Opinion Man says:

Bledsoe’s continued improvement is very impressive

By Ron Pollack, Editor-in-chief
As published in print Oct. 4, 1999

Patriots QB Drew Bledsoe

I am becoming more and more impressed by Patriots QB Drew Bledsoe. Last season he showed his toughness. This season he is getting much better at picking up the blitz. In the past, opposing teams had the edge if they blitzed, because Bledsoe would sometimes be slow to pick it up, and that’s when he’d make mistakes. With leadership skills and the nuances of the position now added to his résumé, Bledsoe is building the foundation of a very memorable career.

• This just in from the I-never-thought-I’d-be-saying-this department: Although I’m still not picking them to go to the Super Bowl, the Redskins look as though they can definitely contend for a berth in the Super Bowl if they stay healthy.

• This just in from the I-never-thought-I’d-be-saying-this department II: The Rams appear capable of posting a double-digit win total, even though QB Trent Green is out for the season.

• When John Elway retired, I viewed him as an amazingly, incredibly, phenomenally spectacular quarterback. Judging by the way the Broncos have fallen apart this season, it’s possible that I may have underrated Elway.

• A lot of NFL teams are going to look back on the most recent draft and kick themselves for not selecting Jevon Kearse.

• Even though he had a big game last week, Vikings WR Randy Moss is at a crossroads in his young pro career. Now that opposing teams have adjusted to him and slowed him down as often as not this season, how does he react? Does he put his nose to the grindstone and work to learn the nuances of the position, or does he act like a punk and become a disruptive influence on the team? Moss would really benefit from a talk with former NBA superstar Michael Jordan on how to handle the pressure of wearing the bull’s-eye and how to go from great talent to great tactician of his sport.

• As great as Packers QB Brett Favre is at leading his team to come-from-behind wins, that is not what impresses me most about him. The truly astonishing thing about Favre is that he has had terrific receivers such as Sterling Sharpe, Robert Brooks and, at least for this season and possibly for good, Mark Chmura removed prematurely from his receiving corps by injuries, yet Favre does not skip a beat. When Favre’s career is over and you are trying to decide his place on the all-time QB list, just remember how good Favre makes his receivers look, no matter who they are or when they were drafted.

• If you had to pick an NFL player to coach your kid’s peewee team, I can’t think of a better choice than Bills QB Doug Flutie.

• Let’s just slow down with all of this the-Lions-are-better-without-Barry-Sanders talk. I’ve got to think that before the season is over, the loss of Sanders is really going to hurt.

• Redskins RB Stephen Davis is the real deal. I’ve seen enough to say that he’ll keep posting impressive numbers.

• I know that money talks, but for the life of me I can’t understand why any free agent would ever sign with a team that plays on artificial turf.

• Somebody needs to tell the Bengals the preseason is over.

• If Daniel Snyder owned the Bengals, I’m not sure anyone in Cincinnati would still have a job.

• For the time being, I’m sticking with my preseason Super Bowl pick of Dolphins vs. Packers.

• Now that the Broncos have fallen on tough times, I expect you’ll see a number of their assistants who turned down jobs that would have given them greater responsibilities with other teams move on in the offseason to greener pastures.

• I’ll be very surprised if TE Shannon Sharpe is still a Bronco after this season.

• At whatever point Bill Parcells decides to retire, I think his replacement will have a very difficult task given the way Parcells brought in so many aging players with an emphasis on winning this season.

Opinion Man recently surfed through the extensive STATS Inc. statistical section at www.profootballweekly.com and turned that raw data into the following thoughts:

• If Corey Dillon played on a better team, he would become one of the very best running backs in the NFL. Through Week Three, Dillon’s rushing totals were good but not unbelievable. What is notable is that Dillon was leading the league in first-quarter rushing yards. This measures his true ability, since the Bengals were annihilated the second and third weeks of the season. Playing catch-up leads to a lot of passing and not as many rushing attempts compared to the grind-it-out mentality when a team is playing with the lead. Also, consider the fact that in Dillon’s first three games this season, he had more rushing yards (54) taken away because of penalties than any other running back in the NFL. If the Bengals ever put it all together in the future (a big "if" given their track record), look for Dillon to post monster numbers.

• Any dunce can tell that Marvin Harrison is having a huge season based on the obvious statistics such as catches and yards. Less obvious, but perhaps even more impressive, was the fact that at the end of Week Three, Harrison was leading the league in first-down catches on third down. In other words, not only does he have a lot of yards, but they are clutch yards.

• Here is proof that passer ratings don’t tell the entire story. In his first three games of the season, Favre led his team to two tremendous fourth-quarter comeback wins. Yet he was ranked only ninth in the NFL in fourth-quarter passer rating heading into Week Four.

• Charlie Batch is truly amazing. Despite the retirement of Sanders and the injury to WR Herman Moore, Batch was second in the entire NFL (behind only Brad Johnson) in pass plays of greater than 25 yards through the first three weeks of the season.

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1999 - 2000 Season