FanHouse LeonardDavis

The AFC and NFC Pro Bowlers were announced a short while ago, and why make some pointless comment you are sure not to laugh at when we can just give you the rosters instead? Here goes.

Training camps are underway, the NFL season is a month off, and to get you ready for 2008, FanHouse previews all 32 teams, "heat index" style. We'll rate each club in 10 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Quarterback: We know that Tony Romo isn't a fluke. He stepped in last year and had another fantastic season, setting team records in the process. There are questions remaining about distractions (Romessica) and winning a playoff game (none in his two years) which Romo must answer if he wants to take a place among the NFL's elite. Dallas is putting all their eggs in that basket as the only fallback if Romo gets hurt is 39-yr old Brad Johnson who isn't quite the risk taker. Heat Index: 9

Running backs: It's rare when a team loses their starting running back and everyone is fine with the position. Julius Jones is gone, but rookie Felix Jones is in. Jones (Felix) will get a ton of carries this season to keep Marion Barber fresh. Barber, who only started the Cowboys' playoff game, is the NFL's version of Mariano Rivera -- he dominates late in games and finishes drives off. Jones and Barber will combined for that classic "lightning and thunder" combo and should be quite successful doing it in what supposed to be a more run-friendly offense. Heat Index: 7

At a post game news conference, Cowboys receiver Terrell Owens defended his quarterback Tony Romo from the sure-to-be upcoming criticism.

"You guys can point the finger at him," T.O. said. "You can talk about the vacation, and if you do that, it's really unfair. It's really unfair. That's my teammate. That's my quarterback. If you guys do that, man, it's unfair. We lost as a team. We lost as a team, man."

He's right. It is unfair. But so go the spoils of being the Dallas Cowboys QB (just as it is dating Jessica Simpson). Over at The Boys Blog, they break down where some of the blame should go.

Obviously, there were too many turnovers (eleven of them, total) for the Cowboys. Everyone has 'em, sure, but some of these were horrible. A Demarcus Ware offsides penalty that extended a drive. The unecessary roughness call on Leonard Davis that not only cost Dallas 15 yards but negated a 10-yr Jason Witten reception. Patrick Crayton (who spent all week talking smack) dropping a wide-open third down pass. Jacques Reeves getting torched three times plus getting called for a facemask penalty in the Giants TD drive at the end of the first half. How about the Cowboys' coverage teams who were as poor today as they've been all season?

Welcome to another successful installment of Five Questions with an Enemy Blogger, where each week, via email, I will be exchanging hot questions and [sometimes] answers with a rival blogger about their team and the upcoming matchup.

This week I sat down with albaNY Hawker of 12 Seahawks Street, an independent column that covers the Seattle Seahawks.

Dan Benton: "Hawker, as always, it's an absolute pleasure to chat with you again. We had so much fun last year, I decided we should do it again.

The first question is very simple, but I've been waiting a year to hear you answer it. Who was the best team (according to divisional record) in the NFC West last year? (Oh yea, it's going to sting slightly.)"

albaNY Hawker: "It must be very difficult to be an Arizona Cardinal fan and have to cling to little statistical triumphs such as this. Why not ask which team in the division ranks first alphabetically by name of State? You'll kick our [butts] at that one every freaking year! Sure, the Arizona Cardinals were what, 4-2 within the division last year? Good for you, did they give you a banner to hang in your fancy new stadium for that, or just a gold start to put on those pitful paint-by-numbers helmets? Of course, this is not kindegarten, it's the NFL, where teams are ranked by overall record and divisional championships. So to paraphrase your former coach, "The Cardinal were who we THOUGHT they were, and if you want to crown their asses, then crown 'em!" I'm sure the NFC West Champion Seattle Seahawks with let you borrow one of their crowns, they've gotten one each of the past three seasons!"

Training camp is finally here and FanHouse breaks down the most important position battles heading into the season, team by team.

To be honest, this one is a bit of a stretch. Truth is, while Mike Nolan will have you believe competition is alive and well at just about every position on the roster (wink wink), take one look at the roster and it's pretty obvious that all of the starting spots are spoken for.

This includes right tackle. Take a quick glance and you can't really tell the difference between Kwame Harris and a revolving door. The 49ers were so inspired by Harris' play that they traded back into the first round after selecting Patrick Willis to grab Joe Staley, widely considered the third-best tackle in the draft.

If Harris wins this battle, it's because he'll have seriously outplayed Staley for it. The fact that Staley avoided a holdout means Harris won't have first-team reps handed to him, and the 49ers seem more than willing to give the job to Staley as long as he proves capable of standing still and putting his hands out in front of his chest. But there's one important variable here -- Harris' contract. It's not exactly a secret that players tend to up their game in a contract year, and after seeing the huge paydays handed out to less-than-mediocre offensive linemen lately (Leonard Davis anyone?), Harris might be inspired to have a "breakout" year.

Training camp battles: See them all

Given that the Cowboys signed offensive lineman Leonard Davis to a seven-year, $50 million deal, he should be expected to excel at all five offensive-line positions. The reality, however, is that Davis underachieved during his time with the Cardinals, specifically as a left tackle.

Still, new Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips is excited to have Davis. And that's because the team plans to move him inside to right guard.

Phillips is hoping the change of scenery from Phoenix to Dallas - not to mention from the Cardinals to the Cowboys - will be just what Davis needs.

"There are a lot of players who sometimes fit in better (somewhere else)," Phillips said. "I don't know if they change attitudes. I don't know what happens to them, but sometimes they click better at other places."

Well, for $50 million clams, Davis should also provide the pregame entertainment and pilot the team plane on away games. The club re-signed right tackle Marc Colombo earlier this off-season and with Andre Gurode at center, the right side of the line is in good shape. And although it wasn't cheap, Davis should strengthen the o-line, especially now that his weaknesses will be minimized by a move to guard.

Don't you just love the back-and-forth nonsense that is NFL free agency? It's so hard to determine what is garbage and what isn't. As late as yesterday ESPN's John Clayton was reporting that linebacker Cato June was scheduled to meet with the Giants in the near future and that they were the front runner to land his services. Now it's being reported by Paul Schwartz of the New York Post that June is not visiting the Giants and that there aren't even any talks going on between the two sides. In fact, June's Agent went as far as to say "it's not happening with the Giants."

At this point all I can do is throw my hands up and stop trying to figure out what the truth is. Best I can tell is that the Giants aren't going a damn thing. According to the most recent news they aren't targeting June, Leonard Davis stood them up and Dominic Rhodes left without a contract. Not to mention it was reported on ESPN last night that they are not interested in Joey Porter either.

This certainly seems like an odd approach to free agency when there are so many holes to fill. Hopefully Jerry Reese has something up his sleeve or Giants fans are in for a long, long year.

Forget Christmas, this is the best time of year and it keeps getting better! It's now been announced that both Cato June and Leonard Davis will be visiting the Giants. Davis is scheduled to meet with the Giants tomorrow while a date for June has not yet been given.

There was some talk that Davis may not be interested in the Giants for various reasons. I mentioned a few weeks ago that Tiki Barber's negative comments may hurt the Giants during free agency and now that seems to be an accurate assessment.

John Clayton reported on ESPN [TV] that June would be visiting with the Giants shortly and that they are the favorite to land him. He said that a deal is expected to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $4-$5 million per year but did not list a number of years. I know a lot of fans are down on June and think he's to undersized to play in New York but I disagree. What he lacks in size, he makes up for in speed. With a little work and discipline he'd fit right in with the Giants.

Other Notes:

Mike Garafolo of the Star Ledger reports that the Giants are interested in Joey Porter. Porter's agent has said that the Giants have contacted him but no meeting has been scheduled yet. Porter will take the weekend to decide where "he wants to go."