Peter King’s Top 50 Free Agents: (Top 10)
(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images North America)
This week’s Sports Illustrated cover features Saints LB Jonathan Vilma, who is at the center of the team’s bounty scandal. (Bill Frakes/SI)
This week’s Sports Illustrated features Tom Brady, who is making his 19th appearance on the SI cover. (Simon Bruty/SI)
And so it begins…
![“Run the ball or catch it. Now a defense has to prepare for the Patriots’ tight ends to do either. Together, Hernandez and Gronkowski had 169 receptions during the season, an NFL record for a pair of tight ends and the same number as the Lions’ [Calvin] Johnson and the No. 2 wideout in Detroit, Nate Burleson. The New England duo’s 14 catches on Saturday night produced 200 yards of offense (who wouldn’t take a 14.3-yard average from the two top wideouts, never mind tight ends?) and those four touchdowns. And Hernandez was New England’s leading rusher, with 61 yards on five carries.”
- Peter King on New England Tight Ends Aaron Hernandez & Rob Gronkowski
(Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxyhcfFzOK1qd6kw4o1_500.jpg)
“Run the ball or catch it. Now a defense has to prepare for the Patriots’ tight ends to do either. Together, Hernandez and Gronkowski had 169 receptions during the season, an NFL record for a pair of tight ends and the same number as the Lions’ [Calvin] Johnson and the No. 2 wideout in Detroit, Nate Burleson. The New England duo’s 14 catches on Saturday night produced 200 yards of offense (who wouldn’t take a 14.3-yard average from the two top wideouts, never mind tight ends?) and those four touchdowns. And Hernandez was New England’s leading rusher, with 61 yards on five carries.”
- Peter King on New England Tight Ends Aaron Hernandez & Rob Gronkowski
(Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
“It was less than a yard, it was about half a yard, maybe even less than that. That was the play, again, we go through and sequence those things all through the week and felt like that was the play we had up and we just didn’t execute it. We felt like at any point and time we ought to be able to move less than a half-yard with the quarterback sneak.”
- Mike Smith, Atlanta Head Coach
(Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
![“Three days before the draft, McDaniels had gone to Gainesville, telling no one, because he wanted to work out Tebow and talk football with him, to see how much he knew about offensive football — and to see if he might be worth a major investment of draft choices if that’s what it came down to get him.
“We spent about seven hours together,” McDaniels said. “Our offense is pretty complicated, and the terminology and the scheme is totally different from what he did at Florida. But about midway through my time there, we’re going through plays, and he starts using our terminology. He’s so smart about football that he was able to begin to speak my language and talk apples to apples. He’d already translated what he knew of our scheme into my words. There’re going to be doubts about him. Great doubts — and I understand that. Some people don’t think he has the natural traits of a great quarterback. Here’s what I think: Do Jim Furyk and Tiger Woods swing the club the same way, hit irons the same way? No. But they both win tournaments. There’s different ways to throw, different mechanics, and you can still get the job done.”
At the end of the conversation, McDaniels said he couldn’t wait to see Tebow throw the ball deep to Thomas. “He’s 6-foot-3, and a legit 4.3-second [in the 40-yard dash] guy. What a weapon he’s going to be. Wait ‘til our fans see these guys together.”
They did Sunday, in one of the greatest games the city’s ever hosted. Now, it’s clear that offensive coordinator Mike McCoy, who has been important in Tebow’s development and has been a very smart play-caller and strategist, deserves a huge hand for his work this year. John Fox has been a smart head coach, because he has adjusted to Tebow’s style rather than forcing him to the play a straight pro style. But after what we witnessed on draft day 20 months ago, and the magic we saw Sunday, one question: Still hate Josh McDaniels, Denver?”
- Peter King](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxlie64t6G1qd6kw4o1_500.jpg)
“Three days before the draft, McDaniels had gone to Gainesville, telling no one, because he wanted to work out Tebow and talk football with him, to see how much he knew about offensive football — and to see if he might be worth a major investment of draft choices if that’s what it came down to get him.
“We spent about seven hours together,” McDaniels said. “Our offense is pretty complicated, and the terminology and the scheme is totally different from what he did at Florida. But about midway through my time there, we’re going through plays, and he starts using our terminology. He’s so smart about football that he was able to begin to speak my language and talk apples to apples. He’d already translated what he knew of our scheme into my words. There’re going to be doubts about him. Great doubts — and I understand that. Some people don’t think he has the natural traits of a great quarterback. Here’s what I think: Do Jim Furyk and Tiger Woods swing the club the same way, hit irons the same way? No. But they both win tournaments. There’s different ways to throw, different mechanics, and you can still get the job done.”
At the end of the conversation, McDaniels said he couldn’t wait to see Tebow throw the ball deep to Thomas. “He’s 6-foot-3, and a legit 4.3-second [in the 40-yard dash] guy. What a weapon he’s going to be. Wait ‘til our fans see these guys together.”
They did Sunday, in one of the greatest games the city’s ever hosted. Now, it’s clear that offensive coordinator Mike McCoy, who has been important in Tebow’s development and has been a very smart play-caller and strategist, deserves a huge hand for his work this year. John Fox has been a smart head coach, because he has adjusted to Tebow’s style rather than forcing him to the play a straight pro style. But after what we witnessed on draft day 20 months ago, and the magic we saw Sunday, one question: Still hate Josh McDaniels, Denver?”
“As far as I’m concerned, he’ll be the last quarterback we ever draft high in my lifetime. He is a very unusual young man, and I say that in a highly complimentary way. He does not complain. Ever. He’s never in the trainers room. You watch him get hit out there and you think, ‘He got to be hurting,’ and then you see he’s never with the trainers. The way he has adapted to our team and to the NFL has been tremendous. We couldn’t be happier.”
- Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson on QB Cam Newton
(Source: espnmediazone3.com)
