Third week of the preseason and those training camp battles are being decided. Thank you to those of you who are making the Rookie Scouting Portfolio Blog a part of your regular reading schedule. As I’ve been saying weekly, if you like what you’ve seen thus far, please consider these three acts of kindness: 
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In the coming weeks, I’ll be posting more prospect analysis that you’ll likely see in the 2012 Rookie Scouting Portfolio, which will be available here for purchase in the early spring.
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One Preseason Take
John Beck looked better to me than what I saw from Rex Grossman? While Grossman threw for more yards last night against the Ravens, John Beck went down field more consistently. He didn’t just throw the seam routes, he went for the rail shouts down the sidelines. Beck also seemed more poised on the whole. The series after throwing an interception on an attempt deep, he came back with a 5/7 for 75-yard series on a 94-yard drive and finished it with a touchdown pass. Beck is more mobile than Grossman and he fits the offense better.
Reads, Listens, Views
It’s this time of the week where I share what I’ve been reading, listening, and viewing each week – football, fantasy football, and non-football.
Football
Can a quarterback’s throwing motion be improved? by Dub Maddox courtesy of Smart Football
I know this is modern football blasphemy, but you can have Barry Sanders if I can take Gale Sayers.
The most underrated running back in football history might be William Andrews. I share a story with Greg Cosell during the interview I’ll be posting next week that involves a player that looked a lot like the one below. Except the defender who got knocked out is one you won’t believe when you read it. I read tonight that this Hall of Famer said it was the hardest hit he sustained in his playing career.
when asked about his hardest hit, a head-on-collision with Atlanta Falcons running back William Andrews in 1982. “I ran 10 yards straight at him, as hard as I could,” he recalls. “He didn’t see me. The whole time I was saying to myself, This is it! Then, boom. I slid off of him like butter. I hit the ground, and he didn’t go down. I was thinking, What?
– HOFer to be identified next week in this blog.
What’s scary to me is that this highlight shows that Andrews did it twice in his career! Unfortunately this run wasn’t as good as the one I’ll be writing about. It’s a crime there aren’t highlights of him available. One of the great, but forgotten runners in the past 30 years. I think he deserves a Floyd Little type of campaign for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Non-Football
Should ‘bromance’ really be in the dictionary? Merriam-Webster thinks so By Daniel B. Wood – I’ve never used this word in speech and it’s the first time I’ll use it in writing. The next time will be in a fictional setting and coming from the lips of a character I’m not sympathetic to.
Paying people to ID violent sports fans: a winning idea? By Daniel B. Wood – Great idea in theory. In practice? Best way to get a snitch beaten down.
D.B. Cooper skyjack: All that for $200k? by John Yemma – While I agree that $200,000 is not worth risking one’s neck the way Cooper did, it isn’t chump change. If this editor thinks it is, I would like to have his job for six months before they fire me. I could build a nest egg on a fraction of his salary.
Entertainment
Friday is time for a little Chicken Grease…
3 responses to “Reads, Listens, Views 8/26”
As a lifelong Lions fan it pains me to admit this but I’d list Sayers over Sanders as well. Although I probably would never have admitted it if not for the way Sanders left this team.
It’s not a shameful thing to be just “edged” out by Gale Sayers as a running back. It’s like saying Stephen Hawking is just a little bit smarter than you or Steve Jobs is slightly more visionary.
I hope DeAngelo runs better than that this season.