During a week in which the Patriots visited the White House to celebrate another Super Bowl win and also come to grips with the suicide death of Tight-End-Turned-Killer-Aaron-Hernandez, probably few are paying attention to what’s taking place with the New England running back corps.
While the Patriots have had a great offseason, and will undoubtedly emerge as Vegas’ odds-on favorite to win yet another Lombardi Trophy, the team’s strategy at RB has been interesting, to say the least.
New England signed Buffalo backup Mike Gillislee to an offer sheet and extended Super Bowl hero (he should have been the MVP) James White. These moves come on top of signing Bengals backup Rex Burkhead and entertaining soon-to-be-former Vikings great Adrian Peterson. That leaves the futures of big back LeGarrette Blount, coming off an 18-touchdown season, and Dion Lewis, coming off a partial season where he looked solid following an ACL recovery, up in the air.
So, what does Bill Belichick have in mind?
Andy: First off, let me say this: In Belichick I trust. I don’t know what he has in mind, but he’s one of the few coaches in the league with the pedigree where I will trust what otherwise would seem as a reach. That said … some of these moves are interesting, to say the least.
Blount left once before, then pouted his way out of Pittsburgh to return. He seems like a perfect fit in New England, where he has averaged 4.0 yards per carry over the last two seasons and scored 25 TDs, including 18 during 2016.
OK, we don’t honestly believe that Zoneblitz.com inspired ESPN to release their All-Decade teams (offense) (defense) (special teams) for the ’00 decade–but we did have our Zoneblitz All-Decade Team up almost a full five months before their’s.
Of course, Bill Williamson and the ESPN crew probably had a lot more time and resources to devote to their team than Andy and I did–assuming they spent more than the morning before the Super Bowl hashing their lists out.
And frankly, that makes the comparison that more interesting…
It’s good to know that Al Davis has moved on, and is focused on re-building his team into something that is at least somewhat relevant in the world of the NFL.
Recently, an episode of ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” recapping the first six months of Lane Kiffin’s tenure at the University of Tennessee, showed former Raiders head coach possibly committing a recruiting violation–which would be in addition to the at least four minor violations that Tennessee has reported since Kiffin came aboard (which the University athletic director says ‘isn’t any more than the school usually reports’–which in itself seems problematic).
Davis, who fired Kiffin last September for what he described as acts of insubordination and lying, was contacted for a comment. This statement was issued:
“Lane Kiffin is a flat-out liar. He lied to the team, he lied to the fans, and he lied to the media. He will try to destroy that university like he tried to destroy the Raiders, and will eventually clash with (women’s basketball coach Pat) Summitt and (men’s basketball coach Bruce) Pearl.”
It will be interesting to see what happens when Kiffin actually gets to coach a game. And, if Tennessee actually has anyone worth drafting next year–I wouldn’t count on them ending up in the silver and black, even if they are the best player on the board (which, based on recent drafts, would make them even less likely to be taken by Davis).
Just read on Twitter (and USA Today) that EA Sports has announced who will be on the cover of Madden 2010–and for those of you that believe in the ‘Madden Curse,’ making your fantasy cheat sheets should be an interesting challange this fall.
EA Sports Madden 2010 Cover
The game will feature Larry Fitzgerald–considered by many the top fantasy receiver in the game and a likely top 12 pick in almost any draft–on the cover.
Of course, that could change if the Cardinals move Anquan Boldin this weekend–or if you believe in that Madden Curse, which has struck Barry Sanders, Eddie George, Daunte Culpepper, Marshall Faulk, Michael Vick, Ray Lewis, Donovan McNabb, Shaun Alexander and Vince Young.
EA, in what might be seen as some as a move to try to counter the curse, will for the first time every feature two players on the cover, pairing Fitzgerald with one of his opponents from Super Bowl XLIII, Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu.
So you might want to knock the Steelers defense down a few pegs on your draft board as well.
UPDATE: Apparently this was an April Fools Joke that just didn’t get publicized until April 2nd. I think the joke should be on the Seahawks–make them play in green! Upon further review, it should have been obvious it was a joke–the Seahawks are amongst the teams advocating the annoying trend of monochrome uniforms, so for this to have been real, they would have needed green pants as well. That would have been AWESOME!
The Seatlle Seahawks new alternate jerseys were leaked on Deadspin this morning–presumably not a late April Fools joke. I have to agree with Deadspin as to the jersey’s being hideous–why would you put the blueish-grey stripes on a beautiful green jersey like that?
Seahawks New Alternate Jersey
I’m not a real fan of the trend of jamming so many blocks of colors and Nike swooshes onto jerseys–most of the jerseys teams are switching to these days are hideous, and belong in the arena league (where the “modern” look seemed to originate).
But I actually kind of like the green Seahawks jersey–it would be better without the blue sleeves–but then again, I also list the Buccaneers old creamsicle orange jerseys in my top 5 all time football uniforms.
Tony’s Top 5 “Ugly” Football Uniforms:
5. Houston Oilers powder blue jerseys
4. Buffalo Bills red helmet, blue facemaks combo
3. New England Patriots red jerseys with Pat the Patriot
2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers creamsicle orange jerseys and winking pirate…
1. Orlando Thunder flourescent green jerseys–had to be painful for opponents to look at during games.
What are some of the other best all time football uniforms out there?
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