NFL General

If you are looking to place a wager on tonight’s game you should probably consider the following.

NY Giants: According to the Giants Head Coach their offense has been severely limited due to several key injuries. The Giants normally play a two tight-end set, but will likely be limited to a one tight-end set tonight due to several injuries to their tight-ends. The coach also stated that the starting offense would be limited to about 15-18 plays before the second string would hit the field. The Giants have been running their mouth a lot and giving the Jets a lot of “bulletin board” material to get them fired up over the past week. Giants defense appears to be pretty healthy and ready to go.

Jets: The Jets appear to be relatively healthy and should come in pretty prepared for this game. The starting offense is expected to play into the 2nd quarter. Giants said that the Jets playing starters longer would not effect their strategy for the game. One important note is that the Jets are appearing this year on the HBO Hard Knocks show. Several of the teams that have been filmed for this this show have really struggled with their overall play in the season that followed them appearing on the show as it appears to distract the players from the overall routine of getting ready for the season as the cameras are constantly on them.

Based on the above, I would lean towards the Jets -3 and…

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If you do a little research and make some educated guesses based on current comments by coaches and players as to their intentions for any of their preseason games, you may have a chance to build that bankroll even before the season officially starts.

Saturday Leans:

1. Detroit (+2.5) vs Pittsburgh: Even w/o Big Ben Pitt is still the better team.  However, Detroit has won more games in the past two preseasons than they have in either season combined.  Therefore, I still look for the Detroit coaches to push for a win here, just to help the overall morale of this team.  So look for Detroit to come out and play harder as this game may mean more to Detroit than Pittsburgh. Lean towards Det.

2. Minnesota (+2.5) vs St. Louis: Without Favre confirmed to be the starter look for the QBs from Minnesota to take the field focused on earning a starting QB role.  Therefore, you may see some more passing from the Vikings, plus their running game will be solid even when they get pretty deep on their bench.  St. Louis still has a long way to go to be considered a professional football team.  Lean towards Minny.

These are not blockbuster picks, this is the presason so anything could happen.  Just some insight I have gained through some interviews with coaches and players that I have heard this year.

Yup… It’s that time of year again! NFL training camps are in full gear. Talks about who’s in and who’s out! Talks about the aging but still worthy receiver Terrel Owens heading to Cinci….Finally Albert Haynesworth passes his fitness test, but will Mike Shanahan and Haynesworth get it together in time? Will Shanahan’s return to Mile High be received with embrace and recognition or will we hear boos and mockery? Will my beloved Steelers fair well without their starting QB for the first quarter of the season?

Many questions and many concerns hovering around the league. The uncertainty coupled with parody certainly perpetuates our desire to spend our Sundays,  Monday and sometimes Thursdays with our football friends and foes, while demonstrating a complete disregard to the many off season efforts at the local gym, as we endure our NFL games while eating fatty foods, drinking lots of beer and using profanity over/under 4.5 times per hour, while shaving those precious years away due to the stress associated with our handicapping successes and failures. Yes it’s back! September 9th at The Superdome at 8:30 PM Sharp! Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints host the Favre plagued Minnesota Vikings. Two dome teams promising us an action packed full throttle type game which will surely be a shootout! I’m personally curious to see how New Orleans will defend their title, after having spent an offseason celebrating. This season will surely be another great chapter to out NFL memories!

THE PASS RUSH’S Pick ‘Em league will enter its second season this year. The pick ‘em league is ran through Yahoo! Sports where you enter and track your picks. Like last season, I encourage everyone to sign up. The cost is free. The prize if you win the league is a free NFL Shop custom t-shirt from yours truly. The league was great last year. We had over 20 teams compete for the title and it ended up going to Deez Nuts from Minneapolis, Minnesota who picked a t-shirt of his hometown Vikings. Every week was competitive and it came down to the wire.

The sign up, follow this link: http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/pickem/register/joingroup

The ID # is 10945 and the password is ‘thepassrush’.

The League Homepage can be viewed there.

Feel free to invite your friends for a shot at the title. Thank you for being a part of THE PASS RUSH. We are also now on Twitter and you can also follow us on Facebook.

Update: Glad to see that Deez Nuts is back to defend his title along with the return of many other Pass Rush Readers.

The sports book makers are liking the Denver Broncos less and less these days. First the Broncos give up a franchise QB in Jay Cutler for a good-but-not-franchise QB in Kyle Orton. That seemed to work out well until the second half of the season where the Broncos looked totally lost. Now the sports betting community has to watch WR Brandon Marshall shipped to Miami for a second round draft pick in the 2010 draft and a second round pick in the 2011 draft.

In order to get the trade done the Dolphins had to agree to give Marshall the richest WR contract in the history of the league. Marshall gets a 4 year deal that totals $47.5 million with $24 million being guaranteed. That is more than Arizona superstar Larry Fitzgerald.

Was it the right move? The Broncos actually did pretty well. They got rid of a locker room cancer and troubled kid in Marshall for the chance to draft his replacement this year and next year. The Dolphins get another target for QB Chad Henne to throw to, and added in with Miami’s already potent ground attack this could make the Dolphins a problem for teams in the AFC East.

There was another big trade in the NFL during the off-season that will have long term effects on two divisional rivals. The Philadelphia Eagles traded QB Donovan McNabb to the Washington Redskins for a second round pick in the 2010 draft, and a third or fourth…

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Donovan McNabb was traded to Washington from Philadelphia for a second and fourth-round pick, and some thought that new coach Mike Shanahan would pick a quarterback to replace Jason Campbell, who to be fair, has been battered behind an awful offensive line. Now, the Redskins can take a lineman, likely Russell Okung from Oklahoma State. They also have some trade bait in Campbell, and there are a number of teams looking for a quarterback, like St. Louis. Many think the Rams will select Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford with the first overall pick in New York on April 22^nd, but his rival from Texas, Colt McCoy, also had a great pro day, and then there’s also Notre Dame’s Jimmy Clausen, considered by many to be the most pro-ready of the three. Sports betting odds figure it’s going to be a close race to see who will be picked first of the trio, or at least Bradford and Clausen.

So, what happens? St. Louis says that the release of Marc Bulger wasn’t a sign that they were going to draft a quarterback, but who are they going to turn the offense over to, Kyle Boller? A.J. Feeley? They would almost be better served to try and work out a trade for Campbell, who is an experienced quarterback, and they could go for their other needs, which is pretty much everything outside of running back with Steven Jackson. If they put a rookie quarterback behind that line, like Matt Stafford…

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National Football League executives are focused on the upcoming league draft beginning on April 22^nd. It is fully documented how one poor selection in the top round has the potential to setback a franchise for years, and this year, the most pressure will be on the St. Louis Rams, who own the first overall pick after finishing the 2009-10 season with the worst record in football.

The Rams have a variety of areas where they could use an upgrade on both sides of the ball, which makes the decision at the top that much more difficult. NFL observers have called for the selection of Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford to become the face of the franchise in St. Louis with the top selection, however Bradford missed all of last season with injuries, and his narrow frame and short stature could limit him in his transition to the league. The Rams may be much better off selecting a sure thing with the number one pick, which either of the top defensive tackles available in the draft are just that. Nebraska’s Ndamukong Suh is a massive hard-working interior lineman that can collapse the pocket, and never quits, while Oklahoma’s Gerald McCoy has Pro Bowl-caliber and may be a better all-around defensive tackle than Suh for team’s looking for someone who can get after the quarterback.

The Detroit Lions own the second pick in the draft, and with a franchise quarterback already in place in Matt Stafford, head coach Jim Schwartz, a former defensive line…

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