Manning Chose Right Team

Before Peyton Manning chose the Denver Broncos, I said this was the team that he should go to because it was the easiest road to the playoffs, with the Chargers being the best of the worst the division had to offer.  Beating the Raiders, Chiefs and Chargers to win the AFC West was a much better option than trying to beat Tom Brady and the Patriots if he would have chosen the Miami Dolphins or Matt Schaub of the Texans if he liked the feel of Tennessee.

Playing in the new Mile High Stadium gives the Broncos a real physical advantage as well as a mental one and with his expertise now almost exclusively from the shotgun, they are one tough team to get up on.  Yesterday Manning outmaneuvered the Buccaneers with a fast-paced tempo that kept the Buccaneers in a base look defense on almost every play, but also kept the defense from getting a moments rest between plays.  One time the Bucs tried to make personnel changes and Manning quickly got his team to the line of scrimmage and snapped the ball.  He didn't get the penalty for too many men on the field that he was looking for, so he went to the sideline and got John Fox to call a timeout and make the challenge.  Of course the Bucs were found to have had an extra guy just barely still on the field, but rules are rules and the referees had to give it to him.  It is this kind of mastery that has made Peyton Manning legendary in his understanding and manipulation of the game.

I don't know if the Denver Broncos will be able to wind their way through the playoffs and get into the Super Bowl, but clinching the division on December 2nd is not a bad way to get back in the league after last year's missed season!

Practice?

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers welcomed back Free Safety Tanard Jackson after more than a year away from the team. Jackson failed a drug test and was suspended, missing most of last season, training camp and the first 5 games of 2011. After a couple of days of practice, he started and helped his team to a big division win with an interception.
Now the Oakland Raiders are playing the "will he or won't he" game with their new quarterback Carson Palmer. With the trade barely finalized, Raider Head Coach was coy about his new QB's ability to start on Sunday. These two examples would make Allen Iverson proud. Who needs practice anyway? Not the NFL. After missing the entire off-season with the lockout, everything is pretty much business as usual on the field.
It really is a slap in the face to the players for anyone to walk in at this point and start after a couple of practices. So much for the talk of needing the off-season and training camp reps for the rapport to be built between the QB and receivers.

Teams Aren't Looking For Outside Help

Former NFL MVP Rich Gannon reached out to help the struggling Oakland Raiders and their underachieving former #1 draft pick JaMarcus Russell, but that didn't go over too well.
I was talking with someone earlier today actually that asked me why teams don't call in some of these former player analysts for consultations. My answer before reading of the Raiders rebuff of their former all-star was that they don't want the help. If they asked for help, they would be showing weakness, like they don't know what they're doing, even though we can see that they don't know what they're doing every Sunday.
Coaching is an insecure business in the first place, with job security always an issue, so allowing anybody from the outside, even if it is a former player with the intention of helping, it won't happen.

Jeff Garcia Making Waves on West Coast

Good for the "old man". Jeff Garcia was jettisoned from Tampa Bay as the new regime cleaned house on both sides of the ball. Derrick Brooks is still looking for work. Garcia went back home to the bay area of California to most likely finish his career (who knows how many more teams he will play for before retiring) with the Oakland Raiders. It hasn't been long since he landed there that he is talking about being the starting quarterback at the beginning of the season. He made a statement about, "if the coaches make the right decision." It wasn't a flat-out claim that he was the right decision, but it will ruffle the big feathers of their huge investment QB JaMarcus Russell. The coaches will be using the non-stop work ethic of Garcia to see what kind of fight Russell wants to put up and what kind of work the ultra-talented youngster has in him.