Darren Urban on AM 1060 - Aug 11

[spanky1]

I think that Shockey, Toomer (who's a fine WR and is probably the best WR in the history of the NY Giants), and Barber are better than Fitz, Boldin, and BJ. Yes, I do.

Shockey's overrated, I agree, but he's a very good outlet pass (when he catches the ball) and a player that defenses have to account for on every play. I don't believe that this is the case for any of our WRs at the moment. I know that this isn't a popular opinion, but I think that it's been borne out by the evidence.

Maybe Fitz, Anquan, and BJ are the best WR trio in the NFL, but that's only speculation until they show it on the field, which won't be until 9/11. Until then, Fitz is not much more to me than a red zone stud, Anquan is a glorified possession WR, and BJ is still a bit of an enigma, unless he's being covered by a 5th string CB.

Absolute rubbish......for one thing Shockey is a TE and Barber is a RB so how they compare to three WR's is beyond me. Toomer might be the best WR in NY Giants history (I couldn't dispute this cuz I don't know) but he's an old man now in relative terms (32).

 

[joeshmo]

I think that Shockey, Toomer (who's a fine WR and is probably the best WR in the history of the NY Giants), and Barber are better than Fitz, Boldin, and BJ. Yes, I do.

But Toomer had 0 TD's last year. How can he be a fine WR and not have caught a single TD. (Shipp Bashing reference)

Joking around aside, watching Toomer last year you could easily tell that he wasnt the same Toomer of old you could easily tell something wasnt right, he never got open. He has lost a step on his wrong side of 30 aged body. Last year even he thinks he had a bad year, one of his worst.

 

[slanidrac16]

K-9, I am dubbing you ,"Captain Darksider".

Warner will not take this team on his shoulders and carry them to the playoffs. However, it can't be denied that if we had better quarterbacking last year we very well may have been a playoff team LAST YEAR.

Taking that into consideration and adding the upgrades that we did on the defense and the offense, the fact that Boldin is healthy and Fitz is healthy and a year smarter, gives me reason to believe that Warner just needs to be 80% of what he was with the Rams.
Keep in mind that the Rams shocked the world that year. NOBODY talked about Bruce and Holt. Nobody even knew Warner. As a team the Rams came together that year. Nobody saw it coming.

Thats where we are now. The pieces are in place. EVERYBODY on this team must do their job for us to succeed and become a playoff team. I think Warner has enough left in the tank to carry his weight.

Bottom line is I don't look at Warner as being a savior. I just look at him as a savvy veteran who is healthier than he has been in a long time surrounded by 3 or 4 potentially explosive offensive weopons. He will throw to the right guy. He will know the hot reads. He throws a better deep ball than McCown. He will audible much better than McCown could even dream of and will bring a consistency to our offense that we need. The only thing that will not be there is escapability that McCown gives us.

 

[perivolaki]

My two cents

When I heard MJ commenting on Warner yesterday he was laying the praise on pretty thick. Said he was much better than what he thought he was going to be, and that he was hitting almost every reciever in stride. He specifically said that it was great to see recievers hit right in stride without missing a step. Also heard an interview with Fitz saying that you always had to keep your head up and your eyes on the ball because when Warner threw it every one comes right at your head, right on the money. Said if you weren't paying attention he would drill you right in the helmut.

 

[BACH]

I think that Shockey, Toomer (who's a fine WR and is probably the best WR in the history of the NY Giants), and Barber are better than Fitz, Boldin, and BJ. Yes, I do.

Warner played for the Giants last year, so he never had Toomer in his prime. Toomer has slipped and couldn't start on any other NFL team anymore IMO.

 

[Russ Smith]

K-9, I am dubbing you ,"Captain Darksider".

Warner will not take this team on his shoulders and carry them to the playoffs. However, it can't be denied that if we had better quarterbacking last year we very well may have been a playoff team LAST YEAR.

Taking that into consideration and adding the upgrades that we did on the defense and the offense, the fact that Boldin is healthy and Fitz is healthy and a year smarter, gives me reason to believe that Warner just needs to be 80% of what he was with the Rams.
Keep in mind that the Rams shocked the world that year. NOBODY talked about Bruce and Holt. Nobody even knew Warner. As a team the Rams came together that year. Nobody saw it coming.

.

The board that AJ, Holian and others here were on at that time we had a thread going on how scary the Ram offense looked that year in the preseason. Then Green tore his knee up, we all heard the backup was some guy who used to bag groceries, and we all wrote them off. I think there was one guy though who posted that Warner would light it up, I can't remember who that guy was or if he was serious or not but he sure looked like a genius when the season started.

That was absolutely a perfect situation for a QB that year, magical.

 

[spanky1]

Russ,

As magical as the scenario was for Warner in his first year with the Rams, the situation here is very similar.......but for us Card fans, no one thinks he's got much left.

Funny how no one seems to be knocking Bledsoe in Dallas as a short term solution for them until Henson develops.

 

[Russ Smith]

Russ,

As magical as the scenario was for Warner in his first year with the Rams, the situation here is very similar.......but for us Card fans, no one thinks he's got much left.

Funny how no one seems to be knocking Bledsoe in Dallas as a short term solution for them until Henson develops.

I bet Cowboy fans are.

Weird for me I've always liked Bledsoe but as some may have noticed I am a big Henson fan(no really I am) and would like to see him get more PT this year. Henson's not ready to play yet so I think that was a good move but I do think Bledsoe is just about done.

FYI from what I've read recently Henson has had a pretty good camp, they say his arm is visibly stronger this year than it was last year as he gets the rust off from all that time in baseball.

And Jeff Gollin's guy DeMarcus Ware is reportedly tearing up camp, Parcells loves him.

 

[Russ Smith]

And right after posting that I found a story on Foxsports that says Henson has struggled with his accuracy all camp because they're trying to change his throwing motion to less baseball and more football.

 

[joeshmo]

FYI from what I've read recently Henson has had a pretty good camp, they say his arm is visibly stronger this year than it was last year as he gets the rust off from all that time in baseball.

And Jeff Gollin's guy DeMarcus Ware is reportedly tearing up camp, Parcells loves him.

Cowboys | Ware Struggling
Thu, 11 Aug 2005 09:26:00 -0700

Clarence E. Hill Jr., of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, reports while Dallas Cowboys rookie LB Demarcus Ware is listed as a starter on the team's depth chart, he is "struggling mentally," according to head coach Bill Parcells.


And I have been reading that Henson and Romo have been sharing time as the #2 QB so far, and some feel Romo has the slight edge so far in camp.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/...s/MYSA081105.1C.FBNcowboys.romo.179007e1.html

I dont follow them all to much so who the heck knows.

 

[Russ Smith]

Cowboys | Ware Struggling
Thu, 11 Aug 2005 09:26:00 -0700

Clarence E. Hill Jr., of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, reports while Dallas Cowboys rookie LB Demarcus Ware is listed as a starter on the team's depth chart, he is "struggling mentally," according to head coach Bill Parcells.


And I have been reading that Henson and Romo have been sharing time as the #2 QB so far, and some feel Romo has the slight edge so far in camp.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/...s/MYSA081105.1C.FBNcowboys.romo.179007e1.html

Yeah it appears it depends what Cowboy site you read. I read one that said Ware is just destroying the first team OL in practice and Henson's arm looks much stronger.

Then I found another that said Romo is much more comfortable with the offense than Henson, and Henson is still struggling with accuracy as he tries to change his throwing motion. That's one thing that was really clear last year, he was much less over the top than he was at Michigan, I think in that respect playing baseball really set him back.

Sounds like he'll play quite a bit against us.

 

[jefftheshark]

During last year's Giants game I thought Warner looked washed up. At the mock game last Saturday I thought he looked like the second coming of Dan Marino.

As a long time Card fan, it pays to have a flexible mind.

The Shark

 

[JeffGollin]

All of this is speculation. We haven't seen these guys play together as a unit in game-conditions where "live" bullets are being fired. Until we can see some tape, it's just a bunch of media guys talking and our guys (as dedicated and sharp as they are) reporting what they're able to see during a practice.

If we were to review our observations about camp practices one and two years ago, I'm wondering - with two year's worth of hindsight - whether or not most of our conclusions based on those observations actually turned out to be accurate. (Anyone want to sift thru all that all material if it's still accessible?)

 

[Arizona's Finest]

yikes that elton brown news is not good....

 

[azdad1978]

Good job arthur

 

[BigDavis75]

First off I want to say that I was amazed at what Warner did lasy year with the Giants. 5-4, and I would not see it as a stretch to say they were the worst team in the NFL. When Warner tore it up in 99-01 it was not just the system, he always had near perfect placement. Holt was a rookie in 99, but Bruce may have been the best reciever in the NFL. Here if Warner throws 20 TDs I will be doing cartwheels. Anyone remember the N Orleans playoff game where the Saints won with the D-Line of Hand (one of my favorite players), JJ, Howard, and LeRoi Glover? These guys were teeing off on Warner, and he got a concussion and came back into the game albeit he threw a pick for a TD. He really impressed me that day. He is now in the PERFECT situation.

 

[Duckjake]

(

while nearly invincible at home, the Rams were mediocre on the road, even during the Greatest Show on Turf years). The Cards are going to play on soft grass.

If going 18-6 on the road '99-2001 including being 8-0 on the road in 2001 is mediocre I'd like to see what "good" is.

 

[D-Dogg]

I love how spot-on Jurecki is with all his analyses as long as he agrees with you (I'm not talking to you here, Jo; this is most everyone else--especially posters like Law). But if he's saying something bad about the team, he doesn't know anything...

I think that any honest person with two ears and a brain will find it easier to create a diamond by pressing a piece of charcoal in their hands than they would to try and recollect any positive spins on the Cardinals by the walking dead that is Mike Jurecki.

Oh, and Kurt will be the top QB in the conference, or second best by a hair, IF he can stay healthy.

 

[kerouac9]

Oh, and Kurt will be the top QB in the conference, or second best by a hair, IF he can stay healthy.

So, he's going to be better than Bulger, Hassleback, Favre, Culpepper (runner up for MVP last season, IMO), McNabb, and Delhomme? Are you insane?

Honestly, if he approaches the numbers that Eli Manning's going to put up in New York, we should all be happy.

 

[CaptTurbo]

So, he's going to be better than Bulger, Hassleback, Favre, Culpepper (runner up for MVP last season, IMO), McNabb, and Delhomme? Are you insane?

Honestly, if he approaches the numbers that Eli Manning's going to put up in New York, we should all be happy.

k9 what is funny is when we were awful you thought we would be good (mac era) and when we get better every minute you think we are sucking.

 

[kerouac9]

k9 what is funny is when we were awful you thought we would be good (mac era) and when we get better every minute you think we are sucking.

Huh? If anything, I never predicted that we'd be as bad as we were during the Mac era. I never wanted Mac to be HC in the first place. I think you must have me confused with someone else.

Again, I don't think that we suck. I think that we're an 8-8 team with a chance at 9-7 and a WC berth (maybe winning the division in a weak, weak NFC West). But this is a team that lost to the SF 49ers. Twice. For all the talk of how much better this team was last year than the Giants were, I think that they finished with a better record than us.

I don't talk crap about the D, because I think it's going to be good. I don't know if they're going to be Top 5 (just because I still don't know how we're going to stop the run), but I think they'll be good. I'm just not drinking the Kurt Warner Kool-aid. I didn't when he was a Ram, and I'm not going to start just because he's a Cardinal. Being able to hit WRs in stride shouldn't be a feat worthy of exclamation points; it's just that Cardinal fans have been beat down for so long that they don't know what they should expect from a mediocre QB.

The performance that I'm expecting from Warner would put him among the top 20 QBs, and with a Top 10 performance by the D, it could make us an also-ran in the playoffs--provided that the Rams and Seahawks are both pretty bad.

Like it or not, this offense still has a lot to prove on the field under live fire. No position has established itself as at the value of their contracts, except maybe C and LG (second-day picks at minimum salaries). Our WRs have all of one good season and two medicore seasons between them. We have no TEs. That's just the way it is.

EDIT: Being the second-highest rated QB in the NFC would probably win Warner Comeback Player of the Year honors.

 

[CaptTurbo]

But this is a team that lost to the SF 49ers. Twice.

I'm just not drinking the Kurt Warner Kool-aid. I didn't when he was a Ram, and I'm not going to start just because he's a Cardinal. Being able to hit WRs in stride shouldn't be a feat worthy of exclamation points;.

If we had Warner for those 9er games no way we lose.

If you didnt drink the warner kool aid when he was a ram you must have passed out when he got the MVP in the league AND superbowl eh?

Perhaps I have you confused with rats. Been awhile since he was around good to see him back so I can get my jersey from him.

 

[kerouac9]

If we had Warner for those 9er games no way we lose.

If you didnt drink the warner kool aid when he was a ram you must have passed out when he got the MVP in the league AND superbowl eh?

Perhaps I have you confused with rats. Been awhile since he was around good to see him back so I can get my jersey from him.

You do have me confused with Rats. I've been keeping it real for a long time on this board. My first post was on the mediocrity of Marcel Shipp.

And I was nearly apoplectic when Warner won the MVP. Marshall Faulk should have won the MVP both those seasons, it's because Warner was a good story that he won those awards. Stupid media darlings.

 

[Russ Smith]

You do have me confused with Rats. I've been keeping it real for a long time on this board. My first post was on the mediocrity of Marcel Shipp.

And I was nearly apoplectic when Warner won the MVP. Marshall Faulk should have won the MVP both those seasons, it's because Warner was a good story that he won those awards. Stupid media darlings.

You don't think Faulk benefitted just as much from the system and the talent around him as Warner did?

Hell I'd argue Faulk benefitted MORE, Faulk played 5 seasons in the NFL with the COlts. his YPC those 5 years were 4.1, 3.7, 3.0, 4.0, 4.1, yes for his first 5 years pre Rams he averaged LESS than 4 YPC overall and his career best was 4.1.

Then he becomes a Ram and goes 5.5, 5.4, 5.3 during the 3 "magic" years where Warner became a star.

So we have a guy who'd never played in the NFL and thus has no "baseline" and a guy who has played 5 years and suddenly becomes 25% better than he's ever been before, and you're saying Warner didn't deserve MVP because the system made HIM better?

That's the beauty of football, a bunch of players coming together to make a team that's better than the individual parts.

 

[duckfallas]

You have to love synergy.