RB DJ Ware talks about getting the opportunity to play Sunday.

Q: How do you feel about getting a chance to play on offense?

A: It was my goal and I didn’t know what the situation was going to be with any of the other backs. I felt like it was my job to take care of me and go ahead and sign and hope for one of these opportunities like I have this weekend. Now I just have to make the most of it.

 

Q: How do you feel about playing the Seahawks again?

A: I think about that all the time. I realize that it was a good game last year and I got a chance to get in there and get 13 carries in the fourth quarter. That is productive so I am just trying to lead up to that and continue to follow up with that.

Q: How has practice been this week?

A: It has been about the same. I usually make sure that I help the guys and make sure they don’t get tired. I know everything on offense and I just have to carry it over to the game and have some success.

 

Q: When you signed in the offseason, what did you think the situation was going to be?

A: I had no idea because I couldn’t really go off anything. We were getting ready to have the lockout and once the lockout came, you really had no clue. I just stayed focused and tried to keep working and keep my nose down and hopefully come out on top with whatever happened.

Q: How much did that show you about the confidence the coaches had in you?

A: It made me feel like they had some confidence in me and that they wanted me back. It is just a great opportunity right now and I just can’t wait to get out there and see what happens.

NFL Injury Reports – Read between the Lines

The principal purpose of the injury report is to ensure there are no hidden injuries, or clubs hiding that players might not be available, and then that player ends up not being able to play and nobody knew about it,” said Greg Aiello, the NFL’s vice president of public relations.

Teams define players as either out, doubtful, questionable, or probable. Doubtful means there is at least a 75 percent chance the player will not play,  questionable is 50-50, and probable is a virtual certainty that the player will be available for normal duty.

So, every week each NFL team submits an injury report to the league office and for public information. What does it all mean ? First off, teams, while required to report injured players rarely report the actual injury the player has for obvious reasons. For example, if a team reports that a player with “bruised ribs ” is probable for the game, that basically paints a bullseye on his ribs and that is where the other team will mostly likely be hitting him. Bruised ribs often translates into a sore back or other type of ailment. So, first rule of thumb is that while the player is injured the report does not necessarily disclose the injury to protect the player.

Next are the players on the injury report who are not necessarily injured, but are certainly unhappy with their playing time or how the organization is using them. From week to week you will find a number of players on the injury report who are making a statement. Something like, you don’t give me the ball enough during the game and you don’t pay me enough for the way you use me, so I am not going to practice during the week, I will just play in the games and show you who is boss. I am not going to name players, but you are smart enough to figure out why for example  a RB in the NFL would not play because of say ” strep throat” in any given week. or why a player will not practice all week  and ride a bike and then suddenly he is listed as probable andwill play on Sunday miraculously. Generally speaking there are a lot of injured egos and damaged wallets on the Injury Report from week to week.

I feel like the injury report is more of suckers report for the oddsmakers and betting lines on the games. Teams prepare all week-long to face the starters. If a guy like Vick isn’t playing, then the guy behind him is running a stream lined version of the Eagles offense anyway.  If a guy like Tuck isn’t playing, then his replacement isn’t changing how Seattle is going to attack the Giants defense.  No team you are at war with in the NFL is going to open the door of his locker room to his opponent and really say, yeah this  guy is banged up here so don’t hit him so hard and that guy wants to be traded so he isn’t practicing, etc.

Read between the lines when you see those reports and be prepared to see the “injured guy” play anyway.  In most circumstances if he suits, he is going to play. If he is in street clothes, it is probably a pretty safe bet that you aren’t going to see him jog into the huddle.

The Problem with Tony Romo is Jerry Jones !

Tony Romo the Hero, Tony Romo the Goat. It just depends on the week, the day or maybe the moment. This guy moves from the Penthouse to the Outhouse and back more times than I can count. With a career 1-4 play-off record and just one wild card win in 7 years, he still draws the full support of his owner Jerry Jones and it looks like the Cowboys will continue to ride him like an elevator, up and down and often stuck in between floors. What I don’t understand is why does he get that kind of cushion in his job. The fans are ready to crucify him, while the owner sits there and vilifies him.

There is nothing wrong with his career stats, he has a lifetime 64.1 completion percentage and he has thrown for almost 18,000 yds and 125 TD’s. He has size, toughness, ability and he has the full support of his front office and his coaches and players. It’s just that Tony finds as many ways to lose as he does to win. His losses or collapses if you will are epic, this latest one against the Detroit Lions is mind-boggling. After a brilliant first half by Romo and with his team up by 24 points in front of the hometown crowd, with 12.5 minutes to go in the game Romo throws 2 pick 6 ‘s and a third interception.  What are you kidding me, all Tony had to do was hand the ball off the rest of the way – or even take a knee.  How does that happen. Why didn’t his own guys just tackle him before he could throw the ball ? Where is the rational behind that, where is the Head Coach, who is calling the plays, where is Brash Owner Jerry Jones.

After 7 years though I think the Cowboys have to start thinking about where to go from here. One and done from the wild card spot doesn’t seem like it should cut it from the NFL’s most valuable franchise. Jerry Jones is an out-spoken owner and self-proclaimed leader. He has built a temple to football in Dallas and it seems like the fans have had enough of the Tony Romo show. It’s not like he has not had the chance to succeed its just that when he gets to the door he seems to flush it down the toilet. I think the jury is in on Romo and they have voted guilty as charged. The problem with Tony Romo is Jerry Jones. He is the guy who keeps betting the franchise on him and doesn’t bring anyone in behind him, making it an all Romo or nothing scenario and robbing the fans of any kind of hope for a different ending.

At some point you have to ask yourself is this the guy who can take us to the promised land ? If the answer keeps coming up no – isn’t it time to make other plans or are we going with the definition of stupidity here – meaning doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.

What do you say Jerry Jones is the elevator going up or down or maybe just stuck between floors ?

In Battle of NY Football Teams – Jets Beating Giants at Debt

Here is an interesting fact that I noticed the other day. There are 4 teams in the NFL with debt to value ratios at 40% or higher. In order from lowest to highest it is the Miami Dolphins at 40%, the Detroit Lions at 43% , the New York Giants at 55% and the New York Jets at a whopping 66%. I am beginning to wonder about Woody Johnson as an NFL team owner and what the plan exactly the plan is for the Jets ?

I certainly understand that a new stadium and each owners share of financing the cost of building a new stadium is going to increase debt. However, there are teams in the league that have built new stadiums that don’t suffer the debt load that the Jets or even the Giants carry at this point in time. For example the Dallas Cowboys who are the highest ranked valued team in the NFL, have a debt to value ratio of just 11%. Remarkably, the community owned  reigning Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers have a debt to value ratio of just 2%. So, success on the field is not tied to the amount of debt a team is carrying or the amount of money they are spending on their facilities or payroll.

The Jets are the 6th ranked team in terms of value this year at $1,144,000,000 dollars. That means at 66% debt the team is carrying a load of $950,400,000. The Giants are the 4th ranked team at $1,182,000,000 dollars. Which means at 55% debt they are carrying a load of $650,100,000 dollars.

With the minor exceptions of the signing of Plaxico Burress and David Baas neither team was able to compete in the free agency market, largely due to salary cap limitations. In case you are wondering the Philadelphia Eagles who were most active in the off-season and in working the salary cap, are the 7th ranked most valued team at $1,119,000,000 with a 16% debt to value ratio and pretty nice digs to play in. No excuses there for Jets and Giants owners to fall back on.

The Giants seem to have done a much better job of selling personal seat licenses (PSL’s) and they are beginning to burn down debt and free up salary cap room. Although, they need to do a better job of maintaining their free agents and keeping their players happy like Osi and soon Tuck but it looks like they are working through it. I would still question General Management and front office decisions about player personnel and I wonder about Jerry Reese’s ability to identify talent and over commitment to draft picks and the skills of their capologist. I also wonder about the extraordinary number of injuries their players suffer from year to year and what is at the root of that.

The question becomes then how did Woody Johnson get himself into his predicament.  Has Woody Johnson in his desperation to become an elite NFL team completely mortgaged the future of the Jets at what is a crucial time in the franchises history. Has Woody drank the  Rex Ryan kool -aid of  big talk and super bowl promises every year nonsense ? Has he over invested in Mark Sanchez as the franchise QB? Did he provide to big of a guaranty to Plaxico Burress who is looking very much like a 34 yr old receiver who has been out of the game for 2 years ? Has he gambled on risky players like Braylon Edwards ?  Why are the Jets not as good as the Giants in selling PSL’s ? Is he functioning with sound front office personnel and talent evaluation, or is he just throwing money at his team and at the stadium in his gamble to win a super bowl ? Their one an only super bowl win was in 1968. They have been to the AFC championship game twice in 09 and 10, but have come up empty and look like a team on downside. So many questions here.

Woody is a billionaire and a successful business man, I am just wondering if he is surrounding himself with the right NFL people.

Source: Forbes.com NFL team evaluations

Weighing in on Sanchez

To be entirely fair it takes time for QB’s to develop and you probably don’t know what you are going to have until about the third year. Well, it is Mark Sanchez’s third year in the league and while he was thrust into a starting role before his time with the Jets, I think he is stock is slipping and I don’t think he will develop much further or be the franchise player the Jets are looking for to take them to the promise land.  I think Sanchez’s NFL skills are limited and he is holding his team back from developing any further.

His career QB numbers are very unexciting and borderline horrible. Through last week he has thrown for 35 touchdowns to go with 38 interceptions and 16 fumbles in 2 plus years. He averages just 6.62 yds a completion and has an avg QB rating 71.0.  He is currently is ranked 28th in the league among 32 QB’s slightly ahead of players like rookie Blaine Gabbert and the ancient mariner Kerry Collins doing fill in work for the injured Peyton Manning.

By comparison Tom Brady threw for 36 touchdown passes last year alone, one more than Sanchez has in his whole career. Top QB’s maintain ratings over 100. They manage the games well, and they find ways to win. Yes the Jets have had some play-off success the last two years, but I don’t think it is because of Mark Sanchez. I think it is because the talent around Sanchez is so good they have managed to survive. I think they have peaked with him at QB and will be spiraling down now. They are entitled to a bad game here and there but they were awful against the Ravens last week and Sanchez’s performance was dismal.

I don’t think you can blame his performance on the Offensive Line or his Receivers. The line is loaded with blue chip talent and he always has had big time receivers to throw to who make ridiculous catches for him. He has Santonio Holmes and Plaxico Burress to throw to who has the wingspan of a Pterodactyl along with Dustin Keller and Derrick Mason. But he can’t seem to find them on the field.

By today’s NFL QB standards he is small and therefore requires wide passing lanes. I don’t think he sees the field well and I don’t think he protects the ball well for the offense and he just isn’t effective enough of the time. He can move well, but it doesn’t help his completion percentages which are a meager 54 per cent in his career. He needs to be over 60 per cent to be effecctive. If you are not a monster athlete, you can still play QB, certainly Phil Simms did an excellent job of managing teams and maintaining high percentage of completions through out in his pro career and even was the winner and MVP of Super Bowl XXI.

This should be the year when it all comes together for Sanchez and instead he looks like a rookie out there and it looks like it is all slipping away. He looks confused and he is putting the ball on the ground. I don’t think his talented team mates can lift him up to their level and I don’t think he can play up.

I am selling Mark Sanchez and I think Rex Ryan if he wants to predict Super Bowls in the future for the Jets, he may have to start looking for other answers at the QB position.

NFL and Bengals fumbling on Simpson

Jerome Simpson  plays on for the Bengals despite the fact that federal investigators seized 8 pounds of marijuana from his house including a package containing 2.5 lbs on delivery to Simpson’s residence. They also seized drug paraphernalia and packaging materials. Again, I am all about innocent until proven guilty, but this player is under federal investigation for drug trafficking. I am pretty sure that violates the morals clause in his contract – and no doubt is in direct conflict with NFL League Drug Policy for Players. Unless the NFL has recently switched to a “smok’em if you got ’em scenario then there is clearly at least an ethical or moral issue here with regard to letting Simpson play on.  I am not judging Simpson here, there are courts for that. I am questioning what statement his employer and his union are making by not at least benching the guy and saying while they support their players they don’t condone this type of alleged behavior or distraction and he will be sitting and watching until it is sorted out.

If I am Jerome Simpson I am playing until told otherwise, I have no problem with that and I think he is doing the right thing under the circumstances. The problem I am having is with the Cincinnati Bengals and the NFL. If this is “normal behavior”  and the Team and league condone it well I guess staying silent on the matter and letting Simpson play is par for the course. If the team or League sees anything wrong with the player having 8 pounds of marijuana in his house then this is the time to weigh in and send a message to anyone in the league who thinks this is OK, that it will not be tolerated.

If the NFL sees fit to punish and suspend Cedric Benson for a legal infraction during the lock-out for which he has already been punished, then why does the NFL take no action against a player who was just caught with 8 pounds of marijuana at his house? No, charges have not been filed, but I don’t hear Simpson denying that it was his house or his weed ?

The Bengals and NFL have fumbled on Simpson unless they are claiming the player surrendered himself and went to the ground untouched and therefore the Bengals get to keep him in the line-up until the investigators turn up the charges.

NYG should cut Brandon Jacobs for comments about fans

Brandon Jacobs was quoted yesterday,  The people outside that want to say they’re fans and don’t believe in  us, I couldn’t care less if they ever believed in us,” Jacobs said, according to the New York Daily News.  “They don’t mean anything to us if they didn’t believe in us. They can  go back and finish living their miserable lives as they’ve been living  and hoping that they lose and whatever.”

I am a huge fan of the game of football, an enormous player advocate and a NY Giants fan, just read my posts. I even stand up for guys like Cedric Benson when I feel the NFL is doing them wrong, but Brandon Jacobs is a fool, he is embarrassing himself, the entire roster of players on the Giants and the NFL. Calling out fans and telling them to go back to their “miserable lives”, and that folks who question the actions and moves of the team in the context of following and rooting for a team according to you, those ” fans don’t mean anything to the team”.

If he is speaking for the Giants as a team, he just about knifed the New York area fans. I have no clue what your point is Brandon other than demeaning the people who pay your fat 25 million dollar contract while you average  3.3 yards a carry, you are ranked a dismal 37th in the league in rushing , you are constantly displaying your interest in boxing on the field in the middle of a football game, siding with your buddy Plaxico against the organization or throwing your helmet in the stands after you get stuffed yet again at the line of scrimmage, because you want to run like a half back instead of a fullback. Well you know what  Brandon we are sick of your miserable play on the field, your attitude and of the stupid comments that come out of your mouth.

You have no clue Brandon Jacobs and you need to go. To play in the NFL is a gift, to be paid ungodly sums of money by the team that employs you is something to be cherished. To compete week after week on the gridiron is a privilege not a right, To have fans embrace you and your plight is something to be earned, not demanded. The entire NFL sport  garnishes 9 billion dollars a year from those               ” miserable fans”.  All that money comes from the fans pockets, so you can do those things. To call out any fan ( if he hasn’t physically assaulted you or threatened you or your family)  is inexcusable. No, not all fans say intelligent things and no they are all not going to line up behind you and root for you either, but they have a right to voice their opinion, without you condemning them to their “miserable lives” if they don’t agree with you or support you 100% of the time.  You on the other hand are a jerk.

It is not your locker room, you are not the team captain and it’s not the players against everyone else.  So who are you speaking for other than yourself. You are a paid employee of the New York Giants and the NFL and the comments you made embarrass you and everyone you represent. You are not rallying anyone to a cause and your “support me or stay at home attitude” is ludicrous, why don’t you stay at home and let’s see what you do with your attitude in the world where we live in, with our meaningless little lives that you have no need for.

I for one have had enough of Brandon Jacobs. Time for him to go off to his miserable life where he clearly has ego issues. He should be fined and benched, better yet take his anemic 3.3 yard  rushing average and cut him. Let the other RB’s of which the Giants have plenty play.

Hey Roger Goodell while you are making this a fan friendly league, why does something like this go unchecked. I think as Commissioner this is the very circumstance you should be weighing in on.

There is only 1 Maurice Jones Drew

There are a lot of good running backs in the NFL, there are a few elite running backs in the NFL, but there is only one Maurice Jones Drew. At 5’7″ and 208 lbs he is the toughest, fastest, beast of a running of a back the NFL has seen since Barry Sanders. His 6th year in the league at 26 years old, he has rushed for over 1,300 hundred yards in each of the last 2 years while adding over 300 yds receiving in each year and piled on 27 touchdowns. He is productive, he plays low to the ground, he has the speed to go with the package and he plays hurt. He grinds out every play until after the whistle, he is impossible to bring down, he will get you yards after the initial contact, more yards after the second and third hit and is always the guy making the tackle if a fumble by someone else goes the other way. He is the consummate professional, and he has the talent and leadership skills to go with the package.

No matter how many times Jacksonville changes quarterbacks or offensive schemes, Jones Drew is there to make something out of nothing and he finds ways to keep his team competitive by carrying the offense around on his back. He is a monster of a player on the field and a team diplomat off the field. There is nothing more the Jaguars could ask of him, he does it all, he says it all and he keeps folks coming to the games and single handedly gets Jaguar Nation pumped up. He is in every sense of the word a franchise player.

Here is the problem I am having though, he is on the tail end of a 5 year contract and he is making short money for carrying that franchise around on his back. He played last year hurt and now he is back on track and surely headed to another pro bowl. Wayne Weaver needs to dig in his pockets and pay that man. MJD is to the Jaguars what Peyton Manning is to the Colts, Tom Brady is to the Patriots, and more than Adrian Peterson is to the Vikings, who is walking around with a 7 year,  100 million dollar contract.  He deserves the big money. It is not his fault the Jags can’t muster up a supporting cast that can take the team the promised land, but without him there is no team.

I say do the right thing by him and the Jacksonville franchise and pay him the big contract NOW!  There is only one MJD, make him a 100 million dollar back. He has made at least that for you and/or upped your franchise value significantly for the years he has been a Jaguar.

Just do it Wayne !

GO MOJO!

Free Cedric Benson

Cedric Benson who has repeatedly been in legal trouble his entire career has a legitimate beef this time both with the NFL and NFLPA and I for one am hoping he prevails. His current 3 game suspension which he is appealing should be lifted immediately without question by the NFL. While, I do not support the “bad behavior” he is guilty of and has served time in jail for, it is clear that this incident he is being suspended for occurred during the four and half month lock-out by the NFL and at time when he was not represented by his union, the NFLPA.

The NFL should not and would not have jurisdiction over locked out players and their behavior during that time period. However, 8 players including Cedric Benson of a total of 33 players who incurred legal problems during the 4 and a half month lock-out were served up to Mr. Goodell and the NFL as part of the settlement agreement. Now, Cedric Benson is facing a 3 game suspension, including docking his salary over a matter that was settled in court and for which he served a jail sentence and for an incident that occurred during the lock-out and at a time when there was no players union.

The NFLPA , ” the union” which disbanded during the lock out and was not representing Mr. Benson during the time period of the incident, has offered him up along with 7 other players to the NFL, “the employers”, who had locked the players out. after the fact, as if either organization had jurisdiction over him and sanctioned him for his actions as part of the settlement agreement. There is no legal basis for the suspension or the betrayal by his union and if he, Mr. Benson is forced to miss games and salary I would think he has a very legitimate claim against both the NFL and NFLPA. Neither body had any say over his behavior during that time period other than local authorities, who made their own case against Mr. Benson.

Again, while I do not condone Benson’s actions, he has been punished in the location of the crime he committed and at a time when he was not a member of the players union nor was he employed by the NFL. This is just a blatant case of over reaching and it is completely inappropriate. Fair is Fair and this is not fair Mr. Goodell.

Free Cedric Benson!

Ranking the NFC week 3

The National Football Conference

So what do you all think of Post Lock-Out football so far ?  Personally, I think if the goal was parity and to shorten careers with knee injuries the NFL is firing on all cylinders. At this point in the season I think pretty much any team in the NFC can beat any other team on any given Sunday. No  one team looks invincible, the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions look good early on, but it is 3 games in and the injury bug hasn’t rattled their cages yet. Detroit has been drafting in the top 3 for the last ten years, so no surprise there.  New Orleans looks very human to me, The Dream Team Eagles look like  The Nightmare Pidgeons  and Andy Reid must be taking stupid pills with his goal line offense.

In the East there is no Beast and  I would look for these teams to beat the living hell out of each other in their division match ups. Look at the Giants - Eagles game this weekend, or the Cowboys v Redskins last night as an indication of things to come. I think just about anyone can come out of the East Division a champion, The injury factor is going to play a big role in who survives, Vick is already a wounded soldier and so is Tony Romo,  but I am going out on a limb here and saying the Giants will take the Crown in the East, they suffrered injuries early and are on the mend. In the North, Green Bay looks very solid as defending Super Bowl Champs, but Detroit will challenge all year-long and should get a play-off spot.  In the South Tampa Bay and New Orleans will slug it out. I think Tampa Bay comes out on top in the end. In the West it’s a battle of the NFC weaker teams and  a below .500 record will probably be good enough to take the division, same as last year, unless the 49er’s can keep it together.

For the most part I think a lot of what you see will be driven by injury. So many key players battling to stay on the field and so many teams struggling with depth and on both sides the ball. I don’t like what the Lock-Out has done for football. I think you can chalk up the poor play and injury laden season to the players being cut off from coaching, trainers and facilities in the off-season. Rookies and free agents are still learning play books for the most part making it hard for them to fill in and/or start in certain circumstances. If I was forced to pick and NFC champion today, I would have say it would be Green Bay. Caution, a lot can go wrong from here on out.

I will give you my view of the AFC tomorrow.