The NFL's wild ride

It feels like a big dam had it's spillways blocked, then released massive amounts of water at high pressure, mroe or less.

So let's see now, lots of interesting, not to say somewhat unexpected, trades all around:

McNabb is heading to Minnesotta, which seems to have become the dumping ground for aging QBs lately, though McNabb has more than a year or two to go yet.

Reggie Bush leaves New orleans for Miami. Why did he agree to this? Is one ring enough? Just shows you men and jewlery don't mix well.

Chad Ochocinco (or Johnson?) leaves the Bengals for the Pats. Big question, will he manage to irritate Bellichcick?? The man's good, funny, witty and good looking. Too bad he wasn't traded to the pats when they were on top, but such is life. I really don't care much about his play (he's not THAT good), but his antics are priceless. it would be a shame to see them end. We'll see.

The Seahawks acquired a couple of Vikings. their QB situation seems cloudy. They shoudl go back to the blue and silver color scheme anyway. The blue helmet's are pedestrian.

And the big, bad Mr. Haynesworth left Washington for, New England? I don't really recall where. I was just surprised he wasn't axed, kicked, drawna nd wuartered in the middle of last season. Big question: will he last more than one year at his new gig, or has he become a defensive version of Terrel Owens?

Of course that's just for starters.

Free agency is like picking up a good looking girl in the bar. It is fun for a while, but then you realize for yourself why she was alone and looking for someone in a bar to begin with. I can't remember the last team to win the Free Agency period to win the Super Bowl. I anticipate a Green Bay repeat in 2011.

The Vikes O-Line is so porous, McNabb won't last the season, despite all his smarts at scrabbling. The Seachickens will be bloody awful this year, rather than the awful 7-9 qualifiers last year (the LoLions would have won that division last season without too much effort).

The Pats have a history of taking talented but awkward players, and no pleyer would willingly go to Belichick and not knuckle down. It worked for TO, at the very least. Players there know they are there until they aren't wanted, and there is no long term loyalty. You produce, you get paid. You goof off, you get traded. I respect the Pats for that, even as much as I dislike Brady and the coach.

People forget that Green Bay didn't make it easy to get to the superbowl. They didn't win their division and needed a few good results in the last two weeks to make the play offs. That said, they go their once, it'll be slightly easier to get their again.

No-one should win via free agency, they should just improve that extra step to make themselves contenders. Rarely is a big free agency trade the sole reason a team gets to big game.

That said, I'm being a Homer so far on the Lions activities this off season. If they can get the extra cover guy they need, the defence should be pretty damn fine this year. Something that the silver and blue have never been able to say in the years I've watched them.

Quote: thecesspit

No-one should win via free agency, they should just improve that extra step to make themselves contenders. Rarely is a big free agency trade the sole reason a team gets to big game.

People forget it's a team sport. No one player will turn an average team to the best, or the worse to average.

What can and does happen is that one player may be the remedy that takes an almost-good team to the playoffs or even the Super Bowl. Usually it's a QB, and I can cite Kurt Warner in both Arizona and St. Louis plus Ben Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh as examples, but sometimes it can be another position. Still, Warner had Tory Holt and Isaac Bruce and a good O line. Big ben has Hines Ward, Heath miller and a consistently good defense. The Steelers' problem now is the lack of a solid O line to let them develop a good running game. As it is, they manage with an average passing and running game, plus the championship defense (when Polamalu plays, at any rate).

The Steelers problem was exposed during the Super Bowl. If a team with enough weapons can hold up that front 7 enough to give their WRs time, a good QB will carve up that secondary. And another problem is having 7 defensive starters on the wrong side of 30.

Quote: Gabes22

The Steelers problem was exposed during the Super Bowl. If a team with enough weapons can hold up that front 7 enough to give their WRs time, a good QB will carve up that secondary. And another problem is having 7 defensive starters on the wrong side of 30.

As a Steeler Fan it does kill me to say the Steelers are right at a peak and they have 1-2 years, 3 at most, left to be great before some rebuilding needs to happen. Sports writers have mentioned Plaxico would be a good fit because they can use any good player NOW, not someone to build around. Strange feeling to feel that way about your team. While winning never gets old, I will say that I rarely talk football with fans of other teams anymore. In college I had many discussions of merits of Steelers vs Bills/Browns. Now my friends who are fans of those teams barely bring football up. There is little left to discuss.

Some other interesting moves:

The Titans gave Vince Young the boot. I'm not sure, but it seems Matt Haselbeck is heading out to Tennessee. He's best known for not being married to Elizabeth Hasselbeck, of course, and for having been Brett Favre's backup in Green bay for a while. Oh, and the old Expedia commercials. Just goes to show you few people remember you for playing on the losing team during a Super Bowl. you need to lose two, at elast, to be so remembered.

And Philly's former great white hope, a QB by the name of Kolb, was exchanged to Arizona for DB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and a future draft pick. The Eagles seem very intent on rebuidling. They've also snatched Vince Young, presumably to backup Vick. I won't speculate on any other reason to snap up Young, as that would be extremely rude.

Between the long lock out, belayed training camps and the furious activity in the free agent and trade fronts, I won't hazzard any predictions for this season. But as usual I'd be wary of the Patriots.

The titans obviously don't want to win. Hasselback was awful last year, and not much better the year before. If they don't sign Johnson quickly, it's gonna be a long season down in Tennessee. That's not to say T-Jack in Seattle is much better. Along with Sidney Rice, Seattle seem to be building a tradition of hiring WRs for far too much money once their careers are in a slump (see: Branch, TJ Houzmanzadeh, Nate Burleson). They also seem to manage to trade them away again just before they find some form. Or perhaps the problem was the rock chucker or the organization. Who knows.

Young behind Vick makes sense... it means their back up is also a scrambling QB, which means if Vick blows up, they don't have to change their entire game plan. Plus the Iggles seem to have done a good job with Vick so far. Young's problems are probably much deeper, and I'm not sure he'll thrive on the hostile Iggles crowd though. The Eagles are the Canucks of the NFL... their fans turn on their players and their team in an instance (and back to love and praise the next moment). If they ever lost a superbowl in Philly, there'd be a riot that would make the best soccer hooligan proud.

The Steelers may only have a couple of years at the top left, but there's is such a well run organization any fade will be a 8-8 season and then back in the hunt again... they won't slump like the Lolions/Raiders/Cardinals/Buccs would. I wouldn't be too worried as Steeler.

Quote: thecesspit

If they ever lost a superbowl in Philly, there'd be a riot that would make the best soccer hooligan proud.

Haven't they lost two already?

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The Steelers may only have a couple of years at the top left, but there's is such a well run organization any fade will be a 8-8 season and then back in the hunt again...

The Steelers will win or at least reach one Superbowl by 2015, maybe two. Then they'll slumber for 7 to 10 years. If Mike Tomlin wins another Super Bowl, he should ask for a huge raise, play out his contract and then retire.

Quote: thecesspit

The Steelers may only have a couple of years at the top left, but there's is such a well run organization any fade will be a 8-8 season and then back in the hunt again... they won't slump like the Lolions/Raiders/Cardinals/Buccs would. I wouldn't be too worried as Steeler.

An amazing thing about the Steelers is their own fans seem to doubt them more than the people who hate them. Their answers.com entry amazed me as to some of what they have accomplished. Some I knew and some I didn't. Some of them:

--no "losing decades" since the 1960s. The 1980s were exactly .500.
--only team to win 5 or more games every year since 1970.
--second best postseason winning pct in the Superbowl Era (Packers, even before the SB this year but by the thousandths so a near tie)
--tied most Superbowl appearances (Dallas)

It went on and on. Brought it up to a buddy who I can't describe how much he hates the Steelers (and anything Pittsburgh for that matter, mainly because of the Steelers) and he was more mad at me being suprised than the stats they held. To me, I knew they were well run and usually were in the hunt and never had more than 2-3 losing seasons in a row. But to see it all put down in one place I was amazed.

One thing I have done is taken to some plagirism of Gen Patton when the Steeler fans are called "fair weather." I tell people "Pittsburgh Steeler fans demand a winner and will not tolerate a loser!"

Quote: thecesspit

The Steelers may only have a couple of years at the top left, but there's is such a well run organization any fade will be a 8-8 season and then back in the hunt again... they won't slump like the Lolions/Raiders/Cardinals/Buccs would. I wouldn't be too worried as Steeler.

An amazing thing about the Steelers is their own fans seem to doubt them more than the people who hate them. Their answers.com entry amazed me as to some of what they have accomplished. Some I knew and some I didn't. Some of them:

--no "losing decades" since the 1960s. The 1980s were exactly .500.
--only team to win 5 or more games every year since 1970.
--second best postseason winning pct in the Superbowl Era (Packers, even before the SB this year but by the thousandths so a near tie)
--tied most Superbowl appearances (Dallas)

It went on and on. Brought it up to a buddy who I can't describe how much he hates the Steelers (and anything Pittsburgh for that matter, mainly because of the Steelers) and he was more mad at me being suprised than the stats they held. To me, I knew they were well run and usually were in the hunt and never had more than 2-3 losing seasons in a row. But to see it all put down in one place I was amazed.

One thing I have done is taken to some plagirism of Gen Patton when the Steeler fans are called "fair weather." I tell people "Pittsburgh Steeler fans demand a winner and will not tolerate a loser!"

Quote: Nareed

Haven't they lost two already?

Not IN Philadelphia. No team has ever had home advantage at a superbowl.

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The Steelers will win or at least reach one Superbowl by 2015, maybe two. Then they'll slumber for 7 to 10 years. If Mike Tomlin wins another Super Bowl, he should ask for a huge raise, play out his contract and then retire.

I wager you are wrong on both counts (depending what you mean by "slumber" that is).

Quote: thecesspit

Not IN Philadelphia. No team has ever had home advantage at a superbowl.

Most remarkable given how many times the Big Game was played in Miami, many when Miami was good enough to get there.

I wonder if that will ever end. The next three games will be played at Indianapolis, New Orleans and New Jersey (technically New York City). All local teams have a chance.

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I wager you are wrong on both counts (depending what you mean by "slumber" that is).

Winning, reaching or slumbering?

By slumber I mean they'll make the playoffs from time to time, but won't get to the Super Bowl. This time the defense will be the problem, and will take that long to rebuild. You saw what happened season before last just because Polamalu didn't play.

Quote: Nareed

Winning, reaching or slumbering?

By slumber I mean they'll make the playoffs from time to time, but won't get to the Super Bowl. This time the defense will be the problem, and will take that long to rebuild. You saw what happened season before last just because Polamalu didn't play.

I would take action on them not making a 'bowl by 2015 (4 seasons). I would take action on Tomlin not retiring after winning his next 'bowl (I don't think he will). And if that's what you mean by slumbering, then fair enough. I thought you more meant not making the play offs for the next 7 years.

Quote: thecesspit

I would take action on them not making a 'bowl by 2015 (4 seasons). I would take action on Tomlin not retiring after winning his next 'bowl (I don't think he will).

Good luck on the first. As to the second, i said he ought to ask for a huge raise and play out his contract, then retire. Say two or three years afterwards.

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And if that's what you mean by slumbering, then fair enough. I thought you more meant not making the play offs for the next 7 years.

Oh, heavens, no. We're talking about the Steelers, not the Dallas Cowboys.

Quote: thecesspit

I would take action on them not making a 'bowl by 2015 (4 seasons). I would take action on Tomlin not retiring after winning his next 'bowl (I don't think he will). And if that's what you mean by slumbering, then fair enough. I thought you more meant not making the play offs for the next 7 years.

For the Steelers to miss the playoffs the next 7 years will be tough. Fans should send the NFL Competition Committee Christmas Cards yearly. Having the Browns and Bengals in your division is the gift that keeps on giving.

I never understood why Baltimore is in the AFC North instead of Buffalo. Actually I do knwo why, the Rooneys wanted to be in a division with Baltimore and Ralph Wilson with Miami. But Wilson should have seen a guaranteed sellout with PIT in his division. And with a division of BUF, CLE, and CIN as your opponents, that would give you 4-6 of the 10-11 wins needed for playoffs.

Nareed - Anyone who follows football more than just their local/regional team knows who Matt Hasselback is. Only the most casual/borderline fans don't know him. And his sister-in-law is generally an idiot (albeit a hot one!).

Tennessee only needs one decent year out of Hasselback, since they drafted Jake Locker in the 1st round. I'm sure they're hoping he'll be ready to be the starter sometime in 2012.

Quote: Toes14

Nareed - Anyone who follows football more than just their local/regional team knows who Matt Hasselback is.

And anyone who doesn't live in the Northwest forgets the Seahawks are an NFL team.

They are an NFL team, right?

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Tennessee only needs one decent year out of Hasselback, since they drafted Jake Locker in the 1st round. I'm sure they're hoping he'll be ready to be the starter sometime in 2012.

1) that may be one year too many

2) Remember Ryan Leaf, Vinny Testaverde, Steve Walsh, Art Schlichter among others?

Plaxico Burress has been hired by the Jets.

Odd, you'd think they're recruiting former Steeler receivers... I wonder if Yancy Thigpen is still active. He was last seen with the Titans.

On other things, the lockout's over at NFL Network, too. They're even running new "Top Ten..." episodes, or at least some I've never seen before. Today's was about "Top Ten Things We Miss About Football." I thought it was ironic, given the lockout's over, but it was about things that are no longer present in football, like goal posts in the end zone (which persisted until 1974, remarkably enough; I thought they were a til the mid-60s thing).

One of the upper five on the list was nicknames. Apparently few parts of teams, players or coaches get nicknames any more. Funny enough an announcer here in Mexico likes to give nicknames to some coaches. Offhand he used to call John Gruden "Chucky," after the evil doll in some horror movie or another (I don't watch horror movies). And he calls Bill Bellichick "The Monk."

Another that scored high were well-dressed head coaches. The contrast between coaches like Tom Landry, Hank Stram and even John Madden with today's head coaches is remarkable. I don't care much for the office suit look, but it is nicer than today's hoodies, sweatshirts and quasi-uniform logo jackets.

They did make a good point that the head coach should stand out and look like he's the boss, largely because he is the boss. But if not suits, then what? Not all men look good in a suit. Hank Stram, Vince Lombardy and Tom Landry did, but Landry's distinguished, Stram is remarkably good looking and Saint Vince is simply overwhelming any way you look at him.

Oh, well. In the end it isn't very important.

Quote: Nareed

Another that scored high were well-dressed head coaches. The contrast between coaches like Tom Landry, Hank Stram and even John Madden with today's head coaches is remarkable. I don't care much for the office suit look, but it is nicer than today's hoodies, sweatshirts and quasi-uniform logo jackets.

They did make a good point that the head coach should stand out and look like he's the boss, largely because he is the boss. But if not suits, then what? Not all men look good in a suit. Hank Stram, Vince Lombardy and Tom Landry did, but Landry's distinguished, Stram is remarkably good looking and Saint Vince is simply overwhelming any way you look at him.

Oh, well. In the end it isn't very important.

I've reade that the head coach is required to wear logoed apparel which is why you don't see them dressed smart anymore. I prefer the well-dressed look, but the NFL thinks a few million from Starter is more important.

Quote: Nareed

And anyone who doesn't live in the Northwest forgets the Seahawks are an NFL team.

They are an NFL team, right?

Yup we have uniforms and everything

Quote: slyther

Yup we have uniforms and everything

I used to like the Seahwaks back in the late 70s and early 80s. Actually I liked them because they play in Seattle, where Boeing has a big aircraft plant. Also beacsue they were doing relatively well for an expansion team, as compared to Tampa Bay at the same time. Oh, and they had the lefty QB whose name started with a Z, too. Since then they've mostly vegetated, largely leaving their division for a while to the Broncos. When they changed the uniform to the blue helmets and got moved to the NFC, I kind of lost interest in them.

I admit all those are really shallow reasons for either following or dumping a team, but that's kind of appropriate for what is, after all, a frivolous pursuit.