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Q&A with Brandon Kopceuch of 27Pitches and NFL.com’s Blog Blitz

By TheDarkHorse

This week, we have the privilege of sitting down to talk with Brandon Kopceuch, a writer for NFL.com’s Blog Blitz and www.27pitches.com. Brandon has been following the National Football League for years, and gives us his impressions of this offseason, and takes a look forward to 2010. Brandon can be reached at brandon@27pitches.com.

THEDARKHORSE: Brandon, thanks for joining us here at Read and React. It’s been an active few months for the National Football League. Give me your thoughts on one or two teams that have really improved this offseason.

BRANDON KOPCEUCH : Thanks for having me. I was saying it even before the draft, but, in my opinion, one team that has really impressed me this offseason is the Detroit Lions. Ever since they got rid of Matt Millen, they finally seem to be on the right path, and I can legitimately see them competing for the NFC North title as early as next year. Imagine if Millen was still in charge—he’d have drafted Dez Bryant and let the other areas of the team fall into ruin. But Martin Mayhew and Jim Schwartz actually seem to know what they’re doing. Matthew Stafford is the real deal and giving him a legitimate weapon in Nate Burleson opposite the beast that is Calvin “Megatron” Johnson will go a long way into opening up the field for them. Then going out and trading for one of the better receiving tight ends in the league in Tony Scheffler makes this a scary passing offense for their opponents to defend.

The other team I like is the Baltimore Ravens. They have given Joe Flacco a plethora of weapons and they should field one of the best offenses in the league next year, along with their normally stout defense, which got stronger with last month’s draft. Oh, and let me throw this out there: I think Flacco is, and will be, better than his quarterback draft partner, Matt Ryan. There, I said it.

THEDARKHORSE: How about a team that’s stumbled?

BRANDON KOPCEUCH: I have to say it’s the Broncos. Josh McDaniels has come in and gutted them of virtually every talented offensive player on their roster and now Kyle Orton will have to enter the season with Eddie Royal and Jabar Gaffney as his top-two receivers. Defensively they were solid last year until the final few weeks—and all of the credit for that has to be given to Mike Nolan—but McDaniels inexplicably ran him out of town. I just think McDaniels is in over his head and is trying too hard to put his own imprint on the team, but he simply hasn’t made the right decisions. He’ll be lucky if he gets the time to develop Tebow into the quarterback he apparently thinks he can be.

THEDARKHORSE: Who do you like in the always-under-a-microscope NFC East this season?

Click below to read the rest of our interview with Brandon Kopceuch.

BRANDON KOPCEUCH:I think the NFC East will be just as competitive as it usually is, but, in the end, the Cowboys will be too much to handle for their opposition. As a matter of fact, I think the Cowboys will be the team to beat in the NFC with the addition of Dez Bryant. I know rookie receivers normally take a bit to catch on and Bryant has been out of football for a while after missing almost all of the ‘Pokes season after being suspended, but he is simply too talented to fail. Adding him to Witten and Austin, as well as that backfield, makes their offense extremely dynamic and gives Romo all the weapons he needs to have a stellar season. It’s almost like he can’t fail.

After them I see it going Giants, Eagles, and then the Redskins. I think many people have overrated the acquisition of McNabb for the ‘Skins as they have deficiencies in a lot of other areas that may be too tough for McNabb to mask by himself.

THEDARKHORSE: Will we see any long-standing powerhouse teams take a step back?

I think it will be a mixed bag. I think the Colts will be right there again simply because they have the best player in the league in Peyton Manning, and Jerry Hughes will only improve their defense. I think the Patriots will find a way to be in it until the end and have a very good chance to win the AFC East again, as I am still not completely sold on the Jets. A lot of the Jets moves were publicity moves with no real substance, like signing Tomlinson, who, in my opinion, is finished. Keeping Thomas Jones would have been the better option.

The Steelers are going to struggle, especially without the illegally touching Ben Roethlisberger. Losing him for the first four games, at least, will spell doom for them off the bat, and may be too much for them to overcome as the season wears on. Losing Holmes was also a major move. If Polamalu stays healthy, they have a shot to be great on defense, but if he misses time, we have seen how bad their defense suffers. In my opinion, he’s the most valuable defensive player in the league. But losing Holmes and missing Ben for an extended period of time will make it a lot harder for the Steelers to score points.

THEDARKHORSE: You mentioned the Jets. It feels like the league, as well as every major media house, has rolled out the red carpet for these guys. Are they for real?

BRANDON KOPCEUCH : Don’t get me wrong, the Jets have a very talented team and they will be in contention all season. I just don’t agree with them suddenly being the team to beat. They were in the AFC Championship game last year, but let’s remember, they were lucky to even be in the playoffs after the Colts laid down and the Bengals seemed to mail it in. I like the Holmes signing because he gives them a possible number one receiver, since Braylon Edwards is turning out to be a bum. But the question remains, can Mark Sanchez get these guys the ball? I am not a believer in Sanchez, and I think he will never be anything more than a game-manager type quarterback, in the mold of Chad Pennington. Can he win them games? Absolutely, but I don’t expect him to reach superstar levels with his talent. As mentioned, I hate the Tomlinson signing and thought Jones was a much better player with more left in the tank. It still has to be seen if Shonn Greene can carry the load for a whole season and, if he can’t, they’ll be left with a burned-out veteran and a kid who can’t keep his food down in Joe McKnight.

THEDARKHORSE: Is this the new “team we love to hate”?

BRANDON KOPCEUCH : Maybe, but that has nothing to do with New York or their players. It has everything to do with Rex Ryan, who has problems showing class sometimes, something I pointed out in an article last year. He can be outright disrespectful at times and he toes the line of being unprofessional. But, at the same time, this is a great thing for the Jets because they’ve gone decades as nothing more than a tenant in Giants Stadium. This has brought them notoriety. They are finally getting publicity on New York’s back pages—just as they enter their new home—and Woody Johnson couldn’t be happier.

That said, more than any other sport, chemistry in football is important, and going out and making big-name signings is not always the answer. Just ask Dan Snyder. But while I’m not ready to crown them yet, I don’t think it will blow up in their faces because Ryan is a good coach and he can really coach a defense. They’ll win games, I just don’t know how far they can go yet, and I won’t know until I see them on the field working together.

THEDARKHORSE: Over the past few years, we’ve seen the emergence of the Wildcat, used prominently in Miami, and to lesser degrees around the league. In the past, we’ve seen “fad” schemes appear and disappear (the Bills no-huddle offense in the late 80s, and the Oilers run and shoot, for example). What do you see next? On offense or defense, do you spot any trends on the way?

BRANDON KOPCEUCH :You’re definitely right about the Wildcat, as it seems virtually every team in the league has some package with a back or receiver lining up at quarterback. It certainly looks like it will be around for a while. I’m not sure I can predict anything as drastic in the pipeline, but I do think you’re going to see more teams installing four- or five-receiver sets to spread out the defense. The NFL has become a passing league and, with more and more college teams running it, it would make sense for teams to install a few sub-packages that could take advantage of their players’ skills and spread a defense thin. It’s very rare for a team to have three or four quality corners that can keep up with some of the talent at receiver in this league, and that definitely gives the offense an advantage. Not to mention that many lineman coming into the league were brought up in spread systems in high school and college, so they have the feet and agility to pass block on an island in that situation. I don’t think it will become the standard in the league, but I do think you’ll see more and more teams experimenting with it.

Defensively, the only trend we’re seeing is more teams switching to the 3-4. But, I think that will eventually subside. In the ‘80s, there were a bunch of 3-4 teams that reverted back to the 4-3, and now they’re back to the 3-4 again. It goes in cycles, and I think once teams realize that finding 3-4 players is harder than it looks, many will return to the base 4-3.

THEDARKHORSE: One of the changes in the league over the past few years is the arrival and emergence of Roger Goodell as NFL Commissioner. He’s been very active in all aspects of the league. How do you feel about the job he’s done thus far?

BRANDON KOPCEUCH : I think you have to commend Goodell for the job he’s done. He came in as a relative unknown, but has since become the most powerful man in sports. He decided that the trend of unacceptable, off-field behavior was giving the league a bad name and he immediately set out to right the ship, to largely positive results. His policy is arbitrary, but he is a lawyer by trade and understands the laws better than most. He has established himself as the league’s supreme arbiter and has garnered everyone’s ultimate respect. You couldn’t ask for anything more than that. He is also trying to grow the game like never before.

Though I am not a big fan of the London game, it has been a big hit across the pond and shows no signs of ending any time soon. The NFL was becoming the country’s premier league when he took over and he simply solidified its spot atop American sporting culture. Every year he’s in charge, the distance between the NFL and the next-closest league grows exponentially. He still has a few things to address, but many of them will come after the season once they bang out a new collective bargaining agreement. For Goodell, it’s so far so good. Now, if there’s a lockout, we’ll have to reassess.