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Panic in Detroit?
Bryant, the Patriots corner by way of the Lions, said that one thing that stands out in New England is the calm.
“One thing I’ve learned since I’ve been here, it’s never a sense of panic,” noted Bryant. “You get coached hard, practice hard, but there’s never panic. There’s always a sense of urgency. Never a sense of panic. I’ve been other places and it’s not always like that."
I asked Bryant about the first few plays of the game when Ravens quarterback went to his side repeatedly to complete out routes.
“Out routes?” he smiled. “In this defense, that’s the one thing coaches say don’t worry about. They say, ‘If they complete out routes on you ... it’s going to take a lot of out routes to win games.”
That’s one thing the newest quarterback in the AFC East, Brett Favre, is going to need to adjust to if he’s in it for the long haul with the Jets. You take what the Patriots give you and be patient. When you try to get it in chunks against them, they get you.
Word of Mouth
I asked Ray Lewis his take on the Favre situation after Thursday night’s preseason game. “No comment at all,” said Lewis. “He’s in my prayers. Whatever gets resolved, gets resolved. Things that I don’t know about, that ain’t my business, I can’t speak on. I don’t want to make any assumptions because I don’t know all the sides of it.”
Desperadoes Under the Eaves
According to Jaguars.com (by way of profootballtalk.com), Jaguars defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was irate about TV crews he thought were taping the team’s defensive signals during workouts.
Reminds me of 2000 when Bill Belichick took over the Patriots. The media work area was in a box above the stadium and the team often did its walkthroughs on the field. Belichick ordered the windows covered up during the week so no illicit intelligence was gathered. As if …
Sanctuary
Spoke with Cam Cameron Thursday night before the Pats and Ravens. Cameron’s now the Ravens offensive coordinator after a one-win season as head coach of the moribund Dolphins in 2007 and he looks at peace in Baltimore. He’s got an interesting complement of quarterbacks in camp. He’s got the Kyle Boller reclamation project and the development of Flacco and Troy Smith to oversee along with quarterbacks coach Hue Jackson. Harbaugh said that Smith will start the next preseason game for Baltimore. How will the Ravens decide who starts the season under center? “What they do in the game is the biggest indicator,” said Harbaugh. “That’s not to say that practices are not important. I couldn’t give you percentages and say 40 percent practices and 60 percent games or anything like that. Some of it is going to be gut on the part of the coaches as well but the game is important. In the end, we just have to go with the guy that we feel is going to give us the best chance to win the next game and if that’s a gut decision. That’s what it is.”
The Indifference of Heaven
So, do you think that $20 million service contract is still on the table for Favre when he retires from the Jets? Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel writer Paul Wolfley had an interview with former Packer Paul Hornung who made a great point.
“You know what really peeved me about Green Bay? They offered Brett Favre ($20 million) just to hang around as an ambassador and we've got guys who played 10 and 12 years … who don’t have enough money to (get operations), for heaven’s sakes. If you’ve got that much money just to give to a guy to show up at a game and be a Good Time Charlie then, damn it, they should try to take care of the players who played 10 or 12 years and need the money very badly.”
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