NFL Drug Policy is a Fraud Too

by | Dec 10, 2008 | Business of Football, NFL News

In addition to the policy on levying fines for every offense from using the ball as a prop to committing a 15-yard facemask penalty that wasn’t called a penalty being a crock, and the suspension appeals process being a crock (albeit a crock that the players allowed themselves to be thrown into), it appears now that the drug policy in general might be a crock too.

Case in point: Jacksonville Jaguars WR Matt Jones.

Jones, a first round pick in 2005, was arrested this past off-season when a police officer saw him cutting lines of cocaine with a credit card in a parked car.  Jones plead not guilty to the charges, but later agreed to enter a drug treatment program to reduce or drop the charges against him.

The resuling suspension for Jones?  Three games, which was upheld by the wonderful appeals process this week.

So, according to the NFL, use a diuretic that is laced with a banned substance that is not on the label–reportedly to cut some weight to make sure you’re a) allowed to practice, and b) not fined–you get a four game suspension.  Get caught with a hardcore recreational drug, and enter drug rehab as a result–three games.

Hall of Fame Semifinalists

by | Nov 26, 2008 | Hall of Fame, NFL News

The 2009 Hall of Fame Semifinalists list was announced Wednesday, about a month after the list of eligibles was announced.  Four players in their first year of eligibility made the cut — DT John Randle, DB Rod Woodson, TE Shannon Sharpe, and DE Bruce Smith.

The other candidates are WR Cris Carter, RB Roger Craig, RB Terrell Davis, C Dermontti Dawson, DE Richard Dent, DE Chris Doleman, LB Kevin Greene, OL Russ Grimm, P Ray Guy, DE Charles Haley, CB Lester Hayes, DT Cortez Kennedy, G Bob Kuechenberg, G Randall McDaniel, owner Art Modell, WR Andre Reed, QB Ken Stabler, commissioner Paul Tagliabue, ST Steve Tasker, LB Derrick Thomas, and owner Ralph Wilson.

A further round of voting will cut the list to 15, which will be announced in January (so far, all 15 of ZoneBlitz.com’s picks as finalists are still in play).  From those 15 (plus senior candidates Bob Hayes and Claude Humphrey), inductees will be picked (and announced) the Saturday before the Super Bowl.

McNabb still starting in Philly

by | Nov 24, 2008 | NFL News

Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid announced this morning that Donovan McNabb would start on Thanksgiving against Arizona despite being pulled from yesterday’s loss to Baltimore.

Sal Paolantonio on ESPN this afternoon expressed curiosity about why the Eagles would return to McNabb since it’s a virtual certainty the team will trade or release him in the offseason.

I disagree with Paolantonio’s take on that. The Eagles are 5-5-1 after yesterday’s loss but if they can beat Arizona, they play three of their final four games against division foes. This still gives the team an outside shot at the playoffs – and if the Eagles are going to make the postseason, it’s unlike it will be with Kevin Kolb at the helm.

Kolb entered in the second half of the Ravens game and threw an interception that Ed Reed returned 108 yards for a touchdown. But that shouldn’t dim anyone’s views on how he will do as the team’s likely future starter. Many quarterbacks young and old have been made to look foolish by the Ravens’ always tough defense.

There apparently is little question that Kolb will get his shot sooner rather than later, and if the Eagles fall out of the race with another loss, it will likely come this year. But he’s had few reps in practice with the first team and on a short week it’d be a bad move to stick him out there on national television for big game.

If the Eagles are going to get hot and make a run this season Reid made the right move – he must hope that McNabb takes the benching as a wakeup call because the veteran is the only signal caller with a chance to take the Eagles on a late-season run.

Crappy weekend for QBs

by | Nov 3, 2008 | NFL News

Turned my attention back to the Monday Night Football game just in time to watch Byron Leftwich take the helm for Pittsburgh to start the second half.

Apparently Ben Roethlisberger was still in the locker room getting treatment on a shoulder injury. Save for his long windup, Leftwich looked pretty good on that first drive, nailing Nate Washington with a 50 yard pass that led to a touchdown run by Willie Parker.

Roethlisberger has been getting the crap beaten out of him weekly. But he was hardly the only one this week.

Kyle Orton is supposed to be out a month with a high-ankle sprain for the Bears while Matt Schaub will give way to Sage Rosenfels for at least a couple weeks while he recuperates from a knee injury.

Dan Orlovsky made room on the Detroit Lions roster as well by hurting his thumb – and gave offensive coordinator Jim Colletto an opportunity to put his foot in his mouth by saying he didn’t want to “embarrass” Drew Stanton by playing him now.

That doesn’t bode well for Chicago or Houston, or for Detroit, though their season is already pretty much shot. Dallas went from one bad backup to another on Sunday and both performed so badly that Wade Phillips described Brooks Bollinger as “just another quarterback.”

Then on Monday the Cleveland Browns announced that Brady Quinn will replace Derek Anderson as starter. I don’t think Anderson has gotten a ton of help and Cleveland has played a killer schedule. The quarterback play league-wide has been underwhelming this year. Save for a half-dozen competent to great QBs you can toss most of the ham-and-eggers into a bucket and not really know the distance.

Having two quarterbacks used to be a luxury. These days, it seems, having even one might make that statement true.

2009 NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame Candidates Announced

by | Oct 28, 2008 | NFL News

The initial list of candidates for the NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2009 was announced Tuesday.  Included on the list were 110 players, seven coaches, and 16 contributors to the game.

Amongst the players are first-year candidates Bruce Smith, Shannon Sharpe and Rod Woodson.  Amongst the contributors are former commissioner Paul Tagliabue, and long time owners Ralph Wilson and Bud Adams.

The list will be cut down to 25 semifinalists next month, and then further reduced to 15 finalists by a mail vote, before the final 15 plus two senior candidates (Bob Hayes and Claude Humphrey) will be considered and duing the leadup to the Super Bowl.  This will mark the first year that up to seven people can be chosen.

To see what we (and a group of dedicated commentors) think will play out for the 2009 Pro Football Hall of Fame class, follow this link.

Now I understand why they suspended Winslow

by | Oct 25, 2008 | NFL News

When it was announced that the Cleveland Browns had suspended Kellen Winslow for revealing his staph infection issues and voicing displeasures about how the team handled the situation it seemed to me that either the team was being thin-skinned and overreacting or there was more to the story.

Now it appears that’s true, as the Cleveland Plain-Dealer has a story today saying Winslow committed “profane verbal abuse of a club’s public relations member in the locker room” following last week’s game against Washington.

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