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      Saints claim they’re not getting rid of Vilma but their actions say otherwise

      March 25, 2012 /

      Mickey Loomis says that middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma is “still
      a big part of our team,”       but the Saints’ latest signing would suggest that the GM is blowing smoke.

      The Saints signed free agent middle linebacker Curtis Lofton to a five-year deal on Saturday night and while the financial terms have yet to be released, chances are the former Falcon is being paid like a starter. (After all, he was the defensive captain for the past four years in Atlanta.)

      My point is that the Saints didn’t sign him as an insurance policy for Vilma, or for emergency starts. Some have suggested that new defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo could use Lofton on the outside, but that’s a dangerous proposition for the Saints. L0fton is a solid two-down “thumper” in the middle of a 4-3 and that’s where he needs to play in order to be successful. Granted, he has improved his coverage skills since his rookie year in ‘08, but pass defense will never be one of his strengths. Thus, to expect him to hang with tight ends and running backs as a strong-side ‘backer isn’t a realistic option. (To strengthen my point, let me point out that the Falcons have been re-signing their own players left and right this offseason and yet decided to let Lofton walk. That’s because they plan to play more nickel under new DC Mike Nolan and thus, Lofton wasn’t worth the money to essentially be a two-down run-stuffer.)

      Which leads me back to Vilma. Despite what Loomis says, there’s still a very good chance that Vilma has played his final down in New Orleans. The Saints will probably wait until they know the severity of his punishment for his involvement in the team’s “bounty program” before they do anything. But I doubt we’ll see Vilma and Lofton lining up in the same linebacker corps next season.

      If Vilma is suspended for half the season, the Saints could try to trade him for a late round pick. I doubt another team would bite with Lofton already on the roster, but it’s worth it for the Saints to try and see. And if he’s only suspended four games, Vilma’s trade value obviously goes up, so there’s no reason to release him now.

      But either way, Lofton is the team’s long-term answer at middle linebacker. Don’t let the Saints fool you into thinking otherwise.

      External Sports, NFL

      Jets wise to create competition for Mark Sanchez

      March 24, 2012 /

      Tim Tebow might not be able to hit the ocean if he threw a rock while standing on shore. But he certainly serves a purpose for the New York Jets.

      Some have criticized the Jets for parting with 2012 fourth and sixth round picks to acquire a quarterback in Tebow, who isn’t really a quarterback at all. From a passing efficiency standpoint, Tebow ranked among the league’s worst passers in 2011 at ProFootballFocus.com. But the Jets don’t need him to be Peyton Manning to benefit from the trade. In fact, they’re already benefiting from the deal.

      The Jets made a mistake by signing Mark Sanchez to a three-year, $40.5 million contract extension last week. The guy hasn’t earned an extension and given his current skill set, he’s not likely to live up to the contract. But at least the Jets didn’t compound the mistake by not finding a backup that wants to compete for the starting job.

      Tebow wants to start and if this New York Daily News report is accurate, he believes he can unseat Sanchez as the starter. He’ll push Sanchez from the start, which is something Sanchez has yet to experience since he was drafted in 2009. Even someone lacking in as much self confidence as Sanchez knew that Mark Brunell wasn’t a serious threat to take his job. But Tebow, who despite his lack of passing skills, proved that he can win last year. And the moment he arrives in the Big Apple he’ll put his hand on Sanchez’s shoulder and say, “I’m going to be right here, kind sir.”

      No, Tebow isn’t a good passer and he may never become one. But his arrival to New York means that Sanchez will be pushed like he’s never been pushed before. Competition in general is a good thing in sports, and Sanchez is about to receive his stiffest challenge since entering the league. Take Tebow’s lack of quarterback skills out the picture and the Jets did well here.

      External Sports, NFL

      The price of a World Series title? For Cardinals, it may be Chris Carpenter.

      March 23, 2012 /

      There’s always a price to pay in life. Success doesn’t come without failure and often times, elation doesn’t come without desolation.

      For the St. Louis Cardinals, the price of their miraculous 2011 championship wasn’t losing Albert Pujols (like many had thought), but perhaps ace Chris Carpenter.

      You could certainly make a case for Pujols or World Series hero David Freese being the most valuable player on last year’s Cardinals team. But in my eyes, it was hands down Chris Carpenter. Nobody threw as many innings in the big leagues last year than Carpenter, who was marvelous in the postseason. He won five of the six games he pitched, with his only loss coming in a 4-2 defeat at the hands of the Rangers in the World Series. In that game he pitched seven innings of two-run ball while striking out four and allowing just two earned runs. He wound up pitching just four days later and beat the Rangers for the second time in the Series, limiting Texas to two runs on six hits over six innings while helping St. Louis win its 11th championship.

      Now, with just two weeks before the start of the 2012 MLB season, Carpenter is dealing with a nerve issue in his right shoulder. The initial diagnosis was that he had a bulging cervical disc in his back and there was actually some positive news on his condition earlier this week. But it has been discovered that the discomfort he has experienced in his shoulder is actually nerve damage and nobody knows how long it’ll take for him to recover – or if he even will.

      The word “retirement” and Chris Carpenter don’t really go together. He’ll be 37 years old at the end of April but it would take an army to pull him off the mound. But it really isn’t up to him on how his body will react over these next couple of days, weeks, and months. He rejected surgery on Wednesday because quite frankly, it wouldn’t help. It’s not like he has a tear – he’s dealing with nerve damage. All he can do now is wait for the nerve to heal itself (which could take some time), test his arm out, and then go from there. The nerve could essentially heal itself next month but then become damaged again when he attempts to throw. It’s just hard to predict what will happen next.

      For the Cardinals’ sake, hopefully the nerve does regenerate quickly and he can get back on the mound at some point this season. But the news out of St. Louis right now isn’t good and there’s a chance that 2011 was the last we’ll see of Chris Carpenter in a baseball uniform. And if that is indeed the case, at least he and Cardinal fans will remember him for being the warrior he was in the 2011 postseason.

      The Giants paid their World Series debt in the form of losing Buster Posey, Freddy Sanchez, Pablo Sandoval and Brian Wilson for extended periods of time last season, which prevented them from qualifying for the postseason. Now the Cardinals are paying the price for theirs and it’s a shame that it has to come in the form of Carpenter.

      External Sports, MLB

      Forte right to be angry but Bears had to protect themselves with Bush signing

      March 22, 2012 /

      Following the signing of Michael Bush on Thursday, Chicago Bears running back Matt Forte expressed frustration with his team by tweeting, “There’s only so many times a man that has done everything he’s been asked to do can be disrespected!” Forte went on to say, “Guess the good guys do finish last,” while his agent added, “To sign yet another running back, prior to completing a contract with Matt suggests disregard for Matt and his contribution to the Bears.”

      Forte has every right to be angry with the Bears. He’s a perfect fit for that team and by signing Bush to a four-year, $14 million contract, the Bears have completely taken away Forte’s leverage in long-term contract talks.

      You’d probably be upset with the Bears too if it were you. But Forte also needs to exercise a little patience here.

      The Bears had to protect themselves for a couple of reasons. For starters, Forte suffered a season-ending injury last year and if he were to get hurt again in 2012, Chicago would be in major trouble if it had signed him to a long-term deal this offseason. Plus, this isn’t the first time that Forte has been upset with the front office so if he decides that he’s had enough of Chicago and moves on next year, at least the Bears have a pretty good back in Bush already on the roster.

      For obvious reasons, no player wants to sign a franchise contract. Nothing is guaranteed beyond that one season so if the player were to get hurt he could lose out on a big pay day after already proving that he deserved a long-term deal. But at least next season is guaranteed for Forte, who will make much more than $14 million over four years if he can stay healthy in 2012.

      Personally, I felt the Bears should have paid Forte last year. He’s one of the most versatile backs in the league and seeing as how there have been no signs of progress between him and the Bears on a long-term deal, it’s no wonder why he would be upset with the Bush signing.

      But one way or another Forte will get paid. He just needs to stay healthy and be patient.

      External Sports, NFL

      Four key takeaways from the Saints’ “bounty program” punishment

      March 21, 2012 /

      On Wednesday the NFL suspended New Orleans Saints’ head coach Sean Payton for one year and former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams “indefinitely” for their roles in the team’s “bounty program.” General manager Mickey Loomis was also suspended without pay for the first eight games of the 2012 NFL season, assistant head coach Joe Vitt was suspended for the first six games of next season, and the team will lose its second-round pick in 2012 and its second-round pick in 2013. Below are four key takeaways from this scandal.

      Goodell was harsh because he was lied to.
      Remember back in 2007 when Roger Goodell threw the book at Michael Vick after the quarterback pled guilty to federal dog fighting charges? Part of the reason why Goodell was so harsh was because Vick admitted that he provided most of the money for the gambling side of the “Bid Newz Kennels” operation. But Goodell also dropped the hammer on Vick because the quarterback lied to his face about being involved with the scandal. The same thing happened with the Saints. Head coach Sean Payton lied to Goodell, Gregg Williams lied to Goodell, and assistant head coach Joe Vitt lied to Goodell. If the commish has taught us anything since he assumed office on September 1 of 2006 it’s that the NFL his league and he will go to extreme measures to protect its integrity. I fully admit that I was surprised by the rulings but once the league had enough evidence to convict the Saints of wrongdoing, you figured Goodell was going to rule with an iron fist. And I think it’s telling that Payton’s suspension doesn’t begin until April 1 when all NFL coaches have to attend a meeting on Monday for a coaches’ breakfast with the media. Think Goodell wants to send a message to Payton by having the suspended coach have to face the media that day?

      Here’s the difference between the “bounty program” and “Spygate.
      Five years ago the Patriots were found to have been videotaping the signals of opposing teams. Goodell fined Bill Belichick $500,000, fined the club $250,000, took away the Patriots’ first-round pick in 2008, and then had all of the documents from the scandal destroyed. As we came to find out, Belichick had been taping opponents’ signals since his days as a head coach in Cleveland and the “only” punishment New England received was essentially the loss of $750,000 and a first-round pick. So why did Goodell come down harder on the Saints than he did on the Patriots? Well, there are a couple of reasons. One, Goodell had just taken over as commissioner of the league when he doled out the punishment for the Patriots so he was still green at that point. It’s also widely known that he and Bob Kraft are very tight, so he wasn’t going to stick it to his buddy. But the biggest difference between the two, at least in my eyes, is that “Spygate” didn’t cost the league a dime. For the past three years Goodell has tried to make the NFL a safer game. And with more and more lawsuits emerging from former players, he has to be able to walk into a courtroom and say, ‘Hey, we’ve done everything we could to make our game safe.’ That message is awfully hard to convey when one of your coaches has a program in place to reward his players for taking out certain opponents. Not only did this bounty program scandal tarnish the league’s reputation and integrity, but it also had the potential to hit the NFL’s wallet down the line…repeatedly. And Goodell simply can’t have that.

      This is only the first wave of punishment.
      If you’re wondering why none of the Saints players have been suspended but their coaches and general manger did, just wait. This is more than likely just the first wave of punishments that Goodell will hand out. As the reported leader of the bounty program, Jonathan Vilma will probably receive a stiff punishment and you have to believe others will face discipline as well. It wasn’t just Vilma carrying out Williams’ “orders.”

      Don’t make Shockey out to be “Deep Throat.”
      As ESPN’s Pat Yasinskas points out, the NFL started investigating the Saints when they tried to take Brett Favre’s head off during the NFC title game in 2009. Tight end Jeremy Shockey, whom Warren Sapp said “snitched” to the league about the program, was playing for the Saints at the time. While Shockey may have ultimately told the NFL what he knew about the bounty program, he isn’t the reason the Saints eventually were investigated. Thus, there was no “snitch” here and for what it’s worth, Shockey has denied Sapp’s claims on his Twitter page.

      External Sports, NFL

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