St. Louis Rams

Montana Tru

by Deborah on April 27, 2012

Trumaine Johnson Highlights

Montana CB Trumaine Johnson was selected by the Rams in the 3rd round of the draft with the number 2 pick.  Montana Tru was the 65th pick overall and one look at his highlight film shows part of the reason why.

Johnson is 6′ 1″ and 204 pounds.  He is polished and athletic.  He has speed and agility and the height to also match up with receivers.  Johnson is NFL ready despite playing in the FBS.

The Rams took Johnson with the 2nd pick of the 3rd round.  Fisher knows Johnson well as  his own son played DB at Montana.  He is very familiar with Johnson’s strengths and abilities.

Draft Day 2012.  The day all Cleveland Browns fans call their “Super Bowl” day.  That’s because in past years all they have had to look forward to is the draft.  But this year is required to be different than all others.

Browns fans find themselves restless, almost paranoid.  That coming from one playoff performance since their return to the league in 1999.  This is a drought most older fans haven’t been through before, and younger fans don’t know what it is like to watch winning football.  But even worse, for most fans to remember a good and exciting team, they have to hearken back to the days of Art Modell, and that is a painful memory.

The ruling is in and New Orleans coach Sean Payton and General Manager Mickey Loomis are still suspended.  In essence what the pair received for appealing was a reprieve of one week.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell heard the arguments and came back with the same ruling.  Payton is out beginning Monday, April 16 until the final gun of the Super Bowl in February of 2013.  Loomis is out until after game eight of the upcoming season.  Now all is well with the world in the NFL.

So here is what we, as football fans, are looking at so far this year; a pretty good Super Bowl, a god among men leaves his team, new coaches everywhere, “Bounty-Gate” and the always revolving debate on who should go number one.  This has been a ride so far and it’s just heating up.

Making Me Look Good

by Deborah on April 9, 2012

Earlier this weekend, I wrote about some of the hot stocks to watch in the upcoming NFL Draft. One of those picks was Michael Floyd.  With the latest news, Mr. Floyd is making me look good.

Michael Floyd has been invited to the NFL Draft.  This generally means that the NFL believes Michael has a good shot of going fairly high up in the first round.  Only players like that get an invite to come to New York.  The latest buzz has Floyd possibly going as the FIRST wide receiver in this year’s draft ahead of Justin Blackmon.  Blackmon has long been held as the wide receiver who would go first.  That is until after Floyd’s magnificent Pro Day.  Now, everything has shifted.

It was inevitable.  Sean Payton is refusing to go down without a fight.  And it’s laudable.

Last week NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended the New Orleans Saints coach for the year after he was implicated in the “Bounty-Gate” situation with former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.  Williams was also suspended for at least a year.

Reports are surfacing out of New Orleans that Payton will appeal and will also ask NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to explain the parameters of the suspension.  Payton evidently wants to know what he can and cannot do during the suspension.  The circumstances haven’t been revealed yet and before he accepts the punishment Payton wants it in writing.

There is no doubt the Cleveland Browns are as devoid of talent as any NFL team.  They have struggled since re-entering the league in 1999, making the playoffs only once.   Several General Managers, Coaches, Quarterbacks and players later, the Browns are still a consistent 4-12, 5-11 team.

However this year is bringing a ray of hope.  Sunshine clearing out the clouds by the benevolence of the league itself.  Monday it was announced the NFL awarded Cleveland four compensatory picks in this year’s draft, giving the Browns a total of 13.  That is the most picks the team has had since the 1999 draft when they received extra picks for being an expansion team.  The Browns selected Tim Couch, quarterback out of Kentucky as the first pick in the draft that year.

So the Miami Dolphin fans are in an uproar.  Stephen Ross bought the team over a year ago promising big things.  Yet the big things have gone elsewhere and the fans are growing restless.

First the team released Chad Henne.  The Michigan product had one good season as the quarterback of the Dolphins, but then never fulfilled what he showed.  Mark him gone to the team up North, Jacksonville.

Then came the Peyton Manning negotiations.  Or rather, lack of negotiations.  Miami was expected to be a destination for Manning.  After all it made sense that Manning would want a warm weather climate for his ailing neck.  Yet he chose a cold weather city in Denver.  So again, the Dolphins were left wanting.

Could it be the tenure of Tim Tebow in Denver is not over as reported earlier today?  Because of a glitch in the Tebow contract that apparently Bronco’s VP John Elway wasn’t aware of, the trade to the New York Jets is off.

Meanwhile it appears the Jacksonville Jaguars have re-entered the Tebow sweepstakes, which makes many fans in the northern Florida city very happy.  This is the type of deal that could keep the Jags in Florida, instead of moving to Los Angeles.

What a week for the NFL.  Only the league can produce newsworthiness in the off season and today was the second day in three this week they have produced a bombshell.  NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has suspended New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton for one season because of “Bounty-gate.”

Not only was Payton suspended for one year, but the Saints have also been docked two-second round picks in the upcoming NFL draft, and fined at least $500,000.    Gregg Williams, the former Saints defensive coordinator now employed by the St. Louis Rams, has been suspended indefinitely. Team general manager Mickey Loomis also faces an eight-game suspension and a $500,000 fine.