“I just try to play the game,” Williams said. “I just think if Michael Jordan is hot you keep feeding him the ball.”
Roy, I knew Michael Jordan…and you are no Michael Jordan.
In fact, you don’t just feed MJ the ball when he’s hot, you feed him the ball all the time. He was that good.
Considering Williams’ career (and draft position — #7 in 2004), maybe Williams should have said, “I just think if J.R. Smith is hot, you keep feeding him the ball.”
In news that will shock no one who has been paying attention to the situation over the past couple of years, the Panthers officially announced on Friday that Sunday will be John Fox’s last game as head coach with the team.
From ESPN.com:
Fox was first denied a contract extension after the 2008 season. He entered the last year of his deal this fall after the Panthers began a youth movement that’s left them an NFL-worst 2-13 and the league’s worst offense, but they will have the No. 1 overall draft pick in April.
“It’s not new,” Fox said of his impending departure. “It’s something I’ve been preparing for actually for a couple of years.”
League sources told ESPN.com’s Pat Yasinskas that Fox was allowed to explore other options before this season. Sources said he was a candidate for the Buffalo Bills’ opening that eventually went to Chan Gailey, but Fox elected to finish out his contract with the Panthers.
A rift had developed between Richardson and Fox since Carolina’s 33-13 loss to Arizona in the team’s last playoff game in January 2009. Fox was more vocal this season in showing displeasure for several personnel moves that left the Panthers short on experience and talent.
I would say that it’s weird for a team to allow its head coach to pursue other job openings only to retain him knowing they wouldn’t renew his contract at the end of the year. But then again this is the Carolina Panthers were talking about. This was a team that handed Jake Delhomme millions of dollars even though everyone and their brother could see his confidence had deteriorated to nothing. (Somehow Delhomme still tricked the Browns into giving him a two-year contract, but that’s a matter for a different time.)
Fox is 78-73 in Carolina so no matter what happens this Sunday in Atlanta, he’ll leave the Panthers will a winning record. He also took the team to its first and only Super Bowl in 2003 and usually got the most out of his players.
That said, I’ve long thought that Fox received too much credit for his accomplishments. The Panthers were the model of inconsistency under Fox, often making the playoffs one year only to miss it the next. He’s never been a great X’s and O’s guy, although I suspect there will be plenty of Giants fans that hope he makes his way back to New York if Tom Coughlin is fired. (I warn you Giant fans, it’s not always a good thing to get what you ask for.) His handling of players like Delhomme (are you telling me Fox and his coaching staff thought Delhomme was still the answer after that six-interception performance against Arizona?) and Steve Smith (who could have set fire to Fox’s office and still played on Sunday) never sat right with me either.
But regardless of my personal thoughts about him, he will receive another head coaching opportunity. There will be plenty of openings once “Black Monday” arrives next week and he’ll land on his feet again. As for the Panthers, they’ll hire somebody young and cheap and I imagine ownership will find new ways to muck things up.
By the letter of the law, what Kansas State receiver Adrian Hilburn did in the Pinstripe Bowl on Thursday evening warranted a flag.
Technically, by saluting to the crowd after he scored a 30-yard touchdown reception to get the Wildcats within a two-point conversation of tying the game with 1:24 remaining on the clock, he did draw attention to himself.
But come on, did this…
…really warrant a flag? It’s not like he did back flips across the end zone or pull something out of the goal post a la Joe Horn. It’s not like he held up a sign that read, “HEY, LOOK AT ME!” or wheel a Bowflex machine onto the field and start doing a workout.
He saluted the crowd, which was less harmless than what most players do to celebrate a touchdown.
The problem with the NCAA’s rule on end zone celebrations is that it’s way too subjective. After watching Hilburn get flagged for saluting the crowd in the Pinstripe Bowl, I watched Tennessee quarterback Tyler Bray do an assortment of things after every touchdown pass he threw in the Music City Bowl (which directly followed the Pinstripe Bowl on ESPN) and nothing happened to him. I could have sworn the kid was in interpret theater with the way he waved his hands and arms after every touchdown.
For the record, I have no problem what Bray did, although I must admit I started laughing when he threw the game-sealing interception in overtime after he had basically mocked the North Carolina sidelines following a touchdown pass on the previous possession. But tell me why he wasn’t flagged for throwing up hand gestures after touchdowns but Hilburn was? Bray was technically drawing attention to himself, just as Hilburn did.
If the NCAA wants to enforce a rule, it should do so across the board for every game. Refs shouldn’t be allowed to pick and choose what they deem as a player drawing attention to himself. Either that, or they should really ask themselves what constitutes “excessive” before throwing a flag.
The success the Chiefs have enjoyed this season under offensive coordinator Charlie Weis may be short lived.
ESPN.com’s Chris Mortensen reports that Weis will likely part ways with the Chiefs in order to become the University of Florida’s next offensive coordinator. He has ties with new Gator coach Will Muschamp, who was hired at Florida to replace Urban Meyer.
The thought is that Weis eventually wants to become a head coach again at the college level. If he has success at Florida and in the SEC, he would be on the fast track to land another coaching gig soon. What’s interesting is that he’ll implement his pro-style attack after the Gators ran the spread for six years under Meyer. The question is, does Florida have the personnel to make a switch like that?
For now, Weis will coach the Chiefs during the playoffs. They’ll host the Jets next weekend in the Wildcard Round and he’ll stay with them throughout the postseason. Matt Cassel has really come on as a passer under Weis, so it’s unfortunate that Kansas City will lose its offensive coordinator after only one season. But the Chiefs had to figure that Weis wouldn’t be around long if he found success.
It’s an especially tough week to rank players since one has to play the guessing game of which teams will be resting players and which teams won’t. You’ll notice that the top of each set of rankings are dominated by players on teams that still have something to play for. I won’t be doing a Q&A post this week, so feel free to post any questions you may have in the comments section below.
Jenn Sterger’s father Leo better not meet Brett Favre down a dark alley or else they’ll be hell to pay.
His words – not mine.
From the New York Daily News:
Leo Sterger, whose daughter allegedly received unwelcome genitalia photos from Favre, says he is “absolutely furious” that the NFL let the Vikings quarterback off with a $50,000 fine Wednesday after Favre did not fully cooperate with the league’s two-month investigation into the matter.
“I better not meet that guy down a dark alley,” the elder Sterger told Radar Online Thursday. “Their decision is a complete travesty to women, and they are just treating him this way because he is the NFL’s golden boy.”
This entire situation has become a joke for all parties involved. First and foremost, Favre is a creep for sending Sterger pictures of his frank and beans (or was it just of his frank?) when he’s a married man. After she stopped his advances the first time, he should have called it a day and moved on. Why he thought sending her a text of his junk would make her swoon is beyond me.
Sterger needs a reality check, too. What was her end game here? She said the reason she kept the photos and messages was so that she could laugh at them later with her friends. Clearly she never felt in danger so she can’t get away with playing the victim. If she felt harassed, she should have said something right away. Or if she was too embarrassed and that’s why she waited, then her lawyer should have told her to file a sexual harassment suit on Favre instead of demanding that the NFL take care of the situation.
The NFL’s policy has always been to let the legal process carry out first. But since Sterger and her lawyer decided to force the league to play judge, jury and executioner, then they’ll have to settle with Favre’s punishment. Was it a slap on the wrist? Yeah. The guy made $16.5 million this year and was fined one percent of that. He’ll make that money back when he scratches his ass on the sideline this Sunday in Detroit. But if Sterger’s camp wanted stiffer (no pun intended) punishment, then it should have filed a harassment suit and went from there. Unless of course, they knew her story wouldn’t stand up in court and so they decided to force the NFL’s hand.
Either way, this situation has turned into a circus. The NFL’s decision is a travesty to women? Get real. If you want a true victim in this situation, look no farther than Deanna Favre. Think about the embarrassment she’s suffered in all of this.
Owner Bob McNair’s game plan is to keep Kubiak and hire Phillips to run the defense. There’s still a chance that an embarrassing loss to the depleted Jaguars this Sunday would cost Kubiak his job, but McNair likes Kubiak’s offense and wants to keep him around.
Bringing in Phillips certainly makes sense on the surface. The Texans rank 29th in total defense and their secondary needs plenty of work. Phillips lost his touch this season in Dallas but in previous years, his defenses always performed well. He also has more experience and a better track record than current coordinator Frank Bush, who oversees the worst secondary in the league.
Now, will it work? Who knows. There are plenty of pundits who think Kubiak is a lame duck head coach and the Texans should just cut bait and move on. There’s plenty of evidence to suggest that he doesn’t have what it takes to get the Texans to the next level, although his offenses have been very good in Houston. He also has already worked with Phillips when the two were with the Broncos in the late 90s, so maybe the partnership will breed success.
We’ll see if the reports are true and McNair does bring in Phillips. Either way, he needs to do something to turn around the losing mentality in Houston.
“He’s a good player, and he played quarterback and did a good job this year,” Johnson said of Ryan. “But the whole thing is bogus, because people are voting for it that are not on the same field as the people who are playing.
“I’m disappointed. I did all I could to win it. I feel I did the best. I feel I did all I could do to win it; it just didn’t come my way.”
“I think it’s bogus,” Johnson said. “I figured I should be a lock. I am top three in the league. … I didn’t think there was a way I wouldn’t get in. It was disappointing. I was surprised. But there’s not much I can do about it.”
Does he have those couple of lines saved on a Rolodex somewhere? Come up with something new, Chris.
Johnson currently ranks as the league’s third-leading rusher although the three guys going to the Pro Bowl rank first (Arian Foster), second (Jamaal Charles) and fourth (Maurice Jones-Drew). Johnson can cry foul about MJD getting the nod instead of him, but at least the Jaguars are still in postseason contention (although their chances of making the playoffs fall somewhere between slim and none). Granted, it’s certainly not Johnson’s fault that the Titans struggled this year – he did all he could. But number of wins factor into whether or not a player is going to get voted into the Pro Bowl. (Unless you’re Foster, who leads the league in a major statically category like rushing).
Johnson has every right to voice his displeasure about not getting nominated to go to the Pro Bowl because in terms of pure talent, he’s easily a top 3 back. But it’s not like he was a total snub when you consider the stats. If I were starting a team tomorrow and I had the choice of taking Johnson, Foster, Charles or MJD as my starting back, I would probably take Johnson. But players aren’t nominated to the Pro Bowl based on that.
The good news for Johnson is that he’s probably heading to Honolulu anyway. There are reports that state Jones-Drew needs knee surgery and if that’s the case, he won’t be making the trip. If he doesn’t think it’s too bogus that he got in because another player was injured and therefore skips the game, then Johnson will be playing in two weeks anyway.
No D-I men’s program with a roster of players on full scholly would get beat by the UConn women. But I’d pay to watch the game. I’d pay to watch Maya Moore, UConn’s electric senior forward, run through the layup line.
Adam Walsh, the head coach of Centenary — the worst D1 school based on Jeff Sagarin’s ratings, due to its transition from D1 to D3 — thinks his team (which only has four scholarship players) would be able to beat the UConn women, but admits it could be tough.
I played D3 ball from 1991-1996 at UW-Platteville for (now Wisconsin head coach) Bo Ryan. We won a National Championship in my junior year and our team consisted mostly of players who had a few D2 scholarship offers but instead elected to play in a great program under a great coach.
We wouldn’t have lost to a women’s team…any women’s team, other than maybe a team of WNBA all-stars, and even that would have been a stretch. In pickup games, I’ve played against very good female players and they’re fine as placeholders, but a team of women wouldn’t have been able to compete against us physically. We went 6-5, 6-8 and 6-8 across our front line. Defensively, we led the nation in points allowed. Our point guard was the D3 player of the year and was good enough to get a tryout with the Milwaukee Bucks. We went 31-0 that season and beat three or four scholarship D2 teams along the way, so maybe that’s not the best comparison.
Or maybe it is… If the best D3 team in the country can beat the top D1 women’s team, what does that say about the state of women’s basketball or the amount of television exposure it gets on the various ESPN channels? A hypothetical contest between UConn and Centenary (or any other men’s team, for that matter) might answer a lot of questions. Would you rather see the UConn and Duke women play in a half empty arena or a battle between two of the top D3 teams in the country in a sweaty, jam-packed 3,000-seat fieldhouse? ESPN has that choice every season, and they continue to choose the former.
Tony Sparano is currently in the third year with the Dolphins, which is right around the time front offices start to get antsy about the development of their teams.
Sparano made the playoffs in his first year with Miami but the Dolphins haven’t shown much improvement since. Their defense got remarkably better under new coordinator Mike Nolan, but the offense has been a disaster under playcaller Dan Henning. In fact, only the 2-13 Panthers have scored fewer touchdowns (16) than the Dolphins (25) this season.
Speculation is running rampant that Sparano will be fired by“Black Monday” of next week. ESPN’s Chris Mortensen said that Sparano’s last game with the Dolphins will be this Sunday, although NFL Network’s Michael Lombardi reports that Bill Parcells has convinced owner Stephen Ross to keep Sparano for at least another season.
But if they do fire Sparano, whom will the Dolphins hire as his replacement? Some rumors state that Bill Cowher’s second choice after coaching the Giants would be the Dolphins, but thus far there haven’t been any hard facts to support those claims. And if Cowher doesn’t want to take his talents to South Beach, then the Dolphins could be stuck with either another first-year head coach or a Josh McDaniels-type retread. Would someone like McDaniels really be an improvement over Sparano?
There isn’t just one thing wrong with the Dolphins – it’s a collection of issues that are holding them back. First and foremost, they need a consistent quarterback because Chad Henne isn’t it. They have scattered talent in Brandon Marshall, Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams, but this team lacks an identity offensively. The defense has been fixed, but what happens if Sparano is let go? What happens to Nolan (who is behind Miami’s resurgence on defense)? If the Dolphins fix one leak, they may spring two more.
Of course, Sparano has done very little to prove that he deserves to keep the job. His decision-making (particularly late in games) has been questioned several times this season and he shows an unwillingness to adjust and adapt. Miami’s fourth quarter collapse last week against Detroit didn’t help, nor did its massive struggles this year at home.
The bottom line is that the Dolphins’ brass has a tough decision to make regarding their head coach position. Miami doesn’t want to waste another year if Sparano isn’t the right man for the job but as of now, it doesn’t have any clear-cut choices to replace him either.
