Around the Horn (8/5)

[General]

++++

Porter?

[Porter]

Sell- I think Brady is consistent enough that if theres any drop off it wont be huge. He still has Corey Dillon at RB to help out a balanced WR corps. I dont see him having a down Brady year. Maybe they pick up Koren Robinson if they are concerned, But NE will get the kinks worked out, they always seem to do.

[General]

+++

Fisher?

[Fishercat]

I'll sell it. Charlie Weis is gone and it is a concern that Belichick will be calling offensive plays, but Bill is a football master and Brady will adjust. They should have Dillon healthy for the whole season, another year of experience for Branch, Givens, and Daniel Graham with Troy Brown in the slot. The X factor is Ben Watson, an extremely smart and fast receiving TE who is good enough to force the Patriots to keep up to four tight ends for his versatility. Don't be surprised to see him go for a 1,000 yard year if some things go right.

[General]

++++ And don't forget they still have Fauria.

Cincy?

[CincyRedsFan30]

I'm selling high. A BIG sell. He has come through in the clutch so many times now and the team has come together so many times now, why should we worry about a few practices? Even if things aren't going smoothly right now, Bill B. will ensure they do before the season starts. Dillon might have been one to complain about the Bengals when they were awful, but he has the most competitive spirit of probably anyone in the NFL. How else did he break a (then) NFL rushing record against the Broncos with a not so good offensive line protecting him? He fights so hard for everything. He will help Brady out even if he doesn't bring his best stuff in a particular game.

[General]

+++

Next on the menu, Mike Vick. Keeping it simple: buy an MVP season for Vick? Around the Horn to Fisher.

[Fishercat]

Selling. The job of a quarterback is to score points and prevent the opposing team from getting a good chance to score points. How seriously can I take a player for MVP when he had 17 TDS, incuding rushing TDs, and around 3200 total yards. He is certainly a valuable player to his team, but when you have players like Peyton Manning and Daunte Culpepper setting passing records and Tom Brady and Donovan McNabb winning this much, what kind of case does Vick have? He has a great rushing tandem in Dunn with Duckett to take some of the pressure off and his defense kept him in the game last year. Possibly the most electric player in football, but he'll need everything to go right for an MVP season. Sell.

[General]

++++

Cincy?

[CincyRedsFan30]

I have to sell this too. He is very mobile and certainly is someone you enjoy watching on Sunday Night and Monday Night Football, but he has an at-best average arm and doesn't seem to be very smart when he throws the ball. If he's going to be a MVP, he's going to have to improve his game and start looking more like a QB than a RB. He's flashy but not an MVP at this time.

[General]

+++

Mofo?

[realmofotalk]

Sell. Vick's in his 2nd year in Jim Mora's West Coast offense. It takes a few years for many quarterbacks to grasp the system and orchestrate it perfectly on the field. Vick still needs to improve on (ahem) his passing game. Vick's more likely to get closer to his 14 TDs last season than Peyton Manning's MVP winning 49 TDs, so that's not going to convince the sports media to give him the MVP. In addition, his Ron Mexico alias is not going to help him win votes either.

[General]

+++

Porter, what say you?

[Porter]

Sell, For this season, Vick is too inconstent and his people around him arent going to help him at all outside of Alge and Dunn. Sure he can run for 1000 yards, but his career completion percentage is 53.6%. This is not MVP material. Add the fact that he had 16 fumbles (7 lost) last season. 14 TD to 12 INTs in 321 pass attempts is right around Kerry Collins territory from last season cept Collins had more TDs and INTs. but you get the idea that Vick isnt going to have a MVP season. I dont even think he will be a Top 5 QB this season.

[General]

++++ Very nicely done, Porter.

Next up, Mark Grace, who said he and other like him such as Tony Gwynn will be lumped into the Steroids category. Guys...buy or sell Steroids ruining the entire era? Around the Horn to CRF.