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Week 11 Was About as Goofy as the NFL Can Get.

Posted on November 22, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

The National Football League might be the most successful, most prominent sports league on the planet. It makes nothing but money and is on television in just about every country in the world.

But every now and again, there comes a week when the craziness just gets bigger than the biggest league on the planet.

For instance, take the Sunday that was:

1. Tennessee quarterback Vince Young doesn’t like the fact that his head coach Jeff Fisher took him out of Sunday’s game against Washington. Seems Fisher was told by the team doctor that Young had injured his thumb and the doctor worried that he would have no control over his passes. Young disagreed, but Young apparently didn’t make his own opinion known to the head coach. So the coach takes Young out of the game. Young blows up. Not only does he throw a temper tantrum, he tosses his jersey and shoulder pads into the crowd and bolts the stadium before the coach’s post-game address to the team. Kids don’t do that at the bantam level.

2. The worst offensive line in the history of professional football killed the Minnesota Vikings once again. Of course, everybody in football wants to blame Brett Favre for the fact that nobody on his team can block. The defense gives up, the coaching staff mails it in and the Vikings get waxed 31-3 at home by Green Bay. Monday morning Brad Childress is fired as Vikings head coach. Leslie Frazier is named interim head coach. Why? Frazier’s defense quit on him on Sunday. Will he fix the offensive line? No. Will players re-sign because of Frazier? No. Wilf fired Chilly for the sake of firing him.

3. Now with the Dallas Cowboys, quarterback Jon Kitna faced his former team, the Detroit Lions on Sunday. Dalls blasted Detroit 35-19. The Lions should never have released Kitna.

4. Halftime: Cincinnati 31, Buffalo 14. Game over: Buffalo 49, Cincinnati 31. Oh, my goodness. And IN Cincinnati, no less.

5. Raheem Morris might be right. The 7-3 Tampa Bay Buccaneers might be the best team in the NFC.

6. There will be no Disney sports movie. Brian St. Pierre, the stay-at-home dad who was signed off the couch last week, started for the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. The Panthers lost 37-13 to Baltimore. St. Pierre completed 13 of 28 for 173 yards and a touchdown. Not bad for a guy who couldn’t play at the UFL level this season. And against that Baltimore defense. It still might be a Disney movie.

7. Michael Vick wasn’t as good as he was in Week 10, but he was calm, cool and collected as he beat the New York Giants 27-17 with a late comeback. He’s still on pace to be NFC MVP.

Let’s take a close look at what went on in Week 11.

Sunday night…

Philadelphia 27 NY Giants 17

LeSean McCoy rushed for 111 yards on 14 carries, the big run was a 50-yarder for a touchdown late in the game that gave Philly a comeback win. The Eagles led 16-3, fell behind 17-16 and won late.

Sunday afternoon….

Green Bay 31 Minnesota 3

Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers went 22-for-31 for 301 yards and four touchdowns. Greg Jennings caught seven passes for 152 yards and three touchdowns. It was Minnesota’s worst home loss since 2001 and it’s expected that Brad Childress will be fired as head coach soon.

Pittsburgh 35 Oakland 3

The Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger went 18-for-29 for 275 yards and three touchdowns.

Dallas 35 Detroit 19

Former Lions quarterback Jon Kitna completed 18-of-24 passes for 147 yards and three touchdowns as Dallas won its second in a row under new head coach Jason Garrett.

Baltimore 37 Carolina 13

This was surgical. Joe Flacco completed 24 of 33 passes for 301 yards and a touchdown.

Jacksonville 24 Cleveland 20

The Jags’ Maurice Jones-Drew followed a 75-yard reception with a one-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter to win it. Jones-Drew rushed for 133 yards and caught three passes for 87 more yards.

Buffalo 49 Cincinnati 31

Cincinnati led 31-14 at the half and were outscored 35-0 in the second half. Buffalo’s Freddie Jackson carried 21 times for 116 yards and two touchdowns. Steve Johnson caught eight passes for 137 yards and three touchdowns.

NY Jets 30 Houston 27

Mark Sanchez, who had three TD passes, hit Santonio Holmes with a six-yard touchdown pass with 10 seconds left to win it. Holmes caught seven passes for 126 yards and two TDs.

Washington 19 Tennessee 16 (OT)

Graham Gano kicked a 48-yard field goal in OT to win it. Tennesse’s Vince Young is no longer the starter and Randy Moss didn’t catch a pass.

Kansas City 31 Arizona 13

Dwayne Bowe caught two touchdown passes, giving him a team-record six straight games with at least one score, and Kansas City remained unbeaten at home.

New Orleans 34 Seattle 19

The Saints Drew Brees completed 29 of 43 passes for 382 yards and four touchdowns. Marques Colston caught eight passes for 113 yards and two TDs.

Tampa 21 San Francisco 0

The surprising Bucs improved to 7-3 by winning in San Francisco for the first time in nine tries. Josh Freeman threw two TD passes for Tampa.

Atlanta 34 St. Louis 19

The Falcons Matt Ryan threw two TD passes and Michael Turner carried 28 times for 131 yards and another TD.

New England 31 Indianapolis 28

The Pats improved to 8-2, but had a 31-14 lead in the fourth quarter, but Manning, who threw for 396 yards and four touchdowns, almost brought the Colts back.

Tonight, in the Monday Nighter, it’s the Denver Broncos in San Diego to face the Chargers.

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Favre Haters Know NOTHING About Football… or They Haven’t watched the Vikings All Year.

Posted on November 21, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

On the NFL pre-game shows this morning, and during the Green Bay-Minnesota game this afternoon, the league’s big TV thinkers have spent all the time they possibly could blasting 40-year-old Brett Favre for having a bad year.

They’ve all talked about turnovers, turnovers and injuries and more injuries. They blamed the entire Vikings’ 3-6 record on the quarterback.

They are STUPID people.

I’ve said it all year long and today it’s more obvious than ever. The Vikings offensive libe is the worst in the history of football. It is the worst offensive line at any level of football anywhere on the planet. Peewee kids can block better than this line.

In his first 12 drop backs today, Favre had no more than two steamboats to throw. He was sacked once and hit seven times.

Bryant McKinnie is on roller skates. The Minnesota pocket collapses faster than any in football. Phil Loadholt has no clue. Steve Hutchinson is done. The other two guys couldn’t block me.

I have never seen anything worse in more than 50 years of watching the National Football League.

And it’s Favre’s fault???? No wonder television journalism is a joke.

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Minnesota Falls in Chicago, Brady Great in Pittsburgh Again

Posted on November 15, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

This morning on Streetz 104.7 here in Winnipeg, co-host Big Will had an astute comment about the Minnesota Vikings: “They look and sound like the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of America.”

Indeed. Sunday afternoon the Vikings went into Chicago and were beaten 27-13 by the Bears. While the local Twin Cities media continues to whine about Brett Favre’s interceptions, Brad Childress’s coaching shortcomings and struggles in the red zone, here are the real problems:

(1) The Vikings have no receivers. Randy Moss was released. Sidney Rice didn’t suit up. Bernard Berrian was hurt in the warm-up (gawd???) and Percy Harvin was hurt in the game. Greg Lewis, Greg Camarillo and Hank Baskett just won’t cut it in big time pro football.

(2) The Vikings might have the worst offensive line in NFL history. Bryant McKinnie plays like he’s on roller skates and Phil Loadholt couldn’t block my wife. When you have no time to throw and you’re throwing to people who can’t get open, you will lose. No wonder Brett Favre says this is his last season — absolutely, positively.

Meanwhile, Detroit lost because they couldn’t score, Cleveland lost because they couldn’t match last week’s performance against New England and New England won because Tom Brady just beats Pittsburgh.

Here’s a fond look back at Week 10:

Sunday Night…

New England 39 Pittsburgh 26

The Pats’ Tom Brady threw three touchdown passes to tight end Rob Gronkowski and ran for one himself. Brady has beaten the Steelers in six of the teams last seven meetings. The Steelers simply stink against New England.

Sunday afternoon….

Chicago 27 Minnesota 13

The Bears Jay Cutler went 22-for-35 for 237 yards and three touchdowns. The 3-6 Vikings have to run the table if they hope to make the playoffs.

Miami 29 Tennessee 17

The Dolphins used three different quarterbacks to stop a five-game home losing streak.

NY Jets 26 Cleveland 20 (OT)

Jets QB Mark Sanchez hit Santonio Holmes on a TD pass with 17 seconds left in overtime to win it.

Buffalo 14 Detroit 12

The Bills Fred Jackson carried 25 times for 133 yards and a touchdown while Detroit’s Calvin Johnson caught 10 passes for 128 yards and a touchdown. It was Detroit’s 25th straight road loss and Buffalo’s first win of the season.

Indianapolis 23 Cincinnati 17

The Colts Kelvin Hayden returned an interception for a touchdown. Cincinnati had five turnovers.

Jacksonville 31 Houston 24

The Jags’ Mike Thomas scored on a 50-yard TD pass with no time left to win it. David Garrard who threw that pass completed 24-of-31 passes for 342 yards and two touchdowns while Maurice Jones-Drew ran for 100 yards and two touchdowns.

Tampa Bay 31 Carolina 16

Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman completed 18-of-24 passes for 241 yards and a touchdown as Tampa improved to 6-3.

Denver 49 Kansas City 29

Kyle Orton threw a career-high four touchdown passes. Matt Cassel completed 33-of-53 passes for 469 yards and four touchdowns and he lost.

Seattle 36 Arizona 18

Matt Hasselbeck threw for 333 yards and a touchdown.

Dallas 33 NY Giants 20

Jon Kitna threw for 327 yards and three touchdowns and Jason Garrett won his debut as Cowboys head coach.

San Francisco 23 St. Louis 20 (OT)

Joe Nedney’s 29-yard-field goal in overtime won it.

Tonight, in the Monday Nighter, it’s the Philadelphia Eagles at Washington to face the Redskins.

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Favre Saves Chilly, Nobody Can Save Wade Phillips

Posted on November 8, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

MINNEAPOLIS — Brett Favre saved Brad Childress’s job, but it doesn’t appear as if anyone can save Wade Phillips’s job.

Last night, the Green Bay Packers massacred the Dallas Cowboys 45-7 and immediately after the debacle, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said “people will suffer the consequences.” Despite that vote of confidence Jones gave Phillips this past week, I can’t imagine old Wade will be around by the end of the day. Owners have surprised me before, but I just don’t believe Jones is going to ride this one out.

Meanwhile, the Cleveland Browns were unbeatable yesterday, Peyton Manning couldn’t pull off the same miracle ol’ Brett pulled off here at Mall of America Field and Oakland won a thriller to go to 5-4 on the season.

It was an exciting day in the NFL, but frankly, nothing was more exciting than the Brett Favre/Adrian Peterson-led comeback by the Vikings. If Favre had any time at all to throw, the Vikings would be unbeatable. As it is, a 41-year-old man playing on a broken ankle behind the most porous offensive line in the NFL had the greatest passing day of his already remarkable Hall of Fame career.

Let’s take a close look at the highlights of Week 9 in The League…

Last night…

Green Bay 45 Dallas 7

Wonder how long Wade Phillips has as coach of the Cowboys. Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers completed 27 of 34 passes for 289 yards and three touchdowns.

Yesterday afternoon….

Minnesota 27 Arizona 24 (OT)

The Vikings scored two touchdowns in the final 3:34 of regulation, then Ryan Longwell won it with a 35-yard field goal in overtime. Brett Favre, in his record 293rd consecutive start threw for a career high 446 yards while Adrian Peterson had two touchdowns including a receiving touchdown, the first since his very first game in 2007.

Cleveland 34 New England 14

Cleveland rookie quarterback Colt McCoy scrambled for a touchdown while RB Peyton Hillis ran for a career-high 184 yards and two scores. Cleveland’s defense also beat the stuffing out of the Patriots.

NY Jets 23 Detroit 20 (OT)

Nick Folk kicked a 36-yard field goal with no time on the clock to tie the game at the end of regulation and then kicked a 30-yard field early in overtime to win it.

New Orleans 34 Carolina 3

Drew Brees, 27-for-43, 253 yards and two touchdowns.

Baltimore 26 Miami 10

The Ravens’ Joe Flacco, 20-of-27 for 266 yards and two touchdowns.

San Diego 29 Houston 23

The Chargers Phillip Rivers, 17-for-23, 295 yards and four touchdowns

Chicago 22 Buffalo 19

Chicago’s Israel Idonije, from Brandon, had three tackles and a half a sack.

Atlanta 27 Tampa Bay 21

Atlanta’s Michael Turner had 24 carries for 107 yards and two touchdowns. Matt Ryan, 24-for-36, 235 yards and a touchdown.

Philadelphia 26 Indianapolis 24

Michael Vick, 17-for-29 for 218 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for 74 yards and another TD.

Oakland 23 Kansas City 20 (OT)

Sebastien Janikowski kicked a 33-yard field goal to win it in OT.

NY Giants 41 Seattle 7

The Giants Eli Manning 21-for-32 for 291 yards and three touchdowns. Ahmad Bradshaw had two rushing touchdowns.

Tonight, in the Monday Nighter, it’s the Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati to play the Bengals.

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Brad Childress Running Out of Chances, but Not Miracles

Posted on November 7, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. – In the end, it might have been one of the greatest football games I’ve ever seen. If only the Super Bowl was that exciting.

Trailing 24-10 with 3:39 left in regulation, the Minnesota Vikings stormed back behind the incredible Brett Favre, put up two late touchdowns, and then went on to beat the Arizona Cardinals 27-24 in overtime.

For 56 minutes on Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings were awful. For the final four plus overtime, they were unstoppable.

“It was a great effort by our guys,” Vikings head coach Brad Childress said after the game. “With three and change to score two touchdowns and pull it off, it says a lot about our team. That’s probably as good a game as I can remember. It was a good team win. Our guys are always capable of playing the game like that.”

It was a remarkable comeback by the Vikes and it all falls at the feet of a quarterback who was hit eight times in the football game and still bounced back up to put yet another W on the board. With the victory, the Vikings improved to 3-5 on the season and are still alive in the NFC North with a trip to Chicago coming up next week.

In the process, Favre saved Childress’s job, who was rumoured to be out if the Vikings lost. He also made true believers out of 64,000 fans who were starting to doubt the Vikings, and more importantly, were convinced that Favre no longer had the ability to pull off miracles.

Favre led the Vikings down the field twice in the closing minutes of regulation. He got a short touchdown run from Peterson and then, in the final minute he threw a TD pass to Visanthe Shiancoe. It was a beauty, too, Vintage Favre.

In extra time, after the Vikings defense stopped the Cardinals, Favre used Peterson to get his team into field goal range and in the end, Ryan Longwell kicked a 35-yard field goal to win it.

Favre threw (36-for-47) for a career-high 446 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. It was a remarkable performance by a man who had very little time to throw all day. In fact, it’s hard to imagine this guy, playing on a broken ankle, is 41-years-old. Percy Harvin and Bernard Berrian each caught nine passes. Harvin had 129 yards. Six Vikings receivers caught at least four passes. Peterson finished the game with 81 yards rushing and one touchdown and 63 yards receiving and one touchdown. Hi 30-yard run in overtime put the game away.

“For me this is the beginning of a new season,” said Peterson. “This win wipes the slate clean. We can now just start over. I think the best is yet to come.”


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Childress Has to Go 8-1 to Save His Job

Posted on November 3, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Minnesota Vikings head coach Brad Childress said on Wednesday that he thought the acquisition of wide receiver Randy Moss was a mistake.

“It was a poor decision,” Childress said at his Wednesday news conference. “I’ve got to stand up and I have to make it right. When it’s not right, you need to make it right.”

On Monday, Childress — at least in his own mind — made it “right.” He cut Moss, the goofball wideout who had the audacity to rudely rip a catered meal at the Vikings compound last week. I’ve always thought that anyone who complains about free food is little more than your every-day moron, especially a clown as rich as Moss, who can buy restaurants as easily as he can buy meals.

Moss’s remarkably boorish attack on the help just showed what the Vikings got for a third round draft pick: A tremendous athlete with a brain the size of a walnut. I quite like to watch Randy Moss play football and I must admit, in the Vikings locker room, he’s never been anything but co-operative with me. However, when you tear into a caterer, you’ve pretty much hit rock bottom in the humanity department. The term “dickhead” comes to mind.

In the meantime, there was poor Brad Childress, proud coach of a 2-5 football team, giving away Moss to the Tennessee Titans while the people who pay Chilly’s salary lost a third-round draft pick in the process. Dumping Moss this week didn’t make the Vikings any better. In fact, it probably made them much, much worse. They are also a lot less interesting.

As we discussed this morning on The TEAM 1260 in Edmonton, the Moss situation didn’t matter. It comes down to this: If the Vikings offensive line doesn’t start protecting Brett Favre and the defensive line doesn’t get to a quarterback soon, the Vikes will soon be the second coming of the Matt Millen-led Detroit Lions. And Brad Childress will be looking for work as an assistant coach next season.

Whichever way you look at it, the signing and/or release of Randy Moss was a disaster. Now, if a team that isn’t as good today as it was on Sunday, doesn’t win eight of nine down the stretch, lots of people will be looking for work next year.

And the head coach is at the top of the list.

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NFL Officiating Under the Microscope

Posted on October 26, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Brad Childress is pissed and according to a Fox television analyst who was quoted by the St. Paul Pioneer Press — a man who used to be the NFL’s director of officiating — Childress has every right to be pissed.

In fact, the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings called Sunday night’s game in Green Bay, “the worst officiated game I’ve ever seen.”

Childress is upset about a dreadful call by head referee Scott Green, a guy who has been involved in so many questionable calls — and I use the word “questionable” in a moral sense, not in a sense of competency — that you have to wonder why he hasn’t been investigated by the NFL (and having said that, he even got the Super Bowl job this past year).

On Sunday night, Green’s field judge signaled “touchdown” on a pass from Brett Favre to Visanthe Shiancoe in the second quarter of Sunday’s game, a touchdown pass that should have given the Vikings a 21-14 lead and ultimately, should have given them the victory in what was a terrific football game.

However, Green went under the hood and reversed the call and Childress went nuts. The NFL eventually called Childress and told him it was the wrong call, but the call by Green didn’t surprise me at all. Throughout the entire game, every time his crew told him that a call was going against the Packers, he had this pained look on his face. A couple of times, it even appeared as if he was trying to talk his crew out of the call.

Fox analyst and former NFL director of officiating, Mike Pereira told the Pioneer Press on Monday: ”You go under the hood to see if there is anything obvious that shows it wasn’t a touchdown. Maybe the receiver didn’t maintain control of the ball on his way to the ground. Maybe he didn’t have total control after he hit the ground. But there was not enough there to overturn the call in my opinion.”

Pereira added: “If the original call had been an incompletion, there was enough evidence for the Vikings to successfully challenge the ruling and that they would have been awarded a touchdown.”

During his Monday news conference Childress said that Carl Johnson, the league’s director of officials, admitted that Green ”erred” in overturning the touchdown call on what was a catch by Shiancoe, according to the league. Not surprisingly, Childress said he also was told a touchdown catch by Packers tight end Andrew Quarless in the second quarter would have been overturned had the Vikings challenged it.

“It’s supposed to be irrefutable evidence,” Childress said during his Monday news conference. “The guy is looking right down on it and says it is a touchdown. You have got to show them something that says it wasn’t a touchdown. I saw him control the ball. It’s not about forearms. It’s not about hands. I was told it was about hands. If he has it in his teeth and it touches the ground and he has it when he comes up, it’s a touchdown.”

Green has made a habit of bad calls in important situations. Raising the question, “Is he the NFL’s Tim Donaghy?”

After all, it was Green who pissed off Packers fans last year when he didn’t call a face-mask penalty against Arizona Cardinals DB, Mike Adams on the final play of the Packers’ playoff loss to the Cardinals. Green and his crew also failed to call an obvious roughing the passer penalty on the Cardinals a few plays before that.

Adam Schefter of ESPN also that Green also was the referee who botched the end of Pittsburgh’s 11-10 win over the Chargers  last season, when he disallowed a touchdown at the end of the game. The only people interested in that touchdown would be people who had Pittsburgh to cover. By blowing the call, it made most bettors think that Green had something on the game.

Here is the transcript of Childress’s post-game comments on KFAN immediately following the game. This should get Childress fined, but it should also get Green fired (although it won’t):

“That’s the worst officiated game I’ve seen. That referee came over and apologized to me for not calling a hold on the scramble by (Packers quarterback Aaron) Rodgers. And I’ll tell you what, that’s his job. Protect the quarterback and look at the left tackle. Look at the left tackle hold his tail off.

“I must not understand a catch in the end zone for them to take Shiancoe’s off the board. That’s not the way it’s taught, that’s not the way we’re told. That goes back to the Tampa game that Tony (Dungy) coached years ago (and caused a change in the ruling of how the ground can alter a catch).

“You control the ball and it doesn’t make any difference if you control it with your hand or forearm. Period. That’s not the way it’s taught at our owner’s symposium and that’s wrong. That’s wrong. … They said he didn’t control it and he controlled it. The litmus is 50 drunks in a bar, those 50 drunks say that’s a catch and 50 writers in this room, you may be drunk too, but it’s a catch.”

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Underpaid NFL (Amateur) Officials ‘Look’ More Corrupt Every Week

Posted on October 25, 2010 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

As I watch the NFL and become ever more impressed with the incredible athletic skills of the athletes, I must admit, I tend to watch The League now with a jaundiced eye. There is something wrong with the officiating.

I’m not sure what it is and I am sure it’s always been there, to some degree, but these days I watch certain crews and I wonder if something might be a little, umm, well, fishy.

For instance, there is holding, of some kind, on every, single play, but more often that not, holding is only called when it has an effect on a big play. And what is quite disconcerting is that, far too often, it only brings back the big plays of certain teams in certain situations. In other words, holding might be called early in a game on one team when a drive hasn’t even started. Suddenly, at midfield on their second possession, Team A, has a first-and-20, and well, so what?

However, Team B gets hit with a holding call on second and 10 from the opposition’s 15 with 0:45 to play and forces Team B into an impossible situation. It’s almost inevitable and it happens in almost every game.

Sunday, I watched a couple of plays that were simply, well, phony. And, interstingly, the NFL noticed. This from nfl.com:

MIAMI — An officiating mistake negated a late fumble at the goal line by Ben Roethlisberger and the Piuttsburgh Steelers kicked the game-winning field goal on the next play Sunday.

Jeff Reed  made an 18-yarder with 2:30 left, and the Steelers escaped with a 23-22 win.

One play earlier, with Pittsburgh trailing 20-19 and facing third-and-goal at the 2, Roethlisberger fumbled as he dived across the goal line on a quarterback draw. The play was ruled a touchdown as both teams scrambled for the loose ball in the end zone.

After a replay review, referee Gene Steratore announced that Roethlisberger fumbled before scoring. But Steratore said his crew had no clear evidence as to which team recovered the ball, and the Steelers were awarded possession at the half-yard line, allowing Reed to kick the winner.

Wow! Everybody watching that game saw the replay and it seems everybody saw a Miami player come up with the football. Why did Steratore and his crew miss it? What is the purpose of replay? What is it with the Steelers and controversial wins? What is it with NFL officiating?

Having said that, I won’t get started on the Vikings-Packers game in Green Bay on Sunday night. That one smelled of fish and, of  course, every time Scott Green calls a game, he looks worried when a call goes against one team and quite enthusiastic when it goes against the other. It’s just an odd look and if it weren’t for HD TV, we’d probably never notice.

Of course, if it wasn’t for Sport Select here in Canada, we’d probably never care.

VIKINGS POST SCRIPT (3:18 p.m. Monday)

On a day when Vikings head coach Brad Childress announced that quarterback Brett Favre had two small ankle fractures, he also said the league had backed his assertion that Vikes tight end Visanthe Shiancoe should have been awarded a touchdown on a pass from Favre in the second quarter. The play was originally called a touchdown, but was overturned after a challenge and then, replay. Scott Green was the official who overturned the play on replay.

There is something fishy about Scott Green.

*          *           *

FINALLY. SOMEBODY SAID IT

Kudos to the Detroit Free Press for noticing this one:

Mike Florio from ProFootballTalk.com and now nbcsports.com, was talking about the NFL’s crackdown on head-to-head hits on a Boston radio show last Tuesday when, inexplicably, he went off.

His target: Matt Millen.

Apparently, Millen had debated the topic on “Monday Night Football.” The Detroit Free Press said he argued “on the side of you-can’t-legislate-the-violence-out-of-football.”

“How does no one realize that this guy has only demonstrated he doesn’t know anything?” Florio said incongruously. “I can’t listen to anything he says. … Every time I see his face on the screen, it’s like, in my brain, 0-16 superimposes over the screen, and I can’t get past that. Maybe other people can.

“But I don’t understand … how you can have no shame and want to continue to be out there?

“Kind of like, ‘Hey, look at me. You know what, I took all those millions from the Fords and I was completely inept, and now I’m taking even more money from ESPN and the NFL Network just because I can sit here and sound like I know what I’m talking about.”

Somebody had to say it. Thanks to the Detroit Free Press for hearing it and reporting on it.

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Another Week Reading and Listening to… the Wrong Stuff

Posted on October 20, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

ORLANDO, Fla. — I’ve just spent a week reading that “Brett Favre had elbow tendonitis and would not play Sunday against Dallas.” Or “Brett Favre doesn’t want to be a distraction and might sit out Sunday’s game.”

It all seemed silly, but big time major media outlets reported it for seven days while fantasy players went crazy.

Of course, anyone who knows anything about Favre knew he was going to play. He might have had a sore arm, but he didn’t agree to return to the Vikings this season and NOT play. Sure, he plays behind the most porous offensive line in the NFL, but Favre has steel cojones and he was going to play. Period.

The media, however, wanted you to believe otherwise.

It’s becoming a disease. The mainstream media wants so badly to control the message — or just get something first — that it has resorted, over the past few years, to just making it up. I guess the new motto is: “Manufactured reporting is as good as real reporting.”

Let’s review another week in Crazyland:

(1) What is it about the New York Yankees? I like the Yanks, frankly. I think Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Nick Swisher , Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson etc. are among the classiest players in baseball.

But I just can’t listen to the TBS/Fox/ESPN announcers for one more minute. Cheerleading works if you’re Ken Harrelson in Chicago, Tom Hamilton in Cleveland, John Sterling in New York etc. You work for the team. I get that. But when you watch a national broadcast and these guys keep cheering for the Yanks, it drives me nuts.

Monday night, I lasted half an inning with the announcers. Then…click. The MUTE button. I would have felt a lot better if these guys would just show their true devotion and go down on the field and ask Andy Pettitte out. Date him, for gawd’s sake. But, please, quit fawning all over him on TV. It’s embarrassing.

(2) You just have to love the latest stadium battle here in Winnipeg. There are some media outlets who want you to believe that the new stadium out at the U of M, is going to cost so much money, it will never be built. Others are suggesting David Asper has been misleading the public for years. Others just don’t want it built at all.

While the local media has absolutely no idea what the final cost will be for the current plans for the stadium, they sure aren’t afraid to tell us that the stadium will turn into a “money pit” or that the taxpayer is going to be on the hook for a lot more than $115 million. That’s confidence, my friends.

Now I have never doubted the stadium would cost more than $115 million and won’t be surprised in the least if it does cost more, but the question that needs to be answered is this: What earthly good does it do anyone to talk about what might be or what could be or what we might imagine it to be and then call it “news?”

As Winnipeggers, we also have to decide if we want a new stadium or if we want the old one to come falling down on top of us. Never forget, the provincial NDP government wants the new stadium built because it knows the old one hasn’t got a lot of life left. It certainly doesn’t have the required amenities to make the Bombers profitable. That’s why it’s prepared to float a loan to Asper to get it started. And it is under construction as we speak.

Recently, I talked to David Asper who, barring a disaster, will soon be the owner of the Blue Bombers, and who says his real estate firm, Creswin Properties, is going through all the tenders and coming to terms with a final cost. He still believes it will be around $115 million.

For its part, Creswin has lost patience with the local media geniuses, many of whom don’t even own a home, but apparently do know what a new stadium will cost.

Monday we should hear word. It will be good for the community to stop all the whining about what MIGHT happen and start whining about what WILL happen.

Because good news or bad, there will still be whining.

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If Moss is Really a Viking Again, Ol’ Brett Might Smile Again

Posted on October 6, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

TAMPA, Fla. — It appears Randy Moss is back in Minnesota.

Just talked to a couple of NFL buddies here in Tampa and the deal is apparently done: Moss from the New England Patriots to the Minnesota Vikings in exchange for a third-round draft pick.

Doesn’t sound like New England got much in return, but ever since Moss went off, in a Week 1 rant, that was designed either to get him a huge contract extension or a one-way ticket out of Belichickland, it was painfully apparent that the talented but emotional receiver was no longer welcome in Foxboro. He saw the football occasionally, especially in the end zone, but he was no longer a favorite of anybody in Patriot Blue. In 2010, he’s had nine receptions in four weeks, for 139 yards and three touchdowns. Monday night, in New England’s 41-14 shellacking of the Miami Dolphins, Moss had his first game without a reception as a member of the Patriots.

As a result, the Patriots have run him out of Dodge and he’s now somebody else’s problem.

However, you have to know that Vikings quarterback Brett Favre loves him. Remember, back in 2006, when Oakland wanted to move Moss and Favre wanted him in Green Bay. Favre sulked almost every day after Moss went from Oakland to New England and not to Green Bay.

Now, without Sidney Rice, plus a bead-achy Percy Harvin and a guy named Berrian that can’t be found on the field with bloodhounds and searchlights, Favre finally has a legitimate downfield threat and a guy with actual speed and skill. And it will be fun to watch Moss jump into the arms of Winnipeg’s Syd Davy at the Metrodome again.

I can’t wait for Monday night when the Vikings take on the New York Jets in the Big Apple and I really can’t wait until Oct. 17 when the Vikings play at home against the Dallas Cowboys.

Not that Moss is going to turn around the Vikings season, but he’ll suddenly add some intrigue to an otherwise mediocre and only marginally interesting Vikings team.

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