Before the NFL season begins there is still plenty of drama to unfold

Happy New Year! The NFL season is officially under way with the annual Hall of Fame kickoff game, which never really seems to do much for anyone except those who aren’t basketball or baseball fan and are just jonesin’ for any kind of action. However it was interesting to see Chad and Terrell lining up on the same side of the ball, making a truly formidable tandem if they can find a way to share the ball (and stay healthy). The jury is still out on if he will make noticeable contributions on the field, be a cancer in the locker room, or a little bit of both. Speaking of comrade or cancer, Darrelle Revis and Brett Favre have still not reported to training camp, and one has to wonder if either will make it in time to properly prepare for the season and what effect it is having on the mindset of their respective teams. Revis, the consensus pick for best corner in the NFL, wants a compensation package worthy of such a title, and quite frankly, I used be in the camp that if you signed your name to a contract you owned it, like we all do in the real world, and if you renege, there will be consequences to pay. Conversely I understand that the NFL reneges on contracts every day, particularly for those who get injured or if suddenly someone comes into camp that can do the job better, particularly at corner where, other than the possible exception of kicker, can you go from the penthouse to the outhouse so quickly. So I can’t really feel for the Jets, who made the statement themselves that he was the best corner in the league and now they’ll have to pay him as such or Bevis island will be closed to tourist this season. Now in the case of  ”Fantastic Favre”  it’s a totally different story, and a story we’ve unfortunately read before and know how it ends. His ankle will miraculously and suddenly heal just prior to the 3^rd pre-season game allowing just enough time for him to get acquainted with the new personnel and any new wrinkles to the offense, then come into the dome on a white horse to a standing ovation after the Vikings 2-2 pre-season, but what has he done to he chemistry in the locker room, particularly those fond of Tavarius Jackson? I understand “we’re talking about practice”, and that 4 pre-season games is three too many, particularly when you don’t need to take any more hits on a 41 year old body than necessary, but then come in with everyone else and work on conditioning or stretching but have the rest of the team see you sweating with them, not just suiting up on Sunday, because that’s what leaders do.

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Favre calls it a career, again

He’s been called the Michael Jordan of the NFL, for more ways than one. He’s transcended the position, been a champion, led two teams out of obscurity, and been the face of the sport for years. He’s also retired for the third time and has still left unanswered questions in his wake. Ok, so we’re not here to rave on about his accomplishments, we will see plenty of that over the next eight months, but what we’re asking is was Brett selfish by not stating his intentions earlier and did he hurt his team by making this announcement two days after the start of training camp? The Vikings could have made several off season maneuvers to get a veteran quarterback as obviously they’ve proven last year that they have enough in the cupboard to get to the show, and perhaps a vet quarterback (that doesn’t throw ints on the final drive of the game) is that final piece. Of course, they would have been involved in the McNabb conversations which would have been a good fit for both Donovan and Minnesota, but just up the road the Steelers were looking to deal Big Ben after his off-season escapades. Once again, another good fit, perhaps even better as Ben has more tread-life than McNabb. Ok, I realize the Vikes probably couldn’t put as good of a package together as the Skins did, so let’s assume McNabb still ended up in DC, that means that Jason Campbell is in play (still a better fit for Minn than Jackson) and what about Mark Bulger who went to the Ravens for a very palatable contract? According to the Vikings camp Tarvaris Jackson (19 career starts) is ready to step in and be the man, and he may be, but how many games will his inexperience cost the Vikes, and in a conference as competitive as the NFC will be this year, will that make the difference between having a championship game on the road or in the friendly confines of a heated dome? Lastly, in the era of athletes thinking of themselves first and the team/city second by either demanding trades, moving, retiring/unretiring (ie; Kobe, Pierce, LeBron, multiple MLB players) where does Favre fall in the mix? Would the timing of this move be seen as being disloyal or selfish? Let us know your thoughts here and in the NFL chat rooms.

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Draft provides enough surprises to deserve prime time

The winner by unanimous decision in picking draft accuracy goes to Todd McShay as the public debate that was raging on between he and self proclaimed “guru” Mel Kiper where the top five quarterbacks in the draft would be selected ended in a knockout. To the surprise of no one Sam Bradford went first but much to the surprise of everyone Jimmy Clausen wasn’t selected into the middle of the second round. However the biggest surprise had to be that Tim Tebow, who was not expected to be mentioned until late round 2 at best, was the second quarterback selected. So when all the dust was settled, the Broncos traded up to get terrific Tim, basically using the currency obtained in the Brandon Marshall trade to get the pick. So help me understand how this makes sense again? Ok, I understand the attitude issues, and the fact that he’s an ‘off the field crap shoot’, but the guy single handedly won three games for you last year and is a sure-fire Pro-Bowler, and in return you got an player with long odds of his own on where he is going to fit in. He’s no Wes Welker receiving and certainly won’t be executing the type of plays he did at Florida. Great guy, but if Marshall has another Pro-Bowl year and Tebow becomes a third-string slot receiver there may be more heads rolling than rocks in the mile high city. If Denver gets our “Going out on a Limb” award then our Bernie Madoff award for being the best thief goes to Minnesota for the crafty pick up of Toby Gerhart with the 51^st pick. Wasn’t this guy a Heisman candidate? I think this guy’s gonna make a great pro and now the Vikings got their own version of Rocky and Franco to back up Favre. Lastly, we realize hindsight is 20/10 and mine’s better than that, and only a year or two down the road will we really be able to quantify who the winners and losers are, but right now the “Leon Lett” award for a bonehead move goes to Denver who have picked up their second dubious award for letting Dez Bryant slip to the Cowboys and drafting Demaryius Thomas. Not that Thomas won’t make some impact, but Bryant could become the biggest ‘game changer’ since DeSean Jackson and they’ve got a huge hole to fill now that BMarsh is out the door, and they may have made the wrong call here.Which team do you think was the biggest winner/loser in draft? Let us know here and in any of the quick links.

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NFL finally sees the writing on the wall but is it really a change?

The pressure to make a change to the overtime rules has been mounting for quite some time and the Rottweiler that has been the NFL has finally let go and thrown a bone to proponents, but what exactly did it really change? Firstly, nothing changes in the regular season so that will encompass 95% of the situations to begin with. Next, if the team that wins the toss scores a TD then game over. It would take too much time for me to pay a quant to pull the statistical data but I would wager that most of the winning FG didn’t come as a last resort and that the drives could have been sustained if the team simply wanted to invest the time and take it in, but the FG gets them off the field and on the bus more quickly. In the rare occasion that all they can muster is a FG then we have a duplicate of the college game where it’s better to defer. Finally after an exchange of FG we’re right back to where we started. I realize all sports despise being compared and contrasted, and fans of these sports might even hate it even more, but ‘what it is, is what it is” and the NBA has it right. If you can decide a winner in the time allotted then let’s put more time on the clock until it is. They don’t change the game into something else, where the strategy, preparation, and personnel totally change, as in the college game. Or shoot free-throws to decide the winner, as they do in soccer with penalty kicks. We don’t need an entire 15 minutes but lets put 10 more up on the board and play the SAME game we just did for 60. I know the argument is that “we could be here all day” but what I did take the time to research is that better than 95% of all NBA overtime games are settled in the first overtime, so they are not there all day. Isn’t it the same principal as instant replay? For all of the delays, black curtain jokes and commercials, at the end of the day the purpose is to get it right and any other scenario than simply extending a percentage of an additional period will only lay the foundation for more excuses. At least it will add more pressure on Vegas in regards to the spread and the overs. What do you think of the NFL’s new overtime rule? Does it go too far or not far enough? Let us know here and in any of the quick links.

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Have the Saints exposed the truth that Peyton really hasn’t changed?

In a game that resembled the 2001 upset of the St. Louis Rams, the Saints had their shell shocked moments early then proceeded to punch the favorite Colts in the mouth taking risk and coming out on top. By now you’ve either seen the game or read two or three articles from different points of view about how it went down, but one thing I noticed when watching the game that may have been hidden by all of the confetti and umbrellas is that for all of the amazing regular season stats that he’s put up, Peyton Manning has really only delivered ONCE in the post season. Now wait a minute before you close the browser window, hear me out. Prior to the Super Bowl win over Chicago, Peyton was known as the “the best regular season quarterback that could never win the big one” he and the Colts were the Patriots beotch and there was ‘bust’ rumblings in Indy. C’mon, think back to halftime and what the commentators were saying as they trailed the Pats by 11 points after he threw a pick 6 to give them the 18-point lead. They had all but written him off as a guy who folded under pressure and wasn’t in Brady’s category yet. And say what you want, if the Patriots don’t get called for PI in the 4^th quarter, they win that game and Peyton doesn’t get an opportunity to beat a BAD Bears team and get the “monkey” off his back and now where would we be? I’ll tell ya. We’d be talking about how Peyton had the opportunity to make a play to tie the score and send the Super Bowl into overtime for the first time in history but threw ANOTHER pick-6 instead (after all his playoff record is only 9-9). For having the best regular season record over the past decade they sure don’t have a lot of rings to show for it. All I’m saying is does he have Hall of Fame stats, yes, but is he that quarterback that you want to lead you for the winning score in a “non regular season game”? Probably not. Now I would be remised if I didn’t give a huge amount of credit to Saints, the coaching staff and ‘Cool Brees’ who played even cooler than his name. The truth is that they did put Manning in ‘Dare to be Great’ if not “Dare you to make me pay for my arrogance” and never had to walk up to cashier. The 4^th down makes perfect sense because of the time left to go in the half and the field position to start with. It actually worked out even better because they got the 3 points anyway and never offered an advantageous field, but the onside kick to start the half is another story. You can say all you want about the on-side recovery percentages but even Belichick had more respect for Manning than that. That is pure huevos rancheros and making a statement that we’re rolling the dice and we really don’t think you’ll go up two scores if we come up snake eyes. Before you comment on my blasphemy about perfect Peyton, as yourself which coach in previous SB games would do that to the Montana, Elway, or Brady? The other Payton wasn’t crazy, he may have just seen something that has been there all along. 

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This Super Bowl has all the components of out shining the last two

David Tyree’s ‘super catch’, the “Holmes’ Stretch”, over the last two years the Super Bowl has more than lived up to and delivered on the hype by providing fans worldwide with a spectacular event that justifies its name. Even with all of that momentum never in the history of the sport has their been a 1 vs. 2 matchup like we have this year (and no computers were needed), where the top 2 that have lead the field the entire season met for all the marbles in the show. No ‘terrific’ Tom Brady or Brett ‘I don’t need no stinkin’ Viagra’ Favre? No problem, we’ve got a “Cool Brees”, a “Perfect Peyton” and an incredible story of an entire city and state that defines the word comeback, that just might caravan all the way to Miami to support their club. Although last year’s game was one of the top 5, you wouldn’t have known from the matchup or the atmosphere in the two weeks prior as all of the energy was utilized in pumpin’ up a game that no one really wanted to see. As it turns out, it was able to overcome the masses that assumed they’d be looking for alternative programming at half-time, and the game had the most nationwide views in SB history. And what about the biggest upset the year before as the little team from the Biggest City in the world proudly stood in the way of perfection. This year has both of those beat on merit, as the game itself doesn’t need to be pimped, because it is the game everyone has wanted to see since week 3. Now all the game has to do is be close, at least until The Who smash a guitar, and it should easily surpass last year’s mark. Not to mention the international viewers, which has become an important component to the success of the event. Now that the pomp & circumstance is out of the way, the ligaments torn round’ the world making more noise than Brady’s a couple years back, Dwight Freeney will play but I can’t so he’ll be effective since he comes from the strong side and if you can’t plant and drive with speed then there’s no need chip him with Darnell Dinkins or Reggie Bush meaning that’s another weapon Brees will have at his disposal running routes and keeping the chains moving. The Saints rush D is a concern as Colt’s surprised everyone by out rushing the NFL leaders (Jets) in the AFC Championship game, and Peyton running the hurry up to keep the Saints off balance wreaks of a double-digit lead. However the great equalizer might be the least of everyone’s concerns and that is the field itself. Although the rain is supposed to be long gone come kickoff, it will be thick turf, possibly moist, and for both teams who used to playing indoors, this may not be a very fast track. Injuries or no injuries, grass or turf, rain or shine, these teams have never tried to fool anyone that offense wouldn’t be the order of the day and I suspect it will be on Sunday. And that’s what everyone wants to see.