Players

Steelers Safety Ryan Clark, a man whom I do not know and therefore was unfortunately not able to slap this week.

I’m just going to repeat the headline.

The last time Pittsburgh Steelers Safety Ryan Clark played in Denver he lost his spleen, gallbladder and 30lbs. He could have lost his life. I swear I’m not making this up. Clark has sickle cell trait-which I also have-something that really doesn’t bother most people who don’t hurl themselves into other people at extremely high altitudes.

Now here’s the part where I become a big old girl.

All week I could not figure out why there was a discussion about whether or not Clark would play or not. Some things just don’t bear discussion. Given what happened last time he played in Denver it seemed obvious to me that he would not play. I realize players want to be tough, but I also realize there is a really thick bright red line between “tough” and “stupid” and the Steelers would have played double dutch back and forth across that line by letting Clark even suit up. I don’t even think he should travel with the team much less play.

The other thing that’s a non-factor for me is that it’s a playoff game. If the Steelers defense can’t stop the Broncos’ barely-there offense without Ryan Clark their chances of going deep into the playoffs probably aren’t very good. No need for Clark to risk his life for a one game playoff push.

And while we’re on the subject of the Steelers, they were also unwise to allow Ben Roethlisberger to play with a high ankle sprain. There was one series in the game against the 49ers where Big Ben was sacked on every single snap. And Troy Polamalu who has been diagnosed with several concussions during the course of his career and two this season simply doesn’t seem himself as of late but continues to force his way into games despite continued concussion-like symptoms. So I don’t know why I was surprised to hear that Clark was willing to play but that Tomlin made the ultimate call. Unless there are some strange politics I don’t know about that called for the team to pretend Clark playing was ever on the table, I think a strong argument could be made that the Pittsburgh Steelers might not be the brainiest organization in the NFL.

I’m glad that Clark will sit but the fact that there was any doubt he wouldn’t after what happened last time kind of makes it hard to believe players and teams can be trusted to report concussions and other longterm impact problems. The NFL will continue to have its hands full when it comes to getting teams to make safety a priority.

Cincinnati Bengals rookie Andy Dalton has shown a lot of poise and promise, but Cam Newton deserves the ROY nod.

I have this theory-some people don’t watch sports for the love of the game…they watch just to have something to argue about. And in my mind, arguing for Drew Brees to be MVP or Andy Dalton to be offensive rookie of the year is an example of that. There’s no doubt that Drew Brees and Andy Dalton have been impressive, but there’s also no doubt that Aaron Rodgers and Cam Newton have redefined the word.

If you want to know why I think there’s no debate about Rodgers being MVP, look no further than the New Orleans Saints games against the Tampa Bay Bucs and the Saint Louis Rams. Both were embarrassing displays. New Orleans looked like a team without any identity in particular on offense and that can be traced back to poor performances by Brees. Brees finished both of those games with a quarterback rating below 74. Brees has had 5 games with multiple interceptions-NFL listed his number of interceptions at 14 but I think it might be 13. Either way, it’s more than double Rodgers’ number which is 6. Brees threw three INTs against Tampa Bay which certainly doesn’t have anything approaching a great defense.

And this has been the issue with Brees-among a lot of very brilliant games he throws in some serious doozies that are rare enough as to be uncharacteristic but common enough to be expected. This year Rodgers was by far the most consistent quarterback in the league-with only two games in which his passer rating dipped below 100- and he shouldn’t have to share honors with anyone else.

I realize that stats don’t tell the whole story but in the case of Rodgers they come mighty close. Not only is Rodgers consistent numerically he’s been largely consistent across game quarters as well.

Onto the darling rookies. I think we’ve all been pretty surprised by both Dalton and Newton. I’m actually more surprised by Dalton than Newton though…I guess because I was aware of the fact that Dalton had little experience taking snaps under center, I thought he’d be a slow moving target for a lot of professional front lines, and his personality on Gruden’s QB camp just didn’t strike me as formidable. But Dalton has had very little trouble adjusting to the pro style offense (and, more importantly the speed of the pro defense) and he’s better than many of the 2nd year guys that are playing right now. And, quite frankly, though still mistake prone he may be in some areas outperforming some 3rd and 4th year dudes like Mark Sanchez and Joe Flacco. But he is certainly not outperforming his fellow rookie Cam Newton.

In the past few weeks as Newton stormed through a slew of records including Peyton Manning’s rookie passing record, those championing Dalton over Newton have quieted a bit. I’m glad, because there simply should be no debate about Newton’s worthiness.

Newton has single-handedly reinvigorated a franchise that had barely been relevant since jailed wide receiver Rae Carruth pathetically stuffed himself in a trunk in an attempt to avoid capture for the murder of the mother of his child. Now, even volatile-but-talented wide receiver Steve Smith can’t hide his delight in catching Newton’s passes. it hasn’t calmed his temper, but it’s ignited his enthusiasm for sure. Newton has been on fire and he’s done it all with a defense that barely gives him 5 minutes to catch his breath in between possessions.

Beyond passing yards and rushing touch downs, Newton and Dalton are neck in neck statistically. But Dalton has the benefit of a more balanced team-including a MUCH better defense- and some scary weapons on offense including the talented rookie AJ Green and the high flying acrobatic Jerome Simpson. Thus it’s no wonder that Dalton is headed to the playoffs his rookie season while Newton is headed home.

Dalton will get his due. But this year Newton has really made a name for himself. And I’m thinking that sooner rather than later Newton will be among the youngest to ever join the much talked about cadre of elite quarterbacks.

 love Cam Newton.

Now that thats out of the way its time for me to swipe those cute little buns across the fiery pits of racial reality. Beware there are about to be some 3rd degree burns on those talented little ass cheeks.

ESPN posted an interview with Cam that will be in their Magazine next month where he touches on all of those who criticized him when he was coming into the NFL. If you remember scouts said a number of things-that he was one-read and his smile was fake among other (mostly petty and untrue) things. As you all know by now, along with breaking a boat load of records, Cam has shown himself to be mature, poised, and a more than capable passer and runner. In fact, he is rookie of the year no matter which way the vote goes. He has single-handedly reinvigorated the Carolina Panthers franchise despite a defense that Football Outsiders hasnt ranked above 30 all season long.

But on race, Cam has it painfully wrong:
I cant sit up here and look at it like, Oh man, my critics are racist, Newton said. I blame JaMarcus Russell and to some degree. If you have the opportunity to make that kind of money doing something you love to do, why would you screw it up? Im trying to be a trailblazer. If Baylors Robert Griffin decides to come out, I want people to say He can be the next Cam Newton instead of Hes going to be the next JaMarcus Russell.

What Cam doesnt realize is that the very need to link athletes who have little in common besides their race could be considered, itself, to be racist. No I dont think Cam is racist, I think that Cam, like most black people, live in a world where they worry about being judged by the actions of other blacks. This is a feeling that many blacks experience at different times in life but at work is where it haunts us the most. Often youll hear blacks say they dont want to mess it up for any blacks that apply for a position after them. Frequently its not until later in life when you realize that its wasted mental and emotional energy to try to take on the image of an entire race on your own. People who are racist like their racist thoughts just fine, and you shucking and jiving-despite what your parents may have taught you- trying to be one of the good ones is just one way to stress yourself into an early grave.

Cam will learn that as well-hopefully sooner rather than later. No matter how well Cam plays into the future it wont stop some folks from deliberately choosing to compare up and coming black QBs to black QBs who are considered failures. The entire time Newton was coming up, McNabb and Culpepper were right there as two very OBVIOUS available comparisons (if you just had to choose black QBs to compare Cam to) yet people, including Cam, prefer to hold up Young and Russell as barometers. What makes Cam think that performing well will afford future black QBs with a luxury he, himself, does not afford Robert Griffin III?

On some level, it seems Cam has forgotten he is not the first black QB to perform well. I think he has some research to do.

To speak specifically to Vince Young and Jamarcus Russell…they faced vastly different circumstances coming into the league. To compare the two of them is disturbing. Further, Young isnt the first interception King to lose a starting QB position and to go play backup with a chance to someday start again. And that experience is certainly not limited to black athletes. Washington Redskins QB Rex Grossman, who is white, went to the Super Bowl, played backup for the Houston Texans and now starts for the Redskins. Russell wasnt the first QB or player to underperform, display poor personal conduct and find himself out of the league altogether. That is something that happens to both black and white athletes on a yearly basis, take your pick there are many available comparisons. Ryan Leaf?

Ill save my tirade on how Russells problems werent completely his fault for another post. But for now…

The undercurrent here is that two big dumb black studs squandered an opportunity that some people think they never should have had in the first place. But failing to meet expectations is not special to black folks. And I wish Cam would have taken a step back and thought about why the connection between the three of them was ever even made. When I see Cam play, I see more of Ben Roethlisberger than anyone else who currently plays. Football Outsiders said he was Peyton Manning and Herschel Walker rolled into one. I think thats a much more thoughtful comparison.

As far as Robert Griffin is concerned I think theres something else to remember before we peg him. The college game is very different from the NFL game. Griffin is a good rusher but hasnt shown me anything that says he has a rush first, pass second mentality. I think Griffin is, at his core a passer first. He could spend his entire NFL career somewhere near the pocket and passing on the run ala Tony Romo when necessary. Its too soon to know. And its certainly too soon to limit our thoughts of what Griffin can be become by only considering comparisons to players he shares very little with beyond skin tone.

Back to Cam: Unfortunately, I wasnt surprised by what he said. In fact, I was alarmed by Cams earlier comments during the summer when asked about whether he thought black QBs were treated differently. He was very dismissive. But not dismissive in a way that indicated that hed given it any thought. Id love to hear Cams comments in a few years once hes lived a little outside of the deliberate shelter of big money college athletics.

But then gain, he could just end up being another Michael avoid-any-subject-that-could-hurt-my-pockets Jordan. And that would make me sad.

What we do know, for sure, is that most of the ticket buying public doesnt like to hear about race no matter how valid the conversation. Personally, Id rather Cam coddle those folks by avoiding the topic altogether in lieu of giving them some pseudo post-racial poster boy.

Reading through the Sports Illustrated Vaults are how I like to spend some of my free time. Some of the best and most crisply written sports pieces lie in the internet pages of SI.com and I wish I could read every story. Anyway, the other night Timbaland’s E! True Hollywood Story came on television and it got me reminiscing about growing up in Tidewater Virginia and what it was like for me-the good and the bad.

One of the good things was seeing people from around the area make it big in entertainment and sports. I remember my friends and I used to do talent shows hoping to be discovered by somebody like Teddy Riley who was also from Tidewater and produced and sang in the groups “Guy” and “Blackstreet.” Other names from Tidewater ring bells too: Missy Elliott, Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo (together known as the Neptunes), super hot producer Lex Luger (who is from my hometown of Suffolk), and sports stars like Allen Iverson, Alonzo Mourning, Bruce Smith, Aaron Brooks, Deangelo Hall, Ronald Curry and Michael Vick.

When I was growing up Ronald Curry was the “it” guy and people didn’t talk too much about Vick although I remember him pretty well. This SI.com story  provided an opportunity for me to dip even further into my memory bank. I still remember the lead up to the Hokies going to the Sugar Bowl, it was all we talked about at school.  I even remember my, now deceased, former neighbor had been a teacher of Vick’s and Vick had made sure that he got a ticket to the game. Sidebar: I undertook a similar memory dump when I watched Allen Iverson’s 30 for 30 documentary which brought up a lot of memories about Tidewater and my complex relationship with my home.

The most striking thing about the SI.com story on Vick is the comments that Vick’s mother and former coaches and teammates make about him. They talk about how sweet and polite and “good” he is and how that it is so uncommon. I think people forget that when Vick was found to be running a dogfighting organization, the perception of him, at the time wasn’t of some bad boy athlete. In fact, some of his previous negative coverage in the news was almost dusted immediately under the rug-although I think most of us remember him flipping the crowd the bird and the whole “Ron Mexico” story.

When I read stories like this I’m reminded of how complex people are, and how we tend to get pulled in different directions. There are competing priorities, thoughts, intentions and yes, ego sometimes trumps common sense. And I think that Vick is a example of what can happen when that occurs. Reading this story now, for some of you who are unfamiliar with his best, will either put Vick’s life in context OR it will confuse you even more.

Life is funny that way.

I encourage you to read the whole article, but I’ll post my favorite excerpt from the story on Vick’s admiration of Ronald Curry:

Two years ago, when Vick first reported as a freshman, he was so overwhelmed by the complexity of Virginia Tech’s multiple-set offense and its demands on the quarterback that he considered asking to be moved to another position. “I’m going to tell coach I want to play receiver,” he confided to fellow quarterback Meyer during preseason practice. “This is too much. I can’t take it all in.”

“He’d come out to practice, and his eyes would be big and wild and full of stars,” says Meyer. “He was just awed by everything. Michael didn’t even recognize how good he was. He didn’t understand that he had the tools to do whatever he wanted.”

“Ain’t no way I can learn all this,” Vick would mumble to himself in practice.

Rickey Bustle, the team’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, pulled Vick aside one day and told him to settle down. “You’re a freshman,” Vick recalls Bustle saying. “You’re 18 years old, and you just got here. Why do you expect to do so much?”

It was a question Vick couldn’t easily answer. At Warwick High, Vick had been one of the state’s top recruits, coveted by major college programs nationwide. But he played in the same district and at the same position asHampton’s Ronald Curry, who in 1997-98 was the most heralded schoolboy athlete in the country. Vick so admired the way Curry played that he mimicked some of his moves, and once, when Curry got hurt, Vick’s family sent him a get-well card. “I lived in his shadow,” says Vick. “At the end of my senior year I ended up second-team everything. The papers would have a huge picture of Ronald Curry, with poor little Mike Vick down in the corner about the size of a stamp. I never held it against Curry—just the opposite, I was happy for him. But being second was something I had to deal with, and deal with a lot.”

Sidebar: anyone remember scouts trying to convince us that Vick’s brother Marcus would be better than him one day? Yeah.

Shawn Andrews is one of my favorite follows on twitter. I think I found him cause he was tweeting about my favorite subject. NO NOT FOOTBALL…FOOD!!

I was happy he said yes to doing an interview with me. Since he’s a comedian (no, for real…like he’s a real comedian) I figured we could have some fun. I decided to do a word association game with him. Some of the words? Drake, Twitter, Football…some of the phrases? Gang-banging in Little Rock and Celebrity Crush.

See how Shawn responded!

Michael Vick used his press conference today to prove he's willing to make smart decisions going forward.

There’s an old corny joke I like to tell. Wanna hear it? Here it go.

When Michael Vick does the Tootsie Roll and they get to the part where you have to slide, he just stops dancing. hahahahaah ahhahah ha ha hee…

Whatever, that joke is funny TO ME.

But what’s not funny is following Vick’s career for 239239930 years and watching this knucklehead use any means to avoid going to the ground including having other people knock his ass to the ground. I HAVE BEEN FED UP. And apparently he is too.

In his press conference today he, according to Philly media, said that he would begin sliding because he can’t keep risking the team having all these injuries. I don’t know why it took so long, I don’t know who was able to finally impress this upon him (a doctor maybe?) but I am glad this day has come.

If Vick can slide AND focus on getting the ball out of his hands a lot quicker, you will see the Eagles offense take a serious turn for the better. Howard Mudd has worked miracles with the Eagles offensive line. On one of Vick’s surprisingly few sacks he held the ball for 6.5 seconds, a lot of the other ones happened around the 4.5 and 5 second mark. He has forever to go through his progressions, find a hot read, run or extend the play some other way. And this is actually a part of the problem. Vick has too many choices and too much time. His natural ability has made him too confident and, and in a sense, mentally lazy.

I’d like to see him challenge himself to keep himself limited to three step drops as much as possible for the rest of the season and see where it takes him and the offense. I mean their season is over, they ain’t doing shit on Sundays but practicing anyway. Let’s make it worthwhile.

Congrats to Vick for making one of the best decisions of his life even thought it came years too late and seemed like the most obvious thing in the world to anyone watching. But yeah like I said good for you! lol

I really do like Michael Vick. I know you can’t tell. But I adore him though I remain bitter about a lot that happened in Atlanta. But he’s a cancer male. They’re the best men on Earth. I stand by that.

Other Cancers I adore: Darrelle Revis, Nnamdi Asomugha, and Brandon Lloyd. All born in July too.

Apparently Roddy White was raised to believe that (brutal) honesty is the best policy.

As a fan of both the Atlanta Falcons and the Philadelphia Eagles (I love saying that cause it pisses people off ^_^) I find that my favorite Falcon and my favorite Eagle both have the same personality trait — BRUTAL HONESTY. Asante Samuel said earlier this year that the Eagles front office was playing “fantasy football” and Roddy White has now admitted to the press that Matt Ryan’s deep passes might don’t make it.

Here’s where it gets interesting: The second question was again about the deep ball, but this time a more general question about timing and difficulty.

“I have no idea,” said White. “I don’t even know the answer for it. I don’t know, I think we should just scrap it and just do something else. We should just do some other things. We’ve missed a lot of them this year. I don’t really have an answer — we hit them at practice. We just can’t seem to hit them in a game.”

Wow!

White laughed after he made this statement, but it wasn’t a really convincing laugh. The assembled media gave him a chance to take the statement back, or give us a ‘just kidding’, but that didn’t happen.

White gave more of his feelings.

“We’ll probably do some different things,” said White about what the Falcons should do instead of throw the ball deep. “Maybe a few more timely passes, things like that to get the ball out of Matt’s hands and get it to us to see if we can make some people miss and get explosive plays like that.”

And that was that. Apparently White feels the offense should take the deep pass out of the playbook.

I’m still not convinced White wasn’t speaking tongue-in-cheek on Wednesday. But, he had every chance to give us a wink to let us know he was just playing around. That wink never came. White finished up with the media and left for positional meetings.

Well I find this honesty refreshing…he was nice about it. And it’s no secret. The subject of floating zipless passes came up with Vince Young taking over for Michael Vick the last couple weeks and Matt Ryan has a similar problem. Though, at least Ryan’s issue is limited to deep passes. Young’s ball velocity (is that a real phrase) is affected by even the shortest passes. Those kinds of balls are 1. more likely to be intercepted and 2. more likely to get your receiver hurt.

This goes back to a big gripe that I had with the Falcons drafting Julio Jones. It seemed to me that the Falcons were trying to make Matt Ryan into the type of QB that he’s really not. Most offenses are pass heavy nowadays but I never expected Matt Ryan to be able to take advantage of two wide receivers who should be used often on deep routes. Now Julio could just as well develop into a versatile receiver in the NFL-he’s been impressive so far- and Roddy has a full arsenal of routes and beats double coverage even across the middle as well as anybody.

But you kinda get the sense that this offense is being taken further in a direction Ryan isn’t comfortable with just yet. Roddy is just the first player to admit it publicly.

As a fan of both teams my mind has wandered to what Michael Vick could do with Roddy White right this second. When Vick was still in Atlanta *painful flashback* White was a fresh faced rookie.

I am constantly amazed at the number of NFL players who have very tragic things that have happened in their histories. You can’t even watch E:60 or Sunday NIght Football without tearing up. So I don’t expect people to know each players’ story cause there are a lot of touching ones out there.

One of those stories is the one Darnell Dockett tells about finding his mother murdered at 13 years old. Dockett appeared on Dan Le Batard Is Highly Questionable and talked about his background. Dockett says he and his mother were poor but she did everything she could to provide for him. He sid she was “everything” to him but that he eventually came to some peace with her death. He forgives her murderer, who remains unknown, but hopes that whoever it is understands the pain that they caused.

It was a good interview. It makes me like Darnell. Not that I disliked him before, but I didn’t see him as particularly appealing. Now, I might just be a fan. I know he loses a lot of sleep worrying about whether I like him or not. Hopefully, I will have an answer for him soon so he can finally get some rest.

Check out his interview. He also talks about his precocious son and his pet alligator.

For just $2 a day, you can help Bears running back Matt Forte.

I’m working on a post about the fabulous running back play across the league this year. That’s coming up soon. But in the midst of it, I gave a little thought to the guys like Matt Forte, Arian Foster, and even Peyton Hillis who are all battling issues with their contracts. Last year Hillis’ breakout performance spurred the viewing public to vote for him to be on the Madden cover. Matt Forte is currently 45% (maybe more) of the Bears offense, and Foster is getting the ball so much it’s a wonder his notorious hamstring is holding up at all.

Hillis is by far having the worst season having been injured for much of it amid accusations that his injuries aren’t even real and that he’s sitting out cause his discontent with his contract. Last week, Hillis’ teammates staged a sort of “intervention” to let him know that they need him to be a part of the team and that his attitude needs improvement.

Easy for them to say.

By Wednesday, a group of about eight Browns veterans had summoned Hillis into a meeting room for an intervention-style, air-clearing session designed to restore his focus. After a breakout season in 2010 that vaulted him to national prominence, including a spot on the “Madden NFL ’12” cover, the 25-year-old back’s consuming desire for a new contract has become a locker room distraction that numerous teammates regard as an impediment to cohesion and collective success.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” says one Browns veteran. “Last year, Peyton was such a positive, inspirational force on our team – but now he’s like a different guy. It’s like he’s in a funk that he can’t get out of, and it’s killing us, because we really need him. And we’ve told him that. But we’re at the point where we just don’t know what to do.”

During an interview session with reporters in the locker room of the Browns’ training facility Thursday, Hillis conceded that his dissatisfaction with his contract and the accompanying controversies – including his decision to miss a late-September game against the Miami Dolphins while suffering from strep throat – have made it difficult to get his “mind right.”

And with good reason. Some guys handle stuff like this better than others. Some guys have more concerns about money than others as well. One of the most striking things about athletes is how often they don’t really believe in the fleeting nature of their careers. I don’t know Hillis, but I do know that guys who understand how short the ride is going to be typically struggle harder to reconcile the situation mentally.

With the new rookie wage scale, RBs might be the most negatively impacted by having lower pay from the jump. And with teams wanted to see more than one breakout season before renegotiating (which is a very good explanation for why Hillis hasn’t received a raise) there are going to be more ugly situations with RBs going forward.

So as bad as things are for Hillis right now I wonder how much worse off he is than Forte or Foster. Playing well and playing hard is WONDERFUL…but playing too well and too hard activates the law of diminishing returns when you’re a running back. Can anyone seriously say that Forte being 45% or more of his team’s offense for half the season already makes them feel good about how his body will hold up in a year? And Foster has averaged 25 carries a game since returning from injury, will he be alive at week 13??

Look at the way the Washington Redskins’ over reliance on Clinton Portis both in the ground game AND blocking cut his career off at the age of 28. Though he remained in the league the following season and was sideline due to injuries that just wouldn’t heal but let’s be honest, his career was done the year before. Forte is on the cusp of 27 which I suppose accounts for him wanting more guaranteed money than was originally alleged to be put on the table.

Both Forte and Foster need to be carrying the ball a lot less or the return on the investment THEY provide the team is going to be lower than it would be otherwise. The problem is how to hit just the right stride, and I don’t have the answer for how to do it. In fact, it may be impossible.

This is not to say that I don’t understand the team perspective and the hesitation to pay. Running back is a position that wears players down super fast, and strong resurgences after injury (like, for example, Atlanta Falcons Michael Turner) are pretty rare at this point. In particular, on teams like the Texans, Browns, and Bears where the offense is so horribly out of balance that the running back isn’t just a critical piece of the offense-he IS the offense.

It’s great to see Forte get such support from his teammates though. At least they realize that without Forte their team would be unwatchable this season. And if no one else has Foster’s back publicly at least Jason LaCanfora does. He stuck up for Foster when some dimwitted fans insisted that Foster was one credit union savings account from Michael Jordan money.

As for Hillis, even if you think he’s a whiny faker the Browns couldn’t be handling this any worse. And that includes the players. Hearing Scott Fujita WHINE about being asked about Hillis by beat reporters was completely over the top. I’m not in the locker room with these guys and there’s certainly a lot going on that I don’t know about that could provoke Hillis’ teammates’ anger toward him. For all I know, Hillis is a complete jerk and/or mental case. But what we CAN see from the outside is that the Browns have an injury depleted offense and a struggling 2nd year QB and it’s very easy to direct all the frustration at Hillis rather than looking at the total picture.

Unlike his teammates, obviously Browns management doesn’t think Hillis not playing is the reason the Browns are losing games. If they did they’d pay him and fix the problem…right?

Oh and can we stop blaming Chris Johnson for teams’ hesitation to pay RBs? This issue existed long before Chris Johnson came along. In fact, he was originally impacted by these issues. How in the fuck did people forget the things that happened during the pre-season already? Johnson didn’t invent underperforming after a raise just like he didn’t invent out playing a contract.

And while we’re here, Arian Foster is fascinating. Love it.

When I heard that former NFL wide receiver Terrell Owens was holding a workout for teams to come and view his newly healed knee, my first thought was “oh okay…wait…that’s not how that works.” See, if a team is even mildy interested in you, they will invite YOU to THEIR facility to workout in drills THEY would like to see YOU do.

For whatever reason, NFL network decided to air the workout and then interview T.O. after. You know this by now, but not even one team showed up to see T.O.’s lonely ass work out. Bucky Johnson reviewed the workout and gave both the positives and negatives:

» Owens displayed balance and body control while running a 20-yard shuttle. He easily touched the line while changing directions and showed a little burst on the finish. His unofficial time (4.26 according to my watch) would rank near the middle of the pack among NFL Scouting Combine participants in 2011. It should be noted that Owens might not have trained for the shuttle drills like draft hopefuls, but the time provides a bit of a measuring stick for evaluators looking to gauge his explosiveness.

» He didn’t look good running through the three-cone drill. He was slow in and out of his turns, and failed to show much of a transition burst. He didn’t really give maximum effort in the drill, and his unofficial time of 7.25 reflected his lack of burst. For comparison’s sake, the best time at last year’s combine was 6.42 by WR Jeff Maehl of Oregon.

Bucky also pointed out that T.O. isn’t a big draw for teams looking for an immediate impact. At this point in the season, there’s NO REASON to take a player you don’t think can perform right away. T.O.’s bestie Ochocinco has had now over two months to produce for his new team and it hasn’t happened yet. T.O. has traditionally struggled to connect with teammates and develop chemistry with QBs. There’s no reason to think that that will change now.

One thing’s for sure, T.O.’s body looks great. And when guys talk about it, things get really gay really quick.

Listen to the guys at NFL network talk about how Drew Rosenhaus is helping sell T.O.’s  by having his shirt off to show off “the abs, the delts…and…SMILE….everything T.O. brings to the table.” umm And then Deion Sanders tweeted that if he had T.O.’s body he’d walk around naked all the time. I couldn’t find the tweet or else I’d link it. However, I did find the tweet where Deion thought the Carolina Panthers might be a good fit for T.O.

Where has Deion been? Does Steve Smith look like he’s here for T.O.’s bullshit? I don’t know Steve Smith personally, but I highly doubt he has any interest in playing alongside T.O. Would you? Not you, Deion. I’m talking about yall? You? Not me. Hell no. I would even take it a step further and say based on my observations of Cam Newton, I don’t think he would tolerate the slightest lip from T.O. nor any breaking off routes!

You can watch the NFL network analysts try to make this lonely shit sound interesting. I can only hope that Drew and T.O. ASSUMED no teams would show up and that this was just another example of T.O. willing to embarrass himself for his reality TV show.

You can also view T.O.’s post-workout interview here. He said the goal of the workout is to end the rumors that “he’s not ready.” Problem is, readiness isn’t the largest issue going on here. It’s just one of many. And that 40 time of 7.25 may be similar to that of other veterans; however, it’s not really good to volunteer to the world that you won’t have much ability to accelerate off the line of scrimmage.