Kaspers Korner

Atlanta Falcons general manager Tom Dimitroff made the Atlanta Falcons into a respectable team in one season.  However, Dimitroff is playing with fire in negotiations with a certain player.

According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, contract talks between wide receiver Roddy White and the team are not going well as the two are seemingly far apart.

So, what is the Problem?

The Problem is Dimitroff as he was formerly the New England Patriots director of college scouting,

The Patriots have the mentality that as one person is not about the team, which means that they expect players to take less to help keep the team together.

The thing is that the only way to accomplish this is building a team from scratch through the draft as young players are receptive and can be molded.

White on the other hand is going into his fifth year in the National Football League, which means it will be hard to get him to buy into the system unless some teammates step in.

In the end if the Falcons are going to keep White they are going to have to meet his demands as quarterbacks are nothing without talented wide receivers.

The Houston Texans have finally built a winning team.  One of the big questions that remain is can quarterback Matt Schaub stay healthy?

Schaub in his first two years as a starting quarterback has only played 11 games in each season due to injuries.

Obviously, this is concerning as the quarterback is the main component of the offense, and without him they are not the same.

For evidence of this the Texans only won two of the five games that Schaub missed last year.

With Schaub the Texans would have only most likely lost one as the two of the three losses were by less than a touchdown.

The Texans are clearly a team on the rise as for the first time ever in Texans had back to back .500 seasons.

In the end if the Texans are going to make the playoffs the offensive line will have to do a better job of pass protecting that way Schaub will stay healthy.

Sports Illustrated.com’s Peter King visited Buffalo Bills training camp Wednesday. One of points he made backs up what I been saying about in regards to a particular wide receiver.

The point made by King was that wide receiver Roscoe Parrish doesn’t touch the ball enough as he only touched the ball 49 times last year, which includes receptions, punt returns, rushes, and kickoff returns.

The reason being is that Parrish is so dangerous that he at any point could break a play open and take it for a touchdown.

King did recognize that Parrish occasionally has mental lapse, but his ability far outweighs this.

What people forget about the Bills Superbowl run is that one of the reasons the Bills offense was so dangerous then was that wide receiver Andre Reed also made game breaking plays as he made defenders miss as he made five yard gains into 20 yard gains.

In the end if the Bills were to get Parrish 150 touches a year they would be giving the New England Patriots a run for their money.

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer is finally returning to action after suffering an injury to his throwing elbow ligament.  The question going into this year for Palmer is can he last?

Palmer elected not to have surgery as he let it rest to see if it will heal on his own.

The results of this decision will not be known until the regular season is well underway.
Palmer’s injury to his elbow ligament is the second major ligament injury to him.

In the Wild Card round of the 2005 National Football League playoffs Palmer suffered a injury to his left knee, which tests later revealed a torn anteriot cruciate and medial collateral ligaments as well as damage to cartilage and his meniscus.

One can now conclude that Palmer’s body is prone to injury after excessive wear and tear.

When Palmer is healthy he is one of the best quarterbacks in the league, which is proven by his statistics.

The thing is that when Palmer starts getting up there in football years he will start missing games to injury.

In the end it is up to the Cincinnati Bengals offensive line to limit the number of hits Palmer takes so that he can stay healthy longer.

The Philadelphia Eagles announce Tuesday that former defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away.  Johnson’s death is a huge loss that will be felt by the Eagles this year.

Johnson lost his battle to melanoma cancer, which he was previously treated for in 2001.

Johnson was up until this year has been the only defensive coordinator that Eagles head coach Andy Reid has ever had.

So, what does it mean for the Eagles defense?

New defensive coordiantor Sean McDermott mentored under Johnson and in his first press conference stated that he will continue to use Johnson’s system as he put in countless hours of research to find things that will work.

The only thing that will change is that McDermott stated he will add wrinkles to the system.

The thing is McDermott is not Johnson, which means there will be some kind of dropp off as this is his first ever time being a defensive coordinator.

As any position in the National Football League there is a learning curve as there are little things a person must learn.

In the end with the Eagles being in a tough division in the NFC East they will be lucky if they make the playoffs.

The Saint Louis Rams offense was a disaster last year, because of their offensive line.  With the Rams addressing the offensive line in free agency and the draft the question is will they be better?

The Rams first move was the signing of center Jason Brown in free agency.

The next move was the cutting of long time left tackle Orlando Pace who was is getting up there in age and is just not what he use to be and has not played a full season in four years.
Then in April’s National Football League Draft the Rams took offensive tackle Jason Smith second overall.

The offensive line’s play last year caused quarterback Marc Bulger to take a lot of hits, which affected his play.

Now, with the improvements in the offensive line the offense should be much improved in 2009, which should allow the team to compete with the Arizona Cardinals for the NFC East Division.

In the end the Rams is one of the most likely candidates for a huge turn around in 2009.

Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Anquan Boldin wants to get paid any which way.  The thing is that the Cardinals could have gotten it over with already.

The Cardinals could have already traded Boldin already as they have their replacement on the roster already in wide receiver Steve Breaston.

Breaston as the number three wide receiver on the Cardinals caught 77 passes for 1,006 with three touchdowns.

As the number two wide receiver Breaston should improve on those stats, but how much remains to be seen as the number two cornerback on a football team is usually more talented than the number three cornerback.

The question is why haven’t the Cardinals done this already?

Nobody can answer that question, but the reality is the longer they wait to do something with Boldin the more likely hood they will come away with nothing.

In the end the Cardinals will wind up trading as they are out of salary cap room this year and even next year it will be hard to fit Boldin’s demands in as they already have wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald signed to a huge contract.

The Seattle Seahawks are three years removed from their Superbowl appearance.  However, they will be lucky to make the playoffs in 2009.

The problem is that the Seahawks are aging at left tackle, which is a key position to the offense.

Left tackle Walter Jones is 35 years old, which means that he will most likely not play an entire full season.

That quarterback Matt Hasselbeck will take a lot more hits this season from the defense.

What compounds the problem is that Hasselbeck will be 34 in September and is coming off a back injury that sidelined him for most of the season.

That means Hasselbeck will miss games as well from most likely back injuries.

If the Seahawks are going to have a chance at the playoffs then they need to make a bold move and go with current backup Seneca Wallace who proved capable when Hasselbeck wa out.

In the end Seahawks head coach Jim Mora will give Hasselbeck a chance, which will be the team’s undoing.

Many felt that Buffalo Bills head coach Dick Jauron should have been fired after the teams monumental collapse.  That means Jauron has to make the playoffs or he is going to be fired.

Bills owner Ralph Wilson went on record stating that he thinks the Bills will make the playoffs.

Even though the team has playoff caliber talent it will be hard to make the playoffs as the Bills play in one of the toughest division in that National Football League in the AFC East.

With the New England Patriots getting back quarterback Tom Brady they will once again be a Superbowl contender.

Then there are the New York Jets and the Miam Dolphins who have solid defenses and runing games, which make them tough to beat as well.

In the end considering that Jauron is an average coach at times he will be lucky to keep his job after this year.

National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell is facing a lot of criticism over pondering the possiblity of suspending quarterback Michael Vick.  The fact is Goodell is doing the right thing.
Goodell is now facing his most outspoken criticisim yet as Buffalo Bills wide receiver Terrell Owens rip Goodell over Vick possibility of being suspended.

In addition to Owens many other players in the NFL have spoken out as well that Goodell should not suspend Vick.

However, the reality is that all employees face consequences for their actions in previous field of employment, especially when they are just coming out of jail.

The fact of the matter is that Vick has just left federal custody there will be a waiting period for him to get back into the NFL to show that he is genuinely remorseful for his actions.

In the end Vick will have to play in the UFL to play football as no team is foolish enough to sign Vick as he has yet to show genuine remorse and has not play or practiced football in two years.