* “The Colts’ defense has become a lot faster and more physical. They run around and hit you.”
* “(Raiders C) Jeremy Newberry is their best run blocker, and he is only average.”
* “The Jets have issues. You are seeing now what should have happened last year. They just hit it right a year ago. It’s more of a reflection of where they are with that team. They have a bad offensive line. They are inconsistent running and throwing the ball. They have a group of average receivers. They are very inconsistent in the secondary. Overall, it’s a very inconsistent football team.”
* “In a lot of ways, they are asking (Jonathan) Vilma and (Dewayne) Robertson to do things they are not great at, but if they are good enough athletes, it does not matter.”
* “We’ve been watching the resurrection of Kyle Vanden Bosch for the last year and a half and now (Albert) Haynesworth has turned up the dial a notch. They are getting after it.”
* “The Saints go as their offensive line goes, and the unit is playing a lot better. Jammal Brown is back to form.”
* “The problem in Carolina is that the defensive line gets away with too much. (Julius) Peppers does what he wants to do. He’s making a lot of money, so he does not get chewed out like he needs to. Defensive linemen need a foot up their ***. They play their best when someone is breathing fire down their throats. The best defensive line coaches know it. Rod Marinelli is a head coach because of it. He’s an old war veteran. He’s the kind of guy you want coaching your line. He is the prototype defensive line coach. The league needs more guys like him.”
* “A lot of scouts were not sold on (Raiders CBs) Fabian Washington and Stanford Routt coming out of college because they did not like to tackle, but they are not playing too bad. Their speed is showing up on the field. They get out of position, but they can still close.”
* “The Cowboys’ offensive line is not that good. They are benefiting from a quarterback that can move.”
* “When you look at the full package of what Brian Westbrook brings to the team, there is not a more valuable player to his team. They need him more than they need (Donovan) McNabb. If you rated him strictly as a running back, you would have to say he is good, but because of his pass-catching skills, it raises his game up a notch. I would say he has performed at a Pro Bowl level, absolutely.”
* “How is (OLT) Donald Penn starting for Tampa Bay? I don’t know that anyone in the league had a draftable grade on him a few years ago. He was always hurt, he whined about everything. Now he is starting in the NFL. It makes you wonder if you can scout anymore when you see stuff like that. They claimed him off waivers this year. If anyone thought they had a left tackle that had a chance, they would not have let him go. At the least, developmental left tackles do have trade value.”
* “(Eagles OG) Shawn Andrews is Larry Allen the second.”
* “(Panthers OLT) Travelle Wharton is going to get top money in free agency. I think he is an ascending player. I’m not sure if he has fully recovered from the knee injury he suffered a year ago. He should only get better.”
* “The cap is eventually going to catch up to the Colts. They had major cap problems a couple years ago, and with decisions coming on Bob Sanders and Dallas Clark, they are going to have to get real creative. The problem when you have so many good players is keeping them all.”
* “The first thing you better do when you’re picking in the top 10 is make sure you have a quarterback. If you don’t know if you have one or not, chances are that you don’t. The second half of the season is the time to figure out what you’ve got. If I am the Dolphins, I am finding out what John Beck has. Let me see some signs. Show me he’s not the system quarterback that most of the league thought he was. We would not have touched him until maybe the fifth round, I can tell you that much.”
