Jerry Angelo is a former personnel director for the Bucs and former general manager of the Bears. Each week, Angelo answers your questions regarding the NFL. Send your questions to GarySheltonsports@gmail.com with "ask the expert'' in the subject line. The most interesting questions will be selected.
Thursday, 4 a.m.
The controversy surrounding the Seahawks reminds me that success can be as hard for a team to deal with as failure. Are the Seahawks done, or can they refocus their direction?
It’s the off-season. It’s bothersome, but it's not the beginning of the end. When they get to training camp is the telling sign for all teams in terms of coming together. Now they are living under one roof, so to speak.
No more talk about contracts, trades, acquiring new players all the news is over. It’s time to get down to business. Everyone -- coaches, players alike -- are now under the gun to prove themselves. The one thing I know about the good
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teams, their players and coaches, regardless of how they feel about one another. They know without one another they have no chance.
If their stubbornness is ruled by their pride, then they have no chance, but I doubt very seriously that will happen to the Seahawks. Pete Carroll is too smart and his team too seasoned to let that happen to them.
The Ryan brothers,Rex and Rob,were involved in an altercation in Nashville this week. Why don’t they just join the Pro Wrestling Tour and be done with it?
I’m all for it. We'll call it Ryanmania. Rex the "Butcher" vs. "Pretty Boy" Rob. A cage match! I’d pay too see it and for sure we'd have it in Vegas.
There have been a thousand stories regarding the “blackballing” of Colin Kaepernick. Do you think the league has a “don’t sign” edict against him? Or has his style of play and his ability caught up with him?
In the end no one wants to deal with the possibility of a major distraction, particularly during the season. Teams go through great lengths to minimize distractions.
A coach's ultimate goal is to keep his players focused each and every week. To have anything or anyone, that potentially can disrupt their focus, better be worth it. Kaepernick isn’t, it’s that simple. It’s not blackballing, it’s what's in the best interest of the team.
You've talked before how certain positions are harder than others for a young player. How about tight end? Can the Bucs expect a lot from O.J. Howard this season?
Absolutely. He was one of the safest picks on the draft board. The Bucs got a exceptional player who fell to them.
He’s mature, well-coached and possesses all the tools you look for at his position. I would be surprised if he weren’t the starter on opening day. I don’t say that about many rookies, but I feel very confident saying that about Howard.
No Super Bowl loser has returned to the game the following year since the 1992-93 Bills. Can the Atlanta Falcons, as talented as they are, expect a Super Bowl hangover?
No, I think they will go into this season with something to prove. We don’t have to rehash what happened, but I assure you no Falcon, or Falcon fan will ever forget what happened that Super Bowl night.
That’s why I feel they have something not only to prove, but also to get the bad taste out of their mouth given their historic loss to the Patriots. No, there will be no hangover, because they can take little away from that Super Bowl that would make them fat and happy.
How would you rank the quarterbacks of the NFC South: Matt Ryan, Cam Newton, Drew Brees and Jamies Winston?
All are pro bowl caliber. My list would look like this. Cam Newton, Matt Ryan, Drew Brees and Winston.
I can tell you there is little separation between any of them. The guy who can drop off the quickest is Brees given where he’s at in his career. He’s a lock to get his mug in Canton, Ohio, but the end may be very near. Newton had a hangover from the Super Bowl they appeared in, in fact the whole team did. Ryan is going to slip some, given that Shanahan is gone.
Winston is the sleeper of the group. He has the weapons, a great rapport with his offensive coaches and it’s his time.
So, it will be fun to watch. Which ever quarterback plays the best will win the division.
Commissioner Roger Goodell once said that he expected expanded NFL playoffs by 2015. But the push to add teams to the post-season appears to have died. Will we ever see it?
We don’t need it. Almost half the teams in the league qualify, that’s enough in my opinion.
Why water the field down by potentially advancing teams with a .500 or losing record? That’s not right. The present system works great. I go with the old saying; “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it”.
The Bucs announced last week they’re inducting Jon Gruden and Malcolm Glazer into the team’s Ring of Honor. Which of the pre-Super Bowl Bucs would you induct: James Wilder, Batman Wood, Hardy Nickerson or David Logan?
Batman Wood. A stellar player who gave it up each and every week.
Bleacher Report named the 1962 Packers as the best team the NFL has ever seen. I’ve always said it’s the ’85 Bears. What do you think?
Nobody would have beaten the ’85 Bears. To win a game you have to score. No one was scoring against those Bears and you weren’t going to beat them with field goals. They made Bill Walsh’s west coast offense look like a fire drill in an elementary school.
New game: I name a college, and you name your favorite athlete (talent or personality) from it. We’ll start easy with Alabama, which leaves you with Joe Namath, Dwight Stephenson, Julio Jones, John Hannah and Ken Stabler (among others).
Broadway Joe. If a guy can get away with wearing a mink coat and no one questions his masculinity during those days, how do you not go with him?
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