Hot Routes

Due to a rare busy week at work, I didn't really have time (or, to be honest, feel the need) to write a recap of the spring game. We didn't see much that would lead us to believe there has been a huge transformation in the defense, and nobody really stood out and had monster days. Even the guys that made several good plays (like Curenski Gilleylen, who hauled in a 77 yard bomb from Ganz but also dropped a couple balls) balanced them out by having a few gaffes. I'm still confident that the team will continue to improve over the summer through workouts and diligent film study, and that after fall camp, they'll be ready to go out and surprise some people. But let's not kid ourselves, they aren't going to come out and pitch shutouts right away. It's going to take work, patience, and time.

Some thoughts from the spring game:

- If someone had told you two months ago that our starting outside backers going into fall camp would be Cody Glenn and Tyler Wortman, what would your reaction have been? It's a shock that a former running back and a 5th year walk-on are our starters right now, but it's shocking in a good way. I was skeptical that Glenn would contribute much after playing running back exclusively the past few years, but it just goes to show that I'm a complete idiot (though, to be honest, we already knew that, didn't we?). And Wortman is a testament to the value of the walk-on program. A guy busts his ass for 5 years, and his diligence is rewarded by the new staff, who gave him his shot, one he took and ran with. Will they be our starters on open day? Who knows. Blake Lawrence and a group of talented youngsters will have ample opportunity to grab the spots in fall camp. For now though, my hat is off to the two seniors who were the big stories of camp (Glenn) and the spring game (Wortman).

- Does anybody else wonder just how many carries that Lucky is going to get with the other studs behind him? If Castille can learn how to hang on to the ball, he and Helu will be breathing down Marlon's back. It's not a bad thing (competition never is), but it's going to be an interesting scenario to watch next season, especiallly considering Helu seems to improve with each passing day. We are going to have a very dangerous running game, and that'll open up some things for Ganz, whose interceptions last year were often due to the fact he had to throw 45 times a game to keep us in the shootouts. I really hope that Watson gets creative with these three, I'm talking having Ganz in the shotgun with Lucky and Castille on each side of him with Helu in the slot, stuff like that. If you're a defense, who do you key on? I've advocated for SOME elements of the zone-read from the shotgun in past posts, and it's something that Terry Bowden agrees with me on. I can't decide if that's a good thing or not.........

- With 'Bama having 92,000 last year and the Huskers having 80,000-plus this year, the fascination with spring games will continue to grow, as everybody now knows that it is a huge recruiting tool. Almost everybody already knew this, but with increased interest in college football and the coverage of it growing, even impartial people are taking notice of these events. It's going to be a competition every year now to get the headlines and banner recruits for these glorified practices. Not that it's a bad thing, the more college football coverage, the better.

Some NFL thoughts, with the Draft Marathon coming this weekend:

- Why did the NFL move the draft start time back to 2:00? This crap takes forever, the last thing we need is a delayed start. Plus, that means if I start drinking at 10:00 AM (which was the standard operating procedure when the draft started then), I am now classified as a drunk instead of just being your average football fan.

- While I don't plan on keeping a running diary of the draft like I did last year (where it took 4 damn hours for the 1st round, causing my laptop battery to die), I do plan on keeping an informal journal throughout the day (which will include my golf round in the morning with my buddies), then posting it on here Monday. I'm not sure how it will work out, but it's worth a shot, even if most of the stuff that my buddies and I talk about will probably not be postable due to inappropriate comments about pretty much every single race, sex, orientation,......you know what, it's not going to matter. Just imagine watching a Judd Apatow movie for 12 hours, fueled by heavy drinking. It's going to be a bunch of guys ripping on each other, so you know it's going to get pretty bad (in a fun way though).
While I'm on this topic, I gotta say, has anyone done more to take the male art of ripping on each other to a whole new level than Apatow and his cast of buddies? Movies like 40-year-old virgin, Knocked Up, and Superbad have taken sh*t-talking to a whole new level, to the point that women can't even be around when men interact with each other, it just gets too graphic. This may be a phenomenon reserved for those of us 25-and-under, but what happens as we get older? Will we still be ripping on each other like this when we're 50? I certainly hope so.

- Living in Minnesota, I have to comment on the Jared Allen trade. First off, let me say that I am a big fan of Allen. He's a hell of a player who plays the game the right way, and he's an absolute beast. But I still think the Vikings overpaid for him. Giving up a 1st and a 3rd would be fine, but to give up a 1st, two 3rds, and swapping 5th round picks, in addition to giving him one of the richest contracts in NFL history in terms of guaranteed money is a big investment for one guy. I realize that they need an edge pass rusher, but damn, he better get them at leas 12 to 15 sacks every year the next 4 years, or you have to say that it wasn't worth it. A lot of this depends on what KC does with the bevy of picks they acquired, and with Carl Peterson in charge, they'll probably do pretty well (though picking Brody Croyle a couple years ago is still a head scratcher, and in my opinion was a terrible choice from the get-go). Either way, it's fun to watch all the Vikings fans talk themselves into the trade, saying that a good pass rusher was all they needed. Apparently they've all forgotten that their QB is Tavaris Jackson. Then again, with some guy named Adrian Peterson in the backfield, they might be good despite that.

-Kudos to Marvin Lewis and the Bengals, who despite getting some good trade offers, are moving forward with their collective F-you to Chad Johnson's bitching and moaning. This guy has always played the happy-go-lucky version of T.O., but you had to know that deep down, the guy would eventually turn into a cancer, and sure enough, his douchebaggery has risen to the top. I hope they keep him the whole year and just let the asshole sit out like he is threatening to.