THE NFL TODAY’S Bill Cowher puts forth his “Fearless Football Forecast” with 2010 prognostications on which players will be emerging stars, what players acquired in the off-season will have the biggest impact on their teams, what teams will rise up, what teams will fall, what coach and player are under the most pressure and who will be playing in Super Bowl XLV. Jeff St. Arromand is the feature producer.
James Brown hosts THE NFL TODAY along with analysts Dan Marino, Boomer Esiason, Shannon Sharpe and Cowher, NFL TODAY “General Manager” Charley Casserly, as well as Lesley Visser and Sam Ryan reporting.
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Some pre show comments worth checking out.
(On Washington Redskins and impact of new coach Mike Shanahan)
BILL COWHER: The mindset is going to be a more positive one. You have a proven coach in Mike Shanahan, a guy that has won two Super Bowls, and it’s a process…This is a work in progress. Mike is going to have to work through what he inherited and what he wants to build. Certainly the situation with Albert Haynesworth needs to be monitored and looked upon. They came in with a premier player and went to a 3-4 defense. So not only are you dealing with a player that was highly compensated, but he doesn’t really fit their system. Now they’ve asked him to make some adjustments and that’s been an ongoing ordeal itself. It’s a football team that is very much in transition, but it’s a transition in a positive way.
PHIL SIMMS: I believe in the NFL the coaches can have so much to do with the outcome of seasons. You can give two coaches the exact same team, one coach can get five wins out of them, and another can get none. You look at Buck Showalter with the Baltimore Orioles. They made no roster changes and since he’s been down there, you can’t recognize them. I just think you can have that kind of power. And a coach like Mike Shanahan brings that with him.
(On CBS Sports’ Jim Nantz celebrating his 25th year on the air on September 15)
SEAN McMANUS: Jim just continues in my mind to get better and better. Every assignment we throw him, whether it’s adding NFL play-by-play a few years ago, or whatever we ask him to do, he just does a better and better job. Jim is clearly the voice of CBS Sports, and if you look at the work he’s done at Augusta National and on the college basketball tournament, then the NFL, not just the games themselves, but also the studio, Jim has continued to distinguish himself. The thing that I find most satisfying, particularly on the NFL, is that he and Phil have gotten better each and every year. They were a really good team when they started. They’re an extraordinary team right now. If you watched what they did at the Super Bowl last year, that’s as good a play-by-play and analyst performance as you’ll ever see in television.
(On the Manning legacy and achievement in the NFL)
SIMMS: It’s amazing. That’s the word for it. It really is…It’s going to go down as the greatest father-sons careers in history. I can’t think of anything that’s even close to it. Peyton has changed the way organizations think about handling quarterbacks. And he’s definitely changed the way quarterbacks have prepared and played the position. I look around the league now and just go, ‘Wow.’ I’m starting to see teams starting to pay a lot of focus on their quarterback like the Colts did many, many years ago when Peyton came to the league. And the one that really comes to mind is Aaron Rodgers…He has a lot of the same talents as Peyton Manning.
(On Aaron Rodgers)
SIMMS: Aaron Rodgers is one of the 10 best players in the NFL, period. He’s got so much talent, it’s amazing. I can’t believe it’s the same guy I saw come out of Cal. He learned a lot from Brett Favre. And I don’t know, I’m not taking anything away from Aaron Rodgers, but Mike McCarthy knows what he’s doing when it comes to quarterbacks, preparing them. He’s teaching them things.
DAN MARINO: It gets me excited when I see quarterbacks with guys that can just make throws from anywhere across their body down the field; throw it on the line, touch pass – all of it. He’s got all that.
(On Bill Parcells)
SIMMS: He was the most truthful person I’ve ever dealt with in football at any level. And you know, sometimes I think that’s a hard thing to do in sports, especially in football.
(On Miami)
MARINO: One of the big question marks will be defensively how they adjust to Mike Nolan, new defensive coordinator. They are changing some things up a little bit from the philosophy of what they did last year. That will be something interesting to watch how they handle that. I do think it might be tough for them to win the division. This division, the East, is always tough; the Patriots, the Jets and all their hype, and Buffalo may be a surprising team this year with some of the young talent they’ve got. So, it’s going to be tough on them (Miami).
(On new Buffalo coach Chan Gailey)
COWHER: Chan Gailey is a tremendous football coach. He’s a great communicator with the players, no question that he will have those guys playing hard…He’s trying to change a culture right now in Buffalo. And there’s no better player coach that can do that than Chan Gailey. He understands what is ahead of him.
(On AFC East)
COWHER: When you look at this division, the AFC East, to me it’s the best division in football because I think the Buffalo Bills could be the surprise team, and you’re already talking about the Dolphins, Jets and New England Patriots. I don’t think it’s easy in any one of those games. The Buffalo Bills, you’re going to see a team that plays hard, a team that is going to kind of re-establish an identity. I think we’re there in the process of changing the culture.
