What A Difference 16 Months Make!
Back in January ‘08, Terrell Owens cried at a post game press conference defending his quarterback Tony Romo. What a difference 16 months make.
T.O., now with the Buffalo Bills, used the popular social networking application, Twitter, to call out his X-quarterback Tony Romo. Below is the exchange T.O. had with one of his fans.
Fan’s tweet to Owens:
@terrellowens81 I am so glad for your reception in Buffalo. I was not happy the Cowboys cut you. LOVE your honesty!
Owen’s response to the fan:
@noelheller neither was i,blame the OC & romo!! but i’m happy 2 b where i am but i miss the other guys that were & r true teammates!!
Now, I spent several seasons defending T.O. and I still think he is a great talent on the field. However, T.O. has a problem. And the problem is the guy can’t shut the [bleep] up. There is a time and a place to say what is on your mind, but T.O. says what is on his mind all of the time, regardless of time and place.
Yes, the Dallas Cowboys made a decision to release him. That was their decision. Was it a good one? Not sure. But one thing is for sure, they will move on without all of the perceived drama, real or imagined, that T.O. brought to the locker room. That’s it, they have moved on.
But not T.O. He has to have the last word. Even when he landed a new job and getting paid more money for it, he had to go and have the last word on something that has been over for a few months now. Unfortunately, his statement is accusing Jason Garrett and Tony Romo of running him out of town, when T.O. himself is the most likely reason he is no longer a Dallas Cowboy. Sometimes you have to look in the mirror and look past the good looking guy with the muscular physique in the reflection to see the problem is starring right back at you!
Oh and by the way T.O., if you are looking for accountability, you still owe me an autographed football and jersey for helping you with your Treo back in the summer of 2004. Been waiting for five years.
I am still waiting.
Lions Should Stop Players From Making Predictions.
Nobody likes to kick a dog (or a lion in this case) when he is down, but sometimes you just have to call a spade a spade. Is that enough clichés for you?
Well it appears Detroit Lions RB Kevin Smith has picked up where QB Jon Kitna left off. Only this time, it is far worse than the “Lions will win 10 games” prediction Kitna has given the last two seasons. Smith wrote the following entry on his blog, “I won’t make a prediction about how many games we’re going to win, but I will say this: We will definitely make the playoffs this season.” You can read the rest of it here.
Are you kidding me? How can you go out and make a statement like that?
What’s worse is that Smith actually believes it can happen, because as he says later in the post, “…we weren’t far off last year. Almost every game we could have won, we were one play or one player short. Except for Tennessee on Thanksgiving, they just came out and beat us to sleep…”
I am not sure what season Smith is talking about, but certainly it is not the 2008 season in which the Detroit Lions got beat by 10 points or more in 10 games. Further still, the Lions lost by 14 points or more in 8 games. That’s losses of two touchdowns or more in half their games.
The New England Patriots missing the playoffs at 11-5 - that’s not far off. The Dallas Cowboys and New York Jets missing the playoffs at 9-7 - that’s not far off. GOING 0-16 DOES NOT MAKE YOU EVEN REMOTELY CLOSE TO MAKING THE PLAYOFFS. That’s what the Lions were last year 0-16, and they were really only close in three games. Against Minnesota twice, losing 12-10 on the road and losing 20-16 at home. The other close game, was a 27-23 loss at Chicago where they took a 23-13 lead a halftime. However the Bears scored 14 unanswered points in the second half to win the game by four. All three close games came against division opponents.
So where is Smith’s “Almost every game we could have won”? Had they won those three “close” games, they would have been 3-13 and that’s hardly a playoff record. So either the Detroit Lions need to step up and stop their players from making these silly predictions four months before the season starts, or these players need to learn to shut up and wait until they retire to become prognosticators.
Kevin Smith fumbles vs Colts
The Match-Ups: Cardinals running
Throughout this season, the Cardinals have been notorious for their strong passing game, not at all their weak game on the ground. Their coaching staff adjusted accordingly, barely trusting their running backs to contribute much.
In the playoffs, it has been very different. Edgerrin James has been given an ample amount of carries, a large difference from the regular season. Coordinator Todd Haley has even called more running plays than passing ones (100 running, 95 passing), a prospect most would have laughed at had they been told before Arizona’s first playoff game against the Falcons.
James has not exactly set the world on fire; 3.9 yards a carry isn’t top-notch, obviously. However, the Cardinals have been able to mix things up with it, creating more opportunities for the passing game as shown by how many times Larry Fitzgerald has been paired one-on-one, something no teams does by choice. World-class defenses, such as the Pittsburgh Steelers, can contain a passing game when they barely pay attention to anything else. If Haley sticks to his gameplan versus the Steelers — and he should, initially — maybe the defense will focus more on it. And, if not, perhaps a few big gains can be gotten on running plays, forcing the Steelers to take a man out of the secondary, giving Kurt Warner and co. a greater chance in the passing game.
It certainly seems unlikely, though, as the Steelers are ranked number two in running yards allowed a game. Their front seven is just about the best in football, and rarely allows a running back by them. Don’t expect to see many big runs, as the Steelers are the best at limiting runs greater than ten yards, and the Cardinals aren’t particularly good at getting them.
Plus, in the short-yardage downs, Haley may be inclined to attempt more than the conventional dive up the middle. Once again, Pittsburgh is the best at stopping them, and Arizona is one of the worst at gaining them.
Also, the Steelers occasionally have a problem defending backs running near to the left tackle statistically, but the Cardinals will probably not be taking advantage of the hole, as they haven’t ran well near it.
So basically, it looks like Arizona will be hard-pressed to find any sort of ground game. However, this does not mean Haley should get away from it. I’ll get into how both teams will win the game later in the week, but sticking with James, even if and when he fails, is vital to their chances. Pittsburgh’s defense is too good to be beat by a one-dimensional offense, so even if the Cards get stuffed on the majority of their runs, they just have to suck it up and keep at it, hoping to wear the defense down, attract other defenders to stopping it, or finding a hole one time and busting out a long gain.
Up next is the Steelers’ passing game.
Chargers may rework Tomlinson’s deal
Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune commented in his column today about AJ Smith’s comments regarding running back LaDainian Tomlinson.
If you haven’t heard, Smith mocked Tomlinson’s comments about wishing to stay in San Diego, basically repeating them. Acee, however, feels that it was meant as an insult to Tomlinson’s agent, Tom Condon.
Either way you look at it, the only thing Smith’s comments did was create rapid speculation on the future of Tomlinson and possibly make LT feel unwelcomed in the Chargers’ organization. They should have never been made; hopefully Smith sees this, and never does anything similar again.
Acee, aparently, feels that Smith will actually attempt to show Tomlinson the most respect possible in possibly getting rid of him. His prediction for what will happen is this:
They will in the next few weeks offer Tomlinson a restructured contract. Tomlinson, who over the past five seasons has made $36 million, more than any running back in the league, must then decide what he wants to do. If that contract is acceptable to Tomlinson, he will remain a Charger.
If Tomlinson decides the new contract – perhaps with money deferred, perhaps with bonuses, but nowhere near the $24 million he is due to make over the final three seasons of his current pact – is not good enough, then he will be released.
It seems like a decent guess for what might happen. Trading Tomlinson wouldn’t bring back much, a negative for both the team and player.
One thing is pretty much certain: with the level of production LT brings -21st in DYAR - and the high amount he’s paid, it would be rather idiotic to keep Tomlinson around with his same contract. Maybe he’ll accept a lower, restructured one because of his love for the team and city, but then again, he’s clearly a very proud man and may not be willing to accept a paycut. Despite his subpar performance on the field, he would most likely be able to get a solid deal on the open market if he proves to be healthy.
Tomlin doesn’t want Gatorade shower
For every winning team in the NFL, there is a tradition we all know of: dousing the winning coach with Gatorade, or whatever the beverage on the sidelines is.
For Mike Tomlin however, according to foxsports.com, it will most likely not happen. Tomlin has demanded his players not do it to him should the Steelers find victory against Arizona.
Tomlin has always been a little up tight, such as the time he kicked a reporter dressed up as Santa Clause out of his press conference. But, if he can find a way to win next week, I doubt anyone will really care, including him.
Why am I talking about this? I don’t know, maybeto fill a slow news day without any football.
Fisher wants Collins back
ESPN’s Chris Mortenson is reporting that Titans’ coach Jeff Fisher told quarterback Kerry Collins last week that he wants him back to be the starter once again, which apparently was well received. It is known that Collins will retire if he doesn’t get a starting job in the NFL, regardless of whether it’s in Tennessee.
The Titans and Collins will need to work out an extension in order for this to happen. If both sides want the same thing, a new deal and Collins starting ahead of Vince Young in ‘09, I see no reason why this could not happen.
Collins resurrected his career in 2008, only throwing seven interceptions and leading the number-one seeded Titans. However, I question this decision, if true. While Tennessee is good enough to win in the regular season, using their two running backs and top-notch defense, asking Collins only to limit his mistakes and periodically make a play, it is very difficult to do anything in the postseason without a quarterback capable of leading the team. As we saw against the divisional game against Baltimore, the Titans could not recover from mistakes to avoid losing, partially because of this.
Then again, their options are fairly slim. Young may still have talent, but his makeup is, as well all know, awful. He claims that he’ll be dedicated and work out more and all of that, but when the goings get tough, such as the beginning of this season, you never know what will happen. They might bring Chris Simms back, but he hasn’t started in a while.
The last option would be to acquire a quarterback, but there aren’t many expected to hit the market this offseason, and they need money to ensure Albert Haynesworth stays with the Titans.
