Preseason Kickoff

The NFL finally began the preseason this Saturday morning at about 5 a.m. The Almost-Super Bowl featured the Colts and the Falcons playing to a frenzied crowd in Japan. Diehard fans such as myself actually watched the game live on ESPN. Despite the fact that the starters only played a quarter, the game was decent. A few observations:

-Michael Vick continues to look uncomfortable in the west coast offense. That's not to say that he and Jim Mora can't make some noise in the playoffs, but they will continue to be thwarted by teams with strong defenses, such as Philadelphia and Tampa Bay, especially Tampa Bay. Mora needs to recognize what Vick is and is not good at. He's great at scrambling for yardage (duh) and throwing accurately on the run (rollouts, bootlegs, etc.) For whatever reason, he's not able to get into a passing rhythm with both of his feet planted on the ground. If Atlanta's play-calling takes this into account, and if Jenkins and White continue to improve as receivers, I like the Falcons to win the division.

-The Colts' secondary is looking much better than it did at this time last year. It nearly reads as an All-Big Ten team from a couple years ago. Mike Doss is back with another year of experience. Bob Sanders is participating in his first training camp after a ridiculous hold-out last summer. (2nd round pick. Nice.) Perhaps the greatest improvement is the addition of All-American CB Marlin Jackson. During the game itself, Sanders had an INT, and Marlin put a vicious hit on Brian Finneran that you probably saw on SportsCenter. While the secondary continues to improve, Dwight Freeney will likely cause a number of poorly-thrown balls leading to interceptions.

-Inexplicably, Cato June seems to have a job in the NFL. As an actual football player! WTF?

-Did anyone besides me catch the Dave Pearson sighting?


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