This is a nice story for a guy that really could do nothing right as a Quarterback in a Pittsburgh Steelers Uniform. A couple of recent players have come back to retire as a Steeler, but this one seemed a bit out of the blue for a guy that has not taken a Snap in 7 years or so. That said, there has been no other player in Pittsburgh Steelers History to excite the masses as he did, and of course, ignite the masses also.
Brandon Weeden is taking first team snaps for the Browns. Is he really a number one option, or are they just trying to create a competition? I’m not sure which it is, but I do know that the Browns took a guy who played baseball and then went back to college. So, there’s not a lot of time left for Weeden. Sure, if he plays til he’s 40 he’ll still play for over a decade, but, most guys who play professional football are out of the league by the time they reach his age. So, yeah.
Mario Williams was a big time signing for the Bills, but, is he really going to make a difference for them when they have so many other needs and play in such a tough division? The Bills have to compete with the Patriots and the Jets, and mostly the Patriots. It’s a division where they have to score lots of points, and just one defensive lineman is not going to make enough of a difference to make the team more effective.
The NFLPA has filed a grievance over the suspensions of Saints players in the bounty program. However, there are two sides to this story and it is all really semantics. I think we can all be pretty certain that the program existed, but we may never know to what extent it actually was operating. So, when the two sides are just saying that the problem with the program is a difference of opinion over what by-laws and rules is violates, then we know we have a battle on our hands.
Larry Fitzgerald is currently at 217 pounds. He doesn’t like that.
“Ideally, if I could play at 213, 214, that’s when I’m at my best. When I’m at ’12 it’s hard to deal with me because I can run all day, and I feel strong enough at the point of attack where I can break tackles and stuff like that.”
“I never like to be the guy who says, ‘Do as I say, not as I do.’ I don’t want to lead like that. If I ask you to do something, it’s because I’m doing it, because I’ve done it and I believe it’s going to help…I can’t tell you to drop your weight until I have all my ‘I’s’ dotted and ‘T’s’ crossed.”
Ron Rivera had to kick his players out of the team facility in order to comply with the new CBA because the players can only be in the facility for so many hours during what is no Phase Three. Because he has to check on that, and it’s kind of a story, I have to ask if the Panthers will be taking over the NFC South. The division always turns over and it always looks different at the top every year. When Cam Newton was breaking all kinds of rookie passing records and looking fantastic, his team was getting a fire to get better. So, they have to be kicked out of the facility.
I know that Hines Ward was just one guy on a 53-man roster, but he was the emotional heart of the Steelers. He was a receiver who blocked hard, and he was a guy who exemplified what the tough Steeler spirit was all about. Now, the Steelers don’t have that guy on their team. They need to have a guy on their roster that can take up that mantle and do something with it. If we look around the Steelers roster, there’s only one guy who stands out and says to me, that’s the guy.
Some people have noted that it seems like the Bengals are suddenly good in their front office, suddenly solid, and suddenly not stupid. Is that the case, or have they been on a very slow grind to get them to this point? I think it’s been a slow grind, and I’ll tell you why.
Marvin Lewis. He has been there for quite some time now, and they have not let him go because I think they also saw that, if they could be consistent in one position with a guy who knows what he’s doing, that they could easily make themselves better. It would take some time, but they would eventually attract solid and stable people who want to work with Marvin. Am I crediting Marvin Lewis with the success of the Bengals? Yeah, I pretty much am.
If you’re the Bills, Jaguars, or Chargers, you are seriously considering moving to Los Angeles. Why would you do that? If you’re in Buffalo, do you really want to break the hearts of the saddest city in the nation? They already don’t get enough sunlight there. This would make it worse, right?
If you’re in Jacksonville, why wouldn’t you move to a larger market where you can sell out games? Sure, Florida is nice, but there’s already two other NFL teams in Florida. They are diluting your market. They are.
I think this is a fair question, and it’s not just about Roger Goodell. I mean, we could easily make it about Roger Goodell and say that he’s just a bad guy and he treats everybody like crap, but that’s not it. It’s much deeper than that. It’s the league’s policies and how it, corporately, treats the players and their information.
When information in the bounty case gets released and players have to find out they were suspended by the league on TV, then I think that the league has a major trust issue with their players. That’s something that none of us can fix. Only the league can fix that.
