Former Notre Dame tight end John Carlson has quietly been having an outstanding rookie season for the Seattle Seahawks this season. This week his rookie campaign received a lot of attention though after he set the Seahawks franchise record for receptions and receiving yards by a tight end with a five catch 76 yard performance giving him 51 catches for 601 yards.
Carlson’s numbers also stack up pretty well amongst the NFL’s best tight ends. His 51 receptions and 601 yards both rank 8th among NFL tight ends while his 4 touchdowns are tied for 7th among tight ends. Carlson is also tied for 4th amongst NFL tight ends in receptions of 20+ yards.
Now, consider that Carlson did most of this without the services of Matt Hasslebeck behind center and those numbers become even more impressive. While tight end might not be a glamour position in the NFL, its still nice to see a former Notre Dame player looking like an up and coming star at his position.
The current Notre Dame players won’t be the only Golden Domers visiting the Aloha State in the next few months with today’s news that former Notre Dame players John Carney and Justin Tuck were named to this year’s Pro Bowl.
Carney, the oldest active player in the NFL, will be making his second trip to Honolulu this winter after leading the NFL in scoring for much of the season. He’s currently 3rd with 122 points and has missed just two field goals all season (one of which was blocked). The Giants signed Carney this summer to fill in for Lawrence Tynes while he was injured, but even with Tynnes healthy, Carney has remained the Giants active kicker for all but one week.
Justin Tuck, also a member of the Giants, will be making his first Pro Bowl trip after recording 12 sacks in his first year as a full time starter. Tuck has blossomed as a starter and has led the Giants defensive line after the off-season retirement of Michael Strahan and training camp injury to Osi Umenyiora. Tuck also picked off a pass against the Rams and returned it 41 yards for his first career NFL touchdown.
This news is just a tad bittersweet for me since I’m a diehard Eagles fan and this have a healthy distain for the Giants, but it’s always nice to see former players making good. It’s also nice to see a Notre Dame defensive lineman become a star in the NFL considering the problems we’ve had recruiting elite defensive linemen outside of last year.
Brady Quinn made his NFL starting debut last week, but some shoddy defense by the Browns and a dropped 4th down pass by Kellen Winslow turned Quinn’s debut into a loss on Thursday night football. Monday, Quinn led the Browns to a win on Monday Night Football over the Buffalo Bills thanks in large part to a 55 yard Phil Dawson field goal.
Quinn’s stats weren’t as impressive as they were a week ago, but he managed the game well and had a number of passes dropped by the NFL’s leader in dropped passes - Michigan’s own Braylon Edwards. Quinn finished 14 for 36 for 185 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions, but lead the Browns on a drive with less than 3 minutes to go to set up Dawson’s 55 yard game winner.
Here is some video of Brady talking about his first career win. Congrats Brady.
During the last two years of Brady Quinn’s Notre Dame career, the only chance the Irish had to win big games was to simply outscore teams because the Irish defense was prone to big play after big play. One game into his Cleveland Browns starting career and Quinn is still looking for a defense to back him up.
In Quinn’s first start of his professional career Thursday night, he was extremely efficient and lead the Browns offense to 30 points, but the Browns defense allowed 21 fourth quarter points and 447 yards passing to Jay Cutler in a 34-30 loss. Quinn tossed two first half touchdowns to Browns tight end Kellen Winslow to put the Browns up 13, but Winslow would end up helping the Broncos back in the game.
With the Browns up 23-13, Brown hit Braylon Edwards for what appeared to be a 20 yard gain on 3rd down, but Winslow was flagged for offensive pass interference and the drive stalled. It took Denver one play to go 93 yards for a touchdown on a Cutler to Eddie Royal long bomb to cut the lead to 23-20. On the next Browns drive, Quinn hit Winslow for a first down only to see Winslow fumble the ball away with Denver recovering. The Broncos would go on to score another touchdown to take the lead.
Quinn would bring the Browns back with a touchdown drive of his own, but after Denver marched down the field one more time for their third touchdown of the quarter, Quinn couldn’t let his team for another score. On 4th and 1 the Browns called a pass with Winslow dropping a routine catch to cap off his forgettable 4th quarter.
Quinn ended the game completing 23 of 35 passes for 239 yards with 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. Not bad for a quarterback who has taken 1 or 2 snaps with the first team offense each week before being named the starter Monday. The playbook definitely appeared to be scaled back a lot for Quinn who had just 1 full practice since this was a short week for the Browns.
Congrats to Brady for a strong debut, but come on Cleveland. Get your defense in order.
Brady Quinn’s long wait on the Cleveland Browns’ bench appears to finally be over amid reports that Quinn will start on Thursday against the Denver Broncos and their Swiss cheese defense. Quinn will replace incumbent starter Derek Anderson who came out of nowhere to throw 19 interceptions have a breakout season in 2007, but struggled mightly this year by compelting just over 49% of his passes this year. Anderson’s fate may have been sealed on Sunday when he threw a game clinching touchdown pass to… the Baltimore Ravens’ Terrell Suggs.
The move to give Quinn his chance is long over due this year, but when a team invests 9 years and $27 million in a quarterback like the Browns did with Anderson, it takes a while for them to pull the plug. Speaking of the financial implications of the move for the Browns, it seems a bit ironic that Quinn gets his first start in week 9 when his contract calls for big time incentives if he takes 55% of the teams snaps this year.
Cleveland’s season isn’t shot yet because the AFC is so wide open, but the Browns are dangerously close to falling out of playoff contention. Making this move is very risky considering the timing, but it is also the right call and one that’s long overdue for the short- and long-term success of the organization.
Dilfer said that public opinion forced the decision. “I have spoken to coaches [who] have said, “Hey, this is not Derek Anderson’s fault.’ In fact, at times he’s played far better than his stats show. This is a functon of the defense not being able to get off the football field [and] Braylon Edwards, a superstar receiver that’s supposed to make all the plays and make you better, having 14 drops at least.
Weird that a quarterback who failed in Cleveland is defending anothe quarterback who is currently failing in Cleveland.
Anyway, good luck to Brady on Thursday. His success in the NFL could be a big help for Notre Dame on the recruiting front and when the time comes for Jimmy Clausen to be drafted, success from Quinn could also improve Clausen’s draft status.
Oh, and from a Fantasy Football perspective, Quinn is worth a pickup if you are desperate at quarterback since the Browns remaining schedule is pretty friendly. That is, of course, unless you share a team with a guy at work who won’t let you pick up Quinn even though you can release Vincante Shaincoe for him since you have Antonio Gates as your #1 TE. Then you’re pretty much powerless in the situation. Everyone else feel free to grab Brady off your waiver wire and reap the rewards.
Word is the Vikings offered the Browns their 2009 and 2010 first-round draft picks for quarterback Brady Quinn, but Cleveland, after consideration, said no thanks.
Economically, the deal makes sense for the Vikings in that Quinn, who is under contract for three more years after this season, already has been paid his signing bonus. And the Vikings wouldn’t have to spend on the draft picks. With the trading deadline recently passed, the deal could be resurrected after the season. If the Browns won’t relent on Quinn, they might deal QB Derek Anderson to Minnesota.
Cleveland is in almost a no win situation at the quarterback position. Because they elected to give Derek Anderson a lucrative contract in the off-season when it was pretty clear no one in the league was willing to give up a first round pick for a quarterback whose career year included 19 INTs. Cleveland now has the highly paid Anderson who no one is going to give up a lot for with his contract and propensity to throw interceptions and the “face of the franchise” in Quinn sitting on the bench.
Hopefully for Quinn he gets his chance soon. What some people fail to realize is that Quinn’s eventual success or failure will have an impact on Notre Dame’s future recruiting success at the QB position. So far Weis and the Irish have had very little trouble recruiting quarterbacks with Jimmy Clausen and Dayne Crist, but NFL success for Quinn will validate Weis’s ability to develop QBs and will help the pipeline of highly rated high school quarterbacks coming through South Bend.
Former Notre Dame TE John Carlson hauled in his first career professional touchdown yesterday in the Seahawks 27-10 loss to the Green Bay Packers. Carlson has been a starter for the Seahawks all season and has been one of the only reliable receiving threats for a Seahawks teams whose receiving corps has been decimated by injuries this year.
Carlson, touchdown: No sooner did this blog publish a joke about rookie tight end John Carlson evaporating from the playbook, and he hauls in the first touchdown catch of his career.
It was a heck of a playcall, a play-action fake by Charlie Frye, who then rolled out as if it were a bootleg. Packers linebacker Brady Poppinga was right there, closing in on Frye and he lobbed a pass to a wide open John Carlson who dove into the end zone despite a pretty stiff hit from cornerback Charles Woodson. Safety Aaron Rouse was also at the goal line.
On the season, Carlson has 16 catches for 190 yards and 1 TD in 5 games. Fairly modest numbers on the surface, but when you consider Seattle’s injury problems at wide receiver and quarterback (Matt Hasslebeck missed Sunday’s game) making things tougher on Carlson they aren’t too shabby at all. At his current rate, Carlson is on pace for 51 catches, 608 yards, and 3 TDs.
Fasano Excelling Too. Carlson isn’t the only former Notre Dame TE having a good year either. Anthony Fasano is on pace for a very good season in his first year with the Dolphins. Fasano is on pace for 48 catches, 669 yards, and 6 TDs. As is, Fasano has already set career highs in catches, yards, and touchdowns now that is out from behind Jason Witten’s shadow.
It’s nice to see Carlson and Fasano both experiencing success with the Seahawks and Dolphins and their success should only help the Irish in terms tight end recruiting.
UPDATE: Jeff found some video of the play on YouTube.
Back in March we were able to get Trevor Laws to answer some questions for us in between the NFL Combine and NFL Draft. Recently we were able to touch base with Trevor again about getting drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles and his expectations for both he and Notre Dame in 2008. I will be posting a full article on the homepage a little bit later tonight, but here is the full Q & A.
Q. How did where you ended up being drafted compare to where you were told you would get picked?
I really had no idea where I was going to be drafted. I’d heard anywhere from late first to late third. Obviously I am thrilled to go when I did.
Q. Were you surprised to be selected by the Eagles considering they have two fairly young DT’s on the roster already in Mike Patterson and Broderick Bunkley?
I was definitely surprised to be selected by the Eagles. I had no idea that they were even interested in me. I know that learning from Mike and Broderick’s experience will be instrumental in my success here.
Q. From what you’ve learned about Jim Johnson’s attacking style defense since being drafted, how do you think it compares to what Corwin Brown ran at Notre Dame last year?
There are definitely some similarities but also some differences. Probably the biggest differences is the aggressivness of coach Johnsons defense. Simply put he gets after it. Both defefenses first focus is to shut down the run however.
Q. The Eagles have a very good collection of young defensive linemen with Trent Cole, Abiamiri, Bunkley, and Patterson, what do you see yourself adding to the mix?
I think that I am definitely going to add some great depth, along with some play making ability and high energy to the DT rotation.
Tight end Anthony Fasano - The quarterback spot isn’t the only starting job that’s wide open on offense. The battle to become the starting tight end will also be a headed one, and it’s hard not to make Fasano the front-runner considering the second round pick (in Dallas) and the fourth round pick (in Miami) the Trifecta’s invested into this 24-year-old. Fasano has started 11 games in his two seasons as a Cowboy, which gives him an experience edge over every tight end on the roster except David Martin, who contributed a career-high 34 receptions last season but was a suspect blocker. Fasano likely wins the spot if he can catch AND block effectively.
Good for Fasano. He was never going to be able to really showcase his skills in Dallas behind Jason Witten and it looks like his fresh start in Miami will be very good for him.
The first two undrafted Notre Dame players to sign free agent deals are long snapper JJ Jansen and running back/special teamer Travis Thomas. Jansen signed with Green Bay and Thomas signed with Cleveland.
Both probably have a pretty good chance at making a roster because they can fill niche roles on a team. Jansen is a pretty good long snapper and if he finds the right place, he can make an entire career based on long snapping. Mike Batrum is a guy who comes to mind who has lasted in the NFL for years because he’s been able to be a very effective long snapper.
Travis Thomas will make an NFL roster if he can show in camp that he can be a special teams standout. His running back skills alone will not get him on a roster and those skills alone probably wouldn’t have gotten him drafted. Because he’s played a lot of positions though, he has a chance to make a squad as a utility/special teams guy.
UPDATE: Joe Brockington has now also signed a FA deal with the Buffalo Bills.
C-Dog said: @JC, Yeah, Utah wins it’s BCS bowl and is from a conference that went 6-1 against the PAC-10 this year. The Mountain West beat six PAC-10 teams this year. And... on: Some More Hawaii Bowl Highlights
jason_h537 said: does anyone know what are chances are with Jenkins, he seemed to me most likely to commit to Notre Dame between him and Teo, but it doesn’t appear as if... on: Notre Dame Grabs 5 Star OL for 2010
David said: i would easily settle for one. But i have been reading lately that Teo will probably go on a two year mission after his frosh year on: Notre Dame Grabs 5 Star OL for 2010
chris said: I dont think Teo or Jelani Jenkins are announcing until close to signing day. It would be so great to get both of these backers! on: Notre Dame Grabs 5 Star OL for 2010
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Brady Quinn’s long wait on the Cleveland Browns’ bench appears to finally be over amid reports that Quinn will start on Thursday against the Denver Broncos and their Swiss cheese defense. Quinn will replace incumbent starter Derek Anderson who came out of nowhere to 
