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More NFL Moves Make Winners of Minnesota, Miami and the Pats.

Posted on July 28, 2011 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment
r DONOVAN MCNABB TRADED large570 300x125 More NFL Moves Make Winners of Minnesota, Miami and the Pats.

Donovan McNabb

Isn’t this fun? The National Football League is back at work and it is blowing up.

As we told you yesterday, the Minnesota Vikings acquired Donovan McNabb from the Washington Redskins, as long as McNabb rewrites his contract. McNabb is slated to be paid $12.5 million this season and the Vikings won’t pay that. McNabb wants to go to Minnesota badly enough that he’ll re-work the deal. WINNER: The Vikings. They needed a veteran to mentor Christian Ponder and also give them some stability at the most important position on the field. Outstanding move.

The Carolina Panthers will pay runningback DeAngelo Williams $43 million over five years to stay in Charlotte. He’ll get $21 million guaranteed. WINNER: Carolina gets one of the most dynamic backs in the league back in the fold.

It appears the Miami Dolphins will make a deal with Denver to sign quarterback Kyle Orton. WINNER: Denver. Addition by deletion.

The Washington Redskins have completed a trade with the Denver Broncos, acquiring wide receiver Jabar Gaffney for defensive end Jeremy Jarmon. WINNER: Both teams got what they needed.

The San Diego Chargers made Eric Weddle the highest paid safety in history, giving him a five-year $40 million deal – that includes a $13 million signing bonus and $19 million guaranteed. WINNER: Eric Weddle.

The Philadelphia Eagles will deal quarterback Kevin Kolb to the Arizona Cardinals in a trade slated to go through tomorrow. WINNER: The Eagles rid themselves of a guy who won’t play and the Cardinals will try with another new quarterback.

Sidney Rice picture 236x300 More NFL Moves Make Winners of Minnesota, Miami and the Pats.

Sidney Rice

The Seattle Seahawks acquired Minnesota Vikings free-agent wide receiver Sidney Rice, a five-year deal worth $44 million. WINNER: Seattle. The guy runs great patterns and makes up for a lack of speed with great hands.

The Washington Redskins have traded defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth to the New England Patriots for a fifth-round draft pick. WINNER: New England. Nobody is better at reclamation projects than Bill Belichick and with Hayesworth and Vince Willfork in the middle, the Patriots could be formidable.

And the New Orleans Saints worked out terms of a trade that will send RB Reggie Bush to the Miami Dolphins, contingent on him agreeing to a new contract. WINNER: Miami. Reggie can still play – and make big plays.

Be back later with more…

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The NFL is Back. Now It’s Fun.

Posted on July 27, 2011 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

LAS VEGAS — Here in the desert, you could hear the reaction. From the Sports and Race Book at the Wynn to the Sports Book at the Mirage, punters (a) breathed a sigh of relief and (b) grabbed the brand new futures sheets as the National Football League went back to work.

It has been extremely interesting here in Vegas as the big bettors try to figure out which player is going what team and which team will improve dramatically over 2010. In fact, there is an excitement about the NFL right now that I don’t believe the NFL thought would exist after a 4 1/2-month lockout. People are so into this free-agent frenzy that when the following happened over the last few days, there were actually cheers in the Mirage Book.

1) The Carolina Panthers signed linebacker Charles Johnson to a six-year $72 million deal.

2) The Baltimore Ravens signed offensive lineman Marshal Yanda to a five-year, $32 million contract. Yes, somebody actually cheered when he heard an offensive lineman had signed. That’s excited.

3) Wide receiver Santana Moss signed a three-year $15 million deal with the Washington Redskins.

4) The New York Jets signed WR Santonio Holmes to a five-year $48 million deal with $24 million guaranteed.

5) The Washington Redskins signed defensive lineman Barry Cofield away from the New York Giants. It’s a six-year $36 million deal with $12.5 million guaranteed.

Meanwhile, the Minnesota Vikings agreed to a trade that would give them veteran quarterback Donovan McNabb as long as McNabb reworks a contract that is set to pay him $12.5 million this season. The Vikings won’t pay that, but McNabb wants to be moved to Minnesota badly enough that he’ll take a new deal.

At the same time, the Vikings are now in a bidding war with the Seattle Seahawks to sign wide receiver Sidney Rice. The Seahawks have signed former Vikings quarterback Tarvaris Jackson, which means Matt Hasselbeck is out (he eventually signed with Tennessee)  and there was more talk yesterday about Brett Favre coming out of retirement to play in Philadelphia. Favre, apparently, laughed.

Regardless, the fun is upon us and teams are getting better as we speak. Right now, the Vikings, Jets and Redskins can all call themeslves winners.

We’ll be back later with more.

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Favre Hurt, Flacco Sacked and Manning All Over The Place As Week 13 Provides Plenty of Surprises

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

TAMPA, Fla. — It was a wild one Sunday as Week 13 in the National Football League provided all sorts of thrills and spills.

Minnesota quarterback Brett Favre injured his shoulder on the third play of the game, but tarvaris Jackson came off the bench the lead the Vikings to a 38-14 win over the Buffalo Bills.

Now, this morning, everyone it seems is screaming to start Jackson next week against the Giants. Sounds great, but remember, T-Jack just won at home against the UFL-like Bills. The Giants are a whole different argument.

Meanwhile, a big sack and forced fumble by Troy Polamalu led to a late touchdown by the Pittsburgh Steelers as the Pittsburgh beat Baltimore 13-10 in a defensive struggle. I’m sure Baltimore’s Joe Flacco is a good quarterback, but he had so little time to throw and put so few points on the board that it’s hard to tell.

Meanwhile, Peyton Manning threw four interceptions, two were returned for touchdowns and the one in overtime led to the winning field goal while here in Tampa, the Bucs Josh Freeman did his best Peyton impersonation by throwing an INT in the dying seconds to seal a loss to Atlanta.

A lot of quarterbacks were great on Sunday. Many more were not. But it sure made for some interesting football:

Sunday night…

Pittsburgh 13 Baltimore 10

Ben Roethlisberger threw a nine-yard TD pass to Isaac Redman with 2:51 remaining after Troy Polamalu forced a Joe Flacco fumble on a sack. The Steelers are 9-3 and in sole possession of first place in the AFC North.

Sunday afternoon….

Minnesota 38 Buffalo 14

Brett Favre injured his shoulder on the third play of the game and Tarvaris Jackson came in and was sensational. He threw two touchdown passes to Sidney Rice while Adrian Peterson rushed for 107 yards and three more touchdowns as the Vikings improved to 5-7. Jackson could start this coming Sunday at home against the Giants.

Chicago 24 Detroit 20

Jay Cutler hit Brandon Manumaleuna with the game-winning touchdown late in the fourth quarter, right after a dreadful roughing call against the Lions Ndamukong Suh. The Bears re 9-3 while the 2-10 Lions have lost five straight.

Jacksonville 17 Tennessee 6

Maurice Jones-Drew rushed for a career-best 186 yards as the Jags took over first place in the AFC South with a 7-5 record.

Green Bay 34 San Francisco 16

Aaron Rodgers threw for three touchdowns while Greg Jennings caught six passes for 122 yards and two TDs.

Cleveland 13 Miami 10

Mike Adams interception in the final minute set up Phil Dawson’s game winning 23-yard field goal with no time left.

NY Giants 31 Washington 7

Brandon Jacobs rushed for 1-3 yards and two touchdowns while Ahmad Bradshaw rushed for 97 yards and two touchdowns.

Seattle 31 Carolina 14

The Seahawks Marshawn Lynch rushed for 83 yards and three touchdowns.

Oakland 28 San Diego 13

What an upset, as Oakland quarterback Jason Campbell threw for one touchdown and an for another. The Raiders swept the season series with San Diego.

Kansas City 10 Denver 6

The Chiefs Jamaal Charles rushed for 116 yards while Matt Cassel threw a three-yard TD pass to Leonard Pope to win it.

Atlanta 28 Tampa Bay 24

Eric Weems scored on a 102-yard kickoff return and Matt Ryan threw a nine-yard touchdown pass to Michael Jenkins as the Falcons rallied from a 10-point deficit with 14 points in the fourth quarter.

New Orleans 34 Cincinnati 30

New Orleans QB Drew Brees hit Marques Colston with the game-winning touchdown with 31 seconds left as the 9-3 Saints won their fifth straight.

St. Louis 19 Arizona 6

The Rams Steven Jackson rushed for 107 yards including 27 on the game’s lone touchdown and the 6-6 Rams stayed in a first-place tie with Seattle in the NFC West.

Dallas 38 Indianapolis 35 (OT)

Peyton Manning threw four interceptions. Two were returned for touchdowns while the fourth was returned far enough to get David Buehler in position to kick the game winning 38-yard field goal in overtime.

Tonight, in the Monday Nighter, it’s the 9-2 New York Jets against the 9-2 New England Patriots in a battle of the two best teams in the AFC East – and maybe in all of football. Thursday night this week, Week 14 starts with the Colts play the Titans.

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It’s Been Quite a Week… And There is a Game Thursday Night

Posted on November 10, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

It’s been quite a week in the National Football League.

Minnesota Vikings’ wide receiver Sidney Rice will return to the lineup in Chicago on Sunday after recovering from hip surgery that kept him out of the lineup for the first nine weeks of the season. Detroit Lions quarterback Matt Stafford is out for the season after re-injuring his throwing shoulder. And Indianapolis Colts wideout Austin Collie has a concussion from that massive hit he took in Philadelphia last week and he won’t play against Cincinnati this week.

Brad Childress is still coaching in Minnesota, but Wade Phillips is no longer in Dallas. The new coach in Cowboy Town is Jason Garrett, who does have a slight connection to Winnipeg. In 1991, the year after Blue Bombers head coach Mike Riley led the Bombers to their last Grey Cup, he left town to take over as head coach of the World League of American Football’s San Antonio Riders. His quarterback was Jason Garrett. After the Riders and the WLAF folded, Garrett went on to play QB in Ottawa. The connections are weak, I’ll grant you, but they are still connections.

This week, the NFL schedule starts on Thursday night. Tomorrow I’ll post all of our picks for Week 10. In the meantime, here’s Dr. Football with a look at Thursday night’s game in Atlanta:

Baltimore Ravens (6-2) at Atlanta Falcons (6-2) Line: Falcons by 1.5

The NFL kicks off its Thursday Night Football series with a very good game featuring two 6-2 teams coming off wins in week 9 and playing on a short week. The Ravens have it double tough; the Falcons are dominant at home and the Georgia Dome crowd will be its usual raucous self. Ravens QB Joe Flacco who had a strong game last week, completing 20-of-27 passes for 266 yards and two touchdowns,  will once again have to go to the air, a task made easier by the fact that Atlanta’s secondary is lousy (ranked 31st in the league). Flacco won’t have much success on the ground as the Falcons are very good against the run; no opponent has rushed for more than four yards per carry against them since Week 2. The Ravens had problems once they got into the red zone last week only coming away with one touchdown against the Dolphins. Atlanta is an impressive 17-3 on its home field since the beginning of the 2008 season, including a perfect 4-0 this season.

Dr. Football: FALCONS TO WIN AND COVER.

The Coach: FALCONS TO WIN AND COVER

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Vikes Coach Brad Childress Dead Right in His Assessment of Sunday’s Blowout.

Posted on January 17, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Here is what our local football guru wrote in a Winnipeg newspaper this week:

“The Vikes have a lot of people thinking their Week 17 walloping of the Giants was a playoff primer. Not us. Their defence is suspect and their offensive line could prove porous to a big D like the one in Dallas.”

He went on to say: “The Vikings have lost three of their last five games and while many believe their season-ending thumping of the Giants was a show of strength, we believe it was smoke and mirrors. The Cowboys match up very well against the Vikings with a huge offensive line that can slow down the pass rush and move the ball on the ground. Look for the Dallas defence to push the Vikes around at the line of scrimmage.”

I wouldn’t bring it up if it had been a close football game, but like Vikings coach Brad Childress suggested on Sunday afternoon, it was so off-base it was hard to ignore. Now, to be fair, that’s just what was written in Winnipeg about Sunday afternoon’s game between the Vikings and the Dallas Cowboys. It wasn’t a whole lot different anywhere else. In fact, Childress heard the talk in the Twin Cities all week and it pissed him off.

So yesterday, after the Vikings drilled the Cowboys 34-3 here at Mall of America Field, Childress took a little time to go off on all those who thought Dallas was the be-all and end-all of professional football teams.

“I heard all the nonsense and all the hype about the Dallas Cowboys coming to town, the hottest team in the playoffs,” Childress said. “I asked my players this week to just choke it back and shut up. And we’ll play the game when they get here on Sunday.

“The game is always won on the football field so I’m tickled to death for our guys. I knew they’d play their tails off and dispel the myth about whoever was coming to town.

“All I heard all week was that the Tasmainian Devils from Dallas were coming in to bombard the state of Minnesota and were about to run through us like Sherman through the south. That was the aura that was left after last week’s games. Our guys had enough of it by Tuesday. They did a great job by shuttimng up because sometimes it’s hard to listen to that stuff.

“So that was a team victory. We were a good football team all season and a good football team today.”

You can check the numbers at www.nfl.com. Needless to say, the Vikings were much the superior team.

But while so many of the so-called experts were calling for Dallas to win easily on Sunday, it took former Vikings coach, Mike Tice, to assess the situation best.

On Friday, Tice was interviewed by Dan Barreiro on 1130-The FAN in Minneapolis. Tice said: “Under duress, Romo will revert, get sloppy and then go fetal.”

That’s exactly what he did. That’s why the Vikings had six sacks, why Romo fumbled three times, threw an interception and got his ass kicked. So much for “Their (Minnesota’s) defence is suspect and their offensive line could prove porous to a big D like the one in Dallas.”

Brett Favre was brilliant, Sidney Rice was unstoppable and the Vikings defence was a monster. 34-3. This one wasn’t even close.

But now comes the real test. Can the Vikings win on the road, in New Orleans?

Sure, But will they? Guess all the experts will know in seven days.

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Favre Spectacular. Rice Wonderful. Defence Solid. Vikings Ready for Post-Season.

Posted on January 4, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

MINNEAPOLIS — While the Indianapolis Colts were blown out again and the New Orleans Saints lost their third straight, the Minnesota Vikings prepared for the NFL post-season by destroying the New York Giants.

A final score of 44-7 is one thing. The surgical beauty of Sunday’s evisceration of the Jints was even more impressive, now that the post-season looms.

And there is no doubt that the Vikes are ready for the post-season. On Sunday, Favre completed 25 of 31 passes for 316 yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions and an eye-popping 148.7 passer rating. He was replaced by Tarvaris Jackson with the Vikings leading 41-0 with 4 minutes, 39 seconds left in the third quarter.

The four touchdown passes tied Favre’s season high, and it was the sixth time he’s thrown for 300-plus yards this season. Since the end of the first half at Chicago last Monday night, Favre put up 71 points in a little more than four quarters. He completed 46 of 62 passes for 601 yards, six touchdowns and no INTs.

Funny, but it appears the mainstream media has forgotten the bullshit story it created two weeks ago, suggesting there was dissent in Minnesota. The big numbers have chased the fiction away.

Meanwhile, Favre’s brilliance — along with the brilliance of Chester Taylor, Visanthe Shiancoe, Sidney Rice, Bernard Berrian, the offensive line and a defence that appears to be adjusting to the loss E.J. Henderson –  provided the Vikings faithful fans, the 65,000 that sell out Mall of America Field at the Metrodome every single week, with something to get all giddy about.

Now that’s professional sports.

There was no coaching scared, no worry that precious Brett might get his undies dirty. This wasn’t the candy-assed approach of the lily-livered Indianapolis Colts (have they returned the ticket money from Week 15′s dishonorable debacle yet?). Vikes head coach Brad Childress sent the playoff-bound Vikings out to win a football game on Sunday and he got all $12.5 million worth out of his 40-year-old quarterback.

“It would appear that we picked up right where we left off (in the second half in Chicago),” Favre said during his post-game news conference. “I thought that what we did at the start of the game was what we needed to do. I think it’s proof of what we are capable of doing. For whatever reason we have been inconsistent at times. I think there were 20 first downs in the first half and 22 in the second half of last week’s game. That’s 42 first downs in a game or so. Not that you would expect that all of the time, but that’s what we are capable of doing.”

Nobody is quite sure what some of the other playoff-bound teams are capable of doing. The Colts, the team that threw Game 15 and allowed the New York Jets to eliminate the Houston Texans from the playoffs, were just brutal for the second straight week. Fact is, the Colts were  lucky to get past such powerhouse teams as Jacksonville (the Colts beat the Jags 14-12 and 35-31), Miami, Baltimore, New England and San Francisco, it’s hard to imagine they’ll be ready for anyone in two weeks time.

In fact, by the time the Colts play a post-season game (on Jan. 16 or 17), they will not have won since Dec. 17.

Of course, it could be worse. The New Orleans Saints have lost three straight and when they play again on Jan. 16 or 17, they will not have won a game in five weeks. The Colts and Saints will essentially be starting a new season (and not just in the hyperbolic sense) when they play their next game.

Meanwhile, Philadelphia, Cincinnati and Arizona were dreadful this week, but while Arizona played nobody in the butt-kicking they took at home against Green Bay, the Eagles went all-out in the 24-0 shellacking they received in Dallas while the Bengals played all their stars in that 37-0 whooping they suffered in New York.

Right now, the best teams in the NFC are Minnesota, Dallas and Green Bay while the best teams in the AFC are San Diego, Baltimore and the Jets.

And if anybody suggests even for one second that the signing of Brett Favre was a mistake — no matter what happens in the playoffs — then that person knows absolutely nothing about football or professional sports. Favre is spectacular and the Vikings are great to watch.

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Vikings Go To 8-1 With Easy Win Over Detroit.

Posted on November 15, 2009 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

MINNEAPOLIS — OK, so it wasn’t their best effort of the season, but in front of 63,854 spectators — including thousands of Winnipeggers — the Minnesota Vikings drilled the Detroit Lions 27-10 at Mall of America Field on Sunday afternoon.

With the win, the Vikings improved to 8-1. The Lions fell to 1-8.

The Vikings were handed a load of penalties (there were times when this thing looked fixed), many of which, head coach Brad Childress had little trouble questioning. In fact, a roughing the passer penalty against Ray Edwards, caused Childress to call out the official who made the call.

“I said to the official, ‘Ray never hit the quarterback on the head and he didn’t tackle him low so where did he tackle him that would result in a penalty?’,” a frustrated Childress explained. “The official said, ‘He (Edwards) launched himself at the quarterback and hit him high.’ And I said, ‘Where does it say in the rules that you can’t launch yourself at the quarterback?’ When I looked at the replay I noticed that Ray didn’t make contact at all. That wasn’t a very good call.”

It didn’t help that the Vikings lost a couple of fumbles, one by Adrian Peterson near the Detroit goal line, but Minnesota’s Sidney Rice did pitch-in with a career-high 201 yards receiving (on only seven catches) while Peterson did rush for 133 yards (100 in the first half) and scored two touchdowns.

The win gave Minnesota its best start since 1998 when the Vikes went 15-1 and then lost the NFC championship game to Atlanta.

Vikings quarterback Brett Favre (in his 300th consecutive start) completed 20 of 29 passes for a season-high 344 yards with one touchdown pass to backup tight end Jeff Dugan. Meanwhile, Rice’s 201-yard game was the fourth 200-yard receiving game in team history. It was just nine yards short of Sammy White’s team record (210 against Detroit in 1976).

“Wde were coming out of the bye and we were loose,” said Childress. “Maybe we were too loose. We have to tighten things up and play better next week against Seattle. It’s all about improving. We still need to improve.”

THE NOTEBOOK: The Vikings have won 15 of their last 16 games with Detroit… Minnesota was just 3-of-11 on third-down and had 13 penalties for 91 yards, which kept the game close until the fourth quarter… What a great game for Ray Edwards. The Vikings defensive end/linebacker had five tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble… There were 63,854 people inside the Metrodome (the 121st consecutive sellout in Minneapolis) and they were all breathing the same air. Obviously nobody really cared about H1N1… It’s shocking that 16 teams failed to draft Percy Harvin before the Vikings selected him. As Favre said yesterday, “He runs like a runningback, he’s built like a runningback and plays like a receiver. He’s one of the best players I’ve ever seen.” And yet 16 teams passed on him. What does that say about scouting in the NFL?

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Crowd Aflutter All Day. Waiting for “Their” Brett.

Posted on August 21, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Brett Favre will wear No. 4 for the Minnesota Vikings tonight when the Vikes meet the Kansas City Chiefs at the Metrodome.

The myth that “most” Vikings fans don’t want Favre to be their favourite team’s quarterback appears to be just that: a big, giant, stupid myth.

“I’m going to watch Brett throw seven or eight touchdown passes against the Packers this season and wallow in it,” said Doug Spooner, who has been tailgating outside the Metrodome since 7 a.m. “I hated him in Green Bay, but he’s not in Green Bay anymore. Professional football is a business. It’s kind of like marriages. He had 15 or 16 years married to the Packers and good for him. But he’s divorced from the Packers now and after a brief fling with the Jets, he’s married to us. We love him. And to Packers fans I say, ‘Enjoy Aaron Rodgers.’ This isn’t personal, it’s a business.”

Or a marriage. Or whatever.

Tonight, Favre will make his debut in Minnesota and fans are hoping for two things to happen (a) that he starts and (b) that head coach Brad Childress introduces the offence before the game so the fans can cheer their lungs out for their new hero.

It was suggested earlier today, by an older fan tailgating in front of the Dome, that he would have liked to see Tarvaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels get a chance to be the team’s WB, but when it was presented to him that the Vikings don’t have a chance to go to the Super Bowl with Rosenfels or Jackson at the helm and at least they have some chance with Favre, he relented.

“Yeah, you’re right,” he said. “this could be a really good team.”

In Minnesota this year, with the signing of Brett Favre, it’s already being billed as “Mission: Miami.”

That’s because, with Favre, alongside Chester Taylor, Adrian Peterson, Bobby Wade, Bernard Berrian, Percy Harvin, Sidney Rice, Visanthe Shiancoe and that monster defence led by Jared Allen and Antoine Winfield, the Vikings have a legitimate chance to get to the Super Bowl.

And it all starts tonight.

We’ll have reports throughout the evening.

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