Category: NFL (Page 635 of 1282)

How many sacks for Jared Allen tonight?

I’m setting the over/under on the number of sacks Vikings’ defensive end Jared Allen will have on Aaron Rodgers tonight at 2.5.

Any takers?

Allen is due for a monster night as Green Bay left tackle Chad Clifton is expected to miss his second game tonight following an ankle injury he suffered in a Week 2 loss to the Bengals.

The Packers’ offensive line has resembled a revolving door this season, allowing 12 sacks in the first three games. In their loss to Cincinnati, Green Bay made defensive end Antwan Odom look like a cross between Reggie White and Kevin Greene as he brought down Rodgers five times.

Rodgers is a fine quarterback, but his offensive line is going to get him killed if they don’t start protecting him. Considering Ryan Grant won’t find much running room against the Williams Wall tonight, it would be in Green Bay’s best interest to max-protect Rodgers the entire night. The Giants use a similar method on a weekly basis with Eli Manning and he seems to do just fine.

The Packers need to help Daryn Colledge out, because he’ll see the brunt of the work against Allen. Lining up a tight end to Allen’s side would make sense, although Green Bay might also need to set up a military-based obstacle course in between him and Rodgers just to be safe.

I’m taking the over tonight. I think Allen will eventually take this game over, especially if the Packers can’t get Grant going early. It could be a very long night for Rodgers.

Winning is a cure-all, just ask Brandon Marshall

If there’s one thing that continues to ring true time and time again is that winning is a cure-all in sports.

Take Brandon Marshall and the Denver Broncos for example.

Just over a month ago, Marshall was suspended for acting like a child during a training camp practice in which he punted balls instead of handing them to a ball boy, swatted down passes instead of catching them, and was an overall distraction to his teammates.

Fast forward to the scene following the Broncos’ exciting 17-10 win over the Cowboys on Sunday in which Marshall walked up to the podium during Josh McDaniels’ post game speech and embraced the first-year head coach and you wonder what the hell is going on in Denver.

“You never heard me say anything about him coaching or what he brings to the organization,” Marshall said.

“Our team loves him, we love him and I think he loves being part of this team,” added McDaniels.

Well, aren’t we the Brady Bunch all of a sudden.

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Braylon Edwards accused of assault

The Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting that Browns receiver Braylon Edwards has been accused of assaulting a man outside a Cleveland nightclub early Monday morning

Edward Givens said the incident took place outside of the View Night Club on 618 Prospect at about 2:30 a.m. Givens said he went to Lutheran Hospital this morning because he suffered a black eye and a cut. He said he also has a headache.

The suspect’s name on the police report is redacted. But multiple sources and the victim say the suspect is Edwards.

In an interview with Cleveland.com’s Starting Blocks blog this morning, Givens said:

“After the club closed, I was outside greeting and saying goodbye to people. Braylon comes up and started saying things, degrading me. He said if it wasn’t for LeBron or the Four Horsemen, I wouldn’t have what I have, nor would I be able to get girls. Everyone knows Braylon has a problem with LeBron. So I had to speak up for myself. The conversation started to escalate. As some of his teammates started to pull him back, he punched me. I have a black eye and a cut. I’m not a violent guy.

“As long as I’ve known Braylon, I’ve allowed him and his friends to come into our events free of charge. Whatever jealousy he has with LeBron, he felt he needed to take it out on me.”

Police officers then broke up another disturbance involving the suspect.

I’ll hold judgment until more details come out, but I will say that this is the last thing the Browns need after losing to the Bengals in overtime on Sunday to fall to 0-4.

This would also be the last thing Edwards needs seeing as how he’s seeking a new contract. One would think that players seeking multi-million dollar pay raises would lay low during the season, but some athletes continue to prove that they’re not the sharpest tools in the shed.

If Edwards was involved, he should consider himself fortunate if the incident blows over. But if the victim decides to press charges, then Edwards could have a hard time finding a suitor that will give him a long-term deal. Having the dropsies is one thing, punching a man in the face outside a nightclub during the season is quite another.

Another interesting storyline from this incident is Braylon’s supposed hatred for Lebron. Don’t forget that Edwards once ripped Lebron for being from Akron, yet he’s not a “Cleveland guy” and likes “everybody but from his hometown” when it comes to following sports teams.

Looks like Brayon has some hang ups about Lebron owning the city of Cleveland.

Raiders head coach Cable to be arrested soon?

According to a report by Yahoo! Sports, Oakland Raiders head coach Tom Cable could soon be arrested for an altercation during training camp in which he fought with assistant Randy Hanson.

“Everybody is trying to figure out who’s going to take over if Tom isn’t here,” said an assistant coach, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “John Marshall has a lot of experience, he’s probably the guy. But it’s nuts. It’s crazy when you start to really think about it.”

Although Napa Valley (Calif.) police have declined to comment on the investigation, NFL.com quoted the attorney for Raiders assistant coach Randy Hanson as saying that Hanson told police he had been assaulted by Cable on Aug. 5 while the Raiders were in training camp. Hanson was treated for a broken jaw and his attorney, San Francisco-based John McGuinn, said three other coaches, including Marshall, witnessed the attack.

McGuinn did not return three messages left by Yahoo!, but told NFL.com that the situation was “a textbook case of felony assault.”
These types of situations have a tendency to be overblown, but this is example 100,000,001 why the Raiders are the most dysfunctional team in the NFL.

The ironic part is that Al Davis probably loved how Cable handled the situation.

Ravens rip officials after loss to Patriots

Following their 27-21 loss to the Patriots in Foxboro on Sunday, several Ravens players ripped the officiating, particularly two roughing the passer calls on Tom Brady.

“Without totally going off the wall here, it is embarrassing to the game,” linebacker Ray Lewis said. “[Tom] Brady is good enough to make his own plays, let him make the play. When you have two great teams that are going at it, let them go at it. Both of their touchdown drives had personal fouls that kept drives alive. Did that win or lose the game? No, but it got them 14 points.”

Asked his biggest gripe, Reed said: “It just felt like everything was kind of all over again. You hate to come into a game where you have to play against a team and the officials. Like I said, nothing to take away from their team, nothing to take away from the officials. We have to help each other out in a way to where it’s near as perfect as we can be. Like I said, it’s a game of inches. We have too much going on with this game, from where it’s come to in 2009, 2010, to say we can’t be a little bit more precise with things.”

Reed was specifically referring to Willis McGahee’s fourth-and-1 run in the fourth quarter in which he was stopped for no gain, and the Patriots’ fake field goal in the fourth quarter.

“When Willis had his fourth-down try, it probably wouldn’t have been a first [down], but it probably should have been a little closer,” he said. “The [Patriots’] spots, the guy stepped out of bounds. Even though we got the penalty on that fourth down when they faked the field goal, the guy stepped out and he reached the ball. Certain things like that. Like I said, you have to play the game.”

I hate that this needs to be said because it shouldn’t matter, but for the record I’m not a “Patriots hater.”

That said, New England has gotten some calls in the last two weeks that have been questionable at best. The two roughing the passer penalties yesterday were cheap and there was a play last week in the Patriots’ win over the Falcons where Atlanta receiver Michael Jenkins and a New England defender were both jostling in coverage and the refs called pass interference on Jenkins, which wiped out a touchdown. Brady was also able to throw a touchdown pass last week to put the game away thanks to one of his offensive lineman bear-hugging John Abraham to avoid a sack.

It appears that the refs are calling penalties based on Brady’s injury last year, which is ridiculous. Just call the game – don’t throw a flag every time a defender is within a mile of Brady’s knees.

All of these calls could have gone either way…they’ve just been going the Patriots way so far.

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