NFC: East | Central | West AFC: East | Central | West
Offseason Report Cards
Posted: Thu July 16,
1998
Sports Illustrated's Paul Zimmerman rates each team heading into training camp.
1. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (10-6 in
1997)
We're not supposed to root in the press box, but when it
came to the Bucs I just couldn't help it. People asked me,
"What team did you root hardest for last year?"
and I said, "Tampa Bay," an answer I never in my
life thought I'd be capable of. How
could you help it? I mean, what a job
Tony
Dungy did, getting these guys at fever pitch for the big
games—well, some of them—turning
Trent
Dilfer, a guy I never thought would make it in the NFL, into a
productive and courageous QB. Is there any way you couldn't
root for RB
Warrick
Dunn and FB
Mike
Alstott? The trouble with emotional teams, though, is that the
throttle can't always be turned way up, and then you've got
to fall back on talent, and that's where things broke down
at times. There were games in which Dilfer was subject to
too much of a rush,
and his wideouts went on a downer and the defense got tired.
It's all part of growing up, and that's exactly what the
Bucs are doing—in a
hurry.
DR. Z'S KEYS:
Finding a real go-to WR. Could be Atlanta import
Bert
Emanuel, could be top pick
Jacquez
Green ... Getting Pro Bowl DT
Warren
Sapp in shape for top-level football, week in, week out; he had
some big games, but took too many weeks off ... Overall
consistency, and Dilfer's continued
progression.
2. Green Bay Packers
(13-3)
All season, while the Packers were marching toward their
second straight Super Bowl, the purists shook their heads
and said, "They're not really that good against the
run." Jerks, what do they know? "Hey, we've got
DE
Reggie
White and SS
LeRoy
Butler and 345-pound DT
Gilbert
Brown, who must be great because
John
Madden says so." Then the Broncos ran for 179 yards in Super
Bowl XXXII; they keyed on Butler (who comes up tight to
stop the run), and Brown left the field, sucking wind, and
suddenly the run defense became a problem that must be
addressed. So Green Bay went
for defense with its the top three draft picks, and if
things firm up the Pack could be right back on top because
there's nothing wrong with the
Brett
Favre show, even if it did die at the end against
Denver.
DR. Z'S KEYS:
Can the Pack learn to live without 36-year-old White, who
is now a spot player at best? ... Will Brown—who needs
to be put on some kind of conditioning program—be able
to go two consecutive series? If not, top pick DT
Vonnie
Holliday better be ready in a hurry ... How to replace RCB
Doug
Evans, a solid cover
guy?
3. Detroit Lions
(9-7)
Barry
Sanders will keep the Lions on national TV as long as he can snap
on a helmet. Two Monday nighters this season, plus the
Thanksgiving game, plus a Sunday and Thursday nighter. Well
sure, why not, the Lions are an exciting team and they
played hard at the end
of last year to climb into the playoffs, even though their
fans spent half the time booing QB
Scott
Mitchell. O.K., Mitchell has been inconsistent, but he can get hot,
too, and he's got some bigtime receivers, and
Bobby
Ross has his defense playing hard. So why don't the Lions win
more games? Because they don't sustain a high level each
week. Mitchell can get cold. And there aren't enough big
names on
defense.
DR. Z'S KEYS:
Mitchell is 30 now. It's time for him to put together one
really big year ... Rushing defense—too many teams ran
on them in
'97.
4. Minnesota Vikings
(9-7)
Now I could be really wrong on this one, I mean seriously
wrong, so fasten your seat belts, here it comes: I think
the Vikings made a real mistake in drafting
Randy
Moss, the gee-whiz WR from Marshall, in the first round.
They're fortifying a position that's already strong instead
of addressing an area of real need, such as the secondary.
And I really didn't like what I saw of Moss last year.
Cornerbacks who pressed
him tight took him out of the game. I think NFL corners will
eat him up. I told
Dennis
Green all this and, no, he didn't laugh at me, he merely said
that big wideouts need work on their technique; and Moss is
not a dog, he's just unschooled; and just wait till Moss
and
Jake
Reed line up on the flanks with
Cris
Carter in the slot, and, wow, what an offense—RB
Robert
Smith and that good line with two Pro Bowlers. "Who's gonna
stop us?" says Green. Sure, Minnesota will put so many
points on the board, no one will catch up. Let's see what
happens. I've been wrong
before.
DR. Z'S KEYS:
Is new owner
Red
McCombs going to retain Green as his coach? How will a change, if
it happens at a terminally late date—and I can't
really believe that it will—affect the team? ... Has
QB
Brad
Johnson fully recovered from his neck injury? ... Moss, of course,
is a key. So's the defense, next-to-last in the NFL last
year.
5. Chicago Bears
(4-12)
I think
Dave
Wannstedt is a pretty good coach, and I don't want to see him fired,
but someone has got to take the fall for the way the Bears
have been going down, down, down, and what's the front
office going to do, fire itself? (Well, yeah, I would.) I
don't see much hope
for the Bears this year. I don't see any rhyme or reason in
the way the club has been running its affairs. There's no
real talent, no stars. They haven't had a player make the
Pro Bowl in the last four years. DE
Alonzo
Spellman, Chicago's top draft choice in '92, was waived in June. RB
Rashaan
Salaam, a No. 1 pick in '95, would have been traded to the
Dolphins except that he couldn't pass his physical. LB
Bryan
Cox, the team's top free agent acquisition in '96, was cut. QB
Rick
Mirer, who cost the Bears a first-round pick last year, has been
a bust. And on and on. I could throw more names at you,
but they'd just be
names.
DR. Z'S KEYS:
Keeping the defense together and playing hard while the
boos rain ... Getting serious mileage out of top pick
Curtis
Enis, the first runner taken in the
draft.
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Offseason Report Cards
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