Sunday, November 2, 2008
Friday, October 31, 2008
Distractions, Distractions
Among Ben Roethlisberger's stated concerns about playing the Washington Redskins is their cheerleaders.
That's what he said, anyway.
"I'm not a big fan of playing there because it is loud, they're really good at home and they try to make their cheerleaders stretch in our tunnel before we come out of the locker room. That's just not good," Roethlisberger said yesterday.
The practice by the Redskins cheerleaders was so legendary around the league that when commissioner Roger Goodell sent out a memo to all teams last year banning the practice some dubbed the "Redskins Rule."
"The couple of preseason games I've played down there, we've seen it," Roethlisberger said.
And it's a distraction?
"It can be, let's be truthful. They've done it before. I've heard a rumor that they're not allowed to do it anymore."
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
Harrison Ford Voted Best Movie President: Poll
The top 10 movie Presidents who Americans would vote into office in real life according to the poll are;
1. Harrison Ford - "Air Force One" (1997)
2. Morgan Freeman - "Deep Impact" (1998)
3. Michael Douglas - "The American President (1995)
4. Bill Pullman - "Independence Day" (1996)
5. Kevin Kline - "Dave" (1993)
6. Dennis Quaid - "American Dreamz" (2006)
7. Bruce Greenwood - "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" (2003).
8. James Cromwell - "The Sum of All Fears (2002).
9. Jack Nicholson - "Mars Attacks" (1996)
10. Jeff Bridges - "The Contender" (2000).
I think they all forgot about one special actor. What do you think?
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Yeah Terps!
What the hell happened against VA?
You can beat 3 top 25 ranked teams in one season and come up with a goose egg against UVA!
What are Cleveland Sports Writers Writing About?
by mcabot@plaind.com
Friday October 17, 2008, 11:43 PM
Josh Cribbs heads home to Washington, D.C., Sunday with an axe to grind against his beloved Redskins.
"I have a huge chip on my shoulder because they didn't draft me coming out of college," said Cribbs. "It's an honor for me to go back and show what I can do and basically put it in their face."
On Chris Cooley's site - Braylon Edwards said:
“We didn’t deserve it, but the Titans in the playoffs?” “Tampa Bay? The Redskins! You can’t tell me we couldn’t beat the damn Redskins.”
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Your Seattle Washington Redskins...
The Redskins are moving away from the New York Jets Human Resources system brought in several years ago by, then coach Steve Spurrier, and are now going forward with the West Coast Seattle Seahawks Human Resources system.
The new plan was really introduced early in the year when team owner, Dan Snyder, hired Seattle Quarterbacks Coach Jim Zorn. The plan was then tried on a trial basis to see how Washington would like it.
Proving the new system to be successful, so far, the Redskins hired 3 former Seahawks yesterday; RB, Shaun Alexander, S, Mike Green and K, Ryan Plackemeier.
Friday, October 10, 2008
The St. Louis Rams Biggest Threat
Redskins big favorite as Haslett makes Rams debut
LANDOVER, Md. (AP)
Donnie Jones is booming away, probably because he's getting so many chances. He's leading the NFL with an impressive 52.7 average.
And the Washington Redskins? Sure, they're one of the hottest teams in the league, but their rookie punter, Durant Brooks, is at the absolute bottom of the pile with a mere average of 39.3.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Dallas Tri-fecta Watch
With dumb ass Cowboys Terrell Owens and Adam "Pacman" Jones reverting back to their old ways for the last two weeks in a row, It's just a matter of time before Tank Johnson closes the tri-fecta.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
One of Adam Scheins 5 Goats in week 5 of the NFL
Refs in Ravens-Titans Game
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Donovan McNabb's thoughts, after the game
submitted by Donovan McNabb to Yard BarkerI made a comment after the game [Sunday] that's worth repeating - I'm embarrassed. I'm embarrassed with the way we played the past two weeks. I believe that we lost to teams we should have beaten. Not because I think they are not good - they are. But I still believe we are better; we just didn't show it.
I'm embarrassed with the way I played. I didn't do enough to win the game for my team. I take that to heart. I want the ball in my hand when the game is on the line and, if I have it, I have to make a play. I'll take that responsibility. All three of our losses were within a score so one play could have made a difference - a fumble, an interception, calling an audible, not calling an audible.
I am a proud person and I work hard to prepare to win each and every week. Certainly there have been times where we have been beaten. Take nothing away from other teams who also prepare hard and have a high-skill level. You can't win every week. But losing in the fashion that we have just doesn't sit well with me.
I've made mistakes and I've owned up to them. I'm sure that some of my teammates and coaches might feel that they also could have done better. But a play here and a play there is costing us precious division and conference games that can bite us down the stretch. We didn't start playing well last year until it was too late. It's not too late to turn it around now. But to do so, we have to be embarrassed enough as a team to do something about it.
I'm better than this and I'll prove it. I know my team is too. Now we have to prove it.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Saturday, October 4, 2008
What are Philadelphia Writers Writing About This Week?
Similar Paths for Jim Zorn, Andy Reid
By Ray Parrillo - Staff Writer, The Philadelphia Inquirer
October 2, 2008
The career path for an NFL head coach usually includes one of three stops: You've either been an offensive or defensive coordinator for a successful team, a successful college coach, or you've been fired as a head coach by another team but look good enough to recycle.
Andy Reid traveled none of those routes.
Neither did Jim Zorn.
Both graduated from the Mike Holmgren School of Coaching after majoring in the West Coast offense. It's a crowded class, but only Reid and Zorn assumed top jobs directly after serving under Holmgren as quarterbacks coach - Reid with Green Bay and Zorn with Seattle.
Reid and Zorn will match wits Sunday when the Eagles play Washington in an important division game at Lincoln Financial Field. Zorn and the Redskins made their presence felt in the NFC East on Sunday by defeating the Cowboys in Dallas, 26-24. It was their third consecutive win after an opening-day loss to the Giants.
After his news conference yesterday, Reid said he thought he was well-prepared to become a head coach in 1999 even though he hadn't been a college head coach or coordinator in the league, because you can learn most of what you need to know as a quarterbacks coach.
"It [being a QB coach] gives you an opportunity to see everything and evaluate everything," Reid said. "You've got to know every phase of the offensive game and then at the same time, you have to be very well-schooled on what defenses are doing. The part that gets left out is the special teams. I was lucky enough to coach special teams.
"And then Jim played in the NFL for a number of years, so he got to see a few different people do their thing and he learned from that."
Unlike Reid, an offensive lineman in college, Zorn, 55, was a successful NFL quarterback during nine seasons (1976-84) with the Seahawks. But like Reid and most other Holmgren disciples, Zorn has an obsession with details, a passion for play-calling, and an instinct for developing quarterbacks. The difference, aside from experience, is that Reid and Donovan McNabb have been together for a decade. Zorn is in his first season with Jason Campbell.
In his fourth year, Campbell is learning a new offensive system for the fourth straight season. Yet his transformation into an accurate, reliable passer is apparent.
Campbell is second in the NFC with a 102.2 passer rating and is the only quarterback in the NFL who has started a game without throwing an interception. He had a career 77.3 rating coming into the season. Campbell has completed 65.3 percent of his throws, nearly 8 percentage points higher than what he had entering the season.
"It looks like he and Jim have a good relationship," Reid said. "He has great command of that offense right now."
It sounds as if Zorn, in developing Campbell, has more emotion than than Reid, which is not difficult. Laughing, Campbell called Zorn "a wild man" yesterday during a teleconference.
"It's a great relationship," Campbell said. "He's a pretty emotional guy. I call him the wild man. You never know what you're going to get out of him during quarterback drills."
Zorn understands Campbell's reference to him as a wild man.
"I'm very competitive. I love to win and I demand a lot," he said. "I'm very hands-on. I try to pay attention to the details. I don't miss much with Jason. Partly because I played and partly because I care and I know what I'm looking for - I'm just trying to get him to play freed up and play with the same kind of intensity."
As they study the videotape of one another's offense, Reid and Zorn see a lot of similarities. They have built their offenses on the principles they learned from Holmgren.
"In this system, everybody's got the basics, the foundations that made this offensive system so difficult to defend," Zorn said. "So I'm sure we have the basics. We may have a little bit different terminology, but the concepts are the same. Then we branch out a little bit. We try different things. This offense is quite flexible. It allows for some creativeness."
Zorn originally was hired to be the Redskins' offensive coordinator. Two weeks after his interview, they offered him the head coaching job, succeeding Joe Gibbs. The step up in positions was fine with him, as long as he maintained control of the offense and the play-calling.
"I didn't want to give that up," Zorn said. "I felt very strongly about what Mike did in Seattle and even what Andy's doing in Philadelphia, and it can be done. Yeah, I definitely wanted to stay with that tack, if you will, and it's working so far."
Reid and Zorn may have taken similar paths to their first NFL head coaching jobs, but Reid had to build the Eagles from the bottom up, while Zorn inherited a team that made the playoffs last season.
"He took over a team that I think was very well-coached," Reid said. "It's very easy for a new head coach to come in and goof it up. I think the thing Jim has done is come in and challenge the players to take it to another level. They've responded. I'm not in his locker room or his meetings, but however he is delivering it, they're listening and performing."
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Go Chicago!
You may have read or if you gander at the art work on either column of this blog that I am a Baltimore Orioles fan. If you follow this Blog you may have also notice that I did not write much, with the exception of 'Opening Day', about my beloved Orioles. That's because I am a frustrated Orioles fan.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
A Democrats Understanding of Bipartisan
The Examiner - September 28, 2008
The Details: Early last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid demanded that John McCain get involved in bailout negotiations. But as soon as McCain announced he would return to Washington to help the negotiations, Reid accused McCain of Grandstanding.
Here is a little Republican understanding:
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
T.O. Demands “I Want The Ball”
By DAVE GOLDBERG, AP Football Writer
(AP) — Terrell Owens’ love affair with Tony Romo and the rest of his Dallas teammates may be turning down the rocky path that his relationships with Donovan McNabb and Jeff Garcia followed. At least it seemed that way after the Cowboys lost Sunday for the first time this season.
“I’m a competitor and I want the ball,” T.O. said after the 26-24 loss to the Redskins, ending the speculation that Dallas might emulate New England and go 16-0 this season, finishing the deal in the Super Bowl, which the Patriots didn’t.
That was a silly dream. What the Patriots did was a once-in-35 years kind of thing. Moreover, as Washington demonstrated, this season’s NFC East is not last year’s AFC East, through which New England breezed.
But beyond that, we all know that the Cowboys’ worst enemy is not the opposition, nor their slightly overrated talent level - not all 13 Pro Bowlers last year deserved it. The enemy is themselves: an owner who is also general manager who thinks of himself as a coach; a head coach laid back enough to accept input from above; and an offensive coordinator who has been effectively designated by said owner as the current coach’s successor.
Plus a locker room with at least three players who were run off other teams for reasons unrelated to their talent.
So here was the most prominent and skilled of those three after Sunday’s game, whining that he should have been involved in more than 20 of the 58 offensive plays the Cowboys ran against the Redskins.
Yes, he was implicating the coaching staff for not recognizing that he must be the focal point of the offense. He also was implicating Romo, the same “friend” he defended with tears after the unexpected playoff loss to the Giants last January, saying from behind dark glasses: “You can point the finger at him …. and if you do that, it’s really unfair. That’s my teammate. My quarterback. We lost as a team.”
Funny he didn’t utter the “T as in team” word on Sunday. The only “T” involved was the first initial of his first name.
First of all, give some credit to the Redskins.
Then blame Jerry Jones (”Coach Jones” for long periods during his 20 years of ownership); coach Wade Phillips; and Jason Garrett, the offensive coordinator and head coach in waiting.
For the most obvious stat to come out of the loss was not Owens’ seven catches for 71 yards; 11 yards rushing on two reverses; and 11 other plays designed for him.
It was that Marion Barber got just eight carries for 26 yards and that Felix Jones did not touch the ball from scrimmage.
Barber came in with 285 yards rushing for a 4.6 average and four touchdowns in three games. Jones, the explosive rookie, had scored in all three games and had 148 yards on 18 carries, an 8.2 average. One of the touchdowns was a 60-yard run, another a 98-yard kickoff return.
Were Jones, Phillips, Garrett and Romo catering to T.O at the expense of the running game? Were they scared of the Redskins’ run defense? Washington ranked 16th in a 32-team league against the run, allowing 108 yards per game. Although to be fair, almost half those yards, 154, came in their opener against the Giants, their only loss. They improved markedly against the Saints (55 yards) and Cardinals (116).
But does that mean the Cowboys had to stop trying to run? Barber is a punishing runner who can wear down opponents in the second half and it wasn’t as if they got way behind and had to throw on every play. They trailed 17-10 at the half and it was 17-17 in the third quarter.
None of this might matter in the long run. The Cowboys might finish 15-1. Or, more likely, 13-3 or 12-4 because they play in the NFL’s best division.
But what happened Sunday demonstrates anarchy of a sort that doesn’t afflict other good teams. Randy Moss, even more notorious as a “me first” receiver for his first nine NFL seasons, discovered when he got to New England last year that playing a team game can be liberating and good for your stats. His stats - a record 23 TD catches - speak to that.
T.O. seemed to have gotten that message during his first two seasons in Dallas. But Sunday’s outburst is more suggestive of the kind he had weekly in San Francisco and in his second year in Philadelphia.
“Everybody recognized that I wasn’t really getting the ball in the first half,” Owens said. “I’m pretty sure everybody watching the game recognized it, people in the stands recognized it. I think my team recognized it.”
That’s the “I” word three times in three sentences.
Bill Belichick or Tom Coughlin or Andy Reid or Bill Parcells would end that immediately. Reid, in fact, suspended Owens in Philadelphia in 2005, and Coughlin suspended the Giants’ star receiver, Plaxico Burress, when he declined to show up for practice last Monday.
Phillips doesn’t have that power.
Jones brought Owens to Dallas and he also gave Phillips a third head coaching job when Parcells left after the 2006 season. By several accounts, the Tuna was tired of dealing with the distractions.
The biggest distraction is T.O.
In a season when the Cowboys remain a solid favorite to win the Super Bowl, Owens may be the reason they won’t. If one loss sets him off this way, imagine what happens when Dallas inevitably loses another game or two.
In other words, the Cowboys may be the team that has the best shot of depriving the Cowboys of an NFL title.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Maryland Gets a Tiger by it's Tail
The Terps must have received one big ass chewing at half time, by Coach Ralph Friedgen, yesterday. When they came out to play, they were a different team than in the 1st half, proving that they can come from behind and be competitive with the nations best teams. This win should place them in the top 25 and knock Clemson out.
