Happy Reading and Let's Have a Great 2013 Season

Training Camp Update
Volume 8, Issue 4 – 8/27/13

We say it all the time because it's true: Things change fast in the NFL. And they never change faster than they do in August. And nobody covers those changes and team situations more comprehensively than Footballguys.com. Our Training Camp Updates come out once a week in August and our staff covers everything you need to know about every NFL team. This is the deep stuff that gives you an edge. We're not going to rave that Peyton Manning and Ray Rice are great. You know that.

Read our weekly updates to get the inside scoop on how the Green Bay running backs are practicing and which player is the best bet for your draft. Or the Eagles WR corps. Or which Dallas receivers are shining in practice. It's the kind of information that will put you over the edge and on the way to dominating your draft.

Happy reading and let's have a great 2013 season,

Joe Bryant and David Dodds
Owners, Footballguys.com

Arizona Cardinals

QB: Carson Palmer had a modest performance against the San Diego Chargers by going 12/23 for 122 yards and a touchdown. He did throw that touchdown to Michael Floyd in the third quarter before leaving the game at least. Drew Stanton came in from that point and had a strong completion percentage, but also had an interception and only had 55 yards on seven completions. The Cardinals' pecking order at the quarterback position has been set in stone all offseason seemingly.

RB: Rashard Mendenhall is clearly the preferred option in Arizona. Mendenhall was impressive in Week 2 and made a fast start against the Chargers in Week 3 also, but an issue with his previously injured knee sidelined him. Ryan Williams finally saw time on the field with two carries, but the odds are stacked against him as he only came in late in the third quarter. It appears that Alfonso Smith is the leading candidate to replace Mendenhall if he misses time, but Stepfan Taylor and Andre Ellington are still in the picture also. Taylor has already shown up well in extended time on the field, while Ellington appears to be the outsider looking in for his rookie season at least.

WR: The arrival of Carson Palmer has many talking about the rejuvenation of Larry Fitzgerald's career, but it appears that Michael Floyd may be looking to give birth to his prosperous NFL career this season. Floyd has the edge over Andre Roberts as the second starting receiver because of he has the ability to be a matchup nightmare for defensive backs, he just needs to continue to show off his ability. While Fitzgerald and Floyd will always draw the most attention of the Cardinals' wide receivers, Roberts still has that deep play ability that should prosper with Bruce Arians. Roberts added two receptions for 42 yards against the Chargers in Week 3 to go along with his 38-yard touchdown reception from Week 1. While we haven't seen much evidence of it during the preseason, Patrick Peterson is now reportedly available for 60 of the Cardinals' offensive plays.

TE: The Cardinals have had a bit of a cluster at the tight end position during the preseason, but in the most important buildup game the top three were Rob Housler, Jim Dray and Korey Sperry. Dray appears to be set as the backup to Housler, but Housler himsdidn't endear himself to fans much against the Chargers. He did have one reception for eight yards, but critically he dropped a pass in the endzone when he was wide open. Palmer threw him a perfect pass, he simply dropped it. That's all too familiar for the Cardinals, who were the only team not to have a touchdown reception from a tight end last season.

Defense: The Cardinals have retooled much of their defense this off-season, but they retained a strength from last season in the defensive line. Therefore, it's somewhat of a surprise that Mike Jurecki has highlighted the defensive line as a disappointment this year so far. The defense as a whole will be disappointed with their display against the Chargers and that's without even considering the freak fumble recovery that led to a San Diego touchdown. Of course, once the Cardinals start game-planning for opponents their performances should dramatically improve. That can be said about any defense, but when you have talented individuals like Tyrann Mathieu and Patrick Peterson in the secondary that impact is multiplied.

Special Teams: It’s been a week and a half of changes. Camp leg Will Batson was released. Kicker Jay Feely’s 30-yard miss two weekends ago was deemed “unacceptable” by head coach Bruce Arians. Recently released by the Dolphins, kicker Dan Carpenter was signed last Wednesday. In this Saturday’s game against San Diego, Feely made an extra point and Carpenter had a 26-yard field goal attempt blocked. Carpenter was released on Sunday. Things were simpler on returns against the Chargers; CB Javier Arenas averaged 26.0 yards on two kickoffs and CB Patrick Peterson had a 24-yard punt return and a fair catch.

Cardinals Depth Chart
QB:Carson Palmer,Drew Stanton,Ryan Lindley
RB:Rashard Mendenhall (inj),Ryan Williams (inj),Stepfan Taylor, Andre Ellington,Alfonso Smith,Javarris James
WR:Larry Fitzgerald,Michael Floyd,Andre Roberts (inj),Jaron Brown,Charles Hawkins,Mike Thomas,Kerry Taylor,Robert Gill, Dan Buckner,LaRon Byrd (IR)
TE:Rob Housler (inj),Jeff King,Jim Dray,Kory Sperry,D.C. Jefferson,Richard Quinn
LT:Levi Brown,Nate Potter
LG:Daryn Colledge,Chilo Rachal,Senio Kelemete
C:Lyle Sendlein
RG:Paul Fanaika,Earl Watford,Mike Gibson,Jonathan Cooper (IR)
RT:Eric Winston,Bobby Massie
K:Jay Feely
NT:Dan Williams (inj),David Carter (DT)
DE:Calais Campbell,Darnell Dockett (DT),,Frostee Rucker,Ronald Talley
ILB:Daryl Washington (susp),Karlos Dansby,Kevin Minter,Jasper Brinkley,Reggie Walker
OLB:Sam Acho,John Abraham,Lorenzo Alexander,Matt Shaughnessy,Alex Okafor,Zach Nash,Dan Giordano(PUP)
CB:Patrick Peterson (PR),Jerraud Powers,Javier Arenas (PR/KR),Antoine Cason,Jamell Fleming,Bryan McCann
S:Yeremiah Bell (SS),Tyrann Mathieu (FS/CB),Rashad Johnson (FS) (inj),Justin Bethel (FS),Curtis Taylor (SS),Jonathan Amaya (SS),Tony Jefferson(FS)

Atlanta Falcons

QB: Matt Ryan was harried by the Titans' pass rush on Saturday night, taking five sacks for 34 yards and almost losing a fumble (the officials ruled him down before the ball popped out). "A couple things stick out to me," Ryan said after the game. "Production in the red zone we've got to do better and improve on in the next two weeks. And overall execution needs to be better across the board. We just need to play better than we did tonight." Ultimately Ryan finished with 11/19 for 138 yards, zero TDs or interceptions to his credit. Dominique Davis took the rest of the Falcons' snaps, throwing 7/14 for 105 yards, one TD and one interception while being sacked once (for -7 yards). Davis also ran twice for 45 yards. "We gave up way too many sacks and way too many pressures on the quarterback," head coach Mike Smith said. "It wasn't necessarily mental. I think it was a technique thing." The Falcons began to cut down to 75 players on Sunday, August 25 - QB Seth Doege was released in the first round of cuts.

RB: On the Falcons' first drive of the night, Steven Jackson looked powerful and decisive, with two double-digit runs (11 and 13 yards) among the five carries he handled. He also picked up a first down with a strong three-yard run on second-and-three during the drive. When Jackson was finished for the night, he had amassed 12/51/0 rushing and 3/15/0 receiving against the Titans. Jacquizz Rodgers didn't shine, with 3/9/0 rushing and Jason Snelling plodded to 3/1/0 rushing with 1/5/0 receiving in a reserve role. Fullback Bradie Ewing returned from his unspecified injury to practices on August 20, and he participated in the game on Saturday. "It felt good," Ewing said. "It's been a little while. I was a little rusty, but it felt good to be back out there with the guys and getting into some game prep for Tennessee." Fullback Devonte Campbell was released on Sunday as the team began to cut down to 75 players.

WR: Julio Jones (eight targets for 4/81/0) saw a lot of passes from Matt Ryan on Saturday night, but struggled, dropping two passes and drawing an offensive pass interference penalty during the game. "We have a whole lot of work to do over the next 14 days," coach Smith said after the game. "Many of the mistakes that we made are correctable." Roddy White sat out of the game nursing his sprained ankle, so Harry Douglas started across from Jones (two targets for 1/16/0 receiving). Darius Johnson was second in receiving on the team, with 4/62/1 to his credit, including a 41-yard TD pass from Davis.

TE: "Personally, I felt good," Tony Gonzalez said after the game on Saturday. "I felt fine. There is room for improvement, there always is. I've only been back for four days or whatever... I'm improving my wind. I wasn't winded, but I can get better. I can explode (better) off the line of scrimmage. I like where I'm at, at this point after missing all of that time." Gonzalez started and saw two targets for 2/21/0 receiving. Backup Chase Coffman saw five targets for 2/24/0 receiving vs. Tennessee. While out on family leave, Gonzalez watched practice nightly from his team issued iPad. "Yeah, we have the iPad with all of the plays on there and all of the installation that you're going to need," Gonzalez said. "There is nothing that they saw that I didn't see. I got to see everything. It beams right to the iPad. I would watch it every night and see what they did in practice every day."

Defense: At Tennessee, the Falcons were led by DE/LB Kroy Biermann - he posted seven tackles (five solo) with two sacks, three tackles for a loss and two QB hits. He is thriving in the hybrid role defined for Biermann by defensive coordinator Mike Nolan. Unfortunately, Asante Samuel injured his thigh during the game - the severity of his injury isn't currently known. On Wednesday, it was revealed at practice that Osi Umenyiora will wear #50 for the 2013 season, after trading a nice dinner to Pat Schiller for the jersey number. LB Robert James returned to practices on Tuesday after rehabbing his undisclosed injury.

Special Teams: Against the Titans, starting kicker Matt Bryant got a chance to rest (with tightness in his back) and camp leg Jeremy Shelley handled the placekicking, making field goals of 27, 31 and 32 yards, but missing wide right from 46 yards. Along with holding on placekicks, Matt Bosher averaged 52.0 yards on four punts and had two touchbacks on five kickoffs. Starting kickoff returner RB Jacquizz Rodgers had a 32-yard return against the Titans. WR Harry Douglas, who is expected to only see an occasional punt return in the regular season, averaged 11.0 yards on a pair and fair caught another this week.

Falcons Depth Chart
QB:Matt Ryan,Dominique Davis,Sean Renfree
RB:Steven Jackson,Jacquizz Rodgers (KR),Jason Snelling, Antone Smith,Josh Vaughn,Ronnie Wingo
FB:Bradie Ewing,Patrick DiMarco
WR:Roddy White (inj),Julio Jones,Harry Douglas (PR),Drew Davis,Kevin Cone,James Rodgers,Marcus Jackson
TE:Tony Gonzalez,Levine Toilolo,Chase Coffman
LT:Sam Baker
LG:Justin Blalock,Jacques McClendon
C:Peter Konz,Joe Hawley
RG:Garrett Reynolds,Phillipkeith Manley,Harland Gunn
RT:Lamar Holmes,Mike Johnson (IR)
K:Matt Bryant
DT:Jonathan Babineaux,Corey Peters,Peria Jerry,Travian Robertson,Micanor Regis,Adam Replogle
DE:Osi Umenyiora,Kroy Biermann,Malliciah Goodman,Stansly Maponga,Jonathan Massaquoi,Cliff Matthews
MLB:Akeem Dent,Pat Schiller,Brian Banks
OLB:Sean Weatherspoon (W) (inj),Stephen Nicholas (S),Robert James (W)
CB:Asante Samuel,Desmond Trufant,Robert McClain,Robert Alford,Dominique Franks (PR),Kemal Ishmael,Terrence Johnson
S:William Moore (SS),Thomas DeCoud (FS),Charles Mitchell (FS),Zeke Mota (SS),Shann Schillinger (SS),Peyton Thompson(FS)

Baltimore Ravens

QB: When asked for his thoughts on the team’s dress rehearsal for the regular season, Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh cut right to the chase. "Very pleased about most everything about the game… I like the way we played, I liked how we played… I just didn't like the four returns for touchdowns." The Ravens allowed three different returns for scores in the first half after taking a 7-0 lead with a 9-play, 69-yard drive capped by Ray Rice’s 1-yard TD run. The Ravens went no-huddle for seven of the drive’s nine plays and Flacco completed all five passes on the drive. The Super Bowl MVP played into the third quarter completing 18-of-24 for 169 yards, but he threw a pair of interceptions. At least he rebounded and finished strong, leading them to ten 3rd quarter points to bring them within a score of the Panthers – highlighted by a 24-yard TD strike to undrafted rookie. Pencil in Flacco as a solid, middle-of-the-road QB2 in standard 12-team leagues.

RB: Unlike other top flight RBs, Ray Rice got plenty of action in his team’s third preseason game. Rice played into the third quarter along with most of the starters as he carried the ball 16 times for 62 yards and a TD. Rice started strong with a 13-yard rip behind right guard Marshal Yanda on the first play of the Ravens’ opening drive and he finished off the drive with an easy one-yard run. Beyond that, the starting offense and Rice bogged down for the rest of the first half until they came alive in the third quarter. Bernard Pierce didn’t have his best game with only seven yards on 10 carries, including a lost fumble when Panthers MLB Luke Kuechly met him in the backfield, stripped the ball and Thomas Davis scooped up the ball and ran it in for a touchdown. Pierce mixed in with Rice with the first-team getting his first action on the team’s third series. After Rice and Pierce, the race for the third spot got more interesting when the Ravens acquired Delone Carter from the Colts in exchange for WR David Reed. Carter will compete with Anthony Allen, Damien Berry and Bobby Rainey for the third and likely final spot in the backfield, save for fullback Vonta Leach. Allen was the first back off the bench against the Panthers with Rainey and Berry working in right behind him. Allen ran for 28 yards on five carries, Rainey 31 yards on three, and Berry had a 10-yard TD in the fourth quarter to go with his 15 yards on three carries.