Author: Anthony Stalter (Page 1339 of 1503)

Using what has transpired over the first nine weeks of the NFL season, Todd McShay of ESPN.com took a stab at re-selecting the 2007 draft. The most notable change comes in the top five, where McShay says that if the Browns had the chance to re-draft, they would select Adrian Peterson with the third overall pick.

3. Cleveland Browns — Adrian Peterson, RB, Oklahoma
Original pick: Joe Thomas, OT, Wisconsin
This is the toughest decision of any pick in this re-draft. Cleveland selected Thomas back in April and he has turned into one of the offensive leaders for the resurgent Browns. But I said it in April and what’s happened so far this season has only reinforced my feeling: The Browns should have taken Peterson at No. 3 overall. Yes, Thomas is a key player along the offensive front and will likely have a longer career than Peterson, but Peterson has simply been too special early this season not to make this choice. Any of the six teams that passed on him originally might take a mulligan to get him this time around, but the Browns look like the best fit right now as they could use a little more running to balance the seventh-best passing game (254.5 ypg) in the league.

As I noted in my latest column, I can’t fault Cleveland for taking Joe Thomas. As special as Peterson has been (and he’s been really, really special), cornerstone left tackles don’t fall out of trees. It’s no coincidence that the Browns have had a ton of success on offense this year with the way they’ve completely re-built their offensive line over the past two offseasons. They signed free agent Kevin Shaffer in 2006 – who was overrated as a left tackle but has been okay rotating with Ryan Tucker on the right side – as well as marquee guard Eric Steinbach in ‘07, and drafted Thomas in April. If LeCharles Bentley didn’t get hurt on the opening day of training camp last year, we might be talking about the Browns’ offensive line being the best in football. We fans hate it when our team takes an offensive lineman on the first day of the draft, but the bottom line is that it’s the foundation of a successful offense.

If given the chance, do you think Cleveland would select Peterson or stick with Thomas?

…he gets into trouble off the field. Well, sort of. He really just got into an altercation with a parking attendant, but just the fact that he managed to make headlines the week he can rejoin the Bengals is priceless. Even more priceless, however, is the line he dropped on the parking attendant during the altercation.

A parking attendant told police that Henry and another man parked their sport utility vehicle without paying. According to an incident report, the attendant said Henry argued loudly with him and said, “Don’t you know who I am?”

Ah the, “Don’t you know who I am?” line is outstanding. Like the parking attendant who’s just trying to make ends meet is worried about knowing who Chris Henry is. The attendant should have said, “Yeah, I think I know you. Aren’t you the unbelievable moron who got suspended for eight games but on the eve of returning to his team, got high and mighty with a parking attendant just trying to do his job? Tell your team to get a defense, Chris.”

Welcome back Chris – we’ve missed you.

Legendary former coach Don Shula voiced his opinion to the New York Daily News that if the Patriots go 16-0, their accomplishments deserve an asterisk in the record books.

“The Spygate thing has diminished what they’ve accomplished. You would hate to have that attached to your accomplishments. They’ve got it,” Shula told the New York Daily News. He added that it would be, in the public eye at least, “the same thing as putting an asterisk by Barry Bonds’ home run record.”

Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel responded to Shula’s comments when he was a recent guest on “The Mike Felger Show” on ESPN 890.

“I think that we try to go out there and play hard every week. And I don’t think that guys are going to draw on an old retired coach and old washed up players to pump us up. We play hard. We try to go out there and play hard. That’s our job every week is to go out there and play hard. To play for our team, my teammates, my coaches, the respect factor, that’s what I try to go out and play for, and I think everybody else on our team does the same thing.”

Shula’s comments are a reach considering that just because the Patriots were caught cheating, doesn’t mean that no other team hasn’t, or isn’t doing similar things. I’m not saying his comments are absurd – it’s just a little naive to believe New England is the only one to implore deceptive tactics to try to gain an advantage. Plus based on his comments, Shula is acting as if the only reason the Patriots go 16-0 is because they used the Jets’ defensive signals in Week 1. That’s a stretch, Don.

Vrabel’s comments are disrespectful. Those “old washed up players” set the table for Vrabel and his brethren to play on Sunday’s. What, does he believe he’ll avoid being “old and washed up” someday? He’ll want people to remember him when he eventually hangs it up, so he should show a little respect for the guys that did it before him. Pretty lame to make a comment like that and follow it up with, “My teammates and I play for respect factor.”

I Miss Football Season posted their NFL Midseason Awards, with a couple of spot on commentary.

AFC Coach of the Year–Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh–with no disprespect to Tony Dungy or Bill Belichick, no one expected Tomlin to come in and have his Steelers dominate like this.

AFC Bonehead Award–This is easy. AJ Smith, GM, San Diego–this moron fired Marty Schottenheimer after a 14-2 season because he lost to a really tough New England team in the playoffs. Now, he’s got Norv Turner at the helm and is 4-4 on his way to finishing 8-8 at best. I really hope these guys don’t make the playoffs.

NFC Rookie of the Year–Adrian Peterson, Minnesota–see above. Honorable mention to San Francisco LB Patrick Willis and Dallas K Nick Folk.

Tomlin has brought a certain swagger to Pittsburgh and the players have really responded to his hands-on approach. They’ve played well for him up until this point and his decision-making as a first time head coach has been solid.

As for Smith, he’s currently reaping what he sowed by firing Schottenheimer and replacing him with a guy who has been a colossal disappointment outside of a coordinator role.