Check out Saints’ owner Tom Benson’s embarrassing moment at the end of regulation in the game between New Orleans and Tampa Bay on Sunday:
Field goals have to go between the two big yellow sticks, Tom. It’s okay though big guy, I know it gets confusing sometimes…
The Carolina Panthers have been the model for inconsistency under head coach John Fox for the better part of a decade. One year they’re up, the next they’re down.
But much like previous down years, the Panthers are finishing strong in 2009. They’ve won three of their last four games and have the opportunity to finish .500, which is quite an accomplishment for a team that had Jake Delhomme under center for most of their year.
Their strong finish begs the question: Has Fox saved his job?
Rumors are circulating that Bill Cowher wants to return to the sidelines in 2010 and Carolina might be a fit because his daughter attends N.C. State. If Cowher is interested, will the Panthers jump at the opportunity to bring him on board or will they stay loyal to Fox, a man that led the team to their only Super Bowl appearance?
Much like in previous down years, the Panthers struggled with injuries and inconsistency this season. Delhomme was a train wreck and should no longer be viewed as a starter, especially given that Matt Moore is gaining confidence with each passing week. The defense has gelled nicely under new defensive coordinator Ron Meeks and the running game is sound with the two-headed monster of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart. The team could use a No. 2 receiver opposite Steve Smith but other than that, they don’t have a ton of holes.
With that in mind, is Fox the right person to get the Panthers back to the playoffs or should the front office go in another direction? Personally, if Cowher is interested I don’t know how the Panthers don’t entertain the thought of hiring him. But if he turns them down or isn’t interested, then Fox should be retained.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
According to WIVB-TV in Buffalo, the Bills have contacted former Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis about their head coaching vacancy.
Sources tell us the Bills made a back-channel approach to Weis in recent weeks to see if he’s interested in the job. And the sources say Weis is interested. So far, it’s not believed that the two sides have had a formal discussion about the Bills coaching job.
The Bills were interested in Weis back in 2004 before they hired Mike Mularkey, so maybe this report has teeth. That said, one would have to believe that there are more qualified candidates than Weis. I realize they might not be able to land Mike Shanahan, Bill Cowher or Jon Gruden, but given his failures at Notre Dame as a head coach, it would make more sense if Weis assumed a coordinator position in the NFL before being hired as a team’s head man.
Along with Weis, the Bills were also linked to Michael Vick before he signed with Philadelphia. After signing Terrell Owens in the offseason, I fear that the Bills are heading down a path in which they’re focused more on flashy signings and hires than they are about making sound football decisions. But then again, Weis and Vick have only been linked to the Bills and as of right now, neither is close to joining the franchise. Plus, the T.O. experiment appears to be over (he only signed a one year deal and I’d be shocked if the team wanted to re-sign him), so let’s give the Bills the benefit of the doubt.
Buffalo needs a good front office man to come in, evaluate the roster, put together a plan to acquire talent and then get the right head coach to fit the players. The Bills are a long ways off and I highly doubt Weis is the savior they need.
A month ago, Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora was demoted from a starter to a pass-rush specialist following New York’s loss to the Broncos on Thanksgiving night. Yesterday, he played in only a handful of snaps in the Giants’ embarrassing 41-9 loss to the Panthers in East Rutherford.
All of this has left Umenyiora pondering his future in New York, and his comments following the loss to Carolina indicates that he won’t be a Giant past this season.
From the Newark Star Ledger:
“What did I play, five snaps today?” said Umenyiora. “I don’t know, I don’t know what happened. I thought I was the problem.
“It’s an unbelievable situation, man. Last game at Giants Stadium, probably as a Giant, just the way everything has unfolded has been unbelievable.”
Unless Umenyiora knows something about the team’s plans to deactivate him next week, Sunday was not his final game as a Giant.
But perhaps he meant it would be his final home game, which means he’s anticipating a trade, his release or a holdout on his part until he gets one of the first two. Umenyiora is signed through the 2012 season, so the Giants probably don’t plan on cutting him loose without any compensation.
Unless he forces their hand.
“I couldn’t really explain what I’m feeling right now. Disappointment is an understatement, in everything,” the two-time Pro Bowl selection said. “The way everything has played out this year has been absolute nonsense; very disappointed, disheartened, discouraged, whatever you want to call it. I feel all those emotions.”
If Umenyiora wants to stay with the Giants, then he, along with many fans, would love to see the team show defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan the door. Sheridan has been a disaster since taking over for former coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, who is now the head coach of the Rams. His schemes don’t allow for Umenyiora and the rest of the Giants’ talented defensive ends to rush the passer as much as they did under Spagnuolo. Sheridan will often drop his ends into coverage, which doesn’t (and hasn’t) take advantage of their pass-rush capabilities.
The NFL is heading for an uncapped 2010 season, but according to Yahoo! Sports (via Profootballtalk.com), the popular league might be dangerously close to a lockout in 2011.
So it’s no shocker to hear, via ProFootballTalk, that the conversations that the two sides are having about the collective-bargaining agreement are reportedly going “poorly.” There are once-optimistic players who are now thinking that a lockout is coming in 2011.
The supposed deadline for a new CBA to be worked out is March of next year. The old CBA got chucked aside when the owners decided to opt out of it in the spring of 2008.
The people most affected by a 2011 lockout would the fans. The NFL is wildly popular, but people are already turned off by how much athlete’s are making in a poor economy. If they wind up holding out because the NFLPA and the league can’t strike a new CBA deal, then the NFL will lose fans just like the MLB did when baseball held a strike in the mid 90s.
I couldn’t imagine a year without football and I don’t want to. Hopefully the NFLPA is realistic with its demands and we will see a cap in place in 2010. If that can’t happen, then let’s hope a deal is struck in March of next year so we’ll have football in the fall of 2011.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
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