It’s been a little over a month since the Super Bowl, and I figure it’s about time to post some thoughts that came to mind after watching the game:
* It was unfortunate that the main story leading up to the game was Richard Sherman’s post-game rant at San Francisco’s Michael Crabtree following the NFC Championship game. Sherman is a terrific player, and it’s a shame he had to ruin what should have been a positive spotlight moment for his team after a hard-fought win by putting on a classless display of selfishness. Poor sportsmanship has been slowly creeping into the NFL in recent years and is becoming the norm, and hopefully the league hierarchy will do something to curb it before next season.
* Marshawn Lynch is now the latest example of a problem player leaving Buffalo and coming out smelling like roses with his new team. Lynch has been a huge weapon for Seattle, was a major contributor to their success with his hard-running style , and definitely deserves his Super Bowl ring. However, I still prefer the Bills’ current backs, C.J. Spiller and Fred Jackson, over him.
* Peyton Manning and the Broncos were favored to win the Super Bowl, and they laid a major egg with their effort, starting with the game’s first play that resulted in a safety. The loss was the fifth for the Denver franchise in their history, so they now have one more than any other NFL team, surpassing Minnesota and Buffalo, who have four.
* I really hope that the performance of Seattle’s defense in totally smothering the potent Denver attack will be a pre-cursor to the 2014 season. The NFL is a ‘copycat’ league, so hopefully coaches will now concentrate on strengthening their defensive units. It would be nice if the NFL started to move away from the Madden video game style of all-passing, all-the-time games and back toward an era of dominating defenses, or at least swing the pendulum back somewhat.
The first week of the NFL’s free agency period is now history, and the Buffalo Bills were pretty active in getting players signed, although there weren’t any big names among the signees. There WAS a big name lost, however, as Pro Bowl safety Jairus Byrd left for New Orleans. I have mixed feelings about Byrd leaving. On the one hand, the Bills regularly let good players walk away to go on to bigger and better things elsewhere, and this is just another example of that. On the other hand, you can make an argument that the team never won with him here, so they certainly can’t do worse without him. Buffalo made positive moves by hanging on to a pair of their own free agents, kicker Dan Carpenter and tight end Scott Chandler.
Here’s the assessment of the team’s other signees:
G Chris Williams – signed away from the St. Louis Rams, Williams is viewed as anywhere from a decent player to a major bust. He was a first round draft pick of the Bears at one time and was considered a major disappointment. With the Rams, he was a two-year starter who was unspectacular but held his own. He will compete with Doug Legursky at left guard in training camp.
LB Keith Rivers – Buffalo has big shortcomings at the linebacker position on the current roster, so any help there is a positive. He started his career in Cincinnati and played last year with the Giants, who opted not to re-sign him. He has never lived up to the billing he had coming out of college, so there shouldn’t be any expectations that he’s going to be a big difference-maker.
LB Brandon Spikes – a hard-hitting run stuffer at New England who as of now is the team’s starting middle linebacker, allowing young star Kiko Alonso to move outside. He has a reputation for being a dirty player (Ryan Fitzpatrick called him a “punk” when he hit him late and knocked off his helmet a couple years ago). Buffalo needs to be more physical on defense next year, so this is a good signing, as long as he isn’t hurting the team with unnecessary roughness penalties all season.
CB Corey Graham – a Buffalo native, he isn’t the best player of the bunch, but this is the best signing. Graham is an outstanding special teams gunner, the closest thing the Bills have had to Steve Tasker since Tasker himself. He also has developed himself into a competent cornerback, and in the 2012 AFC title game he made the two biggest plays of the game, intercepting Peyton Manning twice, returning one for a touchdown and setting up the game-winning field goal with the other. Every team Graham has played on – the Bears and Ravens – have been winners, and he is one of those unselfish guys every winning club needs.
RB Anthony Dixon – joining the Bills from the 49ers, he is slated to fill the role as the third back, behind Spiller and Jackson, that Tashard Choice used to fill. Buffalo had trouble in short yardage downs last year, and Dixon is a short yardage specialist, one advantage he has over Choice. He is also a great special teamer and an unselfish guy. The signings of Graham and Dixon aren’t big headline grabbers, but they are an indication that new GM Doug Whaley is trying to change the losing culture by adding unselfish players with great attitudes who’ve been with, and contributed to, winning organizations.