What We Learned This Week in the NFL Offseason:
- Jets teaching rookies to hate Brady and the Patriots
- Richard Sherman makes ‘Madden’ cover; doesn’t believe in curses
- Mike Wallace thinks he won’t suck this year
- Steelers working no-huddle into offense
The New York Jets have indoctrinated their first-round pick Calvin Pryor with the proper feelings towards their rivals quite early in the learning process. In an interview with The New York Post, the rookie safety explains how when he arrived at the Jets facilities, he was told who to hate.
"“We don’t like Tom Brady at all. When I first came here, that was one of the first things I heard about: We hate the Patriots and we hate the Giants. So we hate those guys and I look forward to playing them this season.” – Calvin Pryor"
I just hope they’re teaching him the playbook with the same level of enthusiasm. Surely the Jets organization prefers their players to perform on the field rather than run their mouth to the media for a few minutes’ worth of attention. Surely.
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Richard Sherman sure isn’t tired of hearing his name said across the league, that’s for sure. And it won’t stop anytime soon either, now that he’s been voted to grace the cover of “Madden 15”. He beat out Carolina’s Cam Newton for the cover in a bracket-style voting challenge. Steelers fans might not even know but Antonio Brown was in the first round of that voting competition but didn’t pass Newton in votes. That could have something to do with the “Madden Curse”. The last Seahawk to be on the cover of Madden was running back Shaun Alexander. He was on the ’07 cover that came out in 2006. He fractured his foot that season, running for less than 1,000 yards in 10 games. His numbers got worse the next season and he eventually retired in 2008. Good luck to you, Sherman.
Mike Wallace thinks his new offensive coordinator in Miami can turn him around from being one of the biggest free agency busts in recent history to a highly productive receiver. Bill Lazor was hired on to replace Mike Sherman and he’s instituting an Eagles-like high-octane offense in Miami. Wallace had a pedestrian 2013 and even 2012 going back to his last season with the Steelers. He’s predicted to line up primarily in the slot and play the role in the Dolphins offense that DeSean Jackson played with the Eagles last season.
The Steelers are getting it in with the no-huddle offense preparation early and often and it’s only OTA’s. After finding success using it last season, Ben Roethlisberger has been successful in lobbying for it to be used more going forward. Having new faces on the offense like Lance Moore and Darrius Heyward-Bey means that no-huddle preparation needs to start early.
"“I don’t want to call it our base offense, but I think you’ll see more of it, so it was more important for us to get it in early and often.” – Ben Roethlisberger"
The Steelers ran the no-huddle for 239 plays in 2013. During which Roethlisberger went 102-163 for 1,221 yards and 10 touchdowns. Those numbers look to increase in 2014.