Favre retiring again … stay tuned

by | Feb 11, 2009 | Hall of Fame, NFL News, NFL Random Thoughts

Could it be?

For the second offseason in a row, good ol’ number four is retiring.

Brett Favre has instructed his agent to tell the New York Jets he has decided to retire, according to ESPN.

Last year Zoneblitz predicted that Favre’s retirement would be short-lived. I had a hunch the guy would be back for at least one more last minute comeback win over my hometown Vikings.

I’m not 100 percent convinced he’s done for good this time, but I’m leaning toward believing it. Favre looked pretty rough the last quarter of the 2008 season. He can still fling the pig but with increasing frequency it ends up falling to the ground or fluttering into the hands of defensive players.

He’s not the same player in the cold either.

Nonetheless, if he does retire it’ll close the book on an interesting and at times amazing career. And when Tony gets around to writing the 2014 Hall of Fame post Favre’s name will definitely be on the list.

Cardinals chances of repeating getting more difficult

by | Feb 7, 2009 | NFL Random Thoughts

I was thoroughly impressed with the Arizona Cardinals during their post-season run to the Super Bowl and, while they arrived a season or more before I thought they would, I’ve thought even over the last couple years that they looked like they might at least be inching in the right direction.

That said, continuity is a major contibutor to success in the National Football League and it’s looking less and less like the Cardinals are going to have a lot of that going for them in the fall of 2009.

Dan Patrick on his morning radio show earlier in the week interviewed a Cardinals beat reporter from the Arizona Republic. I missed the guy’s name but I heard him say he was virtually certain that running back Edgerrin James was a goner during the offseason.

Tim Hightower and J.J. Arrington played a lot during the regular season it was James who did the heavy lifting in the run game when the Cardinals actually dedicated themselves to having a run game during the postseason.

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Poor officiating mars the Super Bowl

by | Feb 1, 2009 | NFL Random Thoughts, Super Bowl

We posted a couple times earlier this season that the officiating in the National Football League has gotten pathetic.

That has been magnified here during the second half of the Super Bowl.
On the first Arizona drive of the second half, Kurt Warner was pressured on third down. The ball came out of his hand but his arm was clearly coming forward. The refs, during a conference, however, decided to call it a fumble instead, requiring Arizona to burn a challenge to get the correct call.

Instant replay can be a fantastic tool for officials, but not if they use it as a crutch – too often, refs are out of position or they question their calls. So they take the cop-out and make the challengeable call, even when there is little doubt to most observers that it’s the wrong call.
Then, later in the third quarter, Darnell Dockett was flagged for roughing the passer no a play in which Ben Roethlisberger had just barely gotten his pass away.

Later on the same drive safety Adrian Wilson was flagged for running over Steelers holder Mitch Berger on a field goal attempt – Wilson was off balance and couldn’t stop and, in the opinion of Zoneblitz, he didn’t hit Berger nearly hard enough to warrant a personal foul call. That was the third personal foul on that drive – two of the three were extremely questionable.

Finally, on a fourth quarter pass from Ben Roethlisberger to Hines Ward, Rod Hood stuck with the receiver and tore the ball out of his arms from behind before Ward could come down with the catch.
On several replays I failed not only to see a hold but also any premature contact that should have resulted in a penalty. But the refs called holding and the Steelers got another first down via penalty.

This is the Super Bowl. These officials are graded during the season and the crew with the best ratings supposedly get to call the big game. If this is the best crew the league has had I rest my case. There has been and there remains a major officiating problem in the league and it is harming the integrity of the game.

Team of ’00 Decade

by | Feb 1, 2009 | Hall of Fame, NFL ... something, NFL Random Thoughts

Tony P. brought up another good point in the Pro Football Hall of Fame 2010 Senior List post–since we’re coming up on the 2009 season, we might as well start looking forward to the Team of the Decade for 2000-2009.

So Andy and I put our heads together. We looked at past All-Decade teams and did some quick and dirty research on the past decade’s post-season profiles. Several positions had a glut of superstars while others were lacking. So we decided to not focus on naming a specific number of players from any given spot but on recognizing players with sustained stretches of great play.

Feel free to let us know what you think.
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Cardinals discover running game, advance to NFC Championship game

by | Jan 11, 2009 | NFL News, NFL Random Thoughts

A funny thing happened when the NFL playoffs began. The Arizona Cardinals, most people’s pick as the worst of eight division champions, discovered a rushing attack they’d been missing most of the season. In doing so, they’ve taken an already explosive offense and turned it dominant.

The Cardinals benefited throughout the season from playing in a weak NFC West division, sweeping six games against those foes. They struggled outside the division, especially in games on the east coast.

That’s why, heading into the playoffs, many figured Arizona would lose the first home playoff game the organization had hosted since the Cardinals were in Chicago in 1947.

Even those who thought they’d get past Atlanta in the first round had to be shocked by their dominance in dismantling Carolina Saturday night.

So let’s take a look at some numbers.

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Through good economic times and bad NFL keeps plugging along

by | Jan 8, 2009 | Business of Football, NFL Random Thoughts

While fans, media and other observers – even its own players – can occasionally and justifiably rip on the National Football League for being a bit stodgy and anti-fun over some of the rules that have been instituted over the years (see penalty and fine for Wes Welker’s snow angel) there’s no questioning the league’s strength in good economic times or bad.

While the news pages are filled these days with news of job loss, mortgage foreclosures and corporate fraud, the NFL keeps extending and adding corporate sponsors to the tune of seven and eight figure deals.

The Memphis Business Journal Wednesday reported that FedEx would cut its marketing budget by more than 25 percent for 2009, a move the company disclosed on its blog.

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