Vick plays

Perhaps I was too quick to judge the Eagles’ coaching staff, who not only let Mike Vick get a bit of PT last night, but also lined him up at wide receiver, though he didn’t catch a pass. If you’re interested, check out his highlights on NFL.com. I particularly liked his pass to Hank Baskett…nice accuracy, placing the ball away from the defender.

I did catch part of his postgame interview last night, and he sure is confident, talking about how he can do it all. I was a little surprised by that, but perhaps I shouldn’t have been. I guess I thought prison would humble a man. Anyway, I’m now really looking forward to seeing how the Eagles will use him this season.

Rockies grab Jason Giambi

An excited reader sent me a text about this while I was in church today, but in case you haven’t heard, the Colorado Rockies agreed to terms with first baseman Jason Giambi. Giambi had hit .193/.332/.364 for the Oakland A’s this year.

This friend was excited to have the lefty Giambi as a pinch-hitter against right-handed relievers, but Giambi’s hitting even worse against righties (.186/.335/.306) this year than lefties (.209/.327./.488). For his career, of course, he’s better against right-handers.

I’m largely ambivalent about the move. That said, Giambi isn’t the most likeable guy and I’m not thrilled about adding even an apologetic performance-enhancing drug user in the middle of a strech run when the Rockies could use all available good karma.

Broncos lose again

The Denver Broncos lost their second preseason game last night 27-13 to the Seattle Seahawks, dropping the team to 0-2 in pretend games so far this year.

Kyle Orton was better yesterday than he was in the first game. That’s not saying much. He completed 18 of 26 passes for 182 yards and a touchdown, and also threw an interception in the end zone. Let’s discuss that pick and the series of events leading to it because it is emblematic, I fear, of what Denver’s season could look like.

The Broncos got the ball on their own 13 yard line and, thanks largely to a series of complete passes, moved into scoring position. (Check the play-by-play here; it’s the drive that started with 10:33 left in the second.) After a short pass to Eddie Royal, the Broncos get first-and-goal on the four. LaMont Jordan runs three yards to the one. So it’s second-and-goal on the one or, in other words, the Broncos had three chances to move the ball one yard.

Well, here’s a team with a proud history of running the ball, and with a ton of RBs to evaluate on the roster. Surely ONE of the downs will go to a run. Instead, it’s three straight passing plays. The first two were incomplete passes to Jabar Gaffney, and I think one of them was that laser Orton threw over Gaffney’s head when he was standing wide open in the back of the end zone. Whenever that opportunity came, Orton blew it badly. But he didn’t call three straight pass plays. On fourth down, Orton ran away from pressure, switched the ball to his left hand (huh?), and lofted an absolute rainbow in the middle of about eighteen Seattle defenders which, predictably, was picked off. You know, it’s the kind of idiot play you make when you know you have absolute job security. (Chris Simms was 5-for-7, but Orton started the second half this time and Tom Brandstater came in later, so I guess Simms is the secret weapon this year.)

Again, though, why weren’t we running it? I get that Shanahan isn’t the coach here anymore, but it’s not like the conventional wisdom suggests it’s easy to throw with only one yard and an end zone to work with. And Shanahan HAS thrown in those situations, though often with bootlegs or play action or some other “set up the pass with the run” scheming. The fourth-down pick was awful. The sycophantic local announcers excused it since it was fourth down and everything, but as my brother pointed out, doesn’t the field position mean something? Since the Seahawks got a touchback, the interception, though not as costly as some, gave the Seahawks nineteen yards we didn’t have to give them, plus valuable breathing room on dropbacks, etc.

Look, it’s one thing when your team doesn’t win, but plays hard. It’s one thing when your team is young, and doesn’t quite know what it’s doing yet, but is still exciting and tough. But when your team is young, a little short on talent, and making horrible decisions on the sideline and on the field, it makes for a terrible year.

The return of Favre & Vick

January 4, 2003 felt like a moment. If you don’t remember the date, surely you’re familiar with the events of the day. In the early AFC wild-card game, the New York Jets destroyed the Indianapolis Colts 41-0, dropping Peyton Manning’s career playoff record to 0-3.

But it was the night game that really looked like a torch-passing for the league. Michael Vick, a 22-year-old lefty phenom in his second year in the league, was leading the Atlanta Falcons into Lambeau Field, where the Green Bay Packers were 13-0 all-time in playoff games. The Packers’ quarterback that day was Brett Favre, 33, already a three-time MVP and a surefire Hall of Famer. It was the days before HPS, but I still covered the game in my journal:

“…it was like 28° at kickoff and it snowed in the second half. But Atlanta just jumped on the Pack early and Green Bay never recovered. I think it was 27-7. Falcons Q Michael Vick made some sweet plays, especially running, but his numbers weren’t great. I was definitely impressed by the Falcons. Brett Favre, the Packers QB, started slow and eventually threw two picks (one very early) and lost a fumble. He was on fire in the second half and made some really tough throws, but his receivers dropped a lot of passes, it seemed.”

And that was the day the NFC got its new premier quarterback, or so it seemed, though Vick’s Falcons were knocked out the next week by the Philadelphia Eagles in Donovan McNabb’s first game back from a broken ankle.

Careers didn’t quite pan out the way some thought they would after that game. Favre led the Packers to the playoffs the next two years, beating the Seahawks in an overtime game and losing to the Eagles and Minnesota Vikings. After two more years missing the playoffs, he took the Packers back following the 2007 season. He led them into the NFC Championship game, which the team lost at home to the New York Giants.

Vick, on the other hand, got back to the playoffs only once, following the 2004 season. His Falcons beat the St. Louis Rams by thirty in the divisional round, then he lost yet again to the Eagles.

Now these two high-profile quarterbacks have just found new teams: Favre, with the Vikings, and Vick, with the Eagles.

Both are players of incredible athletic talent and superstar name recognition. And both rub countless fans the wrong way, Favre with his chronic indecisiveness, and Vick with his animal cruelty. And between them, they’ve only led one true contender since their playoff showdown years ago (Favre’s 2007 team). But personally, I can’t wait to see how they do.

Favre, of course, has the better shot to change the outcome of the season than Vick does, if only because he’s much more likely to start. He strung the Vikings along for months. I seem to recall that team setting some deadlines, by which Favre absolutely had to commit, yet he we are, with Favre preparing for a start in Minnesota’s next preseason game.

Is Favre a jerk for dragging this out? An egomaniac? Someone who needs to retire? Perhaps. But the Vikings, whose defense ranked 6th in the NFL last year, and whose star runner, Adrian Peterson, led the league in rushing yards, just need Favre to play quarterback. And anyone who says he can’t get it done anymore has a short memory. Last year Favre completed 65.7% of his passes (his second straight year over 65%) for 3,472 yards, 22 touchdowns, and 22 interceptions. The problem, though, is that he ran out of gas as the season went on. Most telling is how much worse his end of the season was than his start:

First four games: 87/124 (70.2%), 12 TDs, 4 INT

Last four games: 75/132 (56.8%), 2 TDs, 8 INT

Well, of course he slowed down! He’s old! Of course, the then-25-year-old Jay Cutler had a rating of 110.6 in his first three games last year, and 73.8 in his last three, but perhaps that’s just because he was too young.

It’s no guarantee that Favre will play well for the Vikings this year, but he could, and that makes Minnesota’s season so much more interesting. Who wants to see a terrific, talented squad stumble all year for want of a quarterback? Add Brett, and they’re instant contenders.

The suffering of Packers fans and suddenly self-loathing Vikings fans, as well as the eventual Favre-in-Lambeau showdown, should make for fantastic theater. (Have we ever seen anything like Favre going back to Green Bay, playing for a division rival?) If the upcoming media circus threatens to derail that for you, just shut off your TV for a few hours and relax a little, because this is genuinely exciting.

Vick, on the other hand, is backing up an established star and starter in McNabb, who reportedly lobbied to bring Vick to the Eagles. Vick’s incredible speed (or rather the speed he had when he was last in the league) has led to countless speculation that he’ll play wideout, or be involved in trick formations, but I doubt coach Andy Reid’s Limbaugh-like conservatism will showcase much innovation. Who knows, though? Vick’s best shot to play a lot, naturally, is if McNabb gets injured. McNabb has had some serious injuries in his career, and missed significant time in 2005 and 2006, but has only missed two games the last two years. I’ll be a little surprised if Vick doesn’t start at least once this year, though. Despite Vick’s crimes, I hope he gets his moves back, because he’s a phenomenal entertainer who can pull off electrifying runs and passes.

I am more excited for this NFL season than I have been in years. Madden is even on its way from Amazon as we speak. This is weird, considering I have almost no faith in the Broncos. But Brett Favre and Michael Vick are two legitimate reasons I can’t wait for kickoff.

Broncos lose preseason opener; the time for action is NOW

Friday night, during the Denver Broncos’ preseason opener, we learned one thing: if Kyle Orton gets enough time and help, he can make a drive last long enough to end in a punt. And that’s a big if.

The Broncos lost to the San Francisco 49ers 17-16 at Candlestick Park last night. (Check video highlights on NFL.com.) Orton, the new starting quarterback we stole from Chicago in exchange for a mere Pro Bowler, completed twelve of sixteen passes, though three of them were to 49ers, ending each of the team’s first three drives. The first was particularly galling: an awful pass into the end zone that billionaire Niners cornerback Nate Clements leaned into and caught to end our best scoring chance of the first half. Orton made his reputation in Chicago as an OK option across from a good defense, but I’m not sure any defense is good enough to cover throwing away chances like that, on second down from the three. My friend David V. calls Orton "The Ocho", which I love (Orton wears No. 8). I fear, though, that calling him that will be the most fun I'll have watching Orton all season. (To be fair, Orton was playing without top receiver Brandon Marshall, who was found not guilty of battery yesterday.)

In the second half, we saw Chris Simms, the former Longhorn whose career in the NFL, except for a brief stretch in Tampa Bay, has been puzzling for its lack of opportunities. Simms, the son of a former NFL star, put up very good numbers in Austin, but was always seen as a bit of a disappointment. That view carried over into the NFL without a moment’s examination, as Simms was a late third-round pick and has rarely been given chances by a team, the Bucs, that could afford to give them. He also suffered from some injuries in his career, including a brutal spleen rupture in 2006.

Anyway, Simms was 11-for-17 for 142 yards and two touchdowns, the second of which was especially sweet: a fifty-two yard rainbow bomb down the sideline on third-and-nine. He was picked off on the ensuing two-point conversion attempt. (To be fair, Simms was playing with backups the whole time and still moved the ball.) Now some might say that the Broncos have a quarterback controversy on their hands. They do not; Simms was clearly much, much better last night, and if he’s not starting when the season does, I’m going to lose it.

Don’t misunderstand me. I get that yesterday was just one game, and I don’t think either Orton or Simms will lead us to the promised land. I just have more faith in Simms’ untapped potential than I do in an offense led conservatively by Kyle Orton. I don’t think we’ll have enough defense to have a Bears-style O, and I question The Ocho’s ability to lead a more open attack. Simms played last night with more arm strength, wisdom, guts, and hunger. Orton may outplay him as the preseason goes on, and of course I don’t go to every practice, but for now, the need is clear: start Chris Simms!

Rockies take third of four from the Cubs

The Colorado Rockies beat the Chicago Cubs 11-5 tonight after the Cubs “rallied” in the ninth inning. It was the first Rockies game I’ve attended since the team won the NLCS. (What do you mean, “fair weather”?)

I went to the game with several friends from home, and we went in honor of two brothers from my neighborhood. One of them, a former HPS commenter, has just returned from a Mormon mission, and the younger is leaving town for his tomorrow (now, technically, that’s later today). Along with the group was my own younger brother, which was exciting, because we’d watched countless Rockies games at home in the late ’90s but had not been to a game together in years.

I was coming from the other side of town, so I picked up my ticket at will call, mostly ignored the instructions for how to get to my seat, then walked around to the Rockpile before realizing my seats were, ahem, on the other side of the park. Walking into a game is still an awesome feeling. There’s a tangible joy in the air you don’t feel often. Plus Coors Field, which is still the only place I’ve ever caught a major league game, is an absolute treasure in my opinion. I made it to my seat in time to snap a picture of Todd Helton standing in familiar territory after singling in the first inning to extend his hitting streak to fifteen games.

Next up was Troy Tulowitzki, the Rockies’ 24-year-old shortstop and a key member of the 2007 World Series team. Tulowitzki immediately crushed a home run to left field to give the Rockies an early 2-0 lead.

In the second inning, all sorts of cool things happened. Clint Barmes hit a home run. Yorvit Torrealba doubled, then advanced to third on a hit from pitcher Jorge De La Rosa. Dexter Fowler reached on a hit that maybe should have been an error on Cubs starter Tom Gorzelanny. When Helton got up, I started to get this feeling like I should be taping the game on my phone because something good was about to happen. Eventually Helton walked to load the bases for Tulo, who crushes an apparent grand slam, and I caught it all. Awesome! But the umps call it out, so I immediately and absentmindedly erase the clip. Then they go to check the instant replay, and I feel like a freaking idiot, before they decide that they were in fact right and Tulo did not hit a homer. Good fun. Wouldn’t be the last Tulo moment I screwed up, either. Troy ended up knocking in two runners with a single.

The Cubs shut us out for the entire third inning before giving up two more runs in the fourth, including one scored by Helton when Tulo knocked him in with a double.

The game went on, and the comfortable home-team blowout made enjoyable background fodder for conversation. In the sixth inning De La Rosa, who struck out 11 and gave up one run in 7 and 2/3, led off with a double. Meanwhile we talked about all kinds of athletes from our younger years. It’s worth nothing that, despite the preseason opener on Friday, we spent very little time on the Broncos.

When the seventh inning stretch began, I realized I needed to hurry if I was going to grab a hot dog. So my brother and I headed down right as the crowd started singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” (2:30). Now you need to know that this crowd, as you might expect, had a lot of Cubs fans in it. I wouldn’t say they outnumbered the Rockies boosters or anything, but you could hear them cheer pretty well whenever the Cubs did something right. Anyway, what happened next was an almost instinctive experience. Right when the song hit the first “root”, I could hear the crowd taking a collective inhale, and that’s right when it hit me, too, just in time to scream, “for the ROCK-IES!” loud enough, in my section at least, to drown out the opposing “Cubbies” fans. It was awesome.

The first concession stand I walked by offered several different kinds of hot dogs, each named after a different city and slathered, in my opinion, with all kinds of undesirable toppings. I like my cats dead and my dogs dry, so I moved around for a plainer Italian-style hot dog which ended up being kind of awful. I walk around to meet back up with Dan, and hear wild cheering and the announcers babbling something about Soriano on TV before we head back to our seats. I sit down and the fresh RM tells me, “you missed it.” I missed what? Well, Tulo hit a triple while I was gone, meaning he hit for the cycle.

The rest of the game felt kind of long. I stood to clap for De La Rosa when he left the game after a great performance. I cheered a lot for Tulo, who added another two-RBI single in the eighth. That let him finish 5-for-5 with seven RBI and two runs scored. An outstanding night. You know, the Yankees can have Derek Jeter; I just hope we hang on to Tulowitzki for a long, long time. And my bro and I got to rest our feet on the row in front of us, which just happened to be the famous “mile high” row of purple seats.

The Cubs fans got excited in the ninth, when they scored a few runs to make the final score a little less disrespectable. At one point a guy behind me changed the “Let’s Go, Rock-ies!” chant into a far more fun, “Nineteen-oh-six!” which I joined in on and is even more sweet considering the Cubs last won the World Series in 1908. I almost wish someone had corrected it…well, excuuuuuse me! Your team rocks!

Anyway, the Rockies game tonight was a freaking blast, and a great way to celebrate. If you haven’t made it to a game yet this year, I highly recommend it.

Cutler calls out fans, then doesn’t

This is a couple of days old, but it’s too good to skip, especially with the contrast between the new quarterbacks on the Bears and Broncos in the first story. (Don't miss how Kyle Orton's day at practice went, unless you value your sanity.)

The first story was when Cutler said the Denver fans weren’t as good as the fans of the Chicago Bears, or maybe just that there were fewer of them at training camp. Then he came out and sort of backtracked/explained himself, which sort of makes sense when you look at the quotes again.

Read the stories; they crack me up. For the record I really don’t care if Broncos fans are given any credit for being great fans; I just want us to be loud enough during big games and big moments that no opponent wants to play in Denver.

Vick in Denver?

Probably not, as Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen has denied meeting with the recently-freed quarterback. Of course, you never know—I’d absolutely deny meeting with Vick under any circumstances up to the moment I signed him.

My question is, should the team consider it? On the one hand, Vick would immediately become the most talented quarterback on Denver’s roster. Our current candidates for the job this year are Kyle Orton, a career 55.3 percent passer who earned some small acclaim playing alongside a few good defenses in Chicago; Chris Simms, son of an NFL star who was best known for beating Denver in the Super Bowl, and a player who was considered a disappointment before he even left college; and Tom Brandstater, a rookie from Fresno State whose YouTube highlights fail to impress. It’s weird because I could have sworn we did okay at quarterback last year. In fact I keep hoping to hear that the trade of Jay Cutler and the firing of Mike Shanahan were all just one big joke or something, but anyway. The Broncos could use a passer.

As it is, our best bet could even be (cringe) Simms, who has somehow attempted only 494 passes in his six NFL seasons. That’s exactly as many as John Elway threw in 1994, when he notched the eighth-highest total of his career.

Vick, however, is in some respects one of the most talented quarterbacks in NFL history. Certainly he’s gifted as a runner; he picked up more than a thousand yards on the ground his last season in the game (2006). His passing can be underwhelming; he has a very strong arm and can pull off incredible throws, but he’s also capable of wild inaccuracy. Of course, you already know all this, as he was one of the most celebrated players of the decade. (One of the most annoying ways he was honored was how the abysmal ESPN Sunday Night Football crew used to shoehorn five Michael Vick mentions into every broadcast, even when his team had nothing to do with the game.)

So why not sign him? Well…there’s kinda sorta the small matter that he was involved in a long-running dog-fighting ring that involved what could be described as the torture of animals.

So should the Broncos sign Vick? To be honest, I’m not sure, but I don’t think I’d have a problem with it. Vick did hard time and has paid his debt to society. You might think he doesn’t deserve to be an NFL quarterback anymore, but the courts don’t see it that way. He needs a job, perhaps desperately, and this is the field he has experience in. I don’t think he deserves a big contract—he may be done as a player—and he’d have to earn his PT, but that’s true for everybody. I think it’d be worth signing Vick just to see one friend of mine flip out over it. Besides, it may be good PR for the team to say it’s only interested in so-called good-character guys, but if that’s true, it’s a pretty new development. For once, though, I want to know what YOU think, so hit the comments and let me know.