Friday, June 22, 2012

Goodbye Leroy's and Hello ... William Hill

Hot off the press, see http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2012/jun/21/british-oddsmaker-william-hill-gets-ok-operate-159/

The UK oddsmaker will also be taking over Lucky's and the Cal Neva Satellite operations. So in game wagering has another venue to place bets, this will raise the stakes and profile of these smaller sportsbooks in NV.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

MIN WR Harvin wants out - shocking?

There's a recent article on nfl.com as well as other sites, see http://blogs.nfl.com/2012/06/20/shocked-vikings-players-and-coaches-react-to-the-news-that-wr-percy-harvin-wants-out/ that describes coaches and team mates reaction.

Some fans go so far as to describe Harvin as whiny, you could say he's spoiled. He came from Florida where they won a National Championship, then in his first year with NFL he get's the gunslinger QB Favre and a MIN team that had a good chance to make it to the playoffs and had Super Bowl aspirations.

Now my guess is he had a reality check moment at practice (mini-OTA) and he knows this team is nowhere close to competing at getting into playoffs, much less the Super Bowl. There division maybe the toughest in the NFL with Green Bay, Detroit and Chicago having QB's in or near their prime. Who does MIN have as a QB? Can you name him off the top of your head? And remember the adage "QB's make the WR's", well Harvin wants to win like everyone else, he just realizes that the chances of winning consistently are minimal at best and thus want's out due to QB most likely not up to par with the rest of division.

I can't blame Harvin for wanting out, most NFL careers are fairly short and if he sticks with this years team in the near term his stats will be unproductive due to QB and his value will diminish the longer he stays with team and present offensive scheme. The question should be "Will management let him go?" Remember last year wasn't a productive year for him as far as stats are concerned, but this can be attributed to poor QB play and since MIN didn't upgrade at that position this offseason, he'll most likely have a similiar year as last year at best. He just wants the taste of success again and is finding it hard to swallow the bitter pill of losing and ineffectiveness that I suspect will permeate the team this upcoming year. MIN is years away from contending and Harvin wants to play for/with a contender, not a pretender.

If I were management I would trade him while their still is value, if they wait his value will diminish throughout the year and at the end of the season they'll most likely cut him and he'll be picked up by another team. This would be a disaster scenario for MIN, but it appears DET gave MIN their management curse and I predict MIN will hold on to Harvin for too long.

Wednesday, June 06, 2012

QB Jay Cutler is controversial

Take a look at what Cosell has posted Cosell talks the perception and reality of jay cutler and post your own take if you like.

As for me, this is what I think...

I've always thought Cutler was an NFL caliber QB as I watched a lot of SEC football and sure enough in the NFL he has had his good moments and bad moments. I guess there hasn't been enough good moments to out weigh the bad moments and thus the controversy.

So what about this upcoming season of 2012, will the Bears rise? fall? or stay the same?

I'm picking rise.

The Bears current strength lies in a Super Bowl caliber D and outstanding ST play, though with recent rule changes ST will not likely factor in as much as prior seasons.

Thus one of the questions is what to do with PR/KR Hester. He's listed as a WR, but he needs to improve on route running IMO and I would place him in the slot and only the slot. None of the odd experimentation the former OC Martz did with him as a #1 WR, c'mon Hester has speed, but not size, it's the slot and only the slot.

Now with the jettison of OC Martz and promotion of Tice to OC, we'll probably see a much more explosive offense from the Bears. The unknown quatity in my mind is the rookie WR Alshon Jeffery. I liked what I saw at times playing against SEC caliber CBs, but other times not so much. I'll admit I didn't watch the Gamecocks as much as I should have, but I had already assessed their QB Garcia as being average at best. Thus if you subscribe to the theory of the QB makes the WR, there would be a lot of average moments for Garcia to Jeffery. Jeffery will now catch passes from Cutler who throws with a lot of velocity, so I'm just wondering will Jeffery prove to have the hands that their #1 WR Marshall has proven to have.

Most QB's make the WR's in the NFL and not the other way around, there have been a few exceptions with the most recent, at least in my mind, is WR Moss. Cutler should significantly produce better numbers with a true #1WR, a fiesty #3WR and a TE that will be allowed to catch the ball this coming season. Notice I'm unsure of #2 WR thus it would be a lot of speculation to project a good or bad year for rookie.

This year the Bears will have all their OTA's, mini camps and training camp to install a new offense. Score 1 for the O as their opponents D will need several games to get enough film/tape to make in game adjustments that work. So I suspect the Bears will have early season momentum on their side for the first month, if they extend it into the second month and stay away from injuries along their aging D, they should have a great chance of making the play offs. Granted they are probably playing in the best division of the NFC with GB and DET as clear contenders as well.

Play calling is the other big part of the equation that will factor in and with Tice running the show, we should see a significant increase from Cutler and Co. Cutler will be able to call audibles this years as opposed to prior years under Martz and the O-Line should looked improved with less 5 and 7 steps drops than prior regime with former OC. I would rather have WR Knox available and playing, but I wouldn't count on him this year. The Bears dreams will ride on Cutler and his arm, they should have good fortune this year.