San Diego Chargers in Trouble Up Front Against the Baltimore Ravens

Both the San Diego Chargers and Baltimore Ravens have serious intentions of representing the AFC in the Super Bowl this season. Both are coming of wins, but neither played up to expectations. They know this will be a pivotal game early in the season. Who ever gets the victory will have an early leg up in the AFC playoff race. 

With the Ravens coming in, no LaDanian Tomlinson and an offensive line that’s beat up, it’s not exactly the home opener the Chargers had in mind. Come to think of it, the defensive line isn’t exactly in great shape either with an ailing Jamal Williams (arm and Travis Johnson (groin) out. 

Who would wan’t to get their first NFL start at center against the Baltimore Ravens? Well, hats off to you Scott “Mooch” Mruczkowski, I believe it will be a day you remember. Haloti Ngata and Kelly Gregg will make sure of it. 

That’s where it will begin and end for the Chargers this weekend when Charm City’s finest comes calling.  The Bolts must protect Philip Rivers at all costs. By using extra pass protections and play calling that utilizes match ups and quickness the Chargers can thwart the Raven’s rush.

Injuries to the only center Philip Rivers has ever known, Nick Hardwick (ankle), and the rookie right guard, Louis Vasquez (knee), is seriously going to test the depth of the offensive line against one of the most ferocious defenses in recent history. 

Rivers is the reason Si.com’s Peter King is going with the Chargers to win a tight game. And there’s no doubt about it: the Bolts chances lie with Rivers ability to get the ball to his myriad of play-makers.

Again, it will be on the line in front of him to give him that chance. Getting it downfield to Vincent Jackson, Antonio Gates and Malcom Floyd are the Chargers best match-ups if Rivers has the time.

Brandon Dombrowski gets the honor of starting at right guard after nine-year journeyman lineman Dennis Norman was signed to fill the void. The pressure is going to be on Marcus McNeill, Kris Dielman and Jeromay Clary to hold it together.

Ironic the Bolts end up with the guy, Norman, the Falcons released in order to bring back Kynan Forney, who the Chargers had signed away from the Falcons in the offseason and then cut after training camp.  

He and rookie Tyronne Green are the safety net. The Chargers coaching staff have to be crossing their fingers that no there are no more injuries on the offensive line. 

As expected the San Diego Chargers beat the Oakland Raiders in Monday Night Football’s opening week finale, but what nobody expected was how hard they had to fight for the win. 

With 18 seconds remaining in the game, Darren Sproles scored on a five yard run to put the Chargers up for good 24-20, capping a comeback that showed the Bolts aren’t as good as predicted and the Raiders aren’t as bad. 

This was most evident on the offensive and defensive lines, where the Chargers struggled. The offensive line took it on the chin losing two starters to injuries and surrendering three sacks before regaining composure in the second half. 

The lone Chargers sack was by defensive lineman Igemdi Nwagbuo. Even if the Raiders went with a lot of max-protections, this is against Jamarcus Russell people! Five to one on quarterback hits also showcased how little pressure the Chargers got on Russell.

Now, due to injuries, Nwagbuo and Vaughn Martin are going to be counted on for a lot more snaps on the defensive line than anticipated. That’s a lot to ask against the healthy veteran line Baltimore starts.

Nine penalties for 60 yards is bad. Anytime the Raiders have fewer penalties than you do, something is wrong. If you take that many penalties against a disciplined playoff team, it makes it very hard to win. 

Once again, a big tight end has a good day against San Diego. Oakland’s Zach Miller exploited the Bolts’ secondary regularly. Strong safety play on Louis Murphy’s deep touchdown was not good. Clinton Hart was out of position big time. Steve Gregory looked over matched as well. 

I expect Todd Heap to get a lot of attention from Kevin Burnett and the Chargers secondary this Sunday. L.J. Smith may also factor in at TE as well. How the safeties cover and tackle will be something interesting to watch. 

The Raiders may have some talented runners but 148 yards at a 4.6 per carry average will not get it done. Eight rushing first downs showed consistent inability to stop opposing rushers.

The bruising Baltimore running game isn’t going to make this any easier. This is one of the reasons the talking heads on Showtime’s Inside the NFL all picked the Ravens. Baltimore’s version of Sproles is Ray Rice, who the Chargers defense is going to have to keep close track of. 

The defensive line has also seen better days with Ryon Bingham gone (triceps) and Jacques Cesaire (calf) yet to see any action. Veterans Jamal Williams and Luis Castillo aren’t going to be able to get the rest a regular line rotation would. This is going to take a toll as the game goes on. 

The Chargers were +1 in the turnover battle. For them to be successful against the Ravens they must win the turnover battle. Taking care of the ball in all facets of the game will be crucial.

Sproles does it all, amassing 246 total yards on 22 touches (nine rushing, five receiving, three punt returns, five kickoff returns). At what point is too much? This is too much. There is no way Sproles can take that kind of beating every week. 

With Tomlinson out, Michael Bennett is going to have to pick up the slack so Sproles doesn’t get over-worked. Jacob Hester might even get a carry or two, but I don’t expect much of a running game against a stout Ravens front. The backs will be required to pick up the blitz and catch the ball on screens and check downs. 

Being born in Baltimore, I got my tickets months ago, so I’ll be plaza level to take in the action. I still haven’t decided what kind of tasty tailgate vittles to bring to my first trip to Qualcomm. 

There apparently will “public outreach teams” roaming the parking lot and “alcohol management teams” in the stadium looking for wrong-doers so I’ll have to be on the lookout for them. 

Barron Hilton will be the honorary captain for the coin toss to celebrate the Chargers 50th season. Hilton was the Chargers founding owner, operating the team from 1960-65. 

But this is some classy business; when the Raiders visit San Diego on Nov. 1, alcohol sales will be limited to one drink per order and for the first half only. Normally it’s two drinks per order through the 3rd-Quarter. 

Thank goodness there is no prejudice against Ravens fans. Two beers please. 

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NFL: Week 2 Predictions

Last week’s record: 13-3

Overall record: 13-3

Carolina (0-1) @ Atlanta (1-0): Jake Delhomme really, really needs to have a good game; at least a game where he doesn’t commit a turnover. He needs to do something that restores at least some of the faith of Carolina fans and coaches because if he has one or two more performances like he’s had against Arizona and Philly, he might not see too much more of the field. Unfortunately for him and Carolina, I can’t see them picking up their first “W” here. Atlanta quietly put on a dominant performance last week and I think they will pick off Delhomme at least once.

Atlanta wins, 29-16.

Minnesota (1-0) @ Detroit (0-1): Surprisingly enough, these two have actually had a streak of close games against each other. Last year, Minnesota won a game 12-10 over Detroit in the game where Dan Orlovsky now infamously ran out of the end zone. I don’t think this game will be that close. Brett Favre will manage the game like he did last week and Adrian Peterson will run wild like he did last week. There are only a few defenses that can contain that and Detroit’s not one of them.

Minnesota wins, 24-14.

Cincinnati (0-1) @ Green Bay (1-0): Cincinnati was expected by some to be a team on the rise and possibly end up with nine or ten victories. They will go into Week 3 with zero wins and two losses. I just can’t see a scenario where Cincy’s offense can explode on Green Bay’s improved defense when they could do nothing—outside of one drive—against Denver’s defense. I do think that Green Bay will explode and put up at least thirty points.

Green Bay wins, 33-10.

Houston (0-1) @ Tennessee (1-0): There is no way that Houston’s offense can play as horribly as they did last week is there? There might be because Tennessee’s defense is really, really good. The Titan offense is also much better than I anticipated. Tennessee is a much better team than the Jets, and they are at home, so they will win easily.

Tennessee wins, 20-6 (Lock of the Week).

Oakland (0-1) @ Kansas City (0-1): This is a bit of a difficult game to pick because although both teams come into the game at 0-1, I liked how each team played last week. That’s not to say that this game will be great to watch, but they each played well in defeat. I’m picking this solely based on the fact that this game is at Arrowhead and JaMarcus Russell continues to make too many bad throws.

Kansas City wins, 21-20.

New England (1-0) @ New York Jets (1-0): This game has become significantly more interesting since the Jets’ victory last Sunday. I have seen more and more people picking the Jets to beat New England, but I’m not completely buying them yet. It is very dangerous to make assumptions about a team after one week. They are better than I thought but they are not on New England’s level. I don’t like the Pats’ defense, but Bill Belichick has only lost to one rookie quarterback. Mark Sanchez is not going to be a disaster this week, but he’s not going to play as well as he did against Houston. The running game for the Jets will hurt New England; that will not be enough, though.

New England wins, 28-21.

New Orleans (1-0) @ Philadelphia (1-0): This was pretty simple for me: if Kevin Kolb plays, Philly loses. As of right now, Donovan McNabb is listed as doubtful, which means Kolb will probably start. Jeff Garcia (whom I would start, although it goes against conventional wisdom) will probably not start because he has only been there a week (this time around). The combination of Kolb not showing me a thing since he was drafted, and Drew Brees being on absolute fire for a little over a year now makes this an easy pick.

New Orleans wins, 31-14.

St. Louis (0-1) @ Washington (0-1): St. Louis is a bad team. They got destroyed by Seattle last week in which a 28-0 score doesn’t even show how much of a blowout that game was. Rams fans are the only people on this Earth picking them to win. Washington came relatively close (as far as the score goes) to beating the Giants last week. All of this almost makes me pick the Rams. Almost.

Washington wins, 19-16.

Arizona (0-1) @ Jacksonville (0-1): If Arizona loses this game, the critics will become louder and louder to the point where it will become an annoyance by the time Week 3 comes around. All summer, all they heard was that they were lucky to get to the Super Bowl and that it would be proven this season. It is way too early for this to be a must-win, but they need a win here a lot more than Jacksonville does.

Arizona wins, 27-24.

Tampa Bay (0-1) @ Buffalo (0-1): Buffalo knows that they should be 1-0 right now. I expect them to come out and end this game in a hurry. Dallas completely exposed Tampa’s secondary last week, so we will see huge days for Lee Evans and Terrell Owens.

Buffalo wins, 39-21.

Seattle (1-0) @ San Francisco (1-0): Although it’s pretty early in the season, this is a big game for the 49ers. Most fans thought that Seattle would be significantly better than they were last year, and if San Francisco could pull out a victory here, they would not only be 2-0, they would not only have—for at least a week—shut a few critics up, they would also be 2-0 in the division which is big. All of that will end up being irrelevant though.

Seattle wins, 21-18.

Pittsburgh (1-0) @ Chicago (0-1): There is one big question for each offense coming into this game. Can Pittsburgh get their ground game going after a bad showing against Tennessee? It can’t be much worse than it was last week, so I see it being at least respectable. The other question is whether or not Jay Cutler can bounce back from a bad debut against Green Bay. Cutler is not a bad quarterback, but this is the worst scenario he could have found himself in. He is facing the league’s best defense and even without Troy Polamalu, it will be a long day for Cutler.

Pittsburgh wins, 26-10.

Cleveland (0-1) @ Denver (1-0): Neither of these teams will win too many games this year, but Cleveland looks to be the better team. They were able to hang with Minnesota for a while until Adrian Peterson got tired of messing around, while Denver struggled with Cincy and needed a miracle play to beat them.

Cleveland wins, 18-3.

Baltimore (1-0) @ San Diego (1-0): Although both came away with victories last week, they both have something to work on. San Diego let Oakland hang around for too long and nearly lost, while Baltimore gave up way too many points to an inferior Kansas City team. This will go down to the wire, but I really did not like how the Chargers played against Oakland. They will also be without LaDainian Tomlinson, which will hurt San Diego a bit.

Baltimore wins, 24-20.

New York Giants (1-0) @ Dallas (1-0): Finally, the Cowboys open up Jerry Jones’ billion dollar playground—and New York will ruin it. The Giants will come out firing on all cylinders and open up a big lead. Dallas’ comeback will fall just short and all Cowboys fans will go home pretty upset.

New York Giants win, 35-32.

Indianapolis (1-0) @ Miami (0-1): Miami must keep this a low-scoring game if they are going to win. They have the defense to do it, but I still doubt that they can put up the points to hang with Indy.

Indy wins, 24-13.

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It’s Speak Up and Put Up Time For New York Jets

Although football fans around the country have reason to wonder if the New York Jets’ performance against the Patriots on Sunday will cash the checks written by the mouths of their players and head coach, this much is clear: The Jets are relevant again.

 

Not since Bill Belichick scribbled his infamous note of resignation as the “HC of the NYJ” and signed with the Patriots in 2000 have the Jets received this much national media attention.

 

The number of NFL coaches who would have done what Jets Coach Rex Ryan did this week to rally his troops and the team’s fan base during Patriots Week can be counted on one hand—maybe one finger.

 

Many an NFL coach would have muzzled his players if anyone spoke as openly as Jets nose tackle Kris Jenkins about wanting to beat New England.

 

“This is our Super Bowl,” Jenkins said firmly.

 

Then, after emphasizing how determined he is to whack the Pats, Jenkins added that if any New England players objected to his comments, “They know where to find me.”

Beautiful.

 

For far too long, the Jets have virtually assumed the fetal position as soon as the Patriots stepped off their team bus outside Giants Stadium.

 

The Jets have lost eight straight home games against the Pats, dating back to Week 2 of the 2000 season.

 

The Jets’ eight consecutive defeats to New England tie the longest such streak in the NFL. The Steelers have won eight in a row against the Browns in Cleveland.

That’s ancient history, the Jets are saying.

 

What matters now, according to voluble safety Kerry Rhodes, is not beating only the Patriots, but also embarrassing them.

 

“You go out from the first quarter on, from the first play on, and try to embarrass them,” Rhodes told the New York Daily News. “We don’t want to just beat them. We want to send a message to them: We’re not backing down from you. We expect to win this game, and it’s not going to be luck. It is not going to be a mistake.”

 

How great is that?

 

In an appearance Friday on “NFL Live,” an ESPN program that used to routinely ignore the Jets, Rhodes told host Trey Wingo, “They’ve come into our home field and beaten us eight straight times, and that’s not a good look. We’re trying to change the culture around here.”

 

Asked about rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez facing a Belichick-coached team for the first time on Sunday, Rhodes said, “They’ve got a great coach over there, Belichick, who schemes very well. [Sanchez] is going to see a look that he hasn’t seen, so he’s going to have to be calm. And we’re going to try to take the pressure off him with our defense. And we’re going to try to run the ball like we do. We have one of the better [offensive] lines in the game. Those guys have seen a lot, and they’re going to keep him calm, and he’s going to be O.K.”

 

People who know the Jets only as a team that has made one Super Bowl, way back in 1970 when Joe Namath played quarterback, must think Rhodes is out of his mind.

Is he tugging on Superman’s cape?

 

Hardly. The Jets beat the Pats in their last meeting, 34-31 at New England.

Rhodes understands that the Jets must convince themselves that last year’s road victory was no fluke and that they are not inferior to the Patriots. That’s the first step toward proving it.

 

Rhodes actually is following a Jets tradition started by Namath himself when he guaranteed the team would beat the heavily favored Colts in Super Bowl III.

 

Namath and Company cashed that check with a 16-7 win. Now, it is up to Ryan, Jenkins, Rhodes et al. to do the same.

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NFL Picks Week 2: Can the Bears Win Without Urlacher?

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The Michael Crabtree Ordeal Is All Mel Kiper’s Fault

Could the Michael Crabtree situation have been avoided?

You’re absolutely right it could have been.

If it wasn’t for Mel Kiper’s useless “Draft Big Board,” Crabtree would be suited up for the 49ers and reeling in Shaun Hill dump-offs. 

I had finally begun to cope with watching NFL Live year ’round on ESPN. It was out of control and a major waste of programming but I had finally convinced myself that it was legitimate to be discussing potential draft picks a full year in advance. But then Mel Kiper had to go out and doom the San Francisco 49ers by putting Crabtree on his Mock Draft at No. 6 to the Cincinnati Bengals.

Just think, had “The Hair” simply put Crabtree at No. 10 to the 49ers or for that matter never made a mock draft at all none of this would have ever happened.

ESPN needs to put Mel Kiper in check. His opinions are amounting to real life catastrophes and putting silly ideas in “college educated” athletes’ heads.

The, “I should be paid No. 1 WR dollars because I should have been selected higher…” is insane logic.

If you were taken 10th you should be paid 10th pick dollars.

Here is my 2010 Payback Big-Board:

#1. Mel Kiper

 

 

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What To Expect In Week Two For The Washington Redskins

Before we talk about what the Skins need to accomplish against the Rams this Sunday (clearly, a BIG win), we need to talk about how the Rams shouldn’t be overlooked.  This isn’t the same team that Pete Kendalled their way to a victory last year. 

With a healthy Marc Bulger, an always game Steven Jackson, and a new head coach who has faced the Redskins offense before, the Rams could be looking to repeat last year’s outcome.

If you haven’t clicked away to another article by now (please don’t, stay awhile), you are probably saying aloud, “John, you have got to be kidding me, right?” Of course, I am.  The Redskins will win this game.  And win big.  And here’s why.

Even with a new defensive mindset, brought on by rookie head coach Steve Spagnuolo, a man who has beat the Redskins before, as a defensive coordinator for the New York Giants, the Rams defense is straight up porous. 

The Seattle Seahawks manhandled the Rams in 28-0 shellacking at Qwest Field.  Matt Hasselbeck, demonstrating complete command of the West Coast offense that Zorn runs in Washington, picked apart the Rams secondary for over 250 yards and three touchdown passes.  Even Julius Jones had a big day.  He ran for 117 yards and a touchdown.  This is the same Julius Jones who has never rushed for more than 94 yards against a Redskins defense.

OK, so we know the Rams defense isn’t very good. That doesn’t mean they don’t have the know-how to beat Jason Campbell and the Redskins offense.

A Spagnuolo-coached defense has beaten a Redskins offense three out of the four times they have squared off.  The lone win came in 2007, when the Redskins beat the G-Men to continue their late-season rally into the playoffs.  That being said, his defensive players in New York were lights-out scarier than anything Campbell will face on Sunday.  Looks like James Laurinaitis will get some tackles (14 in the first game, who does he think he is, London Fletcher?) and Chris Long may get a hustle/coverage sack, but that’s about it.

The Rams defense will come out ready to play—they don’t want to get victimized for the second straight week—but they shouldn’t be a problem for a Redskins offense that is hungrier, maybe even more desperate for a big showing.

I think we all know the Redskins offense needs to show some significant signs of improvement on Sunday.  But how much?  A lot.  If the Redskins don’t run into the locker room at halftime, sporting at least a two touchdown lead, the Skins offense may never get on track.  I’m serious.  I want to see Marcus Mason picking up some yards in the last few minutes of the fourth quarter, with the Redskins holding a 35-6 lead. 

Five touchdowns!?  I know that sounds crazy, considering the Redskins have never topped 30 points under Zorn’s offense, but that’s what they need to shoot for.  I’ll accept four touchdowns.  But the Redskins need to prove to themselves that they can consistently score points with Campbell at quarterback and Zorn running the offense.

An offense that scores on average 16.6 points a game clearly won’t win you many games.  That kind of scoring output puts too much pressure on the team’s defense to make something happen.  The Redskins defense couldn’t make that much happen last year.  They were good, but not good enough to have to overcompensate for the offense.

This year, the defense looks like it will make something happen.  More pressure on the quarteback leads to more turnovers, which means better field position and numerous scoring opportunities for the offense.

So what should we expect on Sunday?

We should expect to see some improvement by the offense.  It won’t be a 30-point effort like I hope it will be, but it will be enough of an increase to help the team gain some confidence.  I look to see the Redskins winning 24-7, coming on two touchdown passes by Campbell and a rushing touchdown by Clinton Portis. 

Will it be enough to keep Redskins Nation happy?  I don’t know.  But I’ll take the win at home. 

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2009 NFL Week Two Preview

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Louis Murphy: It Sure Looked Like A Catch To Me

I hate to feed fans of the Oakland Raiders anything. This is a franchise whose fanbase is already convinced that there’s some mass conspiracy in the NFL officiating booths to screw the Raiders over every game. Why? I don’t know. What reason would NFL refs have to hate the Raiders? Did Al Davis just take a dump in all of their hats one day? Regardless, there’s this perception of the Raiders not actually being a bad team, but getting screwed by the refs every week.

That said, I don’t see how Murphy didn’t catch that ball

Even as I listen to Mike Pereira explain why it was an incompletion, I don’t get it. Not the rule. I get the rule. I just don’t get how Murphy didn’t do everything Pereira says he has to.

The way that play looked to me, Murphy caught the ball, got both feet down, and THEN started to go to the ground. He wasn’t in the act of going to the ground when the catch itself was made. He caught the ball, got the feet down, then got taken to the ground. The TD would and should have occurred before his falling happened.

Even given the rest, after he hit the ground, here’s the sequence of the play as I see it:

1. Murphy hits the ground.
2. The ball jiggles a little bit.
3. The ball jiggles a little more.
4. As Murphy starts to get up, he lets go of the ball.

It’s entirely possible I’m wrong here. The NFL has access to several different views that we as TV viewers do not. Maybe one of those views had conclusive evidence to overturn the play.

Even in that case, however, this is entirely too complicated of a process. To quote former Raiders coach and retired broadcaster John Madden, “I remember when a catch was a catch.”

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Vince Young: More Than a Tennessee Titans Quarterback, He’s a Million-Dollar Man

I get up in the morning. I brush my teeth after I eat my breakfast. I get my tired rear end in the car and go to college.

All the while, I’m still thinking about football after I’ve checked MSN.com for anything new. For me, football is an obsession/future career and I love it to death. I can’t believe there was a time where I demeaned it, but that’s another story.

The point is that I’m a young man who is not a professional athlete and yet gets so fired up when his team plays, you’d swear I was in pads on the field.

But what is football? Is it Age of Empires on a grass field with a ball and helmets? Is it a sacred ritual that is part of a pagan religion? Is it even a business?

“Yes” can be the answer to all of the above, but when you remove all emotional attachment, football is a game. Real men play this game for millions of dollars. All they do is football. They are playing a game.

Except, a lot of times, we as fans in our competitiveness forget that it is a game. That when Sunday is over that these men go home and be regular men.

After all, that is just what they are…regular men.

Have you ever thought about who is that man beyond the guy who led a great drive to win a Super Bowl or caught so many passes that normal humans couldn’t touch?

Who are they as men? We worship them for their athletic talents, but we regularly, especially the ignorant fan, forget how these men are on the inside.

Are they good fathers? Are they kind, calm persons who help those in need when he can’t figure out his geometry lesson or when she needs a fourth for an afternoon tea party with Ms. Susie Bear and Little Quackers the Duck.

When I think about what I want to in life when it comes to my kids, I think of what John Wayne said in The Cowboys before he dies. “Every man wants his children to be better than he was.”

Well, Steve McNair, the former quarterback for the Tennessee Titan died, and he died with his two young sons not knowing who is going to teach them or make them better than daddy was?

Steve McNair was a great football player who achieved a great deal of success. However, he was murdered this past Fourth of July before he could reach the same success he had in the NFL as a father.

However, another man stepped in. Not a boy, not an athlete, but a real man stepped in, and his name is Vincent Young.

Vince Young is known as the quarterback for the Tennessee Titans who was a pupil under McNair before and after he lead the University of Texas to a NCAA Division IA Championship title in the Rose Bowl.

Most of us remember him for that and the fact that he lost his starting quarterback position to Kerry Collins this past year. People call him retarded or label him a bust because he can’t play football like Peyton Manning or Tom Brady can.

I refuse to let my memory remember only that. I intend to remember Vince Young for what he did that was more valuable than winning any diamond studded ring.

He became a real man to two boys that weren’t even his own. He took McNair’s two sons, Tyler and Trenton, to “Dear Dad’s Breakfast” this past Wednesday at their school, because he loved those boys like he loved their father.

Young told The Tennessean, “Those are my boys. I wouldn’t say it was to pay anyone back; it was just out of love. Steve would do it for me. He pretty much did it for me when I was growing up. I have a history with the boys and I want to do anything I can. I am their big brother.”

The boys are doing better because of Vince Young’s realization that family and love is key to a person’s life. He is still fighting for his chance to be a great quarterback, but he won’t be blind to two young boys who need a man like him to guide them.

When I think about that, I hope that my boys will be able to tell our next generation about me, not just as a writer, but as a great father just like I will tell them about my dad.

We talk about Vince Young as a bust, but I’ll remember him as a Hall of Fame man.

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Jerry Jones and The Temple of Doom: Dallas vs. Buffalo for America’s Team

Are the Dallas Cowboys still America’s team, or are they America’s bad dream?

I watched Jerry Jones show off the monument he has built to American excess, on the Today Show this morning.

It struck me as hauntingly ironic that Dallas, one of the demographic icons of the excesses and extravagance of the recent bubble, is opening a billion dollar stadium, in the middle of the debris of the bubble burst, and that Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, is chatting it up with Matt and Al on what is supposed to be a morning news program.

It is news of course, but not in the way it is being covered.  NBC is just whoring their Sunday Night Football coverage in an infomercial disguised as news. And to think the Today Show used to be serious about journalism. But that’s another topic.

Perhaps I wouldn’t be angry enough to write about it, however, if it wasn’t for the fact that this new stadium represents everything the NFL has not been, it appears poised to become. If my worst fears are realized, and Jerry Jones has his way, it will be the end of the NFL world as we know it.

From the day he bought the Dallas franchise in 1989, Jerry Jones let it be known he was a new breed of NFL owner. He was—and is—a shark. He is out to get all he can for himself and his team at the expense of the weaker members and the league. He is determined to bring social Darwinism to what has been a cooperative.

No one was surprised, then, when shortly after taking over the Cowboys, Jones attempted and partially succeeded at making individual licensing agreements for Cowboys merchandise.

It was the first chink in the armor of revenue sharing that is now more at risk than any time in history, as the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) nears its end.

Jerry Jones has made it known from day one that he opposes the revenue sharing plan. He has done what he can to undermine it. And now that the CBA is about to term out, he has an opening big enough for any fullback to charge through, to kill it.

What does Jerry Jones want?

If each franchise is allowed to keep all revenues it generates from TV rights to logo merchandising, then Dallas will be among the big winners. They have established themselves as a national brand (“America’s team”).

Smaller and less prosperous markets will be left to survive on their own gate revenues and whatever merchandising and media deals they can make on their own.

That may not sound so bad. After all, they do that in baseball. But the NFL is different. Its TV exposure is huge. Watching the NFL on Sundays, Monday nights, and now even Thursday nights, is the true national pastime, much more than baseball ever was (on television at least).

A franchise’s equal share in TV revenue and merchandising is also huge.  

For a small market team, to lose an equal share of that revenue puts the first several nails in their coffins, even if they sell 80,000 seats till the cows come home. The gate alone is not enough to pay the players. (And when the cows come home, it will be the Cowboys driving them.)

Why should we care, unless we live in a small market town? The same reason Jerry Jones should be careful what he wishes for.  If the Dallas Cowboys become “America’s bullies” or “America’s spoiled rich guys,” he’s out of business. The NFL’s stock in trade is parity. And you can’t have parity without revenue sharing.

Parity is what has made the NFL great as an institution as well as a business, a sports league, and a key source of entertainment, civic pride, and regional cohesion in the United States. Parity is the reality behind the truth of the expression, “on any given day, in any given stadium, any given team can defeat any other team.” 

We know this is true, and we also know that on any given day not only will one or two heavy underdogs win, but many more teams will give a royal scare to highly favored teams before they finally succumb.  That’s what makes the NFL worth watching.

If odds makers can comfortably pick winners by looking at a team’s balance sheets rather than their scouting reports, they might as well just cancel the games and hold a giant celebrity party.

Unfortunately, it isn’t just a matter of keeping the smaller market teams competitive; it is a matter of keeping the small market teams in the league.

Forget about storied 50+ year old franchises like Buffalo, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh. Yes, even Pittsburgh, the NFL’s most successful team (on the field) of all time will be at risk of becoming the Los Angeles Platinums, without a continuation of revenue sharing.

If you don’t believe me, look at baseball. Look at the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Same town as the Steelers.  Same fans.  Same market.  But the Pirates haven’t made the playoffs in 17 years.

Theirs is one of the smallest payrolls in Major League Baseball. Any player that rises to marquis level on their roster is quickly lost to free agency. It’s only a matter of time when tradition and fan loyalty will not be enough to keep the Pirates from being pirated by a baseball version of Jerry Jones.

Again, if you’re not from there, why should you care?

Parity is important not only because it makes the league more competitive and thus makes the action on the field, as opposed to the action in the sky boxes and sidelines, more interesting, but because it creates great moral conflict scenarios that benefit the sport in general as well as each individual franchise including the richest.  

If all the teams were concentrated in the glitziest, largest, and wealthiest markets, what has until now been a subliminal subplot in the game, the moral and mortal combat pitting David versus Goliath will devolve into a cat fight between Paris Hilton and the Olsen Twins—just a couple of rich bitches ruining each other’s makeup.  

On the other hand, when you’ve got Buffalo versus Dallas, Cleveland versus New York, Detroit versus anybody, you’ve got a primeval archetypal morality play.

So if Jerry Jones has his way, get ready for the L.A. Bills, with a greenback logo instead of a prairie animal on their helmets, because the move to LA gives the term “Bills” a whole new meaning.  The Jacksonville Jaguars might become L.A.’s second team, but again their cat logo is replaced by an image of the luxury car of the same name. 

Then the dominoes start to fall. The Browns, Vikings, Steelers, and Lions might be the next to go. I can envision the 15 or 20 largest markets with 32 teams. Or maybe we’d be down to the top 10 US markets with the rest of the franchises playing in foreign venues.

How about the Singapore Saints, the Shanghai Seahawks, the Dubai Dolphins, Abu Dabi Bengals, and the London Lions?

Teams would no longer have any tradition or historical connection to their new markets.

Any “loyalty” they might attract from fans would be the fair-weather variety because it is roots, tradition, and historical connection between the franchise and the “home” city, that brings fans out as enthusiastically in the middle of a 10 year playoff drought (Buffalo sold a record 55,000 season tickets this year, for example).

The tradition of going to the Bills game with Dad, perpetuated from generation to generation would be erased.

And that can’t be good for the league. That can’t even be good for Jerry Jones.

He may want the Cowboys to win most of the time, but he wants the outcome to be at least slightly in doubt, and he wants at least some of the games to come down to the last play because suspense sells tickets, even if it is a cable TV ticket.

Unless the Harlem Globetrotters are the model, Dallas, Houston, New York, and L.A. need Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Detroit, and need them to be competitive.  

So is Dallas truly America’s team? The post boom Great Recession America’s Team? Or might the Buffalo Bills be a better candidate? How about a little comparison and contrast:

Dallas, especially with their new “house,” represents everyone who overbuilt, overbought, and over-financed. Buffalo, with their 36 year old Ralph Wilson (formerly known as Rich) Stadium has kept the starter house and put on a new coat of paint.

Dallas is the Big Dog. Buffalo is the underdog.

Dallas is Bentleys. Buffalo is beater cars.

Dallas is oil. Buffalo is the energy crisis.

Dallas is banker’s bonuses. Buffalo is unemployment checks.

Dallas is country clubs. Buffalo is block clubs.

Dallas is boom, Buffalo is bust.

Dallas is Glitz. Buffalo is rust.

Dallas is Botox. Buffalo is skin cream.

Dallas is working out at the gym. Buffalo is working outside with Jim.

Dallas is longhorns. Buffalo is long johns.

Dallas is sand. Buffalo is snow.

Dallas is the odds Buffalo beats more often than anyone would think.

Dallas is power. Buffalo is people.

Dallas is your mortgage company. Buffalo is your neighbor.

Debbie does Dallas but Bonnie loves Buffalo.

Dallas is in your face. Buffalo is in your heart.

So which one is America’s team now? You be the judge.

But more importantly, which one’s NFL will survive? Jerry Jones’ or Ralph Wilson’s?

Ralph Wilson is the only owner the Buffalo Bills have ever had. 90 year old Wilson is not what he used to be, but he is the embodiment of what a good NFL owner should be. As one of the founders of the old AFL, (American Football League, which merged with the NFL in 1966) Wilson loaned other owners money to keep the league afloat.

If you watched Wilson’s induction to the Pro Football Hall of Fame along with one of his former employees, Bruce Smith, you know this. It is probably not a coincidence that Wilson has actually lived in Detroit all his life. The two cities share a lot more than Lake Erie.

Bills fans have been critical or even distrustful of Wilson at times because he doesn’t live in town, but he has embodied loyalty in a way that few local owners would have done. (Just ask fans of the NBA Buffalo Braves, who were sold out by a local owner.)

One other thing you learned about Wilson if you watched the induction is that he always voted NO to moving a franchise. Always. And sometimes, he was the only no vote. Jerry Jones could learn a thing or two from Ralph Wilson.

It’s only football, but it’s also so much more than football. It’s what bonds Buffalonians and small market fans in numerous towns to their city and to each other.

It’s what gives ghetto kids, immigrants, laid off construction workers, downsized middle managers and underemployed Ph.D’s the hope to believe that they can still compete in America, that they can not only get to whatever is the Super Bowl in their lives, but win it as well.

From a standpoint of vicarious empowerment, from a standpoint of a metaphor that brings the American Dream to life year after year and embodies it, the NFL as we know it must be saved.

May Ralph Wilson live forever. Let Jerry Jones buy a baseball team.  

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

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