Ryan Moats Stays Calm Under Pressure, When Anyone Could Understand If He Didn’t

Ryan Moats was threatened with arrest had a gun drawn on him on Mar. 18 and all for what? Because he ran a red light to get his wife Tamishia to the hospital to have her last moments with her mother.

The whole sequences of events that happened to both Ryan and Tamishia was in the parking lot of Baylor Regional Medical Center. It’s from the article titled “Dallas Police Delayed NFL Player as Relative Died.”

As the picture indicates, the Moats are African-Americans and the officer involved was Caucasian. I must applaud Moats for not going out and claiming racism. Moats’ only quote about the situation, “We can’t help but think that race might have played a factor.”

The officer’s name is Robert Powell.

Now, I can understand that it’s early in the morning and being a cop is a stressful job and when you see someone run a stop light you should of course check out the situation to see if everything is ok.

Obviously, the Moats’ situation was dire and they needed to get inside the hospital. This is where to me officer Powell crossed the line. Instead of being empathetic towards Moats and his wife, he continued to try to do his job, even after Moats tried to explain what was going on.

The situation even became more frustrating for Moats because as his wife was stepping out of the car, Powell pulled his gun out. According to Tamishia, “He was pointing a gun at me as soon as I got out of the car.” Even though Powell stated he had “drew the gun but did not point it.”

Tamishia was able to run into the hospital before Powell could do anything and that left him with Ryan who, of course, by now was extremely irate. So, when Powell asked for his insurance he told him “find it yourself.”

From what I remember when I was taking drivers education classes, we asked about a situation like this. What would his take be on the situation?

His answer was that as long as you’re not driving erratically or putting anyone else in danger then I wouldn’t write you a ticket if you were driving like previously mentioned then he would and I remember him saying this “I’m not a bastard.”

On that thought, Moats’ only bad thing that he did was roll through a red light and he made sure that there was no traffic around, so he wasn’t driving recklessly.

After Ryan had talked back to Powell he got even more upset and told him this “shut your mouth, you can either settle down and cooperate or I can just take you to jail for running a red light.”

Unfortunately for Moats during the whole little standoff between him and the cop his mother-in-law passed away. It was only when another officer who more than likely was working at the hospital advised that she was gone, that Powell ended it by giving Moats a ticket.

The Dallas police dismissed the ticket, of course, and Powell has been assigned to desk duty. Yet, what was Ryan Moats’ take after the whole situation all he could say is, “I think he should lose his job.”

I have to give Ryan credit. He could have gotten himself into a much worse situation with Officer Powell. It could have cost him his life or his wife’s life, who had run to go see her mom for the last time and all the reason was because a cop overreacted when thinking he was doing his job.

It would have been understandable if Moats got out his car and take a swing at the officer and then for him to run inside the hospital. Yet, throughout the whole standoff between Powell and Moats, he kept calm even though he did get agitated, he didn’t do anything to make the situation worse.

I know it must be a hard time for the Moats’s family, but he deserves a round of applause for keeping calm in a situation like that and again as I said before that whole incident could have been much worse.

Here’s the first part of the two videos that were shown. Clip 1 and Clip 2.

Lee Evans Vs. Dwayne Bowe: Which WR Benefits Most From Offseason Acquisitions?

As any avid fan will testify, football is absolutely the ultimate team sport. In no other athletic endeavor does one man’s success depend so heavily on the success of 10 others. 

You can be the best wide receiver in the league. But if the quarterback/center mess up the exchange, or the offensive line makes a protection error, or if the running back doesn’t pickup the blitz correctly, or the quarterback flat-out sails the ball on you, all the talent in the world will not yield results of any merit whatsoever.

This synergy is what makes football so unique, with either far-reaching success or abject failure, depending on the ability of those 11 players to create an output far greater than the simple sum of their parts.

This synergy would explain why a Cowboys team with 14 Pro Bowlers didn’t make the playoffs, and an Atlanta team with a rookie quarterback and nowhere near the star power out of an equally-competitive division did.

GMs and owners around the league would do well to keep this in mind, because the art of adding and subtracting players has far more extended and complicated consequences than a simple addition or subtraction of that player’s aggregate statistical production.

Every player you add to the offense/defense will affect every other player on that side of the ball, and it is precisely this factor that is so interesting when examining the two biggest marquee player movements in the 2009 NFL offseason.

A Kansas City Chiefs team finally solved its rampant musical chairs problem at the quarterback position by acquiring Matt Cassel from the Patriots.

The Buffalo Bills’ offense went from stagnant to multi-faceted and promising with the addition of talented-but-bellicose WR Terrell Owens.

However, these two teams have something else in common besides the fact that both decided to break out the checkbook for some serious star power.

Both teams are homes to two of the brightest and most promising young wide receivers in the league in Dwayne Bowe and Lee Evans. True, Evans has been in the league a little longer than Dwayne, but Evans’ complete lack of a quarterback and offensive line for the vast majority of his early career would put him on the same level as the third-year receiver from Kansas City.

Both receivers are young with dazzling natural talents.  Both receivers have made spectacular plays, posted big games, and caught the attention of fantasy nerds and casual fans alike.

Both receivers have recently received radical upgrades in key positions that look to imbue their respective offenses with flashes of both competency and entertainment that have largely been absent in both franchises for the last few seasons.

However, the question remains: Which marquee acquisition will have the most palpable (and promising) effect on these two young up-and-coming superstars? To understand this effect, one must first examine the relative strengths and weaknesses of each receiver to fully understand the ramifications that these huge acquisitions will have on their overall production.

All concrete data is provided by Scouts, Inc., courtesy of ESPN’s Insider Web site.

Lee Evans is a small yet incredibly athletic wide receiver.  At 5-foot-10-inches and 197 lbs., Evans uses his burst off the line and has exceptional quickness to beat coverage off the line. He also uses this speed to effectively stretch deep zone coverage.

Evans also is an excellent route runner who has picked up the nuances of setting up the corners with his body before making his break. That, combined with his excellent quickness, grant him the ability to really create gaps in coverage. Lastly, his ability to track the ball on deep patterns and make the necessary adjustments to catch the ball away from his body make him a phenomenal deep threat.

Even in spite of his ridiculously inconsistent quarterback play, Evans has managed to post an average of 58 catches per year, with an average of 16 YPC. To put that in perspective, 16 YPC in 2008 would have been good for 11th overall in the league.

However, Evans’ slight build sometimes leads to problems blocking in the run game, as well as leaving some room for improvement in his run-after-the-catch ability.

According to Scouts Inc., the two things that are preventing Evans from becoming a “Top 15 WR in the League” are a well-balanced offense and consistent quarterback play for an entire season.

Enter Terrell Owens. It becomes quite apparent from cursory visual inspection that Owens and Evans look to be perfect complements of one another. Evans is the smaller, quicker deep ball receiver that can break ankles on deep routes and really separate from coverage, with reliable hands to boot.

Owens is the huge, physical presence that Evans can never become, able to beat cornerbacks in the run game as well as turn a five-yard slant into three broken tackles and a touchdown.

The fact that teams like to take T.O. out of the game by bracketing him with a corner on the line and a deep safety should leave Evans with plenty of single coverage deep.  Evans can then capitalize on his quickness and route running to get loose deep up the sideline before the middle of the field safety can rotate over.

Combine that with a solid running game fueled by Marshawn Lynch, and Trent Edwards has a plethora of short-, medium-, and long-range options to really get this offense cracking.

However, let’s quickly re-examine the two things Scouts Inc. dictated were necessary for Evans to realize his potential. T.O. can make enormous positive contributions to both of those areas. However, he could very easily detract from both of those factors as well.

If you haven’t experienced the media maelstrom that occurs every time T.O. has less than four catches and/or 50 yards in a game, pay attention to the first time this happens in Buffalo. The speculation about T.O.’s happiness/rapport with Trent Edwards will start, and who knows if the young rookie will be able to handle the constant questioning and pressure? Hence, consistent quarterback play is thereby endangered.

And who’s to say that, in order to avoid such confrontations and issues, Edwards doesn’t go out of his way to force T.O. the ball in situations where other players are open? Both Tony Romo and Donovan McNabb were accused of zeroing in on T.O. unnecessarily just to keep him happy, and if Edwards does the same, it could seriously endanger the “well-balanced offense” Evans needs to break out.

Therefore, while T.O. seems to be the perfect complement to Lee Evans, and looks to pull more coverage over to his side of the field, thereby allowing Evans to play to his strengths, the possible negative externalities T.O. brings with him to the locker room could do as much to hamper Evans’ development as his wonderfully complementary talent would do to boost it.

Now, let’s examine the natural talent Dwayne Bowe brings to the field, and how/if Matt Cassel’s abilities will boost Bowe’s production and effectiveness.

At 6-foot-2-inches and 221 lbs., Dwayne Bowe is a much different receiver than Lee Evans. Bowe, whose speed is referred to as “deceptive” (an underhanded compliment if I’ve ever heard one), is much larger and stronger, and uses his size and body position to shield smaller defenders from the ball.

However, despite not being as fast as Evans, Bowe is renowned for his phenomenal quickness and agility for his size, especially at the top of the stems of his routes (quick definition: the “stem” of a route is the portion of the route the wide receiver runs straight up the field before he makes his break.) What that means is that he doesn’t need to blow past the corner with his straight line speed to get open.

Keep in mind that no matter how good the cornerback is, he is always in a reactionary mode, and will always be half a second behind the wide receiver, who knows what he is going to do from the get go.

Therefore with Bowe, even if the cornerback is step-for-step with him on the initial stem on the route, Bowe is able to break on the post/corner/out so quickly that by the time the corner realizes he isn’t running a streak, Bowe is already out of his break with enough separation from the corner to give the quarterback enough of the window to get the ball to him.

Also, Bowe is an extremely physical wide receiver, who uses his size to power through press coverage. He has also understands how to leverage his size advantage over smaller corners, and frequently is able to increase this advantage with his ability to catch the ball away from his body.

Combine those factors with his phenomenal sideline awareness and his ability to track the the ball on the fade, and Bowe is the ultimate red zone jump ball target.

According to Scouts, the two main things Bowe needs to improve to take that next step are his ability to convert patterns in disguised coverage and expanding and improving his route-running ability.

In the NFL, wide receivers are frequently given two to three different routes to run on the same play, and decide which route they have to run mid-play by reading the rotation of the defense. An easy example would be the tight end “bender” route in a Cover 2 vs. a Cover 3.

In a Cover 2, the two deep safeties each expand towards the sideline, leaving the middle of the field wide open. In this case, the tight end would bend the route slightly, like a shallow post, to place himself perfectly in the gap between the two deep-and-wide safeties for a reception.

In a Cover 3, the two deep safeties screw down into the middle of the field so one safety is playing 5-10 yards directly behind the other safety. Therefore, if the tight end decided to bend the route into the middle of the field, he would bend right into the coverage zones of the two safeties. 

He would then eliminate the bend in the route and continue directly vertical up the seam, gradually expanding away from the middle of the field to hopefully run past the two middle safeties (because only one has deep responsibilities) to get open over the top, an area that wouldn’t be open if the safeties were dropping into a Cover 2 zone.

Now keep in mind it is easy to see where the safeties line up before the play is run and make an initial read of what coverage it looks like they will play, but that’s the thing about the NFL. Almost never do NFL defensive coordinators line up initially in the defense they are actually going to run.

They will line up their safeties over each other Cover 3-style, but on the snap of the ball both safeties will bolt towards the sidelines because they are actually playing Cover 2.

If a lazy tight end was running the “bender” route, and just assumed the safeties were playing Cover 2 based on his pre-snap read, he would naturally try to bend the route into a post at the top of his stem when he should have kept straight, thereby sending him out of the open area of the field and right into the coverage zone of the two safeties in the middle of the field. 

It is a very difficult thing to for a young wide receiver. Not only is a receiver trying to remember what route he has while running the route, he is supposed to be avoiding bumps in the coverage, running a route full speed, and on top of all that trying to read the rotations of the safeties to determine which of the three assigned routes he needs to run based on how the defense rotates.

Keep in mind the window a receiver has to make this determination, considering on routes like curls, comebacks, and deep outs, the quarterback needs to throw the ball before the receiver even makes his break.

Therefore, if a wide receiver runs a streak when in actuality if he read the coverage correctly he was supposed to run a comeback, the quarterback has already got rid of the ball before he realizes the receiver didn’t make the correct in-play read of the defense and ran the wrong route.

Those are the interceptions you see where it looks like the quarterback is literally throwing the ball directly to the cornerback while the wide receiver cruises up the sidelines, completely oblivious that the ball has been thrown.

This is precisely what Dwayne Bowe struggles with when they say he needs to improve his route-running ability against disguised coverage, and this is precisely where Matt Cassel’s experience and knowledge of the game can really be useful.

Cassel spent four years on the bench at Tom Brady/Bill Belichick University (a term I have gladly borrowed from one of my favorite sports writers, Bill Simmons). While his actual game time experience was minimal, his knowledge of the game and ability to read defense should be unsurpassed when learning from the offensive juggernauts that have led the Pats to three Super Bowls this decade.

That is knowledge Cassel can pass on to Bowe directly, giving him little tips and tricks he has learned along the way to help Bowe recognize coverage mid-route more quickly and accurately.

Cassel also displayed his accuracy as a quarterback last year (even if you disagree with that, I don’t think numbers go high enough to express how many times more accurate Cassel is than Tyler Thigpen).

If Bowe needs to improve his route running, that means that he is initially creating separation from the cornerback with his quickness, but isn’t getting out of his breaks as cleanly as he could be, giving the cornerback a larger time frame to react, realizing what route he is running, and using his make-up speed to close the distance and break up the pass.

Also, this implies that even if Bowe does have a step on the corner, there is a very small and limited window for the quarterback to fit the ball in, as an inaccurate throw will either be way out in front of the receiver, or behind the receiver, allowing the trailing defender to either pick the ball off or at least get a hand on it.

By bringing his dramatically-improved accuracy to this team, Cassel has the natural tools to really mitigate that weakness of Bowe’s as well. He has the accuracy that Thigpen lacked to fit the ball into a tight spot, which should lead to more completions over the middle for Bowe. 

And until Bowe improves his route running a bit more, the windows over the middle will continue to be tight, and pairing a young Dwayne Bowe with a supremely accurate quarterback will do wonders to boost his productivity and effectiveness this year.

So, who comes out on top? Which of these young wide receivers look to break out and take the league by storm?

To recap, while Owens provides a perfect complement to Evans, the baggage he brings could cause problems for Edwards. Cassel brings experience and accuracy that will directly augment Bowe’s production by mollifying and hopefully improving the two glaring weakness in Bowe’s game, but he could turn out to be a one-year wonder without the accuracy or power displayed in New England.

However, for the purposes of this article, I will assume he will bring similar production from New England to Kansas City, and, if that is the case, Cassel brings tons of tools to help Bowe, with none to hold him back. Unfortunately, that can’t be said for their contemporaries up in Buffalo.

Look for Bowe to have an outstanding year and make his first Pro Bowl. I can also predict great things for Lee Evans in Buffalo. But, at least for this year, it remains to be seen whether the T.O. Show will help or hurt this brilliant developing young talent.

I believe I have covered everything I wanted to cover in this analysis, brought up every relevant argument and refutation that I could muster. However, after the copious amounts of research, typing, and analysis I poured into this article, no matter how hard I try, there remains one smoldering ember of a question that I can’t seem to extinguish.

Is it September yet?

Maybe Cutting Terrell Owens Wasn’t The Wrong Move

I love Terrell Owens, but I hate how he would whine if he didn’t get the ball enough.

I was heartbroken when he was cut because there was not a single player that I felt worked harder, was more passionate, or loved Dallas more than Terrell Owens.

He even stated in interviews that he wanted to retire a Cowboy. How can a Cowboy fan not like that kind of attitude?

However, like the world is gray, so it football.

Jerry Jones is by all means a smart man. He is not going to cut a Pro Bowl receiver and a future Hall of Famer unless that player is more detrimental to the team than he is helpful.

One of two things happened.

Either Jerry Jones went senile and cut the team’s best player on offense OR that player was causing trouble and for Jerry Jones to cut you that means it was a lot of trouble.

I don’t think Jerry Jones is senile.

So… Terrell must have been more trouble than me, Robert Allred, Andrew Nuschler, and any other Cowboy writer realized or could even know since we do not live in Dallas’s locker room.

When Terrell was cut, I wanted to do some cutting. I wanted to cut up Ed Werder’s career because I felt that ESPN and its constant coverage hurt the locker room which led to the cutting of not only Terrell Owens, but Pacman Jones, who I felt was changing.

However, a few interviews and other reports have caused me to rethink the issue carefully. Very carefully.

After listening to Terrell Owens and others, I came to a few beliefs.

Terrell Owens truly wanted to bring the sixth championship to Dallas just like he wanted to bring the championship to Philadelphia.

There is just one problem. Terrell also believes that they can’t do it without giving him the ball.

He has never truly realized that even his mentor, Jerry Rice, had to give up some catches to John Taylor, Ricky Watters, and Roger Craig.

Sometimes Jerry Rice was wide open and the quarterback probably missed him. Mainly Steve Young, who would scramble and run a lot.

There is a clip where Jerry is talking to Steve and Steve says, “Dang. I’m sorry about that.” I think it is safe to infer the conversation is about passing the ball.

Except Terrell cannot talk when he is on the football field, he echoes.

And everybody with a ten block radius can hear that echo and that affects the locker room. Terrell Owens, as sincere as he is, needed to have a real gag order placed on himself.

He was buzzing in Tony Romo’s ear just like Donovan McNabb and we all know how that ended.

Owens not only would be in Tony’s ear, but according to an official report by Wade Phillips, whose gag order has been lifted, Terrell Owens would act like the coach.

Uh oh!

A player a coach? That is not right. Any one of us who has played football knows that when coach talks, you stop talking.

Wade Phillips is portrayed as this big softy, but he resents that title and I think that now that he is the guy in that locker room in charge, he will be able to take these players far.

Terrell Owens could not separate the bad from the good and that is why he is not on the Dallas Cowboys.

With the absence of Terrell Owens, Roy Williams can now become the top wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys, a team he has been rooting for since he grew up in Odessa, Texas.

Patrick Crayton and Miles Austin can compete for the starting second receiver job and Jason Witten can go back to being the clutch tight end he is.

Most importantly, without Terrell demanding the ball, the Cowboys can run the ball more with a trio of running backs capable of starting in the NFL and take the pressure off of Tony Romo’s arm.

It also makes the Dallas Cowboys a much younger team with the absence of Terrell Owens and 32 year old cornerback Anthony Henry, who also was traded away.

The Cowboys are coming back fresh, free of distractions, free of injuries, and free of topics the frenzy media can focus on.

In theory, if one really thinks about it, it is a fantastic idea, now we as sports fans have to wait to see the results.

The NFL: Good Things Gone and Not Coming Back

Out of the blue and into the black
You pay for this, but they give you that
And once you’re gone, you can’t come back
When you’re out of the blue and into the black.

Neil Young: “Hey, Hey, My, My”

 

The NFL yet again gave every true fan what it badly craves, that is it got the referees more involved in the game. More TV face time for the crazy zebra boys and their cute camera replay toys.

The NFL added more rules and more penalties. More game stoppages, more TV timeouts, more flags, more reviews, more advertisement money mad in game stoppages.

Soon expect this First down brought to you by Taco Bell to roll on a magic line along the bottom of your television screen. That pass from Peyton Manning was paid for by ATT. I mean, the Mannings are everywhere else, why shouldn’t they dip their beak a bit more and get paid per pass by some starry-eyed sponsor?

Maybe the zebra can smile like a plundering pirate after every first down, pull an ice cold Budwesier from his pocket, take a deep, hearty swallow and shout This Bud and this First Down is for YOU!

The NFL is like a very high priced, debauched courtesan that will dance for anyone with enough Benjamin Franklins, euros, pesos, yuan or yen.

The NFL provided more protection for a player, the sacred quarterback, who really isn’t even a football player anymore but some type of bizarrely field worshipped celebrity superstar or ownership golden child slash financial investment.

With the stock market the way it is maybe Bob Kraft has to watch his investment bucks more closely, and those bucks spell Brady.

It’s hard to tell what a QB is anymore, but it certainly isn’t anything Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath, Bobby Layne, Slinging Sammy Baugh, Joe Montana, or John Elway.

Basically, the QB can no longer be tackled because he is too valuable as the high-paid face of the franchise. Much of the rest of the team flows and flies away in a rolling free agent river each year but the QB shall be the cornerstone and he shall not be touched, much less tackled.

Defenders chopped block down can not tackle the perfumed prince from the ground. Yet another Tom Brady rule.

The next logical step would be for Roger Goodell to assign Brady a bedroom bodyguard from Blackwater to assure that his limber Brazilian Supemodel wife Giselle does not harm his precious, well paid, body with any unnecessary Brailian roughness in the bedroom.

Hell that bodyguard job would have better benefits then being a left tackle smashed in the mouth by Javon Kearse all day. And Giselle does have a twin.

Bodyguards can dream, too.

But QB’s will never be the same. Imagine the numbers a Namath or a Montana would have put up if they were not allowed to be tackled? And these QB’s today, save Manning and Brady, do not even call their own plays.

‘Tis sad to say but The Field General is dead, not just fading away.

And as the old style QB’s fade to black so goes the days of the great defenses. The ’85 Bears or the ’70 Steelers would not be very good today.

Not because of ability, no those guys would still be Pro Bowlers, but they would be getting unnecessary roughness or blows to the head penalties after almost every play.

Not to mention rule changes have not only made the QB off limits but the wide outs can not be bumped or tackled high and hard. Intimidating safeties like Jack Tatum, Doug Plank, Ronnie Lott, Donnie Shell, Kenny Easley, Gary Fencik, and Joey Browner are a breed that has become extinct. 

Extinct because their style of play is no longer allowed in a league obsessed with scoring and offensive stars. Ronnie Lott’s rather vicious style of play is as outdated as a Deacon Jones head slap.

If Defenders today played with the fury of their ’70s and ’80s forefathers, they’d be fined hundreds of thousand of dollars and suspended for games.

The old style of defense, the Oakland Raiders, Dallas Cowboys, and Pittsburgh Steelers of the seventies and the Chicago Bears and New York Giants Defnses’s of the eighties could not operate in today’s climate.

With them goes the great nicknames. No more Steel Curtain, Fearsome Foursome, Purple People Eaters, no more Hogs.

Well maybe one or at most two Hogs then add a low round rookie, an undrafted free agent with pass protection problems, and an old veteran from Seattle with very bad knees and a worse back.

A patchwork of Hogs perhaps but no one can afford real Hogs anymore.

‘Tis enough to make the free spending shade of Jack Kent Cooke cringe. And enough to make all those aging men in tattered Joe Jacoby jerseys and torn pig noses shed a beery tear.

Why? Because with the flow of free agency teams are torn apart before they establish team identities. Cohesion disappears and the quality of play, particularly along the offensive line and the QB/WR’s connections, drops dramatically.

The Steel Curtain would be torn apart within three years. Does Jack Lambert or Jack Ham stay? We can only budget one linebacker. What about Andy Russell?

Pay Joe Greene or keep both DE’s LC Greenwood and Dwight White? Do we sign Mel Blount and let Franco walk to the Raiders? Stallworth or Swann? Who stays?

Character in coaches seems to have mostly vanished, too. Not that these men do not have high morals but that they mostly lack charisma. Perhaps because today they are changed almost as much as oil in an old car.

Every three years or so another faceless coach bot, either a whiz Doogie Howser coach who was a ball boy for Bill Belichick or an interchangeable pained looking position coach who knows he’s doomed to fail, is trotted out, hyped and then rather quickly filleted. 

Then its back to the endless NFL recycle bin or back to being a position coach in Motor City or in the PAC Ten.

No more coaches with character like Buddy Ryan, Mike Ditka, John Madden, Bum Phillips, or John McKay now its mostly coach boring bots who drone out planned answers to tired questions. Anything to avoid making a media firestorm mess.

Great teams were once not only identified by their players, who played an entire career in the same town, but by their coaches.

Remember the Chuck Noll Pittsburgh Steelers, the John Madden Oakland Raiders, the Tom Landry Dallas Cowboys, the Vince Lombardi Green Bay Packers, the Don Shula Miami Dolphins, the Bill Walsh San Francisco 49ers, the Joe Gibb’s Washington Redskins, or the Mike Ditka Chicago Bears?

Which coach today has imposed his identity on his team? Not many.

Sure the game is a money making mammoth. A behemoth beamed around the globe. A levitation looking longingly to expand across the dark swirling sea to jolly old Londontown. The game is a popular beast raging through American culture.

Sure its safer, faster, stronger, the players are millionaires and the owners billionaires, but is the actual game better? 

Give me the era when the QB’s were smart, tough, field generals, the defenders played like pillaging pirates, the coaches had some character, and the teams developed and stayed together with their fans for a decade.

“The song remains the same,” Led Zeppelin once sang. Well the song might remain the same for Jimmy Page, but the football game has changed. And when things are gone they don’t come back…except in bad horror movies

The rules will not change. The Refs will rule the game. The old ways, unlike Freddy Kruger, are gone and they ain’t coming back from the black.

Still don’t ye miss the old days just a bit? Especially during the sixty eighth TV timeout of the first half? But the NFL doesn’t care it only cares about change that makes it cash register ring, ring, ring.

And change, like my late friend Al Swearengen once said, doesn’t care at all.

“Change ain’t looking for friends. Change calls the tune we dance to.”

And, of course, we will all dance to the NFL’s tune.

After all tis the only dance in town.

For now anyhow.

Pierson Prioleau Signs One-Year Contract With New Orleans Saints

The Saints are officially trying to fix their secondary problems.

Today, Saints general manager Mickey Loomis announced that the Black and Gold have signed safety Pierson Prioleau, just around a week after they signed safety Darren Sharper.

Prioleau is sure to be familiar with the Saints’ defensive scheme, as he played for current Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams on three other teams.

Prioleau has previously played with San Francisco, Buffalo, Washington, and Jacksonville, with the last three teams being where he played under Williams.

In his career, he has made 313 total tackles, 5.5 sacks, defended 15 passes, and one interception. He is in his 11th season out of Virginia Tech.

Joshua Joffrion writes Saints Scoop, a blog dedicated to the New Orleans Saints that can be found at http://www.saintsscoop.com. He also writes Tigers Town, a blog dedicated to the LSU Fighting Tigers, at http://www.tigerstown.com.

Also be sure to check out his new project, Eyes On The NFL. The blog was designed to give its readers the news of the NFL in a fun and upbeat manner. Check it out at http://www.eyesonthenfl.blogspot.com.

What Have You Done For Me Lately? Volume One

In the NFL, anything can happen.

A great player can fall off the radar, and a seventh-round pick can become a Pro Bowler.

Anything is possible.

So with that said, which players have something to prove in 2009?

 

Kansas City Chiefs Running Back Larry Johnson

The elite running back hasn’t been so elite the past two seasons. In both 2005 and 2006, Johnson rushed for over 1,700 yards. He had a total of 40 touchdowns in that span (37 rushing TDs).

In the past two seasons (’07 and ’08) Johnson hasn’t crossed the 1,000 yard mark, and has totaled only nine touchdown’s (eight rushing TDs).

Of course he has injured a lot in the past two seasons, missing 12 games—but still. Johnson has something to prove, especially with the Cheif’s talking about trading him.

A change of scenery could work for Johnson—but if wants to have any success, he needs to concentrate on being healthy. If healthy, he would benefit any team he is on.

 

Oakland Raiders Wide Receiver Javon Walker

Javon Walker signed with the Raiders following the 2007 season, and it is an understatement to say he was a disappointment. He signed a huge contract and had a horrible season. He missed eight games and only caught 15 passes for 196 yards and one touchdown.

Nobody can blame JaMarcus Russell. He wasn’t great but he wasn’t horrible. If Walker wants any success, he’ll have to work hard as well as concentrating on staying healthy.

If Walker could return to his ’04 and ’06 form, and the Raiders were to draft Michael Crabtree (or Jeremy Maclin), the Raiders offense could be one of the NFL’s best. They have a great running game in McFadden, Bush, and Fargas.

 

Cleveland Browns Outside Linebacker Kamerion Wimbley

Since Wimbley’s great rookie season, in which he had 11.0 sacks, Wimbley’s performance has dropped. His amount of tackles has remained a constant but his amount of sacks has lowered tremendously (5.0 in ’07 and 4.0 in ’08).

He hasn’t lived up to his first-round potential since his rookie season. Many think Wimbley only has one pass-rushing move and that’s to blame for his lowering performance. It explains his drop-off.

Playing defensive end for a team with a 4-3 defensive scheme could benefit Wimbley but I doubt the Browns will trade him. Injuries aren’t to blame for his performance, he just needs to work hard and learn some more pass-rushing moves.

If he doesn’t, he will never be more than a mediocre linebacker.

 

Houston Texans Defensive Tackle Amobi Okoye

Just like Wimbley, Okoye hasn’t quite lived up to his first-round potential. He had 5.5 sacks his rookie year, which is decent—but not first-round caliber. You would think playing on the same D-line as Mario Williams would benefit him, but it appears it doesn’t.

Okoye has played in two NFL seasons so he could blossom in 2009. If he can manage to be at least a great defensive tackle, the Texans D-line could be great.

Okoye needs to concentrate and work hard if he wants to live up to his potential. Look for him to have a breakout season in ’09.

Minnesota Vikings Seven Round Mock Draft, Updated 3/26

Once again, it’s time to update the Minnesota Vikings’ seven round mock draft.

My last post was four days ago. Another first round change has been made.

Feel free to make any comments or ask any questions!

Round One: Jeremy Maclin, Wide Receiver, Missouri

It seems a little crazy that somebody as talented as Jeremy Maclin could fall this far. When you think of it, no wide receivers were taken in the first round in last year’s draft. This year there will likely be at least three first round wide receivers taken.

The Chicago Bears need a wide receiver desperately. Coach Lovie Smith has stated that the Bears have faith in Earl Bennett and Devin Hester as starters. That is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard.

To me, it’s not that far-fetched that Maclin could fall to the Vikings at pick No. 22. He is an extremely talented receiver with good returning ability.

Round Two: Phil Loadholt, Offensive Tackle, Oklahoma

This pick has stayed the same as before. Minnesota’s right tackle position is pathetic. Ryan Cook can’t block for his life. They even tried out Artis Hicks who is normally a guard.

They have tried to fix this position for several years. The Vikings haven’t been able to find that true No. 1 starter at right tackle.

Phil Loadholt is a 6’8″ specimen who will be able to start for Minnesota for years to come.

Round Three: Kevin Barnes, Cornerback, Maryland

The Vikings need depth in the secondary. Antoine Winfield and Cedric Griffin both recently received contract extensions. Winfield is 31 years old though and nearing the end of his career.

They signed former Denver Bronco Karl Paymah a week ago. He has the potential to be an impact player on the defense. He was nothing more than a nickelback and depth player for Denver.

The Vikings need a taller cornerback. Winfield is 5’9″, Griffin is 5’11”, and Paymah is also only 5’11”. Barnes is 6’1″ and very physical.

Round Four: Traded to the Houston Texans for Quarterback Sage Rosenfels

Round Five: Jonathan Casillas, Outside Linebacker, Wisconsin

I had a defensive tackle going here for quite awhile. I changed my mind, when I realized that Letroy Guion could be the replacement for “Fat” Pat Williams.

The next best option to go with is a talented outside linebacker. Minnesota lacks depth in the front seven. They re-signed Heath Farwell, but he is mainly a special teams force.

The Vikings are all about drafting players who are close to Minnesota. Jonathan Casillas played at Wisconsin. He had 251 tackles, four forced fumbles, and two interceptions in his four-year career at Wisconsin.

Round Six: Traded to the Philadelphia Eagles for Quarterback Kelly Holcomb

Round Seven a: Brett Helms, Center, LSU

As many of you know, Matt Birk signed with the Baltimore Ravens over the Vikings. He will be missed in Minnesota deeply. Birk played his entire career with the Vikings.

With that said, Minnesota must get depth at center. My gut tells me that John Sullivan will be the starter next year. He has tremendous potential to be a great player.

Helms is undersized at 6’2″, 278 pounds. He will likely have to pack on some pounds, if he wants to block some of the biggest defensive lineman in the game today.

Round Seven b: Travis McCall, Fullback, Alabama

No real surprise here. I’ve had a fullback going to the Vikings in the seventh round for months now.

Minnesota missed out on signing Leonard Weaver who went to the Philadelphia Eagles. Naufahu Tahi signed a contract sheet with the Bengals. Minnesota likely won’t match the $1.04 million deal he was offered.

Travis McCall is 276 pounds of pure blocking force. The Vikings have a much easier time running the ball when they have a big and physical fullback blocking for them.

Doc Walker Doesn’t Believe in “Tough Questions”

Listening to the “Locker Room” on ESPN980.com in the last five minutes, you might have been fortunate enough to hear this exchange between Kevin Sheehan and Doc Walker.

KS: You don’t want to miss it. Doc Walker’s got one hour with Vinny Cerrato, and is going to ask the tough questions…

DW: That’s one thing I always wonder. What is a tough question? How can a question be tough? I’ll tell you what’s tough. Playing is tough. Sitting on your *ss asking a question, there’s nothing tough about it.

That’s right, Doc. Steer quite clear from any questions that could be considered as “tough,” meaning, questions should not deviate from this morning’s fax from V. Cerrato.

I mean, Redskins fans don’t want to know anything of substance about the team, right? T

hey don’t want to know why the team can’t draft, or plans for Jason Campbell’s contract, nothing like that. And even if they did, that’s not a tough question. It’s just a question. Nothing like getting out on the field with your head on a swivel for 60 minutes every Sunday.

Hail indeed.

50 Years of Patriotic Passion

I’m celebrating a milestone with the Pats over the next few months; we’re both turning 50! Actually, the Patriots are technically a year older than I am. They started their first season in 1959, mine was 1960.

I grew up with the Pats, and like the Pats. I had a few rough years in the early going. That’s a large part of the reason the Patriots have always held a special place in my life. Like the Pats, I went through some lean years, some failures, nearly lost my life at times, and saw a few ownership changes. There were times when I wasn’t sure if I had a home and many periods where any home was temporary.

Like the Pats, I learned how to persevere and how to create opportunity out of disaster!

The “nouveau fan” will not understand what I’m about to say; the die-hard Pats fan will. Parts of my hind-quarters are probably in some scrap-metal yard, forever frozen to the old Schaefer Stadium benches.

We did actually drink Schaefer beer as we sat through some of the Pats most challenging years. This was a feat in itself as Schaefer is the only beer that actually increases in volume leaving the body, a phenomenon our beloved Foxboro facilities were ill-equipped to handle.

Some of you will remember sitting with about 5,000 other people who braved an icy wind to make it to the 4th quarter of Drew Bledsoe’s first victory. Remember the brilliant snap out of the end zone on the punt to set up the game-winning drive?

Some of you will remember feeling not only elation, but retribution for the infamous “Tuck Rule” call. The Raiders had their phantom roughing call against Ray Hamilton in ’76; to us this was just long-awaited payback. I don’t care if it was the right call or not; but it was.

Some of you will remember the first prototypical running quarterback in the NFL, Steve Grogan. Grogan was probably the toughest man ever to play the position. He may well have set the tone for Michael Vick and his peers and may be the person most responsible for setting a linebacker to “spy” on the quarterback. Steve, some of us were with you all the way.

Some of you may have been around long enough to remember Gino Cappelletti, as a player and not for his infamous call of the first Super Bowl victory. Those of us who do are entitled to our righteous indignation at Canton’s snubbing of the greatest kicker/player ever to strap on the pads. Gino was an All-World receiver, defensive back, kicker, and punter. He put the slash in slash before Kordell Stewart was born.

One of the greatest unresolved atrocities in pro-football history is the fact that Gino Cappelletti is not a member of the Hall-of-Fame. Screw ‘em! Gino is revered here and for those who don’t know what I’m talking about, take thee a pilgrimage to Patriot’s Place.

There are too many great players and great memories. It would take a book to tell them all!

Let’s fast-forward to 2001. To the people in the northeast, the attacks on 9/11 were not a news story. It was an attack on our soil and our neighbors. In a year that demanded patriotism, an unknown Tom Brady and his crew of NFL misfits cast us all in a Hollywood movie version of NFL history. They picked us up, put us on their backs, and gave us arguably the least probable and most exciting championship in NFL history.

The country and the Patriots gave us something to believe in.

For many of you, your love affair with the Pats started the moment Adam Vinatieri’s foot launched the “Shot Heard Round the World.” For those of us in the Old Guard, that drive was vindication for all our years of loyalty and validation that the underdog could still take it all.

The past two years were still two of the greatest in Patriots history. You nouveau fans will not understand. The rest of us don’t expect you to.

The last second corruption of the perfect season was painful. Lesser failures have ruined other franchises. Instead, the Pats simply picked up their now proverbial “lunch pails” and prepare.

Dare to do it again? How tight was your chest when Brady went down in the first game last year? Revenge would have to wait, right?

Then up stepped the latest untried, untested phenomenon in the Belichik era. Matt Cassel simply decided to become a top tier NFL quarterback and went to work re-writing the rules on the role of backup to a franchise player.

The intelligent football fanatic could make a reasonable argument that the past two years were among the best put together in any NFL campaign.

One for the absolute domination of the league until two games showed that the spirit of the 2001 Pats was alive and well, albeit in a Giant’s uniform.

The other for the nearly unparalleled job of coaching, teamwork and tenacity that kept a decimated Patriots unit in the battle through the last game of the season.

What’s next?  Is the Patriots Dynasty nearing the end , or are you ready for the “Next Coming of the Brady Bunch?” It looks like Brady will be back, Belichick is still the commander, Moss is still hungry, and, Bruschi is still alive. I can hardly wait!

You nouveau fans may be in a state of apoplexy over the last two seasons, the rest of us are right where we want to be, ready for the next incredible Patriots come-back. “Buckle up your chin-straps,” here we go again!

(By the way, you may have noticed the conspicuous absence of any mention of video cameras, Eric Mangini or Tony Eason. May they all rest in peace!)

Jim Bouchard is a life-long Pats fan and America’s Black Belt Powervator!

NFL: You Are 16 Going On 17

Issue

Roger Goodell wants longer seasons.

 

Thoughts

In August, the NFL is getting ready for September. Preseason games are special for those players who don’t see a lot of playing time, or for the rookies to show themselves to the coach. Starters might play one or two series, except if you’re LaDainian Tomlinson, just to get back in the flow of the game.

But how important is the preseason? Most fans don’t even tune in to see if their team won…even the hardcore ones. They like good football, and preseason football is sloppy, and boring. I mean, who wants to watch players that have no chance making the final roster?

So instead of 16 games, Roger wants 17, and it makes sense. It will result in a major improvement in quality because the NFL will be playing more games that actually matter and less that don’t.

Players will be expected to earn more money for playing in more games. This could be either good or bad for some teams. Teams that have a higher salary cap will probably get better players than one’s that don’t… as if that doesn’t happen already.

The vote that could change the season length could take place as early as May. Before it does though, Roger wants to explain his case more the NFL before the vote starts.

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