Millen down, two to go

by | Sep 24, 2008 | NFL News

One of the league’s most dysfunctional teams last night took a step toward change. Will two others follow?

Matt Millen was an adequate announcer and a solid football player but in seven seasons and change he never came close to bringing the Detroit Lions to respectability. The long-embattled president and general manager lost his job to either resignation or firing last night after an ugly 0-3 start capped off a 31-84 mark since he took the helm.

Lions fans have been waiting for this for years. All it appears to have taken was for the son of the owner to say after Sunday’s debacle that fans deserve better and he’d have made a change if he had any power. Maybe he does – a mere three days later, Millen was packing boxes.

Now there are two other foundering franchises who need to either cut bait or … well, in both cases it would seem like cutting bait is the answer, at this point.

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Unpredictability of the NFL shines again

by | Sep 21, 2008 | Business of Football, NFL Random Thoughts

I never did get around to posting season-ending predictions for the 2008 season which might be good because if things hold up I’d be about 75 percent wrong.

Never would I have suspected that Indianapolis and Jacksonville would both be 1-2, staring up by two games at Tennessee, which has been brought alive by Chris Johnson’s running, Kerry Collins’ steady passing presence and a fun, solid defense.

Nor would I have guessed that Baltimore would be undefeated (albeit with one of their games canceled) or that San Francisco would be tied for first place.

The Miami blowout this afternoon of New England, even sans Tom Brady, was the season’s biggest shocker of the season so far for me. It’s the great thing about the NFL – and the reason I cringe when I see the owners opting out of their labor agreement, bringing the potential of one or more seasons without a salary cap.

Anyone can compete in any given year – many teams don’t, but it’s generally bad signings, bad coaching or bad ownership that keeps teams in the doldrums for any long period of time. The NFL is the best professional sports league out there and it isn’t close.

Err, umm, ooops

by | Sep 21, 2008 | NFL Random Thoughts

So, you know that post I wrote last week about the Packers first nationally-televised game since Brett Favre was traded, umm, oops.

I’ll blame it on being a Vikings fan and blocking out the opening night Monday night game. And on not being able to actually watch that game.

But it ranks among the dumbest mistakes I’ve made not only since co-starting Zoneblitz, but since getting into the journalism profession in the first place.

Normally I wouldn’t do a post just to bring attention to a mistake. But I deserve any and all ridicule that comes along with this one. To the league-mate that pointed out this humiliating error on our league web site – I’d say good catch, but it was such a blatantly obvious screw-up … nonetheless thanks for pointing it out and subjecting me to the ridicule that I so richly deserve.

So, this game between Green Bay and Dallas – the second prime-time, nationally-televised game since Brett Favre got traded – should provide the NBC announcing team with plenty of opportunities to get nauseatingly reminiscent … bah. Nevermind. A post like that just doesn’t carry any weight after a mistake like that.

“It’s always special when you go to Green Bay”

by | Sep 14, 2008 | NFL Random Thoughts

I’ve got a dollar that says ESPN and the rest of the national pundits spend the next week fawning over next week’s Sunday night game.

Not that the Dallas Cowboys visit to Lambeau Field for a game against Green Bay isn’t a big game. It definitely shapes up as a key game, even at this early date.

But both Al Michaels and John Madden left me queezy as they signed off of NBC Sports’ coverage of tonight’s Sunday Steelers/Browns tilt by gushing about the “special”ness of every trip to Green Bay.

Next week will also be the first nationally-televised Packers regular season, prime-time game since Brett Favre was traded to New York. So I’ve got another dollar that says the Favre-less Packers-fest hype gets nauseating coverage as well.

Hopefully the announcers all realize that this game can stand alone on merit alone without much of the soap operatic side stuff. If Dallas beats Philly Monday both teams will be heading into the game undefeated. While it’s too early to say, it could ultimately be a game we look back at in December as having had playoff implications.

Hopefully it can do so without forcing many of us to run repeatedly to the bathroom with swooning-announcing-induced vomiting.

Denver on a roll; Vikings offense toast

by | Sep 14, 2008 | NFL Random Thoughts

Two weeks into the season the NFL is just getting started. But I’ve drawn some preliminary conclusions based on what I’ve seen so far.

First, Denver is a lot better than I expected. The defense still needs some work, as witnessed by today’s 39-38 win over San Diego. But while last week’s 41 point explosion against Oakland could have been chalked up to simply playing a bad team, the Chargers, even sans Shawne Merriman, still harbor a legitimate defense.

Jay Cutler looks fantastic. He’s thrown for 650 yards and six touchdowns with just one interception thus far. Last week rookie wideout Eddie Royal stepped up in Brandon Marshall’s stead for a huge day. Today Marshall returned to catch the second most passes in a game in NFL history and Tony Scheffler chipped in with two touchdowns and six catches.

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