What we learned in the Big 12

1. The league's top defenses still have a lot to prove. Texas and Oklahoma were wholly unimpressive in their debuts, although Texas' mistakes weren't nearly as costly. Of the three supposedly elite defenses in the Big 12, Oklahoma looked the worst, giving up 341 yards and two nfl jerseys
touchdowns through the air to Utah State's Diondre Borel. Meanwhile, Nebraska gave up 179 yards on the ground to Western Kentucky in a performance coach Bo Pelini called "an absolute embarrassment." Texas wasn't gashed as badly against Rice, and gave up just 219 total yards, but the Longhorns defensive backs missed a handful of big plays. All three have to get a lot better to equal either of their 2009 editions. 2. The most impressive team in Week 1: Oklahoma State. Dana Holgorsen's Air Raid went nuts on Saturday night, racing all over the field at Boone Pickens Stadium for 544 yards and 65 points -- 38 in the first half. Kendall Hunter ran for four touchdowns and the Cowboys won the turnover battle 2-0. The Cowboys made fans a little nervous after letting Washington State inch to within 17-10 from an early 17-0 deficit, but Oklahoma State answered with the game's next five touchdowns to put the game ... uh ... out of reach.

3. Hes baaa-aack. Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin once again showcased his big-play capability, rushing for a 30-yard touchdown and throwing for two more -- a 68-yarder to Brad Taylor and a 23-yarder to Terrance Williams. He completed 19 of 36 passes for 242 yards and ran for 59 yards on six carries, a 9.8 yard average.

4. Kansas? Well, they're just not very good. Hard to envision a worse start for Turner Gill at Kansas. At least Ole Miss' 49-48 loss to an FCS team in double overtime was fun to watch. The Jayhawks 6-3 debacle had to be painful for fans watching at home and even more so for those authentic nfl jerseys
in attendance. It's hard to find many positives from a mistake-laden performance at home against the Bison, who went 3-8 last season. I'll try: My preseason prediction of the Jayhawks as the Big 12's most improved team at season's end is looking pretty good. There's nowhere to go but up, but it's still hard to believe how far Kansas has fallen since a BCS bowl win in 2007. I got a few complaints after I pegged the Jayhawks at No. 12 in my preseason power rankings. I doubt I'll get any when they're right back there again on Tuesday morning. When Kansas suits up next weekend against No. 19 Georgia Tech, it will have been over 11 months (Oct. 10, 2009 vs. Iowa State) since the program has recorded a win.

5. I was 100 percent wrong about Kendall Hunter. It's easy to forget how good a guy can be when he struggles for so long like he did last year. The ankle injury must have affected him longer and more than anyone thought. You heard all spring and preseason about how Holgorsen thought Hunter was even better than he had been told, and Hunter validated all of that on Saturday night. Dominant, unstoppable, whatever. Use all the hyperbolic terms you want. Kendall Hunter was all of them, topping 200 yards in the first half. He should have been higher on my top 25 list, and he should have been higher on my ranking of the Big 12's running backs. He's better than Alexander Robinson at Iowa State. He's better than Roy Helu at Nebraska. Neither is capable of nfl jersey authentic
putting on the show Hunter did on Saturday night. Oklahoma's DeMarco Murray and Kansas State's Daniel Thomas? We'll find out over the next three months. All three topped 200 yards in impressive debuts.

Cleveland Browns cutdown analysis

Biggest surprise: The biggest surprise is that Cleveland waited until after 9 p.m. ET Saturday to announce its moves. Supposedly, it was a strategic decision so other teams were not aware of players the Browns made available. I don’t think it makes a difference, especially because the cheap nfl jerseys
Browns are not a team rich with talent to begin with. As far as players, Browns cornerback Brandon McDonald's name stood out most on this list. His career has been up and down, but he brought a wealth of starting experience (27 starts) to a young secondary. McDonald may have helped seal his own fate when he made negative headlines this summer for an offensive tweet aimed at Cincinnati Bengals receiver Terrell Owens. The Browns were not pleased with McDonald’s poor judgment.

No-brainers: Quarterback Brett Ratliff had no shot of making this team, because the Browns already have their three players at the position in Jake Delhomme, Seneca Wallace and rookie Colt McCoy. New Browns president Mike Holmgren and general manager Tom nfl jerseys wholesale
Heckert made several additions at cornerback this offseason, including veteran defensive back Sheldon Brown and rookie first-round pick Joe Haden. That made it very tough for young corners such as Coye Francies to make the team. Receiver Syndric Steptoe has talent and may get interest elsewhere, particularly as a kick returner. But with Pro Bowl returner Josh Cribbs in Cleveland, the Browns have no use for Steptoe.

What's next: Despite Cleveland establishing its 53-man roster, the Browns should still be active on the waiver wires. This roster overall is not very deep, especially compared to its AFC North counterparts. So the Browns could make some additions in several areas to improve the bottom of nfl jerseys wholesale
their roster. Backups shouldn’t get too comfortable in Cleveland.

Schefter: Montario Hardesty has torn ACL

The Cleveland Browns may be in for the worst possible scenario with rookie running back Montario Hardesty.

ESPN's Adam Schefter is nfl jerseys
reporting Hardesty has a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee. The injury will sideline him for the 2010 season.

Hardesty made his NFL debut Thursday against the authentic nfl jersey
Chicago Bears and was injured in the first half. He sprained his right knee earlier this summer and had a reputation for being prone to injuries in college.

Great Debate: Will Tim Tebow make it?

The Great Debate series wouldn’t be complete this year without a discussion about Broncos rookie quarterback Tim Tebow.

Tebow is one of the most talked-about players in the NFL and he hasn’t even played in a regular-season game. The Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback from Florida is a polarizing wonder. Tebow’s NFL future has been serious water-cooler conversation ever since Denver shocked the NFL cheap nfl jerseys
by trading three draft picks to move up and take him with the No. 25 pick in April. Everybody has an opinion and the opinions vary.

And that is the case with ESPN.com senior writer John Clayton and AFC West blogger Bill Williamson. Clayton is taking the stance that Tebow’s game will not translate to the NFL, while Williamson believes it will.

Let’s get started: John Clayton: Bill, we were at Broncos camp at the same time, which is why I’m surprised we have come to such different opinions. Because I know you so well, I know you are an optimist. Like most people, you would like to see Tebow succeed as a quarterback. I would like to see him succeed too. At the moment, though, I don’t see it in the immediate future and when I say immediate future, I’m thinking the next two, maybe three, years.

Remember how we watched Tebow throw with the proper mechanics in warm-ups. He kept the ball high and was consistent with his release point in pre-practice. Then we watched practice and some of the old habits returned. He would throw the ball with more of a sidearm delivery. At times, there would be a little hitch in the throw. The release was slow and sometimes the passes weren’t accurate.

In sports, it’s hard to change habits. While it’s possible for him to fix the delivery in time, it’s going to take at least two years. I give Josh McDaniels credit, he recognized the dilemma and covered the organization by giving Kyle Orton a one-year contract extension. Both of us agree Orton is good, not great. It’s also nice that he recognizes that both of us respect his abilities, leadership and the way he runs an offense.

What I like most about watching Tebow is his dedication. He won’t fail because of a lack of effort. How about the extra stretching and muscle-building exercises he does at practice? Too bad we can’t find a "throw doctor’" we can send him to for a quick fix. Bill Williamson: Mechanics is a fair enough place to start on Tebow. That, of nfl jersey authentic
course, is the biggest knock on him. He has an awkward delivery, there’s no doubt about it. But I don’t think it’s a sure sign of failure for a quarterback. Philip Rivers doesn’t have the prettiest motion in the league, nor did the late Steve McNair. Rivers is an elite player and McNair was an NFL MVP. They were able to adjust in time and Tebow will have time.

Even though we will see Tebow as a rookie in special formations such as the Wildcat, he probably won’t start until 2012 unless there is an injury to Orton. Rivers and McNair sat and they were better for it. Plus, Tebow already has made strides in a short time under McDaniels’ guidance. He’s a much better quarterback today than he was the day he was drafted four-plus months ago. He got better as the offseason program went on and he made improvements in training camp and in the preseason. Tebow’s delivery appeared to shorten as the preseason went on. He is working on improving himself. Imagine what is going to happen when the learning curve continues for two years?

Plus, several NFL folks I have talked to, including Rivers, say that Tebow doesn’t necessarily have to refine his entire motion, just naturally work on it and still be the player he is comfortable being. I think taking this player’s delivery and making that the premise for his ultimate failure may be a tad short-sighted.

JC: Because you covered the Broncos in Denver, you can appreciate this: Denver is one of the toughest cities to be an NFL quarterback, and I think the Broncos made a big mistake by hyping him up after the draft. The biggest mistake was making him a first-round pick. Quarterbacks taken in the first round tread on John Elway’s turf. Those who tread on Elway’s turf get worse than turf toe. They eventually become unemployed. The worst I remember was Tommy Maddox. He came to town when Elway was still a top quarterback. He eventually had to go into Arena Football and then the Steelers to have any kind of a successful career. The quarterback expectations eventually caught up to Brian Griese and Jake Plummer.

Now, here comes Tebow, perhaps the greatest college leader of our time. By him being taken in the first round, Tebow jerseys flew out of stores. Fans expected his college skills to translate into the NFL with instant success. Columnists in town took their sides, and some of the most influential called for McDaniels to have guts and just go with Tebow. Had that happened, Tebow might be destined for the Arena League.

In Denver, as you know, good isn’t good enough when it comes to quarterbacks. Griese was kicked away because he was a 60-percent thrower but a 50-percent winner. Plummer’s time ran out because he was a 50-percent thrower and a 60-percent winner. The standard in Denver is Elway, the ultimate arm and the ultimate winner. He carried the Broncos. Tebow can’t do that right away and I’m not sold he ever will. Even if he fixes his bad throwing mechanics, he has the chance to start his reebok nfl jersey
career as a 50-percent thrower. Because the talent around him is suspect, Orton, who is good, is going to struggle to make the Broncos a 50-percent winner this season. That means Tebow would have better than a 50-50 chance of being a disaster.

Even with Marshall, Dolphins want to run By Tim Graham The Miami Dolphins have been a smash-mouth team since Bill Parcells assumed control and hired a

By Tim Graham
The Miami Dolphins have been a smash-mouth team since Bill Parcells assumed control and hired a head coach with handoff aminos in his genetic code, former offensive line coach Tony Sparano.
With their first draft choice, they grabbed left tackle Jake Long, and on that enormous slab -- with the benefit of running backs Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams -- they built a philosophy that allowed for a throwback ground attack called the Wildcat.
But what do we make of the Dolphins' football jersey
offense moving forward?
They've known for nearly a year they would enter 2010 with big-armed quarterback Chad Henne as their starter. They added star receiver Brandon Marshall in April, creating wonder of what kind of offense the Dolphins will deploy.
I had the chance to ask Long how the Dolphins have evolved.
He claimed they haven't much.
"First and oremost, we want to run the ball," Long said. "As an offense, if we can run the ball and wear defenses down, that's a point of pride. That's an organizational goal with wanting to be dominant in the run game.
"Last year we were fourth in the league. This year we want to be first in running the ball. That's our No. 1 goal."
The Dolphins didn't demonstrate that attitude against the Dallas Cowboys in Thursday night's preseason finale. Perhaps emphasizing some particular elements of their offense in their last dress rehearsal, the Dolphins ran only 12 times with their running backs (quarterbacks Tyler Thigpen and Chad Pennington scrambled four times) while throwing 39 passes.
Last year, the Dolphins had nfl jerseys wholesale
1,088 offensive snaps, most in the NFL.
They ran 509 times and passed 545 times.
So the Dolphins don't necessarily have to throw more, but they should expect to be more effective when they do now that they have Marshall. Their 6.2 yards per attempt tied for 24th in the league.
"We're working very hard up front to protect Chad," Long said. "If we do that, he can sling the ball. We got great receivers. We want to be a more balanced offense, and I think we can do that with the players we have."
Marshall's presence will help the run game for sure. He'll keep defenses more honest than the possession-dominant crew the Dolphins were working with. Their only legitimate downfield threat was Ted Ginn, but he played small and dropped enough passes to quell any fears within an opposing secondary.
"Defenses are going to watch out for him," Long said. "That'll maybe slow down blitzes a bit because they're going to have to watch him out on the edge, and one-on-one coverage he can definitely beat."
Long also admires the way Marshall blocks. In their preseason game against the Jacksonville Jaguars he blocked like a fiend to help pave the way on two touchdowns.
"He's a very unselfish guy," Long said. "To have him out there and not only authentic nfl jerseys
be a great receiver, but to have him blocking and giving his body up when he doesn't have the ball is pretty impressive."

Allen’s slam sends Padres to 7th straight loss

PHOENIX (AP)—Tracking the ball against the tough-to-pick-up backdrop of spacious Chase Field, Brandon Allen(notes) sprinted to the corner and leaped in the air, snaring Chase Headley’s(notes) slicing fly ball just before careening off the chain-link fence. The first ball hit nfl throwback jerseys
to him in his first big-league game as a left fielder, Allen made it look like he’d been there all along.
Oh, yeah, he hit a grand slam, too, but the Arizona Diamondbacks kind of expected that.
Making an impressive 2010 debut with Arizona, Allen hit his first career grand slam and made several rangy catches in left field to help the Diamondbacks send the reeling San Diego Padres to their seventh straight loss, 5-2 on Wednesday.
“Unbelievable,” said Diamondbacks starter Barry Enright(notes) (6-2), who fought through seven not-quite-sharp innings. “I cannot say enough.”
Allen made his way through Arizona’s minor-league system with his bat, slugging 25 homers with 86 RBIs in 107 games at Triple-A Reno this season. He’s been shaky at times with the glove at first base, though, his progress to the majors slowed even more by the signing of Adam LaRoche(notes) in the offseason.
Looking to find a way to get his bat to the majors, Arizona started occasionally sending Allen out to left field this season in Reno, an experiment that had gone relatively well because his athleticism.
Allen earned a September call-up on Wednesday and found himself in the starting lineup, batting eighth and playing left field.
Without catching any fly balls during the warmups, the rookie brought the crowd and his teammates to their feet with his against-the-fence catch of Headley’s slicer on the first ball hit to him in the fourth inning. He added an in-the-gap snag in the fifth inning and another ho-hum catch out in left later in the inning.
Then in the seventh inning, Allen did what he does best, punctuating his return to the majors with his slam off Luke Gregerson(notes) (3-7) that earned a curtain call from the fans.
“He was very comfortable out there,” Diamondbacks interim manager Kirk Gibson said. “That one play, I’m not sure you understand what it’s like to run into that fence like that, but he knew exactly where he was and had it perfectly timed. He’s an athletic kid.”
Allen’s big day ruined San Diego’s.
The Padres entered the day still four games ahead of Philadelphia Eagles jersey
San Francisco in the NL West, but another loss at last-place Arizona wasn’t what they wanted heading into a 10-game homestand against three division opponents.
Ace-in-the-making starter Mat Latos(notes) did his part to keep San Diego in it, holding Arizona to one run and four hits over six innings while matching a career high with 10 strikeouts.
The rest of it didn’t go so well.
Miguel Tejada(notes) broke a 4-for-26 slump with a solo homer in the fourth inning, but had an error on a potential double-play ball to set up Allen’s grand slam. Gregerson didn’t help himself in the inning, either, issuing a leadoff walk and giving up Gerardo Parra’s(notes) third single after Tejada’s error.
The Padres went 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position, leaving Arizona with a three-game sweep by a team that’s 22 games behind them in the division.
“Things aren’t going our way,” Padres manager Bud Black said. “We will spin out of it.”
Arizona, after a tough start to the season, finally has some momentum.
Coming off their first winning month in a year (16-13 in August), the Diamondbacks followed a road series win over San Francisco with an impressive three-game sweep over the NL West leaders.
Chris Young hit his 23rd homer, Enright allowed two runs and nine hits and Juan Gutierrez(notes) pitched the ninth for his sixth save to help Arizona win for the sixth time in seven games.
“The guys have been playing good baseball and hopefully we can keep it going,” Young said. “It’s nice to know we can make a difference.”
Latos made it tough on them.
The right-hander struck out the side twice in the first four innings and made one just mistake: a 3-1 down-the-pipe fastball that Young turned on and turned into a curling solo homer off the foul pole in left that tied it 1-all.
That was it, though, making Latos the first pitcher to allow two earned runs or less in 14 straight starts since Greg Maddux(notes) did it with Atlanta from 1993-94.
“I did what I wanted to do,” Latos said. “I tried to come out and put zeros on the board, try to keep the game close and try to win a ball game.”
With the game tight, though, Black decided to go for offense in the seventh inning, replacing Latos with a pinch-hitter.
The hitting part worked: Will Venable(notes) hit a run-scoring single to put San Diego up 2-1. The plan backfired, though, when Tejada couldn’t hold onto the ball and Oakland Raiders jersey
Gregerson the lead, setting up Allen’s storybook-finishing slam.
“Nobody imagines that,” said Allen, who hit .202 and had 40 strikeouts in 32 games as a first baseman with Arizona last season. “Everything just falls into place.”
Notes: Arizona failed to score six runs for the first time in seven games. … The last pitcher to allow two earned runs or less in 14 straight starts in one season was Houston ace Mike Scott in 1986.

Phillies in a familiar place, just different

LOS ANGELES – You wonder where the Philadelphia Phillies are going with this.
When their game went from Ryan and Chase to Punch and Judy.
When they started leaning on football jerseys
all this pitching and when the bats were due to arrive from Clearwater.
Nine months since they carted themselves off the field at Yankee Stadium, their manager vowing to be back and everyone inclined to believe him, the Phillies have altered their M.O., along with their ID and, well, their OPS.
The makeover was not entirely intentional, of course, and neither has it been entirely detrimental.
They’ve had their injuries, many of them gut-shots to the lineup. They’ve had their slumps, having been one-hit three times, having scored seven runs during a four-game sweep by the Houston Astros in Philly last week, having hit about three home runs a week fewer than they did all last season.
But Roy Halladay(notes) came along and so eventually did Roy Oswalt(notes), softening the short-sighted decision to trade Cliff Lee(notes), and Cole Hamels(notes) got some of his game back, and the bullpen is maybe less flammable at times.
And now, on Sept. 1, the Phillies have 75 wins, or one fewer (in four fewer games) than they did last Sept. 1.
Push through the various numbers and trends and slumps and bad thumbs and consternation, and still the biggest difference in the Philadelphia Phillies this season is the Atlanta Braves.
“We’re a good team,” Rollins insisted. “We can play good baseball. We’ve been booby-trapped by that this year, but we’re moving in the right direction.”
The Phillies are three games back (and leading the wild card race). A year ago, they were 7½ games up. There’s a perspective adjustment for you. They ultimately won 93 games. They’ll probably have to win more than that if they’re to be NL East champions for another year, which, if not impossible, will be a big lift. (They have won at least 17 games in each of the past three Septembers.)
They’re still waiting on the usual savvy and violent at-bats from their core – Ryan Howard(notes), Chase Utley(notes) and Jimmy Rollins(notes) – and weather and circumstance means they’re in a 23-day slog in which they’ll play 24 games, and the Braves do seem to have a very healthy view of themselves.
The wild card is fine and would have to do. But, in reaching the World Series in back-to-back seasons, the Phillies were 12-3 at Citizens Bank Park in the postseason. They’d hate to have to lean on the National League’s once-in-a-generation All-Star win for their only San Diego Chargers jersey
shot at home-field advantage this October (and November), though by Wednesday afternoon at Dodger Stadium these weren’t the sort of thoughts that had come across Charlie Manuel’s desk.
Mostly, he’d be pleased to have come out West and hit at all, given the ballparks and pitching staffs that awaited, and given the condition of his offense when he left Philadelphia six days before. His fellas hit SoCal and scored a good-enough 24 runs in six games and won five of them, because the other fellas scored just 11 times, the San Diego-L.A. portion of the trip beginning and ending with a dominant Oswalt.
His face and forearms reddened by an afternoon in the sun, Manuel was happy as a pig in slop about his starting pitching, or certainly as it might set up come October. He shrugged his shoulders, a gesture meant to convey, “Assuming we get there.”
“I think our starting pitching is the best it’s been since I’ve been here,” said Manuel, who’s now 10 years on the job and has had his hands full for plenty of them.
The chore now is to put a cattle prod to the offense, which for a couple days was utterly competent again. Howard homered Tuesday night, and Rollins homered and Utley had three doubles Wednesday. They packed up and headed for a makeup game in Colorado on Thursday. They get the Milwaukee Brewers for three over the weekend in Philadelphia, with a doubleheader against the Florida Marlins waiting on Monday.
“It’s going to take our offense to be more consistent,” Manuel said, “and our pitching has to stay exactly where it is. We know we can hit. It’s just a matter of us doing it. That will make for a big September.”
Meantime, they play away from the perception they’ve changed for the worse, and irrevocably. And if they harbored any such fears, the Phillies were in a good place for perspective this week. The Dodgers – the franchise they’d eliminated in consecutive championship series – have burst into flames. The stadium might have been half-full Wednesday. The owner and his former CEO (and estranged wife) were in a downtown courtroom. The manager is considering calling it a career. The team’s official charity is being investigated by the California attorney general’s office.
And the ballclub is all but done, a full two months ahead of schedule.
That’s change. That’s irrevocable change. That’s a mess.
The Phillies? They’re a little different. They’re not what we’re used to. They’re probably going to the playoffs. They’re still the Phillies.
“People look at us as different because they’ve seen our offense sputter,” Manuel said. “But every team’s offense is down. There’s Pittsburgh Steelers jersey
some good teams struggling like we’ve been.”
Manuel shrugged, the gesture meant to convey, “It could be worse. A lot worse.”
“You gotta let it play out,” he said.
He, too, is wondering where they’re going with this. He’ll find out when they get there.