NFL 2010: Because it's never to f'ing early

[Syt]

Pittsburgh Steelers
Home: Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland, New England, N.Y. Jets, Atlanta, Carolina, Oakland
Away: Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Buffalo, Miami, New Orleans, Tampa Bay, Tennessee

Westernmost trips will be N.O. and Tennessee if I have my geography right?

[Neil]

Pittsburgh Steelers
Home: Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland, New England, N.Y. Jets, Atlanta, Carolina, Oakland
Away: Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Buffalo, Miami, New Orleans, Tampa Bay, Tennessee

Westernmost trips will be N.O. and Tennessee if I have my geography right?

Which isn't really west at all.  The whole AFC North is staying home next year.  Hopefully they all play well because of that, and give us many happy memories for the long work stoppage in the year ahead.

[Strix]

Woot! Time to bug some Buffalo fans at work for their Steelers tickets!

[ulmont]

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP)—Chan Gailey's second chance to prove himself as an NFL head coach comes with plenty of challenges.

The Buffalo Bills team he's taking over hasn't made the playoffs in a decade and its fans have been clamoring for Bill Cowher during a coaching search that seemed to take forever.

Instead of landing one of the big-name coaches with loaded resumes such as Cowher or Mike Shanahan, Gailey—who coached the Dallas Cowboys for two less-than-inspiring seasons—was introduced Tuesday as the 15th head coach in Bills history—and fifth in 10 years.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-billscoach&prov=ap&type=lgns

Good luck, Bills fans.  You'll need it.

[Berkut]

This is really the best they can do?

[sbr]

This is really the best they can do?

That was my first reaction too.     Though if Billick and Cowher weren't interested I am not sure where else they would go.  Another college guy?  A re-tread like Marty Mornhinweg?  Who are the hot young coordinators?

I have no doubt that they could do better than Gailey, but considering this was supposed to be the deepest pool of job seekers in a while it was pretty disappointing.

[CountDeMoney]

This is really the best they can do?

No shit.  Another failed retread.
I can't wait for Bruce Coslet to land another job.

[Strix]

This is really the best they can do?

That was my first reaction too.     Though if Billick and Cowher weren't interested I am not sure where else they would go.  Another college guy?  A re-tread like Marty Mornhinweg?  Who are the hot young coordinators?

I have no doubt that they could do better than Gailey, but considering this was supposed to be the deepest pool of job seekers in a while it was pretty disappointing.

They couldn't get Russ Grimm or Brian Schottenheimer to even interview, so my guess is that Ralph Wilson is doing his best Al Davis impression and was(is) unwilling to let someone take over the running of the football side of the franchise. That would explain why Cowher didn't interview and Shanahan turned him down. The word got out that Wilson is looking for a team player that will be quiet and not rock the boat i.e. Jauron Part Deux.

It's sad to say but the Bills like the Raiders have little to no chance of becoming a successful franchise again until their owners literally pass on. 

[Valmy]

We should start a NFL 2011 thread and speculate who the NFL might use as replacement players.

[Grey Fox]

No need, we can talk about it in this thread.

So, what are the Arena players doing nowadays?

[CountDeMoney]

Where's Richie Kotite when we need him the most?

[Strix]

Where's Richie Kotite when we need him the most?

I see your Rich Kotite and raise you a Ray Handley!

[sbr]

Not sure where this is supposed to go but since they aren't playing anymore I guess here.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=reilly_rick&id=4840493&sportCat=nfl

The end is near

Kurt Warner sounds a lot like a guy ready to call it quits


Kurt Warner. Flattened like a tortilla. Can hardly breathe. Every rib howling. Wife watching. Can't breathe either. And they pile on. Four of them. Pain doubles. Pain like passing a softball through your kidney. No penalty flag. No nothing.

Of course, this was in Warner's Arizona living room. Monday. With four of his kids. Two days after one of the most eyeball-rattling hits he'd ever taken, in the Arizona Cardinals' blowout playoff loss to the New Orleans Saints.

"This is the sorest I've ever been," says Warner, 38.

And you wonder why he's thinking of retiring?

Still, if Warner does quit in the next couple of weeks -- talk to him, you'll be convinced he will -- it won't be because of his seven kids landing 720 McTwists on him, or 300-pound linemen crushing him from the blind side. It'll be because it's become nine parts job and one part fun.

"Not the Sundays," he says. "The three hours on Sundays are still fun. But it's the whole week, the whole commitment, the ability to sustain it to your fullest, day in and day out.

"You feel the pressure. You have a game that isn't that great and people are like, 'What's wrong with Warner?' That wears on you. You don't have the joy and the fun and satisfaction of having one of those great games because everybody expects you to have one of those games. You never get to exhale."

Plus, think about the two teams Warner has starred on. The St. Louis Rams and the Arizona Cardinals. Before Warner started, they were the AMC Gremlins of the NFL. Neither team had sniffed the playoffs in 10 seasons. With Warner, they were the Stones at Wembley. Without him, monkeys on a rock.

"It's kind of been: if I didn't play well, we lost. And that's a lot of responsibility. It wears you out."

Me, I don't know what he's waiting for.

What's left to prove? He's been MVP twice. He's played in three Super Bowls. Won one. Been Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year. Set several all-time postseason NFL passing records. His story -- the Hy-Vee grocery stocker who lived in his in-law's basement and wound up torching the NFL for 12 seasons -- should be a major motion-picture release.

He's a first-ballot Hall of Famer and if he's not, they ought to melt it down and start over. Chew on this: His numbers are better then 16 other QBs already in the Hall, including Roger Staubach, Terry Bradshaw, and Joe Namath. His 7.9 career yards-per-pass-attempt is better than Peyton Manning's or Tom Brady's. The man is a defense-reading mainframe in cleats.

You say: But Brett Favre is having his best season at 40! Warner's only 38 and in better shape!

True, but does Warner want to end up with a right arm like Johnny Unitas, hanging there limply? Does he want two fake knees like Namath? Does he want to be all those guys who need help getting out of their chair on stage at Canton?

You say: But he's leaving millions on the table if he quits now!

True, but he's still got more money than many third-world nations. He got a payout of $19 million last year. And how does it help him to take the money off the table if it leaves him laying on the operating table later?

You say: But he didn't even start an NFL game until he was 28! He's got a lot of football left in him!

True, but he's always had the foot speed of a three-toed sloth. He's had at least three concussions; "probably more like five," he says. In September of 2008, teammate Anquan Boldin took a breathtaking hit that left him sprawled out for minutes. "This is it," Warner texted wife from the bus. "I can't do this anymore. It's time to retire."

"What happened to Q," Warner says, "was personal for me. You realize you're one hit from something that affects you long, long term."

Warner knows about long-term injuries. His adopted oldest son -- Zachary, 20 -- was accidentally dropped on his head as a baby by his birth father and was blinded and mentally diminished.

Brenda Warner -- the most quotable wife in the NFL -- has said the decision is between "Kurt and God." What does that mean, exactly?

"It means I pray that God takes away the desire in me to play this game," he says. "I've loved it for so long. I need Him to take that away from me, so that I can be comfortable with this decision."

So a lung-collapsing, cleat-raising hit like the one in New Orleans is a little message from above?

"Exactly."

I say leave, Kurt Warner. Go walk your daughters down the aisle without a limp. Go play your beloved hoops until you're 60. Go write the books you want to write and host the radio show you want to host and maybe even run for politics the way people are asking you now. Go exhale.

It's not going to be easy. But you always did have a very quick release.

[Admiral Yi]

Is that what happened on The Hit (tm), collapsed lung?

[JacobL]

Favre gets an offer he may not be able to refuse
Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on January 29, 2010 2:19 PM ET
Vikings defensive end Jared Allen wants Brett "Silver Fox" Favre back with the Vikings, and he's willing to pay the price to make it happen.

"Silver fox," Allen pleaded on NFL Network Friday.  "Everything but my backside loves you, but if you come back, I will let you slap my rear end every single day.  In no way gay at all, but I will take that stinging pain and I will eat it every day."

We were going to quit speculating about Favre for a few weeks, but this should basically guarantee his return anyhow.