by tom weppel
Well, well, well. Jack Del Rio, a man who likes things done by his own set of standards and HATES having others know his business, has once again decided to turn over the apple cart downtown at the stadium. This time, he took an axe to the Byron Leftwich ride at QB, giving #7 the old heave-ho and handing over the reigns of the offense to David Garrard. Del Rio was never keen on Leftwich, and it’s fair to say that the fans might’ve been a little leery as well as to what Byron was gonna do this season.
And so the Jaguars have Garrard at QB, which gives the offense a different look, for sure, hopefully making it more diverse and efficient in the way it operates. We shall see this weekend, when the Jags open the 2007 season at home against the Tennessee Titans, a team the Jags have traditionally had some tough times with.
This is going to be an interesting game, to say the least. Del Rio and Titans’ Head Coach Jeff Fisher are both USC alums and carry a similar attitude in many respects. Of course, the most noise coming from Nashville this season has been about Pacman Jones, a player we will NOT see because of his ridiculous antics off the field.
The Titans this season have names at positions we haven’t seen before. In the past, we were used to Travis Henry at running back and Drew Bennett at wide receiver. Instead, we’ll see LenDale White at RB and Eric Moulds at WR, so it’ll be interesting to see what Tennessee will do from an offensive standpoint. Obviously, QB Vince Young is the total key.
On defense, the Titans will show us familiar names, such as DT Albert Haynesworth, LB Keith Bulluck, and free agent CB Nick Harper, whom they signed from the Colts. They will give the Jags a tough time. Look for an interesting, competitive contest, hopefully ending up with a victory for Del Rio and his squad.
All eyes will now be on two schools: the Michigan Wolverines and the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. Both schools suffered bad losses last week, albeit in different fashions. Michigan was expecting a nice walk in the park when they invited Appalachian State to Ann Arbor last weekend. Instead, they got rocked by the Mountaineers, 34-32. Michigan fans are still in shock. Now they will host the Oregon Ducks, and it should be very interesting to see how the Michigan squad comes out and plays. By the way, in case you were wondering, Appalachian State will host Lenoir-Rhyne on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame looked bad in their home loss to Georgia Tech last weekend. Charlie Weis could be in for a long year as the Irish Head Coach. They will have a tough time, it seems, beating their opponent this weekend, the Penn State Nittany Lions.
On a local note, the Gators have another exhibition at home when they play Troy, while Florida State gets a home reprieve when they host Alabama-Birmingham. Georgia will host Steve Spurrier and his Gamecocks, while the Miami Hurricanes travel to Oklahoma to face the Sooners. Also, Alabama is at Vanderbilt, Nebraska is at Wake Forest, and Virginia Tech goes to LSU.
We’ve seen the Colts open up the season with the Saints. Sunday will give us a pretty good slate to play with, including the Cowboys hosting the Giants and Tom Coughlin. New York will have Michael Strahan back at DE, and we’ll see how they cope without RB Tiki Barber. Eyes will also be on Dallas QB Tony Romo.
The Patriots open their season in New York when they face the Jets, while the Bears go to San Diego to take on a tough Charger squad. In a unique twist, there will be not one, but TWO games on Monday night, with the Ravens in Cincy while the Cardinals go to the Bay to face the 49ers.
We’re in the homestretch of the regular season, and there are a bunch of teams in the running for playoff slots. In the NL East, the Braves are having a tough time keeping up with the Mets and Phillies, and it is causing consternation among Atlanta fans, without question. Many expected more and better production out of these Braves. Instead, they are seeing a team that is struggling at the wrong times. A lack of timely hitting and pitching is not good. If the Braves are to get into the postseason, they will have to make a good, strong run.
You can also see the Cubs, Cardinals, and Brewers battling in the NL Central, while the Padres, D-backs, and Dodgers are slugging it out in the West. Things are a little clearer in the AL, as the Red Sox, Indians, and Angels all have decent, yet still precarious, leads.
In NASCAR, it’s the final race to determine those that will qualify for the ‘Chase.’ This race is in Richmond and it will be interesting to see how things evolve out of this race. The key driver will be Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who needs a couple of things to happen in order to get into the Chase.
Meanwhile, the PGA Tour is continuing their Fed Ex Cup, but not too many are keeping track of it all. I think it’s gonna take a while before this thing takes a hold of the interest of golf fans. Even the golfers themselves aren’t keeping total tabs on what’s going on.
Tom Weppel talks trash with Greg Larson, Lonnie Marts, Eugene Chung, Artis Gilmore, and Ron Duguay on SportsAvengers.com 24/7.
|
EU Critic’s Choice Awards
