April 26, 2010
As the first round of the NFL draft began, each team that picked filled a need. The St. Louis Rams needed a quarterback; with the first pick, they took Sam Bradford from Oklahoma. The Detroit Lions took arguably the best player, defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh from Nebraska, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers followed be taking the only other player in the argument – another defensive tackle in Oklahoma’s Gerald McCoy.
The Washington Redskins and Seattle Seahawks, picking fourth and sixth, respectively, needed help on the offensive line, and got it in the form of tackles Trent Williams from Oklahoma and Russell Okung from Oklahoma State. The Kansas City Chiefs, picking fifth, had one of the league’s worst defenses a year ago, and took the best defensive player available, safety Eric Berry from Tennessee. Same for the Cleveland Browns, who took the best cornerback, Joe Haden from Florida, with the seventh pick, while the Oakland Raiders filled a need a middle linebacker with Rolando McClain from Alabama.
That’s eight teams in a row – 25 percent of the league – that made a pick that made sense to everyone. Each team had a need; each team selected a player to address one of those needs, and to make their team better.
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NFL | Tagged: Florida, New England Patriots, New York Jets, Minnesota Vikings, Green Bay Packers, St. Louis Rams, Baltimore Ravens, Kansas City Chiefs, Chicago Bears, Sam Bradford, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Alabama, Buffalo Bills, Trent Edwards, Fred Jackson, Leodis McKelvin, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Seattle Seahawks, Oakland Raiders, Cincinnati Bengals, Pittsburgh Steelers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins, Washington Redskins, Detroit Lions, Clemson, Tennessee, Tim Tebow, Ndamukong Suh, Gerald McCoy, Trent Williams, Russell Okung, Rolando McClain, Eric Berry, Joe Haden, C.J. Spiller, Jake Locker, Andrew Luck, Washington, Stanford, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Brian Brohm, Colt McCoy, Mike Williams, Jason Peters, Marshawn Lynch | 
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Posted by tbontemps1
February 8, 2010
Even before this year started, Sean Payton and Drew Brees had earned the respect of everyone around the National Football League.
Payton, the offensive genius who worked several places as an offensive coordinator, most recently with the Dallas Cowboys, before getting his first head coaching job with the New Orleans Saints in January 2006. His first move was to go after Drew Brees, whose contract had ended with the San Diego Chargers and had become a free agent.
Brees, much like Payton, had some tread worn off his tires before arriving in New Orleans. The only reason he was available was that, because of earlier struggles, the Chargers had chosen to draft another quarterback, Philip Rivers, in 2004, because they didn’t think Brees was going to be able to get the job done. But after two bounce-back years from the former second-round pick, Brees hit the open market with a great resume, but a right (throwing) shoulder that looked very risky.
When several teams, including the Miami Dolphins, passed on Brees, the Saints and Payton convinced Brees to come to New Orleans to ply his trade.
And with last night’s 31-17 win over the Colts, Payton and Brees proved they both belong at the very top of their respective professions.
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Leave a Comment » | NFL | Tagged: Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger, Brett Favre, Drew Brees, Indianapolis Colts, Jim Caldwell, Kurt Warner, Matt Stover, New Orleans Saints, Peyton Manning, Philip Rivers, Sean Payton, Tracy Porter | Permalink
Posted by tbontemps1
February 8, 2010
Peyton Manning entered last night’s Super Bowl on the greatest hot streak of his life. Throughout this season, Manning had shredded defenses in every game his team had competed in for all 60 minutes. The Colts’ only two losses all season, in Week 16 to the New York Jets and Week 17 to the Buffalo Bills, came with Manning and many of the team’s other key players standing on the sidelines watching.
Manning deservedly took home his record fourth Most Valuable Player award this season. He shredded the Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets in the team’s two playoff games. The Colts seemed to have the better team, and everyone seemed to think they would win the game. Even Tony Dungy, the famously modest former coach of the team, said the Colts would win the game convincingly on Saturday.
Only they didn’t win the game. In fact, they lost thanks, in large part, to a critical late-game mistake by Manning, whose interception was returned 74 yards for a touchdown by Saints cornerback Tracy Porter with the Colts down seven, 24-17. Then the score was 31-17, and the game was all but over.
With a win in last night’s game, Manning could put himself into the conversation as the greatest quarterback of all-time. Now? That argument can’t be made now, at least not for awhile. Manning will have to try and reverse the feelings that this game will leave with people for a long time to come. He did throw for over 300 yards, but he also made the biggest mistake of the game, and single-handedly ended his team’s chances of winning. And that, rather than having a case for being the greatest quarterback of all-time, is what people remember Manning for now.
Leave a Comment » | NFL | Tagged: Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, New Orleans Saints, New York Jets, Peyton Manning, Tracy Porter | Permalink
Posted by tbontemps1
February 8, 2010
It looked like the Colts would make it after all.
After turning their backs on a clear chance at history when they gave up the last two games of the season (after starting the year 14-0), the Colts had breezed through the first two rounds of the playoffs, dispatching the Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets with little trouble. And then, after they led 10-0 at the end of the first quarter, after Peyton Manning had shredded the Saints’ defense with a combination of Joseph Addai runs and pinpoint passes, it looked like it would be a coronation of the Colts and their legendary quarterback with the Super Bowl title that they said they could only win if they didn’t go undefeated.
But then karma, at long last, came back around. And for all of his powers, even Peyton Manning couldn’t overcome the karma that his head coach, Jim Caldwell, and his general manager, Bill Polian, placed on the team several weeks ago.
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Leave a Comment » | NFL | Tagged: Baltimore Ravens, Bill Polian, Curtis Painter, Drew Brees, Hank Baskett, Indianapolis Colts, Jim Caldwell, New Orleans Saints, New York Jets, Peyton Manning | Permalink
Posted by tbontemps1
February 5, 2010
Over the past two weeks, there has been a love-fest with New Orleans and its beloved Saints. And, really, why not? Given all that Saints fans have gone through over the past few years in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and the complete and utter devastation that it left behind, it’s nice to see the people there have something to rally around and cheer about.
But, at the same time, anyone who lives in New Orleans is also, more than likely, just as big a fan – if not bigger – for the LSU Tigers football team. And just three years ago, the Bayou Bengals won the national championship by dismantling Ohio State. Not only that, but the Tigers won the game in the Superdome in New Orleans. Really, how much better can it get than that?
The people of Buffalo, on the other hand, have had no such luck. Over the past 15 years, one woeful franchise after another has seen their fortunes take near 180-degree turns, as teams like the New England Patriots, St. Louis Rams, Arizona Cardinals and now the Saints have gone from being the league’s perennial doormats to having successive turns at the top of the sport.
Meanwhile, Buffalo has watched its football team suffer through 10 years without a playoff appearance, and, at one point, its hockey team was bankrupt and nearly left town entirely. Its a town in need of a change in luck, and soon. But will that change ever come?
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1 Comment | NFL | Tagged: Buddy NIx, Buffalo Bills, Chan Gailey, Dick Jauron, Gregg Williams, Indianapolis Colts, Jim Kelly, JImmy Clausen, Michael Vick, MIke Mularkey, New Orleans Saints, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh Steelers, Ralph Wilson, Sean Payton, Tom Benson, Tom Donahoe | Permalink
Posted by tbontemps1
February 4, 2010
Michael Jordan was once asked a political question. His response, one just about everyone can come up with, typified the way His Airness saw the world.
“Republicans buy sneakers, too.”
To Jordan, making any kind of political stand on controversial issues of the day only could serve to alienate people from the massive pool of customers buying his “Air Jordan” sneakers every year. In his mind, being as vanilla as possible has led to him earning hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars over the course of his career.
Of course, that wasn’t always the case. Back during the civil rights movement, in particular, many players were much more active socially than the ones today. Some of the most dominant athletes of their times, players like Jim Brown, Bill Russell and Muhammad Ali, among others, were willing to take controversial stands on major issues, as they were only interested in what was the right thing to do.
But in the years since, that idea has gone out the window, and now Jordan’s idea of the way to go about your business has become the standard operating procedure among the top athletes of today. You never see guys like Tiger Woods, Peyton Manning, Derek Jeter or Roger Federer take a controversial stand – it’s just not good business.
And that’s why it is refreshing to see Tim Tebow take a stand on arguably this country’s most divisive issue: abortion.
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Leave a Comment » | NFL, Society | Tagged: Bill Russell, Derek Jeter, Florida, Jim Brown, Michael Jordan, Peyton Manning, Tiger Woods, Tim Tebow | Permalink
Posted by tbontemps1
January 27, 2010
There has been plenty of debate, including in this space, about the role Brett Favre played in Minnesota’s 31-28 loss to New Orleans Sunday in the NFC Championship Game.
But whatever you think about Favre’s horrible interception in the dying moments of the fourth quarter, the fact that he and the Vikings never got a chance to have the ball again in overtime of that game was only unfair, and is something the NFL has to address before another season begins.
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1 Comment | NFL | Tagged: Brett Favre, Buffalo Bills, Dallas Cowboys, Jacksonville Jaguars, Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, New York Giants | Permalink
Posted by tbontemps1
January 26, 2010
When the Minnesota Vikings decided to sign Brett Favre last summer, they did it because they decided they would rather trust the 40-year-old future Hall of Famer than either Sage Rosenfels or Tarvaris Jackson in the kind of spot the Vikings found themselves in late in Sunday’s NFC Championship Game in New Orleans.
Third down and 15 yards to go. Ball at the Saints’ 38-yard line. Nineteen seconds remaining. Favre dropping back, scanning the field, looking for a few more yards to give kicker Ryan Longwell a little easier kick than the 55-yarder he was looking at. And, as Favre rolled out to his right, it looked like things were going to break his way. The Saints, sure Favre was going to throw the ball, dropped back into coverage, and didn’t account for the aging signal-caller to tuck the ball and run for a few yards.
It looked like Favre, at a minimum, could pick up five yards, and perhaps as many as 10 or 12. Given Longwell’s range, which stretches into the mid-50s, taking off and running would have very likely given the Vikings the win, and Favre a trip to his third Super Bowl. Or, Favre could try to force a ball into his favorite receiver, Sidney Rice, who was 20 yards down field, and on the opposite side to boot.
But when faced with that critical decision – either to make the smart but simple play or the flashy but risky one – there was no choice in Favre’s mind. He promptly threw the ball to Rice, hurling it across his body and across the field, and watched it land right in the hands of Saints cornerback Tracy Porter.
And, really, there shouldn’t have been in the minds of any of the millions of people watching. Favre was always going to throw that ball. And he was always going to find a way to cost his team that game.
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2 Comments | NFL | Tagged: Alex Rodriguez, Brett Favre, Brian Dawkins, Corey Webster, Derek Jeter, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, New York Giants, New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles, Ryan Longwell, Sage Rosenfels, Sidney Rice, Tarvaris Jackson | Permalink
Posted by tbontemps1
