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Coach Joe Gibbs went out to recruit for a new offensive coordinator in Al Saunders, previously of the Kansas City Chiefs. Saunders was considered for the Kansas City head coaching position before Herman Edwards was hired. Saunders now becomes the highest paid assistant head coach in the NFL, at a deal worth 7.8 million over three years. The Redskins look like they’ll be a NFC title contender and may make even more noise next year if Saunders can improve their mediocre offense, to go with an already outstanding defense.
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Ok, now that fans have had time to get over the shock, and are tired of screaming at the refs, the NFL eliminated four teams and four teams left to go.
Washington vs Seattle: Very impressive defense by both teams. You know you’re doing a good job, when offensive players are going down to injury left and right. Too bad for Washington, Brunell wasn’t a couple years younger, he could have scrambled for more first downs, rather than escaping the pocket and then throwing the ball out of bounds.
Carolina vs Chicago: Thought was going to be a boring game, but it had its offensive explosion. Steve Smith’s slide down the fire poll touchdown celebration was entertaining, kudos to Steve Smith.
Pittsburgh vs Indianapolis: With Edgerrin James a free agent this off-season, say goodbye to this offensive powerhouse. It was nice knowing you, they blew their chance. Watch for next year’s training camp to have a Peyton Manning, Mike Vanderjagt tussle, ala Darryl Strawberry vs Keith Hernandez.
New England vs Denver: South Park creators rejoice! Your team might have what it takes to go all the way. Believe it or not Cold Pizza’s Woody Paige got it right; he had been predicting Denver as the team to beat since the beginning of the season. I think Woody Paige might have had some outside help for insight; he must be friends with Doc Brown, from Back to the Future and got a hold of the sports almanac.
The first thing that pops to my mind is how unimpressive Mike Tice’s interview must have been for the Jets to make their decision just hours after interviewing Tice on Monday. The hiring of Mangini will probably mean the current offensive and defensive coordinators will also be looking for new teams. Donnie Henderson and Mike Heimerdinger probably won’t have too much trouble finding work elsewhere.
Ty Law, who played under Mangini, and was one of the few bright spots for the Jets last year, openly endorses Mangini. This may convince Law to stay for a reduced price and renegotiate his contract; otherwise he will be a salary cap casualty. He is due a huge roster bonus next season. Law was very adamant about the Jets hiring Mangini over the other recycled head coaching candidates.
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Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker, Joey Porter, made headlines both before and after the Divisional round playoff game versus the Indianapolis Colts. Before the game, he was criticizing the Colts for playing with a lot of trickery on offense, some of the tactics which are questionable as far as sportsmanship goes. After the game, he accused the referees of playing favorites to the Colts, in which his gripes might have some validity. I am looking forward to what Porter has to say regarding his next opponent the Denver Broncos for the AFC Championship. Stay tuned for Sunday 3 PM for that showdown.
Will White blow by Bush in the draft also? I doubt it, but you never know.
More than likely USC RB Reggie Bush will enter the NFL draft, foregoing his senior year, in which he is projected to be a #1 pick. For Lendale White, there is no uncertainty, he will definitely declare for draft. While White gets far less of the fanfare from sports media, wouldn’t it be funny if ends up in the top 5 in the draft just like the Auburn tandem last year of Ronnie Brown, selected #2, and Carnell Williams, selected #5. Miami and Tampa were both pleased with their pick, especially Tampa choosing Cadillac, who looks like their franchise running back for the next 5+ years. Brown ended up splitting carries with Ricky Williams, who came back from retirement. The parallels are there for the USC tandem are there, especially if the Houston Texans select Reggie Bush, will he have to split carries with incumbent RB Dominick Davis, or will Davis be used as trade bait?
There were two different myths that came into play for this past weekend’s match-ups. Which myth would prove to be the truth: Young QB’s faltering in their first play-off game? Or home-field advantage should determine the winner. Well unfortunately for Jaguar, Giants, and Bucs fans the young QB myth turned out to be the truth, and it could have been a clean sweep if not for the Palmer injury. While three out of the four home teams came out losers.
Bengals QB, Carson Palmer was injured early in the game with a torn knee. Luckily Jon Kitna played well, but it still wasn’t enough to overcome the experienced Steelers. With Palmer out of the game, we still won’t know how he’ll react in the next playoff match-up. The only home team to prevail was the New England Patriots. Jacksonville had both myths working against them, playing on the road and the first playoff test for Byron Leftwich.
The Seattle Seahawks were crying foul of no respect all season long. Now they’ll have at least some of the recognition they were looking for. The beginning of this season started off with Alexander in a contract dispute with Seahawk management over a long term extension deal. They ended up agreeing to a one-year franchise offer, meaning the average salary of the top 5 peers in the same position. It looks Seattle made a good return on their investment.
Alexander led the Seahawks to the NFC’s best record and home-field advantage until the Super Bowl. Sometimes, bickering with management during the season over a contract could easily distract the player and the rest of the team, but Alexander didn’t make any noise and just let his play speak for itself.
Ok, so maybe, just maybe, this wasn’t the right move.
Maurice Clarett has been in the news quite a bit with his recent legal woes, this has made me wonder what if he were selected in this past years’ NFL draft by another ballclub. Some notable running backs that were taken after Clarett were fourth rounders: Marion Barber of the Dallas Cowboys, Brandon Jacobs of the New York Giants, and sixth rounder Cedric Houston of the New York Jets. All of whom have played a fairly large role for their teams this year.
Maybe the Tuna, coach Bill Parcells could have gave Clarett some of that tough love he has known to give to some of his “troubled” players. New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin is almost of the same tough love mold, Coughlin being an ex-assistant to Parcells. Coach Herman Edwards also is well-known for caring for his players off the field as much if not more than even on the field. Maybe in these environments, Clarett could have steered clear of his legal troubles after being released by the Denver Broncos. I’m not hear to second guess the Denver Broncos, many expert analysts thought if Clarett was going to succeed, Denver would be the perfect place, where many non high-profile RB’s with even less talent than Clarett have succeeded. Denver had such great depth at the RB position they could afford to gamble. Denver’s third round selection gamble did not hurt the organization, but maybe Clarett was the one who ended up getting burned.
Norv Turner became the sixth NFL head coaching casualty since the end of the season, joining Mike Martz, Mike Tice, Mike Sherman, Jim Haslett and Dom Capers on the unemployment line. You could see the end of the line for Norv Turner when Randy Moss was interviewed in the middle of the season, and was asked his opinion of Turner. In pro sports when it comes down to the star player or the head coach, the head coach usually turns out to be the loser. The Raiders were unable to have a balanced offense attack all year long, even though WR Randy Moss, and RB Lamont Jordan joined the team, and expectations were raised.
With disappointing stops in Oakland and previously in Washington for seven years from ‘94-‘00, I wonder what teams would now take a chance on Turner as their head coach or even as their offensive coordinator. The NFL is purely a results driven league and Turner has taken his teams to only one playoff appearance in his 9 total seasons as head coach.
The Saints and the NFL have come to an agreement in where they will play next season and it looks like they are going home. After lots of speculation about San Antonio and Los Angeles, looks like they will be going to their regular facility just outside of New Orleans and expect to play the majority of regular season games at the Superdome. Wasn’t it in shambles? Apperantly the damage that was reported to be unrepairable has suddenly been
misleading
mistaken by Saints’ officials previously
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