NFL Notes: Colts Suffer Another Blow

Losing Anthony McFarland was the second major blow for the Colts in the past few weeks.  McFarland brought a jolt to a suspect Colts’ front four when he was acquired from Tampa Bay last season with his quickness and veteran experience.  Rookie Quinn Pitcock is now in the spotlight with an opportunity to take over McFarland’s spot.  Pitcock is a blue-collar guy from Ohio State with plays with a lot of effort, but has a lot of limitations.  Darrell Reid and Dan Klecko are young veterans who are try-hard guys who can penetrate and get upfield, but possess size limitations. 

Bill Polian has created a strong football culture that allows the Colts to overcome key injuries similar to the environment that has allowed Andy Reid to work through adversity in Philadelphia.  The Colts will remain a competitive football team with a lot of good athletes on both side of the ball, but will face tough odds to repeat after losing their most talented offensive lineman and now a key factor along their defensive front. 

49ers scare: Mike Nolan had a scare a few days ago when Aubrayo Franklin went down with a knee injury.  Luckily, he should only miss the pre-season, but Franklin also missed a few practices last week with an elbow injury.  Franklin is such an important cog at nose tackle towards building the defense Nolan envision when he arrived in San Francisco.  But after working as a reserve in Baltimore, the only question that arrived with Franklin was proving his durability in a full-time role.  Franklin will need to answer those questions during the season.  Without Franklin in the lineup during camp, the 49ers will get good looks at Isaac Sopoapga and rookie Joe Cohen.  Cohen has opened eyes with his active play, but is more of a tweener type.  He lacks the ideal power to play the nose on an everydown basis.  Sopoaga has the size and power to control blockers in the trenches, but his career has been a disappointment to date.  Sopoaga has worked on using his hands better to gain initial control over blockers and must work on not allowing blockers into his chest.  He entered camp on the bubble for a roster spot. 

Rookie impresses Chargers: The Chargers are intrigued with the natural athleticism displayed by rookie wide receiver Craig Davis in practice thus far.  Davis has the ability to stretch the field and give the Chargers an immediate downfield threat, but must prove he’s tough enough to work over the middle of the field.  Davis is being counted on to fill a prominent role coming out of the gate with Eric Parker out for the early part of the season.  Davis has more size and speed, but they’ll miss Parker’s ability to make a lot of clutch grabs.  Vincent Jackson is also being counted on to take his game to the next level with his blend of size and athletic ability, but still must show he can make tough plays in traffic that true number one receivers make in traffic.  Jackson has been nicked up in the early parts of camp.

McIntosh questions: Damion McIntosh’s knee injury will keep him out 4 to 6 weeks.  Scouts around the league have always had red flags on McIntosh over long-term durability.  The Chiefs must hope they can squeeze an effective season from McIntosh while deciding on their long-term direction at left tackle.  Will Svitek will get a long look the next several weeks and that should provide some indication whether Svitek has any opportunity at becoming a long-term solution at left tackle or whether the Chiefs will have to make this position a priority next spring.  Svitek is a former college defensive lineman who lacks experience on the offensive side of the ball and had knee problems last season.  Svitek has good size and feet, but needs a lot of work.

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