managed to win their division. He is another of those QBs that is worth watching whenever you get the chance, and with the talk of them wanting to run seventy-five plays a game, sounds like a win to me. On defence, Clay Mathews and AJ Hawk are the two linebackers that make their 3-4 defense work and I shall be trying to work out what makes them tick.

Houston Texans

I took no pleasure in the Texans 2-14 season last year, despite them being the architects of the two previous Bengals playoff losses. They had all sorts of problems at the quarterback spot, which doesn’t seem to have a long term answer, but at least Andre Johnson has come back to camp and is always worth watching. On defense, JJ Watt is one of the most electrifying players in the game, and in what I think was the right draft pick, is joined by Jadeveon Clowney, who I will be fascinated to see after all the hype about his college career.

Indianapolis Colts

I haven’t seen that much of the Colts in the last couple of seasons, so what I know of them is mostly by reputation. My remedial work on this is that with all the noise, I have to take a look at their star QB Andrew Luck, and his leading receiver TY Hilton. Of course, I’ll be interested to see what else jumps out at me, which is part of the fun of trying to watch each team and I’m sure I’ll spot something on defence.

Kansas City Chiefs

The Chiefs bounced back under a rejuvenated Andy Reid to an 11-5 record and were one of two wild cards from the AFC West. Alex Smith came into his own later in the year when he had to, but the Chiefs are one of the few teams that still rely on a work horse back. Jamaal Charles excelled in the running game and had over six hundred yards in recieving. On defence, they had two double digit pass rushers (Tamba Hali and Justin Houston, although it was the huge nose tackle Dontari Poe who impressed me) so I’ll be interested to look at their front seven again and how they get pressure on the quarterback.

Miami Dolphins

We’re now getting in a run of two teams that are part of my pre-season focus. I’ve already written about the troubles that have befallen the Dolphins line and it will be interesting to see if they can hold up enough for the Dolphins to get a read on whether Ryan Tannehill is their QB for the long term. The Dolphins leading pass rusher was Olivier Vernon, and I shall be interested to take a look at him and how their line plays.

Minnesota Vikings

I really want Mike Zimmer to do well, and I’m pretty confident as he is a good coach and already there is talk of Adrian Peterson being excited by the scheme of new OC Norv Turner. Peterson was already an amazing player in a conservative offense so I’m excited to see how he will be utilised this season. On defense, through departure and retirement the famously strong line including the two Williams and Jared Allen has gone, so I will be fascinated to see how they rebuild this group, particularly given the strength and depth of defensive line that Zimmer help build in Cincinnati.

New England Patriots

When a team has the most successful coach and quarterback combination every, you watch the quarterback. Even with talk of his skills fading and a receiving core that was incredibly young as the roster fell apart round him, Brady managed to lead the team to a 12-4 record and another division title, watch him whilst you can. One of the most interesting off season signings to me was the Patriots losing Aqib Talib and immediately going out and signing Darrelle Revis. There is no way that Bill Belichick is going to make the mistake that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers did in playing Revis in a zone system, I for one am looking forward to the return of Revis Island to the NFL.

New Orleans Saints

The Saints went 11-5 last season, proving that coaching matters when they got Sean Payton back from his suspension. I was impressed with the turn around on defensive under Rob Ryan, who I have never been truly convinced by before. However, for me this is a team that you watch for Drew Brees running Payton’s offense and so that’s where my focus will be. In particular, I shall be watching Marques Colston after Brady Quinn in the middle of a great interview on the Ros Tucker podcast (episode here), said that he ran routes like a quarterback would.

New York Giants

The Giants had a bad season last year and were still 7-9, but Eli Manning had a horrible year. He’s had his ankles scoped and is running a new offense this year, and I shall be fascinated to see if he can turn it around last season as the knives are already being sharpened for him, despite the two Super Bowl rings. The defense was not great last year, but one player who stands out to me is Antrel Rolle who led the team in tackles from the safety spot, had two sacks and six interceptions. I don’t know if this is from circumstance, but as three time Pro Bowler, including last season, I shall be interested to how he plays this season.

New York Jets

Some teams always seem to be in the news, and with Rex Ryan as their coach the Jets are never far away from the headlines. I’m not sure if all the extra attention is beneficial or not, and the Jets haven’t had a good offense in years, but say what you want about Ryan, he know defense. I am half convinced that given eleven people off the street, Ryan could turn them into a unit that could keep you in the game so sit back and enjoy him at work. On offense, the big question is whether there young quarterback Geno Smith can establish himself as a quality starter in the NFL, and I wonder how long a leash he will have with Michael Vick sitting behind him.

Oakland Raiders

It is hard to see a once proud franchise languish in mediocrity for so long, and last season was another one to forget. But after years of mismanagement, part of last year’s 4-12 was getting a lot of bad contracts of the books and so things might begin to turn round if the rebuild project starts bearing fruit. They hope that part of this is their first round draft pick Khalil Mack, talked about as possibly the best player in the draft, let’s hope that he can be a piece they can build around on defense. Among many issues last season was that of quarterback, and whilst the signing of Matt Schaub, coming of a disasterous season, will not send hopes soaring, he might provide veteran leadership and stability at the position with Dereck Carr waiting in the wings to see if he can move past the fall out of his brother’s troubled career.

Philadelphia Eagles

The big question last season for the Eagles was whether Chip Kelly’s college offence was going to work in the NFL, and with a division title and excellent play the answer was a resounding yes. I was impressed last season, and even more so after hearing him interviewed recently so I am all in on Chip Kelly (listen here for the interview). There have been some interesting moves on offence this off season, but I’m looking forward to seeing how it runs. The question for the Eagles on defense last year was how it would hold up as they switched to a 3-4 defense from a 4-3, and if they had the players to make it work. Their play definitely improved over the year and I shall be interested to see how this progresses and how their two inside linebackers play.

Pittsburgh Steelers

One of the down sides of living in the UK as an NFL fan is that you don’t have the office chats about your sport. The upside of this is that I don’t have to deal with Steeler fans and their six championships. Thanks to not having to live the local rivalry, I can respect coach Tomlin and what he has done with the team. I’m not sure they have dealt with the salary cap well over the last few years, which has led to an ageing team that only went 8-8 last year. On a team that has often had a patchy offensive line, Maurkice Pouncey went to three Pro Bowls in his first three years. Sadly, last year he tore his ACL and MCL in week one, but I should get plenty of chances to see how he does this year. The problem on defense last year seemed to be age catching up with key players, but Dick LeBeau is an NFL institution and one for my favourite coaches. I shall be interested to see how he integrates the speedy new inside linebacker Ryan Shazier, and if he will be the next in the production line of great Steelers linebackers.

You have no idea how painful it was to write that…

Saint Louis Rams

The Rams play in one of the toughest divisions in the NFL, and still went 7-9 last season. But if they want to do something against the Seahawks, 49ers, and Cardinals (I told you it was a tough division) then they need stellar quarterback play out of Sam Bradford. This could be a crucial year for him in deciding his future, he has benefitted like few others from the huge contracts form the old CBA, and it will be interesting to see if he can finally establish himself or if the Rams will need to look elsewhere for the future. On defense the Rams already had an impressive front seven, even before they drafted Aaron Donald. I shall look forward to getting a proper look at them and in particular Robert Quinn, who had nineteen sacks last season.

San Diego Chargers

The other team to get a wildcard from the AFC West, the Chargers were renewed under new coach Mike McCoy. On offense Phillip Rivers had a comeback season and with a long ball like his, it’s always fun to watch him play when things are going well. This is not a team that I know particularly well, but that is the point of this list, and having seen that Eric Weddle led the team in tackles and went to the Pro Bowl last season, I look forward to seeing what he can do.

San Francisco 49ers

They are part of one of the best rivalries in the NFL with the Seahawks and have gone to the divisional championship game or the Super Bowl in the last three seasons. They have built their offense round the offensive line and are generally thought to have one of the best in the game, so I am looking forward to taking a closer look at them, particularly with access to coaching tape to see them from the end zone view. They also have one of my favourite players on defense in Justin Smith, always worth a watch.

Seattle Seahawks

Last years Super Bowl champs will be strong contenders again, built as they are on the depth of their roster and a brilliant defense. They have given new contracts to Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas, consolidating the infamous Legion of Boom. They pretty much play a three deep zone all the time, but are so good that it doesn’t matter that the offense know what is coming as they can’t exploit. Sherman is a great corner, but it is the range of Thomas that allows them to do this and the all twenty-two tape should be fascinating. On offense, Russel Wilson has paved the way for the shorter quarterback, and he’s a lot more than the game manager that some people paint him as so take a look for yourself.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

I have a feeling that Tampa Bay will be a lot better this year than their 4-12 record last year. Lovie Smith will be a big upgrade as coach and in Josh McCown, they will have some stability at quarterback whilst they search for a long term solution. He played excellently last season, despite a career as a backup, and I think he will do well this season. The Bucs had one Pro Bowler last year in linebacker Lavonte David, so I’ll be interested to see how he plays, and hopefully things will turn round for the franchise.

Tennessee Titans

The Titans went 7-9 last year, but had instability at quarterback and an offense that never quite took off, whilst a solid defence kept them in games. The honest thing is that I really don’t have a handle on this team and they have a new coach this season. The first thing I want to look for, is what they look like as a team and what jumps out at me. I’m not afraid to say I don’t know about things! On defense I am interested in Jurell Casey as he is a young player who led his team in sacks last season, and I want to see if it was him or the team that got these sacks.

Washington Redskins

Washington have a new head coach in Jay Gruden, who will be looking to turn round the franchise after their 3-13 season. I felt that he often put too much emphasis on Dalton to win with his arm for the Bengals, but with RG3 he has a quarterback that I think has the arm to run his offense. I’ll be interested to see how this partnership works this season. Brian Orakpo is playing out this season on a franchise tag, and it will be interesting to see what he does with a big contract on the horizon.

 

And that’s it, by no means and exhaustive list, but I feel like a good one to start with so roll on the new season.

Value in the NFL

27 Sunday Jul 2014

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Now that NFL training camps have opened, it’s that wonderful time of year when every football fan has hope for the next season. For the players, they have just begun the grind of summer, hoping for a good season or just to make the roster. Right now each team will have roughly ninety players in camp, and with only 53 roster spots there are some tough decisions ahead, but then there always are when it comes to signing players.

Building an NFL roster is not an easy task; it is a complex balancing of player ability and maths. Spend too much on one player and you will have to sacrifice somewhere else on the team to keep under the salary cap. You might think that with the new wave of analytics that is being applied to sport, that finding value in the NFL would be getting easier, but there are several reasons that this doesn’t seem to be the case.

When it comes to American sports, the leader in the application of analytics is baseball, but there is a reason for this. Baseball, despite being a team sport, is in fact a sequence of individual actions that occur in specific and often quantifiable circumstance. As a consequence, it is a lot easier to say to give percentage for a right handed power hitter facing a left handed pitcher. However, football is built around the interaction of twenty-two moving parts for each player, so it is not always as easy to quantify.

One of the routine problems is that due to the variety of schemes in place in the NFL, a player that works brilliantly in one scheme will be no where near as effective in another. A classic example of this would be a favourite player of mine, the 49ers defensive lineman Justin Smith who started his career on the Bengals. He was a first round selection (fourth overall) and set a rookie record with 8.5 sacks in his first season. However, there was always a lot of debate over him as a player for the Bengals, he never had the double digit sack numbers that people expected out of such an early draft pick. I always thought that this was little unfair as he had no control over where he was picked, and Justin was a three down player who routinely played a high percentage of snaps, and after his first year hold out never missed a game. Having been franchised for one year, in 2008 he finally left and signed with San Francisco, where he has gone to five consecutive pro bowls since 2009.

So what was the difference? Well if you look at his numbers, they haven’t really changed, but the role he is being asked to play has. With the Bengals he played as a 4-3 defensive end and was expected to get a lot of sacks and tackles. He was always a good player of the run, but never had the number of sacks you would want out of a high draft pick playing the end position. However, when he signed with the 49ers, Justin moved to a 3-4 defense where his role was more to take up space and occupy the opposition blockers so the linebackers behind him can make the tackles. He plays this role brilliantly, and has the type of personality where he doesn’t mind sacrificing himself for the team concept. One of my favourite things to watch is Justin Smith take on one or two linemen and manhandle them and often get the tackle or sack anyway. If you get a chance, make sure you watch number 94 for a series or two, it’s one of the great sights in football.

The relevance in all this value is that one team’s doesn’t quite make the grade is another’s pro bowler and this is something you find by looking at tape and understanding the scheme rather than numbers. But sometimes I wonder whether this value always makes sense.

One of the stories over the summer has been the contract situation of Jimmy Graham, tight end with the New Orleans Saints. Unable to come to an agreement over a long term contract earlier this year, the Saints placed their franchise tag on Jimmy Graham, guaranteeing they would have his services this season unless he chose to sit out and go unpaid. This in of itself was a relatively straight forward sequence of events, however the fun began when Graham filed a grievance that was taken to arbitration over whether he should be tagged as a receiver or a tight end. Now in mind, no matter that he spent 67% of his snaps last year in the slot or out wide as a receiver, Graham is a tight end, that’s one of the reasons that he so successful is the mismatch when he splits out to these positions.

The reason for grievance was money, the franchise tag for a tight end was roughly 5 million dollars less than a receiver, as it is generated from an average of the top players at that position and receivers get paid more than tight ends. The problem with this is that in terms of production as receiver, Graham’s numbers were comparable to those of a receiver and a damn good one at that. Thanks to the power of the franchise tag (something I’ll probably look at next offseason) the Saints had all the advantages in this negotiation and used this to get a pretty favourable deal for them despite making Graham the highest paid tight end in the league. The reason I think this is favourable, is that in the open market I think that Graham should and could get paid receiver money. Why? Because his production can justify it, and so the Saints have just saved themselves money for receiver production that they can spend elsewhere.

But what does this mean for us at this time of year? There are still extensions in the offing, players holding out, and a myriad of transactions happening at the bottom of rosters. But soon there will also be cuts, and what determines whether you make the team is complex equation based on what you can do on the field, your age, your potential, how much you cost, your scheme fit. In short does your value as a player on the filed stack up against your cost off the field? There will be more than one player who catches your eye in preseason, that through some combination of these factors will end up being more valuable for another team. It is usually these players that several seasons later people will wonder, how did everyone miss on them? The answer is that it is not always that easy to tell in a player’s early career, but that’s half the fun.

In Defence of Preseason

16 Wednesday Jul 2014

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We may be over seven weeks away from the start of the regular season, but football will be starting sooner than you may think. Training camps are just around the corner and the preseason kicks off with the Hall of Fame game on the 3rd of August. There has been talk of re-organising the preseason games, and there is dissatisfaction with the quality of the games. The players only get paid the same nominal fee as training camp, with their salary not kicking in until the regular season, but with the same injury risks. However, as a fan I am still excited so let me lay out a defence of preseason.

Firstly, it is football. Now this might seem like an obvious point, but the Super Bowl was played on February 2nd this year and there isn’t another snap until the August 3rd, that’s just over six months. As a football fan you are guaranteed twenty games a year (four preseason & sixteen regular season games) for your team, so if you discount preseason that’s a fifth of your games gone for the year.

There are also complaints about the quality of the football, and whilst it is true that the game schemes are pretty vanilla, and the starters are playing reduced minutes, if at all, that doesn’t mean that important things are not happening. I never put too much stock in the preseason record, but I do feel better about the upcoming season if the Bengals are 2-2 or better.

One of the major reasons you should pay attention to preseason is quite simple, with everybody focussing on the super stars of the game, heightened by the influence of fantasy football, people seem to forget what I think is one of the most important parts of a football team, depth. Thanks to the never ending pursuit of better training methods, we have bigger and faster players giving us increasingly violent collisions on the field. The injury rate in football is one hundred percent, and this means that your team’s roster will look very different at mid-season when compared to opening day, yet alone in week seventeen. By this point, that sixth linebacker you didn’t care about could well be starting or at least playing a crucial part on special teams, and if you’re lucky enough to have a franchise quarterback, you’d better hope he is still healthy. Depth matters.

During last year’s preseason I watched the Seattle Seahawks and what I was impressed with was the depth of their roster, they did not let up and bullied the Denver Broncos into a 40-10 loss, a precursor of their 43-8 Super Bowl win. Now I’m not saying that buried in this year’s schedule will be a predictor game for the Super Bowl, but I knew the Seahawks were a good team (that sounds obvious in hindsight but it is good to see things with your own eyes!) and you can get a real feel for how deep a team’s talent goes. The Bengals had an excellent preseason win over the Atlanta Falcons last year, that reflected their respective roster depths and whilst the Bengals went on to lose in the post season, the Falcons fell apart and ended 4-12, largely due to the way their roster had been constructed .

So how do you get the most out preseason? Well there is simply too much going on to follow the whole league so you break it down into a selection of things to focus on. Here’s my plan for preseason.

I intend to watch every snap of the Bengals. There has been a lot of coaching turmoil this year, with new coordinators on both sides of the ball. I shall be interested to see the beginnings of their new tenures, and in particular Hue Jackson’s offence with its renewed focus on the run, as I do feel that too much pressure was placed on Andy Dalton to win games and I think he will benefit from the support of a commitment to the run game.

The preseason is also your first chance to get a look at your team’s rookies. I shall be interested to see Russell Bodine, our new fourth round centre who looks as if he might be a starter. He had the best bench-press at the combine and I’m interested to see how he fits in the new offence. Darqueze Dennard is our first round corner and whilst I hope he isn’t starting too early (corner is one of those positions that take time to develop), I’m excited to see him play. Then there is Jeremy Hill, an old fashioned beast of a running back that leads me into the next section of my Bengals preseason plan.

As I said, depth matters, and so whilst you may think that without the starters who cares what happens in the game, but the answer to that is the players just trying to get on the roster. In fact not just the roster, but a roster. Preseason isn’t just about making the team, this is these player’s careers and for those at the bottom of the depth chart, having good plays on tape is important for catching on to any team. All teams scout the bottom of other team’s roster, looking for a player that might not make the opening day roster of the team they went to training camp with, but could really help at a position of need for them.

Each team will have more players at any position than they can keep, but not all roster battles are created equal. The daddy of them all is the infamous quarterback competition, which luckily I don’t have to worry about this year, but I’ll still be watching some other positions of interest and starting with the running backs.

Giovanni Bernard had a great rookie season last year and looks to be the starter this year. BenJarvus Green-Ellis is a solid, experienced back who runs hard and by all accounts is a great person, but is also twenty-nine years old and so facing down the dreaded age of thirty that so few running backs seem to be able to play on past. Cedric Peerman is special teams standout, that played more of a role in the offense in 2012 than last year as the starters were mainly healthy. Finally, there is Rex Burkhead, picked last year and who looked good in preseason but didn’t make an impact in live games. That’s just the players from the final roster last year and as I have already mentioned, the Bengals just drafted a running back in the second round and have another undrafted rookie so something has to give.

Look at any team and you’ll find battles like this all over the roster. For the Bengals there is already talk about the effort and weight room exploits of an undrafted defensive tackle making the conversion to full back, who will be in competition with last year’s incumbent H-back (a mix of the traditional positions of fullback and tight end). Add in a scrum of receivers behind the top four (the Bengals usually have six on the roster), a selection of exciting linebackers with safety Taylor Mays thrown into the mix having played extensive time at nickel linebacker last year when Emmanuel Lamur was injured in the final preseason game, but also fighting with the other safeties, That’s just the start and there’s plenty to look at already, there will be players I’m unaware of that will grab the eye too.

But it’s not just the Bengals I’ll be looking at or this blog is going to get very lopsided. The first teams I’ll be looking at this preseason are the Dolphins and the Vikings.

I have a friend, who is a Dolphins fan and given the disaster that was the offensive line room last year, the turn around in players meaning that only one their starting centre was returning and he has already gone down with an injury requiring surgery, things will be very interesting for them on offense. Particularly as they really need to find out if there quarterback Ryan Tannehill is the real deal or not, which is going to be difficult as he is not the kind of quarterback that thrives behind a bad line.

I have more personal reasons for watching the Vikings, in that the architect of the Bengals recovery on defense Mike Zimmer has finally got a head coaching job and I just want it to go well.

Finally, I’ll be looking at the St Louis Rams and watching to see if the Michael Sam, the NFL’s first openly gay player, can make the roster.

There will be other headlines, things that point to how the season might go, injuries, and surprises that we haven’t even thought about yet.

So here’s the trick for getting into preseason, if you have a team, throw yourself into its roster, understand the strengths and weaknesses and where the competition is going to be. If you don’t have a team, why not? Pick one! Or just find the story lines that interest in you, look out for your favourite players; I’m sure I’ll be looking in on the 49ers and Justin Smith. The point is there is plenty to sink your teeth into.

Most importantly of all, football is coming, and that is something we can all be excited about.

Why American Football?

06 Sunday Jul 2014

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Part of the skill of a writer is knowing where to begin a story, so where do I start with this new blog? How about with the question, why American Football? Let’s start at the beginning, with a special team, but even though I am a Bengals fan this is not where our story begins. No, our story begins with the 1985 Chicago Bears.

The 85 Bears are one of the iconic teams of American football, famed for their innovative 46 defence, their swagger, the 15-1 season, and for their 46-10 Super Bowl XX win. They had future hall of fame players like Walter Payton and Mike Singletary, as well as cult heroes like William ‘The Refrigerator’ Perry. Such was their status that they even made waves across the pond here in the UK. I was only six at the time, but I remember them being on the news, and whilst I had no clue what a 46 defence was (we can get into the details of that another day) there was a mid eighties surge of interest in American football over here, driven partly by the spark that the 85 Bears provided.

This surge led to channel four, the fourth out of four channels for those who don’t remember back then, to start showing games and highlight packages late at night. I was far too young to stay up, but curious due to the buzz at my primary school, and armed with a book my parents bought me to explain the rules, I started to watch tapes my parents would make of these programs. I was soon hooked, and a feature of our hallway when I was growing up was a poster that I made every season on a sheet of A4, which would be stuck on the living room door to remind my parents to switch to channel four when they went to bed so my game would be taped.

The first season that I properly remember, is the 1988 season and even then it is pretty vague. However, I know that it was season that led me to support my team. A great Cincinnati Bengals team feature a high powered offense went all the way to Super Bowl XXIII and a heart breaking loss, with that touchdown pass with under a minute to go, to one of the major NFL dynasties the San Francisco 49ers. This loss should have prepared me for what was to come supporting them, but it was too late. By then I was hooked on this exciting team who played at a place called the jungle, little would I know that since then we’d win one more playoff game in 1990 and currently have the longest playoff win drought in NFL. I was fascinated by the tactics, the speed, and the otherness of the sport. In short, I was a fan.

Coverage would wax and wane over the coming years, but I followed however I could and watched games whenever possible. Thankfully the internet came along and I could follow online, throwing myself ever deeper into the growing amount of information that was available. These days, thanks to the NFL Gamepass, I can watch every snap the Bengals take in a season and watch any game that takes my fancy, so where next?

I love writing. I love football. This seems like the obvious next step. So in the midst of one of the best football world cups in years, which I am enjoying thoroughly, I am also studying the wrong football. Reading up on how to break down film, thinking about what analytics I want to take a look at, and planning articles. We are only sixty days from the start of the season and training camp is just round the corner. I am already excited so lets get started.