aijordanshoes's blog

make them pay yesterday a couple of times

Kolb has been sacked 24 times in seven games. The pressure he faced Sunday was his most severe yet. Of course, since it was Baltimore, that shouldn't be surprising.
"They run a tough scheme and bring them from a lot of different places. You've got to step up in there and block them," Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt said. "We have to get the ball out quicker in some situations. We had opportunities to make them pay yesterday a couple of times, but we weren't as efficient as we needed to be from a protection standpoint or from getting the ball out. That's always tough.
"When you add in the noise, knowing your guys are going to be late off the ball, giving them the advantage, it is really a tough situation. I don't think people appreciate how difficult that is. That's why they're a good defense, and they're a tough team to play there."
These guys might not exactly be carrying a lunch pail to the stadium, but they did bring a blue-collar, working-man approach to the weekend's games. Take a look at all the nominees, then vote on your choice for the Hardest-Working Man for Week 8.
In facing his former team for the first time, Boldin made the Cardinals reconsider just what they might be missing when they let the veteran receiver go to Baltimore. He made a profound impact as the Ravens pulled off the biggest second-half rally in team history for a 30-27 win, finishing with seven catches for 145 yards. More importantly, however, were two key plays that weren't catches but resulted in pass interference calls that became touchdowns a play later. Down 24-6 in the third quarter, Boldin drew a pass interference that put the ball at the 1-yard line to set up a Ray Rice touchdown. The second pass interference call -- another that put the ball at the 1-yard line for an easy Rice scoring run -- helped the Ravens climb to within 24-20 at the end of the third quarter.
Cleveland Browns running back Montario Hardesty has a torn calf muscle and is expected to miss some games, so the team plans to work out possible replacements Tuesday, according to a league source.
The source said Thomas Clayton will be one of the running backs who works out for the Browns. He spent time in Cleveland last season.
Browns coach Pat Shurmur said Monday that Hardesty is wearing a protective boot, but he doesn't know how long the running back will be sidelined. Normal starter Peyton Hillis also is ailing, having missed two games with a hamstring problem.
Chris Ogbonnaya had 11 carries in Sunday's 20-10 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, but he has been with the Browns for just two weeks after being signed off the Houston Texans' practice squad. Brandon Jackson suffered a season-ending toe injury during the preseason.

we want all of them to be incredibly

And this weekend should be a good barometer: It's the first time Buffalo's gone up there as a contender.
"Our view on this weekend is that it's an NFL game, and we want all of them to be incredibly successful," he said. "That we have two teams that are off to good starts has excited the fans, and that's reflected in the acceleration of ticket sales. The excitement in the press is heightened, and we're seeing the things we wanted to see early on. Toronto is a great market."
How soon it, or London, becomes an NFL market remains to be seen. (NFL Commissioner) Roger Goodell told me in London last week that, "We're going to play multiple games over here, and if that's successful, there is a possibility of a franchise here. … Eventually you want to see if we can sell it by focusing on maybe one or two or two or three teams, so we can get to the point where we could have a franchise here."
For as much as we all made about the arrival of Mike Holmgren in Cleveland and the gradual implementation of the West Coast offense -- his mentor Bill Walsh's offense -- the commitment early in the tenure of Browns president Mike Holmgren has been on the other side of the ball.
As Tony Grossi of the Cleveland Plain Dealer noted the other day, Holmgren and GM Tom Heckert have had four top-40 picks in their first two drafts. And all of them have been spent on defense. Last year, corner Joe Haden and safety T.J. Ward came on board. This year, it was defensive tackle Phil Taylor and defensive end Jabaal Sheard.
Seems to be working. The Browns rank fourth in total defense -- interestingly enough, behind AFC North rivals Baltimore, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh -- and it's in no small part due to Heckert and Holmgren's Core 4.
"They're really hard-working guys," Browns defensive coordinator Dick Jauron, who was charged with leading Cleveland's switch from Rob Ryan's 3-4 to his own 4-3. "They continue to play hard, and we've got a long ways to go, we can better, but they're learning. In this game, everyone's good enough to beat you. You gotta be really sound, tough and talented, and get lucky at times. A number of those things occurred on Sunday."
That led to a near shutout -- the Browns beat the Seahawks 6-3 -- and Cleveland's other two wins also came with the defense holding the opposition under 20 points.
But where this story really started was in camp. One of the more startling things I encountered on the trail this summer was seeing Taylor and Sheard running with the first team very early in the summer.