Busted Tees
  All Sports Rumors & News >

Does Pete Carroll think the Steelers are old and slow?

Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll rubs his temple during the fourth quarter of the Pittsburgh Steelers 24-0 win at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on September, 18 2011. UPI/Archie Carpenter

It’s pretty funny to watch commentators and writers overreact to week one of the NFL. It happens every year, and this year we had Warren Sapp calling the Steelers “old and slow” after they got whipped on opening day by the Baltimore Ravens.

I guess Sapp can ask Pete Carroll what he thinks of the Steelers after they handled his Seahawks 24-0 today in Pittsburgh.

Beating on the hapless Seahawks doesn’t make the Steelers a lock to repeat as AFC champs, but I think they’re still a team to be reckoned with.

Meanwhile, what the hell is Pete Carroll doing in Seattle? Tarvaris Jackson? Really? They’re paying you almost $7 million per season for that?

Sapp latest to rip Haynesworth

While he’s a little late to the party, Warren Sapp is the latest media member to bash Albert Haynesworth about the way he has handled his contract situation with the Redskins this offseason.

From the Washington Post:

Let’s stop the BS, like we like to say,” Sapp told Vic Carucci and Howard Balzer on SiRIUS NFL Radio. “I mean, c’mon, son. You sat at the table. The people told you they had a very lovely check for you….Albert Haynesworth, you took the check, now show up to the job, son. It’s that simple. You take that kind of check. I mean, I’ll flip dogs for you. I mean, c’mon, what you want me to do, you want me to return punts? I mean, what? C’mon. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it.”

Then Sapp was asked whether Haynesworth should be considered a dominant defensive tackle when he’s playing and healthy, possibly the best defensive player in the game.

“No. No. No,” Sapp said. “He’s not consistent enough. The numbers aren’t there. I mean, I saw the four plays in a row playing the Atlanta Falcons when he was on the goal line, he looks like a manchild. Some of those games he was running, him and [Kyle] Vanden Bosch, they really had that defense rolling. He was playing the game the way it was supposed to be played.

“But you can’t tell me that a man that has, what, [28] sacks in his life is one of the most dominant players to ever play this game. I mean, I don’t remember that game where he took it over, you know what I’m saying? I remember me and Brett Favre up in Green Bay going at it in the playoff game. I don’t have that signature game for Haynesworth. I don’t have that signature season. Don’t give me one. That’s a rule of ours, isn’t it? I mean, one’s a fluke. Two, you become consistent. Now three, you’ve arrived. I don’t think the man’s had a 10-sack season. I mean, Tony Dungy told me when I was playing the game, he said you want to be arrived in this game, you’ve got to get to 10 sacks. That’s what I tell all young defensive tackles, you want a name in this game, rush like an end, and then you get in the conversation.”

I agree that Haynesworth isn’t the most dominating defensive players to have ever played the game, but let’s not shortchange him because of his selfish attitude. While I think the Vikings’ Kevin Williams has been a better overall defensive tackle than Haynesworth over the last three years, Albert is still one of those rare DTs that can play the run and provide a solid pass rush. And while other players may outperform him in a given year (take the Falcons’ Jonathan Babineaux and the Ravens’ Kelly Gregg in 2009 for example), he’s still a dominating force when healthy.

While I think he’s shooting from the hip a bit with his comments, Sapp does have a point about Haynesworth not having a signature game to his credit. There hasn’t been one time where Haynesworth has completely taken over a game, unlike Sapp, who was outstanding for many years in Tampa.


Photo from fOTOGLIF

Battery charges against Sapp dropped

Former NFL player Warren Sapp will not face misdemeanor domestic battery charges despite being accused in February of choking a woman and throwing her down on a couch in a Miami Beach hotel.

From ESPN.com:

Sapp was arrested the day before Super Bowl XLIV for allegedly choking a woman in his Florida hotel room. At the time, the former Tampa Bay Buccaneer and Oakland Raider was working as an analyst for the NFL Network’s game coverage, but was pulled off the air when his arrest came to light.

A female acquaintance of Sapp alleged that she had an altercation with him around 6 a.m. on Feb. 6 at the Shore Club Hotel in Miami Beach, where Sapp was staying while working for the NFL Network. The accuser told police detectives that she and her friends were partying with Sapp at the hotel when she grew tired and asked Sapp for his room key.

The woman said Sapp came to the room a few hours later, woke her up and they began to argue. According to the arrest affidavit, the woman claimed Sapp choked her, pushed her down on a couch, grabbed her by her shirt and neck and threw her down again. The affidavit also stated the accuser had a swollen knee and bruises on her neck.

Sapp had told investigators that he let the woman stay in his room but asked her to leave a few hours later. Sapp said she fell on her leg when he tried to help her get off a couch.

Sapp hasn’t appeared on Showtime’s “Inside the NFL” or the NFL Network since the altercation and I wonder whether or not either network would allow him to come back. Legally he did nothing wrong, but this is something that could potentially ruin his television career if the networks feel as though he’s too much of a risk to keep on their payroll.

Warren Sapp charged with misdemeanor domestic battery

Former player and current NFL Network commentator Warren Sapp has been released from jail on $1,500 bond this morning, a day after being arrested in Miami Beach on charges of choking a woman in his hotel room.

SPORTSbyBROOKs.com, which has been all over the story from the start, breaks down the details from Sapp’s arrest:

Sapp is accused of attacking his girlfriend around 5 a.m. Saturday at the Shore Club Hotel on Collins Avenue. The woman, who was not identified by police, was treated by emergency workers for a swollen knee and bruises on the back of her neck and taken to Mount Sinai Medical Center.

Detective Juan Sanchez, spokesman for the Miami Beach Police Department, said that the woman called police around noon Saturday to report that she had been attacked. She said she and Sapp had dated for two years.

The woman told officers that she had been partying with Sapp and friends when she grew tired and went to his hotel room. According to the arrest affidavit, she told officers that Sapp later came to the room, pulled her from bed and attempted to remove her from the room.
She alleged that he began arguing with her about some men she had been hanging out with earlier and men listed in her phone. She told officers that during the argument, he choked her and pushed her down on a couch. She alleged he then picked her up by her shirt and neck and threw her down again. Sapp, she said, ordered her to leave the room.

Sanchez said Sapp appeared cooperative when first confronted by police. “Mr. Sapp did volunteer when we approached him and asked him to come back for questioning,” Sanchez said.

According to the arrest affidavit, Sapp told officers that he asked the woman to leave because he was expecting company. He said he tried to help her off the couch when she fell backwards and hurt her leg.

SbB.com also reports that a model named Persiana (who has been photographed with Sapp several times over the past couple months) says that Sapp is being falsely accused:

Early Sunday morning model Persiana, who also goes by the name “Vegas Aysha” and describes herself on Twitter as a “Video Vixen and Magazine Blesser,” Tweeted about the Sapp situation: “A really close friend of mine was falsely accused of some serious BS and I’m sooooo upset right now! Omg! I will whoop a bitch for him.”

We’ll have to wait for more details to emerge, but it’s interesting to note that the NFL Network has already removed Sapp’s coverage for Super Bowl XLIV.


Photo from fOTOGLIF

Sapp: Young players don’t listen to veterans anymore

In his latest edition of “Monday Morning Quarterback,” Peter King wonders aloud why no team has signed former Bucs linebacker Derrick Brooks this offseason. King sought the opinion of former player Warren Sapp, who, as always, was ready and willing to share his thoughts on the subject.

“I’ll tell you the real reason,” his friend Warren Sapp said over the weekend. “Because it’s not the same for the veterans anymore. The NFL doesn’t need us. In this NFL, the old vets don’t factor in. The kids don’t listen to nobody. Nobody! My last year in Oakland, I’d try to talk to some of the kids. Tommy Kelly, Terdell Sands. But they had no interest. I thought the ghosts in that building were so valuable, but none of the young guys cared. Once in a while, one of the old legends would come in the building, or make a trip. Jack Tatum would be around, and I’d say, ‘You know who that dude is? You know how he played?’ And the kids would be like, ‘Nah, I don’t care.’

“The game’s different now. Look at Vince Young. Why wouldn’t he listen to Kerry Collins? I’m sure Vince thinks, ‘Nobody’s been through what I’m going through. Nobody’s been through my kind of pressure.’ Are you kidding me! Kerry Collins, fifth pick in the draft, has all the ups and downs, gets benched, makes those racist comments, has the alcohol problems, moves from team to team, comes back, has success … Vince Young should suck up all the knowledge Kerry Collins has to offer! There’s no better role model for him.”

I have heard that Collins went out of his way last year to try to help Young when the struggling quarterback was having his quasi-breakdown. Young had no interest. Maybe Sapp’s on to something. If he is, it’s a sad commentary on the kids of the NFL. I remember being in Tampa last year to do a story for SI on Brooks playing Adrian Peterson and the Vikings, and I thought at least one of the young linebackers, Barrett Ruud, tried to siphon off Brooks’ knowledge.

“I always wonder during games, ‘How Derrick get there so fast?’ ” Ruud said. “Then I’d watch the tape, and I’d see he started running to the spot before I would have, because he just knew his keys and he knew the tendencies of the offense better than anybody else.” But I also heard that while Ruud was a willing listener, the other young ‘backers weren’t.

In the specific case of Young not wanting Collins’ help last year, that could have been because VY was embarrassed about his situation. I know if I was embarrassed about a personal situation I wouldn’t necessarily be ready to talk about it to everyone — especially if they weren’t a family member or close friend.

But in general, Sapp is probably onto something, although I don’t think this only happens in the NFL. That just comes with the territory of life. Younger people always think that they have all the answers and it usually takes a little adversity to convince them to seek the advice of those who have already been through the ringer a few times.

It would be nice if every rookie sought the advice of veterans and didn’t repeat the mistakes of those before them. But the reality of the situation is that everyone has to live and learn from their own mistakes. Collins probably wouldn’t be the man he is today if he hadn’t gone through what he did a few years ago. Maybe Young will take what happened last year and turn it into a positive going forward.

I will say this though, it would be nice if younger players respected those who came before them a lot more than they do now. Everything is always, “me, me, me” in professional sports and I’m sure younger players could learn a lot from the way legends played before them.

Percy Harvin’s draft stock falling?

According to a report by the Palm Beach Post, Florida wide receiver Percy Harvin’s draft stock is falling dramatically.

First there was the reported score of 12 out of 50 on Harvin’s Wonderlic test in February, which measures quick thinking and basic problem solving. Then NFLDraftBible.com reported 10 days ago that Harvin and three other players tested positive for marijuana at February’s NFL Combine in Indianapolis, though no other outlet has confirmed the report.

Harvin scored 32 touchdowns in three seasons and was a major factor on two national championship teams. He can play running back or receiver, averaged 11 yards every time he touched the ball in 2008 (110 times), and, playing with a fractured bone in his foot, famously gained 170 yards with a touchdown in the 2009 national title game.

Still, Pro Football Weekly recently polled NFL executives about the riskiest picks in this coming draft and Harvin was selected as the unanimous winner because of “coachability, a posse of hangers-on, his lack of respect for authority and drug usage.”

The reports never will be publicly confirmed by the NFL, but fair or not, the rumors are out there. Combine them with Harvin’s frequent run-ins with authorities as a high school star in the Virginia Beach area, which resulted in him being removed from high school sports altogether, and suddenly Harvin has gone from a top-10 pick to maybe slipping to the second round.

It’s hard to blame teams these days for taking a pass on a prospect that supposedly has off field baggage. The Falcons spent millions of dollars and sunk the hopes of their franchise into Michael Vick, only to watch him wind up in prison for federal dog fighting charges. Teams don’t want to be burned down the road because a player can’t stay out of trouble off the field, or stay away from their troublemaking friends.

Then again, as the article points out, guys like Dan Marino, Randy Moss and Warren Sapp also sacred off some teams and they obviously turned out to be pretty good. And it’s unfair to assume Harvin is a bad egg based on a couple of these reports, most notably the one by the unreliable NFLDraftBible.com.

Warren Sapp blasts Al Davis, organization

Former Raider Warren Sapp spoke out about the current state of the Oakland franchise, as well as how the organization will continue to be a mess as long as owner Al Davis is in charge.

Al Davis“[Davis] is the common equation,” Sapp said on “Inside the NFL.” “You take him out, put him at home watching film or whatever he is doing — you have a functioning football organization. But once he comes over the top, he goes and starts moving it around.

“Al Davis knows football — it’s just ’60s and ’70s football. That’s what it is. He’s thinking that Cliff Branch is outside and [Jim] Plunkett is dropping back and you can throw it 80 yards down the field — deep ball, deep ball, deep ball.”

Sapp even said that Davis would call in plays when Sapp was playing for the Raiders.

“I remember the first two weeks I was there, we played a preseason game. Somebody came up one time and said, ‘We’re going deep right here, dog.’ I said, how do you know? He said, ‘The phone just rang.’

“All the preparation that goes into a week of work is there, the practicing that you have to put in order to do these things, sometimes [Al Davis] messed with that part of it and that’s what kills you,” Sapp said on “Inside the NFL.”

“Al Davis is the total bottom line, buck stops right there,” said Sapp. “I remember one time we had a defensive game plan because we were struggling against the run. We were going to get our safeties and put them up in the box and almost have a nine-man front. We practiced this thing 80 percent of the time on Wednesday and Thursday. We showed up that Friday morning, [defensive coordinator] Rob Ryan came in and he looked like someone had just shot his dog. He said he [Davis] pulled it on us … He snatched the teeth out of our defense.”

And people want to hammer Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones and Falcons’ owner Arthur Blank for standing on the sidelines at the conclusion of games? Last I checked, neither of them has been telling coordinators what plays to run or how to scheme for their next opponent.

What a joke. Sapp’s comments just play into the notion that Kiffin was fired because he wasn’t a servant to Al Davis. That organization is long overdue for a culture change.

Misty May-Treanor will appear on “Dancing With The Stars”

There’s a joke about Sir Mix-a-lot’s “Baby Got Back” in here somewhere.

It’s true, the two-time gold medalist will appear on “Dancing With The Stars” along with Warren Sapp and sprinter Maurice Greene.

A record 13 dancers will compete on the show. Included are the program’s youngest dancer ever — 18-year-old Cody Linley of the popular Disney Channel show “Hannah Montana”, and its oldest, 82-year-old actress Cloris Leachman.

Others contestants include singers Lance Bass and Toni Braxton, Emmy-winning soap actress Susan Lucci, reality-show participant Kim Kardashian, television actor Ted McGinley, chef Rocco DiSpirito, television personality/model Brooke Burke and stand-up comedian Jeffrey Ross.

Wow, Misty May and Kim Kardashian?!? Those are some serious derrieres.

Here is May-Treanor (left) in a bear-hug with Kerri Walsh…

And here’s Kardashian (a.k.a. Reggie Bush’s girlfriend)…

Big is definitely back.

Related Posts