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I'm more worried about Calvin Johnson. Even if Peanut does play, they are going to have problems with Megatron. They are going to have to roll safety help his way.

from profootballtalk.com BENSON TO THE BENGALS Posted by Mike Florio on September 30, 2008, 4:12 p.m. At a time when the Cincinnati Bengals seemed to be the favorite to land 2005 NFL MVP Shaun Alexander, a native of nearby Florence, Kentucky, the Bengals threw the league a curveball on Tuesday, signing tailback Cedric Benson. The team has announced via a press release the addition of Benson. He’ll replace DeDe Dorsey, who has been placed on injured reserve. Benson was the fourth overall pick in the 2005 draft. The Bears dumped him after a lackluster 2007 season as the clear-cut starter — and after two alcohol-related arrests in less than a month. Though a grand jury opted last week not to indict Benson on any of the pending charges, the decision of the Bengals to add a player with a troubled past will only reinforce the team’s standing as a franchise that simply doesn’t care about the perception that more than a few of its players are turds. Hey, but at least those talented-but-flawed players are helping the Bengals win lots of football games.

I agree, but if Madden says they have to go, then maybe we should keep them! He's an idiot.

Yeah, Hunter was split out wide covering him (or not covering him) one on one on the Stevens TD.

Booker was open quite a few times vs TB. Neckbeard just didn't get him the ball. Many of the times were when Orton was getting pressured.

I'm interested to see if Lloyd shows any consistency. He's done this his entire career. He'll have a great game and then disappear for 4 games. Maybe we'll get lucky and he's finally turned the corner.

from profootballtalk.com GALLOWAY LIKELY OUT FOR BUCS Posted by Michael David Smith on September 17, 2008, 5:10 p.m. Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Joey Galloway is likely to miss Sunday’s game at Chicago, PewterReport.com is reporting. Galloway suffered an ankle injury in the Bucs’ Week 2 win against the Falcons and was unable to practice today. The loss of Galloway, who has started both of Tampa Bay’s regular season games after missing all of training camp and the preseason with a groin injury, would likely mean Antonio Bryant would move to split end and Michael Clayton would start at flanker. Clayton, who had a great rookie year in 2004 but has been a disappointment since then, said he’s ready to be a starter again. “This is the window of opportunity I have been waiting on,” Clayton said. “I’m real confident. It won’t change. I’ve got the confidence where I’m not going to give [the starting job] back. It’s a great year for me and I’m glad this happened early rather than late. This will give me the opportunity to play in a lot of games. Now I just have to stay healthy and play the way I’ve been playing.” Clayton was inactive Week 1 and had one catch for six yards in Week 2.

Isn't Kyle Brady retired?!

They'd never trade him to us this week, but after that...I'd give it a shot.

per Profootballtalk.com: GRIESE IS THE GUY IN TAMPA Posted by Mike Florio on September 16, 2008, 10:37 a.m. To little surprise, Brian Griese is now the starting quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And Jeff Garcia isn’t. Griese led the Bucs to a 24-9 win over the Falcons in their Week Two home opener. Garcia quarterbacked the team during a 24-20 road loss to the Saints in Week One. “You know what? He warrants being a starting quarterback in the league, period,” coach Jon Gruden said of Griese. “With that said, we don’t anticipate any changes at that position this week.” So what is Garcia’s role moving forward? On Sunday, he was the third quarterback. “We’ll address that. It’s going to be a long season,” Gruden said. “We’re going to need everybody on our football team. We certainly need Jeff Garcia. What his role is will be defined on a weekly basis.” Last week, the Bucs shopped Garcia, offering him to the 49ers and others, but not offering him to the Vikings. Gruden is unlikely, in our view, to give Garcia a shot at stardom in Minnesota. The Vikings offense doesn’t need much of an upgrade over Tarvaris Jackson to become dangerous, and Gruden surely fears giving Garcia a chance to shine elsewhere. Griese, who was acquired by the Bucs in a trade with the Bears, is under contract for three more years. He is due to earn $1.4 million this year. Garcia, in the final year of his two-season deal, is making $2 million to do nothing. Though we’re not members of the Jeff Garcia fan club, it’s odd that he’d be benched after only one game. The guy took the team to the playoffs last year, and they lost in Week One against a good Saints team in the Superdome. It just doesn’t seem deserved, in our view. Then again, Garcia didn’t help his cause by bitching about his contract during the offseason. We have a feeling if he’d merely shut his mouth and prepared for the season, he’d still be the starter.

Great post, as always.

What kind of league are you in that Forte was available to be picked up?

I don't think there is anything to "get involved" in. The article even says that Boldin being made available is "extremely unlikely".

I don't know if I want another short, strong armed, gunslinger type and that's what Chase Daniels is. I'd like a tall, strong armed, gunslinger type!

I don't know how effective O'Sullivan will be. He has been cast off from a ton of team's. He's only getting an opporunity because Alex Smih has been terrible. The 49ers are one of the few teams that I think are in a worse situation than us at QB.

The Score is reporting Orton will be announced as the starter after practice today.

It has to be LT with his proven track record.

from profootballtalk.com SCOUTS GALORE WATCH SIMMS WORK Posted by Tom Mantzouranis on August 18, 2008, 1:43 p.m. It’s been almost two years since a majority of the football-loving world first learned of the word “splenectomy” thanks to the in-game destruction of Chris Simms’ insides. Meaning it’s been almost two years of uncertainty over whether he’d be healthy enough to play football again, and if so whether he’d be doing so in pewter. With Simms healthy, the Bucs saturated with quarterbacks and moving on, and final cuts looming, that uncertainty will soon be over. Either the Bucs will trade Simms, or they’ll release him at the last minute before having to cut down to 53 players. And so this training camp and preseason becomes an audition in front of any team in need of a backup (or potentially starting) quarterback. Last night, as the Bucs played the Patriots, scouts from 20 teams were in attendance to see Phil’s son play. Three of those teams came from north of the border — the Toronto Argonauts, the Calgary Stampeders and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers — but also in attendance were representatives from the Vikings, Cowboys, Colts, Ravens, and Bears. The Patriots, who are seeing how destitute they are behind Tom Brady, were surely taking a good look from the other sideline as well. Simms went 2-for-4 for 24 yards in the game, and is 10-for-14 for 84 yards on the preseason. The fact that the Colts were in attendance lends a little more credence to the increasing belief that Peyton Manning’s knee injury is more worrisome than they’ve led on.

Yeah, it seems a little late to bring in someone to be a starter. He would probably have to be 3rd string. Maybe they want someone with at least a little experience in case Grossman and Orton are just terrible. I'd hope they would want to see more out of Hanie before they decide what to do with him. His mobility is refreshing though.

from cnnsi.com Cowboys, Bears scouting Simms For 20 minutes, he was a football player again. Not a rehab case. Not a disgruntled employee. Not a trading chip. Chris Simms had an entire field in front of him and was anxious to put the past behind. As auditions go, this was a keeper. Simms was effective by most standards, and pretty darned impressive when you consider it was his first extensive playing time in nearly two years. He completed 8 of 10 passes for 60 yards and a 91.7 QB rating on his three possessions, and he drove the Bucs to one touchdown and one missed field goal. For Simms, the results are probably incidental. If he continues to play well, maybe another team is willing to give up a fifth-round draft pick in a trade. (Among the teams with scouts in the press box Saturday night were the Bears and Cowboys, both of whom seem to have interest in Simms.)

Who are these "targets we have throw to" you speak of? Outside of Booker, we don't have anyone who has proven they are quality WR's. I hope they step up and are great, but I don't think we can talk about them like they are an asset.

Favre is already under conract so there would be no contract negotiation. We would have to pay him the $12mil/yr he is set to make. There would be no tampering charge for dealing with the Packers about a Favre trade. The NFL live guys said any trade between Min and GB would include an agreement to drop the tampering charges. Who knows if that is really the case. I don't think Favre would choose the Bears over Min or TB anyway.

According to profootballtalk.com the Bears aren't interested in Favre. DO BEARS WANT FAVRE? “NOT RIGHT NOW” Posted by Michael David Smith on July 31, 2008, 3:25 p.m. Even if the report that the Packers would consider trading Brett Favre to a division opponent is correct, it appears that the only NFC North team that wants Favre is the Vikings. The Bears could also use a quarterback, but they appear set on going into the season with Kyle Orton or Rex Grossman as the starter and don’t want to add anyone. ‘‘Not right now,’’ offensive coordinator Ron Turner said when asked if he could picture Favre as a Bear. ‘‘Not with what we have. I like our quarterbacks. That’s not to say he’s not a great player, he’s one of the greatest players of all time. I love him. I love watching him. He’s a great player. Not at this time and in this situation. We’ve got two good quarterbacks.’’ A whole lot of fans and NFL observers would take issue with Turner’s claim that he has two good quarterbacks, but the point remains: The Bears say they’re not a part of the Favre sweepstakes. At least, not right now

Yeah, I think that is it. If I remember the Clayon article, I thought it specifically said that he believed based on the type of offense the Bears wanted to run, that Orton was the front runner. I don't believe his opinion was based on watching them play.

For me, it almost depends on the quality of the offensive line that would determine who I would want at QB. If the o-line can consistently protect the QB (like in 06) then I want Grossman. If the o-line sucks at pass protection (like in 07) then I'd lean towards Orton. If Grossman is protected, he can win games for you. I don't think Orton can. When Grossman isn't protected he makes horrible mistakes. I don't think Orton will.