The following quotes are from NFL scouts, coaches and front-office personnel, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“The Giants were an angry team. You remember the last time they played. (Vince) Wilfork poked Brandon Jacobs in the eye. Osi (Umenyiora) was insulted. You knew they were going to bring it. All that stood in their way was the quarterback. The biggest thing they had to worry about was if the game was going to be too big for (Eli Manning). They are a balanced football team.”
“You knew if (Super Bowl XLII) was a close game, it was going to be hard to beat the Giants. They don’t have an explosive offense that could put points on the board like the Patriots do.”
“It’s very difficult to beat a team three times in a season. The Patriots beat the Giants in the preseason and late in the year. The Patriots have not played to their potential the last quarter of the season and in the playoffs. They have been doing just enough to get by. (On the other hand,) the Giants played their best down the stretch.”
“The (Super Bowl) was like a boxing match. They were trading blows. It was great for the league.”
“Everyone would have liked to see the Patriots go 19-0 — everyone except the Miami fans. I’m tired of listening to them already. They just need to shut up. Step aside and stay out of it. Your time has come and gone.”
“When Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick have brought their teams to other facilities to practice, they have always made sure everyone was out of the building. If coaching offices were attached to the stadium, like many of them are at colleges, they make sure the coaches are out of the building. Head coaches have been forced to leave. I know it because I have been kicked out before. They trust no one. Why do you think they would be that way if they did not try to get every advantage they could in preparation for an opponent? This stuff has been going on since the beginning of the game. If the Patriots were able to gain access to tape a Rams’ practice, that is on the Rams for allowing it to happen. It’s all part of the game. Stealing signals has been going on forever. At the end of the day, it does not matter how prepared you are, you still have to be able to execute. It all comes down to talent and execution.”
“(Washington vice president of player personnel) Vinny Cerrato would have been out the door if either coordinator (Gregg Williams or Al Saunders) stayed in place as the head coach. (Cerrato) knew it. So the first thing he did when Joe stepped down was get rid of them.”
“I’m not sure how much longer Marcus Spears and Bobby Carpenter are going to be in Dallas. They’re both on the trading block. (The Cowboys) are going to have to pay DeMarcus Ware soon, and he’s not going to come cheap.”
“The Steelers have to find a way to get more pressure off the edges. I think they had higher expectations for rookie (Lawrence Timmons). They wound up getting some production from the (rookie) class, but it came from (LaMarr) Woodley.”
“The way to land a GM job in the NFL is to have an advocate. You need to have a sponsor or someone pushing you. If someone is not promoting you, it’s really difficult to get a chance. Owners do not know any better.”
“You can look in the draft and at free agency. It’s difficult to find a young tight end who knows how to block. (Titans TE) Ben Hartsock is the best of what I’ve seen in free agency. Outside of the kid from Cal (Craig Stevens) — and he’s got a ways to go — there’s nothing to get excited about in the draft.”
“Carolina’s secondary has some holes. They were lucky they were able to land Chris Harris before the season. If they didn’t have him, they would not have a single safety on the roster. They need to find someone to replace Mike Minter.”
“If the David Garrard experiment did not work out, James Harris would have had more say in Jacksonville. The coaches would have been forced to make some subtractions. When it worked out for (the coaches), the head coach got all the juice. He can now go to the owner directly and say, ‘these guys are trying to block what we are trying to do.’ It will be interesting to see how this year’s draft goes and who is making decisions. Harris looks like just a figurehead now.”
“Brian Brohm did himself no favors by not showing up for the Senior Bowl. This draft has shaped up to be a one-quarterback draft.”
