'NFL: A Payne Filled Outlook'

[Bryan Payne]

As the NFL season winds to a close there are a lot of teams, and fans of those teams, that are now scratching their heads saying now what?  So I'm going to tell you what I think they *should* do whether you want me to or not.

Up first, the Dallas Cowboys.  Horrible loss ends the second season in a row, this time after five weeks of dominating performances that had visions of the Lombardi trophy dancing in Jerry Jones' soulless eyes.  However, the team is not as bad as the score made it look, and I'm about to tell you the down and dirty changes they can make to fix things before the wheels come off completely.

If the QB is the heart of your team, the O-Line is the spine, and Dallas's has a couple herniated disks that were horribly exposed on Sunday.  Flozell Adams (34) has been the anchor of that line that has come to symbolize the Dallas Cowboys of the last few years.  It's tough, it's big, and can run on anybody.  The trouble is as the left tackle that's not his job.  His job is to neutralize the most dangerous pass rushers the other team has.   Sadly age appears to be taking his tole on him and he no longer has the wheels to do so.  There are really two fixes here, one you get rid of the guy, two you could move him inside to guard where he could replace Leonard Davis (31) who was exposed all season failing to pick up blitzes and stunts that wrecked havok on the Cowboys backfield in numerous games.  But this is a quick fix to keep a player the organization is attached to.  The Cowboy's learned this season about how you really CAN get addition by subtraction, now it's time to take the next step in re-tooling their team for the next level.

Cut Adams and Leonard Davis.  Then either bring in a new center and move Gurode back to his natural position of guard (to eliminate some of those muffed snaps), or bring in a new athletic guy who can adjust to those blitz's and stunts.   You'll retain the veteran leadership on that line that can easily adjust to a new face or two without disrupting the pass protection they can offer and cover up a blaring disparity that was exposed.   A left tackle is hard to come by, Free played well in spots, maybe he's the guy or maybe you bring in someone new, but either way a change has to be made going forward if the Cowboys are going to take the next step.

While you're at it.  Cut Roy Williams and just make it official Cowboy policy NEVER to draft or sign a guy with that name again.  See.... easy.

On the defensive side of the ball they were very solid and should feel great about next year.  They were put in horrible positions during the Minnesota game and yet kept the Cowboys in the game until the 4th quarter despite turnovers and disasters of biblical proportions on the offensive side of the ball.  The Safety position finally seems to have been solidified and Mike Jenkins has stepped up in a big big way this season becoming a great young corner.  I think the word of the day here is Nickle back.  How much longer is Terrance Newman going to last?  Has he lost the step as it looks like he has or as the emergence of Mike Jenkins just meant he's being tested more?  He's been a great player, but he's never truly lived completely up to his potential.  He's worth keeping, but with his injury history it's time to consider as he turns 32 next year, you're going to need a replacement for him probably sooner rather than later.  Look now.  

There are a few unsung heroes on the Dallas D-line.  Everyone knows about Ware.  Spencer, Ratcliff are great players as well.  Igor Olshansky has emerged as a guy who can come in and make in impact, particularly inside helping to shut down the run game, but I despite the wealth of defensive ends on their current roster, unless they are hiding someone from us, they seem to need someone else on that end.  For years they've thought Spears was going to be that guy, but I think it's time to just admit that he's not going to develop into him and look for someone else to fill those shoes.  As the Giants taught us a few years ago, there's no such thing as having too many guys who can come off the end and create chaos in the backfield, and the injury to Ware this season should have put the fear of God into the cowboys about what it would mean to their defense if he went down for any length of time.  Add some depth.

Love of GOD find a kicker already!  Vanderjat,  Suisham, Folk, back to Suisham on back even before that they haven't found a guy to hang their hat on at that position and depend on.  Well you've got until August, find him, NOW.  It might not seem like a priority considering other issues, and it's not, until it is a problem that cost you football games.  It has for the cowboys this season.  That means it's time to get it fixed.

Let me know what you think, I'll always argue football.  


Next time:  Detroit Lions: Champions of the NFL Draft.    

[Cory]

Philly needs to fire Marty Mournweig....this is a MUST

SHawn ANdrews, a pro bowl Tackle....hasn't played in 2 years. He needs to return.

Linebackers. Kirk Morrison from the Raiders, UFA, PICK HIM UP!

[Bryan Payne]

Detroit Lions:

From 2000-2009, Nine years, the Detroit Lions have picked in the top ten on Draft Day... Seven Times.  Which surprised me, I was expecting to hear Nine times.

But, I had forgotten they actually were winning a few games with Joey H-Bomb at QB. Let's talk about a few of those draft picks shall we?

2000- 1   20    McDougle, Stockar  An offensive tackle from Oklahoma... no longer with the team
2001- 1   18    Backus, Jeff    T    Michigan- actually still with the team having started 16 games for them every seasons since he was drafted.
2002-1   3    Harrington, Joey    QB    Oregon  More on him later, no longer with the team
2003- 1   2   Rogers, Charles   WR    Michigan State  no longer with the team
2004- 1   7    Williams, Roy    WR    Texas  No longer with the team traded to Dallas for three picks
2005- 1   10    Williams, Mike   WR    Southern California.  Third number one receiver in a row... third bust bust bust!
2006 1   9    Sims, Ernie    LB    Florida State  Still with the team and been a tackler, but definitely not a guy who puts any pressure on the QB
2007 1   2   Johnson, Calvin    WR    Georgia Tech  Four number one receivers in this span of time?!  Well at least they finally got one that can play right?
2008 1   17   Cherilus, Gosder    T   Boston College  Too early to tell on him yet. From Haiti.  mentioned only so your thoughts can be with him and his family.
2009 1a.   1   Stafford, Matthew   QB   Georgia
1b.   20   Pettigrew, Brandon (from Dal)   TE   Oklahoma State   Two picks this year thanks to the roy williams trade.

So what do we have here.  One Tackle who is still playing, another drafted tackle who didn't start all 16 games, One Three busts at wide receiver, one anchor tackling linebacker... well christ at least someone on the team can tackle right?  These are the guys who should be leading this team to the play offs right now... right?  You'd think by shear luck they'd have had better than that.

The moral of the story here is two fold.  You cannot build an offense until you can keep your quarterback on his feet.  Joey Harrington had all the talent in the world, he was smart, made good decisions, and could have done great things for the lions.  But instead of investing up front to give him a shot, they drafted disaster after disaster trying to build a high powered offense they couldn't support.  Give Stafford a chance, trade down, rebuild your defensive and offensive lines for the love of god!  Or Stafford is going to go the way of Harrington and Carr, sacked, beaten, and blasted out of the league or into journyman backup status before anyone really has a chance to see what they can do.  Personally I think the lions made a mistake drafting stafford last year, I think they should have invested up front THEN rebuilding that team and let Kitna take the shots that meant taking for another season while you brought the line together.  You have to become mediocre before you can get good, and they are a terrible terrible football team.  They have a running back, they have a receiver, and they have a potential qb.  Invest to protect them, and in your defense and build some confidence in the locker room among the players that things are improving.  Get those young guys to buy into building something special, otherwise first shot they get the ones with talent will be out the door and you're starting over from scratch all over again ah la Cleveland. 

[Cory]

Yeah, Calvin Johnson and Pettigew IMO are the only 2 that have panned out. Sims would be a good #2 on most teams, and Stafford needed 2-3 years as a backup to learn the NFL type of game, but the potential is there.

Now their o-line on the other hand.......

[Bryan Payne]

Tennessee Titans, A Tale of Two Seasons.

This time last year the Titans looked unstoppable rolling through the regular season, only to come up short against a very solid Steeler squad in the AFC Championship game.  But that's not the the two seasons I'm talking about...  I'm talking about 0-6 and 8-2, talk about a turn around!  The very fact that they were mathematically in the playoff hunt until week 16 after an 0-6 start is baffling off the top of my head I don't know that anyone who started 0-6 has ever made the playoffs.  I'll have to look at that later, but the point is the Owner forced Jeff Fisher's hand, they made the change at QB let Johnson off the chain and holy crap they became a good football team again.

There are a few points though that we need to talk about with the Titans if they want to take the next step.  This kind of up and down season is not what you'd expect of the oldest team in the league by average.  Yes, that's right the OLDEST.  You'd expect a weak start and a strong finish from a team loaded with young prospects who started coming together late.  With an older team you'd have expected them to fade late and start strong.  It's difficult to say what accounted for this exactly, but the heart of the matter is even last year they were a run first football team for the most part.  They did running back by committee and that took pressure off their defense which made them look a lot better than it really was.  This year, they came out throwing first for the most part and the whole thing unraveled.  Let's look at some numbers now.

2009:
NAME                   CMP  ATT  YDS    CMP%    YDS/A    LNG  TD    TD% INT    INT%  SACK    YDS    RAT
Vince Young    152    259    1879    58.7    7.26    66     10    3.9     7    2.7          9       36    82.8
Kerry Collins    119    216    1225    55.1    5.67    69     6    2.8    8    3.7          6       37    65.5

The pass attempts are pretty close really, but a few key stats that are surprises here.  Vince Young managed a higher completion percentage with more Yards per attempt.  That's not really something you'd expect if Kerry Collins is the "pocket passer", additionally Young threw more TDs that Interceptions for the first time in his career and finished the season with an 82% QB rating also a career high for him.  One thing that jumped out me is the similarity to Kerry Collin's numbers from the 08 season:

                CMP ATT CMP%   YDS         YDS/A   TD     LNG  INT  RAT
2008   242    415    58.3    2676    6.4         12    56    7    80.2

Again something that leaps out at you hear with Kerry Collin's numbers from last year, the Yards Per Attempt were just a 6.4, that's scary low, and really goes to show you two things.  That Collin's wasn't as good as he looked last season, and also something that most everyone already knows, the Titans have no great wide receivers.  With Vince Young back in control they seem to have found their stride and have gotten back some of the swagger they lost earlier this year, that bodes well for the future.  He was resilient this year, seemed confident, in control, and take charge on the field and off.... everything you want to see from a young quarterback.  Will be be able to keep it going next season?  I think so, if the Titans make the right other moves to help him out.

Let's start with the running game.  You're thinking "But Bryan, Johnson is god!"  Well maybe, but let's look at the numbers of a couple of Titan's RBs and break them down.

2009:
NAME                   ATT    YDS    AVG    LNG    TD    FUM    LST
Chris Johnson    358    2006    5.6             91            14      3              3
LenDale White    64    222            3.5             11           2      1              1

2008:
Chris Johnson    251    1228    4.9            66            9      1              1
LenDale White    200    773            3.9            80           15      0              0

Holy butt farts batman!  358 Carries?  Now don't get me wrong, Chris Johnson is a stud, but time and time again we've seen proven of the last ten-fifteen years, that's too much to put on the shoulders of one running back over the long haul.  Look at the drop off in the number of carries LenDale White had in this same period.  Now he's not supposed to get massive yards per carry, that's not his job, his job is to bang inside and slow down the opponents pass rush giving the qb more time in the pocket and helping out that offensive line.  He helps enable the passing game to be more effective by just plain wearing people out.  But if for some reason the coaching staff isn't happy with him, then look for another running back to take at least 70 more carries away from Johnson, yeah it'll hurt his bottom line numbers, but you need this kid for the rebuilding to come, you need him for the next six-eight years, not the next two.

33, 31, 32, 31, 35, 33.  No those aren't overly optimistic lottery numbers, they are the ages of key defensive starters for the Titans.  Now they seem to have recognized this at a few positions, they have a couple young LBs Tulloch and McRath, the latter of which I'd like to have seen them try to work in more down the stretch, no time like an 8-8 no playoff season to see what a rookie is made of.  And a slew of rookie CBs that we've really not seen enough from to make a judgment.  But at most positions the backups are almost as old as the starters... this is a bad bad thing.  They're not developing much if any good young talent to take over when these time bombs go off and suddenly fall apart on them.  Jeff Fisher and the front office of the Titans ARE playing the lottery, by putting this squad on the field.  It's time for a shake up, it's time to get younger.  Yes it's going to cost you at least one game next season, do it anyway.  You're not going to the superbowl next year anyway, but you've got a shot in two years if you play this right, how many of the aforementioned players are going to be in tip top playing shape in two years?....  Act accordingly.

Something else I wanted to talk about is the Tight End position.  Bo Scaife is a solid tight end, and Jared Cook *looks* promising.  But make a decision and make it soon, because having a good relationship between the tight end and the quarterback is going to help your team tremendously.  He's the dump off of first resort in a successful offense, and if one of these guys can't emerge as a number one go to receiver.  Look elsewhere, fast.

My final thought on the Titans is going to be the most controversial.  Jeff Fisher.  It's time for him to go.  I think he's a good coach but there comes a time when you've been somewhere too long, he let his own personal stigma color his coaching decisions this season, and flushed the year down the drain.  Now since there has been no movement on this front already it's safe to say that his job is safe for another year... but the "save" of the season wasn't due to Jeff Fisher, it was because the owner forced his hand with a QB change so they could see what they had in Vince Young either for the future or for trade bait.  They found out that like Parcells before him Fisher was married to 'his guy' regardless of what was better for the football team.  Fisher is going to be a good coach for a long long time, but I think the time has come for him to do it somewhere else and for a new regime in Tennessee to take over.  Food for thought.

[Ian "Wolfie" Trumps]

I am thinking a column here for NFL called 'NFL: A Payne Filled Outlook'

Give us something weekly? We can pin it and then you can open discussion threads.

[Bryan Payne]

Sounds fun, since I'd probably be ranting about something at least that often anyway, lol.  Sign me up.

[Cory]

Excellent idea....I would like to discuss the topics for sure.

[Hondo]

My team is a weird case.

Over the past few years, the Bengals have been known as an offensive team with a porous defense. This year, it's the exact opposite. I've figured out that their receiving corps aren't what they used to be. Ochocinco has lost a step since last season and while he still has good hands and moves, he doesnt have that explosive speed anymore. Matter of fact, their best deep threat this season was Chris Henry, and we all know what happened there. Laverneous (sp?) Coles wasn't the answer to replace Houshmandzadeh, this much is obvious.

I'd suggest opening their wallets for a big name receiver. I have no idea who will be available in the offseason, so I won't try to venture a guess. But they need a guy who is a legit downfield threat. Team him with Ochocinco and the young guy Andre Caldwell and that's a decent enough receiving corps. Also, the one thing Palmer has never had was a legit TE safety valve. I know these are hard to find, but they need a legit pass catching tight end. They kinda relied on Foschi towards the end of the season but I dont know that he's a long-term answer.

For the first time in Lord knows how long, I can't think of a single thing they need on defense. I mean sure, they could always use a little depth but Im proud to death of the D.

[Cory]

?

SUcked for their D when Odom got hurt early....he looked like he could have got 15 sacks or so.

[Bryan Payne]

And then there were two...  The Colts and the Saints.  I'm pretty happy with out the Conference Championships turned out myself, it's given us two teams that should make an exciting fast passed game at the Super Bowl (also the pure ecstasy of watching Brett Farve make yet another blunder late in a game to cost his team.) So, because you're settling in for TWO full weeks of pre-game hype, I'm going to point out a few things about these teams and this match up so you can just cut the suspense and move on with your life and basically ignore everything until that Sunday.

Now it looks at first blush like these two teams match up pretty well, field general behind center, talented group of young receivers, good offensive line...  but impossibly, and I can't believe I'm saying this, the Colts have the much stronger defense going into this game.  Now some of you out there are saying "but Bryan, the saints run the football, the colts can't stop the run," I beg to differ they held the Jets and Ravens to under 4 yards a carry the last two weeks in addition to making big big plays in the passing game and keeping both qbs under constant pressure.  These aren't the Colts of the early 00's where Payton and company had to run up 40 points to have a prayer of winning.... that's Arizona's job now.   No these guys are steady, keep the ball, wear the defense out and swarm the guy with the ball, type football team now.  Is their defense perfect?  Of course not, but the fact that their offense has been for a decade the best in football AND now they have the better defense in a game?  Forget about it.  This game is going to turn into one of those games we get all hyped up for only to find out the game is curiously lopsided.  Because the Saint's just don't match up on both sides of the ball, at this point I don't think anyone does when apparently any random rookie or practice squad player can be turned into an all-pro by the guy throwing the football.  Sorry to all the Saint's fans out there, but this one isn't going to be very close when the final whistle sounds, and we'll remember it as the night Manning put to bed the 'who's the best QB in football' discussion... number 18.

So overall the biggest question that's going to be answered at the Super Bowl this year is...  how will Bud Light top THIS add?... Genius!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xD9eZ6QKux0


Where's the Beef?:  The Washington Redskins

Where for art thou Redskins? 
Byner and Williams of old
Art Monk has retired
Dion Sanders expired
and Joe Gibbs threw in the towel.

Bad poetry aside the Redskins have been putting new meaning to the phrase "much ado about nothing" for six or seven seasons.  Spending massive amounts of money on big name free agents who fail to produce and are then promtly replaced before any kind of unit cohesiveness can be formed.  We all know the reason for this, the owner, so there's not really a lot we can do about it.  Perhaps Shannehans deal will allow him to make some of these personnel decisions to be able to make the changes on the roster that need to happen in order for them to succeed again.  Right now, they are the bastard step children of the NFC East... and that's the Eagles job damnit!

So what should be his number one priorities going in?

1)  Clinton Portis.   This isn't the guy that helped Denver get over the Terrell Davis hump anymore.  Since coming to Washington he's been banged up, unproductive, and misused to the point that starting next season as a 29 year old RB that looks decidedly average, you have to wonder if this isn't on the Coach's number one wish list... a couple fresh pairs of legs.  Joe Gibbs may have pretty much ended this guy's career during his tenure with the Redskins trying to turn Portis into a power style up the middle running back without the dominating offensive line that made it possible for the Redskins of old to get away with that with big banging Earnest Byner.  He's not that guy and they're not that football team.  He spent three seasons banged up, but managed to each year struggle through as only a tough, stud running back can.  He still had the stuff, and then this season he finally goes down for the rest of the season.  When an allstar RB nearing 30 goes down with an injury, you have to wonder if he's going to come back quite as good as he was before....  when a RB that's become average goes down with an injury... you start looking for trade offers and draft pick options.

2) WHAT's THE FUCKING PLAY!!?!.   I feel for Jason Cambell, I really do.  The most important thing for a young qb to do in this league is to get in, learn the system, and get a couple years with it under his belt.  I think at this point Cambell would be better off playing for the Raiders who at least have been averaging a year and a half between coaching changes lately instead of about ten months.  This guy has never really had a chance to show what he could do when given that consistency, it's always back to school time for him.  I mean just think about the difference between Cambell's path and people like Aaron Rodgers, Eli Manning, Phillip Rivers, Tony Romo...  guys who came into more or less stable coaching situations and have been able to fully digest the playbook over the course of several years.   Now some people might say he doesn't belong in that conversation, but his arm is strong, he's a leader on and off of the field, the truth is we don't know how much of what he does are bad decisions and just not being 100% comfortable with any of the five difference offenses banging around inside that helmet of his.   But for Cambell it really is time to show someone something, I wouldn't be shocked to see the Redskins draft a QB (however much they SHOULD draft a running back), and with a high draft pick like that there's going to be a ton of pressure to sit him on the bench with a slow start.  With the likelihood of Shannahan getting several years to turn things around... meaning the first period of consistency this guy has ever seen is coming, that could mean once his butt hits the bench it's over for him in Washington.  Personally, I think that might be a good thing for him.

3) Do I know you?  The only thing in Washington changing faster than the offensive scheme has been the names of the guys on both sides of the ball trying to take the calls.  You cannot build a football team exclusively through free Agency, its' been tried and tried and tried and in the salary cam era it's just impossible.  You are required to have too many starters that wouldn't have made the Dallas Cowboys, 49ers, or Buffalo Bills, practice squads in the 90's.  No, you win in todays NFL by developing the talent you get in the draft, and adding a couple of pieces with free agency.  The problem is when you drop most people into a defense it takes them half a season to really settle in, for everyone to fully trust them learn to play off each other and know what the other guy is going to do before he does it.  That kind of synthesis is what allowed the Pats to be so dominating on that side of the ball for so long, the Ravens as well, a core group of guys who knew each other so well thinking didn't enter the equation they just acted on pure instinct.    The Redskins haven't developed that kind of relationship between their players on either side of the ball, they haven't had time.  Even the timing between Cambell and his receivers which have been together a couple of years now isn't what it should be because the scheme they're running keeps chaning around them.  The Culture of "these three guys will give us a superbowl" has to be changed for this team to begin to rebuild, they have to get out from under contracts of vets who haven't panned out before they can build and maintain a group of young hungry players with the key veteran leadership a successful team needs.

My verdict here is that Mike is going to fail.  Not because he's not a great coach, but because he is.  He's going to come in and take the right steps to fix this thing, but after a couple of seasons the owner is going to can his ass, bring in someone else, who will benefit from everything he put into place.  This thing isn't totally broken they have some good players, what they need to build is a team.  And that takes time, and patience, two things that are in short supply in Washington.

[Cory]

I agree with most about the Skins, but Portis hasnt been unproductive. 6 seasons there, and only 4 which he didnt eclipse 1,100 rushing yards or more, and 2 years of double digits in the TD's.

He certain fell a bit from when he was playing for the Broncos, but unproductive....that would mean he wouldn't hit 1000 yards a year (which as a running back for 3 academic seasons) is one of the goals you set, he was very productive. It's the lack of O-Line which has hurt his TD colum as the Skins are awful when it comes to the redzone, and the lack of blocking Portis gets at Washington as compared to what he got in Denver, will result in injuries.

Remember, a running back is only as good as his o-line. 'Skins O-line, unproductive and injury prone. Portis getting hammered almost every drive due to a lack of blocking = injuries.

[Bryan Payne]

Still going to have to respectfully disagree with Portis.  It's the yards per carry that show his fall off... I mean you give a guy averaging 1 yard a carry a thousand carries he's still going to break 1,000 yards..  And much of the reason for it is that he's not built to be a between the tackles runner.  He needs a deep passing game and a slashing running game that allows him to make that one cut and turn on the jets.  They've been running him hey diddle diddle right up the middle for years.  Now as I said in the piece much of this isn't his fault, what I doubt at this point is his ability to BE that old back even if they fix the rest of the team.  I don't think he's that guy anymore.. he's been too banged up and has too many miles (carries) over the last few years.  In two more years we'll be mentioning him in the same breath as Emmett Smith or Curtis Martin... two running back who perhaps played a couple seasons past when they should have hung up their pads.

[Bryan Payne]

New Orleans and the Mannings

In 1971 when Archie Manning was drafted by the New Orleans Saints, people considered it a horrible waste of talent.  That this man would never come into is own playing for a team that new and, frankly that awful.  It's very easy to argue that they were right, while his play was good for most of his run with the Saints, the team never enjoyed much success... really it never has, as this being their first ever Super Bowl appearance attests.  However, along the way he attained a kind of mythic status, playing so well on a team so bad, he became New Orlean's favorite son, despite being born in Mississippi.  When you fast forward to today, Peyton had a similar trajectory with the Colts as the team was resurrected from the dead by QB play into a team who has won more games in the last ten years that any team ever has over a ten year span.  To many he's the best in the game, but to the Saints, he's the son of their legendary hero come to crush their dreams of a Super Bowl victory.

This is one of the more interesting subplots in the game coming up in another week.  There's a lot of talk about the legacy of Manning when he retires, as his career is well over half over now, perhaps two or three seasons at the top form, and then perhaps he could linger on a couple years after that Farve-style, you never know.  But he's sure to leave the game with his share of records and likely with at least two super bowl rings.  Is he the best in the game ever? In my opinion yes (and yes I'm saying ever throw out what names you will.)  No Quarterback in history has run an offense quite like his...and it IS his offense, the offensive coordinator is almost superfluous on the Colts team as 60% of the calls are made by Manning at the line.  Many people consider Joe Montana the best ever, and he was good, but as Steve Young proved... ultimately he was replaceable in that offense.  What do the Colts do when Peyton retires?  Probably begin a decade long search for a replacement.

This seems to be kicking up specters of yester-year in the imaginations of Saints fans.  As they watch their team this year and it's amazing run, they are forced to wonder what might have been with just a few more players to surrounded Archie in the 70's.  It wouldn't have been easy to bump and slam their way up the ranks during those days with the Steelers, Dallas, and Dolphins all so good at the time, but it does capture the imagination something fierce.  Most by now will have read or heard about the commitment to 'take Manning' out of the game, in a manner not unlike that which brings up to mind the infamous threats of the Eagles against Cowboy QB Troy Aikman.  Such threats are mostly idle boasting, psychological warfare, are mind games, that are only going to make Peyton lose all bonds of familial nostalgia towards the Saints he might have felt to keep the game close... and aren't going to get into the head otherwise of a guy who has faced some of the toughest defenses in NFL history over the years... and beaten most of them.  The Saints D... isn't in that class.

It opens up the specter of what is dirty play really?  In this age of protecting players from hits and trying to minimize injury to preserve product quality, the Saint's defense has opened itself up to closer scrutiny by the officials, the possibility of ejections for trying to fulfill that "taking out," fines, and flags galore that will not only make the game less enjoyable.. but prevent us from seeing the contest we all want to.  I think it's obvious that trash talking isn't going anywhere in today's league however much it tries to stress sportsmanship it works against a player culture that promotes inflating egos on the way up until it's just wishful thinking to expect them to reign it in.  For many this results in a popped bubble, and for others looking for excuses to take cheap shots at those who achieve what they can only dream about.  So my advise to the Saints is to keep in clean on Super Sunday, for your fans, for your city, and most importantly for yourselves.

[Bryan Payne]

I want my football!

So, the Super Bowl has come and gone, and rather than repeating ten thousand articles and commentaries (questionable reffing aside) I'm going to move to the next thing that should be weighing on everyone's mind... the new CBA negotiations.  Now unlike most people I don't live in fear of the March 5th deadline to avoid or end up with an uncapped year, if anything the uncapped year will be a powerful motivation for both small market teams and players to compromise (and yes, I am confident that Jerry Jones will open the check book and go on a spending spree that would make Midas blush.)  Now the current CBA entitles players to just a shade under 60% of the profits as far as salaries as a portion of shared revenue of the NFL.  But it's important to remember that what qualifies as 'football revenue' is just TV rights and the gates.  That's one of the big reasons owners have made the push to build these monster new stadiums in recent years because any money the raise that is earmarked FOR that purpose the players don't see jack from.  The players also don't get a portion of skybox rentals, merchandising, or any sponsorship deals the team works out.  That represents the highest growing revenue sector for the teams themselves.   Now the upshot of this is that while increasing their revenue and building a monster stadium the increased tv and ticket prices feed back into the salary cap making not just the upper limit but the minimum they are allowed to spin.  The current minimum cap, the amount that a team HAS to spend (currently 70% of the Detroit Lions TOTAL revenue) is over 100 million bucks already.   That's a tall order for the NFL's small market teams or those who have been losing so long their fans just don't give a shit anymore.

So what does all of this mean for us?  Well if the owners and the players can't reach an agreement by March 5th (which seems unlikely) 2010 will be a totally uncapped year, meaning no maximum, no minimum salary caps... and also several big name players no longer being eligible for unrestricted free agency.  Basically the status quo only a few teams will take the opportunity not to give pay raises and others will enter an unrestricted bidding war for a few key free agents.   If the owners and players haven't reached an agreement by March 5 2011, then the owners will begin the lock out.  Much like the NHL's lost season this would not be a strike, it would be the owners not allowing the players to go to work and closing down all facilities.  Different because there would be no "scab" players as happened in the MLB strike of several years ago and the NFL strike of the 80's.  Upshot is you're going to have your football next year for sure, but the year after that is what you're going to have to worry about.  For the players they want to preserve as much of the status quo as possible but there are whispers they might be moved on the restructuring of rookie salaries as it works with the Draft.  That would be something that would help most teams, but I feel pretty sure it will have to come with a limit 2-3 seasons for rookie contract length... which would let rookies that DO prove to be superstars, the opportunity to renegotiate. 

The unfortunate thing for me is how the players tend to get tared in these kinds of disputes when their share of revenue as a percentage of the most profitable sport in American history is actually decreasing.  Without these players football would NOT be the phenomenon it is and they should get a fair share of the profits from that business, especially as it ends for so many in premature death (average death for an NFL player is in their fifties... IE you can expect every year of professional football played to take about 2 years off your life expectancy), not to mention those who are forced to stop playing due to injury.  A team like the Patriots, or Cowboys has made tens to hundreds of millions off of merchandise sales that the players themselves don't see a dime off of unless they are selling their autograph.  Obviously there are problems with the current CBA, as the small market teams are being left behind.  The fix for this is either getting rid of the salary cap, or making ALL revenue 100% redistributed among all the teams, with a figure more around 55% (about a 15% reduction in player percentage but a net increase in cap).  Alas this is unlikely as large market teams have no reason to settle for this or be willing to commit to it.  So folks enjoy next season, because this time next year we may be in for a long long cold fall of 2011 w/o football.