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 question will be selected.
Thursday, 6 a.m.
The Jacksonville Jags won five games last year, and they gave up 448 points. But they seem to be a trendy playoff pick. Do you buy in, or do you think that the Jags have too much youth on defense?
I don’t see any reason why they won’t be a much better team this season. They have a highly touted young quarterback, who has shown promise, now with two full seasons under his belt. He’s not going to be an elite QB, but he should be an efficient one. Their defense should be very strong this year, because of what they did on draft day the last several years. They have a new defensive coordinator and Monty Kiffin will be helping their brain trust by adding his plethora of experience and knowledge to what has been their Achilles heel,
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defensive game-planning. The Jags will go as their defense goes. This is it for head coach, Gus Bradley, he has to produce. They have the pieces, it’s now time for them to come together.
It annoys me that the league knows how many sacks Deacon Jones, Lawrence Taylor and Jack Youngblood have through research and films, but they continue to only count from 1982 officially. Why not update the previous legends?
I can’t answer that one. I’m sure they have their reasons. Maybe they just had to determine a cutoff date, so not to drag other positional players stats from the pre-1982 era as well. I really don’t know, but I know they wouldn’t intentionally tarnish the names of the great players you mentioned. Hey, they all found away into the Hall Of Fame, so, they weren’t penalized too much.
With the Hall of Fame induction coming up, who would you put on the Hall’s Mount Rushmore. Who are your top four all-time Hall of Famers?
That's an impossible question to answer. Excluding quarterbacks, I'd say Jim Brown, Lawrence Taylor, Ray Lewis and Joe Greene.
Bill Belichick was asked this week if there was anything Jimmy Garoppolo could do to start Game Five. Can you imagine any set of circumstances where Brady doesn’t take back over?
Absolutely not. Short of Brady slipping on a bar of soap and injuring himself, he will be the starting quarterback.
If Garropolo goes 4-0, it will only make him more attractive to other teams that have struggled finding their starter at the position. He’ll be great trade material and if the Pats decide to keep him, then they may be facing the same problem the Packers had when they had a young guy by the name of Arron Rodgers and a declining super star in Brett Farve. I guess it’s a good problem to have.
Former Heisman Trophy winning Reggie Bush has signed with the Bills for one year. Why hasn’t his NFL career been any better?
He had a few very good years, but he didn’t have many of them. A very talented and multi-dimensional player,who gave it his best each and every week, but came up limping too much after hard hits.
His career was curtailed mostly due to injuries. He was a Ferrari who couldn’t stay on the track. He spent to much time in the shop.
Overrated-Underrated
Percy Harvin: Overrated. More talent than brains. Was cursed with ability.
Brian Cushing: Overrated
Dashon Goldson: Overrated. Big hitter with no feel for the ball once it’s in flight.
Robert Ayers: Overrated,.
Kelvin Benjamin: Verdict is still out. Rookie year showed some dominance because of size and strength. Has to show he can come back from season-ending injury.
Desmond Trufant: Rated right. Solid.
Cleveland Browns’ owner Jimmy Haslam talks about a better season. Is he fooling himself with Robert Griffin III at quarterback?
Define a better season: 8-8? 7-9? 6-10? The Browns will struggle again this year and will be in a position again to have the pick of the litter in next year's draft.
RG III is a myth. He’ll never last the season and for them to make him the center piece of their offense tells you how desperate they are. I like Hue Jackson. I think he’s a fine offensive mind, but he’s going to find out real quick the first rule of getting out of a hole is to quit digging!
Brock Osweiler says he doesn’t want to b a puppet like Tom Brady. Does that make him the first quarterback in the NFL not to want to be like Brady?
He doesn’t want to be a puppet like Tom Brady’?
The puppet he’s talking about is going to have his bust in Canton Ohio and a full size statue of himself in front of Gillette Stadium next to Bill Belichick. So, if that’s being a puppet, then big Brock should embrace it. When I was growing up we had a famous puppet show called Howdy Doody. His best friend was another puppet named Knuckle Head Smith. Whether he wants to be a puppet or not, he sounds a lot like Knuckle Head!
It’s our weekly best-of-the-franchise question. Today’s team is the Detroit Lions. Is their best player:
a) Joe Schmidt
b) Alex Karrass
c) Barry Sanders
d) Charley Sanders
e) Calvin Johnson
This one is an easy one, Barry Sanders. He was a one-man show. No player did more or meant more to a franchise than he did.
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