2009 Pro Bowl the End of an Era
NFL fans are still living off the high of the Super Bowl, and will have to hold onto that high for the next eight months. But of course, the Super Bowl is not quite the last football game of the season. The Pro Bowl still has to be played, and this year's Pro Bowl is especially historic - if not quite more important. The 2009 Pro Bowl will be the NFL all-stars last trip to Hawaii, at least for now.
To give the Pro Bowl slightly more significance, the 2010 Pro Bowl will not be held in Hawaii, and will not be held after the Super Bowl. Instead, next year's Pro Bowl will be in Miami, and the 2011 Pro Bowl will be in the new stadium at Dallas. In addition, the next two Pro Bowls will be held the week before the Super Bowl.
The Pro Bowl was the only major all-star game to be held at the end of the season, not in the middle. To revive flagging interest in the game, the NFL will try to give fans at least one game to watch during the two-week wait for the Super Bowl.
Rather than hold the Super Bowl the week after the conference title game, like they used to, the NFL tried to kill two birds with one stone instead.
This scheduling move may get more players who are in the Super Bowl to play in the Pro Bowl. Of course, they still may not play so much, in order to be at full strength for the Super Bowl the next week. If any Super Bowl players get injured in the Pro Bowl the next two years, commissioner Roger Goodell will never hear the end of it.
This move also robs Pro Bowl players of a brief Hawaii vacation for a week, at least until 2012 at the earliest. But after these recent developments, Hawaii might not want to take the NFL back if given the chance. In any case, the Pro Bowl seems to have flagging interest in Hawaii as it is.
The potential final Pro Bowl in Hawaii's Aloha Stadium was close to being blacked out locally. The NFL needed to grant two extensions before the game got close to being sold out. Previously, the NFL needed to do this until two first round playoff games in Arizona and Minnesota finally sold out.
But by a narrow margin, this will be the 30'th straight sellout for the Pro Bowl, since it moved to Aloha Stadium in 1980.
The Pro Bowl doesn't even have a prime-time spotlight anymore, as the game is being broadcast this year at 4:30 p.m on NBC.
(c) 2009 Associated Content, Inc
No Room For Excuses: New Orleans Saints' Offseason
In this time of reflection, I think the most important thing that the Saints can do is to be honest with themselves. No more finger pointing, no more excuses. If they have the courage to look themselves in the mirror, they will see only one reason as to why they have had consecutive disappointing seasons.
Truth is, the numerous games that the Saints have lost over the last two years weren't due to penalties; although there has been times when the boys in Gold n' Black did have too many mental errors.
Furthermore, as popular and as easy as it is to blame on the band-aids and boo-boos, the losses aren't because of injuries. Yes, the Saints have had more than their share of doctor's visits - but once again, looking in the mirror and being honest with themselves, couldn't the Steelers say the same thing? Didn't they play the majority of the season without their top two running backs (Parker and Mendenhall), numerous starters on their offensive line and other team leaders like Heath Miller? Oh, and let's not forget how banged up Ben Roethlisberger was almost the entire season.
The game is football, where very large, quick and hairy men hit each other as hard as they can for three hours straight. Injuries happen to everybody.
The losses aren't because of the defense and they are not because of the offense.
Fact of the matter is, the Saints have lost their groove because they have lost their toughness.
If you look back throughout NFL history, you'll see that the best teams played like a pack of wolves. If an opponent popped one of their teammates, the rest of the team rallied behind the man down and hit back.
That is why the 2006 Saints team was different. Think of it this way: in our entire franchise history, we have never had as much star power as we did this past year in 2008. However, Payton has taught our players to play with such finesse and flash that they have lost their fight. As a result, the offensive stats have piled up while the team has grown stagnant in the standings.
In 2006, the New Orleans Saints picked themselves back off the ground after one of history's hardest sucker-punch sacks (Katrina). All throughout 2005, our Saints played without a home. We literally had the wind at our front and our world was spinning.
In 2006, as a team, we looked up from the ground and realized that we weren't ready to be knocked out. As a team, we picked ourselves up. Every team we faced, we fought. We played with an unparalleled swagger. Remember the Homecoming Monday Night game? We knew we were winning the game before the first kickoff. There were no excuses and no doubts.
In 2006, when one of our players got clocked in the open field, the rest of the team hit back. Not once did we not return a punch. If somebody threw a punch at us, we threw two back. As mentioned before, we played like a pack of wolves. Our city was starved and our defense played hungry. The offense didn't just want to put points on the board and break Dan Marino's record - they wanted to run under, over, around and through the defense.
Our 2009 team needs to learn from their recent past. I don't know about every other Saints fan, but I'm tired of making excuses about all our injuries. What ever happened to throwing some dirt and tape on your hand or ankle and getting the hell back out on the field? The great, toothless linebacker of the "Steel Curtain" Jack Lambert once said: "The season is too short to watch from the sidelines."
Don't get me wrong; I understand people will miss games because of injuries. I understand players will take hard shots. But what worries me about our current team is that I don't see enough of our players play with the hunger and the urgency that it takes to win games in the NFL.
My hope is that Payton and Williams make a commitment to initially work towards playing more old-fashioned football in 2009. They need to start preparing their Sunday morning sermons for next year about hitting the snot out of whoever is in front of them. Payton and Williams cannot become complacent with a few wins here and a few wins there. To win in the NFL, our players will have to stop seeing wins as simply outscoring the other team. They have to start defining a win as knocking-out the other team; out-willing the other team. The Saints number one goal should become the most feared and hated team in the NFL.
This isn't the Babysitters Club. No more excuses for injuries, penalties, defenses, fumbles, etc. This is football, dammit, and it's time to toughen up. As my old Drill Sergeant use to say: "Pain is weakness leaving the body."
Toughness is a state of mind and it's up to our coaches to instill that mindset in the locker room.
It's time for Payton to become one mean S.O.B. over the offseason.
Copyright (c) 2009 Bleacher Report, Inc
Ex-Viking Carl Eller guilty of assault on police
MINNEAPOLIS -- Former Vikings great Carl Eller was convicted today of assaulting a police officer who tried to arrest him after he swerved and nearly struck a squad car last April.
Hennepin County District Judge Dan Mabley ruled Eller was guilty of fourth-degree assault of an officer and second-degree refusing to submit to a field sobriety test. Mabley has seven days to outline his decision in a written order.
The 67-year-old Eller faces up to a year on each count when he is sentenced Feb. 23. Count lawyer Mike Freeman said any jail sentence would be served in a workhouse, not prison.
"I am just totally disappointed. Really disappointed in the system, and the way I've been treated," Eller said.
In a pending federal lawsuit, he claims officers violated his civil rights, used excessive force and concealed videotape evidence of his arrest.
Eller was arrested April 9 after police said they saw his Mercedes sport utility vehicle swerve and speed through a stop sign and narrowly miss a squad car. They gave chase and eventually attempted to arrest Eller in his garage, where they said he punched one officer and threw another onto the hood of his SUV. Efforts to subdue Eller with a Taser didn't work, according to a criminal complaint.
Prosecutors earlier dropped two more serious felony charges against Eller because they said the evidence wasn't strong enough to support them.
"I think this is an appropriate resolution to this matter," Freeman said. "The evidence clearly supported a conviction of two gross misdemeanors."
Eller may appeal, but his attorney, Albert Goins, wouldn't predict the next step until he sees the judge's written ruling.
"The judge ruled against us and we respect that ruling and we're going to have to read why he did," Goins said. "That's where it stands."
But Goins said Eller has been treated harshly for what essentially amounted to a traffic stop. And Goins said Eller shouldn't have been found guilty of refusing the sobriety test because authorities didn't submit evidence showing prior drunken driving offenses.
In 2006, Eller pleaded guilty to fourth-degree drunken driving after refusing a chemical alcohol test.
Eller was one of the Vikings' celebrated "Purple People Eaters" in his 15 years with Minnesota from 1964-78. He played in six Pro Bowls and all four of the Vikings' Super Bowl appearances. He finished his career in 1979 with Seattle. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004.
One of the officers involved in the incident, Gil Antaya, was at the courthouse after the hearing. He said he plans to testify at Eller's sentencing hearing.
"We're extremely pleased with the judge's ruling," said police Sgt. Jesse Garcia. "Obviously we had hoped that all four charges would've stuck.
"I think this is a good chance for Carl to turn his life around," he added.
(c)COPYRIGHT 2009 The Honolulu Advertiser
Not-so-legendary Car-Pitts have come long way
So much for the all-Pennsylvania Super Bowl. Philadelphia is out and Arizona is in, and instead of the Keystone State collision NBC executives craved, Super Bowl XLIII will showcase the Cardinals, the Keystone Kops of pro sports franchises.
Arizona-Pittsburgh doesn't scream of a dream matchup, but has a Super Bowl ever promised so many contrasts of both style and substance?
The Cardinals, with peerless wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, are a high-wire act replete with thrills and spills. Through three playoff games, I've decided the only thing more exciting than watching Fitzgerald catch the touchdown pass that gives his team the lead is watching the Arizona defense try to hold onto it.
The Steelers slug it out, grind it out, plod it out. They've got electrifying athletes capable of changing a game in a single play, except their electrifying athletes play defense.
The Cardinals, until this month, hadn't won a home playoff game since 1947. The Steelers are headed toward their seventh Super Bowl. They've won five of them.
The Cardinals are from the Sun Belt. They play their games in a retractable-roofed stadium named after a "university" that conducts classes on the Internet. The Steelers are from the Rust Belt. They play their games in an open-air stadium named after a brand of ketchup.
And yet, for all their contrasts, the Super Bowl foes share some history. In 1944, when more than 600 pro football players were preoccupied with a task even more important than determining a league champion - they were saving the free world - the Cardinals (then in Chicago) and Steelers merged their rosters for a one-year collaboration.
It didn't go well.
"The worst team in NFL history," the late Art Rooney, who founded the Steelers, once said.
The Detroit Lions just set a futility standard by finishing 0-16, but the 2008 Lions were a dynasty-in-the-making powerhouse compared to the 1944 team recognized in NFL archives as "Card-Pitt."
They played a 10-game schedule. They went 0-10. If the season had been extended to 25 games, Card-Pitt would have gone 0-25. Its eight touchdown passes were mitigated by its 41 interceptions. When a Card-Pitt pass wasn't picked, the team punted an average of 32.7 yards per attempt - the league record, still, for fewest yards per punt.
On the bright side, Card-Pitt missed only two field goals. On the not so bright side, Card-Pitt tried only two field goals.
Starting quarterback Coley McDonough was drafted into the service a few weeks into the season; his backup, Johnny McCarthy, threw 13 interceptions, with no touchdowns. There was no such thing as a quarterback rating in those days - McCarthy's rating would've been 3 - but there were cynical sports columnists.
"Why don't they call themselves the Car-Pitts?" mused Pittsburgh Post sports editor Al Abrams. "I think it's very appropriate, as every team in the league walks over them."
Before the Car-Pitts' season finale against the Chicago Bears, their best and most dependable player, halfback Johnny Grigas, quit.
He wrote a letter to management explaining his motives.
"When your mind is changed because of the physical beating, week in and week out, your soul isn't in the game," Grigas began. "I tried to win and worked hard, but the workhorse, as I was termed by the newspapers, is almost ready for the farm."
The experiment of merging teams in wartime was not unprecedented. The Eagles and Steelers were amalgamated in 1943 - they were called the “Steagles” - and they finished a respectable 5-4-1. (The Steagles' contribution to the NFL? The head coaches despised each other, so one ran the offense, the other ran the defense, pioneering the notion of separate coordinators.)
As for the 1944 Car-Pitts, they were a team of the times: Joe Nuxhall, a 15-year old high school student, pitched in relief for the Reds. In 1943, the Indianapolis 500 was called off because of a gas shortage, and the U.S. Open was called off because the rubber on the golf balls was determined too precious to waste in a tournament. In 1945, Pete Gray played outfield for the St. Louis Browns. He had one arm.
The NFL persevered during World War II, and the games more or less resembled pro football. Runners were tackled. Passes were thrown. Scores were kept. But there was a talent crunch so acute the Cardinals and Steelers had to share a team - the worst team in NFL history.
From the Car-Pitts to the Super Bowl. It's a wonderful world, all made possible by those who worked the real trenches in 1944.
(c) Copyright 2009 Tacoma News, Inc
Delhomme, Fox both blew it for Panthers
First off, here's a shout out to all my fishing and quarterhorse buddies down in Zachary, La. I did a silly thing a long time ago giving them my cell-phone number and e-mail address. And these guys would let me have it whenever I criticized their local quarterback, Jake Delhomme, on the FOX NFL Sunday pregame show. Well, I haven't heard back from my Zachary buddies yet. I guess they apparently didn't have an answer to how Jake played against my Cardinals. I don't either.
Believe me, I have nothing against Jake. Love the guy; love his roots. The Cardinals got up on the Panthers and Carolina abandoned the run. Maybe that was a mistake; I don't know. And did you know Saturday was Jake's 34th birthday? His performance was about the worst birthday present anybody can give. It was so bad I heard he was apologizing in the huddle for how he was doing. You can't do that, Jake. You have to keep fighting and not let the game get you down.
But Jake simply was unable to make any big plays and he had an ugly habit of throwing into double coverage a lot. I learned the hard way that it's impossible to throw the ball THROUGH a defensive back.
Heck, Steve Smith didn't have his first catch until the last minute of the third quarter. Jake eventually found him for a meaningless touchdown when the game was almost over. I'm going to Arizona this week to check out the Cardinals' defense and find out what was their secret. All I know is that poor Jake was intercepted five times and that's all she wrote.
In two playoff games, the Cardinals have come up with nine turnovers. That has to be some kind of record! And get this: Those playoff-starved fans in Arizona bought every ticket for Sunday's title clash in six minutes.
I don't know what to make of these playoffs. The top two teams in the NFC are gone and now my Cardinals - I'm sincerely sorry I abandoned you guys a couple weeks ago when I accused you of sleep-walking through most of December - are playing in their first-ever NFC championship game. And they are playing it at home. Nobody - not even Curt Menefee - would have predicted that when these playoffs began.
I mean, for the first time in the playoffs, five straight road teams won. My Steelers ended that wacky streak by stuffing the sun-baked San Diego Chargers. West Coast teams generally have a rough time dealing with snow and icy conditions. Philip Rivers had another rough visit to Heinz Field, much like his loss back on Nov. 16, and that was it. I think Rivers had one snap the entire third quarter and his pass attempt was batted into the air for an interception. The Chargers' defense played as well as they could, considering they never got a rest, being on the field a good 13 more minutes that Pittsburgh's. They fought hard, too, actually stopping Pittsburgh on a fourth-and-goal run. Give them credit for that, but they had too many unlucky bounces, like the punt bouncing off one of their helmets. Pretty strange stuff.
I just want to go back to that Arizona-Carolina game one more time. All I want to ask Panthers coach John Fox is: Why didn't he double-team Larry Fitzgerald? I mean, they had to know there was a good chance that Anquan Boldin wouldn't play with that bad hamstring, and he didn't.
Knowing that, the Panthers should have been feeling good. Just stop Fitzgerald. But, no, he catches about 150 yards worth of passes in the first half alone and the game is virtually over. I mean, how can you sit back in a zone all game long? You must have a better plan than that.
Now, Ben Roethlisberger got up off the mat. The last time I checked on him they were carting him off the field in Pittsburgh, the victim of a concussion. I know Big Ben loves drama. He gave the thumbs up to that scene and he returned on Sunday by throwing some beautiful deep passes in some pretty ugly weather. Ben looked real sharp and he made a lot of great decisions with the football. I mean, I loved that he found his tight end Heath Miller so much in the second half. And his deep pass to Hines Ward was a thing of beauty, too.
Big Ben is the toughest quarterback in the league to collar and bring down. But when he's so accurate medium and deep, well, he has the look of a quarterback going back to the Super Bowl. I realize it's hard to beat a team three times in a season, but I really like Pittsburgh's chances, mainly because Willie Parker is running again. Parker also scored two touchdowns, something he hadn't done in the playoffs ever.
The other big story of the weekend was in New Jersey. Andy Reid, a really good guy, and Donovan McNabb came back from the dead. I wonder what all those ugly Philly fans are saying today. Are they still ripping these two guys? It seems like only yesterday that they wanted them fired and replaced with anybody else. I still remember by good buddy, Jimmy Johnson, saying on our show in early December to "think about what you're wishing for." Jimmy was basically saying there was no guarantee in football that owner Jeff Lurie could find anybody better than Reid or McNabb.
Now, repeat after me all you Eagle fans. FIVE NFC championship games in 10 seasons. That's what Andy and Donovan have accomplished.
It's fascinating that the Eagles, who looked so awful against the Ravens, could be headed to Tampa for the Super Bowl. I know the Eagles whipped the Cardinals by 28 points a month ago, but these Cardinals play so much better at home. And for some reason they've become super attached to this underdog role. They've fallen in love with everyone picking against them. It's their mantra. Even Edgerrin James, who was being told he was a bum a month ago, is feeling pretty chipper these days. I mean, he has fresh legs. I love this matchup because we have two veteran quarterbacks going against each other, both of them playing at an extremely high level right now.
And, by the way, that was me calling Donovan on the sideline phone yesterday, telling him what a great job he was doing.
(c) 2009 Fox Sports Interactive Media, LLC
Steelers' LB Harrison wins Defensive Player of the Year award
New York, NY (Sports Network) - After helping the Pittsburgh Steelers post the NFL's top-ranked defense this season, linebacker James Harrison was honored on Monday as the Associated Press' Defensive Player of the Year.
Harrison set a Steelers record with a career-high 16 sacks in helping the Steelers to a 12-4 regular season record and an AFC North title. The 30-year- old also notched an NFL-high seven forced fumbles in addition to 101 tackles and an interception in 15 games this season.
With Harrison as its anchor, Pittsburgh's defense allowed just 237.2 yards per game and 156.9 yards per game through the air, both tops in the league. The Steelers finished second in the NFL in rushing yards allowed per game with 80.2, behind only the Minnesota Vikings. Pittsburgh also led the league in fewest points allowed this season.
Harrison earned 22 of the 50 votes turned in by a nationwide panel of sports writers. Dallas' DeMarcus Ware earned 13 to finish second in the voting.
The Steelers won six of their final seven games to capture the division crown and will host the San Diego Chargers this Saturday.
Ware, meanwhile, led the NFL with 20 sacks this season for the Cowboys, who failed to earn a playoff berth after getting blown out by Philadelphia in their final regular season game of the year.
Copyright (c) 2008 Reflex Publishing, Inc
Kiffin coaches last game with Bucs
TAMPA -- The man who many say is one of the best defensive coordinators in the NFL coached his last game with the Bucs Sunday.
Monte Kiffin is leaving to join the University of Tennessee.
It was a bitter Sunday for the Bucs: they lost Sunday's game, and with it, the chance of making it to the playoffs.
And now they are losing Kiffin.
Fans say whoever takes the beloved coach's place will have some large shoes to fill.
"The defense has been great for a number of years, and without Monte Kiffin, it'll be a whole new face coming onto the organization. So hopefully we can keep it going," said Julia Bland as she walks into Raymond James Stadium for Sunday's game.
Kiffin is a defense master-mind. During the last 12 years, the Bucs' defense has ranked in the top ten. He's so successful, his scheme has been fingerprinted around the National Football League. And now fans worry his departure may mean the Bucs' pirate ship will begin to sink.
"Down. I think the defense is what carried us. Gruden has the offensive genius label that isn't applicable," said Buccaneer fan Paul Ferrentino.
Many argue that Monte Kiffin is one of the best defensive coordinators that has ever coached in the NFL. His play calling lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to their first Super Bowl win back in 2002.
Fans say they'll miss his play calling, but they'll also miss h.
"He's quite a character. With his antics, and the way he gets excited and animated, he's fun to watch," said Ferrentino.
(c) 2008 Fox Television Stations, Inc
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