The Tiger Report: 08/13/11

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Gary Kubiak thinks Leinart has the "it factor" . . . . right . . .

Posted by Mike Florio on August 13, 2011, 4:57 PM EDT

Texans backup quarterback Matt Leinart says he still wants to be a starter. Texans coach Gary Kubiak apparently thinks that it will happen.

“First off, I think he’s a leader,” Kubiak said Saturday, via comments distributed by the team. “He’s got that ‘It’ factor that people seem to gravitate to.”

Ok, I won't even put up the rest of the article. I have to stop right there. Anyone who knows me, understands that I am all about second chances and believing people can change. But that is my point here, change is exactly what must have happened for Kubiak's statement to be true. Leinart hasn't had "it" since back in the days when he was getting paid to play at USC. He lacks "it" so much that Arizona decided to go with John Skelton and Derek Anderson last year, and basically not even try to throw the ball. He lacks "it" so much that his former employer, Pete Carroll, wouldn't hire him for a new job in Seattle.

I would love to be wrong, because I hate to see people squander talents and abilities. But I am not convinced that he has "it" yet. But hey, maybe he found "it" during the lockout.
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Can we expected to see Female officials on the field soon?

Posted by Michael David Smith on August 13, 2011, 1:43 PM EDT

The NFL has never had a woman work as an on-field game official. That may change soon.

NFL V.P. of Officiating Carl Johnson told Jane McManus of ESPN.com that he expects to hire a female official.

“We have some in our pipeline, and I expect we’ll see it soon,” Johnson said.

Johnson wouldn’t say who the female officials in the pipeline are, but he was presumably talking about either Sarah Thomas, a Conference USA official who was the first woman to officiate a major college football game, or Terri Valenti, who was the second female official in major college football and the first in pro football when she worked a UFL game last year.

Thomas said she likes the idea of moving up to the NFL.

“Any professional sport is at the highest level, and if they asked me to officiate at that level, I would not turn them down,” Thomas said.

Valenti has also said she wants to be an NFL official.

“I’d love to make it to the NFL; if I could get to the top of my profession that would be just awesome,” Valenti said after becoming the UFL’s only female official last year.

“Our goal,” Johnson said, “is to get the best people working this game.”

Mike Patterson back on the field after medical scare

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on August 13, 2011, 1:18 PM EDT

Eagles defensive tackle Mike Patterson continues to make steady progress after he suffered a seizure early in training camp.

Our friends at CSNPhilly.com note Patterson was back in uniform and doing individual drills on Saturday for the first time since he was diagnosed with a brian AVM.

There was some talk after the incident that Patterson would almost immediately return to all football activities. The Eagles have been more cautious, only letting him do individual drills now more than a week after he returned to the team.

“I feel great,” Patterson told Reuben Frank.

Philadelphia also placed wideout Steve Smith on the active/PUP list, which is no surprise. There is hope in Philly he could be ready to play fairly early in the regular season.

Teams don’t have to make a decision about the reserve/PUP list until the end of the preseason. Getting placed on that list keeps players out six weeks into the regular season.

Drew Stanton impressive in first preseason game

Drew Stanton was resigned this off season to be the Lions 3rd string quarterback this year. He was only signed to a 1 year deal, and many have to believe that he got that deal mainly because of the lockout shortened off season. But watching Drew play in the game last night against the Bengals shed's some new light on him.

The 4th year pro has looked calm and collected in the pocket. He looks like the game has slowed down for him. It is only preseason, and it's just the Bengals backups, but it was nice to see. He did not look frantic at all. Even when he had to evacuate the pocket, his eyes were down field the whole time. He stood there in the face of pressure and delivered a few passes. His throws were crisp and for the most part, accurate. More importantly there is something else he displayed that we have so visibly seen, at least from the outside. Leadership, he showed leadership. When Drew threw two perfect passes on first and second down to Derrick Williams, and they both bounced off his chest, he went to Williams and yelled at him, saying "hang in there". It was an encouragement not a scourging. Then on 3rd down, he went right back to Williams down the field for a nice completion and a first down. He encouraged his receiver, then showed confidence in him by giving him another opportunity to redeem himself. Maybe this is all just the result of preseason backup defensive play, or maybe it has finally clicked. I hope it is the later.

Why Lee Evans makes sense for the Ravens

Yes Lee Evans is 30 years old, but this was a great pickup for the Ravens.

Evans has been a relative unknown during his previous seven years, but why? Well not only did he play for Wisconsin, but he was injured his last year their. It was a considerable risk when the Buffalo Bills took Evans in the 2004 draft.

Then that was his next challenge. The fact that he went to Buffalo is not a bad thing, but it is a small market team. A small market team that has struggled since the 90s will keep a lot of players hidden in relative obscurity. Despite the fact that Evans, until last year, had never caught less than 44 passes in a season. He has had 4 seasons of over 800 receiving yards and 7 or more touchdowns 4 times. The numbers alone don't always paint the picture of a player for you. But with Evans you see that in six of seven seasons he has averaged over 15 yards per receptions, his lowest being 13.9 yards.

That's the thing, Evans best asset has been his speed and ability as a deep threat. Typically people would see a 30 year old player and a rapid drop off in production and say that a player has lost a step. More often than not it is the case. However, with him I don't feel it is accurate. Lee Evans has been the Bill's number one receiver for years, until Chan Gailey took over. Who knows where the fault lies, and honestly it is irrelevant, but it was clear early last year that Lee Evans was not a big part of their plans. It could be part of the youth movement to clear out this roster. It could be that they were high on Stevie Johnson before the season even started. Or it could have been due to friction with coaches or new quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick.

So you have to go to the film and see what Lee Evans actually did, and you can see he still has burst and deep speed. The Ravens don't need him to pull down 80 balls for 1,000 yards and 9 TDs. They need him to be a consistent threat to beat the defense over the top. They need him to be an option down the field so Flacco doesn't have to hold the ball for 5 seconds before cutting it loose. And they need him to help teach Torrey Smith how to be a deep threat at the NFL level. If he can offer any of that, then he is well worth the 4th round pick they gave up to get him. I suspect he will.

Jay Gruden said Andy Dalton's first start "wasn't a total debacle"

Posted by Michael David Smith on August 13, 2011, 7:27 AM EDT

Bengals rookie quarterback Andy Dalton had a rocky start in Friday night’s preseason loss to the Lions. Afterward offensive coordinator Jay Gruden damned Dalton with faint praise.

“The game wasn’t a total debacle on his part,” Gruden said of Dalton. “He can get better as can everyone else. The good thing is there isn’t anyone that can say hey I’m awesome. Everybody can say they have a lot of improvement to do. At least he didn’t panic. He didn’t have a scared look in his eyes and we just have to do a better job. Have to get better all the way around.”

Frankly, if Dalton had been scared, it would be hard to blame him, given the way Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh roughed him up. Suh was flagged for roughing the passer for slamming Dalton to the ground on one play, and Dalton’s first pass of the game was intercepted when pressure from Suh forced Dalton to hurry his throw.

“Obviously we tried to take a shot with A.J. [Green] on the first play and Suh came up the middle,” Gruden said. “He didn’t get everything into it and he was intercepted.”

Dalton played the rest of the first half and didn’t have any more interceptions, but he didn’t take any chances downfield, either. He finished the game 11-for-15 for 69 yards.

“Scoring three points and having 110 yards at half wasn’t good enough but it is what it is right now,” Gruden said. “We have to get better.”

Giants offer Osi more cash, but it is not expected to be enough

Posted by Mike Florio on August 12, 2011, 11:39 PM EDT

Osi Umenyiora, Brandon Jacobs, Joe Burnett

With Giants defensive end Osi Umenyioracleared to practice but with lingering indications that he won’t willingly play through a knee condition under the terms of his current contract, the team apparently realizes that the best cure comes from an injection of cash into Osi’s wallet.

And so the Giants have made a new offer, according to Jason LaCanfora if NFL.com.

Umenyiora, per LaCanfora, has been offered $400,000 to $1 million in new money. The cash is tied to “incentives and production.”

It’s likely far short of what it would take to make Umenyiora happy. LaCanfora reports that Umenyiora still prefers to be traded.

On top of whatever it will take to get him away from the Giants, Umenyiora will want a fat new contract. That could be too much to give up during this upside-down off/preseason, during which teams are essentially trying to change the tires on a moving car.

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