SATURDAY MORNING NOTES
Today's Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl should be a beauty. It pits 6-7 UCLA, who fired their coach & 6-6 Illinois, who also fired their coach. Making this intriguing matchup even more, uh, intriguing, is that most of the Illini offensive coaches have said they will boycott the game unless their contract issues are sorted out before the game is played. With the head coach, Ron Zook & the O-coordinator already gone, the QB's, RB's, WR's have threatened to be no shows for kickoff. They claim the university signed them to 2-year deals, but now the administration says the deals are for the 2011 season alone. This is all the evidence you should need to agree with me, there are far too many bowl games. One team with a losing record playing a team on a 6-game losing streak & a possibility of a coaching boycott. It doesn't get more strange than this.
Did you watch the very boring Insight Bowl tonight. The game, won by Oklahoma 31-14 over Iowa had one lone exciting moment. ESPN's Skycam fell onto the field during the fourth quarter, missing Iowa receiver Marvin McNutt. It took nearly ten minutes to drag the camera off the field & wrangle all of the support wires. OU has a freshman QB, Blake Bell, who runs an offense similar to the one Florida ran when Tim Tebow was a freshman. He goes in the game to run the ball in short-yardage & goal line situations. Like Tebow, he scores a lot too. He ran three in tonight giving him 13 touchdowns on just 44-carries. One more interesting thing about the "Belldozer," he's former Chiefs DE Mike Bell's nephew, son of Mike's twin brother Mark. Small world huh? Sooner starter Landry Jones should return to school, he would really struggle at the next level. One more year at Norman could make a major difference. The win made the Big-12 4-1 in bowls, best record in the postseason so far.
The bowls games today were snore jobs with the exception of the BYU-Tulsa game in the Armed Forces Bowl. The Cougars scored with 11-seconds remaining to win 24-21. It was a classic play too, with the clock running, a fake spike & then a perfect throw for the score.
The Chiefs signed Ryan Succop to a $14 million 5-year contract extension, so the former "Mr. Irrelevant" is no longer irrelevant. Jackie Battle has been ruled out of Sunday's game with a foot injury. Broncos safety Brian Dawkins will also miss with a neck injury.
The Oakland Raiders are closing in on the NFL all-time record for penalties & penalty yardage, so they have that going for them. Their 155-penalties for 1,294-yards falls 4 flags short & 11-yards of the record. That's first quarter stuff for the Raiders. Who's record will they eclipse you ask? How about the 1998 Kansas City Chiefs, which featured the infamous "Monday Night Meltdown." That season was Marty Schottenheimer's last in Kansas City.
A reader asked what were the chances a fired Norv Turner lands in Kansas City as the new offensive coordinator? A one word answer, zero. Norv is a great offensive coordinator, but a below average head coach IMO. But he has no history with Scott Pioli & as we know, that is essential to get yourself hired in K.C.
I mentioned last night as I compiled the Office Pool Picks, you just don't know who is going to play on Sunday & for how long. It's started already Friday afternoon with Miami ruling Reggie Bush out for their game with the Jets. The Packers have a number of starters out or close to being ruled out, WR Greg Jennings, RB James Starks, WR/KR Randall Cobb & OT Brian Bulaga will all miss Sunday's game with Detroit. OLB Clay Mathews & CB Charles Woodson may also sit down Sunday. Head Coach Mike McCarthy said he doesn't know yet if QB Aaron Rodgers will play. Ouch!
Regarding the ESPN guys & the Office Pool Picks, I'm currently ahead of Eric Allen, Mike Golic, Merrill Hoge, Chris Mortensen, Adam Schefter, Mark Schlereth & Keyshawn Johnson for the season. I am 1 behind Mike Ditka & Tom Jackson & 4 behind Cris Carter.
Cowboy QB Tony Romo participated in practice Friday, but he's yet to take a snap from under center, only in the shotgun. He's practiced with his bruised right hand bandaged. Owner Jerry Jones said he expects Romo to play at a very high level on Sunday night in their do-or-die game with the New York Giants at the Meadowlands.
While we sweat the lockout & labor negotiations that drug out all spring & summer, we were subjected to claims of "slavery' in the NFL. The players went on & on about how the owners were making so much money & they refused to share it with them, the players risking life & limb every weekend. Then we have a parade of fines for the most childish crap, it makes one wonder if the players have too much money as well. Seattle RB Marshawn Lynch was fined $7.5K for wearing shoes with Skittles on them. Pierre Thomas of the Saints was fined the same for pulling a bow out of pants, sticking it on the ball & handing it to a fan. Thomas was also fined $5K along with Devery Henderson, Robert Meachum, Lance Moore & Tracey Porter for having their ankles taped with red & green tape. When asked if they knew they'd receive fines from the league, everyone of them answered yes. Earlier this season Kansas City had a couple of players with red knee socks, it cost them $10k each. They also did it expecting to receive fines.
I've railed against the scouting work done by The Sporting News for several years. I think often, they're clueless. I read a first round mack draft in yesterday's online edition. Once again I was stunned at how out of touch they were. For Kansas City's first round pick, they had OLB Zach Brown from North Carolina. Their reasoning was the Chiefs need a pass rusher to bookend with Tamba Hali. Several problems with this thinking. Brown is a 4-3 OLB, he barely weighs 230-pounds. The Chiefs play a 3-4 scheme which requires larger linebackers, you know like 270-pound Tamba Hali & 265-pound Justin Houston. I have confidence Houston will develop into the bookend pass rusher the Chiefs need. They also tabbed Boise State running back Doug Martin in the first round, which simply isn't going to happen. He might sneak into the second round, but no way in round one. I'm a big fan of Martin & would love to see the Chiefs draft him or Temple RB Bernard Pierce as depth behind Jamaal Charles.
I hope all of you going out tonight will be careful, no driving if you've been drinking. It's just too dangerous for you & everyone else on the road. Linda & I will stay in tonight, between my knee & a respiratory illness, I'm housebound until my doctors can fix me. Happy New Year to each & every one of you, have a great holiday weekend & be safe.
Did you watch the very boring Insight Bowl tonight. The game, won by Oklahoma 31-14 over Iowa had one lone exciting moment. ESPN's Skycam fell onto the field during the fourth quarter, missing Iowa receiver Marvin McNutt. It took nearly ten minutes to drag the camera off the field & wrangle all of the support wires. OU has a freshman QB, Blake Bell, who runs an offense similar to the one Florida ran when Tim Tebow was a freshman. He goes in the game to run the ball in short-yardage & goal line situations. Like Tebow, he scores a lot too. He ran three in tonight giving him 13 touchdowns on just 44-carries. One more interesting thing about the "Belldozer," he's former Chiefs DE Mike Bell's nephew, son of Mike's twin brother Mark. Small world huh? Sooner starter Landry Jones should return to school, he would really struggle at the next level. One more year at Norman could make a major difference. The win made the Big-12 4-1 in bowls, best record in the postseason so far.
The bowls games today were snore jobs with the exception of the BYU-Tulsa game in the Armed Forces Bowl. The Cougars scored with 11-seconds remaining to win 24-21. It was a classic play too, with the clock running, a fake spike & then a perfect throw for the score.
The Chiefs signed Ryan Succop to a $14 million 5-year contract extension, so the former "Mr. Irrelevant" is no longer irrelevant. Jackie Battle has been ruled out of Sunday's game with a foot injury. Broncos safety Brian Dawkins will also miss with a neck injury.
The Oakland Raiders are closing in on the NFL all-time record for penalties & penalty yardage, so they have that going for them. Their 155-penalties for 1,294-yards falls 4 flags short & 11-yards of the record. That's first quarter stuff for the Raiders. Who's record will they eclipse you ask? How about the 1998 Kansas City Chiefs, which featured the infamous "Monday Night Meltdown." That season was Marty Schottenheimer's last in Kansas City.
A reader asked what were the chances a fired Norv Turner lands in Kansas City as the new offensive coordinator? A one word answer, zero. Norv is a great offensive coordinator, but a below average head coach IMO. But he has no history with Scott Pioli & as we know, that is essential to get yourself hired in K.C.
I mentioned last night as I compiled the Office Pool Picks, you just don't know who is going to play on Sunday & for how long. It's started already Friday afternoon with Miami ruling Reggie Bush out for their game with the Jets. The Packers have a number of starters out or close to being ruled out, WR Greg Jennings, RB James Starks, WR/KR Randall Cobb & OT Brian Bulaga will all miss Sunday's game with Detroit. OLB Clay Mathews & CB Charles Woodson may also sit down Sunday. Head Coach Mike McCarthy said he doesn't know yet if QB Aaron Rodgers will play. Ouch!
Regarding the ESPN guys & the Office Pool Picks, I'm currently ahead of Eric Allen, Mike Golic, Merrill Hoge, Chris Mortensen, Adam Schefter, Mark Schlereth & Keyshawn Johnson for the season. I am 1 behind Mike Ditka & Tom Jackson & 4 behind Cris Carter.
Cowboy QB Tony Romo participated in practice Friday, but he's yet to take a snap from under center, only in the shotgun. He's practiced with his bruised right hand bandaged. Owner Jerry Jones said he expects Romo to play at a very high level on Sunday night in their do-or-die game with the New York Giants at the Meadowlands.
While we sweat the lockout & labor negotiations that drug out all spring & summer, we were subjected to claims of "slavery' in the NFL. The players went on & on about how the owners were making so much money & they refused to share it with them, the players risking life & limb every weekend. Then we have a parade of fines for the most childish crap, it makes one wonder if the players have too much money as well. Seattle RB Marshawn Lynch was fined $7.5K for wearing shoes with Skittles on them. Pierre Thomas of the Saints was fined the same for pulling a bow out of pants, sticking it on the ball & handing it to a fan. Thomas was also fined $5K along with Devery Henderson, Robert Meachum, Lance Moore & Tracey Porter for having their ankles taped with red & green tape. When asked if they knew they'd receive fines from the league, everyone of them answered yes. Earlier this season Kansas City had a couple of players with red knee socks, it cost them $10k each. They also did it expecting to receive fines.
I've railed against the scouting work done by The Sporting News for several years. I think often, they're clueless. I read a first round mack draft in yesterday's online edition. Once again I was stunned at how out of touch they were. For Kansas City's first round pick, they had OLB Zach Brown from North Carolina. Their reasoning was the Chiefs need a pass rusher to bookend with Tamba Hali. Several problems with this thinking. Brown is a 4-3 OLB, he barely weighs 230-pounds. The Chiefs play a 3-4 scheme which requires larger linebackers, you know like 270-pound Tamba Hali & 265-pound Justin Houston. I have confidence Houston will develop into the bookend pass rusher the Chiefs need. They also tabbed Boise State running back Doug Martin in the first round, which simply isn't going to happen. He might sneak into the second round, but no way in round one. I'm a big fan of Martin & would love to see the Chiefs draft him or Temple RB Bernard Pierce as depth behind Jamaal Charles.
I hope all of you going out tonight will be careful, no driving if you've been drinking. It's just too dangerous for you & everyone else on the road. Linda & I will stay in tonight, between my knee & a respiratory illness, I'm housebound until my doctors can fix me. Happy New Year to each & every one of you, have a great holiday weekend & be safe.
Rich,
I wish you and your family a very Happy New Year. May 2012 bring newfound health, the warmth of love from family and friends, and prosperity in all you do.
Thank you for your terrific work, sharing your talents with us and allowing us to journey with you.
Happy New Year!
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