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This week we saw the conclusion to the Brett Favre saga... part one. Now that we know he'll be playing, the question remains.... Where will he play? My vote is it's one of two things, both of which have their advantages.
If Aaron Rodgers gets the start, we've got to be honest... the Packers wouldn't be going to the Super Bowl. Too much youth, not enough experience. I like Charles Woodson and Al Harris, but no veteran leadership on offense doesn't lead to a winning team. In this case, the Pack probably trades Favre for some draft picks and looks at making a Super Bowl push in 2009 or 2010.
The other alternative is keep Favre, and try to win the Super Bowl this year. It would put them back a year or two in terms of actual progression, since anybody they'd replace Favre with (Rodgers included) would take at least a season to become playoff game win ready, but it could lead to a win this season and another title in 2010 or 2011. The other advantage is the starter at this point might not be Rodgers as Brian Brohm (and less likely, Matt Flynn) would have progressed enough to challenge him.
These are pretty obvious alternatives, but the possibilities are still worth discussing.
Training Camp Battles
Matt Ryan vs. Chris Redman
Josh McCown vs. John Beck vs. Chad Henne
Tampering charges against the Vikings in the Brett Favre case have been dropped. I'm not really convinced a thorough investigation occurred. In fact, I would be willing to bet that the NFL just wants this whole story to resolve itself and saw dropping these charges as a good way of doing that.
Brandon Marshall has been suspended for three games following his three arrests. Probably not a terrible thing, although since his charges are almost identical to those faced by James Harrison last season... it continues to raise questions about the fairness of the NFL's discipline policy. It'll be interesting to see if there's any statement from the Broncos coming out about this in the coming week.
Take a look at how many injuries have come out of the Ravens' training camp so far. Symptom of an aging team? Probably. Maybe also have something to do with the new Head Coach? Maybe. This isn't a good start to their season though. Watch to see if anyone else goes down. This team might be DOA.
Derrick Harvey and Keith Rivers continue to be the only first round picks not yet signed. Watch to see if these get resolved over the coming week. I don't think it's a coincidence that both these players play for somewhat cheap teams.
Bills LT Jason Peters continues to be a camp no-show, as does Eagles G Shawn Andrews. Both are critical to their teams' success this year. Andrews is reportedly struggling with depression, so that's a somewhat harder fix. Peters is struggling with how little his team is paying him. This might be a good intro to the people of Toronto about why the Bills remain perennially 'on the playoff bubble.'
Upcoming Games: I can guarantee you right now that we'll be bringing you a live action game blog on Thursday evening with the New Orleans-Arizona match-up being broadcast on ESPN. Hopefully you can join us. Other than that, I'm not sure which games I'll be able to pick up on Friday/Saturday... mostly depends on broadcast schedule.
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