ANOTHER SMART MOVE BY THE NFL, SAPP CLEARED, POT SMOKERS GALORE & IS MCNABB HEADING TO MISSOURI?
On the heels of their playoff overtime rule changes, it appears the league is poised to make another very smart move. Commissioner Roger Goodell announced Wednesday it is the hope of the scheduling department that the last two weeks of the season can be more competitive. If you recall, last season the Colts pulled all of their starters in the third quarter against the Jets in week 16, the Jets eventually won the game, helping them to the playoffs. If the Jets had been playing the Patriots, the Jets might not have even been in the post season. Too often, teams lay down in the last two weeks. They may have an answer to this problem, make weeks 16 & 17 divisional games. These games may dictate who wins the crown & for those teams already out of playoff contention, you might be playing a playoff contender. Plus no one likes losing to a division rival. Week 17 last year comes to mind, Kansas City pounding a playoff contending Denver. Good way to finish the season. This could be a brilliant move to keep the league as competitive as possible.
The overtime rule that was passed on Tuesday may be extended to the regular season as early as May. The NFL owners have another meeting scheduled for Dallas then & competition committee vice-chairman Rich McKay said on Wednesday is was likely to be voted upon at that meeting. Two teams that had originally voted against it, Minnesota & Baltimore, voted no on Tuesday because they wanted the same rules for the regular season as they have in the playoffs. It looks like they'll get their chance to have that consistency with a positive vote in May.
The large number of Tim Tebow detractors & haters is disturbing to me. It's especially harsh on the internet. The 'blogasphere' is so anti-Tebow & it's so hypocritical. The level of vitriol aimed at this young man is sadly typical of what we see in our country today. "If you disagree with me, that would make you wrong." If you're a Christian, you're a moron to have faith in something you can't see, hear or touch. If you're a non-believer, you have no soul & you're going to Hell. How can a person not like the New York Yankees? What are you, stupid? Not a fan of President Obama? You must be a racist! You were for the health care bill? What are you a socialist? Too much name calling, too much intolerance & very, very little respect for anyone who doesn't align themselves with you & your beliefs. Don't agree with someone? Trash 'em, marginalize 'em, no reason to listen to others or express your beliefs respectfully, much easier to just call them names, you don't appear weak or vulnerable that way. Anyway, back to Tim Tebow. A story about him was floated around several of the major football blogs, verified by the proverbial "unnamed reliable source." That source said before Tebow took the Wonderlic Test at the combine, he asked the 100 or so other prospects being tested along with him, to pray. According to the source, a player told Tebow to "Shut the f*#k up." When I first read this story, I thought it was B.S. Looking thru the comments section on this blog, I was once again disappointed in this cross section of our society. almost half of the 300+ comments were Tebow-hating, Christian-loathing writers. Almost 50% were lecturing Christians who laid it on really thick too. Then there were about 10-15 people who made intelligent points, without using profanity or calling anyone a name. I was one of those commenter's, notice I said intelligent? They mock Tebow's faith as a shortcoming, a weakness. Would they make those same comments about Tony Dungy, Joe Gibbs, Kurt Warner, Reggie White, Mike Singletary or Ray Lewis, all devout Christians who espoused their faith to anyone within earshot? They mock the story about Tebow praying, have you seen the large number of players praying on the field after a game or during an injury timeout? Do Christians truly believe that shouting down non-believers is something Jesus would have done? Stop it! Take a deep breath. Do you honestly believe this type of hateful discourse will ever solve anything? Of course it won't, but they're not interested in talking, the other guy is an idiot, he's wrong, he should shut the f*#k up.". By the way, Tim Tebow actually phoned one of these bloggers personally. He told the blogger what he had written was absolutely, 100% wrong. The blogger admitted that after talking to Tebow for 10 minutes, he believed him. Then in the next paragraph he wrote "Tebow believes he's telling the truth & I believe our source." This is what I'm talking about, the hypocrisy that surrounds us every single day.
The NFL has admitted that 10-12 possible first round prospects tested positive for marijuana at the recent combine. I'll let you in on a little secret, most NFL people understand many of our citizens smoke pot, hardly a revelation. They also don't care a whole helluva lot about that pot use either. What they do care about is the arrogance or the ignorance of these prospective NFL stars. Are they so arrogant, they believe the league can't operate without their individual talent & some pot smoking shouldn't come between that player & millions of fans? Are they so freakin' ignorant about urine testing at the combine? Last year Percy Harvin tested positive for pot at the combine after testing for pot twice while at Florida. He would have gone in the top-12 picks last season had he not flunked the combine test. The Vikings selected him 22nd. No big deal you say? The difference in his rookie contract at #12 overall & the 22nd spot is nearly $5 million. But he'll have another successful season & then want his contract renegotiated because he isn't making what he believes he's worth. Or maybe, just maybe, Harvin now understands what it cost him & never lets it happen again. This behavior is like you going on a job interview stoned. Walk into the human resources office blasted out of your mind. Think that's the way to impress a prospective employer? That's exactly what these kids did & one has to wonder what the thought process was.
The police down in Florida have dropped charges of domestic violence against Warren Sapp. He was arrested Super Bowl weekend after a female companion alleged Sapp had choked her & thrown her down, injuring her leg. The police said there were too many inconsistencies in her interviews. Plus, surveillance cameras showed her walking around the hotel with no limp before having a severe limp when she talked to the police. A police spokesman said they also questioned if her bruises were self-inflicted. The sad part is, Sapp had his name dragged thru the mud, he was taken off the air by the NFL Network. Now will he get his job back?
So is Donovan McNabb headed to the St. Louis Rams? Depends on who you read or listen to. The Philadelphia Enquirer was reporting all afternoon the trade could be made as early as Friday. Last night, the paper said the Rams had offered the first pick in the 2nd round, the 33rd overall pick, plus safety O.J. Otogwe. In my opinion, this is a pretty fair trade for both teams, but I'd sweat a move like this if I was Andy Reid, trading franchise QB's is a dangerous business. If the Eagles are sold on McNabb's backup, Kevin Kolb, fine, but he has about 4 games worth of experience during the regular season, the man has but 885 passing yards for his entire career. Billy Devaney, Rams general manager, claims this is all bunk. He says he hasn't spoken to the Eagles about McNabb even one time. Stay tuned, this could be a real deal.
Stanford running back Toby Gerhart had a great pro day. At 237-lbs, Gerhart looked fluid in his route running, his cutbacks & ran a very nice 4.52 forty. Gerhart is a between-the-tackles-power-runner. He was ultra productive at Palo Alto & showed his athleticism as a starting outfielder on the Stanford baseball team.
I told you King Carl was cruising the Ritz Carlton hotel in Orlando during the NFL meetings this week. He was seen in the company of new Miami Dolphins' owner Stephen Ross a lot, rekindling the rumors about Peterson taking over for Bill Parcells after he leaves the team next year. But apparently that wasn't the reason for the pair being together. Ross recently bought a company known as KangarooTV & he is trying to sell it to other NFL teams. The remote device will allow fans in NFL stadiums to view any other NFL game currently being played on a screen similar to an IPhone. Whether the regular telecast is shown or they drop back to the NFL's Redzone Channel, it will allow fans/bettors/fantasy football owners to keep up with other games. It will be a subscription device & Ross has offered 31 other shares in the product for any or all other NFL owners. Peterson was seen explaining the in-stadium service to several team reps. He's also the Chairman of USA Football, a foundation that works with every level of football beginning with peewees. Coaching & referee's workshops, player safety & overall promotion of the sport is what USA Football is all about.
Questions or comments? Email me at rich@richsfootballreport.com
The overtime rule that was passed on Tuesday may be extended to the regular season as early as May. The NFL owners have another meeting scheduled for Dallas then & competition committee vice-chairman Rich McKay said on Wednesday is was likely to be voted upon at that meeting. Two teams that had originally voted against it, Minnesota & Baltimore, voted no on Tuesday because they wanted the same rules for the regular season as they have in the playoffs. It looks like they'll get their chance to have that consistency with a positive vote in May.
The large number of Tim Tebow detractors & haters is disturbing to me. It's especially harsh on the internet. The 'blogasphere' is so anti-Tebow & it's so hypocritical. The level of vitriol aimed at this young man is sadly typical of what we see in our country today. "If you disagree with me, that would make you wrong." If you're a Christian, you're a moron to have faith in something you can't see, hear or touch. If you're a non-believer, you have no soul & you're going to Hell. How can a person not like the New York Yankees? What are you, stupid? Not a fan of President Obama? You must be a racist! You were for the health care bill? What are you a socialist? Too much name calling, too much intolerance & very, very little respect for anyone who doesn't align themselves with you & your beliefs. Don't agree with someone? Trash 'em, marginalize 'em, no reason to listen to others or express your beliefs respectfully, much easier to just call them names, you don't appear weak or vulnerable that way. Anyway, back to Tim Tebow. A story about him was floated around several of the major football blogs, verified by the proverbial "unnamed reliable source." That source said before Tebow took the Wonderlic Test at the combine, he asked the 100 or so other prospects being tested along with him, to pray. According to the source, a player told Tebow to "Shut the f*#k up." When I first read this story, I thought it was B.S. Looking thru the comments section on this blog, I was once again disappointed in this cross section of our society. almost half of the 300+ comments were Tebow-hating, Christian-loathing writers. Almost 50% were lecturing Christians who laid it on really thick too. Then there were about 10-15 people who made intelligent points, without using profanity or calling anyone a name. I was one of those commenter's, notice I said intelligent? They mock Tebow's faith as a shortcoming, a weakness. Would they make those same comments about Tony Dungy, Joe Gibbs, Kurt Warner, Reggie White, Mike Singletary or Ray Lewis, all devout Christians who espoused their faith to anyone within earshot? They mock the story about Tebow praying, have you seen the large number of players praying on the field after a game or during an injury timeout? Do Christians truly believe that shouting down non-believers is something Jesus would have done? Stop it! Take a deep breath. Do you honestly believe this type of hateful discourse will ever solve anything? Of course it won't, but they're not interested in talking, the other guy is an idiot, he's wrong, he should shut the f*#k up.". By the way, Tim Tebow actually phoned one of these bloggers personally. He told the blogger what he had written was absolutely, 100% wrong. The blogger admitted that after talking to Tebow for 10 minutes, he believed him. Then in the next paragraph he wrote "Tebow believes he's telling the truth & I believe our source." This is what I'm talking about, the hypocrisy that surrounds us every single day.
The NFL has admitted that 10-12 possible first round prospects tested positive for marijuana at the recent combine. I'll let you in on a little secret, most NFL people understand many of our citizens smoke pot, hardly a revelation. They also don't care a whole helluva lot about that pot use either. What they do care about is the arrogance or the ignorance of these prospective NFL stars. Are they so arrogant, they believe the league can't operate without their individual talent & some pot smoking shouldn't come between that player & millions of fans? Are they so freakin' ignorant about urine testing at the combine? Last year Percy Harvin tested positive for pot at the combine after testing for pot twice while at Florida. He would have gone in the top-12 picks last season had he not flunked the combine test. The Vikings selected him 22nd. No big deal you say? The difference in his rookie contract at #12 overall & the 22nd spot is nearly $5 million. But he'll have another successful season & then want his contract renegotiated because he isn't making what he believes he's worth. Or maybe, just maybe, Harvin now understands what it cost him & never lets it happen again. This behavior is like you going on a job interview stoned. Walk into the human resources office blasted out of your mind. Think that's the way to impress a prospective employer? That's exactly what these kids did & one has to wonder what the thought process was.
The police down in Florida have dropped charges of domestic violence against Warren Sapp. He was arrested Super Bowl weekend after a female companion alleged Sapp had choked her & thrown her down, injuring her leg. The police said there were too many inconsistencies in her interviews. Plus, surveillance cameras showed her walking around the hotel with no limp before having a severe limp when she talked to the police. A police spokesman said they also questioned if her bruises were self-inflicted. The sad part is, Sapp had his name dragged thru the mud, he was taken off the air by the NFL Network. Now will he get his job back?
So is Donovan McNabb headed to the St. Louis Rams? Depends on who you read or listen to. The Philadelphia Enquirer was reporting all afternoon the trade could be made as early as Friday. Last night, the paper said the Rams had offered the first pick in the 2nd round, the 33rd overall pick, plus safety O.J. Otogwe. In my opinion, this is a pretty fair trade for both teams, but I'd sweat a move like this if I was Andy Reid, trading franchise QB's is a dangerous business. If the Eagles are sold on McNabb's backup, Kevin Kolb, fine, but he has about 4 games worth of experience during the regular season, the man has but 885 passing yards for his entire career. Billy Devaney, Rams general manager, claims this is all bunk. He says he hasn't spoken to the Eagles about McNabb even one time. Stay tuned, this could be a real deal.
Stanford running back Toby Gerhart had a great pro day. At 237-lbs, Gerhart looked fluid in his route running, his cutbacks & ran a very nice 4.52 forty. Gerhart is a between-the-tackles-power-runner. He was ultra productive at Palo Alto & showed his athleticism as a starting outfielder on the Stanford baseball team.
I told you King Carl was cruising the Ritz Carlton hotel in Orlando during the NFL meetings this week. He was seen in the company of new Miami Dolphins' owner Stephen Ross a lot, rekindling the rumors about Peterson taking over for Bill Parcells after he leaves the team next year. But apparently that wasn't the reason for the pair being together. Ross recently bought a company known as KangarooTV & he is trying to sell it to other NFL teams. The remote device will allow fans in NFL stadiums to view any other NFL game currently being played on a screen similar to an IPhone. Whether the regular telecast is shown or they drop back to the NFL's Redzone Channel, it will allow fans/bettors/fantasy football owners to keep up with other games. It will be a subscription device & Ross has offered 31 other shares in the product for any or all other NFL owners. Peterson was seen explaining the in-stadium service to several team reps. He's also the Chairman of USA Football, a foundation that works with every level of football beginning with peewees. Coaching & referee's workshops, player safety & overall promotion of the sport is what USA Football is all about.
Questions or comments? Email me at rich@richsfootballreport.com
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