It is so nice to be able to be talking football again. We always talked about it some, of course, but now things are really getting rolling. I love summer for the weather, but sports are at their best in the fall. With training camps well underway everywhere now, let’s take a look at some of the stories that have caught my attention today:
Sports Betting Section
MADDUX'S WINNING PICKS
MADDUX'S LIVE ODDS
SITE FEATURES
Carson Palmer is well on his way to wasting even more of his impressive talent. He’s coming off a lost season thanks to elbow problems, and he isn’t exactly setting a positive tone now – he has already missed two days of practices since training camp started. It was only because of the flu, but it’s still a bad omen. I was sure Palmer was going to be a megastar when he came out of college, but he has been frustratingly mediocre in the last few seasons. I put about 98 percent of the blame for that on Marvin Lewis. If you have read this site for while then you have heard this before, and you are certainly going to hear it again – Lewis is the worst coach in football. The Bengals have been pathetic underachievers for much of his tenure, and they will continue to disappoint for as long as the team’s management refuses to come to their senses and get themselves a real coach. Palmer, and the city of Cincinnati, deserves better.
Someone up there has a seriously twisted sense of humor. That’s really the only explanation for the three horrifically timed injuries in the NFL this weekend. First, in his first practice after Brett Favre’s continued retirement made him the likely Vikings’ starter, QB Tarvaris Jackson sprained his MCL . It doesn’t seem to be particularly serious at this point, but knee injuries can definitely linger for quarterbacks. He could miss just a couple of days, or he could be out for a couple of weeks or more. Either way, this will be a good chance for Sage Rosenfels to seize the advantage in the QB race if he is up to it.
Well, it’s been an interesting day in professional football for this weeks NFL picks. The hallmark story involves the legendary Brett Favre, who, at 39 years old, turned down the starting spot with Minnesota today. Additionally, QB Michael Vick is certainly a person of interest these days and there are a few other guys who are worth considering on this weeks nfl picks.
He’s reinstated, so that means we need to talk about him – even if we are already sick of doing so. Here are a few things that I’m thinking about:
– I think that it’s a bit ridiculous that Vick is suspended for at least five more games. I have written a few times before about how I don’t understand Roger Goodell’s burning desire to be a higher moral authority than the courts or the higher powers. I strongly believe that Vick had to pay a debt to society for what he did. I also think that he has paid that debt in a pretty significant way – both in terms of time and financial impact. He deserves everything that has happened to him, but I don’t understand why Goodell feels like the league needs to exact another pound or two of flesh when Vick has already paid a massive debt. The punishment needs to fit the crime and all that, but I don’t understand why Goodell believes that the football punishment must significantly exceed the societal punishment
I was reminded of an incredible stat while reading Peter King this morning – at least five different NFL teams have made the playoffs after not making them the year before in each of the last 13 years. Considering that there are only 12 playoff teams that is truly incredible. The flip-side of that, of course, is that at least five playoff teams from one year haven’t made it the next. The short handicapping lesson to take from that – last year means almost nothing.
I really, really don’t understand what the Vikings are thinking. This has been the case for the whole offseason, but it was reinforced now that I just read the latest story out of the endless Favre saga. A source has come out and said that Favre is conflicted about his choice, which he has said he will make by the end of this month. The source indicated that Favre would perhaps favor retirement, but he feels an obligation to the Vikings coaching staff and to the players who have been lobbying him to join them. I still think that Favre will decide to join the team. What I don’t understand is why they would want him.
Continue reading “The Vikings – A Train Wreck In The Making”
I just came back from being out and out of touch with the news all day to hear about what happened to Steve McNair. Needless to say I was shocked and more than a little saddened by it all. I became a fan of McNair very early in his career and in strange circumstances. For some strange reason, a game between Grambling and Alcorn State was shown on TV in 1992 – an odd occurrence, though one slightly more common when Eddie Robinson was around. The game was a thrill ride shootout and I couldn’t help but watch it despite knowing nothing about either team. On the final play of the game, the hobbling sophomore QB forAlcorn State, who was coming back from a leg injury, made a heroic dash for the end zone to score the winning TD. That was McNair, and I was hooked. The guy was incredible.
In the first section of this two-part blog on new NFL coaches, I considered five teams’ chances of making the post-season with a new head coach at the helm. Those five, the Indianapolis Colts, New York Jets, Cleveland Browns, Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks, I concluded all had the opportunity to earn a shot at the Super Bowl. The final six, I believe, have either less of a chance or little to none of securing a post-season berth. Here they are.
There are 32 teams in the NFL and about 33% have new coaches! Head coaches tend to be tough guys to figure out—part disciplinarian, part guru, part psychologist and part military general—successful coaches can be contradictory enigmas. Although last season was all about the quarterback shift as rookie and vet signal callers changed the fates of various teams, this season is about massive shake ups is in the coaching ranks. Of course, it’s almost a cliché to say that an owner can’t fire an entire team so they simply fire the coach, creating a scapegoat. That being said, in this two-part blog I’ll take a look at each of the new coaches. First, I’ll start with the five who have the best shot at getting their team into the playoffs in their first at the helm season.
Betting News
Online Sportsbooks
