Inside the NFL
Tight ends are having their best year yet
We Western New Yorkers like to poke fun at ourselves sometimes by saying that national trends tend to take 10 years to reach Buffalo.
Here's another example:
Tight ends were an unprecedented force in the NFL in 2008, and they're even bigger in 2009. Through eight weeks of the season, tight ends are on pace for 2,246 catches for 24,893 yards and 192 touchdowns, each of which would surpass last year's record single-season totals.
The numbers average out like this: Each of the 32 teams is on pace to have its tight ends combine for 70 catches for 778 yards and six touchdowns.
The Bills, of course, are late to this party. Bills tight ends are on pace for 46 catches for 438 yards and two touchdowns. Derek Schouman, who played only two games before getting hurt, has nine catches. Derek Fine has eight and rookie Shawn Nelson six. Nelson gives the Bills legitimate reason for optimism in the long run. Presuming he can bounce back from migraine headaches that kept him out the last two games, he has shown enough flashes to suggest he could help the passing game the second half of the season.
Last year the Bills' tight ends combined for 58 catches for 598 yards.
"They are weapons now," said Texans coach Gary Kubiak. "Tight ends used to block and catch 35 balls a year. Now these guys are catching 80 balls and gaining 1,000 receiving yards. It's a premium position in football."
"We are getting a lot of good, young tight ends who are ready to play because of the pro-style offenses colleges are running these days," said Ravens General Manager Ozzie Newsome. These players have the right size. They're 6-4 and weigh 260 to 270 pounds and they can run."
Rivers vs. Eli
The first meeting of San Diego's Philip Rivers and the Giants' Eli Manning is a good time to point out San Diego faced a win-win situation in 2004 when choosing between the two. Nevertheless, Chargers General Manager A.J. Smith made the better choice with Rivers, who is just a little more of a playmaker. I like him as a leader just a little better, too.
Rivers has started every game — 61 straight — since taking over the Chargers QB job. He's 37-18 in the regular season and 3-3 in the postseason. The Chargers have won three straight AFC West titles. Rivers led the NFL with a passer rating of 105.5 last year. He has 89 TDs and 40 INTs.
Manning has started 86 straight and is 47-32 in the regular season and 4-3 in the playoffs. Of course, Eli has a Super Bowl ring and has been to the playoffs four straight years. He has 111 TDs and 82 INTs.
Strange Browns
The Browns' firing of General Manager George Kokinis ended a strange nine-month tenure for the former Ravens personnel man. When Eric Mangini was interviewed by the Browns on Dec. 30 he told owner Randy Lerner he wanted Kokinis as his GM. Kokinis was hired two weeks after Mangini was hired.
The relationship between Mangini and Kokinis went way back to the days when they were gofers for Bill Belichick and roomed together in Cleveland in 1994.
Yet it was apparent from the start that theirs wasn't any kind of partnership in Cleveland. Mangini made all the calls, even though Kokinis had authority over football matters written into his contract. Mangini is the one who traded for 10 ex-Jets since he was hired. It has been reported in Cleveland that Kokinis didn't even know about the Browns' trade of Braylon Edwards to the Jets on Oct. 5 before it happened.
Longtime Cleveland Plain-Dealer writer Tony Grossi reported he only saw Mangini and Kokinis speak on the field once the entire training camp — on the last day of camp. Mangini and Kokinis did appear together at a news conference on draft day but their chemistry together was strange, and when Kokinis spoke, Mangini stared daggers into him, Grossi reported. The Browns apparently came to feel Kokinis was overwhelmed by the job. But why it fell apart so fast between Mangini and Kokinis is hard to understand.
Super books
Here's a holiday gift idea for fans of football history. It's "The Ultimate Super Bowl Book," now out in paperback for $20.
Writer Bob McGinn does a great job summing up each of the 43 Super Bowls in an entertaining way with an eye toward nuts-and-bolts strategy and each team's place in the big picture of NFL history. It's not a tedious blow-by-blow of the games. So even the stories of the blowouts are interesting. Bill Belichick is especially good at breaking down the strategy in the seven Bowls in which he has participated.
For instance: Personnel great Ron Wolf on Raiders safety Jack Tatum: "Tatum was 5- foot-10½, 210, and ran 4.35. He was the fastest guy in that secondary and the toughest guy in that secondary. In all my time with the Raiders — which was darn near 25 years — he was the only rookie that never had to stand up and sing."
And Raiders coach Tom Flores on aging Vikings safety Paul Krause in 1976: "We couldn't find him in the film, he played so deep. ... Cripes, you'd run 10 yards before he'd show up."
Also worth the time: "Game Changers: The Greatest Plays in Buffalo Bills Football History," by Marv Levy and Jeff Miller, which was reviewed recently in The News. I can't quibble much with the plays they picked, which is saying a lot.
And a book that has been out five years but still is worth recommending; "Going Long: The Wild 10-year Saga of the Renegade American Football League."
Cards fly low
The Cardinals rode their deep passing game to the Super Bowl last year but it has been in traction this year. The Cards have only two pass plays of more than 40 yards. Last year Larry Fitzgerald had 14 catches of 25-plus yards. In seven games this year he has three. Fitzgerald still is on pace to finish with more than 100 catches.
The solution is to make teams respect the run more. The Cards rank 32nd in rushing. They were 32nd last year, too. But in storming through the NFC playoffs they did manage to rush 28, 43 and 29 times. This year they're averaging 19 rushes a game.
Onside kicks
• Watch for the crowd total today when Kansas City visits Jacksonville. It's the Jags' fourth straight blackout. The last home game saw a franchise-low attendance of 42,088, and considerably fewer were in the stands. Jacksonville had no trouble drawing 84,604 for the Florida-Georgia game last weekend. ... Oakland, meanwhile, drew just 39,000 for its Oct. 25 home game versus the Jets. Oakland has had three blackouts, Detroit two.
• St. Joe's graduate Sandro DeAngelis, a native of Niagara Falls, Ont., is having another great season as the place-kicker for the CFL's Calgary Stampeders. DeAngelis is 40 of 46 on field goals for Calgary, which held first place in the West Division entering this weekend. DeAngelis booted five field goals, including a clinching 50-yarder, in Calgary's Grey Cup title win last year. Calgary hosts this year's Grey Cup on Nov. 29.
• Former Buffalo News sports editor Larry Felser will talk about the AFL-NFL merger at 7 p.m. Nov. 19 at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society.
• The Texans are 0-7 at Indianapolis.
• J.P. Losman hit 27 of 37 passes for 277 yards and two TDs and Las Vegas beat Ted Cottrell's 0-4 New York team, 41-10, on Thursday. Vegas is 2-2. Brooks Bollinger of Jim Haslett's Florida team leads UFL QBs with a 118 passer rating. Losman is at 100.
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