Posts tagged RSP

Senior Bowl First Impressions

0 Comments read Matt Waldman

Day 1 Impressions

By Jene Bramel

Under the mentorship (and light hazing) of Matt and Cecil Lammey, I’m credentialed to cover the Senior Bowl for the first time and getting a crash course in the world of pre-draft scouting in Mobile this week. You can read our detailed scouting observations from Day 1 and check out Matt’s detailed thoughts on the Minnesota Vikings’ approach to teaching WR play at the New York Times’ Fifth Down blog [link forthcoming], but I thought I’d share a newbie’s perspective of the weigh-in and first afternoon practice. Continue reading →

Reads Listens Views 1/20/2012

0 Comments read Reads Listens Views
Can you tell which man is wearing Depends? (One of the caption entries I liked for this week's RSP Caption Contest)

It has been a little over 24 hours since I announced the RSP Photo Caption Contest and the response has been good. Cecil, Chad, Michael, and Wes will be judging the quality of the captions on Wednesday after Senior Bowl practices. Since I’m just the tiebreaker, I thought I’d list some of the early favorites (from my perspective) for a shot at a free RSP (contest details and entry form can be found on this page):

  • “Failed Fathead concepts.”
  • “Bravo’s new hit series: The Real House Husbands of Tampa Bay.”
  • “Can you tell which man is wearing Depends?”
  • “AVN’s winner for worst adult film of all time: The Island of Misfit Boys”

A special thanks to these guys for taking one for the team. Now, onto the reads, listens, and views of the week – including some LaVon Brazill highlights. Continue reading →

Roster Notables for 2012 Senior Bowl

0 Comments read Matt Waldman
Cyrus Gray is one of my fave RBs this year in a class dominated by juniors. Photo by SD Dirk.

This will be my third season watching prospects at the Senior Bowl and my second covering it for the New York Times Fifth Down Blog. Here are some of the prospects on the current roster list that I’m looking forward to watching up close and a few notes as to why.

WR Joe Adams, Arkansas: I don’t think Adams is the speed demon that Jacoby Ford is, but he has made a number of exciting plays the past couple of seasons when the ball is in his hands. I want to see Adams in drills where Continue reading →

Keys to a Good Back-Shoulder Fade

0 Comments read Wide Receiver
Keshawn Martin was one of two receivers I watched in recent months that got me thining about the techniques required to execute a good back-shoulder fade. Photo by Mattradickal.

The back-shoulder fade can be an unstoppable weapon if a receiver understands how to run the route and the quarterback throws the ball with timing and confidence. Here are components of the route that make the play successful. Continue reading →

Message from Footballguys Players National Champion

0 Comments read Reads Listens Views
I had my worst fantasy football sesason in 15 years - by far - until I got this email below.

I had my worst year in 15 seasons playing fantasy football. I made the playoffs in only 50 percent of my leagues. In fact I had four teams miss the playoffs, which accounts for 40 percent of my total non-playoff qualifiers in my career in the hobby. But a nice consolation has been the number of fantasy owners emailing me over the past few weeks thanking me for suggesting they consider a different approach to drafting teams, which I termed the Upside Down Drafting strategy.

But the email I got this afternoon from Ronald Eltanal, the $125,000 winner of the Footballguys Players Championship, makes me feel like a champion even if I didn’t win one this year. See below…

Matt,

I just won the Footballguys Players Championship (I still can’t believe it as I write it). I’m writing to thank you for your advice this season, in your footballguys articles and in the stuff you write for your rsp blog. Take a look at the squad I drafted, and you can see it has your fingerprints all over it: Continue reading →

Boycotting the Corner Store: A Lesson for RBs

0 Comments read Players, Running Back
Other than Reggie Bush, I can’t think of a back that loved “taking trips to the corner store” more than Bills RB C.J. Spiller. Now that he’s boycotting the corner store his production is blossoming. See what I mean below. Photo by Matt Britt.

Isaiah Pead is an NFL running back prospect for the 2012 NFL Draft. The 5’11”, 198-pound University of Cincinnati senior is agile, and quick. He earns his tuition gaining yards from spread and pistol sets. This morning I’m watching Pead gain 191 total yards from scrimmage and score two touchdowns against NC State.

I’m not surprised about his performance, because I’ve seen Pead before. In another sense, I’ve seen Pead many times before. The Bearcats’ star runner shares similar tendencies of most good college running backs. However, one of these tendencies is a bad habit in the NFL. I call it, “taking trips to the corner store.”

Most of us have a favorite corner store in our neighborhood. We go there for gas, cigarettes, junk food, energy drinks, beer, lottery tickets, you name it. Nothing there is really good for us, but we can’t resist the temptation. In football I see the “corner store” as a running back’s decision to bounce a run outside. Continue reading →

Guy Lights a Fire Under Bank of America’s Hind Parts

0 Comments read Walk on the Wild Side
Insert Bank of America behinds over top...Photo by Baronsquirrel.

Occasionally, I like to write about things here that have nothing to do with football and today I was alerted to a story about an MBA candidate that I wrote about at my day job. He won a prestigious entrepreneurship competition for presenting a pitch for a product that actually has football implications – a hand-held device called the Traumatic Brain Injury Test (T-BIT), which determines whether an athlete has a concussion.

However Ken Williams didn’t get into the news for T-BIT, but for finding an inventive and humorous way to get Bank of America to stop dragging its feet: a music video.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/4rEfSupQB78] Continue reading →

The Curious Case of Montee Ball

0 Comments read Players, Running Back
Ball is a talented runner whose line sometimes masks his strengths in the same way it masked his alums' weaknesses. Photo by SSShupe.

Wisconsin has earned the moniker “Lineman U” during the decade for its excellence at the position. One of the unintended consequences with this unit’s excellence is the parade of productive college running backs that underwhelm in the NFL. Ron Dayne, Brian Calhoun, Anthony Davis, P.J. Hill, and John Clay are all examples of players that earned some degree of acclaim in college, but were exposed as average NFL athletes, at best. Continue reading →

Tuesday (Wee) Morning Thoughts on Blaine Gabbert

0 Comments read Players, Quarterback
One of the few times Blaine Gabbert stepped into a throw this year like he used to. Photo by Kegelthedog.

Scared. That’s how most will characterize Blaine Gabbert’s performance from the pocket on Monday Night Football. It’s how I see it.

It’s hard not to see it this way after watching several of Gabbert’s rookie performances. When the rookie throws the ball, even from a reasonably clean pocket, he doesn’t follow through by shifting his weight forward. Instead Continue reading →

“Football Player”

0 Comments read Matt Waldman
George Blanda led teams down the field with his arm and often finished off drives with his foot. He was a football player in the truest sense. Photo by Nateog

We live in the football era of specialization: Slot receiver. Third down back. Move tight end. Pass rush defensive end. Nickel back. In the box safety. But there was a time when its best players played more than one role.

Sammy Baugh was both a great passer and ball hawking safety. Chuck Bednarik played on both sides of the trench. George Blanda used his arm to lead his teams down the field and his foot to finished the drive.

They transcended a single position and were best known as “football players.” Believe it or not, we still have football players in the NFL. Continue reading →