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The top five unanswered questions of the preseason [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: September 2, 2010, 4:16 pm] The final week of the 2010 preseason is upon us, though this will be to football what John Beck is to Rex Grossman (or something like that). We've seen most of what we're going to see from the starters, and now it's time for the low-round rookies and other fringe players to try desperately to work their way onto the final 53. Here are five questions this preseason has brought up in this particular mind:1. Will the Carolina Panthers ever score an offensive touchdown?Through three preseason games, the Panthers have run 199 plays from scrimmage and scored a grand total of zero offensive touchdowns. The only Panthers player to get in the end zone under any circumstances is running back Mike Goodson, and he did that on a kick return. The problems are all over the place - receiver Steve Smith is still out after breaking his arm playing flag football in the offseason, quarterbacks Matt Moore and Jimmy Clausen have looked sub-decent at best, and that renowned Panthers power running game has gone "Pffft" as opposing defenses are able to put their focus there. The good news for the Panthers is that their defense is playing at a ridiculous pace right now - first in the NFL in total defense, second in points allowed, and first with 18 sacks. That's pretty impressive for a team with several new defensive starters. The Panthers might be able to eke out a few ugly wins early on, and Smith is expected back for the first regular-season game, but concerns have to be mounting.2. Will Jay Cutler survive the regular season?Last season, Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler suffered a career-high 35 sacks (555 passing attempts). He was also hurried a league-leading 141 times by enemy defenders, according to Football Outsiders. That was the result of a subpar and injury-plagued offensive line. With most of that same line in place for 2010, and the addition of offensive coordinator Mike Martz (who provides higher offensive totals and larger sack percentages to every team he Five unanswered preseason questions [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: September 2, 2010, 4:16 pm] The final week of the 2010 preseason is upon us, though this will be to football what John Beck is to Rex Grossman (or something like that). We've seen most of what we're going to see from the starters, and now it's time for the low-round rookies and other fringe players to try desperately to work their way onto the final 53. Here are five questions this preseason has brought up in this particular mind:1. Will the Carolina Panthers ever score an offensive touchdown?Through three preseason games, the Panthers have run 199 plays from scrimmage and scored a grand total of zero offensive touchdowns. The only Panthers player to get in the end zone under any circumstances is running back Mike Goodson, and he did that on a kick return. The problems are all over the place - receiver Steve Smith is still out after breaking his arm playing flag football in the offseason, quarterbacks Matt Moore and Jimmy Clausen have looked sub-decent at best, and that renowned Panthers power running game has gone "Pffft" as opposing defenses are able to put their focus there. The good news for the Panthers is that their defense is playing at a ridiculous pace right now - first in the NFL in total defense, second in points allowed, and first with 18 sacks. That's pretty impressive for a team with several new defensive starters. The Panthers might be able to eke out a few ugly wins early on, and Smith is expected back for the first regular-season game, but concerns have to be mounting.2. Will Jay Cutler survive the regular season?Last season, Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler suffered a career-high 35 sacks (555 passing attempts). He was also hurried a league-leading 141 times by enemy defenders, according to Football Outsiders. That was the result of a subpar and injury-plagued offensive line. With most of that same line in place for 2010, and the addition of offensive coordinator Mike Martz (who provides higher offensive totals and larger sack percentages to every team he Preseason Confidential: Forsett and Seahawks still have concerns [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: September 2, 2010, 9:42 am] Through the Seattle Seahawks' 2010 training camp and preseason, we're following running back Justin Forsett(notes) as he tries to take that next step from offensive cog to feature back in his third NFL season. In this fifth installment (you can read Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, and Part 4 here), the Seahawks try to get their run game going before it's too late.SEATTLE -- Through their first three preseason games, the Seattle Seahawks have rushed for just 207 yards and one touchdown on 61 carries. That adds up to a 3.4 yards per carry average, which puts the team in the league's bottom third. It's a disconcerting notion for a new front office trying to improve on a 2009 run game that averaged just 4.0 YPC (tied with the Detroit Lions). And Justin Forsett, the third-year back who came into the preseason as the projected lead dog in a new running back rotation, has gained just 50 yards on 18 carries (2.8) as his quick zone runs have been frequently bottled up behind an injury-plagued offensive line. For the Seahawks, it's been same stuff, different day. As a result, head coach Pete Carroll said on Monday that the in-game running back situation hadn't provided a star just yet. "I'll say what we've said all along - it'd be nice if it did. But it doesn't matter to me that it hasn't. I don't think we've had enough success running the football for these guys to distinguish themselves. They've all run hard - I've looked at all their runs in groups to make sure I can see them and the styles they run to see if they're anything going on, and right now, they're all battling out there. They're all really good football players ... they're all going to play, and we'll see how we do."If Forsett was worried about the team's rushing performance, and his place in it, he certainly didn't let on when I talked to him after Tuesday's practice. "We're good," he said. "I think we're just like one block away, or one cut away, from making a big play This is why we don't wear huge diamond earrings to practice [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: September 1, 2010, 1:39 pm] Miami Dolphins defensive end Kendall Langford is a little less shiny today than he was yesterday. He arrived at yesterday's practice iced out with a 2.5-carat diamond hanging from his earlobe. He forgot to take it out before practice. And today, his ears are sadly bare. Here's the story from the NFL Network: If I could call a quick time out here, I'm confused about one thing -- We're in Miami, and we can't locate an old man with a metal detector? Come on now. Put an ad in the local pennysaver, see if an old guy can help you, and if his trusty metal detector finds the diamond, then you buy him as many Grand Slam breakfasts as he wants for a month. Seems like this should be an easy fix. The earring remains at large. Langford remains a little less icy. Bill Parcells is going to have to have a long talk with his players about proper ridiculously-sized earring care and maintenance. The Shutdown Eleven: The most interesting footballers of 2010. #10: LaDainian Tomlinson [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: September 1, 2010, 1:10 pm] The Shutdown Eleven counts down a list of eleven NFL-related things, in order of the editor's preference. In this installment, we look at the most interesting players heading into the 2010 NFL season. #10. LaDainian Tomlinson. Usually, when a formerly great running back gets tossed aside because he's gotten old and unproductive, he becomes uninteresting . The sniping between Tomlinson and Chargers, though, along with Tomlinson's noted sensitivity, has made him a player of interest. The conflict basically boils down to this: Tomlinson thinks he's still really good, and the reasons he couldn't run in San Diego had more to do with the blocking, coaching and scheme. San Diego's contention (unspoken as it may be) is that everything else was just fine, but that Tomlinson simply fell down way too often and way too easily. Ryan Mathews, San Diego's rookie running back, is a player in this drama, too. If he steps into the Chargers offense and has a productive season, the Chargers will look at Tomlinson and say, "Yeah. The problem was you, old man." That Tomlinson's new team, the Jets, booted the Chargers out of the playoffs last year, and that they both figure to contend for the AFC championship again in 2010, only helps to frame the intrigue around Tomlinson. Previously: #11. Sam Bradford. Reports: Cardinals now want to trade Leinart; Giants interested [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: September 1, 2010, 1:06 pm] Jay Glazer of Fox Sports tweeted last night that the Arizona Cardinals had gone ahead and started talking to teams about trading Matt Leinart. Cards have been contacting teams today shopping qb matt leinart, according to several sources. Unclear what compensation they r looking for The former 10th-overall draft pick has gone from unchallenged preseason starter, to holding a clipboard to the wildly unproductive Derek Anderson, to making unusual comments about head coach Ken Whisenhunt, and now, to the trading block. It's been an eventful preseason for the 2004 Heisman Trophy winner, but not in any kind of good way. The only conclusion to be drawn here is that the Cardinals really want Leinart gone. A team does not boot a recent top-10 draft pick, leaving Derek "I'm averaging 5.4 yards per attempt against second-string preseason defenses" Anderson as the unquestioned starter unless they really don't like the other guy. They're leaving Derek Anderson as their grand plan for the season. Let that sink in for a minute. I'm sorry, but that doesn't happen if the only issue is Leinart's failure to reach his potential. There's something else going on. If they want to trade him, it's because they think he's an outright harmful influence, and they don't want him around everyone else. It's not like Leinart has some tremendous trade value that the Cardinals just can't ignore. I'd be surprised if they got anything better than a 4th-round pick for him. Meanwhile, Adam Schefter, while backing up the report that the Cardinals are actively shopping Leinart, names the Buffalo Bills, Oakland Raiders and New York Giants as teams that have spoken to the Cards about Leinart. The Giants are in need of a backup after losing Jim Sorgi for the season, while it seems conceivable that the Raiders, or especially the Bills, could give Leinart a crack at a starting job Louis Delmas thinks kids are wonderful. As tackling dummies. [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: September 1, 2010, 9:12 am] It's a great thing when an NFL team can get children involved in the game, and it's a great thing when a young player is bursting with enthusiasm to strap on the pads and play for his team. But sometimes, it's not a great thing when those two things come together. Keep your head in the game, son: Oh ... oh, that's unfortunate. Delmas's enthusiasm had children strewn about like empty beer cans at a frat party. The good news is that no one was injured, and of course, Delmas was very sorry. From Tom Kowalski at mlive.com: "I'm so used to having so much space and I came out and felt a little bump on my butt and I looked around and there are kids all over the ground. I felt bad,'' Delmas said. Well, no harm, no foul. Kids are resilient little creatures, and Delmas went on to have a fine game, returning from a groin injury. It does make me laugh, though, that he barrels through a group of children like the Kool-Aid Man going through a wall, and just keeps going like nothing happened. Obviously, Delmas meant no harm and he loves the kids, but it's like he said to himself, "Look at that, a bunch of children have been mauled. Hm. Alright, LET'S PLAY SOME FOOTBALL! AAAAAHHHHHHH!" Ravens trade for Seahawks CB Josh Wilson [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: August 31, 2010, 8:13 pm] It's always interesting when a trade happens, and you're in the facilities of one of the teams involved. That's what happened to me today, when I was at the Seattle Seahawks HQ (the Virginia Mason Athletic Center) working on another installment of the Justin Forsett preseason diary. After practice, word started going around the Twitterverse that Seattle had traded cornerback Josh Wilson to the Baltimore Ravens for a conditional draft pick. An odd transaction if true, as Wilson - a second-round pick in 2007 - had developed some starting skills that are not always easy for teams to replicate. Wilson picked off two passes in 2009 and led the team in pass deflections with 12. About an hour after the trade was confirmed, head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider came in to the media room to discuss the deal. The primary reason for the trade was that the Seahawks -- who are getting basted by the fans at first glance - have a great deal of faith in rookie cornerback Walter Thurmond. The fourth-round pick out of Oregon had projected at one time as a first-round pick, but a knee injury suffered on the season's opening kickoff curtailed his 2009 campaign. Thurmond had played well through the preseason, and the coaches noticed."This is an opportunity that came along for us because of our depth," Carroll said. "We're very happy with the cornerback position, with Kelly Jennings and Walter Thurmond ... Josh is a great kid, and this is a team that really came after him. It happened very quickly.""[Baltimore] has a situation where they have a strong need," Schneider said. "It was one of those deals that comes along, and we felt we couldn't pass it up." The Ravens have been desperately looking for help at the cornerback position since losing Domonique Foxworth for the season to a torn ACL. It's a great deal for a Super Bowl contender, which the Ravens are and the Seahawks are not. Wilson is an unrestricted free agent in 2011, Deep Posts: Matt Leinart gets snippy about his demotion [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: August 31, 2010, 4:51 pm] • Matt Leinart's a little unhappy about being demoted to Arizona Cardinals preseason second-stringer, behind Derek Anderson. And that's a good thing -- you'd want your quarterback to be upset about something like that. What's odd, though, is that Leinart seemed to lob a vague accusation that Ken Whisenhunt made the decisions because of some off-the-field issue, as opposed to on-field performance. Hmmmm. • ... and Kurt Warner will DANCE! • Madden '11 has launched some damn new thing on Facebook. I dunno. • Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Sidney Rice has been placed on the PUP list, which means he'll miss at least the first six weeks of the season. Also, I think every player placed on the PUP list should get a free puppy. They need to be cheered up, and the name's already a place. I say this is the most pressing issue facing Commissioner Goodell. • That Neil Rackers vs. Kris Brown kicking battle in Houston is coming down to the wire. I'm on Team Rackers. • Remember when I mentioned that things weren't going well for Derrick Ward? Yeah. They didn't get better. • Shaun Rogers of the Cleveland Browns got some good news, though. He won't be suspended for that whole "bringing a loaded gun onto an airplane" thing. He just gets fined. Chargers look at Notre Dame game film to prepare for Chiefs [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: August 31, 2010, 4:14 pm] The Chiefs head into 2010 with brand new coordinators on both sides of the ball -- Charlie Weis on offense and Romeo Crennel on defense. It presents an interesting problem for the their opening week opponent, the San Diego Chargers. What kind of game film are they supposed to watch if the Chiefs will have daisy fresh schemes on both offense and defense? Well, what happens is that they end up watching Notre Dame game film. From Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune: [T]he Chargers watched myriad game film during the spring as early preparation for their Sept. 13 season opener.“You look at Cleveland and Notre Dame, and you look at New England when Charlie was in New England,” Turner said. Wow. Poor Norv is relegated to Notre Dame game film. Not only is its relevance to the pro game questionable, but if he goes back as far as 2007 ... it might send him into a deep depression, too. I don't know if this is common practice among coaches who have to scout teams with coaches who last worked at the college level. My guess is that it won't make a great deal of difference in terms of how the Chargers will prepare. Charlie Weis is a known quantity in the NFL, and besides: it's Week One. Everyone's sort of in the same boat, in terms of not knowing exactly what they should prepare for. Every coach will be doing something differently than they did the year before, no matter where they were working. Personnel is different, the strategy is adapted to that personnel, and NFL coaches are always very aware of avoiding predictability. The Chargers and Chiefs play in the late game on Monday night of opening weekend. The Shutdown Eleven: The most interesting footballers of 2010. #11: Sam Bradford [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: August 31, 2010, 2:48 pm] The Shutdown Eleven counts down a list of eleven NFL-related things, in order of the editor's preference. In this installment, we look at the most interesting players heading into the 2010 NFL season. #11. Sam Bradford. The first player drafted in a given year is always a player of interest, but even more so with Bradford, because he'll most likely be a starter from game one, and we can't be sure he'll actually survive the season. Situations don't get much worse for rookie quarterbacks. The pass blocking in front of Bradford is likely to be leaky, and injury has erased the Rams' top receiver, Donny Avery, for the entire season. If he didn't have workhorse Steven Jackson behind him assuming a lot of the offensive load, Bradford might be wondering if he'd entered the special section of hell reserved for quarterbacks. Not that Bradford isn't a capable guy. His accuracy and decision-making have gotten strong reviews through training camp, and he was quite sharp in his last preseason outing. He completed 15-of-22 attempts (including his first six) for 189 yards and two touchdowns against the Patriots. He's also yet to throw an interception in the preseason. Unfortunately, he's also been sacked five times thus far. No QB in the league has been sacked more in the preseason. Only once in the last five seasons has the same quarterback started all 16 games for the Rams. Quarterback of the St. Louis Rams might be the most physically dangerous job in the NFL. Bradford has the pedigree to be, and is being paid like, a franchise quarterback and franchise savior. That potential is exciting, and how he'll deal with the considerable obstacles in front of him will make him one of the NFL's most interesting people of 2010. The Saints turn to L.A. Laker Derek Fisher for inspiration [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: August 31, 2010, 10:02 am] The New Orleans Saints, according to TMZ, are looking for some expertise on what it takes to win back-to-back championships. Who better to ask than Los Angeles Lakers point guard Derek Fisher, who has boatlods of experience defending his sport's ultimate prize? Sources close to the deal tell TMZ that Derek "has been asked by the Saints to address the team before their home opener in N.O. on September 9."[...]Fisher personally received calls from coaches and "other team staff" -- and we're told the courting worked ... because Fisher agreed and will be in the Superdome to pump up the reigning Super Bowl champs before they take the field. Fish is a five-time champion, having hoisted Larry O'Brien's trophy in 2000, 2001, 2002 and then again in 2009 and 2010. And if you're going to ask anyone from those teams to drop by, I like the choice of Fisher. He's one of the NBA's all-time great glue guys, willing and able to step into the background, accept his role, be a stabilizing influence, and step up like a champion when called upon. With the Saints, everyone on the roster, with the exception of Drew Brees, is a role player. Brees is your Kobe (I'm referring only to his on-field role, so calm yourself, Saints fans). Everyone else should aspire to be Derek Fisher. I'm sure NBC will give us a good look at Fisher next Thursday night. Polamalu's long locks insured for $1 million [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: August 30, 2010, 7:28 pm] You'd think that an All-Pro safety who missed 11 games in 2009 due to a knee injury would be most concerned about other body parts, but Pittsburgh Steelers superstar Troy Polamalu also has endorsements to consider. One of whose endorsements is with the Head & Shoulders company, which makes sense when you consider Polamalu's famed three-foot-long hair. It's a tribute to his Samoan heritage, and it's not something he plans to cut anytime soon. Once in a great while, a Steelers opponent will try to use Polamalu's hair against him in a game (as Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson did in 2006 as Polamalu returned an interception), and it's quite possible that the concern over such matters was the catalyst needed by Head & Shoulders to insure Polamalu's hair with Lloyd's of London for $1 million. Then, again, it could be a publicity stunt. Lloyd's is famous for unusual policies that can be turned into media gold; the company has insured Tina Turner's legs, Keith Richards' fingers, the legs of noted Riverdance ponce Michael Flatley, the bodies of several professional wrestlers (including Ric Flair -- Woo!), Jimmy Durante's nose, and Celine Dion's vocal cords (they're also talking with Virgin Galactic about insuring space travel, if that ever gets off the ground). Polamalu's hair isn't going anywhere, but it's a nice press haul for company and endorsee.And if you want to ask Polamalu why his hair is insured ... well, just don't ask with your eyes. He can pick that up pretty well. Troy Polamalu's long locks insured for $1 million [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: August 30, 2010, 7:28 pm] You'd think that an All-Pro safety who missed 11 games in 2009 due to a knee injury would be most concerned about other body parts, but Pittsburgh Steelers superstar Troy Polamalu also has endorsements to consider. One of whose endorsements is with the Head & Shoulders company, which makes sense when you consider Polamalu's famed three-foot-long hair. It's a tribute to his Samoan heritage, and it's not something he plans to cut anytime soon. Once in a great while, a Steelers opponent will try to use Polamalu's hair against him in a game (as Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson did in 2006 as Polamalu returned an interception), and it's quite possible that the concern over such matters was the catalyst needed by Head & Shoulders to insure Polamalu's hair with Lloyd's of London for $1 million. Then, again, it could be a publicity stunt. Lloyd's is famous for unusual policies that can be turned into media gold; the company has insured Tina Turner's legs, Keith Richards' fingers, the legs of noted Riverdance ponce Michael Flatley, the bodies of several professional wrestlers (including Ric Flair -- Woo!), Jimmy Durante's nose, and Celine Dion's vocal cords (they're also talking with Virgin Galactic about insuring space travel, if that ever gets off the ground). Polamalu's hair isn't going anywhere, but it's a nice press haul for company and endorsee.And if you want to ask Polamalu why his hair is insured ... well, just don't ask with your eyes. He can pick that up pretty well. Pottymouth Brian Billick doesn't like Rex Ryan's pottymouth [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: August 30, 2010, 11:42 am] All the sudden, former NFL coaches are Puritan ministers. First, Tony Dungy lashed out at Rex Ryan for his constant, emphatic and skillful use of profanity, and now former Ravens head coach Brian Billick's jumping on the wash-Rex's-mouth-out-with-soap bandwagon. From Michael Hiestand's USA Today sports television column: Fox NFL analyst Brian Billick, on ESPN, talking about New York Jets coach Rex Ryan's hearty use of profanity on HBO's ongoing Hard Knocks series: "Whether the camera is on you or not, you ought not to be using certain language." Well, that's easy to say when you've never been in the heat of the game, in front of your players, trying to -- wait, what's that? Billick has been in that situation? Oh. Well, I'll pause while you click right here and watch Billick show Rex Ryan how a true gentleman expresses an opinion. Oh. It's a wonder that Billick didn't say, "Rex Ryan really needs to shut the **** up with all that cursing." At the risk of slandering my own favorite game, let me just say that I'd never turn to professional football to find the pinnacle of cultural sophistication. These men are not poets. Obviously, it's not a reflection on the quality of their character at all. It's just the way things are. Rex Ryan was not raised to be a wordsmith. Rex Ryan was raised by Buddy Ryan, who punched out offensive coordinators and saw his life's purpose as making quarterbacks feel physical pain. I'm going to guess that Buddy never enrolled young Rex in an etiquette class. If Dungy never uttered a naughty word, and Billick wants to pretend like he didn't, that's up to them, but football people are never going to be the most delicately spoken people in the world. It's a rough game, played by rough men, and those men use rough language. That's never going to change. Colts: New umpire positioning will slow us down [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: August 30, 2010, 10:37 am] In every NFL game you've seen before the 2010 preseason, the umpire has been stationed about five yards from the line of scrimmage, on the defensive side of the ball. This presented a couple of problems. One, smartypants offenses often took advantage of the older gentleman's positioning, using him to set a screen for receivers running crossing routes across the middle of the field. A receiver would run by him, and unless he wanted to kill an old man, the defender would have to adjust his position, letting the receiver get a little more open. And a few times a year, we'd end up with a defenseless umpire getting crunched between two behemoths in full body armor. It wasn't an ideal situation. So this year, the NFL has decided to move the umpire to a new position: 15 yards from the line of scrimmage, on the offensive side. Behind the quarterback, behind the running backs, and out of harm's way. Problem solved, right? Problem not solved, according to Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and general manager Bill Polian. Their complaints are highlighted in today's Monday Morning Quarterback column by Peter King at SI, and they're pretty valid. In their last preseason game against the Packers, the Colts were whistled for two "snap infringement" penalties. Under the new rules, the offense has to wait for the umpire to get into position before they snap the penalty. But now, it takes longer for the official to get there, so if a team's trying to get a play off in a hurry, they're either going to have to sacrifice a couple of seconds, or risk a penalty. Said Manning (via King): "Let's chart all the comeback wins where a team runs the hurry-up in the fourth quarter. How many of those games would have ended up the same way -- or would the quarterbacks have had enough time to run enough plays to come back and win?'' And Polian (again, via King): "I am dead-set against the penalty,'' said Polian. "It is insane. If I knew it woul Deep Posts: Will the new umpire rule affect no-huddle teams? [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: August 30, 2010, 10:14 am] -- SI.com's Peter King talked to Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and team president Bill Polian about the new NFL rule that puts the umpire behind the quarterback during plays, and often has the umpire in the way of the snap when teams run hurry-up offenses. The Colts, who ranked second in Football Outsiders' Offensive Pace metric (the number of seconds between snaps) in 2009, rely heavily on shotgun, no-huddle offenses, and they were penalized twice for "False start - snap infringement" in their 59-24 loss to the Green Bay Packers last Thursday. In my opinion, the league didn't think this one through. More than ever, teams are running no-huddle offenses as the pace of the game has changed. I understand the need for umpire safety, but there has to be a better way to get the ball set. King also asked Carl Johnson, who replaced Mike Pereira as the NFL's VP of Officiating (and Doublespeak) this year, what the solution is. "The way the new mechanic of the umpire positioning is, I don't have a resolution to that,'' Johnson said. Good to know.-- Our own MJD detailed just how bad the Antonio Bryant deal was for the Cincinnati Bengals - basically, the team paid Bryant $8 million in guaranteed money on a contract they signed him to in march, and just cut him because he had a knee injury. Which he had before. We're not sure that the Bengals' medical staff was doing on the day of the physical that Bryant would have had to take before signing the contract, but given the front office's traditionally frugal ways, we wouldn't be surprised of Dr. Nick Riviera was somehow involved. Well, it turns out that the Bryant deal could bite the Bengals just a little but more. Sports rumor expert Ben Maller highlighted a Cincinnati Enquirer story in which it was revealed that the Bengals also goofed up by failing to offer Bryant an injury settlement. That's a roster move designed to keep pace with the NFL rule that you can't cut a player when he's hurt. And s Ndamukong Suh needs an NFL rulebook [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: August 30, 2010, 1:22 am] Though Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford was 2010's first overall draft pick, there's little doubt that Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh was the best player in college football in 2009. Suh capped off a dominant senior season with an all-time performance in the Big 12 Championship, picking up 4 ½ sacks against Texas in a near-upset. That Suh was drafted second overall by the Detroit Lions was not a surprise. That he kept his ridiculous aggressiveness at the NFL level ... well, that wasn't a surprise, either. Suh as outstanding strength and technique, but what sets him apart is the need to dominate on the field - he displayed this against Texas when he threw Colt McCoy a good five yards on one of his sacks.Guess what, NFL observers? No flag. The NCAA has a different concept of quarterback protection, and Suh found this out in Detroit's 35-27 win over the Cleveland Browns last Saturday, when Suh blew past his blocker and tried to open quarterback Jake Delhomme like a bottle with a helmet on top. Face mask, 15 yards. Mr. Suh is going to have to learn that in a league where the owners are trying to stuff an 18-game regular season down the throats of the players and are willing to change the rules however they must to insure player safety (and, some would say, a much more sanitary and non-football type of football game)."You don't want to do anything to curb his aggressiveness," head coach Jim Schwartz said with a wry smile after the game. "But, seriously, there are things are different here than in college. He can't do that here."Suh's an amazing player, but he'd better figure this out quickly. The Lions face the Minnesota Vikings twice each year, and if Suh tries this on Brett Favre, Roger Goodell and a team of network executives might ban him from the game on the spot. Throwing the quarterback? Acceptable, as long as there hasn't been a whistle. Dual-facemask takedowns? Not so much. Ouch: Bengals swallow $8 million in release of Antonio Bryant [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: August 29, 2010, 3:18 pm] When the Cincinnati Bengals signed Terrell Owens, it looked like a sign that they had major concerns about Antonio Bryant's ability to contribute in 2010. As it turns out, they did. So much so, in fact, that they cut him today. They just straight up, outright axed Bryant, eating the $8 million in guaranteed money that they gave him back in March. In the end, the Bengals gave Bryant that $8 million for 172 days of practicing. Poorly. That's not a good return on investment for the Bengals. This is the kind of thing that gets people fired. Sure, everyone will whiff on a free agent or a draft pick once in a while, but when a guy gets heavy guaranteed dollars and he doesn't even stick on the roster through the preseason? That's a big one. Even worse, it was a preventable screw-up. It's not like Bryant's production took a nosedive, or he got lazy after signing a big contract. It's not like he just never fit into the Bengals' system. He simply wasn't healthy. His left knee is all gooned up, and as keen football observers are aware, knees are important for wide receivers. Some torn cartilage in there required surgery, but someone with the Bengals apparently decided that all was hunky-dory and healthy in the joint. They were either way, way, way too optimistic that Bryant would recover, or they just didn't investigate the injury thoroughly enough. Either way, as an organization, you just can't have that kind of mistake. Especially when you're owned by a man who has a subheading labeled "Frugality" on his Wikipedia page. Obviously, it turned out that Bryant's knee wasn't healthy. He never got on the field for a preseason game, and I guess the Bengals had seen enough to know that he wasn't going to be able to help them in the regular season, either. Letting him go after paying him $8 million for 172 days of light jogging is an indication that they were pretty damn certain of it, actually. If you're curious, that comes out to $46,511.63 a day Buccaneers cheerleaders hold the line against Jags [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: August 29, 2010, 1:44 pm] We've detailed the Tampa Buccaneers' problems both running and stopping the run before; it's one reason the team drafted two defensive tackles (Oklahoma's Gerald McCoy and UCLA's Brian Price) with their first two picks in 2010. Additionally, head coach Raheem Morris has bashed running back Derrick Ward for his weight, and called out defensive end Stylez G. White for his lax practice habits. This seems to be an overly harsh reaction to a guy who changed his name in honor of the movie "Teen Wolf," but no matter. Coach Morris needs to get his point across. Just in case Morris can't motivate his current team to help bring the Bucs back to the glory days of Warrick Dunn, Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks (and I certainly wish him luck in that endeavor), it seems as if the Bucs have a backup plan. Against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Saturday, Tampa Bay sent out a very different scheme at the two-minute warning near the end of the first half.While I'll give the Bucs points for dialing up potential distractions with this, I'm not sure what the Competition Committee will have to say about the "5-4-3-2-1" offense under any circumstances. And I'm pretty sure there are going to be flags for too many ladies on the field, through I fail to see anything wrong with that concept. Nice move to the 8-7 front near the end, as well - you have to like their ability to switch things up. Still, this seems like a better defensive front to me.And it should provide a snappy retort the next time Coach Morris tells his players that they hit like girls... |