The 2004 NFL season may only be weeks old, but the teams on the field are the result of months of preparation and planning. Trades, draft picks, free agent signings, and salary cap calculations are all parts of a grand plan designed to move the team forward to winning the Super Bowl.
For some teams, the payoff is being cashed in. For others, well, you know what they say about payback.
Cashing In
So far this season, the team showing the best results from all its offseason plans is the Philadelphia Eagles.
No one is surprised that the Eagles are proving to be one of the best teams in the NFL. The surprise is how well everything is coming together so soon.
The Terrell Owens signing was of course huge for Philadelphia and the results are just as big. After Week 3, Owens had as many touchdown receptions as all the Eagles receivers had all of last season.
QB Donovan McNabb has a pass completion percentage of over 60% for the first time in his career and shows no signs of the inconsistency that has marked his NFL career prior to this season.
Brian Westbrook is making people forget about RB Duce Staley and the offense as a unit is firing on all cylinders even with losing Correll Buckhalter for the season.
On defense, Jevon Kearse is looking like "The Freak" again and the loss of CB Bobby Taylor and Troy Vincent hasn't been noticed as Lito Sheppard and Sheldon Brown have stepped up.
In all, things are working just as head coach Andy Reid said they would. The big game in Jacksonville is a long way off, but the Eagles look like the class of the NFC and right now it is hard to imagine that they will not raise the George Halas Trophy at Lincoln Field in January.
While the Eagles are showing that big money free agents can still improve a team, the New England Patriots continue to show that the right people in the right system with the right coach equals winning in the ultimate team game.
The Patriots did not make as big a splash in the free agent market as Philadelphia. The most significant addition to the Patriots was RB Corey Dillon. Some wondered how the disgruntled former Cincinnati Bengal would fit into the Bill Belichick scheme of "team first," something Dillon was not noted for.
Once again, the player appears to fit the scheme in New England as Dillon is averaging over 4 yards a carry and the Patriots just keep winning.
Two years ago, the Atlanta Falcons were the up and comers in the NFL after a great season and surprising playoff run in which they traveled to the "Frozen Tundra" and handed the Packers their first playoff defeat on home turf since Vince Lombardi was in high school.
After a broken leg for Michael Vick and a broken defense last season, the Falcons devoted great time and effort (and cash) to re-building the worst defense in the NFL.
The first step, like in many re-building efforts, was to fire the coach, but Dan Reeves left with the writing on the wall before the season ended last year.
Enter new coach Jim Mora. Exit Wade Phillips and his 3-4 defense. The Falcons then hired defensive coordinator Ed Donatell as fast as the Packers fired him (after 4th-and-26 fame against Philadelphia).
Upgrades to the defensive line (ex-Raider Rod Coleman), linebacker (ex-Buc and Ram Jamie Duncan), secondary (ex-49er Jason Webster and number 8 overall pick DeAngelo Hall), and presto-chango the Falcons lead the NFL in sacks (after Week 3) and have cut their rushing yards allowed by more than half.
In an era where a suffocating defense and mediocre QB can win you a Super Bowl (see Baltimore Ravens and Tampa Bay Buccaneers), imagine where Atlanta could be if Vick grasped the notion of throwing the football. Great start for Jim Mora.
In the northwest, many would have agreed that this was the year that the genius of Mike Holmgren needs to show itself.
Although a Super Bowl winner in Green Bay, Holmgren was beginning to find himself being placed in the same category as Mike Shanahan in Denver as the "Best Coach ... But Only With a Superstar QB."
Although the Seahawks didn't make many signings in the offseason, their signing of DE Grant Wistrom was one of the most criticized. The word was that Seattle paid way too much for Wistrom and maybe Holmgren was starting to panic.
What about Holmgren and his draft picks? Holmgren drafted LB Michael Boulware from Florida State in the second-round, but many were skeptical when they heard the plan was to convert him to a strong safety.
So far into 2004, how does Holmgren look now? The Seahawks are undefeated. Wistrom leads the team in sacks and Boulware leads the team in interceptions.
Is the West Coast Offense coming together? Seattle has scored 8 TDs to their opponents' 1.
Given that Seattle is in the same division as the perennial loser Arizona Cardinals, the bargain basement San Francisco 49ers, and the fading St. Louis Rams, you have to like Seattle's chances to take the division and move deep into the playoffs.
Cashing Out
While the Eagles are the first to come to mind when talking about "All the Right Moves," the Kansas City Chiefs spring to mind when talking about "What were you thinking?"
It has long been accepted in football that players play and coaches coach. So it defies logic that the Chiefs, after watching one of the best offenses in the NFL last year get swept out of the playoffs at home because of one of the worst defenses, would not have made one change on defense.
Wait, there has been one change. Gunther Cunningham, former head coach of the Chiefs, was brought back by Dick Vermeil to be the defensive coordinator. The result has been predictable. Cunningham has not made any plays on defense and neither has Kansas City.
The offense has also stalled a bit this year and the defense does not have the ability to keep them in the game until QB Trent Green can get on track.
After losing their first three games and tough road games this season like Baltimore and Tennessee and home games against Carolina, Atlanta, and Indianapolis, the Chiefs could find their playoff hopes dashed before Halloween.
While Kansas City has been demonstrating that standing pat can sometimes really be a step backwards, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers look ready to show that bringing in a whole bunch of aging veterans from different teams does not result in a cohesive unit, but rather just a whole bunch of aging veterans from different teams.
What do Charile Garner, Joey Galloway, Dave Moore, Tim Brown, Derrick Deese, Keith Burns, and Todd Steussie have in common?
All were brought in this season by the Bucs and all have double-digit years of NFL experience except Galloway and he is out with an injury indefinitely, which means by the time he actually plays again for the Bucs, he may have double-digit years of NFL experience.
It has been a fast descent for the Super Bowl Champs of 2002. A losing season last year and a winless season so far this year may have coach Jon Gruden getting even less sleep (if that is possible for him), but there is plenty of blame to go around.
The Bucs played with replacing QB Brad Johnson, but then didn't. The Bucs don't have an every down back and brought in Garner who has way too much mileage on him and he ends up being lost for the year.
WR Keenan McCardell may holdout the entire season and Keyshawn Johnson was dealt away for Galloway, who also got injured. Tim Brown is showing why 40-something Jerry Rice beat him out for a job in Oakland.
Only the Raiders can get by with veteran castoffs and even then, when did they last win a Super Bowl?
The Bucs may have been able to sign 11 guys for the price some teams signed two, but if those 11 guys can't make the impact of two, why have them around?
While the Bucs may be trying to sign everyone over 35-years-old, the San Francisco 49ers didn't look like they wanted to sign anyone.
The 49ers failed to keep their starting quarterback, their number one and number two receivers, their number two running back, their starting guard, and their starting left tackle.
Add to that list the fact that they placed the franchise tag on their best defensive player, LB Julian Peterson, who held out at training camp, and it seems incredible that the 49ers even have enough people to field a team.
Given that the 49ers are winless so far this year and were shutout for the first time since 1977, perhaps the word "team" is a bit strong. By all appearances, the plan appears to be to spend as little as possible and see if people will still buy tickets.
The 49ers are run now by the husband and wife team of Denise DeBartolo York and co-owner John. Further proof that spouses should never work together.
Not even Joe Walsh could save this team and at the moment there is nothing to indicate that the 49ers won't sink even deeper with the current ownership philosophy.
With not quite one quarter of the season complete, no one team has the Super Bowl clinched or has been eliminated from the playoffs, but the ability of a team to adapt to success or failure this year began shortly after the gun sounded last February when the Patriots held up the trophy.
Leave a Comment