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Maybe the best human interest story of the draft.
ESPN writes- Oher has yet to realize his potential and he likely will line up at right tackle to start his career, but if the light ever comes on for him he will emerge as an excellent left tackle. He has very good foot speed for his size and is fluid changing directions. He also has the size power to develop into an effective drive-blocker. The one concern with him is his ability to pick up the offense, so it may take him a little longer to crack the starting lineup than a lot of other prospects with his talent.
He was involved in a fatal accident last month in Miami Beach Florida. From the Miami Herald-
A DUI manslaughter charge is expected to be filed Wednesday afternoon against Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte’ Stallworth, alleging the football player was driving drunk last month when he struck and killed a pedestrian on Miami Beach, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.
Blood tests revealed Stallworth had a blood alcohol level of .12 after the 7 a.m. crash, a second source with knowledge of the investigation told The Miami Herald.
Arrangements have been made for Stallworth to surrender to authorities, the source said.
Stallworth’s attorney, Christopher Lyons, declined comment.
Police have been investigating Stallworth since March 14, when police responded to the scene of a fatal car crash at the southeast end of the MacArthur Causeway in Miami Beach.
Police said Stallworth was driving a Bentley east on the MacArthur Causeway about 7 a.m. and struck Mario Reyes, 59, who was getting off work and crossing the street to get to a bus stop.
It shouldn’t need repeating, but alcohol and driving don’t mix. Too many people don’t know their limit or when they are intoxicated. Tragedy then results.
What a ride the 2008 season was for Dolphin fans after the despair of last season. First I must mention my pre-season prediction for the Fins.
I safely think they can win 4 or 5 games. More is possible because the schedule is weak, but Miami on the other hand has too many gaping holes still.
Miami’s win today makes the team 11-5 for the year and headed to the playoffs for the first time since 2002.
Some notes about today’s, the playoff picture, and next week’s game.
*- Bret Favre threw two costly interceptions and three INTs overall. One was run back for a touchdown by Philip Merling, the other ended a Jet drive with less than five minutes to go in the game.
Both were terrible throws. The first Favre was trying to complete a screen pass to a running back that was covered. Merling was all over Leon Washington and the pass should have never been thrown. The late interception came when the Jets were running the hurryup offense and trying to catch the Dolphins unprepared. Instead the Jets wide out wasn’t ready and Favre threw it straight at a Miami defensive back. Dumb, dumb, dumb! The Jets had plenty of time and there was no need to run the hurryup.
*- Chad Pennington made it through an entire 16-game season for only the second time. Favre is on the AFC Pro Bowl team with the same amount of INTs as touchdown throws and Pennington isn’t going. What is wrong with this picture?
*- Miami ties the biggest single season by a NFL team. Ten wins, which was also done by the Indianapolis Colts.
*- Dolphin special teams were a mixed bag, which I guess is a improvement over the disasters early in the year. Two bad snaps on punts, one that Fields couldn’t come down leading to excellent field position by the Jets were in a negative column, on the plus side was a blocked punt by Miami. When was the last time the Dolphins did that?
*- Ted ‘Draft bust‘ Ginn had two catches for 71 yards. They were big plays. A bomb from Pennington, and a touchdown catch. 56 catches for the year, 790 yards and two touchdowns. Brady Quinn on the other hand threw 2 touchdowns, two interceptions and had a passer rating of 66.6 this year. If I got to eat crow for my wrong pre-season prediction, Dan Arkush should too.
*- Will Bill Parcells be back next year to help run Miami’s front office. ESPN reports the ‘Big Tuna’ has a out clause in his contract.
*- The AFC playoff picture for next week.
Baltimore at Miami
Indianapolis at San Diego/Denver winner
The first game’s winner will then play at Pittsburgh. Whoever wins the second game will play at Tennessee.
*- Head to head versus other playoff teams in the AFC, Miami is 1-1. They beat San Diego and Denver each, only one of who will be playing next week, and lost to Baltimore. Miami also lost to the only NFC bound playoff team it faced.(Arizona)
*- Miami achieved 11 wins, but the schedule at the end of the year was weak. Games against KC, Seattle, Oakland, San Francisco, all teams that struggled mightily this year. Denver, NY Jets, and Buffalo all came in at .500 or better this year, but weren’t exactly impressive when their spot on the Miami schedule came up.
*- Can Miami sell out the playoff game to prevent a local blackout? The last two times the Dolphins played a home playoff game a sellout didn’t take place.
*- Why was the broadcast breaking up early in the first quarter? I’ve seen this happen in other Dolphin games this year. The problem wasn’t with Directv(which I have) because the local television put up a station page during a outage that took place. Whatever the problem is, CBS is at fault.
It has been a rough final for the only coach to ever take the Seahawks to the Super Bowl. From AP-
Seattle’s Maurice Morris sliced through the snow like a sled for a season-high 116 yards and John Carlson scored the only touchdown on a short pass from backup Seneca Wallace as the lowly Seahawks ended New York’s stay atop the AFC East with a 13-3 upset Sunday.
“Three points is obviously not enough. There are a lot of reasons for that,” Favre said. “We are well aware of what opportunities that have been there for us. That’s what’s disappointing.”
Holmgren, who’s taking a sabbatical from football in 2009, walked around the edge of the field with tears in his eyes immediately after the second win in eight games for Seattle (4-11). Green Day’s “Time of Your Life” blared over the public-address system amid a weird scene of snowballs pelting down around the 60-year-old coach.
The Jets go to 0-4 for west coast games this year with this defeat. The slumping Jets who were once 8-3 and atop the AFC East can only make the playoffs if they beat the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo beats New England next weekend.
I grew up following the Jets, so whenever they and Miami play I have mixed feelings. Its my hope either one of Jets or Dolphins win the AFC East and the cheating defending champs are knocked out of the picture by Buffalo.
This will be the third consecutive year a regular season NFL game is to be played in the United Kingdom. From AP-
The New England Patriots will play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next season at Wembley Stadium, the third straight year the NFL will stage a regular-season game in the British capital.
The game will be played Oct. 25. The Bucs will be listed as the home team, giving up a game in Tampa.
“Over the past two years, we have seen first-hand the excitement that exists for our sport in the UK,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Monday in a statement. “The games have helped us to deepen our connection with our UK fans as well as create new ones. We are looking forward to another outstanding game in 2009.”
Five weeks ago, the New Orleans Saints beat the San Diego Chargers 37-32 before 83,000 fans at Wembley. Last season, the New York Giants defeated the Miami Dolphins 13-10. Both games were sold out.
The NFL is also expected to play a regular-season game in London in 2010.
Honestly, why does the NFL feel the need to play an overseas game? There once was a NFL Europa, and knowledgeable pro football fans know what happened to that.
The Fins(0-2) play at New England(2-0)this afternoon. Miami is coming off an embarrassing 31-10 loss to Arizona last week. The Dolphin defense unable to stop the Cardinal passing game, and the fin offense doing almost nothing till a late game drive for a touchdown orchestrated by rookie QB Chad Henne.
This week’s game has mismatch written all over it. If Tom Brady wasn’t out for the season, I well have predicted a five touchdown margin of victory for the Patriots. Instead I predict New England 28, Miami 7.
Note- I’ll probably tape the Dolphin game so as to watch the Ryder Cup live. I just hope NBC doesn’t give the football scores during the golf broadcast.
His left knee needs surgery, therefore the Patriots put their star QB on injured reserve. From AP-
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Tom Brady will miss the entire season with a left knee injury that needs surgery, leaving the New England Patriots without one of the game’s great quarterbacks and severely damaging their hopes of a return trip to the Super Bowl.
The 2007 NFL Most Valuable Player will be placed on injured reserve, the Patriots said Monday, one day after Brady’s knee collapsed under him when he was hit by Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard in the first quarter of a 17-10 victory over Kansas City.
“As a team we all just have to do our jobs. That really doesn’t change,” New England coach Bill Belichick said. “He played one position, he played it very well. We have somebody else playing that position now.”
A one-paragraph statement issued by the team confirmed that the two-time Super Bowl MVP will have surgery, ending a 128-game starting streak that is the third longest for a quarterback in league history. Belichick would not say what the injury is, but the play, Brady’s reaction and the prognosis all point toward a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
As I stated yesterday, I think New England will still win the AFC East. I however strongly doubt if the team can make it past the first round of the playoffs unless backup Matt Cassel performs better than he has to date.
It came in a game against Kansas City today. From AP-
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Reigning NFL MVP Tom Brady left Sunday’s game against Kansas City after being hit on the left leg, depriving the New England Patriots of the quarterback who last year led them to a 16-0 regular season.
The two-time Super Bowl MVP, who has started 128 consecutive games, went to the turf clutching his left knee midway through the first quarter when he was hit in the pocket by Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard. After being tended to on the field, he walked off, limping, between two trainers.
Brady, 31, went to the locker room and was not seen again on the sideline as backup Matt Cassel led the Patriots to a 17-10 victory. The team announced that Brady had a knee injury.
The hit by Pollard was a clean one, and pardon the pun, one of those bad breaks often suffered by NFL players.
I heard on the NFL Network that Brady has a MRI scheduled for tomorrow. If Brady is out for the year, New England could struggle to make the playoffs. If anyone besides the Pats in the AFC East were any good, I’d definitively say New England would be out of the picture.
Update- Fixed typo in the post’s title.
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| Thursday, August 7, 2008 |
 Our long national nightmare is over: Brett Favre is a New York Jet.
The Brett Favre era in Green Bay officially came to an end late Wednesday night as the legendary longtime Packers quarterback was traded to the New York Jets, the Packers announced.
The exact compensation wasn’t immediately available, but it is believed to be a fourth-round draft pick that increases in value depending on how the Jets perform in the 2008 season.
According to the NFL Network, if Favre takes 50 percent of total snaps with the Jets in 2008, the fourth-rounder becomes a third-round pick. If he gets 70 percent of the snaps and the Jets make the playoffs, it becomes a second-round pick; and if he gets 80 percent of snaps and the Jets make the Super Bowl, it becomes a first-round pick.
That strikes me as a fair deal. A high draft pick is a lot to pay for a player, even a future first ballot Hall of Fame quarterback, on his last legs. Then again, it only becomes a first day pick if the Jets, who were 4-12 last season, make it to the playoffs. Like ESPN’s John Clayton, I’m skeptical that Favre can do that much by himself.
Favre alone isn’t going to cut the gap between the Jets and the New England Patriots. The Patriots have Tom Brady, Randy Moss, Bill Belichick, a great team and the easiest schedule in the league. Favre has only the satisfaction that he’s out of Green Bay.
 Still, the Jets have upgraded themselves, for a season at least, at the most important position in team sports. Matt Williamson of Scouts, Inc. thinks they “should make a very strong push for a wild-card spot with Favre at the helm.” And they’ll sell more season tickets and a bunch of merchandise. (You can order your Brett Favre Jets replica jersey here. Demand is apparently rather high, or the Jets’ server is really poor, as the page isn’t loading even though it’s just 7:30 in the morning.)
And, no, the Jets can’t trade Favre to the Vikings.
The NFL Network also is reporting that the Packers took great pains to ensure that Favre would not be traded to the Vikings by inserting a “poison pill” in the deal. If Favre were to be traded to Minnesota, New York would have to surrender three first-round picks to Green Bay.
No player, let alone an old one, is worth three first rounders.
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| Wednesday, May 28, 2008 |
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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