We don't know about you, but our biological calendar is all screwed up right now.. We swear, if we were in a coma and woke up today, we'd swear it was late August or September. Why? Well, first off, it's pretty warm for March. Secondly, all the talk this week seems to be about football..
Hey, you can hardly blame us and everyone for being more preoccupied with the NFL this week than you would normally be in Springtime. After close to a year of speculating what would happen with Peyton Manning, we got our answer, and the subsequent reaction was almost as big. Manning went from the Colts to the other hoofed team, the Denver Broncos. Of course, the Broncos had Tim Tebow, so they traded him to the New York Jets. Basically, John Elway did what we thought: he didn't want Tebow, and he got his man. What will Tebow do in New York? Well, we guess he's going to ride the bench since Mark Sanchez just got a big contract extension. But, if and when Sanchez struggles - and he will - look for Gang Green to call for Tebow, until he tosses a couple picks. Tebow will likely be used in the goal line option at times, which they missed last year with the loss of Brad Smith.
How will Peyton do? We have no idea, but next year, we'll be upping Demaryius Thomas on our fantasy list.... With their tough D and good running game, Denver just became legitimate Super Bowl contenders. Maybe Peyton will catch his brother Eli in championships after all...That is, of course, if Manning is healthy....
The big stunner was the suspension of New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton for an entire season for setting up a bounty program for their defense by giving bonuses for taking out particular players in games. While one year may sound harsh, you have to take things in perspective. Often, these injuries aren't just taking a guy out for a game - often, it ends their season or a career. The NFL is drawing a clear line here: play hard, but the intent to injure will be dealt with harshly. Payton is gone, the D coordinator is out indefinitely, and the GM is out for half the year. We're not sure what the GM has to do with it, but we'll assume he was aware it was out there, but did nothing...
While this is a lot more drama than the NFL would like to have, there are benefits to it. Football is usually a six month sport, but all this has turned it into 8 or nine months. Baseball starts in less than 2 weeks, and no one seems to be talking about it. That kind of confirms which is the most popular sport in America... Only 5 1/2 months left!
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1 comment:
Mike--the incident of the bounty program is not a first in the NFL. There were accusations in the 70's that Dallas regularly had key players on opposing teams it targeted. The same accusations were leveled at Pittsburg and Oakland (remember Darth Raider??). When a team has a crushing defense as these three did, charges were sure to follow. But then these three teams won 7 Super Bowls combined.
Then you had Buddy Ryan. Ryan had a reputation for defenses that blasted thru the O-line and creamed QB's and RB's alike. Once again there was talk that Ryan had a hit list, but nothing ever came of it. The same was said of Dallas, when Jimmy Johnson was their head coach.
The difference now is that the NFL has become more publically aware of concussions and spinal injuries, especially in the last 20 years and the risk of serious injury. Keep in mind the restrictions that have now been placed on players for leading with their head (aka spearing), late hits, out of bounds hits,etc.
Personally, I think this is just another example of why the NFL has become known as the No Fun League. While some may find the idea of purposely trying to hurt someone disturbing, keep in mind that football is a full on contact sport played by very large men at very fast speeds. If you want to play or watch a delicate sport where the only injury is possibly a blister, may I suggest badminton?...teg
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