Four Downs with Stock & Doc
by Ben Stockwell and Paul Hopkins
21/8/2008
 
This week, Stock and Doc consider whether poor starts to the pre-season should be of concern to the Conference favourites, if adding John Lynch is a masterstroke or an act of desperation, what the Ravens should do with its quarterback position and close out their 2008 Divisional previews with the NFC West.
 
After winless and lacklustre starts in pre-season, pre-season conference favourites New England and Dallas should be more concerned than others about their performances.
 
DOC – FACT ! –Yes they should. Not because it will negatively affect their performance over the season, because it won't. I'll guarantee for you now that both will win at least twelve games. But what this has shown is that both teams back-up's are not as good as many people think – Dallas' in particular. The Patriots offensive line back-up's don't look too hot which have to be of concern for the offence. Their secondary isn't simply good enough to have anything of any note in the secondary – I mean, I heard some new young rookie defensive back training in Norwich was being watched by Billy cheat's network of scouts it's that bad!! As for Dallas, the argument goes that this is the deepest squad in football. After seeing both of those games I'm not so sure. Aside from the obvious hole at WR (which I actually think will be ok with Austin and Hurd and possibly Amendola) the defensive back-up's don't look particularly solid – and the lack of any experience with the O-line back-up's is a worry as that unit last year was unbelievable. Any one of them goes down and there may be a problem. Hopefully for both team's sake this should re-focus them to ensure they do what people think they should this season.
 
STOCK – FICTION ! – It's pre-season, it's pointless, and it's irrelevant. Pre-season results all boil down to who opens up their playbook that little bit more to get a confidence boosting win to build momentum into the season. You get some great performances and some terrible performances in pre-season, none of those are linked to regular season performance, just as many teams flop after a great pre-season as vice-versa. Some teams need the victories in pre-season to build momentum to the regular season some don't. The Patriots are a veteran laden team, they know how good they are, they've won Superbowls off of 0-4 pre-season records and some terrible showings; they don't need anything from pre-season. The Cowboys similarly know how good they are, what they need is the confidence for the post-season, no experience from pre-season is going to break their decade long duck of playoff victories.
 
John Lynch's move to New England is another example of a Belicheck masterstroke.
 
DOC – FICTION ! – Billycheat may have pulled this kind of masterstroke off in the past but this is simply an act of desperation. Lynch is finished. If he wasn't then Denver would have surely kept him around? He missed most of last year with injuries that come from wear and tear and getting old, which he is. It's simple - his time has passed. Teams were exposing him of late, hence why Denver weren't too keen to have him around and as soon as he gets onto the field, opposing QB's will be looking for #47 again. Aside from being a good guy to have in the locker room and around the training facility, Lynch is going to be a liability on the field. In an already porous looking secondary, having him on the field will only make it worse.
 
STOCK – FICTION ! – Lynch is past it, he's not a full time safety and he fully well knows this in spite of what he'd have us believe. He stated that he wanted to leave Denver because he didn't want to be a part-time safety anymore, funny you just rocked up and signed on in exactly the same situation there didn't you Johnny boy, how wonderfully forthcoming of you that you don't think Denver are going anywhere this season. What Belicheck and the Patriots have achieved is adequate cover to rotate their safeties and also provide a carbon copy for Rodney Harrison when/if he gets another suspension for HGH or steroid use. Lynch is a passable box safety and will see time close to the line of scrimmage but he will not have another one of these mythical resurrections in New England, he'll do a decent job for New England but it's far from a “masterstroke”. Oh and I can neither confirm nor deny that I was scouted by the Patriots whilst training with the Norwich Devils.
 
With no-one particularly standing out, Baltimore should bite the bullet and start Joe Flacco in week one.
 
DOC – FACT ! – The only way to really learn the NFL is in starting early and learning as you go. Why waste time with Kyle Boller (a perennial tease who looks good in practice but turns into Drew Bledsoe between the hashes) or Troy Smith (a Heisman winner, but too small, too erratic and simply not good enough) when you know who your QB of the future is? I understand fully what you will say, in that his progress will be stunted and it could be counter-productive. But the future starts now. As soon as they jumped back in (far too early) to take Flacco the clock was ticking on his starting – it should begin 7th September.
 
STOCK – FICTION ! – Just because Troy Smith and Kyle Boller are looking as mediocre (too generous?) as ever, that's no reason to completely and utterly ruin Flacco's development by throwing him in too soon. He's shown flashes during training camp but in game condition he's been completely out of his depth, why ruin his development when he's clearly the third best option currently? Smith or Boller will lead the Ravens to between 3 and 5 wins, but that is preferable to Flacco leading them to 1 or 2 wins and completely stunting his development. Flacco won't start week one, nor should he.
 
2008 can finally be the year for the Arizona Cardinals to emerge as a legitimate playoff contender.
 
DOC – FACT ! – Why not? We'll start with the Division. The West is a rubbish Division. Only the Seahawks are a legit team. Problems at WR have meant that a shift back towards the rushing side of the game with Julius Jones and Mark Wahle, and they will win this division at a canter. The Rams will improve on last year when injuries decimated them more than any other team but they are still young and their time is still more than a year away. The 49ers are simply a mess, so I won't waste my time on them beyond saying that. The Cardinals The secondary was a problem and Rodgers-Cromartie will help fix that, meaning Antrel Rolle can move to safety alongside Adrian Wilson. Brandon Moore will help that defence, which is coming together under the Steelers influence. Offensively, they have two strong QB's, a strong RB who has finally found his feet, and exceptional receivers. Outside the division, I think 9-7 puts you in the playoff mix, particularly with the beating the NFC East will lay on each other and the QB concerns over the best two teams in the NFC North. There's only one huge question marks over the Cardinals moving over .500 this season remain for me. And that is simply that it is Arizona and they always flatter to deceive and screw it up.
 
STOCK – FICTION ! – It's always the Cardinals year isn't it? And yet it never is. This year will be no different, the running game is still limp and the quarterback situation is still murky. The defence lost its best player the Jets and the cornerback position is looking very thin (oh I'm sorry an FCS player is supposed to come in and fix it straight away?) and the defensive front is just confusing itself more than opposing offences. The Cardinals again have the talent on paper as they do every year, but just like every other year the talent is a mess and completely disorganised. Once again the Cardinals will flatter to deceive and fall short of the playoffs; the Seahawks will win the division by default the wildcard spots will be divided between the NFC North and NFC East. The West this season is again going to be eminently predictable, and predictably the Cardinals will not be a playoff team.