Official NFL 2007 Thread

[livid]

Yeah, it was. The Fouts-lead Chargers offense was more of a deep ball offense but it was referred to (along with the Raiders in the same time period) was the West Coast Offense, but Walsh's offense took over the name later on. So yeah, Dragsy's right.

[Cactus Drags]

San Diego's offense in the Dan Fouts era was more the "heave it downfield and let Winslow, Alworth, and Joiner run under it" offense, I think.

[jonnycomelately]

Yes it was the late 70's early 80's in an offense known as Air Coryell named for San Diego head coach Air Coryell. That was the ole chuck and go get it style of offensive football.

I like how if an offense becomes successful it gets a nickname. Other than Don Coryell's Air Coryell and Walsh's West Coast Offense, I enjoy Florida's Fun N Gun Offense from the Steve Spurrier days and Thunder and Lightning combinations used several times in professional backfields. Does anyone else know any more that I just can't think of at the time?

[livid]

Yeah, you were wrong about the time period, though, Dragsy, it was the 70's teams of the Chargers and Raiders that were first called the West Coast Offense. And it was a majority of the 70's, as Fouts was drafted in 73, so from that point on and into the 80's, that offense was referred to as the first West Coast Offense.

[Cactus Drags]

Fair enough.

I find it harder to think of defenses known by their scheme or nickname. Obviously my favourite would be the 46 defense of the 80s Bears, but past the Steel Curtain and Purple People Eaters (possibly the best nickname ever) I'm starting to draw a blank.

[Maxx]

Raiders sign Daunte Culpepper, perhaps its Al Davis' way of showing JaMarcus Russell what will happen to him if he doesn't sign a contract.

[ACCBiggz]

Or it's getting a veteren to help teach JaMarcus when he finally signs and have a suitable back-up when Russel is able to start.

[Maxx]

Sure he's a vetern, but he's hardly a suitable backup. And I'll hear no Ken Shamrock-esque arguements from you Biggz. Daunte was good when he could run, his knee has been destroyed twice, all he can do is over throw recievers now.

[ACCBiggz]

I'm taking Culpepper over Andrew Walter any day. People make a big fuss about Culpepper's injury, but he came back WAY too soon from it. He never gave it proper time to heal and since has sat out awhile. He's not going to be the Culpepper of Minnesota, but he is a suitable back-up QB.

[alldaws1]

Do the Raiders still have Andrew Walter? When/if Russell signs they'll have him, Culpepper and McCown at QB so Walter's way down on the pecking order. Since they've signed Culpepper now I think it'd be stupid to have Russell start. Culpepper would be better off starting this season with Russell behind him and then if they think he's ready have Russell come in next season (or phase him in at the end of this one, depending on their record).

[Maxx]

Its going to be sad for whoever starts in Oakland. Aaron Brooks got demolished and if anything, he's just as good as Culpepper is now, certainly more mobile. They've got one of the most underperforming O-Lines ever, and a poor running game as a result. Plus they're recieving core is now made up of the disgruntled Jerry Porter, coming off a stellar season, and big bust Mike Williams.

At least Daunte got right into camp, I can respect that, but I really don't think he's that much better than McCown or Walter, based on what he did in Miami. Maybe his injury was still lingering, but that doesn't account for all the mistakes and poor plays he made.

[livid]

Porter's said to have a whole new attitude with the coaching change, so the disgruntled tag is a bit outdated, unless something flares up but apparently he's pretty happy with the way things are starting to go. And you forget Ronald Curry like he's some scrub, but before he got hurt two years ago, he was starting to become a pretty good WR and then of course, last year, he was behind Moss and Porter, but he had a good year last year regardless of the two people ahead of him and REALLY came on at the end of the season, so he has people to throw to.

But yeah, the rest of the team sucks.

That being said, I agree with Biggz on the fact that Culpepper came back WAY too soon from the knee injury and his type of arm and style of play (mobile or not) fits the Raiders style of offense. And I think it's just going to be this year for him in Oakland anyways, and then, perhaps, moving on to Baltimore to be their starter or something.

And the fact that he had little to no supporting cast in Miami to go along with coming back from the injury way too soon, that'll affect your production, especially when you have zero running game. At least with Jordan/Rhodes, you have more than Ronnie Brown, who, if the 2005 draft were re-done, wouldn't be anywhere near the Top 5 or even Top 10.

Edited August 3, 2007 by Rumors of War

[Mofoticon]

Daunte Culpepper has never been a good NFL QB without Randy Moss...even before he got hurt, he was absolutely horrible when they dealt Moss.

[livid]

While that may be true, one could argue that he was just going to have a bad year. I mean, it's not like QB's don't have bad years, and who knows, he could've pulled himself out of the slump if he hadn't gotten hurt.

That being said, one could also argue that the offense was built around Moss, so an offense built around Moss, without Moss, doesn't work very well does it?

I'm not making excuses for him, but it's a bit irrational to imply that he was only a good QB because of Moss considering he's only played in 11 games without him and 4 of those games, he was in Miami, not healthy.

Edited August 3, 2007 by Rumors of War

[GhostMachine]

On ESPN, they speculated that Tank Johnson might end up with the Raiders. Gotta feel kinda sorry for the guy; he'd go from being on a team that could probably win a championship if they had a decent QB to a team that could probably win a championship if they got a new owner and traded half the team.

Edited August 3, 2007 by GhostMachine

[alldaws1]

We haven't got to feel sorry for him at all, it's his own fault he's in this mess. If he'd have avoided the off field trouble he could still be one of the key defensive players on one of the NFC's top teams.

[VerbalPuke]

Calvin Johnson has ended his holdout and is signed with the Lions according to ESPN.com

ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- Rookie wide receiver Calvin Johnson signed a six-year deal with the Detroit Lions on Friday, ending the No. 2 overall pick's eight-day holdout.

Johnson's signing was expected to allow him to get into camp for workouts Friday. Fellow wideout Roy Williams said a day earlier that "the rookie needs to get in here."

Johnson was regarded by some as the best player in the draft after catching 78 passes for 1,202 yards and 15 touchdowns during his All-America junior season at Georgia Tech. He won the Biletnikoff Award, given to the nation's top college receiver.

Nice to see. Also, Drew Stanton is going to miss the pre-season which sucks for his development. It was probably going to be the only time he'd see the playing field atleast until next season. He'll essentially go into next year as a rookie, assuming he doesn't see the field this year, and I have reason to believe he'll be the third stringer since Dan Orlovsky is a more viable option at number 2 at this point.

[ACCBiggz]

We haven't got to feel sorry for him at all, it's his own fault he's in this mess. If he'd have avoided the off field trouble he could still be one of the key defensive players on one of the NFC's top teams.

Edited August 3, 2007 by ACCBiggz

[alldaws1]

They signed Darwin Walker after trading a pick to the Bills for him. Buffalo got screwed, really. They trade Takeo Spikes and Kelly Holcomb for Walker who never even plays for them. They've basically lost three players (two pretty good ones) and gained a draft pick.

Bears have also traded Chris Harris to the Panthers for a 5th round pick. Bit of a surprise I thought.

[ACCBiggz]

Takeo wanted out though. So it isn't like they could have gotten a lot for him. Buffalo screwed themselves by getting rid of everyone in some of the worst general managing I've seen this side of Grossman's decision making.