Falcons Sign 46-Year-Old Morten Andersen

With the experiment of having Michael Koenen handle all three aspects of the kicking game a failure, the Falcons have brought 46-year-old Morten Anderson out of retirement.

Morten Andersen made the field goal that sent the Atlanta Falcons to their only Super Bowl in 1999. Now, as if repaying an old debt, the Falcons are giving Andersen a chance to become the leading scorer in NFL history. Never mind that only George Blanda was known to have been older when he played in the league.

In desperate need of someone with an accurate leg, Atlanta signed the 46-year-old Andersen on Tuesday after Michael Koenen flopped badly in his attempt to handle all the team’s kicking. “In my heart, I knew I could still play,” Andersen said.

He was already the NFL’s second-leading career scorer and adds the distinction of becoming the second-oldest player that the Elias Sports Bureau could confirm ever donned a uniform. Blanda was 48 when he retired from the Oakland Raiders after the 1975 season.

“Morten Andersen is one of the finest field goal kickers in the history of the National Football League,” Falcons coach Jim Mora said. “His outstanding career speaks for itself, and we are excited to have him rejoin our organization.”

Andersen, an eight-time Pro Bowl selection, returns to the NFL after last kicking with Minnesota in 2004. He will handle extra points and all field goal attempts except those well beyond 50 yards. In a 23-year career, Andersen has played in 354 games — more than anyone else — and put up 2,358 points. If he shows he can still do the job, he’ll have a legitimate shot at the only guy ahead of him on the list: kicker Gary Anderson with 2,434 points.

Koenen, who made just two of eight field goal attempts in Atlanta’s first two games, will continue to handle the kickoff and punting duties. A change was expected after he missed four field goals — all from 40 yards and in — in a 14-3 victory over Tampa Bay on Sunday.

Andersen is the leading scorer in Atlanta history and kicked the team’s most famous field goal, a 38-yarder in overtime to beat the Vikings in the 1999 NFC championship game. He played with the Falcons from 1995-2000.

If anyone can do it at this age, it’s Andersen.

Related: Falcons’ Michael Koenen First Triple Threat Kicker Since ‘82

Cowboys Sign LB Bradie James to 5 Year Deal

Todd Archer reports that the Cowboys have agreed to a five-year extension worth $20 million with linebacker Bradie James.

Excellent news for Cowboys fans. The team has already locked up several star players from recent draft classes this offseason: Safety Roy Williams, tight end Jason Witten, and cornerback Terence Newman.

Peter Gammons Back from Brain Surgery

Peter Gammons is back writing about baseball and damned thankful to be able to do so.

The first clue that my cell towers were intact came right around the trading deadline, approximately a month after my aneurysm. By that time, I had been transferred from the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston to the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Cape and the Islands. I was perusing the morning box scores in the Cape Cod Times when I brusquely asked my nurse, “Linda, how did Austin Kearns get to the Nationals?”

Linda Stetharces-Caruso had no idea what I was talking about, but she knew me well enough to allow me to grab my BlackBerry and fire off that question, which two general managers answered within the hour. Some gaps have to be filled.

What I endured is trivial compared to 9/11 victims or the suffering of heroes like John McCain, but to get back to the point where Austin Kearns mattered was my return from what was a kind of life-and-death matter. Just to be able to type Kearns’ name makes me one of the luckiest people on earth.

Frankly, even though I live near Washington and have been to several Nats games (albeit, only when the Braves are in town) I don’t much care about Kearns. Glad to have Gammons back, though.

Chargers Close to Deal for Titans QB Volek

The Chargers are close to reaching a deal for Titans backup QB Billy Volek, John Clayton reports.

The San Diego Chargers and Tennessee Titans are in final discussions for a trade involving Titans quarterback Billy Volek. The talks, which had been on hold until the two teams played each other Sunday, are at a point where the trade could be completed Tuesday. If a deal is not reached, Volek could be headed to another team.

The Chargers have offered a sixth-round choice; the Titans are asking for a fifth-rounder in exchange for Volek. The two teams had been discussing a trade for a couple weeks until both agreed to wait until after Sunday’s matchup because the Titans didn’t want to move Volek to a team they were playing two weeks into the season. Conversations resumed Monday with hopes of reaching a quick resolution.

Complicating the negotiations is a no-trade clause in Volek’s contract. Though Volek asked to be traded after being demoted to third string, he controls where he would go and his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, has to be involved in any trade discussion due to the clause.

Were I Volek, I’d nix this deal. If the Chargers were willing to let Drew Brees, a Pro Bowl caliber quarterback, go to play Phillip Rivers, there’s zero chance that Vokek can get the starting job barring injury. He’s far better off biding his time and trying to land with a team–say, the Oakland Raiders–desperate for a better starter.

Dodgers tie consecutive homerun record

From AP-

When things looked bleak for the Los Angeles Dodgers, they found their power stroke. The Dodgers hit four consecutive homers in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the game, and Nomar Garciaparra’s two-run drive in the 10th lifted Los Angeles to an 11-10 victory over the San Diego Padres on Monday night.

*****

After Los Angeles tied it in the ninth with four straight homers — just the fourth time that’s happened in major league history — the Padres went ahead on Brian Giles’ double and Josh Bard’s two-out single off Aaron Sele (8-6).

But Rudy Seanez (1-2) walked Kenny Lofton to begin the bottom half, and Garciaparra followed by hitting his 18th homer deep into the left-field pavilion.

*****

At Los Angeles, Jeff Kent and J.D. Drew opened the ninth with homers off San Diego’s Jon Adkins. Russell Martin and Marlon Anderson then connected on the first two pitches thrown by Trevor Hoffman, who entered with 475 career saves — three shy of Lee Smith’s major league record.

The last time a team hit four consecutive homers was on May 2, 1964, when the Minnesota Twins accomplished the feat against Kansas City in the 11th inning.

I don’t have anything to add about last night’s game except Dodger stadium is an unlikely place for such a happening. That stadium is one of the toughest hitter’s parks in baseball.

Baseball author Bill James wrote many years ago about the 1964 game. Before that season began, Charles Finley wanted to change the dimensions of Kansas City Municipal Stadium to the exact same dimensions as Yankee Stadium. All in order to increase homerun production. MLB wouldn’t allow the ballpark changes.

So Finley had a line drawn across the outfield in Left and Right where the fence would have been. Whenever a ball was hit over the line, the PA announcer would intone “That would have been a homerun in Yankee Stadium”. On the day of the four consecutive homers, the next batter hit a long fly ball out. The announcer said. “”That would have been a homerun in Yankee Stadium”. The next day that announcement was discontinued.

The 64 A’s did increase their homerun production, but mostly for their opponents. Opposition batters hit a then ML record amount of homers against the A’s.(220 or thereabouts) The record would stand till 1987.

Wow, That Was Brutal. Jacksonville Wins 9-0

Was I just watching baseball? Byron Leftwich seemed to pitch a shutout, he even has a pitcher’s motion with his throw.

The Steelers add another entry to an illustrious record. Only two teams have been shut out the year after defending their Super Bowl title: the Steelers were in 1980, and again tonight, and the Raiders were in 1981 – not once, or twice, but three times. In a row.

One of the things I appreciated about the Monday Night Football crew is that they really made an effort to make sure they talked about the game, and didn’t distract too much from it (Ben Roethlisberger Anatomy 101 aside). In fact, Mike Tirico had his team quiet down for a play for us to hear the noise the Jacksonville fans were making. Few announcing teams will do that.

As far as the game, I was right. The Pittsburgh defense gave first, and allowed Jacksonville to score, and gave them all the momentum they needed. Our defense didn’t really break, but it did bend. Under normal circumstances, that would have been enough to overcome. However, since Jacksonville was playing such a great game, and their defense did NOT bend because our offense was unable to bend them, it proved insurmountable. We have got to do better with the time of possession battle than we did tonight. A good team is going to be able to exploit us there every time if this isn’t an aberration.

Let’s hope that Willie Parker isn’t Amos Zereoue Jr. Zereoue, for those who aren’t Steeler fans, was the last fast back we tried. When we discovered him, the excitement was astronomical. We finally had an atheletic back, not the slow power back (who’s name escapes me) we had been using. He did great when we had that power back, but when the power back left, he wasn’t ever to get anything going. Parker looked too much like Zereoue tonight for my liking, and I hope that isn’t permanent.

Steelers, Jaguars in Defensive Slugfest

Watching the Monday Night game right now. I was going to write a preview, but instead, I’ll write a first half review followed by a second half preview.

First off, what the heck was Jacksonville thinking there? They just let the clock run down and went for the Hail Mary from the Steeler 46 or so. They had about 20 seconds left, and didn’t take the time out in order to get at least two tries. Bad clock management there.

Anyway, we’re scoreless in the second half. Jacksonville vs. Pittsburgh has become the typical defensive slugfest. Neither team is giving at all on the run. This does not surprise me at all – I have to agree with Tony Kornheiser when he says that this is a classic defensive slugfest, and that the only thing missing is a driving snow. Are there any snow machines near Jacksonville? We really need some snow to make this game complete.

My suspicion is that this game will either hinge around which defense breaks first, or which team makes a big mistake. At the moment, Jacksonville is handily winning the time of possession battle, and they get the ball back first. The Steeler defense is in danger of tiring before too much longer. However, Jacksonville threw the first interception.

Question: what the heck is up with Michael Irving’s suit? That must be left over from his father’s 70′s wardrobe.

Note: Nice run by Jacksonville. Go Steeler D!

Jevon Kearse Out for Season with Knee Injury

If you needed more proof that professional football was a brutal game, look no further than Javon Kearse.

Jevon Kearse will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury the star defensive end sustained in Philadelphia’s overtime loss to the Giants on Sunday. Kearse’s injury included sprains of multiple ligaments, including the medial collateral ligament, the lateral collateral ligament, and the posterior cruciate ligament. The Eagles said that treatment options for his knee will be determined in the near future.

Kearse, who had 2½ sacks in the game, was injured when his leg knocked against Mike Patterson while the two brought down Eli Manning on New York’s first possession of the extra period. Kearse reached for his left knee immediately after the play, was helped off the field and carted to the locker room.

[...]

Kearse is in his third season with the Eagles after signing a $66 million, eight-year contract in 2004. He had 7½ sacks in each of his first two seasons in Philadelphia after getting at least 9½ in four of his five years in Tennessee. He already had 3½ sacks in two games and seemed poised to have an outstanding season.

[...]

A first-round pick by Tennessee in 1999, Kearse quickly established himself as one of the NFL’s premier sack artists and earned the nickname: “The Freak.”

Kearse had 36 sacks and went to the Pro Bowl in his first three seasons, twice earning All-Pro honors. But he had just 11½ sacks in his last two injury-plagued seasons with the Titans. He missed 12 games with a broken bone in his left foot in 2002, sprained the same foot the following year and missed nearly three games.

As a Cowboys fan so, it’s good for my team that a key player on their top divisional rival is out before the teams face off. As a human being, though, it’s sad to see a man miss most of a season in the prime of his career. There aren’t many of those. Unfortunately, that’s just the nature of the game.

Maurice Clarett Sentenced to 3-1/2 Years in Jail

Maurice Clarett will spend, at minimum, the next 3-1/2 years of his life in jail.

When the day comes that Maurice Clarett can be released from prison 3½ years from now, the former Ohio State football star’s life story will hardly have been told in full. If his lockup ends on the earliest possible date, Clarett, who struck an unexpected plea deal Monday for robbery and concealed weapons charges, will be all of 26 years old. His 8-week-old daughter, who was present for his sentencing, will not yet have turned 4. “It’s in a range that will allow him to get his life back together after his release,” Prosecutor Ron O’Brien said.

Judge David Fais announced the agreement on the day Clarett’s aggravated robbery trial was to begin. He was sentenced to 7½ years with release possible after 3½ years, and five years of probation.

A bearded Clarett, wearing handcuffs and jail-issue clothing, remained expressionless throughout Monday’s hearing. “I’d like to apologize for my behavior, and I accept the time that was given to me,” Clarett said when asked if he wished to address the court.

After the judge accepted the deal, Clarett looked over at his mother in the first row of the gallery. She was sobbing and holding his infant daughter while sitting next to his girlfriend.

Minutes later, one of his attorneys summed up Clarett’s saga — from the time he was one of college football’s brightest stars to the day he began life as an inmate. “He was up here,” Michael Hoague said, raising his arm up to eye level. “He got down here,” he said, lowering his arm to his waist. “And he’s going to be back up here again.”

Sadly, he’s not. He’ll never be a guy who could taste a multi-million dollar signing bonus and a life of luxury.

Clarett largely chose his own fate and I’ve got very little pity for him. After all, most of us are blessed with his amazing athletic gifts and the expectation of wealth and fame that comes with that in our culture. On the other hand, I can’t help but believe that if the NFL had been less unbending and allowe d a kid who, let’s face it, had no business on a university campus to play football professionally, things might have been different.