Thursday Afternoon News

Second of probably three of these today barring some giant piece of news - also remember to catch myself, Cecil Lammey and Sigmund Bloom on BlogTalkRadio as The Drive Block will bring you 2 hours of live genius beginning at 10pm EST/7pm PST.

Dallas Cowboys
Guess who's back? Not Slim Shady but the ever-loving Rain Man himself - Adam 'not Pacman' Jones! Well it seems the gamble Jerry Jones and the 'boys took will pay off. The NFL fully reinstated Jones today and according to the Dallas Morning News , he found out while he was eating at Hooters. Classy. Seriously though, Jones was just hitting his stride when he got into huge trouble and I think that once he has some real gameplay again, he will begin to get back in the groove. Good gamble by the Cowboys if Jones keeps his nose clean and his singles in his pocket.

Indianapolis Colts
You know how I was saying last night I was going to watch this game to see if Jim Sorgi can recover from an awful preseason. He won't. Sorgi will not be playing at all since his knee is hurt. So watch as Quinn Gray and Jared 'The Hefty Lefty' Lorenzon battle to hold Manning's clipboard. We hope that Manning's back-up will be irrelevent but as the mystery around Peyton's knee deepens and people will be worrying up until kickoff of Week 1 whether he will start or not.

The best part of this? Week 1? The Colts play the Bears when? Sunday night. That's right - Manning owners may have to make a decision whether to risk losing a position if Manning does not play or putting their back-up in to play it safe but missing a good Manning game.

We'll talk about this a ton next week on the podcast both here and the at The Drive Block. Heck if it's still this murky next Friday, I'll definitely give you my thoughts on the blog as well.

Baltimore Ravens
So a lot of folks have been pushing for Willis McGahee to not only lose the #1 gig to Ray Rice but to get cut completely or traded. Chief among these folks would be the Baltimore Sun who would have run him out on a rail a week ago had they been in charge. Well, the Sun has finally admitted McGahee is unlikely to go anywhere. Now long term, he may not be there next year if Ray Rice plays like it looks like he can. But short term, if McGahee is healthy, I expect him to get most of the carries. I don't expect them to over-utilize Rice so that he burns out mid-season. And they will need to run the ball a lot given the mess of their QB situation. There's not a lot out there to acquire via Free Agency (Duante Culpepper is about it). The Sun points out if they wait until Saturday, Chris Simms may be cut my Tampa, but then they might be in a dogfight with the Cowboys and a few other teams and I don't know they can win a street fight there right now.

Miami Dolphins
Ricky Williams is the starter for tonights finale though how much work he will see is debateable as the Phins will want to see what Ronnie Brown can do. Williams will start the season as the #1 - no matter how good Brown does. But - and this is important - there will be a split from the getgo. He'll take the field first but he won't be the only back here. If Brown is lights out tonight, he will get more snaps next week. If he's average or - bite my tongue BAD - Ricky will get the majority.

Like I have said before - these guys are borderline #2,s or really #3 with upside. Treat them as such and leave yourself room to be pleasently surprised rather than annoyed because you depended upon them for too much.

That's all for now - another post a little later and don't forget The Drive Block on BlogTalkRadio tonight at 10pm EST/7pm PST.