AFC South

According to reports Peyton Manning will make a decision about what team he’s signing with Monday or Tuesday. The teams still in the running include the 49ers, the Broncos, and 89 year old Bud Adams’ oft-maligned Tennessee Titans.

Out of the teams left in the running, the first two make the strongest case for why Peyton should sign with them. The 49ers are a SuperBowl caliber team with a great QB at the helm. They also boast an awesome location and a passionate coach. The Broncos won quite a few games and went to the playoffs led by Tim Tebow-imagine what they could accomplish with Manning under center. Not only would Manning make their team stronger he would give them a way to get rid of Tebow without any blowback cause who can argue against getting the elusive elite QB who is virtually beloved by all. Even Tebow fanatics know he’s no PeyPey.

If Peyton cares about winning more than he cares about 5 years and 90 million dollars, he’ll choose the 49ers or Broncos and be done with it. But Adams is willing to give Peyton anything his heart desires including, as I’ve heard, a strong role in the organization after retirement. This is the part where most reporters and bloggers probably purport to know what Peyton cares most about. But knowing such a thing at this stage seems impossible.

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I really thought that one day Chuck Pagano and Ed Reed's grey patch would be Eagles coaches. I hate the Colts now!

So I blogged earlier this week about Peyton Manning and his comments on the Colts. His comments were rather innocuous for someone who is contractually obligated to an organization that is firing folks left and right (and giving every signal that he’s next on the chopping block). Apparently Colts owner Jim Irsay didn’t like Manning’s comments and felt he should have kept any conversations about the team in-house. He also referred to Manning as a politician which, given the current political climate, is like accusing Manning of being a big old liar with no principles and no couth.

That’s beyond a low blow.

The first thing I thought when I heard Irsay’s comments was…I wonder if Jim Irsay thinks he can turn ANYONE ANYWHERE against Peyton Manning? If so…AHAHHAHAH HAHAHAHHA.

The second thing I thought is why would Irsay try to turn public opinion away from Manning when public opinion is already on the Colts’ side? People already understand that Manning got away with a a little bit of high way robbery being payed millions upon millions of dollars this year just to make Manningface on the sidelines. People also understand that though Manning is in a class of his own, he’s 36, has a wobbly neck and organizations have the right to move on. It’s a hard pill to swallow when you’re dealing with someone with the level of class and talent Manning has, but the public has been rational on this.

Further, a lot of athletes in Manning’s position would have been out there telling folks what the team needed to do during the season—especially someone who helped make the Colts as valuable as they are and especially in a time when the players played like crap. But Manning didn’t do that. In fact, not only did he not bash the Colts, he didn’t even seek the spotlight. Beyond an occasional interview on his medical progress, Manning has been largely silent and hasn’t drawn any unneeded attention to the Colts’ disastrous season.

I don’t know why Irsay was offended by Manning’s comments especially when he had a point of saying on twitter that he had no regrets about paying Manning to do nothing this year. If you’re over it, stay over it.

In an effort not to put together two fairly uninteresting posts on the Colts in a row, I’m combining this one with my thoughts on Pagano.

I’ve always wondered how people grow to irrationally hate a team, and now I know.

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Everyone, including me, is guessing about Manning's future and Colts owner Jim Irsay's intentions.

Monday night,  Peyton Manning sat down for a pretty candid interview with the Indy Star. In the interview he said quite a few things of note, including the fact that he doesn’t really have a relationship with the Colts new GM and that any decisions about his future and any communication with him about his future would come from owner Jim Irsay. But Irsay and Manning haven’t talked beyond Irsay offering to help Manning in his efforts to find rooms and other amenities for his family during Super Bowl.

Manning also discussed the different atmosphere in the Colts facilities. An atmosphere where folks are walking on “eggshells” and don’t know what will happen next. To catch up any who is late: The Colts are in the midst of cleaning house and starting over. And such is the atmosphere at places where lots of changes are being made and no one has real feel for the man in charge. The only thing that is clear at this point is that for all intents and purposes Manning is no different from any other player and he acknowledges this directly:

“I mean, it’s 20 degrees, it’s snowing, the building is absolutely empty except when you see coaches cleaning out their offices,” he said. “I guess it’s the reality of the football world, just not something I’ve had to deal with very often. But I’m in there every day, so I have to sit there and see it. Everybody’s being evaluated and I’m no different. It’s not the best environment.

“I just want to pay tribute to all those guys. It’s unfortunate because so many of them have been such a big part of so many big wins here, and this is so … sudden. Their keys didn’t work the next day. There’s no other way to do it? I don’t know. That’s hard to see, all these people leaving.

“And I may be behind them. Who knows?”

The question was posed: Given all the changes, the fact the Colts appear to be in a rebuilding mode, does Manning even want to come back to Indianapolis?

“I don’t want to get into some kind of fan campaign with the owner, but I think it’s well documented that I want to play in the same place my whole career,” Manning said. “It’s been a privilege to play here. I love the fans, the city, the transformation of the fans, how our place has become the toughest stadium to play in, the fact our fans wear more jerseys to games than anybody else. It’s been fun to be a part of that.

It feels like saying Manning is done in Indy isn’t a bold prediction. Guessing where he ends up IS bold… unless you’re Rob Lowe or somebody. For Manning’s part he says he hasn’t decided to retire just yet. So get ready for at least another month and a half of writers writing ” should X team pursue Manning” or “X team IS interested in Manning.” By the time it’s said and done Manning’s Decision may be more painful for the public than Lebron’s.

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When Stanford QB Andrew Luck was told about the whole “suck for luck” concept (i.e. the idea that teams might intentionally lose to get the first pick so that they can draft him) he said, and I quote, it was “stupid.” And last night, with the pitiful Colts beating the hobbled Houston Texans, the commentary got dumber. People were actually getting upset with the Colts for wanting to win.

To any competitor, there’s a simple answer for why the Colts didn’t give up: cause winning is good and losing is bad and no amount of hypothetical benefits to losing makes winning any less fun or desirable. It just doesn’t. There are many Colts who won’t even be on the team next year to play with Andrew Luck (Reggie Wayne? Hello?). Hell, they might not be on any team. But football records are kept forever and a team losing on purpose isn’t something that will be remembered fondly or remembered at all, for that matter. They will simply be remembered as losers…giver-uppers…folks with no heart.

I think one thing people can’t wrap their mind around is the Colts team actually being bad enough to lose as many games as they have without there being some intent behind it. That goes back to the whole “Peyton Manning should be MVP” poppycock that’s been bandied about with simple minded people arguing that the Colts are so bad without Manning and so good WITH him that OBVIOUSLY he’s the most valuable player ever in history.

My biggest issue with this, besides the fact that it’s just dumb to reward a player (and by association a team) for caring nothing about their backup QB situation, run protection or defense, but also that the Colts were, at best, WITH Manning, a 9 win team THIS YEAR. And 9 is thinking positive cause after all this is THE Peyton Manning.

The AFC just ain’t what it used to be. Playing teams like the Cincinnati Bengals or even the Houston Texans isn’t a guaranteed win right now. The Colts got lucky last night with their superfluously terrible second backup QB Orlovsky leading the kind of drive that his lack of pocket awareness and general issues with football sense wouldn’t indicate he could actually do in life ever. But this game could have easily gone the other way even with Manning playing had the Texans not been down to their 8th string QB.

Let’s look at the Colts schedule this year:

Week 1 – Texans

Week 2 – Browns

Week 3 – Steelers

Week 4 – Bucs

Week 5 –Chiefs

Week 6 – Bengals

Week 7 – Saints

Week 8 – Titans

Week 9 – Falcons

Week 10 – Jags

Week 11 – Bye

Week 12 –Panthers

Week 13 – Patriots

Week 14 – Ravens

Week 15 – Titans

Week 16 – Texans

Week 17 – Jaguars

The Colts’ only two wins have come in their last two games against the Titans and Texans. Realistically you could say that the Colts could have counted on beating the Bucs (even though the Bucs started the season well I’m going to give this one to the Colts), the Jags twice, Browns and probably the Panthers given their horrid defense. I’m being generous here !!

Let’s assume they split the four Texans and Titans games. That’s 7 wins at most on the weak end of the schedule which, as the Packers found out against the Chiefs, anything can happen against weak teams on a random football Sunday. But even with all those in their pocket, they would have still had to contend with the Ravens, Steelers, Bengals, Saints, Patriots, Falcons and a dangerous Chiefs team to make more than 7 wins.

Yesterday, Jim Irsay put a further damper on Suck for Luck by saying “if” Manning plays next year it will be for the Colts. We don’t know if Manning will play but it’s obvious he’s doing everything he can to make it back much to my amazement. I’ve kind of accepted that Manning WILL be back (after previously accepting that he definitely wouldn’t, cause I mean who would do that with kids at home?) so now my interest lies in whether Wayne returns next year and what other changes the Colts make to the team to make them competitive. Assuming they’re not still putting all their proverbial eggs in Manning’s basket.

On a separate note, does anyone care what kind of pressure this puts on Luck? Or better yet, the kind of expectations it puts on whatever team drafts him? Admittedly, I’ve only seen Luck play twice. But it’s hard for me to imagine him being heads and tails better than the Panthers’ Cam Newton or even the Bengals Andy Dalton for that matter. And let’s remember, last year around this time we were all supposed to think that Blaine Gabbert was the best of the QB bunch. I think people need to back off with this narrative and begin to let chips fall where they may.

I was going to put a photo of TJ Yates here but it was just too difficult to find one. Not surprising since he's lived in relative obscurity until now.

Yes, you read that correctly. This year will be the first time the Houston Texans have made the playoffs. Of course, the team was started in 2002…so it either is or isn’t a huge feat depending on how you look at it. The story for the Texans has been similar to the story of the Green Bay Packers of 2010-overcoming injuries to key players to stroll into the playoffs. The Texans lost two quarterbacks (Matt Schaub and Matt Leinart) and have had to depend on 3rd string 5th round draft pick TJ Yates to lead the team. Andre Johnson, one of the league’s best receivers, has also been in and out of the line up.

Yates has been the biggest surprise. At first it seemed as though the Texans would basically continue to rely on Arian Foster and Ben Tate using the QB as a game manager mostly. But Yates has been much more than that.  In Yates first game he had only 70 yards passing. Since then — 188 and 300. He’s led some impressive drives including a come back drive yesterday that put the Texans over the Cincinnati Bengals bringing their record to 10-3 and clinching the AFC south.

I think one thing that needs to be said is that Wade Phillips (yes, former Cowboys head coach) is doing a fabulous job with he Texans defense. They’ve held their last 3 opponents to less than 20 points. Football outsiders has their defense ranked 5 overall and 3rd against the pass which is a real advantage in the playoffs if that holds up. When it comes to scheduling, the Texans have had one of the easiest 2nd halfs I’ve seen. They get to finish the season by playing the Panthers, Titans, and Colts. So it should be smooth sailing for them from here til January.

Once the playoff picture is set I’ll take a look at the Texans matchups as well as all the other teams.

Peyton, NFL fans are grateful for everything you brought to the game. Now go home and be with your family (and take Tony Dungy with you!)

I’m back again with 5 more NFL-related things that must be stopped. Let’s dive in!

1. Premature Ejectulation. I made “ejectulation” up because I needed a word to describe taking out a struggling QB when it’s too late to win the game or prove any discernible point. In general, I’m opposed to benching QBs during games UNLESS that QB is the franchise player. I know that sounds odd, but benching a franchise player is proving a point. It’s just a gesture to wake the guy up after a bad spate of games. It doesn’t shake the team’s confidence in what is going to happen next. Benching guys who are in jeopardy of not starting just causes confusion.

What would have been the harm if Mike Shanahan had have let Rex Grossman finish out his game against the Philadelphia Eagles and announced Beck as the starter before the next game after talking to the team? His decision to bench in dramatic fashion *two snaps* sends a jolt through the team. When you have players like Santana Moss, who barely speak at all and certainly isn’t one to cause controversy, tell the media that the team was behind Rex Grossman, you have a morale issue that isn’t helped by embarrassing the guy they support. No reason Shanahan had to announce via benching that Grossman’s starting days were over.

This weekend, there was other Premature Ejectulation by Raiders coach Hue Jackson First we all thought that Carson Palmer WOULD play (despite it being highly unlikely that he was in good enough shape). Then we find out that Kyle Boller would definitely start. Boller had a horrendous game, and not only deserves to be benched but to be banished from football forever. However, the Raiders were down 20-0 when Jackson pulls the plug on Boller and puts in Palmer who, also, performed in horrendous fashion.

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Indianpolis Colts QB Peyton Manning recently underwent a cervical fusion

Peyton Manning’s former Coach Tony Dungy provided a little background on what he thinks marked the beginning of Manning’s problems with his neck. According to Dungy, in a 2006 game against the Redskins Manning’s neck was twisted and his helmet pulled off by the Redskins Phillip Daniels during a high low hit by Daniels and Andre Carter. Manning finished the game that day with impressive numbers, but Dungy believes that it spelled the beginning of marked decline in the heralded quarterback.

“Then we sort of forgot about it at halftime, and Peyton seemed fine,” Dungy said. “He lit it up in the second half. He was on fire [throwing for 244 yards and three touchdowns]. But that’s the year we started cutting back on his throws at practice. I’m not putting two plus two together. I just figure he’s getting older and he needs some time off, he’s made enough throws. But now, as I look back on it, there’s no doubt in my mind that this was the start of his neck problems.”

Manning’s 2nd neck surgery, a cervical fusion, took place last week. And I’m still confused as to why he hasn’t retired. I just don’t see any reason for his career to proceed at this point. The NFL contains about as much parity as you can ask for in a professional sport. I know it’s only week 1, but if the Colts are this bad without Manning, it’s not likely that they would be good enough to win a Super Bowl with Manning against the high level teams that are competing right now. At 36 and with a fragile neck, I see no reason for Manning to continue unless a Superbowl win was imminent. And honestly, taking off my “fan of the sport” fitted cap and putting on my “caring woman” sequined fedora, superbowl or not I wouldn’t want my loved one out there.

Manning should be looking forward to the Hall of Fame. Not dodging sacks from 6’4, 260lbs ++ Outside linebackers like Mario Williams and Brian Orakpo. Besides, it puts guys in a difficult situation. With an injury like Mannings, should he return, nobody wants to be the guy that paralyzes Manning for the rest of his life. Again, why haven’t we wrapped this retirement thing up?

Manning should hang up the cleats and crip walk…wait…riverdance (is that racist?) into the Hall of Fame as a healthy and happy husband and father of twins.  He’s collected his roster bonus of $3 million dollars already and the Colts have the option not to pick him up going forward. Why draw this out?

As far as the current Colts, I hope I’m wrong but I don’t see it for Kerry Collins. Not sure how many weeks he can make it without injury. At the very least the Colts could use a better backup, can we toss up some things and add recently-and-unceremoniously-fired former Jacksonville Jaguars QB David Garrard to the equation? I will admit I have no idea what their current backup Curtis Painter is capable of, but the one bit of play action he saw that I witnessed wasn’t very good. Garrard can at least withstand some heat and is 6 years younger than Collins. And I doubt he would perform so well that it would put them out of contention for Andrew Luck…assuming the Colts are even thinking about that.

Chris Johnson Wants to Get to the Money! Deal with it America!

Yesterday the sports world entered an uproar over Chris Johnson telling “fake Titans fans” to leave him the entire hell alone about his contract negotiations. Johnson said he really doesn’t care if people think he’s greedy and that people shouldn’t be comparing themselves to his situation.

Granted, it’s always a lot less hassle to keep those kinds of thoughts to yourself, but Chris is alluding to two things I think are important:

1. Fans need to grasp the concept of market value. Athletes are paid a lot of money because A LOT OF MONEY IS MADE OFF OF THEM. Athletes are one of the few classes of employees left that are actually still paid comparable to what their bosses make. Just because the rest of America doesn’t mind toiling away for a fraction of what the executives take home doesn’t mean athletes should adapt to that sort of mentality.

I said before that I don’t think it’s realistic for Johnson to ask for what I would consider “elite wide receiver” money, but a significant raise he is due. Not just because he’s good but because he puts the team in a position to make more money. No, the Titans aren’t going to the super bowl just because they have Johnson. But watching football is more than about winning-it’s about great moments in sports. And Johnson provides such moments and puts asses in LP Field seats.

2. For NFL players, contracts are contracts. For NFL owners, they’re “tentative agreements.” When a player wants more money, they’re under contract. When they’d like to leave a team, they’re under contract. But when a team decides to cut a player, they’re simply breaking the agreement. When a team forces a player to either restructure or leave, they’re simply breaking the agreement. Fans see very little issues with teams cutting players under contract but when players ask for raises, suddenly there is this sense that everyone should just abide by the original terms.

To Johnson’s credit, he did call his detractors “fake fans.” That’s a great save and does have some validity. How much of a fan can you be if you don’t understand that there is a business side to the sport you love? That’s not to say we all have to agree that Johnson is right to hold out, but thinking this is as simple as “just stick to your contract” isn’t very smart.

As the Toronto Sun put it:

Part of what makes the NFL so attractive to its middle-class fan base is its stark divide between rich and poor (comparatively speaking). Contracts are conditional on health and performance. This year’s star is next year’s construction worker. Everyone but the gilded few is one turned ankle or two consecutive fumbles away from unemployment.

And that’s the damn truth!  Given how quickly running backs wear down, this may be Johnson’s last chance to get to the money!

Speaking of which, Albert Breer defends Johnson on NFL.com. Worth checking out.

For what it’s worth, I did check Johnson’s mentions and the vast majority of folks are in support of him, but it looks like some of the racist things got him a little upset. Plus, this whole situation has GOT to be stressful. I mean Bud Adams is not your typical owner and the Titans aren’t your typical organization. It’s not unlikely that Johnson could end up not playing for the Titans this year. The depth of dysfunction in Tennessee is pretty striking. This isn’t Robert Kraft we’re dealing with. I mean crazy ass Cortland Finnegan is using his locker right now.

Tennessee Titans running back Chris Johnson wants to be shown da monay!

This whole Chris Johnson thing just keeps getting sillier. If you’re behind, Chris Johnson is set to make 800K and is clearly worth more than that but how much more is still under review. Chris Johnson wants Wide Receiver money, the Titans want to give him running back money.

From Titans Insider:

…the Larry Fitzgerald contract with the Arizona Cardinals (eight years, $120 million with $50 million guaranteed) will certainly complicate matters for the Titans in terms of money.

Johnson’s camp was already looking for “playmaker” money, far beyond the $21 million guaranteed ($43 million total) forked over by the Carolina Panthers to running back DeAngelo Williams at the start of training camp that made Williams arguably the highest paid running back in the league. Adrian Peterson is making $10.72 million in base salary in the final year of his rookie deal, and Steven Jackson of the St. Louis Rams has a deal that is close in terms of overall pay to what Williams signed.

Couple things here. I’m tired of hearing people say that Larry Fitzgerald’s contract is going to complicate things for the Titans or any other team with a running back to resign. Any running back asking for elite wide receiver pay at a position that wears down really quickly simply isn’t reasonable, and that comparison shouldn’t be entertained. So, like, stop saying that.

Johnson’s agent Joel Segal has me stumped. I can’t figure out if he’s explained this to Johnson to no avail, or if he’s masterminding the numbers.

And sidebar: I don’t know the details of Fitz’s contract, but if the Eagles or Falcons ever signed a WR for that much money (EVEN IF IT WAS LARRY FITZGERALD) I’d go into convulsions. Maybe Jeff Lurie and Joe Banner’s economical ways have rubbed off on me. Of course, the Falcons and Eagles aren’t heavily reliant on one player to put asses in seats as the Arizona Cardinals absolutely are.

Moving on, forget about wide receivers, even comparing running backs gets us into a little trouble. If we’re looking at Jackson, Williams and Johnson consider this fact. Right before the lockout ended, Carolina was 30.6 million under the salary cap, St. Louis was 35.7 under, and the Titans ?? They  were 13.6 million under the cap.

It took some significant restructuring for Carolina to resign their center to a bigger contract as well as Deangelo Williams. At this point in the process, it’d be difficult for the Titans to restructure enough to give Johnson anything over 13 million. I’m no salary cap expert, but I gather that even that contract might be structured oddly. Right now the Titans are just under 7 million under the salary cap. And the Panthers, for example, are about 2.5 million under with not much left to do.

At this point, it may be a question of whether Johnson wants money or whether he wants to play for the Titans. I would compare this to newly minted Eagles Cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha. He could have gotten more money elsewhere in the league but wanted to play for Philly. He settled for less money to head to a contender. Johnson’s considerations are different-no one is chanting Superbowl for the Titans this year-but ultimately if your asking price is too high it all comes down to how much you want to stay.

For what it’s worth, I think the Titans have been way too public with their comments and have contributed to making this a standoff. If you remember, a few weeks ago they said they’d contacted Johnson and told him they wanted to make him the highest paid running back in the NFL. Chris Johnson responded by saying that he hadn’t been contacted. In other words, he accused the organization of lying. One thing I think the Eagles do better than a lot of teams is draw a hard line in terms of what they’re willing to pay. And when they draw the line, they mean it.

Have the Titans put down a final offer? Cause there’s only two weeks left until the season begins and Johnson hasn’t practiced once. He’s also lost a year toward free agency based on the new rules. I really didn’t think this thing would get dragged into the regular season, but it looks more and more likely. Titans Insider quotes Bud Adams as saying:

“I’m not gonna make any offer with the way he’s acting. Life’s too short,” Adams said.

I soooo did not want to write this post. I can’t even type the phrase “torn achilles” without grimacing. It just sounds so damn painful! Anyway, I wondered if it was common to have 10 players to injure their achilles in two just two weeks of camp, and it looks like this hasn’t happened in the past. Judy Battista at the New York Times took on the subject in her column yesterday.

But so far, the unintended winners of the lockout are orthopedic surgeons. With training camps open for less than two weeks, unofficial counts have 10 players with Achilles’ tendon tears, season-ending injuries that Monday claimed their latest victim, Mikel Leshoure, a rookie running back for Detroit.

The number is notable because nine players are thought to have torn their Achilles’ tendons in all of the 2010 preseason. According to figures compiled by Football Outsiders, a Web site that tracks every game of the season, nine players were on injured reserve with Achilles’ tendon injuries in the first week of the season last year.

WOW, so before the pre-season even begins, more players have injured their achilles in training camp than would typically injure them in the pre-season. Battista quotes a doctor who says that not training enough during the lock out could be contributing to the problem.

I hope that players’ muscle memories can hurry and catch up, because if 10 more players injure their achilles tendons it’s gonna be some trouble!

Speaking of not working out enough, Bryant Mckinnie was cut by the Minnesota Vikings for being out of shape. Yes, I know you knew that. But what you probably didn’t know is that his weight was reportedly 400lbs and his cholesterol level was a soaring 400. Just so you know, anything headed into the 200s is considered high. And sure offensive tackles like McKinnie are big but 400lbs? Even at 6’8 400 is pushing the envelope.

Still, McKinnie is looking for work.

From Jason La Canfora:

Rosenhaus’ (Mckinnie’s agent) email to NFL teams reads as follows: “Free agent Bryant McKinnie would be willing to sign a one year contract for $2,500,000 plus reasonable incentives. Please let me know if you have an interest.”

Don’t all jump at once!

McKinnie has been one of those guys who’s ALWAYS questioned about his behavior. I defended him in this blog post when the innanets blew up about him supposedly spending 100K on a bar tab. Some of the other things he’s done have been borderline indefensible. But as I always say, character issues in the NFL are of no consequence as much as we like to pretend we care. What matters is winning, and guys can’t perform when they’re out of shape.

The Jacksonville Jaguars  also released a player, Vince Manuwai, for being out of shape. But it looks like most of the guys across the league came to training camp in good condition. Or, good enough, at least given the circumstances.

That reminds me, I hear New England Patriot Albert Haynesworth is lookin good like I knew that he would! And that’s all that matters, really.