Category: NFL (Page 538 of 1282)

      Has Fox saved his job or is Cowher destined for Carolina?

      December 28, 2009 /

      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.


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      NFL

      Charlie Weis in the running for Bills’ head coaching job?

      December 28, 2009 /

      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.

      NFL

      Will the Giants release or trade Osi Umenyiora in the offseason?

      December 28, 2009 /

      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.

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      NFL

      Is a NFL lockout coming in 2011?

      December 28, 2009 /

      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.


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      NFL

      Fantasy Fallout: Week 16

      December 28, 2009 /

      Tom Brady & Randy Moss
      This duo came through in a big way in Week 16. Brady threw for 267 yards and four TD while Moss had 4-45 and three TD. Moss also came up pretty big in Week 15 (5-70-1), but anyone that had Brady going that week probably wasn’t playing in the title game in Week 16. (He only threw for 115 yards and a TD against the Bills.)

      Matt Ryan & Roddy White
      I own a few leagues with a buddy of mine and we were in a quandary at QB. We had Jay Cutler and Matt Cassel on our roster, but neither guy was very appealing this week. Cutler seems to have given up on the season and Cassel had a bad matchup against a good Bengals defense. Matt Ryan and Josh Freeman were on the waiver wire and we ended up going with Freeman because he had been quite solid since taking over as the starter in Tampa. We figured that a matchup with the Saints would offer plenty of opportunity to throw. Besides, Ryan was facing the Bills who had been great against opposing QBs in recent weeks. Well, we should have gone with Matty Ice. He threw for 250 yards and three TD, and we would have won had we plugged him in. His favorite target, Roddy White, also rewarded owners that stuck with him after he had averaged 3-37 over the last two weeks. He posted 8-139-2 against the Bills, and will be the difference in more than a few championship games this week.

      Todd Heap
      All Heap did the last two weeks was catch seven balls for 93 yards and four TD. That’s right — four TD. Funny story: In my auction league, when Owen Daniels went down midseason and I unwisely gambled all of my bidding bucks on Chris Cooley’s failed comeback attempt, I ended up trading away Laurence Maroney for Todd Heap, and I didn’t start him in Week 15 or Week 16. What can I say? The guy averaged 2.5-28-0.0 the previous four weeks. Who knew he’d catch four TD in the next two games? Anyone forced to start him got a nice surprise in the fantasy playoffs.

      Jonathan Stewart
      It must have been a tough week to have DeAngelo Williams and not have Stewart as a backup. He had 28 carries for 206 yards and a TD against a Giants team that desperately needed a win. That’s impressive. In Week 15, he had 109 yards and a score against the Vikings, who have one of the best rush defenses in the league. Let this be a lesson to those owners who draft Williams next season — you better get Stewart as insurance.

      Donovan McNabb & Brent Celek
      The Eagles almost lost the game, but McNabb posted a great line that probably won a few fantasy championships this week. He had 322 yards, three TD and also ran for 29 yards. As a result, Celek was a difference-maker at TE this week. He went for 4-121-1, catching a 47-yard pass from McNabb in the second quarter.

      Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark & Joseph Addai
      We were all ready to bench our Indy studs in Week 16, figuring that they’d play maybe a half of football before leaving the game. But then Manning tells Rachel Nichols this morning that he thinks he would play a full game if it stayed competitive. Suddenly, fantasy owners were scrambling to get these Colts back in the lineup. Sure enough, midway through the third with the game still very competitive, Indy pulled its starters. Manning finished with 192 yards and zero TD, Addai with 40 yards and a TD, Clark with 4-57 and Wayne with 3-33. Fantasy owners with Addai or Clark in their starting lineups probably got by with their limited output, but those that had Manning or Wayne found themselves behind the eight ball.


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      Fantasy Football, NFL

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