Pro Football Hall of Fame 2011 finalists announced

by | Jan 9, 2011 | Hall of Fame, NFL News

The list of candidates for the 2011 Pro Football Hall of Fame class has been narrowed to 15 and it includes three running backs making the cut in their first years of eligibility.

Marshall Faulk, Jerome Bettis and Curtis Martin all survived the winnowing if the list. So did multi-time finalist wide receivers Tim Brown, Cris Carter and Andre Reed, as well as tight end Shannon Sharpe.

First ballot tackle Willie Roaf and multi-time finalist center Dermontti Dawson represent offensive linemen on the list while defenders still under consideration include linemen Richard Dent, Chris Doleman, Charles Haley and Cortez Kennedy. Defensive back Deion Sanders, another first ballot candidate, rounds out the players.

Ed Sabol, founder of NFL Films, is also a finalist as a contributor.
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Favre arrives in Minnesota

by | Aug 17, 2010 | NFL News

The Pope? President Obama? The Dalai Lama?

Nope.

Brett Favre’s arrival in Minneapolis inspired the media firestorm Tuesday afternoon that included news helicopters, wall-to-wall radio and television broadcasts and endless chatter on the Internet.

Really?

Didn’t most of us know this was likely to happen sooner or later? After he supposedly tweeted his retirement to teammates a couple weeks ago he then untweeted the retirement a couple days later, more or less saying he would play if his ankle was okay.

So, yeah Favre is back. One facebook friend posted the following status: “What — no posts about Favre? Are you people working or something?”

More likely the vast majority of the population (not including local news networks, ESPN or local sports talk radio outlets) has seen the Favre circus enough times where they knew it was just a matter of time before he flew to town on the Wilf family’s private yet. This time he came accompanied by three teammates, sent to encourage him to join the team in suburban Minneapolis …

Or were they? He hasn’t yet said he’s playing. Perhaps those potential teammates forced him onto the plane against his will. Perhaps he’s flying into town to, yet again, announce his retirement.

More likely, Favre is back for the season. Hereth likely ends this part of the soap opera for another preseason. One Green Bay Packers blogger has summed it up best, so far: “The Fake Suspense is Over: Brett Favre Returns.”

Let the season begin.

Indianapolis Lawmaker Wants Refund For Colts Fans

by | Dec 30, 2009 | Business of Football, NFL News

Former Indianapolis City-County Council President Beurt SerVaas apparently wasn’t too happy that the Colts decided to rest key starters in the second half of their loss to the Jets on Sunday.  The Colts led the Jets 15-10 with about 10 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter when Colts’ coach Jim Caldwell, who had led the Colts to a 14-0 start to the season, decided to pull them.

The Jets came back to win 29-15, and Caldwell and the Colts have been taking heat ever since, including a Yahoo! Sports reporter ridiculously calling it a bigger mistake than Marty Mornhinweg taking the wind rather than the ball to start overtime.

But none of the criticism appears to be more ridiculous than that of SerVaas, who has said he will petition the council to ask for refunds for all fans upset about the loss (he hasn’t found anyone on the council to sponsor his proposal).

“They came to see a game played honestly. It was not played honestly, ” he said.

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Jets Conceding Season? Trade for Braylon Edwards.

by | Oct 7, 2009 | 2009 Trades, NFL Breaking News, NFL News

In a move that will likely be seen by many Jets fans as a move towards taking the AFC East division title, the New York Jets traded for Browns wide receiver Braylon Edwards this morning.

At first glance, the move would appear to make sense for the Jets–they’ve lacked a big name wide receiver this season, who can stretch the field and take some pressure off of the running game.  Led by a defense that is ranked 3rd in points allowed and 4th in yardage allowed in the NFL and the effective (if not spectacular, for a rookie) play of QB Mark Sanchez, the team started 3-0.

But the Jets passing game is also ranked 27th in the NFL after four games, and Sanchez looked more like a rookie QB last week against the Saints, a team that, while improved defensively, has not had a reputation for having a stout defense in recent years.  And while the running game is currently ranked 9th in the NFL by yardage, that can’t be expected to continue if the team can’t effectively move the ball through the air, as teams will start to put 8-9 guys in the box regularly to stop Thomas Jones and Leon Washington.

Edwards brings to the Jets a rare combination of size and speed, and the pedigree of being a #3 overall pick, in the  2005 draft.  But to be honest, that’s about all the positivity that he brings to the table for the Jets.

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Coming Soon: Los Angeles Jaguars?

by | Aug 21, 2009 | Business of Football, NFL News

They stole the Dodgers from Brooklyn, the Lakers from Minneapolis, and the Clippers from San Diego.  They stole the Rams from Cleveland, before losing them to St. Louis, and they stole the Raiders…well, ok, Al Davis did most of the stealing in that one, before eventually taking his ball and going back to Oakland.

In fact, only two major pro sports teams have ever been formed in Los Angeles–the Angels, who moved to Anaheim (before Los Angeles “stole” them back, without even needing them to move), and of course the Los Angeles Kings–because when you think Southern California, you think hockey.

So, despite not really showing that they could support one (or two) NFL franchises in the 1990’s, ever since the Rams and Raiders packed up and left, there has been speculation about who Los Angeles would steal to put a team back in the #2 television market in the United States.

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Vikings fans might want to temper Favre expectations

by | Aug 18, 2009 | NFL News, NFL Random Thoughts

While it appears the on-again, off-again love-fest between Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings front office is on again, hopefully Vikings fans recognize that this move alone doesn’t guarantee a trip to Miami.

Assuming Favre’s bicep is sound, does he provide an upgrade at quarterback for the purple? Most likely yes.

But is this the Brett Favre of a few years ago who could seemingly at will pull rabbits from his helmet to produce victories for the Green and Gold? Not even close.

Let’s look at the game logs from the 2008 season. Everyone talks about the five game stretch that closed Favre’s campaign. It was a gross display of football, which reportedly coincided with the injured arm everyone is banking on being fixed.

Starting with the November 30 game against Denver, his last five games produced two touchdowns and nine interceptions, barely 1,000 yards passing, and four losses in five games.

So lets give him the benefit of the doubt on that final third of the season – it’s not like the rest of his season was stellar.

In fact, after a solid-to-sterling first four games, he spent the second quarter of the season playing almost as poorly as he did in the last five – before any reports surfaced of arm issues.
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