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      Maryland fires Friedgen, may have Leach in its crosshairs

      December 20, 2010 /
      AUSTIN, TX - SEPTEMBER 19: Head coach Mike Leach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders during play against the Texas Longhorns at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on September 19, 2009 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

      Ralph Friedgen has been fired as Maryland’s football coach according to ESPN.com. He’ll receive $2 million to cover the final year of his contract and he’ll leave the program after compiling a 74-50 record in 10 years at his alma mater.

      ESPN also reports that former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach is Maryland’s top choice to replace Friedgen.

      Leach has already had discussions with potential members of a Maryland coaching staff and has the strong support of Under Armour, the Baltimore-based athletic apparel company run by a former Maryland player, sources told ESPN’s Joe Schad. Maryland considered hiring Leach after last season but it would have cost too much to terminate the contracts of Friedgen and former coach-in-waiting James Franklin and hire Leach, a source told Schad.

      Leach and Maryland were discussing a deal last year that could have paid him in the range of $2.5 million a season. It is believed Maryland will try to complete a deal with Leach as quickly as possible, a source told Schad.

      Leach would be an interesting fit because Maryland always has talent. I don’t think recruiting would be an issue although it may take a couple of years for Leach to compile the players to run his offense. We’ll see if the Leach-Maryland marriage comes to fruition over these next couple of weeks now that Friedgen has been let go.

      College Football, External Sports

      Brett Favre hasn’t been ruled out for Monday night

      December 20, 2010 /
      DETROIT, MI - DECEMBER 13: Brett Favre of the Minnesota Vikings runs off the field prior to playing the New York Giants at Ford Field on December 13, 2010 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

      That crazy Brett Favre is at it again. Just when you think he’s out of your life he pops up again out of nowhere.

      According to Chip Scoggins via his Twitter page, Lord Favre has been upgraded from out to questionable for the Vikings’ Monday Night Football game against the Bears. Rookie Joe Webb is still expected to start, but given Favre’s flair for the dramatics and considering it is Monday Night Football (i.e. Lord Favre time), I guess you can never count the old bastard out.

      Favre is expected to throw two and a half hours before the game to see if he’s well enough to play. He must have had a miraculous recovery throughout the week because last Monday it looked like his hand was suffering from gang green. He was experiencing shoulder pain when he threw but you know he’ll play if the pain is manageable.

      Personally, I was interested to see how the highly athletic Webb would play, although Minnesota is supposed to be hit with about 65 inches of snow tonight so it’s not like the rookie would have been running around much anyway. I’ll take a Favre MNF story any day of the week – especially when he’s playing against a divisional opponent.

      Stay tuned.

      Update: Favre is active and starting for the Vikings on Monday night, although Adrian Peterson will sit out. Some final MNF magic for Favre?

      External Sports, NFL

      The Broncos need to start Tebow the final two games

      December 20, 2010 /
      Denver Broncos rookie QB Tim Tebow watches the defense play against the Oakland Raiders at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, California on December 19, 2010. Tebow ran for 78 yards and a TD in the Broncos 39-23 loss to the Raiders. UPI/Terry Schmitt Photo via Newscom

      If the Denver Post is correct in saying that the Broncos will stick with Tim Tebow as their starting quarterback for their final two games, it’s the right decision.

      Kyle Orton may be healthy enough to play out the rest of the season but seeing as how the two games are meaningless, the Broncos need to get Tebow on film in live action. Orton is signed through next year and they already know what they have in him. They don’t with Tebow and the team needs to know where he’s at in his development so that their next head coach can put a game plan together.

      Of course, the Broncos also need to take off the training wheels, too. They only allowed Tebow to attempt 16 passes against the Raiders on Sunday and while it’s understandable that they want to take things slow, they have to mix it up a little. I don’t have hard facts, but then ran the ball so many times on first down against Oakland that one point the Raiders had seven defensive linemen and six linebackers on the field. (I’m kidding, but you get the point.)

      The designer (Josh McDaniels) of the Broncos’ offense is currently at home right now on his couch, so the Broncos couldn’t open things up too much with Tebow even if they wanted to. But they can call a freaking play-action pass once in a while. They can allow the kid to throw on first down. He has a long way to go as a passer, but there are things they can do to stop being so predictable and conservative.

      Either way, they’re making the right decision starting him for the final two games. They have to see where he’s spent most of the year learning from the sidelines.

      External Sports, NFL

      Tyler Brayton’s sideline antics worse than Sal Alosi’s

      December 20, 2010 /

      This is way worse than what Sal Alosi did:

      Chris Chase of Yahoo! Sports summed up this incident perfectly in relation to the Alosi “Tripegate” scandal:

      The fine was issued on Friday but was not made public.

      It wasn’t made public? Are the league offices turning into the Nixon White House? If there was every any doubt that the league is more interested in the perception of caring about player safety rather than the practice of it, this is it. The NFL made a big to-do about Sal Alosi and issued him a harsh punishment befitting that outrage. Brayton does something that’s much worse and much more dirty (he ran over to play and threw an elbow) and the league tries a Friday news dump and issues a nominal fine?

      Brayton was forced to pay $15,000 from his $2.2 million salary, while Alosi earned a suspension for the rest of the season and a $25,000 fine. And he makes a normal salary as a strength and conditioning coach, not the millions Brayton does. That’s pure and utter hypocrisy. (Throw in the fact that Brayton has a past history of dirty play and it’s even worse. In 2006 he was fined $25,000 for kneeing another player in the groin.)

      While the league is cracking down on helmet-to-helmet hits, it might want to look into the safety of gunners because apparently the sidelines are being treated like a damn MMA octagon. Furthermore, the league should look into it’s fine structure because it’s a travesty that Ndamukong Suh was fined $15,000 for his shove of Jay Cutler and Brayton was fined the same amount for purposely laying a forearm shiver to Chris Owens on the sidelines. What a joke.

      External Sports, NFL

      Will the Seahawks bench Hasselbeck for Whitehurst?

      December 20, 2010 /
      Nov 14, 2010; Glendale, AZ, USA; Seattle Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck (8) takes the snap during the game against the Arizona Cardinals at the University of Phoenix Stadium. The Seahawks defeated the Cardinals 36-18. Photo via Newscom Photo via Newscom

      Normally when a team is 6-8 at this point in the season, who they play at quarterback isn’t a newsworthy item (unless a rookie is about to make his debut, of course). But thanks to the ongoing suck that is the NFC West, the Seahawks’ QB situation is still worth following.

      After throwing two interceptions and also losing a fumble in the end zone that resulted in a touchdown on Sunday against the Falcons, Matt Hasselbeck was benched for Charlie Whitehurst in the fourth quarter. Hasselbeck has been dealing with a hand injury for the past couple of weeks and his play the past two games has been horrendous. Whitehurst came in and moved the ball decently against Atlanta, but he was filthy bad earlier in the year when he started against the Giants so he doesn’t offer the Hawks an easy solution.

      Pete Carroll has a tough decision on his hands and he was noncommittal on his Week 16 starter following the loss to the Falcons. He said he would “evaluate where we are and what we need to do and all of that,” but there has been no decision made about who will start next Sunday at the Bucs.

      It’s feasible that the Seahawks and Rams could both lose next week and the NFC West crown will come down to Week 17 when the two teams meet in Seattle. One would think that making a change at quarterback now would be a bad idea but then one would have not seen how bad Hasselbeck has played the past two weeks. Again, Carroll has one tough decision to make.

      External Sports, NFL

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