1. Jake Plummer, Denver Broncos: After his team's win against the Bengals, he said he had never won a game in which he threw three interceptions. No kidding, especially if you don't throw any touchdown passes. Plummer now has 117 career interceptions. He was brought to Denver because of his personality and flare for the dramatic. Mike Shanahan is a smart football coach who is going to demand better and more from Plummer. The Broncos' fans are already restless, which makes for a combustible atmosphere around Plummer. As he heads to San Diego this weekend to face a division rival, crucial interceptions will lead to a loss. Unfortunately for Plummer, until he strings a number of quality games together, the question will always remain: Was it Arizona or was it him?
2. Donovan McNabb, Philadelphia Eagles: One of the NFL's highest-paid players spent the offseason in Arizona working out, building muscle and stamina. This workout regimen has garnered so much attention that we at CBS Sports will be doing a feature on it for The NFL Today. My first impression of this newly designed athlete was one of disappointment. In the fourth quarter against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he looked tired both physically and mentally -- and his offense wasn't on the field very much. I know better than most how a great defense like Tampa Bay's can make a good quarterback look bad. But with his inaccuracy, lack of spontaneity and overall body language, nearly 70,000 fans and I were shocked by his performance. Philadelphia is a city that is used to Allen Iverson's all-out play and hustle; it had to be extremely frustrating and disappointing for Eagles fans to watch McNabb's less than inspiring performance.
In order to combat the malaise that McNabb showed during the game, head coach Andy Reid could have stepped up the tempo of the game by putting his quarterback in the shotgun and running the no-huddle earlier. When the Eagles finally went with that strategy, McNabb made a couple of plays that were reminiscent of his ability.
3. Kordell Stewart, Chicago Bears: New offense, new team and not-so-good new players all contributed to Stewart's woes. However, turnovers that directly result in touchdowns are the ultimate backbreaker during a game. The Bears need to utilize Stewart and his running ability to get the most out of him. Standing in the pocket for 30-plus plays and trying to distribute the ball throughout an entirely new progression scheme on the road is a recipe for disaster. With injuries along the offensive line, the Bears will have little experience to play with in front of Stewart -- all the more reason to move the pocket and take advantage of his skills. By the way, because of Chicago's inconsistencies throughout its roster, Kordell doesn't need to become a martyr.
4. Kurt Warner, St. Louis Rams: Dazed and confused. In what should have been Kurt Warner's rebound game, it instead quickly became a nightmare due to the swarming and relentless Giants pass rush. But then again, any quarterback who holds the ball for more than 3.5 seconds in the pocket is going to ultimately fail. While he threw for lots of yardage and completed 34 passes, Warner's turnovers absolutely killed the Rams. After the game it came to light that Warner had suffered a mild concussion early in the game. Head coach Mike Martz actually said, "Kurt wasn't right and he probably shouldn't have played."
Warner stayed overnight in a New York hospital for observation. I can just imagine some of the conversations that took place on the Rams' charter flight back to St. Louis. NFL players spend hours preparing themselves physically and mentally to do battle each week during the season. To have one player commit six fumbles in a game, losing three of them, you can rest assure that there were many disappointed Rams fans pointing the finger directly at Warner for the loss. Marc Bulger gets the start in the home opener and probably should have been anointed the starter in Week 1 regardless of Warner's health.
5. Jon Kitna, Cincinnati Bengals: When you're hanging on by a thread and you're working under yet another head coach, it is vital that you keep mistakes to a minimum. The first overall draft choice is right behind you. If Kitna puts forth another performance like the one he had against Denver, he will find himself back on the bench. It's not just the interceptions, it's also missing open opportunities for touchdowns. Turnovers that lead directly to touchdowns -- like Kitna's ill-advised backhanded flip to Broncos linebacker Ian Gold -- are exactly the type of plays that keep coaches awake at night.
6. Tom Brady, New England Patriots: He gets a pass this week because the Patriots as an organization completely mishandled the Lawyer Milloy situation. Brady and his teammates had no idea what hit them in Buffalo. That loss to the Bills, no matter how bad, is completely pinned on the decision to release Milloy right before the regular season started. (You see, I actually am somewhat compassionate toward the trials and tribulations of NFL quarterbacks.)
Sleepless nights
Every quarterback listed above.
Dave Wannstedt and Norv Turner, Miami Dolphins: Dom Capers is no pushover and he has built the Texans into a competitive team. But isn't Ricky Williams on this Miami team? And were you saving all your sacks for Vinny Testaverde in Week 2?
Bill Belichick, New England Patriots: What a nightmare scenario for the coach who prides himself on keeping his team focused. Now he has to work to gain back the players' respect.
Dick Jauron, Chicago Bears: Can someone please get him some players for next season? What an absolute debacle. It looks as though one of the NFL's really good coaches has been hung out to dry.
Andy Reid, Philadelphia Eagles: He needs to pull a real psych job on his players, who are definitely questioning whether or not they are still the team that had advanced to the NFC title game two years in a row. Whatever confidence they had was completely knocked out by the Buccaneers.
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/6629297
2. Donovan McNabb, Philadelphia Eagles: One of the NFL's highest-paid players spent the offseason in Arizona working out, building muscle and stamina. This workout regimen has garnered so much attention that we at CBS Sports will be doing a feature on it for The NFL Today. My first impression of this newly designed athlete was one of disappointment. In the fourth quarter against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he looked tired both physically and mentally -- and his offense wasn't on the field very much. I know better than most how a great defense like Tampa Bay's can make a good quarterback look bad. But with his inaccuracy, lack of spontaneity and overall body language, nearly 70,000 fans and I were shocked by his performance. Philadelphia is a city that is used to Allen Iverson's all-out play and hustle; it had to be extremely frustrating and disappointing for Eagles fans to watch McNabb's less than inspiring performance.
In order to combat the malaise that McNabb showed during the game, head coach Andy Reid could have stepped up the tempo of the game by putting his quarterback in the shotgun and running the no-huddle earlier. When the Eagles finally went with that strategy, McNabb made a couple of plays that were reminiscent of his ability.
3. Kordell Stewart, Chicago Bears: New offense, new team and not-so-good new players all contributed to Stewart's woes. However, turnovers that directly result in touchdowns are the ultimate backbreaker during a game. The Bears need to utilize Stewart and his running ability to get the most out of him. Standing in the pocket for 30-plus plays and trying to distribute the ball throughout an entirely new progression scheme on the road is a recipe for disaster. With injuries along the offensive line, the Bears will have little experience to play with in front of Stewart -- all the more reason to move the pocket and take advantage of his skills. By the way, because of Chicago's inconsistencies throughout its roster, Kordell doesn't need to become a martyr.
4. Kurt Warner, St. Louis Rams: Dazed and confused. In what should have been Kurt Warner's rebound game, it instead quickly became a nightmare due to the swarming and relentless Giants pass rush. But then again, any quarterback who holds the ball for more than 3.5 seconds in the pocket is going to ultimately fail. While he threw for lots of yardage and completed 34 passes, Warner's turnovers absolutely killed the Rams. After the game it came to light that Warner had suffered a mild concussion early in the game. Head coach Mike Martz actually said, "Kurt wasn't right and he probably shouldn't have played."
Warner stayed overnight in a New York hospital for observation. I can just imagine some of the conversations that took place on the Rams' charter flight back to St. Louis. NFL players spend hours preparing themselves physically and mentally to do battle each week during the season. To have one player commit six fumbles in a game, losing three of them, you can rest assure that there were many disappointed Rams fans pointing the finger directly at Warner for the loss. Marc Bulger gets the start in the home opener and probably should have been anointed the starter in Week 1 regardless of Warner's health.
5. Jon Kitna, Cincinnati Bengals: When you're hanging on by a thread and you're working under yet another head coach, it is vital that you keep mistakes to a minimum. The first overall draft choice is right behind you. If Kitna puts forth another performance like the one he had against Denver, he will find himself back on the bench. It's not just the interceptions, it's also missing open opportunities for touchdowns. Turnovers that lead directly to touchdowns -- like Kitna's ill-advised backhanded flip to Broncos linebacker Ian Gold -- are exactly the type of plays that keep coaches awake at night.
6. Tom Brady, New England Patriots: He gets a pass this week because the Patriots as an organization completely mishandled the Lawyer Milloy situation. Brady and his teammates had no idea what hit them in Buffalo. That loss to the Bills, no matter how bad, is completely pinned on the decision to release Milloy right before the regular season started. (You see, I actually am somewhat compassionate toward the trials and tribulations of NFL quarterbacks.)
Sleepless nights
Every quarterback listed above.
Dave Wannstedt and Norv Turner, Miami Dolphins: Dom Capers is no pushover and he has built the Texans into a competitive team. But isn't Ricky Williams on this Miami team? And were you saving all your sacks for Vinny Testaverde in Week 2?
Bill Belichick, New England Patriots: What a nightmare scenario for the coach who prides himself on keeping his team focused. Now he has to work to gain back the players' respect.
Dick Jauron, Chicago Bears: Can someone please get him some players for next season? What an absolute debacle. It looks as though one of the NFL's really good coaches has been hung out to dry.
Andy Reid, Philadelphia Eagles: He needs to pull a real psych job on his players, who are definitely questioning whether or not they are still the team that had advanced to the NFC title game two years in a row. Whatever confidence they had was completely knocked out by the Buccaneers.
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/6629297
