THIS AND THAT..........MONDAY
I've been really hard on the criminal element of the Cincinnati Bengals. Their worst offender has been wide receiver Chris Henry & as much as I hesitate to do this considering his past history, Chris may have turned the corner. Henry has multiple arrests, multiple suspensions both from the Bengals & the NFL and he's been cut twice by Cincinnati. Quarterback Carson Palmer said Henry hasn't missed a single minute of the OTA's. Henry credits some counseling from Hall of Fame receiver, Michael Irvin, another very talented player who had a similar track record. Henry has the size, speed & natural ability to be a great starting wide receiver. If he continues to stay out of trouble & focus on fulfilling his potential, you might see a 75-catch season out of him, he has all the tools. I do believe this is truly his last chance & let's keep our fingers crossed he is able to turn his life around.
Rookie wide receiver Michael Crabtree, the 1st round pick of the Forty Niners, is now running at three-quarters speed. The stress fracture in his left foot, now heeled, prevented any running leading up to the NFL Draft. He's running wind sprints, sometimes as many as 12 per practice & all without pain. Head coach Mike Singletary doesn't want the 2-time Biletnikoff Award winner to go all out until training camp.
Buffalo Bill owner, Ralph Wilson, will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame this August. The 90-year old founder of the Bills has selected ESPN's Chris Berman to deliver his induction speech. Berman picked the Bills & Niners as his preseason Super Bowl picks for nearly 30 years. He also delivered the line "nobody circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills" when they were facing a tough opponent or some sort of crisis. It was clever maybe the first 2 or 3 times, but not a couple of thousand times. Anyway, it's said since Chiefs' owner, Lamar Hunt, passed away in 2006, the shy Wilson only speaks to one other owner, Oakland's Al Davis & that's only 4 or 5 times a year outside of the owners' meetings. I know very little about Ralph Wilson except that he was an original owner in the old American Football League. I know Chris Berman's act was old some time ago. He's a decent guy with very good knowledge of the game, but for some time he's been more interested in word games, puns & bad jokes. I hope he doesn't fill his speech with this crap, but who knows? Maybe Ralph Wilson thinks Berman is the funniest thing to come down the pike in decades & it is his moment isn't it?
I'd like to salute Tom Coughlin, Bill Cowher, Jeff Fisher, Jon Gruden & John Harbaugh for volunteering to do a USO tour. These fine coaches are headed to Iraq & Afghanistan to visit the troops & as a former Air Force sergeant who spent 26 consecutive months deployed overseas, I assure you, our men & women in uniform will be glad to see them. Thank you gentlemen, for taking time out of your busy schedules & giving it to some people who richly deserve it.
There's a lot of talk coming out of New Orleans that Jeremy Shockey had better get squared away, get in shape, stay out of the trainer's room & become a productive part of the Saints' offense. Apparently, his act is growing old already, even in just his second season with New Orleans. From the fan on the street to QB Drew Brees, the talk is about Shockey making an impact somewhere close to his potential & pay grade. Shockey, who will be entering his 8th season, has but 27 career touchdowns, zero last season. His 9.7 yards per reception was also a career low. As a receiver, playing in Sean Payton's offense with Brees pulling the trigger, should be a dream. His Vegas fiasco last month apparently was a tipping point with some of his teammates. Like Chris Henry, Shockey needs to decide if playing football at a high level is important to him or is he content to put it in cruise control another season & then move on to disappoint yet another team before finding himself out of work. Hey, it takes a lot of dedication to consistently play at a Pro Bowl level & there are many tight ends giving everything they have to play at that level, unfortunately, Jeremy Shockey & Kellen Winslow Jr. aren't two of them. Even tho both have claimed repeatedly to be the best in the league, both fail to deliver way too often. Don't ever take Tony Gonzalez, Shannon Sharpe, Kellen Winslow Sr, or Ozzie Newsome for granted, they are the best. I sincerely doubt either of these wannabes will ever join this elite group, they're too immature & unwilling to pay the price.
Man, I hope sticking a microphone in Fran Tarkenton's face becomes old quickly, he can't say anything nice about anybody. The 69-year old Hall of Fame quarterback has recently ragged on everybody from Bret Favre to the Steelers of the 70's. Unfortunately, much of the crap he's spewing is incorrect. He accused the Steeler team that beat his Viking squad in the '74 Super Bowl. He spoke of how Steeler Hall of Fame center, Mike Webster was all pumped up on steroids as was guard Steve Courson. Well Fran, rookie Mike Webster didn't even play, Ray Mansfield was the starter. Even tho Webster admitted to steroid use later in his career, he was 'juiced up' to 238 lbs that season. Worse, Courson was a freshman at South Carolina, obviously not a Steeler offensive lineman yet. Courson also admitted to steroid use, but not until the 80's Fran. Tarkenton then turned his ire to the Pittsburgh defense & their steroid use. What steroid use? Rocky Bleier, yes, Mike Webster, sure, but not one of the Steel Curtain defense was ever linked to steroids. But I guess Fran knows better. I suppose his Hall of Fame career & the tens of millions of dollars he made after football in the private sector just can't replace being in that spotlight, even at 69 years of age. I always chuckle when people downplay the stats of AFL quarterbacks & yet Tarkenton's bloated numbers were always deemed as "all-time great" stuff. This is a guy who readily admitted he often flung the ball deep on third down without any fear of interception, since "we had such a great defense". And this guy's raggin' on Bret Favre?
New Chiefs coach Todd Haley has put his team on a diet. Kansas City's mini camp concluded Sunday & Haley was uncharacteristically bragging on his team's weight loss. From the first OTA to last Friday, the Chiefs had lost a collective 338 pounds. Haley wants even more, he believes their 4th quarter fades last season were due to weight & conditioning. Second year left tackle, Brandon Albert, played his junior year at Virginia weighing 317 pounds & was 326 as a rookie last year. He is now down to 309 on the way to Haley's prescribed 305 pounds. The Kansas City media was kept out of earshot during the mini camp practices, but it was apparent Haley runs a much stricter practice than either of his predecessors, Herm Edwards or Dick Vermeil. Another pleasant surprise has been the fact that Larry Johnson has attended nearly every OTA & appears very fit & isn't complaining about anything. It's possible Johnson realizes this might be his last shot at making big money, he's guaranteed $3.7 million this season & should he be cut, I doubt he'll ever see another multi-million dollar contract. The Chiefs need Johnson to have a 1200+ yard season to take some heat off new QB Matt Cassel, hopefully he'll stay healthy & focused enough to achieve that.
Rookie wide receiver Michael Crabtree, the 1st round pick of the Forty Niners, is now running at three-quarters speed. The stress fracture in his left foot, now heeled, prevented any running leading up to the NFL Draft. He's running wind sprints, sometimes as many as 12 per practice & all without pain. Head coach Mike Singletary doesn't want the 2-time Biletnikoff Award winner to go all out until training camp.
Buffalo Bill owner, Ralph Wilson, will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame this August. The 90-year old founder of the Bills has selected ESPN's Chris Berman to deliver his induction speech. Berman picked the Bills & Niners as his preseason Super Bowl picks for nearly 30 years. He also delivered the line "nobody circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills" when they were facing a tough opponent or some sort of crisis. It was clever maybe the first 2 or 3 times, but not a couple of thousand times. Anyway, it's said since Chiefs' owner, Lamar Hunt, passed away in 2006, the shy Wilson only speaks to one other owner, Oakland's Al Davis & that's only 4 or 5 times a year outside of the owners' meetings. I know very little about Ralph Wilson except that he was an original owner in the old American Football League. I know Chris Berman's act was old some time ago. He's a decent guy with very good knowledge of the game, but for some time he's been more interested in word games, puns & bad jokes. I hope he doesn't fill his speech with this crap, but who knows? Maybe Ralph Wilson thinks Berman is the funniest thing to come down the pike in decades & it is his moment isn't it?
I'd like to salute Tom Coughlin, Bill Cowher, Jeff Fisher, Jon Gruden & John Harbaugh for volunteering to do a USO tour. These fine coaches are headed to Iraq & Afghanistan to visit the troops & as a former Air Force sergeant who spent 26 consecutive months deployed overseas, I assure you, our men & women in uniform will be glad to see them. Thank you gentlemen, for taking time out of your busy schedules & giving it to some people who richly deserve it.
There's a lot of talk coming out of New Orleans that Jeremy Shockey had better get squared away, get in shape, stay out of the trainer's room & become a productive part of the Saints' offense. Apparently, his act is growing old already, even in just his second season with New Orleans. From the fan on the street to QB Drew Brees, the talk is about Shockey making an impact somewhere close to his potential & pay grade. Shockey, who will be entering his 8th season, has but 27 career touchdowns, zero last season. His 9.7 yards per reception was also a career low. As a receiver, playing in Sean Payton's offense with Brees pulling the trigger, should be a dream. His Vegas fiasco last month apparently was a tipping point with some of his teammates. Like Chris Henry, Shockey needs to decide if playing football at a high level is important to him or is he content to put it in cruise control another season & then move on to disappoint yet another team before finding himself out of work. Hey, it takes a lot of dedication to consistently play at a Pro Bowl level & there are many tight ends giving everything they have to play at that level, unfortunately, Jeremy Shockey & Kellen Winslow Jr. aren't two of them. Even tho both have claimed repeatedly to be the best in the league, both fail to deliver way too often. Don't ever take Tony Gonzalez, Shannon Sharpe, Kellen Winslow Sr, or Ozzie Newsome for granted, they are the best. I sincerely doubt either of these wannabes will ever join this elite group, they're too immature & unwilling to pay the price.
Man, I hope sticking a microphone in Fran Tarkenton's face becomes old quickly, he can't say anything nice about anybody. The 69-year old Hall of Fame quarterback has recently ragged on everybody from Bret Favre to the Steelers of the 70's. Unfortunately, much of the crap he's spewing is incorrect. He accused the Steeler team that beat his Viking squad in the '74 Super Bowl. He spoke of how Steeler Hall of Fame center, Mike Webster was all pumped up on steroids as was guard Steve Courson. Well Fran, rookie Mike Webster didn't even play, Ray Mansfield was the starter. Even tho Webster admitted to steroid use later in his career, he was 'juiced up' to 238 lbs that season. Worse, Courson was a freshman at South Carolina, obviously not a Steeler offensive lineman yet. Courson also admitted to steroid use, but not until the 80's Fran. Tarkenton then turned his ire to the Pittsburgh defense & their steroid use. What steroid use? Rocky Bleier, yes, Mike Webster, sure, but not one of the Steel Curtain defense was ever linked to steroids. But I guess Fran knows better. I suppose his Hall of Fame career & the tens of millions of dollars he made after football in the private sector just can't replace being in that spotlight, even at 69 years of age. I always chuckle when people downplay the stats of AFL quarterbacks & yet Tarkenton's bloated numbers were always deemed as "all-time great" stuff. This is a guy who readily admitted he often flung the ball deep on third down without any fear of interception, since "we had such a great defense". And this guy's raggin' on Bret Favre?
New Chiefs coach Todd Haley has put his team on a diet. Kansas City's mini camp concluded Sunday & Haley was uncharacteristically bragging on his team's weight loss. From the first OTA to last Friday, the Chiefs had lost a collective 338 pounds. Haley wants even more, he believes their 4th quarter fades last season were due to weight & conditioning. Second year left tackle, Brandon Albert, played his junior year at Virginia weighing 317 pounds & was 326 as a rookie last year. He is now down to 309 on the way to Haley's prescribed 305 pounds. The Kansas City media was kept out of earshot during the mini camp practices, but it was apparent Haley runs a much stricter practice than either of his predecessors, Herm Edwards or Dick Vermeil. Another pleasant surprise has been the fact that Larry Johnson has attended nearly every OTA & appears very fit & isn't complaining about anything. It's possible Johnson realizes this might be his last shot at making big money, he's guaranteed $3.7 million this season & should he be cut, I doubt he'll ever see another multi-million dollar contract. The Chiefs need Johnson to have a 1200+ yard season to take some heat off new QB Matt Cassel, hopefully he'll stay healthy & focused enough to achieve that.
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