Tin Bits - Tuesday, February 2nd - Senior Bowl Edition

Before I jump into some notes on what I saw in the Senior Bowl, I want to thank everyone who wished me well in the past couple of days - for the record I do not have any medical issues - although I just jinxed it by saying that.  I just had too much on my plate to do an update and found out at 5am that Parcells was going to do a live chat - which turned out to be the biggest waste of time ever.  Then today's update was delayed by someone not paying the internet bill.  Seriously, haven't these people ever heard of automatic payments? 

• One thing I did read into Parcells' 'chat' was that Chad Pennington will not be brought back.  Add this to comments made by Tony Sparano about Pat White, and all indications are that we'll continue into 2010's season with the same 3 QBs we ended 2009 with.  I don't know how I feel about the fact that Sparano wouldn't name Chad Henne the starter, but would put his full endorsement behind Pat White playing QB in the future, despite the results of 2009.  I'm pretty sure I'll know how to feel if we start the season with White as the 2nd string QB again...

• The Senior Bowl was both surprising and disappointing at the same time.  On the one hand, several of the players I was expecting to do well, did, but there were few standout performances.  For one, the North's defensive line looked to be unstoppable.  The reality is, while they did play well, it was the South's offensive line's play that made it look easy.  They were AWFUL.  The North's O-line was not much better.  Even Mike Iupati  played terribly.  I think he got called for 3 penalties, and there were loads of holding calls not being made on both lines through out the game.

• With that said, Brandon Graham did look very good, but not for easily running by the left tackle, but for his run defense.  Looking at him I can't help but see someone who could play inside linebacker in a 3-4 scheme, though he will likely go as a 3-4 OLB in the draft.

• Sean Weatherspoon is going to be a player in the NFL.  While his game was average, his energy level was off the charts.  Now, I don't know why anyone play-caller would send Dexter McCluster on a deep fade in the end-zone, but did you see Weatherspoon in coverage?  Even a 6'5" receiver wouldn't have stood a chance there.  Weatherspoon was practically running inside of McCluster's shoes there and had enough time to turn around and wait for the ball.

• Dan Williams.  In the first half, there was no better player on the field than Williams.  He took on double team after double team, occupying space and pushing people around.  Terrence Cody was absolutely invisible even in one-on-one situations.  Williams was clearly the best DT in the game.  The North squad had it too easy against a pathetic South O-line to be able to compare Williams with Jared Odrick and Mike Neal, though both played with a very high motor.  Personally, I'm more interested in Williams now than I was before.

• None of the wide receivers really moved up or down the boards in my opinion.  In fact, I didn't even see some of them on the field at all.  I was quite upset with the commentators bashing on Dorin Dickerson at least twice during the game, despite the fact he was playing well.  He had a bruising block down on the goal line to open up the go-ahead TD by Blount in the 2nd quarter.  He caught a quick drop-screen and absolutely ran over Patrick Robinson for an extra 4 yards.  He created good separation on a deep slant and Tony Pike overthrew the ball.  If anything, Dickerson proved he can play outside as a WR, but he probably needed to rack up some yards to shut up the Mayock's of the world.  Had he been playing with a QB he had chemistry and time with, I think he could've had a stand out performance.  Mardy Gilyard had the biggest afternoon, but also showed off his immaturity for the cameras whenever he could.  Note to Gilyard, when you're auditioning for a job, don't act like an idiot on the sidelines whenever the camera is on you.

• Tulane's Jeremy Williams had an amazingly inconsistent game.  I have not seen the stats for the game yet, but I would bet he had close to Gilyard's yardage if not better and definitely caught more balls, but he dropped at leat 3 if not 4 that were right in his hands, and he seemed to show no real energy - he was very sluggish between snaps.

• South Florida's George Selvie had a mixed game.  He got several QB hurries, but no sacks.  He made a special teams tackle and was around the ball a lot, but the North always seemed to run the play away from him.  The South coaches never played him standing up, which was a huge disappointment and probably hurt his stock.  The other USF Bulls in the game, Safety Nate Allen, and Corner Jerome Murphy, both had bad games.

• Patrick Robinson and Devin McCourty however, stood out as the two best corners in the game.  Both of them were stuck like glue to their receivers all game.  I was actually really impressed by Robinson, but since he got trucked by Dickerson, and McCourty was spectacular on special teams, I'm going to give the trophy to McCourty (who I actually had in my top 5 corners last year but he decided to stay in school).

• My 4th ranked Outside Linebacker, Austen Lane of Murray State, lined up at DE in the game and showed tremendous speed as he recovered a fumble then returned it for a touchdown.  Now, I don't know why after showing the replay four times, not a single commentator or referee noticed that he was downed by contact by the QB (he slid into him as he recovered the ball), but it was one of the few moments of the game where someone on the field seemed to understand the rules, as he recovered on the ground, then got up and ran it in.  There were at least 10 moments in the game where guys were standing around not covering up fumbles, or lining up after a 1st down.  

• Let's talk inside-linebackers. My 9th and 10th ranked LBs, Darryl Sharpton of Miami, and Jamar Chaney of Mississippi State were unimpressive.  My 8th ranked Daryl Washington of TCU looked good early on but his name did not get called much throughout the game.  Weatherspoon was the clear winner here, and the fact that he played both inside and outside during the game really upped his value.

• RB Joique Bell did what I expected he would do, run-down hill with force and get his name mentioned a few times.  He didn't get a ton of reps, but he was powerful at times.

• And finally, I don't know who the illiterate guy that NFL Network had patrolling the sidelines was, but he sounded terrible with his crackly yet ultra-nasal voice and his questions were ridiculous.  Anyone watching would be blind to have missed Jim Schwartz' body language towards the guy that said it all.  He thought the guy was a complete idiot, and so did I.   The fact that we missed a good handful of plays, including the Austen Lane fumble recovery because he was trying to make himself look good on the sidelines, really pissed me off.  Come on, NFLN, class it up a little, not all football fans want to pay to listen to some one less understandable than the players themselves.  That said, did anyone see the Myron Rolle interview?  It would be interesting to compare his speech now to how it will sound after 10 years of banging heads in the NFL.

So, in review, there were a lot of things I wish I had seen more of in the Senior Bowl, most of all, more competition - I thought at times some of the players were goofing off too much.  I didn't mind the in between plays celebrations, I actually miss some of the spectacle that the refs have taken away, but there was a lack of energy at times and a definite lack of focus.  Even Coach Sparano looked like he was tripping on mushrooms for half the game.  I didn't see a lot of efforts of the kind you'd expect from the players who are trying to get drafted.  The East-West Shrine Game was much more competitive than this one.  And one of the players from that game, WR Freddie Barnes, remains the top WR from these all-star games.  And Mike Kafka still had the best QB performance of the two games.

Basically, only Brandon Graham clearly moved up his stock this week, with standout performances both in practices and in the game.

Those are my thoughts.  What about you guys?