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Andy Richardson

I watch a lot of exhibition games. I have to, it’s my job. And based on week 1, a few thoughts spring to mind….

The Falcons’ offense looked pretty good the other night, but I’m not sold on Joey Harrington just yet. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no Michael Vick fan, but there’s a reason Joey Harrington is with his third team the last three years. I see him doing what he did at times in Detroit and Miami: playing just well enough for just long enough that the team thinks they’ll be OK with him at quarterback.

The NFL is a copycat league, and based on the way Carolina’s DeShaun Foster and Nick Goings ran through the Giants the other night, it won’t be long before every team in the league installs the so-called “Zone Blocking System.” The Broncos are best-known for it, but in fact it started in San Francisco way back when, then moving to Denver, Atlanta, Houston and Green Bay. (The Falcons have since scrapped it.) Now the Panthers. Next year, 3-5 more teams will implement it, and then maybe it will be popular enough that some defensive genius will figure out a way to stop it.

LaDainian Tomlinson isn’t playing. He didn’t play last preseason, and scored 31 TDs. How long will it be before other teams sit all of their top players, too? And if not, why? It’s one thing when you’ve got new players with new teams or new offensive schemes. But really, why does Shaun Alexander have to be out there playing? Is it just because there hasn’t been a major star sidelined with a major preseason injury in a couple of years? Will it take that happening for other teams to suddenly say, Whoa. I better get my starting running back off the field while I still can.

It’s not often you see a team do something stupid where everyone agrees it was stupid at the time, and as the weeks go by it becomes even more clear how stupid it was. That’s the Texans, passing on Reggie Bush for Mario Williams. I just don’t get it. And, if you don’t want to draft Reggie Bush, why not just trade with one of the teams behind you? Nobody else was going to take Mario No. 1. Probably not No. 2, or 3, either. You know Reggie Bush is a Fantasy Index favorite this year. Even in just a quarter of action in the exhibition opener, he showed why. Electric player.

The NFL would be a lot more unpredictable if there were as many kick returns in the regular season as there are in the exhibitions. It seems like every kick is an adventure, no doubt because half the guys playing special teams in exhibitions won’t be on NFL rosters come September. With that said, clearly the Jets and the Browns have two of the best kick return groups around – and have for a couple of years now. If you’re in a TD-only league, the defenses of the Browns, Jets, and Bills have a lot more value than they do in other scoring systems.

I want to believe in the Cowboys, I do. But I was living in Denver when Wade Phillips butchered the head-coaching job there, and I was rooting for the Bills when Phillips made the foolish decision to bench Doug Flutie in the playoffs for Rob Johnson. How can I trust the guy to maximize the Cowboys’ ability and potential? Why do I think the Julius Jones vs. Marion Barber thing is going to be a headache for not just fantasy owners but the Cowboys? And can you believe I haven’t even mentioned the nutjob that is Terrell Owens? (Although say this for T.O.: He may be a jerk, but at least he hasn’t been federally indicted or gone out of his way to make a distinction between being arrested and merely having warrants out for his arrest.) Watching the Cowboys, they appear to have the talent to match up with any team in the NFC. I’m just not sure they’ll do it.

I guess the Dolphins will have a pretty good defense. Health permitting, they’ve got too much talent not to be OK there. But on offense, good grief, they’re horrible. I didn’t like Ronnie Brown anyway, and didn’t understand the Trent Green deal, then or now. But at least it would make sense if their offensive line wasn’t hopeless. No good can come of this season for the Dolphins. I guess giving away all those high picks in recent years for A.J. Feeley, Daunte Culpepper and Lamar Gordon has finally caught up with them. And that’s leaving out the two firsts for Ricky Williams, too. I honestly think Ted Ginn Jr. is the only Dolphin who will be on any of my teams this year, because at least he can maybe make some things happen on his own. He’s not going to get much help, that much is clear.

A week ago I didn’t know which Titans running back I liked, if any. Today I do: Chris Henry. I don’t know if he’ll be any good, but I would much rather cast my lot with him than Chris Brown or LenDale White. Guys like Chris Henry, really, are why we watch exhibition games. So we can see somebody do something and say, that guy has talent. That guy is better than that guy. That’s the guy I’m going to take a late-round flier on.

Sometimes we’re wrong, as Musa Smith and Jerome Harrison showed last year.

Other times, you see something that makes you sit up and go, Hey. And then you’re the one who drafts Randy Moss, Jeremy Shockey or Frank Gore before anyone else does – and you’re glad you did.

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