Month: January 2010 (Page 18 of 65)

      Cowboys seeking long-term deal with Austin

      January 22, 2010 /

      The Cowboys are trying to lock up restricted free agent receiver Miles Austin to a long-term deal.

      From ESPN.com:

      On the day DeMarcus Ware signed his six-year deal, executive vice president Stephen Jones expressed hesitation about entering negotiations with Austin. Of course, at the time, Austin had just finished setting an NFL record with 421 receiving yards in his first two starts.

      “Some of the biggest mistakes that are ever made are when you pay a guy off one year,” Stephen Jones said then.

      One could argue that it’d be a much bigger mistake for the Cowboys to risk losing a humble young star who led the NFC in receiving yardage despite being a reserve for the first five games.

      That’s apparently Jerry’s line of thinking at this point.

      It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Austin’s representatives could use Roy E. Williams’ five-year, $45 million deal as the starting point for their negotiations.

      Austin proved that he wasn’t an early season fluke when he tore up the second half of the year. The 25-year-old has the size, speed and playmaking ability teams covet in a receiver and there’s no way Dallas can allow another team to outbid them now that he’s a restricted free agent.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      NFL

      Shorthanded Cavs nip Lakers, 93-87

      January 21, 2010 /

      I’m not a professional lip reader, but after LeBron James took five or six straight jumpers in the fourth quarter (hitting most of them), Shaq came up to him at a timeout and said, “Go to the f**kin’ hole.” On the next possession, LeBron did just that and threw the ball out of bounds. But two plays later with under a minute to play in a tie game, LeBron attacked the glass in secondary transition and gave the Cavs a two point lead.

      Kobe Bryant sat for the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter, and when he finally came in, he was ice cold, missing four of his five shots in the final period. Pau Gasol also played weak inside and missed several shots from close range. After LeBron’s driving layup, Gasol had a chance to tie the game with 0:24 to play, but missed both free throws. (He’s an 86% shooter on the season.) Cleveland just showed more toughness down the stretch.

      It was an impressive win for the Cavs, who were playing without (arguably) their second best player, Mo Williams, who will be sidelined 4-6 weeks with a separated shoulder.

      One thing that struck me as odd: After Gasol missed those free throws, LeBron was on the sideline lip-syncing all of the lyrics to a Eminem song — almost to the point when the ref threw him the ball. I realize he’s just trying to have a good time, but the old schooler in me just shakes his head. A few moments later he went to the line and missed one of his free throws.

      Still, it’s hard to complain about a guy who just posted 37-9-5 against the defending champs.

      Update: Here’s video of LeBron doing his rap…


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA

      Report: Allen Iverson made All-Star roster

      January 21, 2010 /

      Sigh.

      Per Yahoo! Sports…

      Sparing the NBA an embarrassment, Phoenix Suns guard Steve Nash(notes) overtook exiled Houston Rocket Tracy McGrady(notes) in the final days of balloting to secure a Western Conference starting spot in the 2010 All-Star game, league sources told Yahoo! Sports on Thursday. McGrady played just six games for a total of 46 minutes until he and the team decided to separate from each other until the Rockets can work a trade for him.

      The Philadelphia 76ers’ Allen Iverson(notes) was also voted into the Feb. 14th game in Dallas as a starter for the Eastern Conference, sources said.

      At least Nash overtook T-Mac. This is the problem with having the fans decide the starting five. Allen Iverson has started 19 games and is averaging 14.4 points, 4.4 assists and 2.6 rebounds for the fourth-worst team in the league. In no way, shape or form does he deserve to play in the All-Star Game this year.

      You can see my picks here. With Iverson’s inclusion, someone far more deserving is going to miss the game.

      The starters will be announced tonight on TNT.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA, News, Rumors & Gossip

      Steve Smith 1.0 should have a nice 2010

      January 21, 2010 /

      All in all, it was kind of a disappointing year for Steve Smith. In PPR leagues, he finished WR19, and considering he was typically being taken WR5 to WR10 in fantasy drafts, owners didn’t really get what they expected out of him.

      But from a QB standpoint, he just couldn’t get any consistency out of Jake Delhomme, who threw just eight TD (versus 18 interceptions) in 11 games, and generally couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat. During that span, Smith averaged 4.2 catches for 55 yards and 0.4 TD per game. This was a far cry from his four-year average of 5.9 catches for 87 yards and 0.6 TD per game from 2005 to 2008.

      Is Smith slowing down? While he is on the wrong side of 30 — he’ll turn 31 this May — his yards per catch in 2009 (15.1) was his third-highest in the last five years, and looked every bit as quick as he did three years ago. His 130 targets weren’t far off his four-year average (141.5), so he’s still a huge part of the Carolina offense even though the Panthers are more of a running team. Those 130 targets were the 14th-most amongst wide receivers, so barring something unforeseen, Smith should have plenty of opportunities to make plays in 2010.

      But what about Matt Moore? Even though he started the final five games of the season, he’s still going to be a question mark for fantasy owners heading into drafts this summer. He averaged 198 yards, 1.6 TD and just 0.2 INT per game over that five-game span. From 2005 to 2008, Delhomme averaged 211 yards, 1.3 TD and 0.8 INT per game, so Moore’s 2009 numbers already compare favorably in terms of Smith getting good play at QB. (If you’re wondering about his competition, the first four games were against defenses ranked in the top 20 in pass yards allowed and he threw seven of his eight TD in those games.)

      To gain a better understanding of Moore’s prospects, I asked our NFL guru, Anthony Stalter to chime in. Here’s what he had to say:

      Continue reading »

      Fantasy Football, NFL

      Report: Receivers not confident in Leinart

      January 21, 2010 /

      According to Cardinals beat write Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic, the receiving corps in ‘Zona is growing less confident in quarterback Matt Leinart.

      If Leinart does become the starter, the offense will no doubt change. There will be a heavier emphasis on the run game, which has developed over the past year and a half. The play-action pass, not one of Warner’s favorite things, could become more of a threat.

      Most importantly, Leinart has to re-gain the trust of his receivers. Everyone can say all the right things about believing in him, but Leinart’s inaccuracy this season eroded confidence among the receiving corps.

      That group loves Warner for many reasons, mainly because the Cardinals are going to throw a lot with him in the lineup. But Warner also did his best to protect his receivers, to keep them from taking big hits. When Leinart is throwing high passes, as has been his tendency, receivers tend to get a little skittish.

      The easiest way for Leinart to earn the trust of his receivers is to lead by example. If he’s the first one in and the last one out, people will take notice. With enough hard work and dedication, his game should improve over time and then his receivers will start to follow him.

      If Leinart wants an example of how not to carry himself as a professional quarterback, he should look no further than his 2006 draft mate JaMarcus Russell. Russell is the posterchild for players that rely too much on their skill set and not enough on hard work and determination. If it weren’t for nutty Al Davis, Russell would be on his second team by now. He’s not willing to make the effort to be good and his performance on the field speaks for itself.

      This shouldn’t be a hard concept for Leinart. He needs to put in the work and he should see positive results because as the article notes, he does have the tools to succeed.

      NFL

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