SB Nation - Tearrius George

The VRR: Linebackers and Special Teams Players Wanted

Aaron Novinger — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:01:34 -0000

More photos » by David J. Phillip - AP

Brett Favre will not play when the Vikings host the Cowboys in the final preseason game Friday night. Aside from perhaps a series or two, both teams will hold out most of their starters.

Browse more photos »

OLB Brandon Williams (knee) is on injured reserve. SS Michael Hamlin (wrist) and ILB Jason Williams (high ankle sprain) are expected to miss 4-6 weeks. The draft class that was supposed supply key backups and special teamers has thinned out in a major way. Now, Coach Phillips sounds concerned about ILB Stephen Hodge's knee. Josh Ellis says that IR may be an option for the rookie.

"If he's hurt," Phillips said. "It depends on what our doctors and our trainers think as far as what his prognosis is, and I just don't get a good - They thoughit it was good, but it doesn't look good right now. So we may have to reevaluate."

Placing Hodge on IR with the final round of cuts Saturday would protect his rights. The Cowboys have a few other options for their last middle linebacker spot in Matt Stewart and Tearrius George.

Here is the updated list of the Cowboys' walking wounded.

More VRR after the jump.

This guy has answered the ad. Colts fans call him CuJo. We might as well call him a Dallas Cowboy. DC.com makes the case for why OLB Curtis Johnson will be on the 53-man roster.

[O]utside linebacker Curtis Johnson, a converted defensive end who was claimed off waivers from the Colts, likely won't be included when the final roster cuts on Saturday are trimmed down to 53 players.

[snip]

"There was a reason for picking him up," said head coach Wade Phillips, who admitted Johnson has been more impressive now than when they evaluated him coming out of Clark-Atlanta University last year. "We knew about him coming out of college. We had him as a projection linebacker. He's actually gained some weight. He weighed in at 254, so he's a pretty good-sized guy. He knows how to play full speed and he knows how to play all out, which was impressive. We thought it was an opportunity to get a guy that's a pretty good athlete that can maybe play."

Coach Phillips has yet to turn his defense loose this preseason. Bradie James and Keith Brooking are anticipating what the defensive guru has in store for the regular season.

"I'm looking forward to when we really get into the fire to see what Wade will call," James said. "Everybody's asking, ‘What do you think Wade will do? Is he complex? Is he this? Is he that?' Personally, I can't tell you. I won't know until we start playing games."

This much is certain: The emphasis will continue to be on creating turnovers right up to kickoff.

"It's not for lack of talking about it (creating turnovers), thinking about it, communicating that to one another, being very conscious about it," linebacker Keith Brooking said when asked about the preseason turnover drought. "When you have that going through your defense, it makes a big difference."

Favre vs. Romo? Not likely. Minnesota Vikings coach, Brad Childress, said his starters will not play in Friday night's final preseason game against the Cowboys.

Asked if he's seen enough of Brett Favre, Childress said, "I think we'll get enough work out here (Thursday). "We'll do a couple things with our starting group. Through the week next week, we'll be OK. I just don't see the upside of doing that any further. I thought he made a nice jump from week one to week two, showed he's got a good understanding of what we're doing."

Even though Favre has again returned to the NFL, Romo thinks the 39-year-old gun slinger can still play at a high level.

"Shoot, history tells us plenty of people have done it," Romo said. "Everybody remembers your (best) moments. Is Michael Jordan not Michael Jordan because of Washington? He came back, he was still a good player, very productive, but you hold such a standard - can you ever reach the level you were at in your prime? I don't know. That's why they all come back, to try and do that."

The Minneapolis StarTribune reports that the Vikings are trying to trade QB Tarvaris Jackson .

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will open up the season against the Cowboys with a new offensive coordinator. Very new. The team just fired Jeff Jagodzinski.

The team announced the move in a statement Thursday morning and also said quarterbacks coach Greg Olson will take over as coordinator. There was no reason given for Jagodzinski's firing, but coach Raheem Morris is scheduled to discuss the situation later in the day.

Oklahoma will play the first regular season football game in Cowboys Stadium when the Sooners take on BYU this Saturday.

At a worth of $1.65 billion, the Dallas Cowboys are easily the most valuable team in the NFL. The franchise is second only to England's Manchester United for being Forbes' most valuable sports franchise in the world.

Hat tip to One.Cool.Customer for the FanShot.

Dolphins make a number of roster moves, including the release of Wilford and the trade of two linemen

Matty I — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:47:16 -0000

Whenever I'm not around for a period of time, news breaks. Today has been no different - with the Dolphins making several roster moves.

The Dolphins announced that they have waived Anthony Kimble, Orion Martin, Chris Williams, Tearrius George, and Joe Cohen. They also terminated the contract of Ernest Wilford - last season's bust from free agency.

Meanwhile, several sources are reporting that the Dolphins have traded backup guard Andy Alleman to the Kansas City Chiefs. But that's not all. Jeff Darlington is also reporting that backup lineman Ike Ndukwe was also sent to Kansas City in that package. But it's unknown what the Dolphins have received in return from the Chiefs - who are now run by Bill Parcells' son-in-law Scott Pioli.

This means the Dolphins currently have 11 offensive linemen on the roster battling for what will likely result in 9 roster spots.

Getting back to Wilford, his release will cost the Dolphins $4.5 million against their 2009 salary cap thanks to the guaranteed money the Dolphins handed Ernest last offseason. But the Fins clearly felt that keeping him around because of his contract wasn't worth the loss of a roster spot for a young guy with a lot of upside - potentially John Nalbone.

As far as former fan-favorite Chris Williams goes, he was waived/injured - not just waived. So if he goes unclaimed on waivers, he will be placed on Injured Reserve for the year with the Dolphins. While players on IR can't practice with the team, he would still be property of the Dolphins and could work out individually to improve his ability to field punts.

[UPDATE: The Dolphins are receiving an undisclosed draft pick in 2010 for the two guards.]

Film review: Cowboys vs. Vikings - Bubble Watch edition

Dave Halprin — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 21:01:59 -0000

I’ve watched the film on the Dallas Cowboys game with the Minnesota Vikings and have compiled my film review – The Bubble Watch edition. Not quite a traditional film review, I concentrated on those areas where I think we have decisions to make. Mainly, this included the offensive line, WR, OLB and the secondary. Later tonight, I’ll post my 53-man roster prediction.

One note, the Cowboys sure wanted to get a look at the line, the receivers and Bartel because in the second half when the Vikings kept blitzing and getting pressure, the Cowboys kept on throwing the ball basically abandoning the running game.

Offensive line

Joe Berger – For the most part I liked the game he played and would rate it better than Pat McQuistan’s or Cory Procter’s. He showed good mobility when he had to pull and was also good about picking up the right defender on those plays. His pass protection was pretty solid for most of the evening. I saw him blow a pass protection on a stunt and then he just got beat another time. He was also slow getting out on a screen. But for most of the game he was delivering a very solid performance.

Pat McQuistan – McQ got almost all the snaps at Kyle Kosier’s vacant left guard position but had some problems along the way. He did have moments when he was powerful in the run game and showed some mobility on the pull blocks, but didn’t always find a guy to block. He had a few soft moments in pass protection including one pitiful play. He also had three plays where his run blocks were complete failures and one almost led to a turnover. He did get downfield nicely on a screen pass.

Cory Procter – Procter only played a couple of series at left guard towards the end of the game. My guess is they are not considering him seriously for Kosier’s spot. Procter still suffers from being a little soft in the middle, he’s very susceptible to getting pushed straight back and he’s not as agile when he has to pull. He showed nothing in this game that should really change his status one way or the other.

Doug Free – Good thing my man Free isn’t really fighting for a roster spot because he played a lousy game. He was repeatedly beaten in pass protection and had a hard time recognizing some of the blitzes and stunts. The speed rush was really giving him trouble.

James Marten – I actually came away with the feeling that Marten played alright for him, which isn’t an overwhelming endorsement. He still had plays where he whiffed on blocks or didn’t hold his ground, but they were fewer than I’ve come to expect from him.

Mike Jefferson – He had a few moments, especially towards the beginning where he caught some balls and made a few plays. He did have one easy drop and he didn’t show up on special teams at all. But he did get the nod as the starter next to Sam Hurd, so that could be an indication about how the Cowboys view him. He did get a couple of good blocks downfield in the run game.

Danny Amendola – He made a few plays catching the ball and blocking downfield, but really looks like if he’s going to stick it will be because he can add to the special teams. As both a backup punt and kick returner, he gets an advantage. But he didn’t exactly shine in this game, but didn’t make any big mistakes.

OLB

Justin Rogers – Don’t see him as “on the bubble” so didn’t chart him. They need his experience (the little he has) and his play on special teams.

Erik Walden – He didn’t really impress in the pass rush department but he did do a better job than I’ve seen him do before at standing his ground against the run. He did blow an easy tackle in the backfield on one play. But what caught my eye was that on four kick/punt coverage plays, Walden showed up around the ball and made a couple of tackles. If he can contribute on special teams, that’s a great sign for him sticking around.

Tearrius George – If George could have had a couple of more games like this or showed some of this in camp, the Cowboys would for sure create a place for him on the roster. The guy had at least six plays in the backfield. He had a great penetration blowing up a run, he got a couple of sacks and hit the QB a couple of other times disrupting passes. Now, he did a lot of this later in the game against the Vikings’ scrubs, but it still was an impressive performance. The question is - was it too late to change his future?

Darrell Robertson – Just didn’t do enough to change his fate.

CB/S

Evan Oglesby – Helped himself again this game with a nice breakup of a pass in the endzone, another pass break up later, a good tackle against the run and generally no big mistakes. The only bad thing I saw him do is use bad technique and turn his back to a receiver on a short pass. One problem for Oglesby is he doesn’t show up much on special teams and that could hurt his chances.

Alan Ball – Had one great special teams play on punt coverage and one good deep coverage but not much else. He just doesn’t make a lot of plays.

Dowayne Davis – A couple of nice tackles on defense but not much on special teams where he needs to shine to make the team. Didn’t really help himself much during the game.