NFL News and Notes: Colt McCoy Works out With Brett Favre…

According to cleveland.com Colt McCoy worked out this off-season with quarterback Brett Favre.

McCoy called Favre and asked if he could come to his hometown in Hattiesburg, Miss., to work with him on the precision scheme, one that Favre ran for 20 years. Favre obliged, and the two spent about four days together pouring over the offense and throwing passes.

“Since I couldn’t get coached, it was a great opportunity to pick the brains of a guy who’s played in this system for 20 years,” McCoy said through a team spokesperson. “It was a chance for me to get a lot of questions answered. We worked on footwork, progressions, reads and things like that. It was definitely a positive trip.”

There’s two interesting things here. First is the fact that Favre took time out of schedule (whatever it is he is doing) to help out a younger player, that was a big knock on him for the twightlight of his career.

Second it’s a story about Favre in the off-season that doesn’t invovled holding an off-season ransom with his capricious nature.

Third, is the continued development of young Browns quarteback Colt McCoy. McCoy was knocked around a lot heading into the draft along with Tim Tebow. Both were projected by many as third round picks. So far Tebow has had a bit of an up and down off-season, getting knocked by Merril Hodge and battling with Orton in Denver. McCoy on the other hand has had a very nice off-season and had a really solid preseason debut. It’ll be fun to watch how these two career paths continue over the next decade.

I ask you, who’s going to be the better N.F.L. Quarterback?

Bruce Carter is physically talented, but possibly injury prone. Right now he’s hurt for the Cowboys, but his hoping he can be available for week 1.  

While the hamstring injury to Keith Brooking has opened the door for several young linebackers to earn valuable practice reps, it’s unlikely that rookie second-round pick Bruce Carter will benefit.

Carter, who suffered a torn ACL last December, says there is still nearly a month left on the timeline athletic trainers have given him for a return to the field. For now, he’s still taking part in intensive rehab work each day.

“Right now they’re saying the first regular season game … I’ll be ready to play,” Carter said. “Right now we do a lot of field work, agility drills and cones and beams and the weight room a lot.”

I loved the idea of a team taking Bruce Carter in the second round, but wasn’t sure how will he’d fit in a 34 defense. If he does well the Cowboys could really have a great linebacker corps in a year or two with the continued development of ILB Sean Lee and the ever dangerous DeMarcus Ware.

One of the big developments from the Bears and Bills preseason opener was the fact that Chicago was kicking off at the thirty yard line, despite the new rule.

Well, now the Bears are claiming they were given the OK to do that by the league.

Bears special teams coach Dave Toub claims the NFL granted the team approval to kick from the 30, so it did so before discovering that the league had changed its mind, the Chicago Tribune reported Monday

We talked to the NFL beforehand during the offseason, and they said it was going to be OK. So that’s why we did it,” Toub said Monday at Bears training camp.

“I guess it came down from New York. They got word that we can’t kick from the 30, and then we just went back to the 35 after that. We thought we could do it. We thought we were clear with it. We told the officials ahead of time that is what we were going to do. They were fine with it. That’s why we kicked from the 30. We were just trying to evaluate our kickoff team. You don’t get any evaluation when you kick touchbacks. That’s what preseason is for — it’s about evaluation and finding who can cover kicks. That’s all we were trying to do.”

The league disputes the claim.

However, league spokesman Greg Aiello told NFL.com and NFL Network: “We are not aware of any such approval being given.”

For right now Tavaris Jackson will be entrenched as the starter. Here’s what Pete Carroll had to say about Charlie Whitehurst

“The backup quarterback is always considered really highly,” coach Pete Carroll said, “until he has to play. Fortunately for Charlie, he did some good stuff. He won the division game that we needed against the Rams and did some good things. Charlie is having an excellent camp.”

Not so excellent that Carroll is considering a change in the depth chart. Jackson remains the starter, his familiarity with Seattle’s offense under new coordinator Darrell Bevell his trump card.

This year’s Victor Cruz? Oakland WR Denarius Moore. Fortuantely, for Moore he’s playing on a team that is looking for legetimate play makers. Victor Cruz was impressive last year, but he was always going to be behind Hakeem Nicks, Steve Smith, and Mario Manningham no matter how well he played, but Moore just has to beat out players like Darrius Heyward Bey and Louis Murphy.

Steve Crokan of ContraCostaTimes sums up Moore so far in training camp and preseason.

Every day, Moore not only is the best wide receiver on the field, oftentimes he is the best player, period. It has reached the point where this isn’t some one-week wonder, flash in the pan or fluke. The man can flat out play.

That’s what Jackson says he is looking for, playmakers. No one personifies that more than Moore, a fifth-round draft pick out of Tennessee.

On Sunday, Moore was at it again. Not once, or twice, but three times he had fans and teammates oohing and aahing over his ability to get open, adjust to the ball flight, get position on the defender and make a play on the ball.

Moore is not the only one Raiders rookie impressing. Even though it went against the common grain I actually thought the Raiders had a good draft grading their draft as a B+, one of only a few high grades I gave. However, of course as these things always go, the one pick I knocked was the Denarius Moore pick.

This is the first pick I didn’t think was a great pick. The other speedster players were all good values, and while Moore has great upside and can stretch the field they already have a number of those players (Murphy, Heyward Bey, Ford) and I think they would have been better served grabbing a player like Niles Paul, who can add some toughness and plays more like an Aquan Boldin (not as good a prospect though). Paul would have been a nice complement to what the Raiders already have on the roster and would have been a better pick.Some thought he was great value, but I’m not that high on this pick at all.

I may not always be right, but I’ll always be honest with how I evaluated the talent and with what I thought which you can’t find anywhere. Consider grabbing Moore in deep leagues. Someone has to catch footballs in Oakland, it could be Moore.

Broncos DT Ty Warren could have a serious tricep injury

Warren, signed by the Broncos this summer, underwent an MRI exam Monday night to determine the extent of a triceps tendon injury he suffered during practice.

There is fear the injury is serious.

Warren, who missed all of last season with New England because of a hip injury, left the field Monday just a few minutes after another veteran defensive tackle, Marcus Thomas, suffered a strained right pectoral muscle. Thomas also was scheduled to have an MRI on Monday night

Yikes. The Broncos entered the off-season with glaring holes in the interior but did a good job of addressing that need through free agency. This could be a big blow to their chances of competing in the A.F.C. West.

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