Branch To Tackle 2nd Season

[NMCard]

I don't think I should post the whole article because it's a pay site. So here is a little of the article that was in this morning Abq journal.

link:

http://www.abqjournal.com/west/sports/1312022west_sports07-13-08.htm

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Branch To Tackle 2nd Season

By James Yodice
Journal Staff Writer
Alan Branch's first season of professional football was a roller-coaster ride.
An injury here, some good-natured rookie hazing there, veteran offensive lineman taking him to the proverbial woodshed and throwing him to the ground. It was all part of the learning process for the 6-foot-5, 325-pound Branch.
The second-year Arizona Cardinals nose tackle from Rio Rancho, who attended Cibola High School and the University of Michigan, soon will begin his second training camp.
It starts July 23, at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff.
The Journal conducted a phone interview with 23-year-old Branch earlier in the week. Here is the exchange between Branch and the Journal:
Journal: What were your biggest priorities during the offseason?
Branch: Honestly, I wanted to take some time off just to get to that point where you miss football. Where you are, like, really antsy to get back on to the field. And I feel I got to that point when I started working out.
Journal: How much time did you take off?
Branch: Probably about a month and a half.
Journal: With the offseason knee injury to starting nose tackle Gabe Watson, you're certainly in line for more playing time and you could possibly even open the year as the starter. Has that impacted your offseason?
Branch: Not really. I just tell everyone that I'm getting ready to start, anyway. It's a competitive position, battling your friend for a starting spot, but if you're an athlete, you don't want to start the season on the bench.
I never wanted that (injury) to happen to him. Me and him going at it in practice makes us work harder, and work better as a player. I hope that he gets back, because I love that competition with him. Because we've been competing since college. And also, Gabe's a good friend of mine.
Journal: Your head coach, Ken Whisenhunt, said earlier this year: "The focus on (Branch) will be a little bit greater, so hopefully that will force him to pick up the urgency — which he has shown signs of doing." Your reaction to that comment?
Branch: I'm glad that they expect a lot out of me, because I'm definitely expecting a lot out of myself. Hopefully, I can go out and prove that I'm ready for this level. I definitely feel I can be a destructive force out there.

 

[RugbyMuffin]

He is my surprise player of the year this year. I said it at the start of the offseason and I am sticking with it.

 

[Skkorpion]

Thanks for finding that, NM.

That snippet of interview raises my concern a little. Is there a lack of motivation that seeps through? As if he feels no urgency to excel? Can't really tell yet.

 

[NMCard]

Thanks for finding that, NM.

That snippet of interview raises my concern a little. Is there a lack of motivation that seeps through? As if he feels no urgency to excel? Can't really tell yet.

Reading trough the whole interview I have to agree with you. I hope we are both wrong on that.

 

[jaguarpaw81]

Thanks for finding that, NM.

That snippet of interview raises my concern a little. Is there a lack of motivation that seeps through? As if he feels no urgency to excel? Can't really tell yet.

I was thinking that as well. Watson broke his knee working out on his own while Branch was taking a break from football. One would think after his pathetic rookie showing, Branch would have been busting his tail and chomping at the bit to show what he is capable of this year. Instead he takes a break until he "misses football". I dont like it one bit. Hopefully I am wrong.

 

[DaisyCutter]

Thanks for finding that, NM.

That snippet of interview raises my concern a little. Is there a lack of motivation that seeps through? As if he feels no urgency to excel? Can't really tell yet.

I'm glad I'm not the only one. It usually isn't the best players in the NFL that need to "take a break from football" after their 1st professional season.

I hope Rugby's right, but I would be very surprised if that were the case here.

 

[RugbyMuffin]

I'm glad I'm not the only one. It usually isn't the best players in the NFL that need to "take a break from football" after their 1st professional season.

I hope Rugby's right, but I would be very surprised if that were the case here.

Take it from a (not relative to pro sports standards) big guy. The season takes its toll. Branch is 6'5" and 325 pounds. A season takes his toll. Maybe nobody would say it, but they are thinking the same thing.

I know after a rugby season (and I LOVE playing rugby) I am DONE with it. Cracking skulls with other guys hoovering around 300# just wears on you. Plus the grind of doing it 3 times a week (7 days a week for Mr. Branch) and working full time. You definately need a little time to get away.

Fitzgerald goes on vacations as well. He might choose better words to describe that he needs time off, but it is the same deal.

You ask me a month ago whether I was going to play rugby again. I would have said" No, I am done. My body can't take it, and I don't have the time for it."

Ask me today, and will start scratchin' like a crack addict at the though of getting on the pitch and laying out some devastation.

As my coach says, props (the big guys in rugby) get a little sleepy. It is just a big man thing. You don't come across guys that have Branch's size, and ability very often. If you are going to play a 3-4 you need that rock in the middle. Keith Washington played till he was 40!!!! Why? Cause they just don't make guys his size, with his ability.

I will stick with it, that Alan Branch is the best pick up for our 3-4 defense we could have ever gotten.

 

[DaisyCutter]

Take it from a (not relative to pro sports standards) big guy. The season takes its toll. Branch is 6'5" and 325 pounds. A season takes his toll. Maybe nobody would say it, but they are thinking the same thing.

I know after a rugby season (and I LOVE playing rugby) I am DONE with it. Cracking skulls with other guys hoovering around 300# just wears on you. Plus the grind of doing it 3 times a week (7 days a week for Mr. Branch) and working full time. You definately need a little time to get away.

Fitzgerald goes on vacations as well. He might choose better words to describe that he needs time off, but it is the same deal.

You ask me a month ago whether I was going to play rugby again. I would have said" No, I am done. My body can't take it, and I don't have the time for it."

Ask me today, and will start scratchin' like a crack addict at the though of getting on the pitch and laying out some devastation.

As my coach says, props (the big guys in rugby) get a little sleepy. It is just a big man thing. You don't come across guys that have Branch's size, and ability very often. If you are going to play a 3-4 you need that rock in the middle. Keith Washington played till he was 40!!!! Why? Cause they just don't make guys his size, with his ability.

I will stick with it, that Alan Branch is the best pick up for our 3-4 defense we could have ever gotten.

I think you're right, but I don't read it as his body is sore, or whatever:

Honestly, I wanted to take some time off just to get to that point where you miss football. Where you are, like, really antsy to get back on to the field. And I feel I got to that point when I started working out.

NFLers don't take pounding every day. Maybe people who have been exposed to practices can say more, but I'm pretty sure that the only time after training camp that real hitting goes on is maybe on Thursday. So it's two days a week that he's getting pounded--maybe. Mondays are off days, Fridays and Saturdays are walk-throughs.

I don't have any problem with players going on vacations or whatever. But I have little doubt that the love of the game for Fitz, Boldin, Edge, Warner, Wilson, etc. is complete. Do you really doubt that Fitz's first question when he checks in to a resort in Rio or San Tropez is "where's the gym at?" Wasn't there a story last offseason about Adrian Wilson's wife being annoyed that he spent so much of his vacation in the gym?

Again, I hope I'm wrong, but I see a lot of the same things in Alan Branch as I did in Cedric Benson. Remember, Cedric Benson said that he'd rather win the Heisman Trophy than beat Oklahoma. I wouldn't use a first-day pick on a player that I wasn't totally convinced ate, drank, breathed, and slept football.

I really hope you're right. If Branch fails, and we've already lost Buster Davis, then Levi Brown will have been the only contributor from the first day of the draft of Ken Whisenhunt.

 

[RugbyMuffin]

I really hope you're right. If Branch fails, and we've already lost Buster Davis, then Levi Brown will have been the only contributor from the first day of the draft of Ken Whisenhunt.

Ugh. Never thought of that.