MattM

Seantrel had a couple of inopportune holds today, but I guess that's to be expected of a rookie

Or how about this one? http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/05/16/report-churchill-downs-wants-nearly-15000-back-from-welker/

What??? Are you kidding me? Ever see this? That's really class and sportsmanship right there, man--oh, yeah. What a jackhole. I only wished it happened when he was on the Pats*....

CJ as Kick Returner? He'll last until week 3 doing that....

If you look at his production, he produced 3 sacks in about one game or less worth of action (assuming he played the usual one quarter or so a game on average). That's not worth a PS look, even if it was against 2nd and 3rd stringers? C'mon, man, as a certain pundit would say. I agree with EW that the media attention certainly doesn't help him here and perhaps it's more than that in some quarters. It's a shame is what it is in any event, since it looks to me at least like Sam has the talent to make a go of a career in this League. Sam's a 23 year old kid--when Oprah and reality TV approached him he did what anyone would do in his shoes at that age--he talked to them. He quickly decided, however, not to go that route (probably after some more experienced hands suggested that direction to him) and in fact didn't even give interviews or speak separately to the media after his first, and to my knowledge only, press conference right before football activities started. As per Jeff Fisher and the Rams organization, the kid did everything right, including handling the media. I'm not sure how you can blame this on him, other than perhaps blaming him for coming out before hooking on with a team as I've seen others suggest. Unfortunately, they may have been right, as I strongly suspect that had he not come out, he'd be on a roster somewhere today. What a great lesson that sends to the next guys in the pipeline....

No, but I'll fess up and admit to bring excited when we signed him. I was at that KC game when he lit us up and looked like the next Tony G in that Chiefs uni. Boy, was I wrong!

Great--which is why folks were also puzzled by his release. One difference between Sam and Cohen, however, is that Cohen's bounced around the League for 6 or 7 years. You kind of know what you might have with him (ie, much less likely to be a true diamond in the rough). Sam, in contrast, was an SEC co-defensive player of the year (those don't grow on trees or get handed out easily) who also looked good in limited preseason game action. Wouldn't you think there'd be a fairly large market for THAT player? I would....

And yet Corbin Bryant not only made a roster, he made a roster deep in quality DL. You kind of helped prove the opposite of the point I think you were trying to make.

I did the same thing yesterday and came to the same conclusion. The O-line play was brutal and those were two drops by FJ and Woods that would have been firsts. That said, the O still seems to work only in fits and starts with EJ in there--"herky-jerky" is the adjective it brings to mind. And good Lord I hope we end this no huddle crap. All it does is tire out our own defense.

Didn't Sam have 2-3 sacks this preseason (admittedly against scrubs, but he can't control who he plays against) in limited time? Wouldn't you think that would normally mean the guy would either make the team or at least PS somewhere in the League? Personally, I think Eric is right, which is too bad for Sam who, despite what his haters (and yes, that is what at least some of his critics are) say, apparently did everything right during camp wrt the media (ie, no separate interviews, for ex.). He can't control what the media does, unfortunately.

I thought the same thing this morning. Par for the course, though. Last year they had a woman whose name is escaping me write it and it was just as clueless....

Yeah, but 32 other teams passed him over at least twice, too--in this game you don't suck just because you didn't hit every potential pick....

It's totally about money--they don't want to pay a backup G/C mid-level starter money. Makes sense from a cap/payroll management standpoint, but not from a football standpoint since we have no real better or even nearly equivalent option (at C at least).

Based on yesterday's performance, if we don't pick it up 3-4 notches that pick next year may very well be a top 5 pick, setting the franchise back 5 years or so, all in an effort to save the top 3's jobs with the new owner. Bravo, gentlemen, bravo....

You took the words "write" off my keyboard....

Have to get back to basics--Blood Simple was their best film.....

I'm still waiting for Dennard (Pats* CB) to be suspended for his DWI-type offense last year

A few thoughts on your points below in all caps: No personal offense meant, but I stand by my statement above about "everyone cheats" as an excuse saying more about the person saying it than the reality of the situation. That's been my personal experience in academics, sports, politics, etc. Viewer experience may vary. Everyone needs to be the hero of their own story, and so it's sometimes amazing what people can tell themselves to justify their actions.

Yes--as in life itself, some cheat more than others. To argue that "they all do it" as a justification without proof usually says more to me about the person saying it than anything else--that that's how they justify being a cheater to themselves, often with little or no evidence to the contrary, even if if the real world shows little likeness to the fantasy they've constructed to tell themselves that they're ok and not a cheater. Do any of you honestly think for one minute that Ralph Wilson would have countenanced the kind of cheating that Kraft and the Pats* did? Remember how Big Bob gave Belicheat a new extension right after the Spygate fine and how rumors leaked out that in that extension he effectively paid Belicheat's fine? Remember how pretty much League-wide this was the team that folks in the League pointed to as pushing the envelope on every form of cheating? How Peyton Manning believed the opposing locker room was bugged? How Doug Flutie told a radio interviewer that as a Pat* he once picked up a QB helmet with the radio on and could hear the booth talking to the QB well past the cutoff time (Flutie shut up quickly about that one afterward, apparently). How an extra radio frequency was found on the Patriots* system? How at least two NFL coaches (Del Rio and Marinelli) complained to the League about their QB headsets going out at odd times playing in Gillette? How a team known as a place that aging vets went to seemingly regain a step had Rodney Harrison get caught using HGH, something the League doesn't test for and only got caught because he was dumb enough to use his own name and address to order it online? How many awful game changing calls went their way over the years? Here's a link to one story about the NFL Competition Committee member--interestingly (as I've linked to it many times over the years) it seems to have been edited from its original form, which included at one time a litany of charges, but it still gets the idea across: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/sports/football/11nfl.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar%2C{%222%22%3A%22RI%3A12%22}&_r=0

You can't throw out there something like "all teams cheat" without backing it up with facts. I've gotten really sick of that ridiculous argument from Pats* fans over the years.

The Patriot* defenders here also assume that they didn't continue to cheat in others ways when there were reports at the time accusing them of all kinds of other sketchy crap. In fact, not one but two members of the NFL competition committee said then that it was one team being brought before them over and over. You guessed it-- your NE Patriots*. Personally, I think they are run from the very top down by like- minded men who believe if you aren't cheating you aren't trying. They just stopped doing what they got caught doing and we've seen the result of that. No Super Bowls since then. BTW, on the stat stuff, I advise all to read the book cited above. I personally found a lot of the stat stuff in that book persuasive in showing the likelihood of cheating. The author basically had a stat PhD student look at the issue and come to some conclusions. I also recall seeing in the PFT comments section of all places someone claiming to be a stat grad student with too much time on his hands who said he analyzed some relevant data that indicated to him that the Cheats* may have actually used the signals data in game in the form of unreal halftime adjustments and not just for future use against the opponent. With savant Ernie Adams involved, that wouldn't overly shock me if true.

No thanks

How Manuel looks--is he more comfortable in the pocket? Makes it through his progressions? Finds and hits the open man in stride? Is willing to throw down field? Can run the offense quickly and efficiently? Any change to the play calling?

Now THAT was a great HOF speech--thanks for it all, Andre!

His ovation seemed to be by far the loudest--kudos to the Bills fans attending!