3 Dec 2008

QUOTE:   “True strength lies in submission which permits one to dedicate his life, through devotion, to something beyond himself." ~ Henry Miller           

FROM CHRIS MILLER OF THE MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE…What happened? Vikings defensive tackles Pat and Kevin Williams were suspended without pay for four games for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy.  Why so late in the season? All players are tested during training camp. When both the A and B samples were positive for the Williamses, the NFL was informed and issued the suspensions. The players appealed. They had their hearings in New York two weeks ago and the appeals were rejected Tuesday. The NFL says it expedited the process as rapidly as it could. What drug did the defensive linemen take? They tested positive for bumetanide, a diuretic that could be used to mask steroids. The players appealed the suspension, saying bumetanide was not listed as an ingredient in the supplement they took -- StarCaps, which was not on a list of the NFL's approved supplements. Players can take non-approved supplements, but do so at their own risk. When can they come back? If the Vikings make the playoffs, the Williamses would be reinstated Dec. 29, the day following the final game. Can the courts help them? They will file appeals in federal court, but their odds of winning aren't good.

I am confident that the players will file an appeal in New York in the same court and with the same judge that allowed former Bronco Travis Henry to keep playing last season when he was going to get suspended.  But this ruling, if upheld, has now shifted the balance of power in the NFC North to anyone -- and this still keeps Green Bay in the race.  A 9-7 record is going to win the North, and the Packers, if they win all of their remaining games, can post nine wins.  I did the Bill Simmons podcast yesterday and we both are amazed that the Packers only have five wins. But this ruling may be the boost they need to get back in the race.  The Vikings are not a great team; they have some elements of being great, one of which is their ability to stop the run.  Minus the Williams boys inside, that element is now gone, and they will have to scheme to subsidize their run defense.  I cannot think of a ruling that clearly has shifted the balance of power before in the NFL.  And the worst part about this is that the next few days in Minnesota will be spent talking about the ruling and how if affects the team instead of getting ready to beat the Lions.  Coach Brad Childress today has to come out and address his team and focus solely on the Lions.  All the water-cooler banter about the fairness or unfairness of the suspension is just a time waster.  He needs to let everyone know the focus is on the Lions and do something extra this week to challenge his team to rise to the occasion.  This is where he must be the leader of the team. 

FROM PAUL DOMOWITCH OF THE PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS…Belichick, Shanahan and Reid are the only three NFL head coaches who still have final say over all of their organization's personnel decisions. With the Eagles precariously close to missing the playoffs for the third time in the last 4 years, many people, including moi, think that number needs to be reduced to two. Of course, my opinion and your opinion don't mean squat. The only opinions that matter belong to Lurie and club president Joe Banner. If you read body language and anonymous quotes, their faith in coach Andy doesn't appear to have wavered. As for whether their faith in GM Andy has, well, that's a little harder to ascertain at the moment. This much is clear: Despite the Patriots' three Super Bowl titles under Belichick, the era of the monarch coach in the NFL appears to be over. Most of the league's teams have returned to a two-tiered setup in which the coach coaches and somebody else makes personnel decisions, although usually with considerable input from the coach. "When you see guys like Mike Holmgren unable to do it, it's not because he's not smart or because he doesn't work hard or because he doesn't know football," said former Tennessee Titans general manager Floyd Reese, who now is an ESPN studio analyst. "They have all those credentials. It's just too much for one man." The Seahawks hired Holmgren, who had coached the Packers to a Super Bowl title in 1996, to be coach and GM in '99. After they made the playoffs only once in his first 4 years there, Holmgren, at management's request, gave up his GM role. Seattle made the playoffs 5 straight years after that and went to the Super Bowl in '05. "If you have a GM spending all of his time looking at personnel and you have a head coach spending all of his time working football, in my opinion, you're going to be better off than if you have one guy spending 50 percent of his time doing one and 50 percent of his time doing the other," Reese said.

I agree with Paul but doubt this will ever happen in Philadelphia.  Not because the owner does not want to make some changes, but more because Andy is very stubborn and one of his confidants is Holmgren.  And the reduction of Holmgren’s authority is still a bitter pill for Mike to swallow, even today.  I think what people don’t understand about how unique Belichick is as a coach and football man is his ability to make sure everyone knows their roles, and he understands the game from a GM’s perspective.  Like Bobby Cox in baseball, Belichick knows the job, and when he is coaching he still thinks like a GM.  Scott Pioli, the VP of Personnel in New England, knows Belichick, and their ability to communicate and trust one another allows them to maintain their success.  From what I hear, Philly fans, Reid is coming back and wants to come back to rule and preside over the Eagles team.  As Bruce Springsteen once wrote, Poor man wanna be rich; rich man wanna be King; and King ain’t satisfied to rule EVERYTHING.  And Reid wants to rule.  But Reid has to be honest and look over his roster and ask himself this question: How good has my talent evaluation been?  And if he does that honestly, he might be willing to accept some changes.  But he does not need a yes man; he needs someone who can challenge him based on their own football knowledge and who is not going to be intimidated by his presence.  What is very funny to me is that all these problems have been brewing in Philadelphia for some time, but between Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook, they hide the results of the player procurement moves.  Now, with both of them not playing to their full talents, this question of Andy as GM has come to the forefront.  This is going to be a fun off-season in Philadelphia, that’s for sure. 

FROM MIKE LUPICA OF THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS…So they put up with a lot because (Plaxico Burress) gave back a lot, gave back a ton, with those 11 catches against the Packers in the NFC Championship Game, and with the catch that won the Super Bowl against the Patriots.  "I'm just so grateful for the opportunity," he said that night in Arizona.  He throws it away now, with those amazing hands of his. In a lot of ways, even though he hasn't been around here so long, he is the Giants' Manny Ramirez. The Red Sox let Ramirez get away with a lot, for a long time, the same as Burress. They did that because Ramirez didn't just win them one World Series, he won them two. They did that because he was probably the best free-agent buy in all of baseball history, even at $160 million for eight years. Because if somebody had told the Red Sox when they signed Ramirez away from the Indians that he was going to hit the way he did over those eight years and that the Red Sox were going to win their first World Series in 86 years and then win again, they would have offered to pay him extra.  But Boston finally traded Ramirez this past summer after watching him pout and behave like a mutt and a malingerer for a couple of months, even as he continued to produce. The way Burress was still producing for the Giants. There was finally the night at Fenway when John Lackey of the Angels nearly pitched a no-hitter, and Ramirez dogged it down the line when he should have had an infield hit, and when it was over that night, he was through in Boston.  "He voted himself off the island," one Red Sox guy said that night.  Burress voted himself off the island when he went into the Latin Quarter carrying an unlicensed, unregistered Glock. He voted himself off the island and finally removed himself from a Giants team trying to be the first in New York -- and New Jersey -- football history to win two NFL titles in a row. You get one chance in your life to play on a team like that. You are supposed to honor that chance, and Burress did the opposite once the Giants did the right thing after last season and paid him big for the big way he played down the stretch last season, even when he was playing on only one good leg.

The rebuilding of Plaxico Burress starts today.  Assuming he can manage his legal issues -- which is a very large assumption -- all we will hear about the next three months is how much this incident has changed Burress.  He will have to sell himself to another team as someone who has changed.  With Jerry Jones and the Cowboys not in play because of the trade for Roy Williams, that would leave one halfway house closed.  There will be a team that will take a chance on Plaxico, but it won’t be the NY Giants.  The Giants have a very solid locker room now; they have a Tom Coughlin type locker room.  They don’t need any more problems coming through their doors.  They have a very talented young team that has learned to handle distractions and has really learned the value of TEAM.  Burress won’t know if he can return until he gets the gun charge handled, and if he does play, it will be for a minimum salary and for a team whose owner controls the personnel department.  No personnel man will trust Burress after this latest incident, no matter how much agent Drew Rosenhaus promises that things with Plax have changed. 

FROM SCOTT BROWN OF THE PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE REVIEW…MIKE TOMLIN PRESS CONFERENCE…On the development of second-year linebacker Lawrence Timmons, who nearly returned an interception for a touchdown against the Patriots. He's a splash playmaker for us, and we recognize he has a lot of talent and is capable of doing a lot of things, so we asked him to do a lot of things. We rushed him quite a bit and tried to feature him in some matchups on some running backs last week. We asked him to cover Ben Watson, who is an athletic, vertical-threat tight end, and he did that. He's a big component of our defense and just continues to get better week in and week out. On why outside linebackers James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley lead the NFL in sacks between two teammates (25 1/2). I think a lot of their success is a function of our entire group of rush men. We worried quite a bit about (Patriots quarterback) Matt Cassel's ability to step up and escape in the pocket. Our interior rush men did a nice job of collapsing the pocket and eliminating escape lanes and allowing James Harrison to come around from behind, if you will, on a couple of those sacks. It's easier to get an edge rush and sack the quarterback when he can't step up into the pocket.

This is going to be an interesting game between Dallas and Pittsburgh, two very good teams.  And one thing for sure, this game will show Cowboys fans the real value of Roy Williams.  Forget running the ball on the Steelers, that is not how you win against them consistently. To beat them, you have to make big plays in the passing game.  The Steelers will jam Terrell Owens at the line and force Williams to be the main man in the game.  If they can protect, they will be able to make some throws, but Williams will need to come up big and play his best game of the season.  This game will tell us a lot about the impact of the big trade Dallas made to get Williams, and he will need to show Cowboys fans that he can play well in big games.  I did not get the trade then, and don’t get the trade now, but at least for this game Williams should have had enough time in the offense to be a factor -- and his play, not his lack of knowledge of the system, will be a deciding factor. 

FROM DON MARKUS OF THE BALTIMORE SUN…Much of the blame has been directed at the West Coast offense (Jim) Zorn brought with him from his days as the quarterbacks coach of the Seattle Seahawks. Except for a couple of games early in the season, it appears to be a bad fit for Campbell, who has a big arm but has made mistakes under pressure. After not committing a turnover in the first seven games and not being intercepted in the first eight while throwing eight touchdown passes, Campbell has thrown four interceptions and has just two scoring passes in the past four games. He has been sacked 16 times during that stretch. "He had a couple of mental errors early in the game, and those mental errors cost a play," Zorn said Sunday. "When he costs a play on a mental error, he takes it to heart. It bothers him, and what I've got to do is get him to move on to the next play." Zorn is not ready to bench the fourth-year quarterback, but he said he is considering scaling back the offense when it meets the league's second-best defense Sunday. "Each week, as we try to grow in our game plan, I'm always torn between that fine line of pushing the envelope a little bit, or should we back off and not work so much on the things that I'd like to do, but work on those things that we have to do." Zorn said Monday. "I continue to try to push us to say: 'Well, we can do this. Well, we can do that.' But it's obvious, I think, in these last several games, we can't do it all. So we might have to take a step back before we can take another forward."

I am not sure how much more Zorn can scale back the Skins’ passing game.  It looks as scaled back as any offense short of the Bears and the Vikings.  I have been saying this all year: The west coast is not the offense for Jason Campbell.  He needs to be in a system that throws the ball up the field and make plays down the field.  What has been missing for the Skins the last six weeks are big plays down the field.  They have not made the big plays they need, and this lack of big plays places a huge burden on Campbell to be precise with every throw — which he is not capable of doing.   For the Skins to win, they need to make a few big plays and run the ball.  They don’t have the line to function well in pass protection, and as the season has gone along, the wear and tear on their older line has shown the effects. 

FROM PHILLIP B WILSON OF THE INDY STAR…Because Brackett is expected to miss Sunday's home game against Cincinnati -- and maybe more -- Hagler has another opportunity. It's not how he wanted it, but he'll take it. He lost his starting job when he tore a pectoral muscle in an off-season workout. He understands injuries are part of the game. "This means a lot to me," said the fourth-year pro. "This is what I've been wanting all year. I fought back from the pectoral injury. I've been waiting on this time and I've got to take advantage of it." He says his body is sound, though he was listed on last week's status report with a knee injury. He's in a contract year and knows he can't afford to let the aches and pains keep him out. That has happened enough already. Hagler's rookie year was spent on the physically unable to perform list with a sports hernia. When he was elevated to starter last season, he got hurt and missed four games. He realizes if he's not playing for a future with the Colts, it's an audition for another team. But he doesn't want to discuss the off-season. "I'm just taking it as it comes," he said. "I'm going to go out there and do my best." Hagler made his season debut on special teams at Green Bay on Oct. 19. He started at Tennessee the next week when the Colts went with a four-linebacker set, and also started the next week against New England -- and had 10 tackles -- when Keiaho was hurt.

I like Gary Brackett as a player, and this injury will affect the Colts, but there are times when Hagler plays very well and shows the speed and closing ability they need at Mike linebacker.  Hagler has a hard time staying healthy due to his lack of size and power.  But as the season nears its end, he is in perfect position to succeed.  The Colts will manage his play well, and their offense will do more to protect their defense than anything.  The Colts are playing slow ball now, which is what opponents use to do to them in the past; they work the 25-second clock, they take their time and they want to make sure their defense is not on the field all the time.  Payton Manning knows he has to protect the defense, and keeping them off the field is the best way. 

FROM VITO STELLINO OF FLORIDA TIMES UNION…The ESPN crew bashed the Jaguars during the game, and the analysts continued it after the game. "I've never seen a more disinterested team in a Monday night moment," Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young said on the postgame show. Young said the team has "much more talent" than the way it is playing. However, the Jaguars might not be as talented as their reputation. They've drafted one Pro Bowl player in the past six years and have signed several high-priced free agents who haven't made major contributions. The Jaguars started slowly Monday, falling behind 10-0 midway through the first quarter. They ended the game by giving up touchdown runs of 7 and 40 yards to rookie Steve Slaton on consecutive touches late in the fourth quarter. Now the question is how the Jaguars will react during their final four games, against teams that are still alive in the playoff race: the Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens. "We're professional athletes, coaches, players," Del Rio said. "It's exciting to be a part of this league. I feel a great sense of pride when I put on a Jacksonville shirt. I think it's an honor to play in this league. I do, and I think it's a privilege. You get a chance to compete. So I think you want to continue to tap into that for the love of this game.  The guys that love to play the game, it will show. I don't think there is any question that [running back] Fred Taylor loves the game. I don't think there's any question that [running back] Maurice Drew loves the game." Drew said he didn't want to play with players who will pack it in. "If guys feel that way, they don't have to be here," Drew said. "Either you're in all the way, or you're not. If you're not in, get out. That's not going to hurt my feelings if you don't show. I know the guys we have here. They're not going to quit."

Accompanying this article is a photo of Jags wide receiver Jerry Porter laughing near the end of the game, acting as if he could care less if they won or lost.  I think whoever decided to sign Porter and Drayton Florence this past off-season for the Jags needs to have his job re-evaluated.  Porter was not even better than any wideout they ALREADY had on the team, and the fact he is not a good locker room person just made it an even worse signing.  And Florence was the one corner you went after when you played the Chargers; he has no ball skills and lacks balance to make plays.  This team’s chemistry problem was started with these two mistakes, and now the Jags are paying for them.   I am doubtful the Jags will win a game the rest of the season. There is no leadership on the team or on behalf of the team.  Jack Del Rio looks like a dead man walking, and he needs to either get upbeat and take over the situation or move out.  Moping and complaining is not going to solve the problems.  Take some action, fire some players and let people know you will not tolerate this kind of play.  One thing about football players when they play poorly or without emotion: Either the coaches are coaching it or allowing it to happen. And right now, Jack, you are allowing this poor play to happen.  Be proactive, take control. 

FROM DANNY O’NEIL OF THE SEATTLE TIMES…Every member of Dallas' offensive line weighed at least 318 pounds, topped out by 353-pound Leonard Davis at right guard. The heaviest Seahawk starter on the defensive line was Brandon Mebane, a 314-pound defensive tackle. Neither of Seattle's ends weighed more than 271. "The biggest thing that jumps out at me is that there's a little bit of a size differential," coach Mike Holmgren said. "But they're very, very big upfront." After the Cowboys' Thanksgiving parade through the Seahawks defense, scoring 24 points on their first four possessions, the question of size could loom large in the next few months as Seattle considers how best to retool its roster next season. The Cowboys' starting offensive line averages more than 330 pounds. Only Philadelphia and Buffalo started heavier offensive lines in last week's games. The Seahawks defensive line averages 290.8 pounds, and the Cowboys held Seattle without a sack, a first for the Seahawks this season. Seattle has also faced the Eagles and Bills. The Seahawks sacked the opposing quarterback once in each of those games. So in games against the NFL's three heaviest offensive lines, the Seahawks averaged 0.7 sacks. In all other games, they averaged 2.7. Holmgren's background taught him to appreciate size in the middle of a defense. Fritz Shurmur was his defensive coordinator in Green Bay, and Shurmur liked his defensive tackles large. Just this off-season, Holmgren said it was his opinion the team needed another "big honker" upfront on the defense. Of course, size isn't everything. The Giants rank fourth in the league in sacks and they average 287 across their defensive line, which is considered one of the best in the league. The Eagles rank third in the league in sacks, and they're also the third-lightest line in the league so there are ways to tip the scales in the favor of the smaller guys.

Seattle has always been a complimentary defense.  They have been small and quick because they would get the lead in games with their offense and they could rush the passer and make plays. But when they have to play toe to toe, their lack of size and power is a huge problem.  They get pushed around so much they look like a Division II school.  You have to build a complimentary defense to your offense, but for me, I would never give up size and power.  It is too important, especially late in the season.