Monday, March 01, 2004

To football for a second....

I'm reading here on ESPN.com how the trade between the Denver Broncos and the Washington Redskins has just been completed. Denver hands over Clinton Portis for Champ Bailey and a second round pick. Apparently Portis will now become the highest paid running back EVER!

So let's have a "unresearched, off the top of my head" gander at the teams, shall we? We all remember how FRIGGIN' FANTABULOUS Portis was during the regular season and now he's in Washington with the new coach, Joe Gibbs. For now, Trung Canidate will serve as backup (where he BELONGS!!!) with another fella by the name of Cartwright coming in as the goal-line back. Wuh oh....did I say "goal-line" back? If you are involved in fantasy football then you have just said the following three words: Crappy Crap Crap!!! However, I don't think that Gibbs would take Portis out once they get inside the 10 or 20. Portis has proven himself to be solid inside the red zone (and any other point on the field) so I don't think there's anything to worry about and I'm predicting that Portis will have another solid year....notice the word "solid"? I don't see him having any five touchdown games in Washington, at least not this year. Although, we shouldn't forget that Portis also had 38 catches for 314 yards along with his 1591 yards rushing...an underrated asset for a RB that will certainly interest Joe Gibbs. But what about the Redskins' passing game? As we should all know by now, they've recently signed Mark Brunell as their starting QB...a solid pocket passer in a supposed "protect the QB" system of Joe Gibbs. They've got solid wide recievers in Laveranues Coles, Rod Gardner and Darnerian McCants so they're not really lacking there. The HUGE thing that the Redskins need to do (besides introduce Joe Gibbs back into the current day NFL) is focus on that PITIFUL OFFENSIVE LINE!!! I'm surprised Patrick Ramsey is still alive! Their defense could use some patchwork as well especially with the loss of Champ Bailey. Trading away that second pick will probably come back to bite them so they can't look to the draft to solve all of their woes. I'm not sure about their cap situation but if they have money left they would be wise to snatch any free agent linemen available this offseason.

What about the Broncos? With Clinton Portis out, I can only assume that the Broncos were damn satisfied with Quentin Griffin. I was impressed as well when I saw him play; he showed great quickness and some good field vision for a rookie RB. However, he will need to bulk up a bit since he isn't as powerful a runner as Portis. This might be a problem since their fullback, Mike Anderson, keeps getting himself suspended for doin' the doobie dance. As of right now (before the draft and the offseason is over) I'm gonna say that the Broncos' running game will be at best mediocre....nothing that would keep an opposing head coach awake at night. They've got some decent WR's in Rod Smith, Shannon Sharpe and Ashley Lelie, although the only consistent one among them is Sharpe and he's gettin' up there in the age department. Sadly, he's their best reciever so don't be surprised if they take a WR early in the draft. Their defense was pretty solid last season, if I remember correctly, and the new additions (Champ Bailey) will only strengthen it. Jake, The Mistakey Shaky Snake, is finally able to be a good QB (and a half-mobile one at that!) in the Denver offense but lemme just say this....

Denver, get rid of Ed McCaffrey....he's useless and could drop dead any second.

Barstool out.

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