An overlook of Indianapolis

By Ryan Ebert, Ryan@nflen.com

     Indianapolis is looking good for the next decade with Andrew Luck as their quarterback.  Though there still plenty of room for improvement.  The team was twenty-sixth in total defense in 2012 and Luck had eighteen interceptions,  but another year under the new defensive scheme and a year under Luck's belt should give enough lift to help this team make strides as a team.  With Colts owner Jim Irsay and general manager providing a vision for this team good things look good for the future.

     The biggest addition to this team may be the acquisition of runningback Ahmad Bradshaw.  He will complement Vick Ballard in the backfield and share the load.  Delone Carter and Donald Brown are on the roster as well giving this position good depth and versatility.  This team's running game should be better than twenty-second where it fell last season.

     Donnie Avery left the wide receiver corps, but the team still has dependable Reggie Wayne with T.Y. Hilton, LaVon Brazill and newly acquired speedster Darrius Heyward-Bey.  Hilton and Heyward Bey both can stretch the field with their blazing speed opening things up for receivers elsewhere on the field.  Brazill only caught eleven passes last year and was fourth best wide receiver of the group, but that's because Luck also had talented tight ends Coby Fleener and Dwayne Allen to throw to.  I really think he will step up his second season.  This corps is a little thin at talent, but if they can stay healthy only good things can come.

   

     The offensive line was addressed plenty during the offseason through free agency and the draft.  Irsay chose offensive guard/center Hugh Thornton with his second pick to help build up the line as well as Khaled Holmes with his third pick.  Through free agency Irsay picked up Gosder Cherilus, Winston Justice, Jeffrey Linkenbach, and Donald Thomas.  These noticeable pickups are nice; one thing this does is bring depth to the line which is always good.  Ryan Grigson said he was going to address the offensive line and he did, but now it's time to help them mesh and work together as one and get on the same page with the quarterback.  This was a problem for the Colts last year as they allowed Luck to be sacked forty-one times last year; this new line should be a good upgrade and benefit Luck much better.

     The newest big face on the defense is safety LaRon Landry.  Landry with veteran safety Antoine Bethea should be a pretty tandem to watch in the defensive backfield.  They are not deep at safety, and cornerbacks is not much of a different story.  Vontae Davis leads a group of cornerbacks that include Cassius Vaughn, Jerraud Powers, Greg Toler, and Darius Butler.  Nice talent here, but it is few.  I would like to see the Colts grab someone from free agency to help out their secondary such as Sheldon Brown or Cedric Griffin..  

  

 Bjoern Werner, the first pick of the Colts in this year's draft, looks help a group of linebackers that include newly acquired Moise Fokou, Erik Walden, and players who have stayed like Pat Angerer, Jerrell Freeman, and Robert Mathis.  It is a deep group filled with quality players that will be needing to play well together to help the defense entirely.  Werner may not make big noise like rookie Dion Jordan of the Dolphins, but he certainly will do his best for his group play better.

     Dwight Freeney left to the West Coast which resulted in the loss of the face of the Colts defense for so long.  Though the pass rush from the line and will still come from new guys like Aubrayo Franklin, Ricky Jean-Francois, Antonio Johnson, and Lawrence Sidbury.  Though in their new 3-4 defensive scheme they will not be asked to get to the quarterback but open lanes for the linebackers to make plays these players still have the talent to disrupt the offensive line and make the quarterback of the opposing team have a hard time.

     The Colts look in good shape for the most part.  For the weak parts, the answer is constant work at gelling together, playing as a unit, playing as one.  That will provide the boost to help the weaker parts of this team.  With these intangibles, Indianapolis may create more wins than last season.

Bears Look-In

By Ryan Ebert, Ryan@nflen.com

     Chicago had a solid successful season lat year.  The record was not bad, but they were 3-3 in the division.  For them to get back to being division champs they have to improve within the division; half of their losses were in the division.  They have plenty of tools to help this team achieve that, and all they need to do now is come together as a team, unite, and work as one in order to get to MetLife Stadium in New Jersey for the ultimate prize.

      Lets start with what they have been known throughout history, the defense.  The Bears were 5th last season in total defense and I don't see why they should still be at the same level or higher.  Sure they lost the face of the defense Brian Urlacher, but with the new acquisitions of D.J. Williams, James Anderson, Sedrick Ellis, and Jamaal Anderson, they should dominate on this side of the ball!

     First the secondary, the only noticeable thing is the addition of SS Tom Zbikowski and the loss of CB D.J. Moore.  Zbikowski is a  player who can fill in well when a player goes down or needs some rest.  This should help their depth at the back end.  Moore may be gone but there still is Tim Jennings, Charles Tillman, Kelvin Hayden, Zack Bowman, and an improving Isaiah Frey.  That's a solid secondary that only has room to improve which already had a combined twenty interceptions last season!

     Brian Urlacher's retirement was the biggest news in the offseason for Chicago, but they picked up productive LB D.J. Williams from Denver to fill in.  And in the draft they acquired Jon Bostic from Florida and Khaseem Greene from Rutgers who can be the future for the Bears at the middle linebacker position.  They did lose Nick Roach and Geno Hayes, but in their place they found James Anderson, a former Carolina Panther, a LB that I trust will be a surprise to fans with his talent providing he stays healthy.  With Lance Briggs leading this group they should do quite a bit of damage.

     On the defensive line, a few players are still free agents such as Amobi Okoye, Brian Price, Turk McBride and Matt Toeaina, but I believe they will do well with newcomers Sedrick Ellis, Jamaal Anderson and Corvey Irvin.  This is a solid group with Henry Melton in the middle and Julius Peppers on the outside.  There's nice depth and quality players here to keep the QB always on his toes.

   

 Offensively ,there are some great tools to get this team to the Super Bowl.  Brandon Marshall was tied for second (Wes Welker the other) for second in the NFL with 118 receptions and had 11 TDs.  Matt Forte is one of the best dual threats at RB in the league, and the team added a TE who should help add more options for Jay Cutler with Martellus Bennett.  The offense has no other place to go but up.

     Marshall led the WR corps with 118 catches for 1,508 yards and 11 TDs, but the next leading receiver was Matt Forte with 44; then Earl Bennett, an actual WR, had 29 catches.  The team needs help from their second-round pick Alshon Jeffrey to quickly get up to speed and be the player Bears hoped he would be.  Devin Aromashodu came in from the Vikings and should bring some depth.   These players have to step up to take some of the load off Cutler and Marshall.

     Kellen Davis was lost to Cleveland, but Bennett (going by his season last year with the Giants) should be an improvement.  Leonard Pope was also picked up just a few days ago to help Cutler have another big bodied target to help in the end zone.  Behind these two there's not much good talent so these two need to avoid injuries and contribute as much as they can to this team.

     The Bears mostly addressed their offensive line problems this offseason through the draft and free agency.  Kyle Long drafted in the first round from Oregon is battling for the starting RG spot with James Brown, and Jermon Bushrod came in from New Orleans with Eben Britton from Jacksonville and Matt Slauson from the Jets.  These players are good pickups that add good depth and give competition in training camp which is always good.  Though it's not the skill of these individual players that will ultimately protect Cutler.  The line requires chemistry and communication to understand their responsibilities and keep Cutler's jersey clean after he was sacked thirty-eight times in 2012.

     Cutler didn't do a bad job last season, had 3,033 yards with a 58.8 completion percentage, 19 TDs, 14 interceptions and a 81.3 QB rating.   The TD to INT ratio has to go down.  It's not entirely on himself as the receivers weren't the did have a part, but he needs to make better decisions, be smarter, and take the team to the next level to get them the Lombardi trophy again.


     The Windy City should see plenty of good things from this season this upcoming season.  Barring injuries, there's no reason why this team should not a team to be scared of.  If new head coach Marc Trestman does well in his first season coaching the Bears he should lead this team down a good path.
   

     UPDATE:  CB Kelvin Hayden will be out for the season after a torn hamstring.

   

Quick look at Oakland

By Ryan Ebert, Ryan@nflen.com

     Matt Flynn now leads the way for Oakland.  With targets such as Jacoby Ford, Joshua Cribbs, Denarius Moore, Rod Streater, and Juron Criner to throw to, Flynn seems to have a good chance of making big plays with these speedsters.  But the offense isn't run through him.  It all depends on how RB Darren McFadden does and if he stays healthy a full sixteen games.  McFadden is the key to the Raiders like Adrian Peterson is the key for the Vikings and Jamaal Charles in Kansas City.  Offensive Coordinator and head coach Dennis Allen need to remember that and not overlook it, but also take care of their star RB by having newcomer Rashad Jennings fill in at times in order for them to have success in the long run.  

     First things first though, it all starts at the offensive line.  Oakland brought in Alex Barron to help and give depth.  They were 8th in passing offense last year, but that certainly doesn't show their success; it actually shows their failures as a team.  The defense didn't help the offense and the offense didn't help the defense.  The line does have some nice pieces up front in Stefen Wisniewski, Khalif Barnes, and veteran Andre Gurode.  Second round pick Menelik Watson hopes to be a good tackle for the team.  The team was 28th in run offense last season as well.  While some of that does attribute to the loss of McFadden but also to the chemistry between the QB and the O-line and the chemistry of the O-line.  The line needs to perform much better this season to be a force in the AFC.

     The receiving overall corps looks good enough.  Palmer was able to throw for 4,000 yards with the crew so why can't Flynn?  But there is no TE that scare any opposing player at all.  Either the Raiders are satisfied with who they have or they are thinking about getting one in free agency.  Last year's top target Brandon Myers left leaving David Asuberry as the top TE.  Ausberry only had seven catches the entirety of last year.  Overall barring injuries, the receivers Flynn will be throwing to should hold up.

     Looking at the defense, the biggest news from the offseason is the homecoming of DB Charles Woodson.  Woodson will complement fellow Pro Bowl caliber S Tyvon Branch, but the rest of the secondary is a concern.  Oakland has Mike Jenkins, rookie D.J. Hayden, Tracy Porter, Phillip Adams, Joselio Hansen, and converted RB Taiwan Jones at CB along with a few smaller names.  Jenkins and Porter are solid as well as Hansen, but can they create chemistry good enough to stop opposing offenses consistently enough?  Woodson, being a veteran, should come in and help mentor the young DBs in their craft and develop that chemistry.

Oakland also brought in LBs Kaluka Maiava, Nick Roach, Jason Hunter, and Kevin Burnett.  Personally I think that they can simply use those players to start with Burnett at MLB, Nick Roach at OLB and Hunter on the other side; but the Raiders do have a player already that can do well with Omar Gaither who will fight for a starting position.  Essentially, the LB group looks good if they can execute well on the field.

     Richard Seymour is gone from the defensive line which is a huge loss to the defensive front.  Tommy Kelly left for New England and Desmond Bryant to Cleveland.  The players brought in, Vance Walker and Myles Wade are going to need to step up their game to help this defense.  Pat Sims is the only player brought in with a name that be an influence on the line.  There really are just a number of questions along the defensive front.  Who will step up on the line and be the force that's needed to create problems for the QB?

     Good pieces are in place for Oakland, but the key is chemistry.  Chemistry between each position, between each person, and between each side.  The offense needs to come together as well as the defense.  With Matt Flynn at the forefront of the team now he needs to do his responsibility of working with his receivers and RBs and get the defense to do the same.  If this Oakland Raiders team can do that, they will make some noise in the season.