CHIEFS SET PRACTICE SQUAD, DAN HAMPTON IS A KNUCKLEHEAD, PIRATES WIN ON HAIL MARY & MORE SATURDAY NOTES
The Chiefs set their practice squad, for now anyway, this afternoon. They stashed QB Tyler Palko, DL Dion Gales & Garrett Brown, OL Bobby Greenwood & Darryl Harris, LB Pierre Walters, DB Ricky Price & WR Verran Tucker. They also claimed former Packer nose tackle Anthony Toribio, so a place on the roster will have to be cleared & I have no idea who will be released.
In other practice squad moves, Cincinnati brought TE Chase Coffman back into the fold after he was cut yesterday. New York placed backup QB Rhett Bomar on their practice squad, he saw extensive playing time with the Giants during the preseason. The Rams placed Danario Alexander on their practice squad. He had just signed as an undrafted free agent about two weeks ago, so he really didn't have much of a chance to learn the offense or make much of an impact. A year of practicing should give him a fair opportunity to make the Rams next season.
Former Chicago Bears Hall of Fame defensive tackle, a regular on the "Pro Football Weekly Show" for many years just won the politically incorrect knucklehead of the year. On this weekend's syndicated telecast he was asked about how the Vikings could prevail in the season opener Thursday night against the Saints. Hampton's response was "the Vikings need to hit New Orleans like Katrina." I'm guessing Dan's Mardi Gras invitation has been revoked for life.
You think a few NFL owners don't pull some strings when it suits them, regardless of what their football people want? Take example #1, Al Davis, long known to interfere with G.M.'s & coaches. The Raiders took JaMarcus Russell, Darius Heyward-Bey & Mike Mitchell with 1st or 2nd round draft picks the last three years & all against the wishes of Raider personnel people,scouts & coaches. Yesterday the Raiders cut safety Stevie Brown, a 7th round draft choice & a kid who had "clearly outplayed Mike Mitchell in every phase of camp" according to those who cover the team. When Mitchell was drafted, draftniks were scrambling for information on Mitchell, myself included. But he remains on the roster today & Brown is on the street. Example #2 is Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones. Jones traded a 1st, 3rd & 5th round draft picks to Detroit for wide receiver Roy Williams & then promptly gave Williams a new contract that called for him to make nearly $13 million in 2010. He was a major disappointment last season & the Cowboys drafted WR Dez Bryant with their 1st round pick this year. But Jones just couldn't admit he blew the Williams deal so now he has compounded that mistake with another. He traded WR Patrick Crayton to San Diego. Crayton had been one of Tony Romo's favorites, a receiver he trusted, Williams has never been in Romo's inner circle. So now because of your ego, you've stripped one of your franchise quarterback's favorite receivers & kept one he doesn't care for or trust. Brilliant bit of decision making from both owners.
The Chicago Sun-Times printed a piece today that is anything but flattering to QB Jay Cutler. Writer Neil Hayes asked two NFL scouts their opinion of Cutler & they didn't pull any punches. They hate his footwork, they hate his throwing motion, his decision making, his leadership, body language, attitude etc etc etc. Hayes said the pair was almost unanimous in their criticism. I agree, I've never been a fan & I see nothing but bad things looming this season for the Bears' offense. Their offensive line can't protect him & I could see his attitude worsen resulting in a rocky relationship with offensive coordinator Mike Martz.
If you have more of a life than I do, you were probably outside enjoying a family barbeque or a softball game maybe. I was watching the Tulsa-East Carolina & SMU-Texas Tech games. Let's start with this fact, none of these teams can play a lick of defense. ECU won their game on the last play from scrimmage with a 33-yard "Hail Mary" from quarterback Dominique Davis(his 5th TD pass) to 6' 8" Justin Jones, who simply out jumped defenders for the winning score. Tulsa had just gone ahead on a touchdown pass from G.J. Kinne(his 5th of the day too) with 1:22 left. These two teams scored 47-points in the 4th quarter, it was like a video game. New coach Ruffin McNeil, formerly of Texas Tech, won his first game, 51-49. The other game is still going strong, 3 1/2 hours old, Tech leading 35-27 with 2:11 left. I'm guessing there's been nearly 2,000 yards of total offense in these two games. Entertaining? Yes, but it's not good football, it's like the offensive coordinators have a joystick in their hands.
A few notes left over from yesterday:
Florida put the ball on the ground 8 times, losing 3 fumbles plus they had 11 errant snaps in the shotgun formation. Center Mike Pouncey is generally considered the best at his position in the nation but he was a guard the past two years, his twin brother Markice was the Gator pivotman. He's now the starting center for the Steelers. That's really ugly, especially for an Urban Meyer coached team. At halftime the combined rushing yardage in this game between Miami of Ohio & Florida was minus-one yard.
Boston College linebacker Mark Herzlich made his return to the Eagle football team yesterday. He missed the entire season last year battling cancer. He made five tackles & it will be interesting to watch his progress back to his former status of a prospective top-20 draft pick.
Georgia Tech is Kansas' next opponent. The Yellowjackets run the triple option & they are consistently in the top-5 nationally in rushing yards. In their game yesterday with South Carolina State, Tech had more rushing touchdowns than pass completions, 6 TD's to 2 pass completions. After the loss to Division 1AA North Dakota State last night, Turner Gill's Jayhawks didn't need to face a team like Tech this soon, or ever this season. Somewhere down in Florida Mark Mangino is chuckling don't you think?
In my story about Jacksonville State's improbable win in double overtime at Ole Miss I mentioned QB Coty Blanchard threw for over 400 yards, what I failed to mention was Blanchard is a true freshman, making their feat even more impressive.
And I also forgot to tell you the evening stats for North Carolina QB T.J. Yates who threw for 412 yards, 3 touchdowns & no interceptions against LSU. The Tar Heel running game was hardly providing Yates with any support. They had 33 carries for a whopping 24 yards. The fact they had a chance to win the game in the last 10-seconds is a tribute to coach Butch Davis, Yates & the remaining non-suspended Tar Heels.
In other practice squad moves, Cincinnati brought TE Chase Coffman back into the fold after he was cut yesterday. New York placed backup QB Rhett Bomar on their practice squad, he saw extensive playing time with the Giants during the preseason. The Rams placed Danario Alexander on their practice squad. He had just signed as an undrafted free agent about two weeks ago, so he really didn't have much of a chance to learn the offense or make much of an impact. A year of practicing should give him a fair opportunity to make the Rams next season.
Former Chicago Bears Hall of Fame defensive tackle, a regular on the "Pro Football Weekly Show" for many years just won the politically incorrect knucklehead of the year. On this weekend's syndicated telecast he was asked about how the Vikings could prevail in the season opener Thursday night against the Saints. Hampton's response was "the Vikings need to hit New Orleans like Katrina." I'm guessing Dan's Mardi Gras invitation has been revoked for life.
You think a few NFL owners don't pull some strings when it suits them, regardless of what their football people want? Take example #1, Al Davis, long known to interfere with G.M.'s & coaches. The Raiders took JaMarcus Russell, Darius Heyward-Bey & Mike Mitchell with 1st or 2nd round draft picks the last three years & all against the wishes of Raider personnel people,scouts & coaches. Yesterday the Raiders cut safety Stevie Brown, a 7th round draft choice & a kid who had "clearly outplayed Mike Mitchell in every phase of camp" according to those who cover the team. When Mitchell was drafted, draftniks were scrambling for information on Mitchell, myself included. But he remains on the roster today & Brown is on the street. Example #2 is Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones. Jones traded a 1st, 3rd & 5th round draft picks to Detroit for wide receiver Roy Williams & then promptly gave Williams a new contract that called for him to make nearly $13 million in 2010. He was a major disappointment last season & the Cowboys drafted WR Dez Bryant with their 1st round pick this year. But Jones just couldn't admit he blew the Williams deal so now he has compounded that mistake with another. He traded WR Patrick Crayton to San Diego. Crayton had been one of Tony Romo's favorites, a receiver he trusted, Williams has never been in Romo's inner circle. So now because of your ego, you've stripped one of your franchise quarterback's favorite receivers & kept one he doesn't care for or trust. Brilliant bit of decision making from both owners.
The Chicago Sun-Times printed a piece today that is anything but flattering to QB Jay Cutler. Writer Neil Hayes asked two NFL scouts their opinion of Cutler & they didn't pull any punches. They hate his footwork, they hate his throwing motion, his decision making, his leadership, body language, attitude etc etc etc. Hayes said the pair was almost unanimous in their criticism. I agree, I've never been a fan & I see nothing but bad things looming this season for the Bears' offense. Their offensive line can't protect him & I could see his attitude worsen resulting in a rocky relationship with offensive coordinator Mike Martz.
If you have more of a life than I do, you were probably outside enjoying a family barbeque or a softball game maybe. I was watching the Tulsa-East Carolina & SMU-Texas Tech games. Let's start with this fact, none of these teams can play a lick of defense. ECU won their game on the last play from scrimmage with a 33-yard "Hail Mary" from quarterback Dominique Davis(his 5th TD pass) to 6' 8" Justin Jones, who simply out jumped defenders for the winning score. Tulsa had just gone ahead on a touchdown pass from G.J. Kinne(his 5th of the day too) with 1:22 left. These two teams scored 47-points in the 4th quarter, it was like a video game. New coach Ruffin McNeil, formerly of Texas Tech, won his first game, 51-49. The other game is still going strong, 3 1/2 hours old, Tech leading 35-27 with 2:11 left. I'm guessing there's been nearly 2,000 yards of total offense in these two games. Entertaining? Yes, but it's not good football, it's like the offensive coordinators have a joystick in their hands.
A few notes left over from yesterday:
Florida put the ball on the ground 8 times, losing 3 fumbles plus they had 11 errant snaps in the shotgun formation. Center Mike Pouncey is generally considered the best at his position in the nation but he was a guard the past two years, his twin brother Markice was the Gator pivotman. He's now the starting center for the Steelers. That's really ugly, especially for an Urban Meyer coached team. At halftime the combined rushing yardage in this game between Miami of Ohio & Florida was minus-one yard.
Boston College linebacker Mark Herzlich made his return to the Eagle football team yesterday. He missed the entire season last year battling cancer. He made five tackles & it will be interesting to watch his progress back to his former status of a prospective top-20 draft pick.
Georgia Tech is Kansas' next opponent. The Yellowjackets run the triple option & they are consistently in the top-5 nationally in rushing yards. In their game yesterday with South Carolina State, Tech had more rushing touchdowns than pass completions, 6 TD's to 2 pass completions. After the loss to Division 1AA North Dakota State last night, Turner Gill's Jayhawks didn't need to face a team like Tech this soon, or ever this season. Somewhere down in Florida Mark Mangino is chuckling don't you think?
In my story about Jacksonville State's improbable win in double overtime at Ole Miss I mentioned QB Coty Blanchard threw for over 400 yards, what I failed to mention was Blanchard is a true freshman, making their feat even more impressive.
And I also forgot to tell you the evening stats for North Carolina QB T.J. Yates who threw for 412 yards, 3 touchdowns & no interceptions against LSU. The Tar Heel running game was hardly providing Yates with any support. They had 33 carries for a whopping 24 yards. The fact they had a chance to win the game in the last 10-seconds is a tribute to coach Butch Davis, Yates & the remaining non-suspended Tar Heels.
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