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Scouts' views: observations and opinions from two NFL pro scouts, one from each conference

Sporting News, The, Sept 20, 2004

Tom Brady has an unbelievable pocket presence and never looks like he's jittery. Bullets are flying past him, and he just calmly steps up in the pocket and finds somebody. You never see him back there antsy at all. He brings that air of confidence, an air of everything is under control.... Deion Sanders will live on his reputation a little bit.

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He'll get by because of his ability to read routes and understand receivers. Whether he has the same explosion and quickness at age 37 will be a whole other question. The minute he shows he can't do the things he once did, people will start attacking him. And then he becomes a liability for the Ravens. ... I think Tim Couch's confidence is probably shot right now. This guy needs to find the right fit. Maybe someone will take him under their wing, work with him and get him feeling good about himself again.... With who they have up front--Julius Peppers, Kris Jenkins and those guys--the Panthers can get pressure on you without having to blitz. They can bring people, but they don't have to. Their four linemen can get pressure on you instantly.... With Chris Brown as their running back, the Titans can go back to what they like to do: hand the ball off 25 times a game, let Steve McNair take some shots in the passing game and play good defense. Brown is kind of a younger version of Eddie George. He's an upright runner, he's got good speed and he's got toughness.... I don't know if their record is going to be any better, but I think the Redskins will be improved with Joe Gibbs as coach. And getting Grogs Williams as defensive coordinator is going to be a big improvement. They look like they're lining up better, and they're playing a sound, aggressive style of defense.... I think the Bengals are going to start getting recognized as having one of the better offensive lines in the league. And they don't even have Eric Steinbach (elbow injury), one of their starting guards, back yet.... It will be real interesting to see if Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson continues to run the blitz packages and coverages he likes now that Troy Vincent and Bobby Taylor are gone. He was able to use various blitz packages in the past because he knew Vincent and Taylor would hold up out there. It's got to be a little unnerving for him going into the season with Lito Sheppard and Sheldon Brown as the corners. But those guys are far enough along in their development that it's time for them to take the next step.

Scouts' views: observations and opinions from two NFL pro scouts, one from each conference

Sporting News, The, Sept 20, 2004

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