PIGPEN ALERT, INJURY UPDATES, SUSPENSIONS, A FEW BLUNDERS, BLACKOUTS & THE OFFICE POOL PICKS
With the daunting task of cleaning up my office ahead of me tonight, I'm going to make this post quick. When I say cleaning, I should clarify that by saying "I'm going to straighten up the piles of reference materials stacked all over, do some light dusting & call it a night. That alone may take three hours. What I need is one of those carts you used to see in the library, the ones with three shelves that roll about on casters. They allow you to have a ton of reference books, binders & periodicals at your fingertips & then rolled against the wall when you want the place to appear to be organized. Oh, uh, I already have a 3-shelved cart on casters, it's as buried in crap as my desks. Yes desks, I have 12 1/2' of desktop in an L-shaped configuration. All piled with crap anywhere from 3" to 1' high. This office possesses lots of file drawers, they're full too. I have my old desk chair, claimed by my sister-in-law, it's heaped with stuff much to my wife's disappointment. Since I might have company coming tomorrow for a two-night stay & I'm definitely having a football colleague in to watch the Sunday games, the time has come to do something in a positive way here. I'd take a picture of it to make my point, but Linda said no, absolutely not. So maybe an "after" photo soon would be in order soon?
The Indianapolis Colts didn't get healthier on their bye week. They play division rival Houston on Monday night. The Colts' injury report is extensive on the offensive side of the ball & is virtually unchanged from 10-days ago. RB's Joseph Addai & Donald Brown haven't practiced in the last 10-days. Addai has a shoulder injury & Brown's knee hasn't improved enough for him to take part in any practice. WR's Pierre Garcon & Austin Collie haven't practiced during this period either. Garcon has hamstring issues & Collie had hand surgery. The Colts also lost TE Dallas Clark for the remainder of the season with wrist surgery. The Green Bay Packers, with the most extensive injury list in the NFL, announced they had placed LB Brad Jones on I.R. with a shoulder ailment that hasn't improved since the preseason. He's played with it but after aggravating the shoulder Sunday night, it was determined he wasn't going to improve without surgery. Jones is the 10th Packer to be put on the shelf for the year since the season began. Giants DE Mathias Kiwanuka was also placed on I.R. Thursday because of herniated disc in his neck. He had recorded 11 sacks the past two seasons for New York & was very versatile, defensive end, outside linebacker or stand-up pass rusher.
Two Big-12 suspensions of note for this weekend's games. Oklahoma State put WR Justin Blackmon on the sidelines for one game after he was stopped & charged with a DUI early Tuesday morning. He was clipping along a 60 MPH stretch of road at 92, which got the highway patrol interested & the rest is history. He'll be missed as the Cowboys travel north to play at Kansas State. Also suspended this weekend is Nebraska LB Eric Martin for his helmet-to-helmet hit on OSU freshman Joe Okafor. I misidentified Martin Saturday night. I wrote Justin Blackmon had committed the hit, it was Martin. For that hit, Martin should have been suspended. I'll have more on this later.
The University of Missouri came to their collective senses today as they dropped all charges against 30 students who were arrested for charging the field after Saturday nights upset win over Oklahoma. When you have 20,000 people on the field, arresting 30 of them seems ridiculous & after a lot of bad press, the school relented & dropped all charges.
The Minnesota Vikings were officially notified by the NFL the crew officiating their game Sunday night with the Packers, made several mistakes. Sadly, all went against the Vikings. One cost them a touchdown, Minnesota lost by 4-points. What is so stupid about this revelation by the league, is it comes one day after they fined Vikings head coach Brad Childress $35,000 for bitching about the officiating. What? A league spokesman, Clark Johnson, responding to this hypocrisy said, more or less, "even when we're wrong, he's still not allowed to say we're wrong." Got that? As one who had Minnesota plus three points, it just kinda picks at the scab.
This brings me to the point of conspiracies & those who believe in them. I am constantly amazed at the number of people who are absolutely certain they're getting the worst of something because there's a conspiracy against their side/team/candidate/country. Right now the two most shrill voices in this area are the fans of the Minnesota Vikings & Nebraska Cornhuskers. Viking fans have a legitimate gripe about the officiating Sunday night, the league has admitted there were mistakes. But this one goes back to the NFC Championship game with New Orleans in which tens of thousands of Viking fans know the NFL wanted the Saints to win so the officials made sure of it. They didn't call roughing the passer when Brett Favre was hit & there were the "bogus" penalties called on Minnesota during the Saints drive for the game-winning field goal. They really believe the NFL doesn't want them to win & will do anything in their power to prevent a big Viking win. This has been going on since last January. The Huskers have a chapped ass since the Big-12 title game when Texas QB threw the ball out of bounds on what they thought was the last play of the game. It wasn't, after review, it was decided there was 1-second left on the clock & with that one second, Texas kicked a 47-yard field goal to win the game & a trip to the BCS title game. Both Pelini brothers, Bo & Carl, embarrassed themselves & their university by standing in the tunnel screaming at the Longhorn players as they accepted the Big-12 Championship trophy. Real class. Their fans boo every penalty called against them in Lincoln, even if it's right or just slightly questionable, they boo. After the suspension(by the Big-12) of Eric Martin, the conspiracy theorists are all over the internet & sportstalk radio fanning the flames. These people need to put on some long pants, get out of their mom's basement & get a job. Or a girlfriend, or a hobby that does not begin with "I'm sick of us getting screwed." Eric Martin & Justin Blatchford were spotted by ABC cameras laughing on the sideline immediately after Okefor had been knocked cold. The "Husker Defense League" clearly stated they were laughing about something else. How they know that is beyond me, but apparently they do. When Sports Illustrated put up a list of the "Worst Beats" in college football history, Mizzou got 2 in the top-12. The infamous "5th down" game with Colorado & later the "Flea Kicker" loss to Nebraska. I didn't hear conspiracy then, where were those Husker lovers when they got away with a win at Columbia. It should be pointed out in both cases, those teams went on to win the national Championship. Without those "screw jobs" they wouldn't have won the National title. Mizzou fans got over it a long time ago, the refs blew a couple of calls, it happens, move on. Keeping an imagined conspiracy alive does nothing but damage the heritage of your team, be they Vikings or Cornhuskers. Think I'll get any negative mail on this subject?
Troy Smith will start at QB for the Forty-Niners this Sunday when they play Denver in London. Smith won the 2006 Heisman Trophy with Ohio State. originally drafted by the Ravens, he was just acquired by Frisco a few weeks ago. Alex Smith has an injured shoulder......again & backup David Carr didn't play well in relief in their loss to Carolina. Since Mike Singletary coaches by grasping at straws, Troy Smith, ready or not, will get the call this week.
The Chiefs did something I like today, they resigned WR Jeremy Horne to the practice squad. This is where he belonged since cut-down day. He has immense raw talent but he needs a year or two to see if he can use that talent effectively. I've been a fan since we saw him in St. Joe during training camp. Glad to see he'll get another chance without the pressure of being on the active roster for now. In other Chiefs' news, G Ryan Lilja, suffering from a hand injury, hasn't practiced this week & it's possible rookie Jon Asamoah will start in his place. Dexter McCluster has yet to participate in practice.
On the blackout front, it goes like this: San Diego & Detroit, yes, Cincinnati, maybe. The Bengals got a 24-hour extension to sell less than 2,000 non-premium seats. I think London ought to ask for a blackout, Denver & Frisco? Yuck!
Florida State & more directly, QB Christian Ponder are going to have a long trip back to Tallahassee after fumbling at the North Carolina State 3-yardline with 1:03 to play. The Wolfpack ran out the clock after Ponder's fumble to win 28-24. Ponder had engineered a drive to the three before fumbling a fake handoff.
I've gotten a bunch of emails I need to answer & I promise I'll get to it next week. I think after this post, I'll be receiving more of the angry variety. Please don't hesitate to make your feelings known at rich@richsfootballreport.com
I went 10-4 last week in the Office Pool Picks. I lost with the Saints(did anyone see that one coming?), the Niners(0-6 beats 1-5), Denver(at least it was over 2-minutes into the game) & Minnesota(see above). We have one less game this week as 6 teams are on their bye week. My selection is in bold letters. Good luck!
Green Bay at New York Jets Packers beat up, Jets off bye, healthier & prepared.
Denver vs. San Francisco(in London) coin flip anyone?
Jacksonville at Dallas Boys better win this, Jerry's watching.
Miami at Cincinnati Phins a perfect 3-0 on the road, Bengals are a mess, but still a tough call.
Carolina at St. Louis I have missed the Rams more than any other team.
Washington at Detroit Skins can't score, can't depend on 4 interceptions to win.
Buffalo at Kansas City some "doom & gloomers" are predicting a close game, I'm not.
Tennessee at San Diego I'm tired of picking the Chargers & being let down.
Minnesota at New England Except for Adrian Peterson, Vikings a mess in every way.
Seattle at Oakland Raiders haven't won two in a row in 2-freakin' years, why start now?
Tampa Bay at Arizona another coin flip in my opinion.
Pittsburgh at New Orleans This game is a trap, but I'll still take the Steelers.
Houston at Indianapolis Houston has never swept the Colts, they already won week 1.
Tie breaker Monday Night total points- 51
The Indianapolis Colts didn't get healthier on their bye week. They play division rival Houston on Monday night. The Colts' injury report is extensive on the offensive side of the ball & is virtually unchanged from 10-days ago. RB's Joseph Addai & Donald Brown haven't practiced in the last 10-days. Addai has a shoulder injury & Brown's knee hasn't improved enough for him to take part in any practice. WR's Pierre Garcon & Austin Collie haven't practiced during this period either. Garcon has hamstring issues & Collie had hand surgery. The Colts also lost TE Dallas Clark for the remainder of the season with wrist surgery. The Green Bay Packers, with the most extensive injury list in the NFL, announced they had placed LB Brad Jones on I.R. with a shoulder ailment that hasn't improved since the preseason. He's played with it but after aggravating the shoulder Sunday night, it was determined he wasn't going to improve without surgery. Jones is the 10th Packer to be put on the shelf for the year since the season began. Giants DE Mathias Kiwanuka was also placed on I.R. Thursday because of herniated disc in his neck. He had recorded 11 sacks the past two seasons for New York & was very versatile, defensive end, outside linebacker or stand-up pass rusher.
Two Big-12 suspensions of note for this weekend's games. Oklahoma State put WR Justin Blackmon on the sidelines for one game after he was stopped & charged with a DUI early Tuesday morning. He was clipping along a 60 MPH stretch of road at 92, which got the highway patrol interested & the rest is history. He'll be missed as the Cowboys travel north to play at Kansas State. Also suspended this weekend is Nebraska LB Eric Martin for his helmet-to-helmet hit on OSU freshman Joe Okafor. I misidentified Martin Saturday night. I wrote Justin Blackmon had committed the hit, it was Martin. For that hit, Martin should have been suspended. I'll have more on this later.
The University of Missouri came to their collective senses today as they dropped all charges against 30 students who were arrested for charging the field after Saturday nights upset win over Oklahoma. When you have 20,000 people on the field, arresting 30 of them seems ridiculous & after a lot of bad press, the school relented & dropped all charges.
The Minnesota Vikings were officially notified by the NFL the crew officiating their game Sunday night with the Packers, made several mistakes. Sadly, all went against the Vikings. One cost them a touchdown, Minnesota lost by 4-points. What is so stupid about this revelation by the league, is it comes one day after they fined Vikings head coach Brad Childress $35,000 for bitching about the officiating. What? A league spokesman, Clark Johnson, responding to this hypocrisy said, more or less, "even when we're wrong, he's still not allowed to say we're wrong." Got that? As one who had Minnesota plus three points, it just kinda picks at the scab.
This brings me to the point of conspiracies & those who believe in them. I am constantly amazed at the number of people who are absolutely certain they're getting the worst of something because there's a conspiracy against their side/team/candidate/country. Right now the two most shrill voices in this area are the fans of the Minnesota Vikings & Nebraska Cornhuskers. Viking fans have a legitimate gripe about the officiating Sunday night, the league has admitted there were mistakes. But this one goes back to the NFC Championship game with New Orleans in which tens of thousands of Viking fans know the NFL wanted the Saints to win so the officials made sure of it. They didn't call roughing the passer when Brett Favre was hit & there were the "bogus" penalties called on Minnesota during the Saints drive for the game-winning field goal. They really believe the NFL doesn't want them to win & will do anything in their power to prevent a big Viking win. This has been going on since last January. The Huskers have a chapped ass since the Big-12 title game when Texas QB threw the ball out of bounds on what they thought was the last play of the game. It wasn't, after review, it was decided there was 1-second left on the clock & with that one second, Texas kicked a 47-yard field goal to win the game & a trip to the BCS title game. Both Pelini brothers, Bo & Carl, embarrassed themselves & their university by standing in the tunnel screaming at the Longhorn players as they accepted the Big-12 Championship trophy. Real class. Their fans boo every penalty called against them in Lincoln, even if it's right or just slightly questionable, they boo. After the suspension(by the Big-12) of Eric Martin, the conspiracy theorists are all over the internet & sportstalk radio fanning the flames. These people need to put on some long pants, get out of their mom's basement & get a job. Or a girlfriend, or a hobby that does not begin with "I'm sick of us getting screwed." Eric Martin & Justin Blatchford were spotted by ABC cameras laughing on the sideline immediately after Okefor had been knocked cold. The "Husker Defense League" clearly stated they were laughing about something else. How they know that is beyond me, but apparently they do. When Sports Illustrated put up a list of the "Worst Beats" in college football history, Mizzou got 2 in the top-12. The infamous "5th down" game with Colorado & later the "Flea Kicker" loss to Nebraska. I didn't hear conspiracy then, where were those Husker lovers when they got away with a win at Columbia. It should be pointed out in both cases, those teams went on to win the national Championship. Without those "screw jobs" they wouldn't have won the National title. Mizzou fans got over it a long time ago, the refs blew a couple of calls, it happens, move on. Keeping an imagined conspiracy alive does nothing but damage the heritage of your team, be they Vikings or Cornhuskers. Think I'll get any negative mail on this subject?
Troy Smith will start at QB for the Forty-Niners this Sunday when they play Denver in London. Smith won the 2006 Heisman Trophy with Ohio State. originally drafted by the Ravens, he was just acquired by Frisco a few weeks ago. Alex Smith has an injured shoulder......again & backup David Carr didn't play well in relief in their loss to Carolina. Since Mike Singletary coaches by grasping at straws, Troy Smith, ready or not, will get the call this week.
The Chiefs did something I like today, they resigned WR Jeremy Horne to the practice squad. This is where he belonged since cut-down day. He has immense raw talent but he needs a year or two to see if he can use that talent effectively. I've been a fan since we saw him in St. Joe during training camp. Glad to see he'll get another chance without the pressure of being on the active roster for now. In other Chiefs' news, G Ryan Lilja, suffering from a hand injury, hasn't practiced this week & it's possible rookie Jon Asamoah will start in his place. Dexter McCluster has yet to participate in practice.
On the blackout front, it goes like this: San Diego & Detroit, yes, Cincinnati, maybe. The Bengals got a 24-hour extension to sell less than 2,000 non-premium seats. I think London ought to ask for a blackout, Denver & Frisco? Yuck!
Florida State & more directly, QB Christian Ponder are going to have a long trip back to Tallahassee after fumbling at the North Carolina State 3-yardline with 1:03 to play. The Wolfpack ran out the clock after Ponder's fumble to win 28-24. Ponder had engineered a drive to the three before fumbling a fake handoff.
I've gotten a bunch of emails I need to answer & I promise I'll get to it next week. I think after this post, I'll be receiving more of the angry variety. Please don't hesitate to make your feelings known at rich@richsfootballreport.com
I went 10-4 last week in the Office Pool Picks. I lost with the Saints(did anyone see that one coming?), the Niners(0-6 beats 1-5), Denver(at least it was over 2-minutes into the game) & Minnesota(see above). We have one less game this week as 6 teams are on their bye week. My selection is in bold letters. Good luck!
Green Bay at New York Jets Packers beat up, Jets off bye, healthier & prepared.
Denver vs. San Francisco(in London) coin flip anyone?
Jacksonville at Dallas Boys better win this, Jerry's watching.
Miami at Cincinnati Phins a perfect 3-0 on the road, Bengals are a mess, but still a tough call.
Carolina at St. Louis I have missed the Rams more than any other team.
Washington at Detroit Skins can't score, can't depend on 4 interceptions to win.
Buffalo at Kansas City some "doom & gloomers" are predicting a close game, I'm not.
Tennessee at San Diego I'm tired of picking the Chargers & being let down.
Minnesota at New England Except for Adrian Peterson, Vikings a mess in every way.
Seattle at Oakland Raiders haven't won two in a row in 2-freakin' years, why start now?
Tampa Bay at Arizona another coin flip in my opinion.
Pittsburgh at New Orleans This game is a trap, but I'll still take the Steelers.
Houston at Indianapolis Houston has never swept the Colts, they already won week 1.
Tie breaker Monday Night total points- 51
Comments