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Friday TIME: US | UK WEATHER: US | UK HOME THE NEIGHBORHOOD "Life in the UK" American Groups Essential Contacts Money Education Driving WHAT'S ON US Group Events Diary Dates Music Live FEATURES Politics blog SPORTS Features Sideline blog NFL Draft THE AMERICAN MAGAZINE ONLINE |
SIDELINE ARCHIVE Unnecessary Hits To The Pocket / Upset: BYU October 17, 2008 Romo's Pause / Seattle Seahawks October 15, 2008 Weekend Prep: Red River and More October 10, 2008 College Football's 'Crossroads' Weekend October 9, 2008 Gramatical Error October 7, 2008 Turning The Page September 30, 2008 So Cal 'Quizzed — But Who Will Answer? September 26, 2008 3rd Tuesday Panic Button / Forté Yard Dash September 23, 2008 Two and Oh; Oh and Two September 22, 2008 No More NCAAffeine September 11, 2008 Week 1 College Football September 6, 2008 How To Spell Heisman / Chad Ocho Cinco September 1, 2008 Why the Favre story STILL won't go away August 18, 2008 Olympic Notes / Ricky's Still Relevant August 14, 2008 Committee Meetings August 9, 2008 Let the QB Battles Begin August 8, 2008 Slinging The Slinger — More Favre August 6, 2008 Welcome to the 2008 season July 28, 2008 Plus One May 27, 2008 Draft: The Morning After April 28, 2008 Draft: Thinking the Unthinkable April 25, 2008 Draft: Ready For The Long Haul April 23, 2008 Sofa–bound Sport April 16, 2008 Post–Winter Wonderland April 11, 2008 Six Impossible Things February 4, 2008 Brady's Misdirection Play February 3, 2008 Colorful Language January 23, 2008 Let the Romo–bashing begin: Dallas lost January 14, 2008 Bowl Bites: The Wrap January 10, 2008 All About The Coaches January 1, 2008 Bowl Bites 3 and A Communication Breakdown December 29, 2007 Bowl Bites 2 December 27, 2007 Bowl Bites 1 December 23, 2007 The Empty Chair - Coach Situations Vacant December 22, 2007 For Some, The Playoffs Are Now December 15, 2007 A Certain Lack Of Welcome December 13, 2007 Unrelated Notes November 29, 2007 Two Thanksgiving thoughts November 22, 2007 Halftime: NFC November 9, 2007 Halftime: AFC November 8, 2007 London, Part 2 / A Tale of Two Chads / A Game of Intimidation November 4, 2007 Damp Squib / Other London Notes October 29, 2007 Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em / Dolphins – The Aftermath October 23, 2007 The Dolphins Did What? October 18, 2007 Notes on the Defenses October 13, 2007 Habits to be Broken October 12, 2007 Overtime October 13, 2007 This Week's Starters October 6, 2007: USF: Covering The Spread / Fantastic Football September 27, 2007: Grossman: The Final Act? / McNabb, the Epilogue September 24, 2007: Eagles QB in Slight Controversy September 21, 2007: Leftwich's Parting Gift to Jacksonville? / Boos cruise September 18, 2007: Notre Dame M.I.A. September 16, 2007: Looking Beyond NFL Wk. 1 September 12, 2007: Best Hope For Heisman September 10, 2007: Coaching Hot Seats / AP Poll Feeling ’Appy September 7, 2007: The NFL’s Prime Cuts September 5, 2007: Michigan Falls to Killer Apps September 3, 2007: Look Out Couch / The Taint's On You, Bud September 1, 2007: |
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SPORTS SIDELINE 
Observations, Opinion & Occasional Silliness by Richard L Gale Let the QB Battles Begin I love NFL preseason games for the exact same reason other people don't. The starters come on, go through half a dozen plays, and come off again. And that's when the fun starts, that's when I get interested. I enjoy seeing passers, backs and receivers battle for a starting job, backup job, even just the occasional regular season touch. I suspect there are more than a few fantasy football fans out there too, pawing over the statistics looking for a steal. The potential on show elicits that same intoxicating anticipation that fuels every fan's call for the back–up QB to replace the starter. Thursday night's preseason games were about the starting quarterbacks (or lack thereof), as the Cardinals, Bears and Ravens were all in action. The Cardinals job belongs, we are led to believe, to young bohemian Matt Leinart over bible–lovin' oldie Kurt Warner, but even in Cleveland, where 2007's revelatory performance by Derek Anderson has him ahead of temporarily parked passing messiah Brady Quinn, it is only a matter of degree. Both teams invested first round draft picks and sooner or later want to see what they have. The ousting of Brett Favre from Green Bay in favor of Aaron Rodgers is another variation on the theme. In Leinart's case, he just needs to look like a starting QB, on or off the field. Thursday night, he did, going 7 of 8 for 91 yards while Warner merely watched. So far, so good. Once they let Warner play as well, we'll have that QB battle for real. Another straight fight looked to be in prospect in New York, where Chad Pennington and Kellen Clemens were due to compete for the Jets job. Anticlimactically (or mercifully for anybody sick of hearing about Green Bay this past month), Brett Favre arrived in town, relegating Clemens to the no.2 role and Pennington to unemployment before a ball was ever thrown. New no.3 Brett Ratliff had a spectacular evening for the Jets, 14 of 20 for 252 yards and two scores of over 70 yards. Like anybody noticed. A next QB battle is to be found in Chicago, where the Bears enjoy (if that's the word) Rex Grossman v Kyle Orton, a face–off Chicago probably should have resolved two years ago. It wasn't resolved Thursday night — or even advanced noticeably. Undrafted rookie Caleb Hanie threw almost as many passes as both combined. The Baltimore Ravens have a much more complicated situation to resolve, Steve McNair's retirement leaving unconvincing Kyle Boller atop the charts, with former Heisman winner Troy Smith and first round pick Joe Flacco counting the minutes until Boller slides. However, Boller didn't slide, going 11 of 15 for 102 yards, while Smith failed to hit .500 and Flacco missed on his three passes. In Cleveland, Derek Anderson did nothing to undermine his starting status over Brady Quinn, going 4 of 5 with a touchdown. Quinn showed his quality too, 13 of 17 for 133 yards, but right now, Derek Anderson would need to unravel significantly over several regular season weeks to lose his job to Quinn. As with so many other teams 'the future' remains the bench–warmer for now. Better competitions were to be found when the Giants and Lions met, with some jostling down below the starters. Should anything happen to Eli Manning, New York has to know whether former overall No.1 pick David Carr or journeyman Anthony Wright is the guy. Wright went 9 of 13 for 116 yards, while Carr went 10 of 13 for 104 (and predictably, two sacks, including the one that ended a close game). Detroit's Jon Kitna is coming off back–to–back 4,000 yard seasons, leaving last year's second–rounder Drew Stanton and Dan Orlovsky to squabble over relief duty for now. Neither made a move Thursday, but Kitna will be 36 this season, and took a lot of sacks last year, so somebody had better get ready. Thus the QB battles began. So far, though, no war is won, and in some cases barely an opening salvo. And that was Quarterback Thursday. Next: Running Back Friday. |
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