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Sports writers in the New York area will now need to find another topic to write about. From ESPN-
Sean Payton’s persistence finally won out. The New Orleans Saints acquired Jeremy Shockey for a second- and a fifth-round draft pick in 2009.
“Jeremy is a player that we are excited to have on our roster. He is someone I am familiar with as a player,” Payton said. “He brings a skill set to the position that I feel will be a tremendous benefit to our offense.”
The Saints had been trying since February to acquire the disgruntled New York Giants tight end. First, they offered a second-round pick. Before the draft, they increased the offer to a second- and a fifth-round draft choice, but until a few days before the start of their training camp, the Giants felt he was too valuable to lose.
******
“Jeremy brought great energy to the game every time he stepped on the field,” Giants team president John Mara said. “He had a close relationship with my father from the time we drafted him, and I had a couple of long conversations with Jeremy this spring and summer. From those conversations, it was apparent to me that a fresh start was the best thing for us and for Jeremy.”
Even through the weekend, the Saints had tried to broker a deal for Shockey. On Sunday, they tried to get in the middle of the Jason Taylor trade to see whether there was a way they could make a three-way deal that brought them Shockey, according to multiple sources. Taylor went from the Miami Dolphins to the Washington Redskins for a second-round pick in 2009 and a sixth-rounder in 2010.
Shockey, 28, a four-time Pro Bowler, has 371 catches for 4,228 yards and 27 touchdowns in his six-year NFL career. He grew disgruntled with the Giants because he wanted to be more involved with some downfield passing. New York valued his run blocking.
******
The Giants still have five tight ends, including Kevin Boss, who started the last six games of last season. The others are rookie Eric Butler, Jerome Collins, Darcy Johnson and Michael Matthews.
Notwithstanding his four Pro Bowl appearances, my own opinion of Shockey is that he is overrated. This is going to be one of those deals where we won’t know who will come out on top for a few years.
The Dolphins get two draft picks, including a 2nd rounder next year, in return for the 2006 NFC Defensive player of the Year. From the Sun-Sentinel-
Jason Taylor is leaving the only NFL team he has known, his wish to be traded to a contender granted Sunday.
The Washington Redskins gave the Dolphins a second-round pick in 2009 and a sixth-round selection in 2010 to acquire the six-time Pro Bowler, who had spent 11 seasons anchoring the Dolphins’ defense.
“We’re fortunate there was a guy that caliber on the market when somebody got hurt,” Redskins executive vice president Vinny Cerrato said. “Normally, in most years, there’s not a guy of that caliber on the market.”
The Redskins’ need for a pass-rushing end became evident Sunday when they lost defensive end Phillip Daniels to a torn left ACL and Alex Buzbee to a ruptured Achilles’ tendon in the team’s first-day practice.
Tired of the Dolphins’ constant rebuilding, Taylor pushed management to trade him to a contender this offseason. Pre-dating the draft, the Dolphins talked with a handful of teams. But none of the offers brought suitable value for a player who contributed 55 tackles and 11 sacks last season. Until now.
*****
Taylor, who will turn 34 on Sept. 1, is due $8 million this season, which includes a $500,000 roster bonus, and $8.5 million next season. The Redskins have the cap space to absorb the lofty contract, which has Taylor ranked among the NFL’s highest-paid defensive linemen. The majority of his salary comes off the Dolphins’ books, putting the team well under the salary cap.
The front page of the Palm Beach Post’s sports section has a list of Taylor’s accomplishments that include 11 year veteran, 6 Pro Bowls, 172 games etc, all under a caption that reads “What the Dolphins lose”
What lose? None of those accomplishments disappear because Taylor is now with a different NFL team. What Miami does lose is whatever productivity Taylor has for the rest of his career.
Which may not be a heck of a lot. He’s 34 year old Defensive lineman. Most players are out of football at this age, and those who are still in it are almost all in their decline stage of the career. Taylor didn’t have a bad 2007 considering the train wreck the Dolphins season was. However trading him for a 2nd round is a good deal in my book. A 2nd rounder could be a star or a very productive long-term player. It’s a bit of a gamble, but Miami is a few years at least away from even contending for a playoff spot. Taylor wasn’t Miami’s future, but rather its past. I think Miami made the right move.
Coming off a 1-15 season riddled with injuries, my favorite Florida team can’t wait until training camp before one of its players gets hurt.
Dolphins quarterback Josh McCown cut the index finger on his throwing hand during an accident involving a chainsaw on July 3, but said that it wasn’t serious and he will be ready to compete for the starting job when training camp opens next week.
McCown said he needed six stitches to close the wound on his right index finger after his brother, Luke, a quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and he “miscommunicated,” while shaving down a tree stump at his lakefront home in Jacksonville, Texas.
“We were clearing some brush and wanted to cut up some stumps and stack them,” said Josh McCown, whose family owns a sawmill business in East Texas. “I was holding down a little piece of a tree trunk and my little brother, Luke, had the chainsaw. He hit a knob and the chainsaw jumped.”
McCown was initially alarmed by the amount of blood, but was relieved when the finger was intact and the emergency room doctor told him there was no damage to the tendon.
If what Josh says is true, that’s good news for him. To be honest, a person who makes their living with their hand(s) should stay away from dangerous machinery. MLB pitcher Bobby Ojeda’s career may have been adversely affected after he lost a fingertip on his throwing hand as a result of his trimming some hedges. Ojeda only having one decent year after the injury.
McCown said he realized that he was fortunate and would refrain from operating chainsaws until after his playing days are over.
Add McCown to the long list of people who only learn through trial and ERROR there are just some things we shouldn’t be doing. Ojeda didn’t wise up after his accident. Five years later, he went boating with at least one drunken teammate. Steve Olin and Tim Crews were killed when the boat they were riding in along with Ojeda collided with a pier.
The Dolphins were investigating the matter
If I was feeling real snarky, I’d say someone should investigate why a football franchise coming off its worst season felt the need to sign a Quarterback who has thrown more INTs than TDs lifetime. Oops looks like I just was a little snarky.
Not my usual beat but I noticed that Pittsburgh’s Rooneys Quietly Shop the Steelers
Steelers Chairman Dan Rooney, the eldest of the brothers, wants to consolidate his control through a 10-year plan to buy out most of their shares, but a well-funded prospective buyer has emerged after some of Mr. Rooney’s brothers and their children raised questions about his offer.
Stanley Druckenmiller, billionaire chairman of Pittsburgh’s Duquesne Capital Management, has expressed interest in acquiring the Steelers, people briefed on the negotiations said.
The family disagreement that could lead to the sale is described:
In a statement Monday, the Steelers said Mr. Rooney “wants to stay in the football business while some of his four brothers plan to get out of the [National Football League] and focus their business efforts on their racetracks and other interests.” The statement said that Mr. Rooney and his son, Steelers President Art Rooney II, are arranging a financing plan to buy the brothers’ shares in the team in order to continue substantial ownership of the franchise by the Rooneys.
“I will do everything possible to work out a solution to ensure my father’s legacy of keeping the Steelers in the Rooney family and in Pittsburgh for at least another 75 years,” Dan Rooney said in the statement.
Follow the link to a timeline of the Steelers franchise history as well as the valuations of recently sold sports franchises.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad
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Soccer Dad linked with Steelers for sale?...
He died in a auto accident late last night. If not for Kiel’s arrest for shipping cough medicine two years ago, I would most likely not even remember him. RIP.
SAN DIEGO - Former Chargers safety Terrence Kiel was killed after he was thrown from a Chevy sedan he was driving, police said Saturday.
Kiel, 27, was driving alone after leaving a party at about 10:15 Friday night when he hit a wall in San Diego’s upscale Scripps Ranch neighborhood and was thrown from the car, police Sgt. Alan Hayward said.
Kiel was barely breathing when paramedics reached him and he died about an hour later, Hayward said.
Friends had tried to keep Kiel from driving home from the party, Hayward said, and witnesses told police he appeared to be driving in the wrong direction when he crashed.
Police would not know whether Kiel had been under the influence of drugs or alcohol until toxicology tests were performed, Hayward said.
A second-round draft pick out of Texas A&M in 2003, Kiel played four years in the NFL from 2003-2006, all with the Chargers.
In February 2007 he pleaded guilty to felony and misdemeanor drug charges for shipping prescription cough syrup to Texas, the most significant of several scrapes with the law.
He was released by the team after his plea.
Kiel had been led off the practice field and arrested in the locker room by Drug Enforcement Administration agents in September 2006, suspected of shipping at least two parcels of prescription cough syrup, apparently to be mixed with soft drinks to make a concoction known as “lean.”
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Some idiot analyst named Dan Arkush at Pro Football Weekly thinks so.
Candidates
2007: WR Ted Ginn Jr. / Dolphins
2006: LB Ernie Sims / Lions
2005: CB Carlos Rogers / Redskins
2004: WR Reggie Williams / Jaguars
2003: DT Kevin Williams / Vikings
2002: DT John Henderson / Jaguars
2001: WR Koren Robinson / Seahawks
2000: LB Brian Urlacher / Bears
1999: LB Chris Claiborne / Lions
1998: RB Fred Taylor / Jaguars
And the loser is … Ted Ginn Jr.
The verdict is definitely still out on Ginn, but draft experts far and wide continue to question the wisdom of his selection in last year’s draft over Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn, who eventually dropped into the Browns’ lap at the No. 22 spot. Truth be told, Ginn is victimized in this context by what must be considered a pretty solid cast of candidates. Robinson, who no doubt has had his share of baggage, was given consideration, but he had his moments during his time in Seattle, especially his second season, when he gained 1,240 yards receiving and averaged just under 16 yards a catch. Reggie Williams also was considered based on his mediocre track record in his first three years with the Jags, but it appears the light might have finally gone on for him last season.
I didn’t defend the Ginn selection when it happened. Not because the Dolphins passed over Brady Quinn(who I’d remind everyone that the book is still out on. Quinn spending 2007 riding the Cleveland Browns bench and throwing 8 passes for the entire season.) but because Miami didn’t concern address its most pressing needs. Finding players for a aging defense. This is what I wrote at the time.
I stick to what I said before, the Dolphins should not draft Brady Quinn. Rather the team should either pick
1- DT Amobi Okoye
or
2- LB Patrick Willis
or
3- Trade down
Miami has the oldest starting defense in the NFL. Its time to upgrade it.
Willis was AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year for 2007.
The age of the Dolphin defense was known(Oldest Average age for a team’s line and linebackers in the NFL) going into the 2007 and took full effect last year. One South Florida sports columnist jumped on the ‘why didn’t Miami pick a defensive player’ bandwagon about six months after the draft.
Ginn wasn’t the right move for Miami, but is he a bust at this point in his career? I watched every single game Miami played last year. Ginn returned one kick for a TD and had two more taken back by penalties. His 34 receptions for 420 yards and 2 TDs is hardly impressive(Ginn had his best game in the season finale against the Bengals may I note) but you have to remember how pathetic the Dolphin QB situation was last year. I ought to know, I watched every minute of every 2007 Miami Dolphin game. Did Dan Arkush?
As to some of those other number nine picks, Koren Robinson and Chris Claiborne each lasted just four years with the teams that originally drafted them. I hardly think that’s what the Seahawks and Lions were hoping from these players when they were selected at #9 in their respective drafts. A strong case can be made for both Claiborne and Robinson as draft busts.(Claiborne is out of the NFL entirely at this moment)
The jury is still out on Ginn(Something Arkush admits as much as it is on Brady Quinn. It is downright stupid to call Ted Ginn after only one NFL season.
This comes after his second DUI arrest in about a month’s time.
After his boating DUI charge, Cedric Benson remained a starting running back in the eyes of coach Lovie Smith and the Chicago Bears.
His weekend DUI charge while in a car in Austin, Texas, has led to his release, however. The Bears placed Benson on waivers Monday, two years before the end of his contract and three years into a disappointing career with the team.
“Cedric displayed a pattern of behavior we will not tolerate,” Bears general manager Jerry Angelo said in a statement. “As I said this past weekend, you have to protect your job. Everyone in this organization is held accountable for their actions. When individual priorities overshadow team goals, we suffer the consequences as a team. Those who fail to understand the importance of ‘team’ will not play for the Chicago Bears.”
Benson wasn’t present at the Bears’ organized practice Monday. The Chicago Sun-Times reported on its Web site that Benson showed up and was sent home by Smith.
Benson had been a big disappointment for Chicago ever since the team took him with the 4th overall pick of the 2005 NFL draft. I haven’t watched Benson enough to know if he could still salvage a career in the NFL. The first thing the RB needs to do however, is put his life together.
White becomes the second member of the famed ‘Steel Curtain’ to die this year. Ernie Holmes was the other. I was a heavy football watcher in the 70’s and recall Dwight White very well. RIP.
PITTSBURGH — Dwight White, the Steel Curtain defensive end known as “Mad Dog” who helped lead the Pittsburgh Steelers to four Super Bowl titles in the 1970s, died Friday. He was 58.
The Steelers said White died at a Pittsburgh hospital. The cause was not disclosed. The team said White was released from the hospital after having back surgery, but then was readmitted with complications.
White is the second member of the original four-man Steel Curtain to die this year. Defensive tackle Ernie Holmes died Jan. 17 in a car accident in Texas.
White, a two-time Pro Bowl player, was chosen as one of the 33 members of the Steelers’ 75th anniversary all-time team last season.
White was best known for climbing out of a hospital bed to play in the Steelers’ first Super Bowl victory, 16-6 over the Minnesota Vikings in 1975. White lost 18 pounds after being diagnosed with pneumonia and a lung infection, yet played nearly the entire game.
White made three tackles for no yards as the Vikings ran seven of their first eight running plays his way and went on to finish with only 17 yards rushing on 21 attempts. White also accounted for the only points of the first half when he sacked Fran Tarkenton in the end zone for a safety.
White, a former player at East Texas State (now Texas A&M-Commerce), gained his nickname because of his intensity. He often said that playing on the defensive line was like having “a dog’s life.”
Steelers chairman Dan Rooney said that inner drive was the reason the 6-foot-4, 250-pounder could play so well only hours after being hospitalized.
“He played with a relentlessness that led us to four Super Bowl titles in the 1970s,” Rooney said in a statement. “Dwight refused to be denied, as was evidenced when he walked out of the hospital with pneumonia to play in Super Bowl IX and had an outstanding game. Dwight will be remembered by those who knew him even more for being a wonderful and caring person.”
Rooney’s son, Steelers president Art Rooney II, said the organization “lost an important member.”
“He always seemed to rise to the occasion when it counted most and added an element of toughness that was synonymous with our teams of the 1970s,” Rooney II said.
According to a Los Angeles Times survey in 2006, one-fifth of the former NFL players from the 1970s and 1980s who died through that year were former Steelers.
White was a fourth-round draft pick in 1971 after being a first-team All-Lone Star Conference player and team captain at East Texas State as a senior.
White made his first Pro Bowl in 1972, playing on a Steelers defensive line that also featured Hall of Famer Mean Joe Greene and defensive end L.C. Greenwood.
White repeated as a Pro Bowl selection in 1973 and his 46 sacks from 1971-80 are the seventh most in Steelers history. He had 33½ sacks from 1972-75, with three in the Steelers’ 21-17 victory over the Dallas Cowboys in the January 1976 Super Bowl.
White was chosen by The Associated Press as a first team All-AFC player in 1973.
White retired after the 1980 season — one of the first players from the Steelers’ Super Bowl teams to do so — and became a prominent stock broker in Pittsburgh and one of the most successful former Steelers in the business world.
Most recently, he was senior managing director of public finance for Mesirow Financial in Pittsburgh. Before that, he was a partner and principal operator of the Pittsburgh office of W.R. Lazard & Co., plus a company board member, and worked for investment firms Balche-Halsey and Daniels & Bell.
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So long as he gets paid, Anthony Henry will play wherever the Cowboys need him.
Anthony Henry is the Dallas Cowboys starting cornerback. But he is open to making a switch to safety, which could be a possibility if Pacman Jones is fully reinstated and first-round pick Mike Jenkins emerges.
Henry, a former safety at South Florida, realizes with the added depth at cornerback he could be moved to safety. He believes a move to safety would help prolong his career. “At some point it could happen,” said Henry, who is entering his eighth season. “I am not sure when. If they made the decision, I would be down [with the move]. I think I will make the switch eventually. That’s what I have in my mind and plan on doing at some point. I know it’s something I could learn and play well.”
Henry, who led the Cowboys with six interceptions last season, started at free safety his first three years in college. He has worked some at safety in the dime package where Roy Williams usually lines up to cover the tight ends. It could allow the Cowboys to have four cornerbacks on the field.
“I understand it,” Henry said. “Terence [Newman] got paid, they draft a corner in the first round and bring in Pacman. It does affect me. All I can do is play my best and try to be successful and let things fall where they fall.”
In stark contrast to Greg Ellis, who first resisted the move to linebacker and is now balking at moving to situational status to prolong his career, Henry is a team player who knows where his bread is buttered. Henry will be an outstanding safety, if necessary, and the best ball hawk at that position the Cowboys have had since Darren Woodson retired.
If Terry Glenn is going to continue his career with the Dallas Cowboys, he’ll have to agree to a big insurance policy.
The Dallas Cowboys want receiver Terry Glenn on their team.
But an NFL source said the Cowboys have told Glenn to either sign the $500,000 injury waiver for his surgically-repaired right knee or prepare to play elsewhere. And that time is growing short for Glenn’s decision.
Glenn is due $1.74 million this season. By signing an injury waiver, if he injures his right knee at any time, that $1.74 million would be nullified and he would be paid a pro-rated $500,000. If he was to suffer any other injury other than to his right knee, he would be paid the full $1.7 million.
That’s a tough business move. Then again, Glenn sucked nearly $6 million from the Cowboys’ salary cap last year and couldn’t play. And he refused to have surgery that would have him fully ready to go this year. So it’s hard to blame the Cowboys for wanting a little insurance.
Terrell Owens is about to turn 35 but that didn’t stop the Dallas Cowboys from extending his contract another three years.
Since his signing with the Dallas Cowboys, the team has taken every opportunity to avoid potential headaches with receiver Terrell Owens. Despite Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’ preference for risk, he saw no gamble in giving Owens the extension he sought, but did not openly lobby for.
Any chance the Cowboys were going to cut Owens loose at the end of this season is now all but gone. Owens, who will turn 35 in December, could now potentially end his career a Cowboy.
Owens, whose original contract runs through the 2008 season, agreed to a three-year extension worth $27 million. Combining the 2008 season with the extension, the deal is four years, $34 million. Owens, now under contract through 2011, is among the league’s highest paid receivers with New England’s Randy Moss and Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald.
The extension includes a signing bonus of just under $12.9 million. His base salary this season will be $830,000, $100,000 of which is guaranteed. By signing the deal now it gives the Cowboys a little more room under the 2008 salary cap.
I’m leery of giving players that old so much money. The Terry Glenn situation, where a guy who was still at the top of the game one year and never recovered from an injury the next, should serve as a bright beacon for the Cowboys. Perhaps Jones is looking forward to the “uncapped season” to bail him out should T.O. go south; otherwise, this is an awfully big risk.
Then again, as ESPN’s Michael Smith points out, “The key to the deal may not be the length or even the money. The best part: Owens will not be playing out the final year of his contract, eliminating a potentially explosive topic from a team that needs its attention on ending an 11-season drought without a playoff win.”
Smith adds, “He’s 34 now and in as good shape as anyone a decade younger. A fitness devotee, he’s unlikely to let himself go now. His former teammate and mentor Jerry Rice played well into his 40s.” True enough. Then again, almost nobody manages that. Even a supremely fit athlete like Owens can break down playing such a brutal sport.
The NFL has allowed Adam “Pacman” Jones to return to practice.
 Suspended Dallas Cowboys cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones moved a step closer to becoming an active NFL player again Monday when NFL commissioner Roger Goodell gave him permission to participate in practices, training camp and preseason games.
Goodell said he will wait until Sept. 1 — six days before the Cowboys’ season opener against the Cleveland Browns — before making a final determination on full reinstatement.
But being allowed to get on the field with his teammates even on a limited basis was a much-welcomed step in the right direction for Pacman and the Cowboys. He will make his Cowboys debut during the organized team activity workouts today.
It’s absolutely unconscionable that one man has this much power to decide the livelihood of another. Presumably, though, Goodell wouldn’t allow a man to practice only to deny him the opportunity to earn a living once the season starts. If this is being done in good faith, the only rationale for holding the final decision over Jones’ head is to add incentive for good behavior.
A discussion with Steven Taylor about the new “Marion Barber Rule,” a new point of emphasis against offensive players stiff-arming to the head, prompted me to note how many rules are (informally) named after Dallas Cowboys.
A quick Web search found the following (Cowboys in bold):
* Bert Emanuel rule — the ball can touch the ground during a completed pass as long as the receiver maintains control of the ball. Enacted due to a play in the 1999 NFC championship game, where Emanuel, playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, had a catch ruled incomplete since the ball touched the ground.
* Bill Belichick rule — two defensive players, one primary and one backup, will have a radio device in their helmets allowing the head coach to communicate with them through the radio headset, identical to the radio device inside the helmet of the quarterback. This proposal was defeated in previous years, but was finally enacted in 2008 as a result of Spygate. This rule is the first, and thus far only rule named after a head coach.
* Bronko Nagurski rule — forward passing made legal from anywhere behind the line of scrimmage. Enacted in 1933. Prior to this rule, a player had to be five yards behind the line of scrimmage to throw a forward pass.
* Chad Johnson rule — players may no longer use a prop or do any act while on the ground during a touchdown celebration. Enacted in 2006. (While Johnson was the foremost offender, the rule also might be considered the Joe Horn rule, after an infamous post-touchdown incident involving Horn and a cellular phone after he scored for the Saints against the New York Giants. [13]
* Deacon Jones rule — no head-slapping. Enacted in 1977.
* Deion Sanders rule– Player salary rule which correlates a contract’s signing bonus with its yearly salary. Enacted after Deion Sanders signed with the Dallas Cowboys in 1995 for a minimum salary and a $13 million signing bonus. (There is also a college football rule with this nickname.)
* Deion Sanders rule II — Player salary rule which correlates a contract’s signing bonus with its yearly salary. Enacted after Deion Sanders signed with the Dallas Cowboys in 1995 for a minimum salary and a $13 million signing bonus. (There is also a college football rule with this nickname.)
* Emmitt Smith rule — A player cannot remove his helmet while on the field of play, except in the case of obvious medical difficulty. A violation is treated as unsportsmanlike conduct. Enacted in 1997.
* Erik Williams rule — no hands to the facemask by offensive linemen.
* Fran Tarkenton rule — a line judge was added as the sixth official to ensure that a back was indeed behind the line of scrimmage before throwing a forward pass. Enacted in 1965.
* Greg Pruitt rule — tear-away jerseys are now illegal. Pruitt purposely wore flimsy jerseys that ripped apart in the hands of would-be tacklers. Such a jersey was most infamously seen in a game between the Rams and Oilers where Earl Campbell’s jersey ripped apart after several missed tackles.
* Ken Stabler rule — on fourth down at any time in the game, or any down in the final two minutes of play, if a player fumbles, only the fumbling player can recover and/or advance the ball. If that player’s teammate recovers the ball, it is placed back at the spot of the fumble. A defensive player can recover and advance at any time of play. Enacted in 1979 in response to the 1978 “Holy Roller” play.
* Lester Hayes rule– no Stickum allowed. Enacted in 1981.
* Lou Groza rule — no artificial medium to assist in the execution of a kick. Enacted in 1956.
* Mel Blount rule — Officially known as illegal use of hands, defensive backs can only make contact with receivers within five yards of the line of scrimmage. Enacted in current form in 1978.
* Mel Renfro rule — allows a second player on the offense to catch a tipped ball, without a defender subsequently touching it. Enacted in 1978.
* Michael Irvin rule — no taunting. Another rule, resulting in offensive pass interference, prohibiting WRs to push off CBs, is also often called “the Michael Irvin rule.”
* Neil Smith rule — prevents a defensive lineman from flinching to induce a false start penalty on the offense. Enacted in 1998.
* Phil Dawson rule — certain field goals can be reviewed by instant replay, including kicks that bounce off the uprights. Under the previous system, no field goals could be replayed. Enacted in 2008 as a result of an unusual field goal that was initially ruled “no good” but was reversed upon discussion.
* Ricky (Williams) rule — rule declared that hair could not be used to block part of the uniform from a tackler and, therefore, an opposing player could be tackled by his hair (aka “The Ricky Rule” due to Williams’ long dread-locks). Enacted in 2003.
* Roy Williams rule — no horse-collar tackles. Enacted in 2005 when Williams broke Terrell Owens’s ankle and Musa Smith’s leg on horse-collar tackles during the previous season.
* Shawne Merriman rule — Bans any player from playing in the Pro Bowl if they test positive for using a performance-enhancing drug during that season. Enacted in 2007 after Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman played at the 2007 Pro Bowl after testing positive and serving a four-game suspension during the preceding season.
* Terrell Owens rule — no “foreign objects” on a player’s uniform (enacted in response to the 2002 “Sharpie incident”), though existing rules already forbade this.
* Tom Dempsey rule — any shoe that is worn by a player with an artificial limb on his kicking leg must have a kicking surface that conforms to that of a normal kicking shoe.
* Tony Romo rule — teams will now be given 45 minutes - 25 extra minutes than in years past - to prepare the balls for the game; and 12 sequentially numbered “K” balls will be used in the game, monitored by an official, instead of the ball boys. Enacted in 2007.
* Ty Law rule (also known as the Rodney Harrison rule — placed more emphasis on the Mel Blount rule after the New England Patriots utilized an aggressive coverage scheme, involving excessive jamming of wide receivers at the line of scrimmage, in the 2003 AFC championship game against the Indianapolis Colts.
Sources: “National Football League lore - Rules named after players,” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, “National Football League - Rules named after players,” Spiritus-Temporis, “Penalties Named after NFL Players,” The Football Palace Forums
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Democrat=Socialist linked with S. 2191 - STOP THIS MADNESS NOW!...
In addition to videotaping other teams in direct violation of League rules, Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots also cheat on their use of the Injured Reserve list. Mike Florio has the details at Sporting News.
When Walsh met with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, he blew the whistle on the Patriots using players on injured reserve during practice. Goodell chose his words carefully at the press conference following the May 13 meeting with Walsh, explaining only that Walsh said “there was a tape at one point in time of a player inappropriately practicing.” The question left unanswered is the extent to which the Patriots engaged in such conduct outside the presence of a camera lens, and after Walsh left the team in 2003.
Enter Ross Tucker. The former Patriots offensive lineman has joined the media, and he recently wrote that the Patriots were using injured players in practice as recently as 2005. Tucker also says that none of the other three teams he played for did the same thing.
Goodell has said that he’ll investigate Walsh’s claims, but that he won’t impose further penalty on the Patriots if Walsh’s claim is corroborated. But what if Tucker’s claim is corroborated, too? And what if an investigation reveals that the Patriots have been using injured players in practice for most of the Bill Belichick era? Can Goodell really do nothing further to the team at that point, especially since he made it clear last year that the Patriots had a chance to come clean, and that any future evidence of undisclosed cheating would result in harsh sanctions?
As one league source opined to ProFootballTalk.com last week, the use of injured players in practice is more significant than the videotaping of defensive coaching signals. As the source explained it, the tactic allows “injured” players to be stashed on the roster, preventing other teams from claiming them on waivers. It gives the “injured” players an opportunity to develop their skills. It gives the healthy players a break from practice reps.
Simply amazing. The NFL has let Belichick get away with claiming fake injuries and under-reporting serious injuries, violating the spirit of the League’s disclosure rules, for years. But this is far more serious than that. My guess is that they’ll get away with this one, too.
McHale played both on the offensive line and defensive line during the nine years he played in the NFL. RIP.
WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. (AP) — Authorities are investigating the death of former Tampa Bay Buccaneers player Thomas McHale, who was found dead at a friend’s home. He was 45.
The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office said McHale was found by the friend early Sunday in the Tampa-area home. Authorities say foul play is not suspected. An autopsy has been scheduled.
*****
McHale played for the Bucs from 1987-92, then spent two years with the Philadelphia Eagles and a year with Miami Dolphins.
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